If you will read the history of the Smyth County Jam, you will see that we have had a long and sometimes rough journey to get where we are today. In an attempt to be nice, I left out a lot of the political stuff. I'll tell you some of it now. When I wrote the following line, I left out some of the details.
"We were approached in 1997 to play at the Saltville Labor Day Celebration, but while attending the Labor Day committee meeting, it was made apparent that there was no money for us in the budget or room for us in the show. This came as a shock to us as we had our hearts set on getting to play on a big stage for Ken one last time."
What I didn't tell you was the fact that we arrived at the Labor Day Committee meeting early, and everyone was there with the exception of the "leader" (name withheld). As we talked before the official meeting, everyone without exception was in agreement that Common Ground / Southern Flavor would play Labor Day weekend. Local talent was actually going to play on stage. Once the "leader" arrived, things went down hill quickly. We were first told that they didn't have enough money in the budget to pay us. At this point, Garland Parks stood up and took out his wallet and said he would pay us. Then we were told that they didn't have anymore time slots. I found out later, that three bluegrass bands were booked after the meeting. We then asked if we could play one gospel song on Sunday that Stan had written. The "leader" turned to one of the members and asked if there was room for us to play one song on Sunday, and was told - NO. This is when I realize we were dealing with a committee of one.
Well, this gave birth to the Saltville Jam. Keep in mind, that we had been picking in Saltville for years in the shelter behind the old Piggly Wiggly building. The only thing we did different was to move across the street and use a sound system and stage. The first Saltville Jam was held on the Food Country parking lot and was a huge success. I saw several members of the Labor Day Committee there, and most of them apologized for not standing up for us.
We met with the Labor Day Committee the following year to let them know that we were going to do the jam again, to see if anything had changed. We tried to become a part of the celebration. You would not believe the way we were treated (I recorded the meeting). The second annual Saltville Jam was scheduled, and we began advertising. This is where it gets interesting. Our band Southern Flavor played at the annual Saltville - Rich Valley Lions club barbeque on the Wednesday before Labor Day at their club house on Walkers Mountain. When we got finished with our set, before the food was served, we announce the Saltville Jam starting Friday evening. Almost immediately, I noticed the mayor and a deputy get in a car and leave the hollow. This may have nothing to do with what follows, but it was suspicious to us at the time. The next morning, Stan calls me and says the Saltville Jam is canceled, because someone approach the owner of Food Country and convinced him to not let us use the parking lot again. I wouldn't give up and made arrangements to move the jam to the Lions Club Carnival Grounds where we stayed for 11 more years.
In 1998 we were asked to write an article to put in the local paper telling everyone about our jam. Stan wrote the article, and I did some minor editing on it, and we took it to the Saltville Progress office and was told it would be in the next issue. The next morning, we noticed EIGHT (8) pages about the Labor Day Celebration, and not one word about our jam. Stan went to the Saltville Progress and asked what was going on, and was told that they ran out of paper and thus didn't have room for our article. I wrote a letter to the editor of the Smyth County paper, and paid for an advertisement that came out in time to help the jam. The local Saltville paper has only written one sentence about us to my knowledge the whole 12 years we had the jam.
I have yet to understand why we have been met with such opposition to be able to perform in our own home town. We have only tried to add to the Labor Day Celebration, not take away from it. As you may imagine, there were lots of other obstacles, but I won't discuss any of them at this time.
In November of 2008, I noticed a call from Warren Elliott from the Saltville-Rich Valley Lions Club on my Caller ID, so I called him back to see what he wanted. I spoke with his wife, and she told me that the Lions Club had sent me a letter and it was returned, so they needed my correct address. I thought they were maybe going to congratulate me for the successful Saltville Jam, but the next day I received a registered letter from them instead. They paid $5.32 to mail me a letter instead of picking up the phone and talking with me. Read the letter here.
This letter came as a complete shock to me, and I still have no idea what it was all about. I've heard all the rumors, and it probably has a lot to do with the politics of the town and the bad decisions they are making, so I decided to move the Saltville Jam. I think the letter I sent the Lions Club says it quite well.
Now as Paul Harvey says; "You've heard the rest of the story"
Thanks to everyone who has supported the Saltville Jam over the years; we really have appreciated it. The Smyth County Jam has grown tremendously since we moved to Chilhowie. I'm sure our Smyth County Jam Festival will do the same.
