Feb 29
Adcocks close 2007 with Japanese tour
Eddie & Martha Adcock onstage at Ichibankan, a converted ancient sake manufacturer in Fukuoka. Photo by Hiromi Chida
Eddie & Martha Adcock, Tom Gray and Japanese country radio personality Hiromi Chida backstage at Ichibankan
Tom Gray onstage at Ichibankan in Fukuoka. Photo by Hiromi Chida.
Eddie & Martha Adcock with Hiroshi Asada (The Tourmaster) onstage at Fukuoka during the last stop on the Adcocks’ sold-out seven-city tour of Japan. Photo by Hiromi Chida.Eddie and Martha Adcock closed out 2007 with their very first tour of Japan — and discovered that their high standing in the bluegrass realm, along with their songs, vinyl albums, tapes and CDs, had preceded them long ago to the Orient.
“Absolutely, our reception in that country couldn’t have been more warm and enthusiastic,” Martha says in a lengthy discourse of the trip that’s part of the Adcocks’ latest e-mail newsletter. “Japan has been a hotbed of bluegrass music activity for decades, and one of the main catalysts was the recordings of the ‘classic’ Country Gentlemen (Eddie Adcock, John Duffey, Charlie Waller and Tom Gray), who are still revered and whose music and personalities have quite a large number of fans. Among many bluegrass musicians, there remains a love for — and adherence to — the sound and repertoire of the classic-period Gents.”
Martha said the Japanese tour, which included several sold-out concerts spanning many corners of the country, was a long-awaited dream for Eddie.
“… this trip was the realization of a dream held over the years, ever since he, John Duffey and Charlie Waller with Ed Ferris had been invited to play Japan in the mid-late 1960s,” Martha said. “But they never went. The twist to that story is that Eddie, reaching far back under the front seat of the Gents’ tour vehicle one day, found an expired contract to play Japan. According to Eddie, ‘In those days, Duffey was so afraid of flying that he
simply hid the contract. I was really disappointed to miss that opportunity. Of course, later with the Scene, Duffey decided he loved to fly! Well, for years after the contract incident I still wanted very much to go to Japan, and although opportunities arose many times, for different reasons it never worked out…until this trip. I had such a fabulous time there that I guess it was worth the wait.’”
Martha was astounded at the many avid fans who knew not only the Country Gentlemen’s material, but also the songs she and Eddie have recorded as a duo over the years. “We all autographed large numbers of career-spanning CD’s and collectors’ albums as well as pictures, magazines, instruments, t-shirts, et cetera. Would you believe that we even had a few squealing, sobbing young groupies? It’s hard not to enjoy being treated like bluegrass demigods,” beamed Martha. The trip, which took place in December, was the climax of the Country Gentlemen’s 50-year anniversary. Eddie and Martha were accompanied by bass player Tom Gray and his wife Sally. According to Martha, they “toured the length and breadth of that lovely country for nearly two weeks, playing to sold-out houses each night.”
Gray and the Adcocks were joined on stages throughout the country by several Japanese musicians who they have met over the years, including longtime friend Akira Otsuka who played mandolin on several shows. The Adcocks and Gray also played several concerts with “The Gentlemen” a Japanese band that performs Country Gentlemen classics.
One show in Kobe featured a reunion of the legendary Bluegrass 45, which includes Akira Otsuka. Bluegrass 45 was the first Japanese bluegrass band to tour America.
“It was surely a high point of our musical careers,” Martha says as she reflects on the trip. “And, as an appropriate cap on the 50th-anniversary year of the Country Gentlemen, it would be hard to beat.”
Eddie & Martha will be playing a March 15th show at the Rivervalley Community Center in Moscow, OH.
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