2014: The Year Of The Roly Poly

Well, here it is, December 31, the last day of 2014. And as Lester Flatt sang, "I've been sitting here thinking back over my life..." And what I was thinking this morning as I drank my coffee and read my favorite new author Louise Penny on my Kindle was, in fact, Roly Polys.  For me,…

The Twelve Days of Bluegrass Christmas

  On the 1st day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a banjo in a pear tree! On the 2nd day of Christmas my true love gave to me, two mandolins and a banjo in a pear tree! On the 3rd day of Christmas my true love gave to me, three violins, two…

Tip Jar Jam: I Did Not Know What Was Going On!

And what an appropriate title for the last Tip Jar Jam Blog of 2014! We had a bodacious and Brobdingnagian crowd at the jam Wednesday night. As Kathy G said, "Just mention hooch and they will come!" Yes, we did have a small holiday party with adult beverages! The entire Campbell family showed up and…

Tip Jar Jam: Sitting In Bob’s Chair

Last night's jam started off in a sedate fashion, with five banjos and two guitars circled up ready to pick. Then, while everyone was tuning up, I heard some thrashing around in the adjoining room. I did a quick calculation, ticking off students who I knew weren't coming and I couldn't quite figure out who…

Bragging On Chris

Hey, hey, hey! Our son Christopher is featured in the December issue of Bluegrass Unlimited magazine! The article talks about his band, Hardcore Grass (recently returned from a month-long tour in Australia, or Oz, as they seem to refer to it on Facebook) and also focuses quite a bit on Chris's songwriting. As some of…

Casey and Chris Christmas Album–The Backstory

Ten years ago when Casey and Chris were living in Nashville, struggling along as musicians without much ready cash, they decided to record a Christmas album for their family. After a couple of practices to decide which songs to include, the two of them gathered around Chris's computer in the living room of his apartment…

Tip Jar Jam: Play The Hand You’re Dealt

We did a lot of great jamming last night but the funniest part of the jam was when two of our doctors started talking about hip replacement surgery. I'm sure I'll get the details wrong (and you docs can laugh) but I think the conversation centered on the trendy new anterior approach--in which you only…

A Thanksgiving Story

(No bluegrass here!) Red and I, along with Chris and Casey and three-year-old Dalton, spent a lovely Thanksgiving weekend in Charlotte, N.C., with my sister Laurie, her husband David, and their son Andrew. That is, it was lovely once we got down there. We tried to leave Wednesday---in the middle of that raging snowstorm---but got…