We heard this morning from Rainer Zellner, the German bluegrass promoter who had Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver in for a central European tour this month. He reports that the tour went well, and that he successfully deposited the band on a train to the airport, and they made it back in one piece.
“
Doyle and the gang are back in the USA after a very successful tour. Audiences went wild everywhere and Doyle’s style of bluegrass went over very well with them and with media. There were many fans that showed up and talked to him, asking for autographs on CD and vinyls, and sharing stories on how and when they had seen him before. Quite a few of the venues were cultural art centers that pesent all sorts of music. Many in the audiences saw a bluegrass band for the first time-and were enthusiastic about their discovery.
Because workers on the railroad were on strike again, the last of the four shows were done on a rented bus by me. It was very inspiring to be on the road with such a professional and highly musical band. Needless to say, they all are wonderful people and we all had much fun traveling southern Germany to Switzerland.
Ravensburg was the last German show, a nice old city with a typical German town center. Enough shops and a local market to serve the musicians on bringing presents home. The tour ended in Willisau/Switzerland at a wonderful festival in a barn-like agricultural museum in a beautiful rural part of the country. The festival is very well organised and the band played two hot sets in front of 500+ enthusiastic bluegrass music fans. A true highlight was the 10.30 a.m. Gospel set on the smaller stage Sunday morning before we all traveled to the express train station in Basel/Switzerland where I left the band.
They caught a 11:00 a.m. flight back home yesterday and arrived safely.”
Well done, Rainer! Large-scale bluegrass evangelism continues apace.
