The Wolfpack Pickers are a group of NC State community members with a passion for bluegrass music. The group is composed of a variety of musicians who play acoustic instruments like the banjo, guitar, mandolin, bass or fiddle. Every first and third Monday, the Pickers of varying skill levels come together in Talley Student Union to jam and share their love of bluegrass music.
Bluegrass music is a form of American folk music that originated in the Southern states. It has roots in English folk music and the earliest forms of bluegrass can be traced to settlers living throughout the southern Appalachian Mountains. The subjects of early songs often reflected the daily routines and hardships faced by people living rural lives. By the 1940s, modern bluegrass had evolved into the genre known today.
Darrell Posey, a member of the group and a longtime fan of bluegrass music, described the genesis of the genre.
“Bluegrass music really began back in the late 1940s when Earl Scruggs joined Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys with a different style of banjo picking,” Darrell Posey said. “It just sped up the music that Bill Monroe was playing, and it just made it entirely different than what it has been. That’s when most people think [modern] bluegrass began.”
Susan West, the assistant vice chancellor of Technology Support Services and member of the group, talked about the significance of bluegrass, especially to NC State.
“It really grew up about the same time that rock and roll did, back in the middle of the 20th century,” West said. “It’s still going strong today, it has some really strong connections here in Raleigh. We have a big bluegrass festival here every fall. It is different from country music, it’s different from rock and roll and jazz, but it also shares some similarities. A lot of people who play bluegrass do a lot of improvising, so that’s kind of a fun aspect to it.”
The Wolfpack Pickers group was started after West and Leslie Dare, the director at DASA Technology Services, saw a need for a community bluegrass jam band.
“We’re pretty new still, we started last summer,” West said. “Leslie and I had been thinking about how it would be nice to have a bluegrass jam on campus. We wanted to be very welcoming for beginners. But we think that…students are going to enjoy that opportunity as well as faculty, staff and the community. [Leslie] discussed it with Arts NC State and the music department … so they’ve worked with us and have been very supportive for getting things started.”
The group aims to create a community for players of any skill level from around NC State to join. West described the atmosphere of a jam.
“It’s a bluegrass jamming group that people can just show up with their instrument and we’ll spend a couple hours playing traditional bluegrass songs,” West said. “The instruments that we have are guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle and bass. … With bluegrass, people typically know the same songs, and so it makes it easy for people who don’t know each other to come together and play.”
Additionally, the group has attracted musicians of all ages from NC State’s community. Vickie Posey, an NC State alum and fiddle player, is a part of the Wolfpack Pickers.
“It’s a great group, the leaders are wonderful,” Vickie Posey said. “We got to know them through another jam group that I’m involved in. … We usually come once a month … we’ve really enjoyed it and we’re really glad they’re doing it.”
Ultimately, the Wolfpack Pickers aims to provide a group for all members of the community to come together and share a love of playing music.
“We have the essentials for bluegrass music here: Banjos, fiddles, bass and guitar, and that doesn’t always happen in a band,” Vickie Posey said. “I think it’s neat that it’s here, in the student center. And Susan was saying how it’s attracted some student jammers to come and join us, and that’s neat. And we have lots of different age groups, so it’s really unique in that way.”
More information about the Wolfpack Pickers can be found on their website.
