Alan Bibey was at The Masters golf tournament earlier this month, and he wasn’t playing the mandolin or swinging a club. Though he is quite good at both.
The multi-awarded bluegrass artist and member of Balsam Range was at The Masters at the invitation of a family he has come to know through a shared love of bluegrass, who have had badges for the tournament for many years.
He shared the story of his acquaintance and deep respect for the Courtney family of South Carolina, especially Henry Courtney and his wife, Millie, after Henry contacted him out of the blue 30 years ago.
“Henry Courtney passed away in 2014. I’m guessing me he first got in touch with me around ’94. The nicest guy in the wold, he loved mandolins, and was good friends with Jesse McReynolds.
He wrote me and asked me to send him some tab. I remember he really liked what I sent him because he said it was so neat.
Henry and Millie, they had come down to the Myrtle Beach area where I live maybe 20 times while he was alive. We talked a lot about golf, and played mandolin, and I would give him a lesson.
I have always been really into sports, and played golf a little when I first came down here, but not that much.
They lived in Aiken, SC, about 30 minutes from Augusta, GA where The Masters is held. He has had badges for 40 years, so who knows who all he got to see. He would ask me every year to come to The Masters with him, but I never could do it.”
Alan shared his memories of Henry, his trip to The Masters this year, and some deeply fond memories of Ronnie Bowman, whose name came up as we talked about getting to go to Augusta.
“Maybe around 2012 Henry started getting dementia, and I only got to see him a couple more times. We had become such good friends, and they were such good people. I went up there once just before he passed, and played mandolin for him.
Last year some time, on Facebook, his son Don contacted me, and said that he had noticed that Balsam Range would be playing near him, and that they would like to come. I said I would get him tickets, and he said that his mom would come too, and I was so excited to hear about her. At 95 years old, Millie was in a wheelchair, but was doing fine, and so happy to see me.
Now I’ve become close friends with Don and his family as well.
In the last few years I’ve become obsessed with golf, and I mentioned that I wish I had gone with Henry to The Masters, because I would enjoy it now. Millie said, ‘When do you want to go honey? We’ll fix you up.'”
This is where the discussion turned to Ronnie Bowman, as he and Alan had been very close friends since they were teenagers. In fact, Alan is the one who introduced Ronnie to bluegrass. At the time, Bowman was singing gospel music, and Bibey knew that his voice would be a perfect fit in bluegrass.
“Don Courtney contacted me and said that he still had four tickets, and even though the kids and grandkids like to go, I was first in line whenever I wanted to go. It was ironic because when Ronnie got killed, I had to drive to Nashville, and on the way up there, I got a message from Don, which said he had a ticket for Friday and did I want it.
When I called him back we got to talking, and he had two tickets, and that gave me a real pump up during a lonesome ride.
I had been planning to cut with Ronnie on April 8 in Nashville, and the tickets were for the 10th. I drove back home after the session, and then up to Aiken, and made it to the gate at Augusta about 6:15 a.m. to get in on Friday.
Man, Ronnie was my best friend, for so long. When I first introduced him to bluegrass, he said he didn’t really like it. I took him to fiddlers conventions, and started bringing over all my J.D. Crowe, Boone Creek, and Tony Rice records over. Before long he was hooked.
Ronnie eventually played in a bluegrass band with my dad, before he went with Lost and Found. Those were some wonderful days, with some beautiful memories.”
The recordings are for an upcoming tribute to Herschel Sizemore that Alan is putting together. He and Ronnie had written some new songs for the album, which will be included in the finished product.
In recent years, Alan has turned his sporting life largely over to golf. In high school, he was a fine baseball and basketball player, and he had continued to play in an adult men’s basketball league until the possibility of injury to his hands began to loom too largely on the horizon.
In the meantime, he has become a champion golfer, with a 7 handicap over the past four years. He is the course champion at the Heritage Golf Club in Myrtle Beach where he plays.
So his impressions of Augusta National and The Masters were intensely felt.
“The course didn’t even look real, but it was. I walked the whole course, tee to green, and it was almost 15 miles. They’ve got everything down to a science, and it was so cool to see how it all comes out. I had heard it was really hilly, but man… the next day I was really sore.
You see no divots – they come back at night and fix everything like it never happened.
Lightning hit a tree during the tournament, and the next day, they had replaced a fully grown tree with another one!
I got to watch Rory when he was on it, so I followed him for the back 9. I think he birdied every hole.
When I went in, I felt like I heard angels singing. That’s what I told my wife.
And there were no phones. You’re in the moment, and I was just thinking, ‘wow man…’ It felt like going back to when I was a kid.”
The final Masters experience was a trip to the gift shop.
“Everyone said that people usually spend $1,000 in the gift shop. I thought, no way will I spend all that. I spent $968 – but I did get gifts for a lot of people. And I did get a gnome!”
You can keep up with Alan’s comings and going by visiting the Balsam Range tour schedule, and his own with Alan Bibey & Grasstowne online.
