Absolutely.
I bought groceries by playing that root-five-root routine during my time in that town, all credit to my roommate at the time, Ernie Sykes, for showing me those ropes. He was a contemporary of Eddie Stubbs, both were walking country music encyclopedias. Ernie was in Monroe's Bluegrass Boys at the time, and Eddie had just started at WSM not long before. (he had been a deejay at a big station in Northern Virginia... WAMU I think...)
As an aside, it was one Sunday afternoon down near Broadway & 2nd Av. (making some grocery money) that I first encountered this guy playing an Alembic bass, a Distillate 5-string. He was kind enough to let me play on it for a minute during a break. I had never seen anything quite like it... it was more than just a bass - this thing was a work of art. At the time, I knew a little of the storied past, but didn't realize Alembic was still in business. Wish to the world I could remember his name... never saw him or that beautiful bass again, but I never forgot that moment either.
