The sound of bluegrass

A speaker shrieks and Jim Granger jerks like he's been stung between the shoulders.

He hits a knob to choke the noise but still has a bigger problem to fix. One of the main speakers at the Bluegrass on the Comstock in Virginia City concert is damaged.

"Yeah, it's the equipment," said Granger, 46, who sat in front of the soundboard Sunday wearing a "Dad Rocks" T-shirt. "It's dying, that's what it is."

Granger turned down the sound on the damaged speaker as Alhambra Valley played that morning, but it still gargled behind the singers and their instruments - a guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin and upright bass.

The band stopped in the middle of its set to ask the crowd if it should break to have the problem fixed. Granger told them he could replace it, but it would take a while to set up.

The band decided to keep playing.

Equipment problems, Granger said, are the worst thing about managing the sound system, especially at a bluegrass concert.

"It comes to the point of being finicky because you have to keep them clear," said Granger, whose full-time job is at a communications company. "It is a little more earwork to doing a bluegrass band than doing a rock band."

Bill Naylor, who helped set up the concert, said running the sound is important at a bluegrass show because most instruments are acoustic and rely on the sound operator to blend all the parts of the music correctly.

Unlike rock musicians with electric instruments, said Leon Evans, bluegrass musicians can't just turn up their instruments if they need to be louder.

"Here, it really comes down to the sound guy," said Evans, who helped run the concert.

Granger has worked on soundboards since he was 15 and played in 1970s rock band. He couldn't do it as much when he was in the Navy for six years, but "I brought my guitar and got in a lot of trouble with it."

He is too busy to be in a band now, but said the soundboard is close.

"It's just like playing an instrument, a piano or a guitar," he said, because if (bands) are going to sound good, I have to do it from back here. They can be the greatest band in the world and I can push a button and totally sink them - totally ruin the whole show."

Granger said he plays music for fun when he has can. Sometimes he will set up all the equipment he owns, invite friends over and play music with them on his five-acre property in Fallon.

"It's a pretty interesting rock show," he said.

• Contact reporter Dave Frank at dfrank@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.