Banjos and fiddles take over at BYU-Idaho’s Bluegrass night
When one hears the word bluegrass,
visions of Irish step-dancers and blonde 3-year-olds spinning across the stage in floral skirts don’t typically come to mind. But for BYU‑Idaho’s sixth annual Bluegrass Night on Feb. 24, audiences were treated to an array of talent, musically and culturally, from the evening’s five performing groups.
Guest performers, the Geslison family of Provo, Utah, and the Wilcox family of Rexburg, joined BYU‑I’s bluegrass bands Viking Station and Train Wreck, to perform at this year’s Bluegrass Night, themed Fiddling with Family and Friends.
Both BYU‑I bluegrass bands are under the direction of Eileen Wilcox.
We have the most exciting program we’ve had in the six years we’ve had bluegrass at BYU‑Idaho,
Wilcox said.
Following a pre-show performance by the Madison Middle School Fiddle Club, the program opened with bluegrass band Train Wreck, color-coordinated in red and black and completely furnished with guitar, banjo, fiddle, mandolin and a blue bass-guitar.
Train Wreck has been together since the Fall of 2006. Rebekah Walters, a sophomore from York, Pa., started playing with the band her freshman year.
We come from different places, have different backgrounds and personalities, but because of a love for bluegrass we all came together in a band,
Walters said.
Wilcox and her family followed Train Wreck on the stage. Having played bluegrass music together for about 15 years, the Terry Wilcox family band consisted of Eileen, her husband, three daughters and a son-in-law.
Following the Wilcox’s performance, its members filtered in and out, assisting the guest band, the Mark Geslison Family Band. The Geslison family consisted of Mark Geslison, his wife, Jeanette, and their three children.
Brother Geslison is the director of Folk Music Ensembles at BYU and is the founder and director of the Institute of American Music. His wife, Jeanette, is a dance professor at BYU and a native of Denmark.
The last thing I thought I would be doing is playing American folk music,
Jeanette said.
Their first song opened with a duet by 11-year-old Isaac on guitar and 3-year-old Ellie scratching on the fiddle.
My favorite was the little girl, she was so cute and did well for being three,
said Becky Christiansen, a freshman from Blackfoot, Idaho. 
