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RFD-TV and RFDHD are now proudly distributed by over 625 small, independent cable operators, along with these loyal distributors
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Mercers Brings Bluegrass to Nation on RFD-TV
Watching the Cumberland Highlanders' Show is an experience of the
senses, mind, and spirit.
For the first time ever, the music of rural America has been combined
with the natural rustic environment to create a television show that
aims to preserve not only traditional American bluegrass and mountain
music, but also the way of life that it sprang from. Producer and
creator, Dr. Campbell Mercer, has always had a love for rural America
and its ways and music, especially the music of Bill Monroe, known as
the Father of Bluegrass. Co-producer Julie Ann Mercer met her future
husband Campbell at a blue grass show, her first, in 1980 when Campbell'
s band was playing a gig in Omaha. Thus began a partnership that would
carry the couple on a wild ride through veterinary clinic ownership,
band leadership, cattle farming, radio show production and television
production, and finally, parenthood. Married for 28 years, they have
three children, Natalie Rose, Jenny Lynn, and Joseph Carter.
LOVED IT SINCE CHILDHOOD
Mercer began listening to old-time music while
a baby in Kentucky. His knowledge and love of the music continued to
grow through his childhood thanks in large part to the support and
encouragement of his family. "My brother, Eric was a great teacher and
influence. He played a great guitar and had a rich baritone voice. I
always wanted to sing and play as well as he could. While Eric was in
Vietnam I started playing his instruments and decided I was going to be
a country musician", Mercer said. His other brother, Chris, also loved
old-time mountain music and provided him with an endless source of
records to learn from and most importantly, provided encouragement as
did their parents.
MORE THAN JUST THE MUSIC
Mercer reflected recently from the porch of Bill Monroe's boyhood home
and birthplace on Jerusalem Ridge in Rosine, Kentucky. "I love old-time
ballads and fiddle tunes and sacred numbers and the blues and I love how
Bill Monroe expressed himself in his version old-time music." Mercer
says Monroe was his boyhood musical hero, "not only because of the he
played but also because of his steadfast in the old ways, in himself,
and in keeping music pure.
"The music Mercer plays now and the TV show that he produces follows
that same pattern. "Blue Grass music is about expressing yourself
honestly and simply. It's about getting along with each other and giving
everything you can to your fans and to the next generation. It is about
preserving farms and forests and mountains and a way of life. In no
other music will you see people in their nineties and people under the
age of ten playing on the same stage in the same band. The music is a
generation bridge."
The Mercers' love of rural America has created a unique drawing card for
the Cumberland Highlanders' Show: It is videotaped almost entirely
outside. "If a cow moos, a dog barks or a child screams with delight
right in the middle of a song being sung by a Grammy winner, that is
great, we leave it in there", Julie explains.
The relaxed style has won the show and the music many converts. Many of
the Cumberland Highlanders' fans admit that they didn't fully appreciate
blue grass music at first but were drawn by the scenery and the laid
back nature of the musicians. After watching a few shows, the music grew
on them, too. "It's about blue grass saving the world, that's all," Doc
Mercer says with a grin. "No matter what we do in life, we all have to
do our best to make the world better for the rest of us and for the
future."
Guest acts on the show include bluegrass patriarch and Grammy winner Dr.
Ralph Stanley and Grand Ol' Opry member Jesse McReynolds. The Cumberland
Highlanders themselves are notable bluegrass performers and several are
former members of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys, including co-host Wayne
Lewis. Many guests are traditional bluegrass musicians and many play
music that was part of the roots of blue grass. Many acts are famous,
and many acts are not famous. If Mercer has his way, that will change.
"There are so many great traditional entertainers that are not getting
the exposure they deserve and the Cumberland Highlander's Show on RFD
aims to change that," he says, "and it's working."
MODEST BEGINNINGS
The show's growth is largely due to the Mercers meeting the right people
at the right time. In 1992, the Cumberland Highlanders teamed up with
local hospital employee and videographer, Roy Steck, who videotaped
dozens of songs by the band for broadcast on the Manchester, KY,
hospital's closed circuit channel. Roy and Campbell felt there wasn't
much on TV that a sick person can watch and then expect to get better.
Co-host Wayne Lewis is another example. Mercer followed Lewis when he
was lead singer for Bill Monroe. "Things turned out that Wayne was able
to join the TV Show in 1998, which was dream come true for us." Wayne
has been integral in attracting other Blue Grass Boys to the Cumberland
Highlanders Show.
Doc Mercer continued to think of ways of getting the music out to more
people. In 1996, he called Joey Kesler, the owner of upstart hometown TV
station WBOZ in London, KY. Kesler had expressed a desire to broadcast
blue grass music to his viewers and Mercer says that with that phone
call, "I felt that with my love of the music and Roy's love of
videography, and the talent of the Cumberland Highlanders that we were
going to be pushing the start button." The Cumberland Highlanders' Show
was launched in July, 1996.
After the show's initial success on WOBZ and then a regional CBS
station, Mercer accepted an offer to take the Cumberland Highlanders'
Show to a national cable channel, the Outdoor Channel, where it remained
for three and half years before moving to RFD-TV. Viewers have one
common impression about the Cumberland Highlanders: they transport you
away from your living room and make you a part of another time and
culture. And as Dr. Ralph Stanley says, "It doesn't hurt that Mercer and
the gang always seem to be having a ball."
Contact Information
Campbell Mercer
Executive Director
Jerusalem Ridge Foundation
270-274-9181
docmercer@earthlink.net
www.jerusalemridgefestival.org
www.crossingthecumberlands.com
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