Pickin' in the Pines offers musicians a place to play with friends

By KARI KRAMER | East Texas Edition

Left: Mike Carroll, of Garland, tunes up his guitar during the recent music festival event near Mineola. -- Staff photo by Kramer

Oct. 7, 2004 - For 11 years, the Pickin' in the Pines musical festival in Pine Mills, has been a gathering for musicians and their strings.

T-Roy Miller and his parents Dick and Geri started the festival to celebrate T-Roy's love of music with others like him. Over the years, the festival, held twice yearly on the family's property, has grown and now includes stage appearances by established artists.

"Because of me being involved in music, we started having these biannual parties - just a jam session. Then we threw someone on stage and it grew from that," said T-Roy who turned 27 at this fall's Pickin in the Pines gathering. T-Roy plays guitar professionally.

Fifteen acres are used for the festival. One food vendor is on location to cook up hamburgers, fajitas, and breakfast items. A shower building on the premises allows campers to stay clean throughout the three day affair. Several people camp-out on the property. Dogs, children, tents, RV's, alcoholic beverages, campers and musical instruments are welcome. T-Roy said the atmosphere provides people with the chance to listen to stage music in the evenings and spend the rest of the day relaxing and playing music with other campers.

"The spirit of the atmosphere is more laid back. A lot of festivals are non-stop music and you don't get a chance to take a breath and relax," said T-Roy.

Mike Carroll of Garland has traveled to Pine Mills for three years. Carroll has played guitar for 35 years. He says he usually attends about eight musical camping sessions, like Pickin in the Pines, every year.

"It's a good crowd, good music, and the trees are a natural amphitheater," said Carroll, who plans to continue attending Pickin in the Pines.

Dick and Geri help T-Roy pull-off the biannual festival. Neither of them plays a musical instrument, but said the planning effort is worthwhile when they see all the people who attend and enjoy it so much.

People from across the state of Texas gather to listen and create music with strings. Banjos, guitars, fiddles and mandolins are only a sample of the instruments that can be found at Pickin in the Pines.

Usually, three well-known artists will entertain the crowd. Last year, Guy Clark from Nashville was a top headliner who brought in a large crowd. Clark is originally from Texas. This fall, Slaid Cleaves, a native of Maine who now resides in Austin, entertained the crowd with his guitar for the second official time, but has played for the Miller's on repeated occasions.

"I'm playing for friends. They take care of me up here, they treat me like an honored guest," said Cleaves, who has made several CDs.

The gatherings are consistently successful, with usually over 200 people in attendance throughout the weekend. Regulars are known for coming regardless of the weather conditions.

T-Roy credits the consistency with the camaraderie and positive attitudes of those in attendance.

"You don't have to deal with the big obnoxious crowds that you run into at other places," said T-Roy.

Most of the promotions are done through word of mouth, fliers and information is also available at T-Roy's website, www.T-RoyMiller.com. The Miller's will begin planning next spring's Pickin in the Pines when they are through cleaning up from the latest event.

T-Roy is proud of what the gathering has grown in to.

"It's the evolution of this. We pull this off ourselves. I anticipate my children to be doing this," said T-Roy, who added, "If they turn out good."