McLain Family Band and ORCMA Review

McLain Family a brilliant opening to ORCMA season

By: Review By Becky Ball | Special to The Oak Ridger, Oak Ridge, Tennessee
10/9/2007

McLain Family Band 2007

Let’s hope the gifted McLain Family multiplies like rabbits. On the other hand, the big family on stage Saturday night at the Heritage Fellowship Church didn’t need any help just yet. Unless you’ve been sleeping for the last six weeks, you knew that the noted McLain Family of bluegrass fame was to be the guest artist for the Oak Ridge Civic Music Association’s season-opening orchestra concert, under the magical baton of Maestro Cornelia Kodkani-Laemmli.

Well, they came and they conquered! The individual virtuosity in this group is astounding, and as a group they consistently stay at the top of their game. But what really makes them rise above the rest is their intoxicating spirit, spurred on by Raymond W. McLain, who is bound and determined to continue the lively music-making started by his father, the legendary Raymond K. McLain.

The family’s bevy of instruments included banjo, mandolin, guitar, string bass, violin (fiddle), and an assortment of percussion instruments. And let’s not forget the human voice. All in the family sing and play, and all light up the stage with personality. But the prevailing musical chemistry is sparked by Raymond W. It’s not just his skill with the banjo and fiddle, it’s his whole neighborly approach. One gets the feeling that he is developing grass roots right under our feet.

At one point Raymond turned to the full-house audience and said: “When it is time for us to play with the angels, I would imagine that they would sound like the Oak Ridge Symphony Orchestra.” It didn’t sound like idle flattery, it sounded like someone who was genuinely enjoying collaborating with another fine team of players. And didn’t you just love the way the family turned around and soaked up what the orchestra was doing? Let’s call that a real happy hour.

The orchestra showed its mettle immediately in Aaron Copland’s rhythmically challenging and exciting “Hoedown” from “Rodeo Suite.” And lovely was Lamar Stringfield’s “Mountain Song.” With these first two numbers, Kodkani-Laemmli confirmed what we already knew. She is as adept at securing fire and precision from her players as she is at gracefully molding expressive phrasings. Surely she gained another fan in the composer Phillip Rhodes, who was on hand to hear his wonderful “Bluegrass Festival” Suite for Bluegrass Band and Symphony Orchestra.

What clever instrumentation, this composition in three movements. It was chock full of classy fiddling, breakneck banjoing, beautiful melodies, terrific brass intrusions, rich harmonies, and innovative percussion. And after all that, a delightful “pluck” had the last word.

Hats off to the orchestra players for their skill with the wild and the woolly, and thumbs up for the violinists who had to fiddle around more than usual. We applaud the lovely rendering of Troublesome Creek from Stringfield’s “From the Southern Mountains.” The piece, wrapped in emotions and nostalgia, featured a beautiful melody that was passed from one family of instruments to another. It seemed to be daring each family to enrich it or stretch it out. The dare was met successfully and beautifully.

The music from the McLain Family was as American as baked beans, and it came in many stripes and colors: fast hoedowns, cozy love songs, sassy ragtime, lazy blues, and plaintive ballads. These numbers, often accompanied by the orchestra, were separated by interludes a la Moussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition.”

McLain Family Band with Cornelia and orchestra 2007

Prime picks of the fast and furious were ALL the pieces featuring the banjo, mandolin, string bass and guitar. They had more pulse than a loaded dishwasher. For sheer feel-good giddiness, the bumpy ride of “Ragtime Blues” was a pleasure, especially the surprise road blocks. The teasing stops and starts of “Back Up and Push” were fun, and the vocal harmonies throughout were so pleasing it made us want to grab a part and sing along with them.

Alice McLain White wanted to be a “Cowboy’s Sweetheart,” but instead she became the audience’s sweetheart. Yodeling put her great voice over the top. Raymond McLain did the same kind of thing with the violin. His breathtaking fiddling put him out of sight. Michael, Jennifer, and Ruth McLain, along with Al White, vigorously supported the family show in a variety of individual feats too numerous to list.

But to one fair lady, we bow way down deep. The beauty of Nancy McLain Wartman’s “Cuckoo” was in her beautiful voice, yes, but it was also in her delivery, in her focus, and in her heart. With a perfectly conceived and rendered minimal accompaniment, she was the show stopper in an unstoppable flow of bluegrass entertainment. Even restringing a banjo turned out to be entertaining.

The generous offerings from the McLain family included an encore “Higher Ground,” which featured superb vocals, including the fine voice of Al White, who previously had been too busy on his instruments.

A winning family helped a winning conductor pull off a winning opening of the 2007-2008 ORCMA season. The standing ovation was the first time we saw some empty seats in the lovely Heritage Fellowship Church, gratefully acquired at the last minute. The big crowd and the big success was good news for everybody.

Now let’s hope that the ORCMA membership will grow like rabbits!

McLain Family a brilliant opening to ORCMA season - Oak Ridger