"Land of the Navajo" - Dave Kline & The Mountain Folk Band

Notes from bandleader Dave Kline: Peter Rowan, former Bill Monroe Bluegrass Boy, wrote this song, "Land of the Navajo", decades ago to perform with the group Old & In the Way, along with no less than Jerry Garcia, (Grateful Dead), on banjo, David Grisman on mandolin, Vassar Clements on fiddle and John Kahn on upright string bass. I first saw the song performed at the Eagles Peak Bluegrass Fest by Peter Rowan and his band. Tex Logan was playing upright bass that night and the band also played Tex's immortal song "Christmas Time's A Comin'", (even though it was June). Coincidentally, that was my very first bluegrass fest.
As I sat on the cool grass of the natural amphitheater sipping on a thermos of Tequila Sunrise Rowan took the stage and mid-set he launched into this song. It gave me goosebumps and an out of body experience as his high tenor voice and the story of the song wafted up into the night sky. That night changed my life. Sure, I had begun to take an interest in bluegrass music as an alternative to rock about a year earlier. TV shows like The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction and Green Acres featured bluegrass music in themes and incidental music. Then came the movies Bonnie & Clyde and Deliverance where bluegrass was doled out to not hundreds of thousands of TV fans, but millions of movie goers.
But, that night, in that field, with his voice and this song, "Land of the Navajo", a switch flipped in my brain. By next year at the same festival I had organized the band called "East Side Dave & The Pine Ridge Mountain Boys", had produced and launched a syndicated bluegrass radio show called "East Side Dave's Bluegrass Festival", had introduced myself to the then Eagles Peak Campground owner, Ernie "The Hat Guy" Meckley, and took over the job of talent booking, MC and performing act for his bluegrass fest. Eventually, East Side Dave & The Pine Ridge Mountain Boys evolved into Dave Kline & The Mountain Folk Band.
During that same year, I was introduced to Nelson & Tess Miller and their family and in short order was hired to MC and perform at a festival folk/bluegrass entrepreneuer Steve Corvaia created called The Mountain Springs Bluegrass Festival. Yes, I maintained a day job throughout all of this. Burning the candle at both ends would be putting it mildly and yet this role, this calling, this compulsion has continued for more than 45 years. I "retired" from the corporate world and multi-media business back in 2019. This has freed me up to devote most of my energy to music of all genres.
Anyway, here's the Mountain Folk version and homage to Peter Rowan, Jerry Garcia and all of those Old & In the Way guys. When we first started our relationship with bluegrass, those guys were the elders. Now, just like that, poof, 45 years later and we're kind of literally the old and in the way guys. It appears that we won't get out of the way until we just can't physically perform anymore.
This recording was made on Saturday, March 2, 2024, at Saucony Creek Franklin Station, Reading, PA, USA. Dave Kline - guitar & vocals; Ken Gehret - violin & vocals; Travis Wetzel -mandolin & vocals; Keith Kupp - banjo; Rick Schmehl - bass. Single mic = SHURE SM58.