The Island Hopper: Bluegrass shines on

Can a local band draw out a packed roomful of people to see them play, create an all-night party, and put on a musical jam that has audience members literally dancing in what little aisles are left in a standing-room-only bar? You bet your bluegrass.

When local bluegrass pickers the WildFlowers played one of their rare-as-Bigfoot sightings shows this past Saturday night at the Little Bar in Goodland, music-lovin' folks came from Goodland, Marco, Naples, Fort Myers, and Everglades City to grin with the pickers.

Their last public appearance was nearly two years ago, at the 2004 Goodland Boat Parade, because of scheduling difficulties and other commitments of the four avocational members: Bill Koetting (BK) on upright bass; Renee Wilson on dulcimer and guitar; Joanne Hammond on guitar, dulcimer, and banjo; and Scott Ritter on mandolin and guitar.

Since then, local venues and music lovers have been pleading with the group to make more appearances. The Little Bar finally coaxed them out of seclusion with an open ticket: "You tell me when and I'll clear the calendar," they were told, says BK.

Which is quite a cry from the band's first appearance there about ten years ago, when the nervous bar staff secretly hired fiddle wizard J. Robert to "happen" in and play along with the band "to make sure everything would go well," Koetting relates with a laugh.

For the Little Bar gig this past weekend, the band was joined by fiddler and mandolin player Steve Rosen, who runs the Old Town School of Music in Chicago. And as the evening wore on, other local players joined in: finger-picker Jon Garon, owner of Naples's My Favorite Guitars; J. Robert with his fired-up fiddle; young Tony Dorris on blues guitar, and a mysterious banjo player identified only as Randy.

This is, in fact, your grandma's bluegrass — generally classic, pure bluegrass music by the likes of the Stanley Brothers, Steve Earle and Robert Earl Keen — as well as stuff so old, it's just part of the bluegrass lexicon and nobody knows its origins.

But don't think you can catch zzz's while the band quietly strums out mellow old-timey tunes. Bluegrass is a peppy brand of music in general, and especially as played by the WildFlowers — thumping bass, singing fiddle, bouncing acoustic guitar, and sweet, sweet harmonies largely courtesy of "the girls," Renee and Joann.

The evening turned into a jamming musical free-for-all, with Garon picking out old Doc Watson tunes and some of his patented spoofs (like "Hey, It's Good to Be On Drugs Again," to the old John Denver tune), J. Robert tearing up fiddle solos, and band members switching instruments and singing duties so fast and often it grew hard to keep track.

It seems, judging from the enthusiastic turnout and participation, that bluegrass is becoming the hottest thing since Bill Haley turned music on its ear.

Check out this sampler local lineup: Every Friday night at the Coffee Beanery on U.S. 41 in north Naples is an open bluegrass jam from 7 to 10 Buffalo Chips in Bonita Springs offers up the American Folk Trio, a traveling-troubador type of band who strolls through the crowd playing bluegrass, folk, and Americana music Saturday and Monday evenings.

The Acoustic Music Society of Southwest Florida offers a bluegrass lineup the first Sunday of every month at the Lee County Civic Center from 2 to 5 The Snowbird and Cracker Bluegrass Reunion festival was just held in Arcadia last week at Craig's RV Park, which also hosts the Southwest Florida Bluegrass Association Jam Festival every month The "Bluegrass Music Cruise" leaves from Port Canaveral at the end of February for a nine-day cruise featuring a nonstop lineup of bluegrass musicians The Koreshan State Historic Site in Estero is host to the Bluegrass Jamboree in March Flamingo Island flea market holds a weekly bluegrass jam every Sunday that's "crawling with amateur musicians," as Scott Ritter puts it.

Ask a picker about the seeming resurgence in the genre's popularity, and you'll get a passel of theories, from satellite radio exposing more people to the music genre, to the Coen Brothers' movie O Brother Where Art Thou waking people up with its classic bluegrass sound track, to Jon Garon's simple explanation: "People really like it." It's just music, pure and simple — literally — and maybe that's the appeal: no bells and whistles, no fancy studio engineering or technology. It's uniquely American. And it can be such a happy thing to hear, with its vibrant energy and bouncy little beat. (Remember the old Steve Martin sketch about being unable to be unhappy listening to the banjo? "Oh, death, and grief, and sorrow, and murder," Martin sang gaily as he picked out the tune on his banjo.) If you want in on the growing bluegrass movement, head over to the WildFlowers' next appearance, February 18 at the Goodland Boat Parade, or March 5 at Alva's Palm Bluegrass Festival at the Caloosahatchee Park.

Or check out the Flat Mountain String Band February 18 and 19 at the annual Native American and Pioneer Festival at Collier-Seminole State Park. Or head up to Buffalo Chips for the American Folk Trio; or go on up to the Friday-night jams at the Coffee Beanery. Log on to southwestfloridabluegrass.org, the Web site for the Southwest Florida Bluegrass association, to find out who's playing anywhere in Florida, when; or the Friends of Florida Folk home page at www.foff.ort; or www.bluegrassworld.com.

It's becoming a blue, blue world out there, folks. Get on out there and see why the grass is becoming bluer on the other side.