Poplar Lounge: The Place for a Bluegrass Fix

" It's like this, if you like your bars clean, new and populated with a 'clientele' as opposed to a 'crowd' you will not feel very at home in the 'Lounge.' If you like your bars old, beat-up and with that very slight element of danger, this is your kind of "

By Dave Smith

One might be led to believe that bluegrass and Memphis have about as much in common as Steven Siegal and the Cannes Film Festival. But that's not exactly the case.

If you've got a hankering for that high lonesome sound, some Sunday evening stop by the World Famous Poplar Lounge and spend some time with the River Bluff Clan. Like bluegrass shows from Telluride to the late Bean Blossom, the atmosphere is loose, friendly and never short of surprises.

The River Bluff Clan, comprised of some of the cities finest players of everything from country to mainstream roots-rock (Jimmy Davis and Tommy Burroughs just to name a couple), is more than just a bunch of guys with a casual interest in bluegrass as a sideline, they actually have a serious reverence for the style Bill Monroe fathered. They're tight without being boring, so between songs there's plenty of beer drinking and audience banter.

The tunes are widely varied. We're talking covers that include everything from New Grass Revival to Allison Krauss to grassed-up Rolling Stones. The playing usually starts around 7 p.m., give or take half an hour, and is comprised of two long sets. The first set is pretty much bluegrass and bluegrass only. Set number two leans more heavily on country rock, with covers ranging from Creedence to Jackson Browne. Either way the material is done well and it's not the kind of stuff you hear everyday.

And if you've never been to the Poplar Lounge you're in for an interesting experience. It's like this, if you like your bars clean, new and populated with a "clientele" as opposed to a "crowd" you will not feel very at home in the "Lounge." If you like your bars old, beat-up and with that very slight element of danger, this is your kind of place.

Drinks include beer, Cokes (or soft drinks - in the south every soft drink's a "Coke") and water. So if you want booze by all means bring it. Food on most days includes burgers and the like, but on bluegrass night you get ribs or chicken.

The crowd is made up of everything from bluebloods to rednecks but all seem united under the same halo of hootenanny. Drop by some Sunday evening. The cover's only a few bucks and the party starts early and ends early (around 10 p.m. or so) so you can still make it to work or whatever on time Monday morning.