Last Day of the Year

I'm reading Careless In Red by Elizabeth George and ran across a seemingly random mention of bluegrass. In a list of the contents of the murder victim's car was "a bluegrass CD". I found it especially surprising since, although the author is American, the book is set in England with all English characters, and the…

Philosophy

Sometimes you can find philosophy in playing music. And who could talk about that better than Bill Monroe himself, the master of pithy words and music too? Here's the story: One day at a bluegrass festival back in the 1970s, people were listening to a modern hot-shot mandolin player on stage. He played up the…

A Poem

Ellen, guitar student, photographer, and one of my current Misfits, had been kind enough to let me post an “almost song” she has written. She’s still working on the melody, so right now it’s still in the form of a poem. Her husband, Mark, is also a banjo student and Misfit, which is why the…

Busted!

First: Christmas Gift! As we say down in Georgia. (Since I said it first, that means you each owe me a gift!) Also, Happy Hanukkah, a joyful Solstice, and hope you’re having the best holidays ever, no matter how you are celebrating. (And I know my friends in Portland are celebrating with snow and ice!…

Christmas Eve

This is a post I wrote last year for the folks over at the Bluegrass Blog. This year our Christmas Eve will be sadly different, since there will be no party at Dalton's shop. We'll just have to party twice as hard at David's! Christmas Eve for my family has always been about playing music.…

Banjo Backup: How to Do It (more about listening)

When I listen to quite a few modern bluegrass bands, one thing I hear is the banjo. Playing and playing. Loudly. All the time. Through the vocals. Through the choruses. Through the other instruments' breaks. And most of the time, the banjo player doesn't seem to be listening to the rest of the band, but…

Historic Discovery

Today, Murphy, through dilligent searching, turned up a song that has been in our family since she was a child. "There's a Little Cabin," which I recorded on my Real Women Drive Trucks CD, is a lullaby that Murphy's mother sang to her, and that Grandmother sang to me when I was little. As I…

Small-Town Fiddle and Banjo Contest, 14 years ago

I was looking over a few old photos of us today, and found these which were taken several years ago, at a contest held in a small town near here. Casey (age 16) and I (age unspecified) played in the banjo and fiddle parts of the contest, respectively. Now, generally speaking, we don't enter contests…

Fiddle Stuff

Suzi, one of my fiddle students, has graciously allowed me to post the list of tunes she is working on. She has taken up fiddle at the age of 71 and is doing very well. And what makes this especially interesting to me is that she’s not following the “normal” path for a beginning fiddle…

A Musical Memory

If you're interested in bluegrass trivia, I was looking through some old photos and came across this one from 1987, which shows me as a temporary member (for one set) of the Johnson Mountain Boys. Band personnel are (l-r): Richard Underwood (banjo), Earl Phillips (bass), David McLaughlin (mandolin), myself on guitar, and Eddie Stubbs (fiddle).…