Bluegrass Underground

This place is a hidden treasure. I wish they had some decent places to stay in McMinnville as this little town has a lot of potential. The caverns were awesome and I saw the civil wars and it was great. The staff were friendly and food prices were cheaper than what we had anticipated. If they promoted this place correctly it would give people a reason to come to this part of Tennessee besides just coming for bonaroo.

I'd heard of Cumberland Caverns since I was a kid, but only recently learned there were bluegrass music events held there. (I think I saw Ricky Skaggs on a PBS show and first learned of the Bluegrass Underground venue.)  Well, I just had to check this out!

As it turned out - - what a treat!

First off, this past Saturday posed an excellent day for the ~2 hr. drive from Nashville. (If you are on the east side of town, I highly recommend jumping off I-40E at Lebanon and taking the more scenic route along TN-26/US-70 beyond Watertown and on through Smithville.  It certainly beat a boring I-24 trip hands down!)

The event started at 1pm and we arrived about 11:45am.  This permitted a leisurely pace and no need to rush.  Parking is provided on a small gravel lot and a larger, adjacent grass field.  With the nice weather, this was no problem.  (I suspect rain could lead to a more "soggy" experience, though.)

It was just a short walk to the ticket office/souvenir shop to pick up our tickets (actually, wristbands) and then a quarter-mile (?) stroll on a wide gravel path to the cave entrance.  A line had already formed.  There were ~80 people ahead of us.  (Note:  tickets are "general admission," so early arrival is advised.)

At roughly Noon, they began admission and we walked into the cave, apparently descending 333 feet by walking along a dirt path through the cave about 1/8 mile in distance.  This took us to the main performance area - the "Volcano Room" - where there was seating for ~400 people. (see picture.)

The performance began right on time (at 1pm) and featured The SteelDrivers.  They were EXCELLENT:  Great on-stage presence, good blend of instruments and a variety of vocals that covered traditional bluegrass sound to new paces and intonations that were very pleasing!  (see picture)  The Volcano Room provided great acoustics, too!  They played for about 1:45 minutes and returned for a brief encore.

All in all, this was a thoroughly enjoyable event, with an entertaining and  satisfying group of very talented musicians!  I highly recommend the experience!

A few planning thoughts:

1.  Cave Temperature -  They claim the Volcano Room has a consistent temp of 56 degrees.  Honestly, I found it very comfortable.  I wore long pants and a short-sleeved shirt - I took a jacket, but never put it on.  (My wife brought a sweatshirt and put it on part-way through the performance.)

2.  Seating - consider bringing a seat cushion for added comfort.  The provided seating is metal chairs and a few wooden benches...Some people brought their own lawn chairs, but the terrain is a bit too uneven for those, in my opinion.
We chose seating on one of the wooden benches (gaining a somewhat elevated side-view of the stage.)  But, the ol' butt can get numb after a while on a flat wooden bench!

3.  Bathrooms - There are bathrooms provided both behind the souvenir shop, as well as at the back of the Volcano Room.  I'd suggest you use the facilities before entering the cave (appeared to be less congestion/shorter lines).

4.  Eating - We bought sandwiches and water at the concession stand (in the rear of the Volcano Room), but they only offered the standard concession stand fare.  Service was extremely slow and moderately disorganized (Note:  cash only, too).  It'd be a pity to be stuck in line when the performance begins... I'd suggest you pack a lunch and bring it in with you (permitted).

In summary, this was a very enjoyable experience. With the right performance, I will return!

Attended Bluegrass Underground for the first time this past Saturday May 22nd. Was a very beautiful drive up from Atlanta, well once we got past Chattanooga. We arrived at about 10AM and the first cave tour was at 11 so we signed up for that.

The ticket situation for the concert could have been handled a bit better. We purchased our tickets online beforehand but couldn't pick them up until 11, when the cave tour was starting. So that added a bit of stress. The cave tour ended in the Volcano Room, where the concert was held, thankfully it ended right at noon so we were able to grab seats before the people only attending the concert started to arrive just after noon.

The room was quite impressive, 333 feet below ground, about 90 feet from floor to ceiling with a giant chandelier. The concessions were all reasonably priced, cash only (we had planned ahead on that but for those who had no cash they were sadly SOL.)

The only complaint I really had was in the acts themselves (the only real traditional bluegrass act was Ricky Skaggs) and some shortened set lengths due to the PBS taping.

We will definitely return with the added knowledge that we could have brought our own food and beverages (not a giant cooler or anything). We will try and make a weekend out of it next time and stay in Nashville or Chattanooga for the night.