Facing South

Estill Nicholson

     I grew up in Kentucky, lived there for 30 years then moved to Florida where I raised my family. My wife and I moved to Atlanta in 1991, expecting to work here a few years and retire back to Florida. I retired but never moved because we had fallen in love with our home, friends and the city.

     As I contemplated retirement I panicked at the thought of spending time as a woodworker, attempting to paint landscapes on canvas, or pursuing other solitary hobbies. I decided it might be fun to learn to play a musical instrument, so I bought a guitar and a beginner’s chord book and got started. A friend heard about all this and suggested I might enjoy bluegrass music and took me to a couple venues.

     At one of those venues I met performer and teacher Sonny Huston and he became my teacher. His patience and skill helped me to gain enough proficiency to eventually sit in on the jams with accomplished musicians and that became another avenue of fun and skill building. Soon Mike Soucie and I started a practice group which ultimately became the Facing South Bluegrass Band. We have been together since 2000, playing festivals, parties, community events and with family and friends.

     I have been so fortunate to meet hundreds of people in the Bluegrass community, both performers and fans, many have become good friends. These friends are from every walk of life, religion, educational attainment and financial standing. Those things don’t seem important when you are teaching each other a new song or tune or being awed by someone‘s musical virtuosity.

     While guitar is my primary instrument I play the doghouse bass and mandolin and sing lead with the group, occasionally adding some harmony as well.

     I always wanted to learn how to play a musical instrument but the best that I could do was learn to play the flutaphone (recorder) in elementary school. I sang in the acapella choir in high school but even though there were 50 other kids in the choir I always thought that the audience would be looking at me so I would have panic attacks before the performances.

     I was first exposed to bluegrass music on the TV show Hee-Haw in the 60s. I thought if I ever got a chance to play an instrument it would be a banjo. I got my chance when I first moved to Georgia in 1971 and went and bought a banjo. It was very slow going and my wife made me buy a mute to put on it so she wouldn’t have to suffer through the endless practice needed to learn the rolls.

     Back in the 70s, the Yellow Daisy Festival at Stone Mountain Park had a bluegrass contest and that was my first exposure to parking lot picking. I was fascinated by the idea that people who had never met before could walk up to each other and play a tune together like they had been doing it forever. Unfortunately, I was too busy raising a family and I had to put the banjo down.

     In the late 90s I was finally able to come back to the banjo and sadly it was not like riding a bike. Both me and my fingers had forgotten everything we had learned and I had to start all over. Along about that time I met Estill and we began playing music together and getting into jams wherever folks would let us. We started picking regularly with the group that became Facing South and the rest is history.

     I enjoy playing the banjo the most but can hack away on the upright bass when I have to. I prefer singing harmony but occasionally will take the lead on a song or two. I am having the most fun when I am playing outside with others in a really good jam.

     My parents grew up in a coal mining community in Northern Pennsylvania, moved to upstate NY after WWII and got me started making music on the accordion in the first part of the 1960’s. I played polkas and waltzes as a teenager at an occasional wedding and still have the one accordion that my parents bought me new in 1962.

     After about 6 years of daily practice, I put it aside only to bring it out on rare occasions since then. I moved about 15 times throughout the 70s and 80s and finally made it to Georgia in 1992. Not too long after that, my 9 year old daughter took up playing the banjo. This is when I decided to try my hand at the fiddle – taking lessons along with my daughter for 3 years and very much enjoying my introduction to the world of old time and bluegrass music!

     I joined SEBA in 1998, frequent the Swannanoa Gathering in North Carolina most every year, and continue to pursue enjoyment of both bluegrass and old time musical venues, play for square dances and "live to jam". I have played with various local Georgia old time bands including Moonshine Vaccine, Over the River and Always Something as well as bluegrass bands including Lost Mountain, Bluegrass Sound and Facing South. Although my main instrument is the fiddle, I do like to sing – lead or harmony, and can play a little old time style banjo and the upright bass as well.