Let's go to the ball

Driving up to a big, cheap motel in the mountains. Meet BP and Mel when I get out of the car. We walk up a cement stairway towards their room. But instead of going there, we cross a wide, grassy courtyard. There are artists selling their work and musicians playing. We pass two women, one playing a homemade guitar made from small wooden planks. The other is playing some kind of stand up bass that doesn’t have a body. They sing as they play and it is a beautiful sounding country song. We walk inside and see a store with carved tribal instruments. There is a face above the strings. A guy strums one and starts singing the same song as the women. I can’t tell if he is inspired by them or making fun of them, but the song has lost it’s magic for me. Further inside we pass a ballroom full of slot machines and blackjack tables. It looks likes it’s set up for a convention. Someone says the name of the room we are looking for and I see a sign ahead hanging from the ceiling. It is a small arrow that has the name of our ballroom on it in gold letters.