When Wayne Taylor, the bass player for Blue Highway, found out he had colon cancer in January 2002, he accepted it with a certain amount of optimism.
“I was enough of a realist to say, ‘Well, OK, let’s do what we can do,’” Taylor said. He decided to put his fate in the hands of God.
Taylor said he ran the whole gamut of emotions when he found out the news, but he never let the discovery defeat him.
And, he did not let it stop him from playing the bluegrass music that he loved.
 “Being on the road, touring, and seeing the fans, that’s the greatest therapy in the world,” Taylor said. “Cancer is no longer a death sentence.”
Taylor said during the nine months of his chemotherapy, he would tour with the band on the weekend and on either Monday or Tuesday mornings he would go in for treatments. After a few days of resting and recovering from the huge doses he received, he would get back on the road with his band.
Taylor said the band picked up all the slack with the physical things he could not do.
“I don’t know if I would have recovered so well if I had taken the year off,” Taylor said. “People always talk about how bluegrass is a family…and I never really realized how true that was until I went through all of this.”
This Friday and Saturday, at the LSU Golf course, some major names in the family of bluegrass music will gather together to raise money for the Our Lady of the Lake Cancer Center to help others who are going through the same experiences as Wayne Taylor.
The first “Bluegrass on the Bayou” music festival was put together by John Barham, a commercial airline pilot and president of Bluegrass on the Bayou, Inc.
Barham said he wanted to bring bluegrass music to Baton Rouge, where it does not historically have a strong fan base, and combine that with his desire to help the cancer center.
Barham has brought in five Nashville acts, three of which are Grammy winners, in addition to some local and regional acts.
“I wanted people to hear the best that could possibly be heard,” Barham said.
In addition to Blue Highway, artists such as Rhonda Vincent and local act 2nd Glance Band, also will perform at the festival.
Workshops and cooking contests also will be offered at the festival, on both Friday and Saturday. Tickets are 15 dollars per day, or 25 dollars for both days for the general public. Tickets for LSU students, faculty and staff are five dollars.
Artists will give talks and instructional sessions on several different types of bluegrass instruments, including the banjo and guitar.
Also, Barham said a barbecue cookoff sponsored by Salsbury Dodge City Louisiana will take place on Friday and a grits cookoff with Chef John Folse will take place on Saturday. Walk-On’s will be selling boiled crawfish, and Friday night’s festival will end in a large fireworks display.
Barham said that even people who have never heard bluegrass music can be impacted.
“Bluegrass is, for the most part, the same today as it was yesterday,” Barham said. “That’s part of the mystique of it. That’s what makes it almost sacred in my opinion.”
Larry Stephenson, of the Larry Stephenson band, which is also performing at the festival, said that his band is proud to be a part of the festival to raise money for the cancer center.
“You can’t raise enough money for something like that,” Stephenson said. “Even if you’re not a bluegrass fan, you should come out and support the cause.”
But, Barham said since bluegrass is a less-than-popular form of music and Baton Rouge is outside what is known as “Bluegrass Country,” he encountered problems when trying to gain support for the concert.
Barham said the lack of knowledge about bluegrass music and how it will be received in Baton Rouge has made it hard to get sponsors for the festival.
“One thing I did know was that I was going to need professional help,” Barham said
Nancy Carter, the event coordinator for Bluegrass on the Bayou, stepped in to help with the festival.
Carter said the majority of the sponsorships have come from trade. She said the companies donate their time or facilities, instead of money, in exchange for a chance to sell products and be a part of the festival.
Carter said the event is entirely volunteer-driven.
“We’ve turned the front nine [of the golf course] into a working city,” Carter said.
Carter said the sales and marketing fraternity Pi Sigma Epsilon has helped with volunteer-coordination and on-campus promotion, and Pi Kappa Phi is hosting their strongman competition and providing volunteer support.
“I’ve done event coordination for 20 years,” Carter said. “And these two groups have never let me down. Without them we couldn’t do this.”
Erica Martin, the marketing director for Bluegrass on the Bayou for Pi Sigma Epsilon and international trade and finance sophomore, said the fraternity is hoping this year’s festival will be the first step in even larger festivals in years to come.
The festival will last from 3:30 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. on Friday and from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Saturday.
Barham said that he hopes, in years to come, to stretch the festival into four days, but he could not gain the support they needed this year.
But, Barham and Carter both remain optimistic about the concert, if for no other reason than the fact that it is for a good cause.
Carter said once people hear the music, it will be hard for them not to enjoy it, just as she did the first time she went to a festival.
“It’s not like ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’ in the least,” Carter said. “It’s not what I expected at all.”