HANDS OF MUSIC ART SERIES

The following is an article written for The Pickin’ Post, a quarterly newsletter for Bluegrass Anonymous, the greater Louisville Bluegrass Society

Why Bluegrass, Why Only Hands
Adam W. Carlos discusses his Hands of Music artwork

When asked to write about my artwork and its connection to bluegrass music, I felt it would be best to describe how I came to choose bluegrass music as the basis for my Hands of Music series. So, I will give you a brief history of why bluegrass is important to me and why I have concentrated on just musicians’ hands in my drawings. Although I have now branched out to include a few Americana musicians in the set, the idea was ultimately inspired by bluegrass.

Growing up in Sewanee, Tennessee, I was made aware of the bluegrass sound at an early age, through a fairly large picking contest called the Fiddler’s Convention. It was also a time when the rising popularity of the Bluegrass and Folk scenes led to television shows like the Beverly Hillbillies and Hee Haw. However, I remember being upset at the depiction of southerners on these shows, and developed a distorted view of bluegrass because of this. It wasn’t until college that I began enjoying the music for more than just background music at social gatherings, (there always seems to be a bluegrass band at parties in Tennessee). I also began to realize that I had always liked the music, but sometimes just didn’t appreciate the way in which it was presented. As I continued to listen to bluegrass with a new perspective and enthusiasm, I became enthralled with the energetic sound the musicians were able to create with only acoustic instruments. It wasn’t long before I had purchased a mandolin and really became a student of the music and the history of bluegrass.

At the same time that I began to teach myself to play mandolin, I was making a transition in my professional life. I gave up my residential construction business to pursue a career in the arts, with two distinct goals: I wanted to do portraits of children (which I had been doing on and off during my construction years), and I wanted to do some type of artwork based on bluegrass music. This desire came about because of an opportunity to see Bill Monroe perform in what ended up being one of his last Nashville performances. I stayed at home to finish up some electrical work for an inspection the next day and missed my last opportunity to see him live. I have a vivid memory of saying to myself “He plays in Nashville all the time. I’ll just see him the next time.”

With Bill Monroe’s passing I began to think about the history of bluegrass music and how I had just missed the opportunity to see the founder of a musical genre. Bluegrass is one of the only forms of music that we can pinpoint the starting date, and we are lucky enough to live in a time when some of the creators of the genre are still performing. Just last week at Merlefest I was able to see Earl Scruggs and Doc Watson. Their distinctive styles helped create and define the bluegrass sound. I wanted to do what I could to bring about awareness to bluegrass music and bring attention to these musicians, whom I believed deserved more attention and credit from the public.

I wanted to depict these musicians in a tasteful, unique, and creative way to speak about the music and what was special about it. Because I was learning to play mandolin, I found myself fixated on the musicians’ hands usually in amazement at their speed and clarity. My first drawing Let Me Pick One, Son was of Doc Watson. It would later be used for the Merlefest 2001 poster and program cover. In this drawing I realized I had found how I wanted to represent the music. Excluding the musicians face and concentrating only on his hands and instrument said everything I wanted to say about the musician and the musical genre. I had captured the energy of Doc’s music and his distinctive style of playing. By making the drawing larger that life I achieved the feeling of getting to see a live musical performance in a small venue, when you can see the musician’s hands create each note.

As I continued this series it has been my goal to take each of these musicians and try to convey a difference in the musical style at the source of their music: their hands. In doing so my goal is to create a musical signature of each musician. I am hoping to do this in a manner that will create awe in the viewer similar to what I have experienced getting to see these musicians perform live. Hopefully my work will inspire some people to decide they to need to get out and see some of the musical legends that are still out their performing. I guess if it came down to one sentence, I have concentrated on bluegrass music and have only drawn musicians’ hands really for one reason. It’s all about the music.

Adam W. Carlos is a second generation portrait artist from Sewanee, Tennessee. He has been displaying his Hands of Music drawings at music festivals and galleries across the country since 2001. For more information he can be contacted through his website at www.handsofmusic.com .