Live Music Fills the Lodge

Last weekend I was invited to the Lodge at Sugar Hollow Retreat to listen to E.C. Miller and the Gold Rush Review play.  While the group staying in the Lodge finished up their catered dinner, I walked around the Lodge taking pictures.  They had a beautifully catered meal, which looked and smelled amazing.  I walked outside to listen to the band warm up as the group of medical doctors talked and laughed in the dining room.

The band consisted of five members playing a banjo, guitar, violin, mandolin and cello.  They warmed up behind the Lodge as the sun set behind the mountains and the air cooled.  Every now and then the music stopped and the band laughed together like old friends.

It is fascinating to watch a group like that work together.  Through eye contact and body language, they communicate directly with one another while playing and singing.  It is a beautiful dance, and so subtle that one could easily miss it if not watching closely. 

As the sky grew darker, white tail deer came out into the opening almost as if called to listen to the music.  They meandered around, with heads bent down eating the grass as the early evening sky turned into night.  Soon the lights from the Lodge called the band inside, and their small audience in rocking chairs followed them in.

With dinner finished and the band warmed up, entertainment was soon under way.  The audience settled on the couches, chairs, and on the fireplace in the living room.  The band picked up their instruments, and one took the mic. “We’re just old mountain boys that want to play for you,” one of them humbly said as he introduced the group.  

Live mountain music radiated throughout the Lodge.  The living room was filled with smiling guests who tapped their feet with the beat.  Couples nuzzled together in front of the fireplace.  The band shuffled around in front of the single microphone, generously sharing it amongst themselves.  The entire building was warm and full of spirit.  The people, the Lodge and the music seemed to move together from the top of Sugar Hollow Retreat and all seemed right with the world.

Nights like that make it easy to understand why Sugar Hollow Retreat is ideal for groups.  It offers lots of space for eating, fellowship, and growing closer together.  Conveniently located between Boone, N.C. and Elizabethton, T.N., the Lodge at Sugar Hollow Retreat is an ideal spot for hearing live bluegrass music.