For centuries, state-sponsored cultural exchanges between nations large and small have promoted understanding, generated goodwill, and built bridges to broader collaborations in education, science and trade among peoples all over the world. The musicians engaged in cross-cultural exchanges have wedded the fine art of diplomacy with the fine art of music, and have advanced the cause of world harmony with instrumental and vocal harmonies of their own. Modern-day troubadours help eliminate preconceptions about Americans, break the ice, and stimulate dialogue person to person and nation to nation. They are no less than loyal servants in the cause of world peace and stability. 

Bob Perilla and Big Hillbilly Bluegrass are veterans of five cultural exchange missions sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. BHBG is comprised of Perilla on lead guitar and vocals, Elizabeth Day on vocals, Mike Munford on banjo and backup vocals, Tad Marks on fiddle, and Ira Gitlin on bass fiddle. Since 2005, the band has visited over 20 countries on four continents. A sixth diplomatic mission to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan proposed for July 2011 is currently being considered by the Department of State.

In a free-wheeling interview over coffee one recent morning, Perilla talked about the band’s experiences overseas, its mission, and bluegrass music as a universal art form:

Bob, in particular what is the appeal of bluegrass music as a medium of cross-cultural exchange?

Perilla: Most cultures have a rich tradition of stringed instrument music, particularly in Central Asia where there are so many interesting variants. They have the tar, and also the kamatcha , which is a spike fiddle with a skin on it like a banjo, which they spin on its axis. The high lonesome sound of mountain people that live in a harsh and sometimes unforgiving environment is universal, whether you’re talking about the Caucasus or the Appalachian Mountains. What Bill Monroe called “that high lonesome moan” speaks to people in a universal way. It is a very human reaction to the physicality and harshness of their environment. 

The brand of bluegrass that BHBG plays is hard driving and rhythmic, and combines elements of jazz, blues and traditional country music. It’s been beautifully received all over the world. The people we are visiting overseas view it this way: Here is an American band that has come thousands of miles to play for us. They greatly appreciate that effort as well as the music.

A little historical perspective on bluegrass: It goes back to Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys of the 1940s. Monroe, along with his original band members Lester Flatt on guitar and Earl Scruggs on banjo, synthesized the old-timey Appalachian fiddle tunes with other indigenous musical forms in the South, such as blues, folk and traditional country music. Bluegrass is a rhythmic framework that featured virtuoso musicians on lead melodic instruments; mandolin, fiddle, banjo and guitar. Its rhythmic system derives percussion from these melodic instruments, underpinned by the bass fiddle. Instead of percussion instruments such as drums, the melodic instruments drive the beat.

Bluegrass preceded rock and roll by only about five years, and came along when big bands were dying out due to the economics of paying large bands. Even rhythm and blues bands, the so-called jump blues bands of that era like Louis Jordan and his Tympani Five, had four or five members at most.

One more thing; from its inception, bluegrass was established as performance music to be amplified on the stage. At its birth, it did not exist in a purely acoustic state. Bluegrass was amplified with state-of-the-art sound systems greatly aided by the then-new RCA omnidirectional microphone. This enabled musicians to come forward to the microphone on leads, and step back when others took leads or sang harmony. The Martin D-18 guitar could sound nearly like the Fender Telecaster sounded when it was invented a few years later, all because of advances in amplification for both the stage, and radio performances at the Grand Ol’ Opry, and other broadcasts of jamborees and barn dances of that era.

Bluegrass is a legitimate slice of American culture that people around the world are not going to get on MTV. I think Joe Wilson, formerly with the National Council for the Traditional Arts, had it right when he said, "Bluegrass is a little bulldog of music that just won’t let go.”

Did you and the band find yourselves collaborating with local musicians, both formally and informally, in the countries you have performed? 

Perilla: Yes, the Department of State is staffed by very professional, knowledgeable and experienced people. Every day was well planned and organized. Practically every waking hour of every day, we were out in public playing music; in the town square playing and interacting informally or on-stage in performance involving entire towns and villages. Some of those collaborations we’ve done were very successful. Typically, we would sit for two or three hours with some of the local musicians and work a couple tunes up. Local musicians loved it, we loved and when we did the public performances together, the local audiences really loved it. They could see their neighbors, friends or family members up on stage with an American band. We played with a 17-piece folk ensemble in Uzbekistan.

What is it you hope to accomplish with your proposed trip to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan?

Perilla: There are a couple different things. I have a great repertoire of lyrics, probably thousands of songs that I have committed to memory. To be able to carry that music to parts of the world where it is not often heard is hugely important to me. But the big mission is to create goodwill towards the American people, and in a way that diplomatic discussions cannot and do not achieve. I have seen our modest little presentations touch people's hearts consistently, whether it was the Pygmies in the forests of the Central African Republic, or playing on-stage with Armenian musicians, or jamming in Kazakhstan. All those human connections with the audience are real.

Our very least effective performance of American music is in my humble estimation far more effective than a brigade of soldiers carrying M-16s. These are not political presentations, but people’s sole impression of American musical culture may be based solely on rap or hip-hop music, or the television show Kojak. What we do is carry a legimate slice of American culture with us to present.

Now we are just a small cog in the great diplomatic wheel, but I have complete faith in the intellect and capabilities of the State Department. We are very proud to be able to convey American culture in a positive fashion to the world at large. It’s a great pleasure to wake up in Central African or Central Asia, or Croatia, and say hey, we’re going to play music to people who really like it, and get paid a little bit to do it. And look, I could never afford to go to Africa or to Central Asia any other way. 

I will not tell you that we are the only band qualified to do this, it’s simply not true. But we are in fact very well qualified because on a good day, we are very good musically, but much more important is we can process and achieve the reality of the diplomatic mission. When we are on an overseas mission, if we are not in our room brushing our teeth, we are literally on stage and represent American goodwill to the person on the street. Now, Foggy Mountain Breakdown (song) speaks for itself and people respond to it. In closing, I am not the world’s most talented musician but I just never gave up, and to be able to do these things at my ripe old age is a great honor. I feel very privileged.

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In addition to their extensive work on overseas diplomatic missions, Bob Perilla and Big Hillbilly Bluegrass are also considered de facto "artists in residence" at Madam's Organ Blues Bar located at 2461 18th St. N.W. Washington, D.C.  BHBG performs there every Wednesday evening to their large and loyal following, which begs the question: Why travel thousands of miles to Africa or Central Asia when you can witness this wonderful slice of Americana right in your own backyard?    

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