Here's an accounting of our Bluegrass (and some other) activities for the month of May, 2012, just after they occur. Scroll down to reach the earliest activities of the month.

Friday night we went up to the Temple Hill Bluegrass Party. The first group up was three very young kids, two playing mandolins and one playing banjo. Mary will have pictures posted soon on the "Bluegrass Country Pictures, Page 4" page, so keep an eye out in the next few days. The second jamming group up was comprised of Jerry White, Bob and Barbara Guinn, Warren Shelton, Eddy Ray and a fellow with the first name of Dean ( I always seem to forget his last name....sorry). Jerry and Dean played flatops, Eddy picked the mandolin and Warren played an electric hollow body bass. They sang a lot of old country music. The last group to perform was the group I was in. It consisted of Terry Tester playing guitar, Tim Decker on banjo, Frank Rogers on mandolin, and later joined by Warren Shelton on bass and Jerry White on guitar and then later than that Dean took over the bass playing while I played fiddle the whole set. We played for two hours. There were several Cake Walks and a whole lot of dancers hitting the floor and kickin' it up. We all had a great time, a great feed and a great jam session. It was one of the most enjoyable music sessions I've had at Temple Hill in a real long time.
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Thursday night, May 17th, Mary and I went to the Red Barn to listen to The Blue Ridge Cutups which is a band comprised of Jason Skinner, banjo; Bob Nelson, Homer Ball and Tim Decker on guitars and Erik Larkey on standup bass. We enjoyed their performance very much as did the rest of the audience. While the first act, Jonesborough Jim, was on, I chose to stay out in the parking lot and jam with a few pickers who showed up. Jamming with me were: Terry Tester and Edison Wallin on banjos; Ron Lewis, mandolin; Jerry White and Void Hopson on guitars, and me playing fiddle. Then Tim Decker and Bob Nelson showed up and added a lot to the group before having to go in to the Red Barn to play. It was great to see so many of our friends again. We always enjoy going out for an evening of music and fun.
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Tuesday, May 15th, after spending quite a while at the Senior Center in Erwin, in future preparation for our planned trip to Northern New York, we took the advice of many locals and had our car's engine oil changed and the tires rotated at the "Erwin Express" on the Martins Creek Road in Erwin. While we were waiting for the mechanics to finish the work, Mary and I walked over to the little bridge that spans Martins Creek. When I looked down I couldn't help but notice a large (approximately 48 -54 inches in length) heavily-bodied diamondback watersnake laying on the rocks, very much alert and looking for fish. Even though we were 15 feet above it, our motions were detected and he quickly raced into the water and disappeared under the bridge. We've seen several Copperheads, one Gartersnake and now this Diamondback Watersnake in the past year that we've lived here. One stark difference in the Adirondack Mountains of Northern New York and these mountains here in Eastern Tennessee is in the body length that snakes attain. I'm told by friends here that Black Snakes can stretch past seven feet! In any event, they all serve a purpose and with the proper amount of respect for them and their environment, we can all live in harmony.
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Monday night, Mary and I chose to stay home and not travel to Elizabethton to the Sunshine Market for the weekly Bluegrass jams. It was raining hard and the lightning was striking all over and we reasoned that not only would it be poor driving conditions but also poor picking conditions as we much prefer picking outside. So we stayed home and she busied herself with unfinished projects and I practiced fiddle tunes. It was a productive evening after all.
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Sunday morning and early afternoon, May 13th, Mother's Day, I played at The Farmer's Daughter with the band "Eddy Ray and The Flint Creek Boys". Just an estimate (that I believe to be accurate) but I think there were probably around 2,000 people that came and had a delightful meal and left making room for the next wave of people celebrating Mother's day. We played for over 3 and 1/2 hours and I was so tired I could hardly stay awake. But, I sure enjoyed the music making and fun and of course the meal afterwards. That meal consisted of breaded fried catfish, fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, broccoli and cheese, green beans, soup beans, cornbread salad, apple chip salad, pickles, sweet potatoes, cabbage salad, coleslaw, sauerkraut salad, creamed corn, fried green tomatoes, carrot souffle', cornbread, rolls and several choices for dessert. 

Members of Eddy's band are: 1) Eddy Ray who played mostly mandolin but did play the standup bass at the very end when we were closing with clawhammer banjo / fiddle tunes; 2) Mike Laws, who played banjo quite a bit, also playing guitar some and standup bass some; 3) Terry Tester who switched back and forth between standup bass and banjo, performing both Bluegrass 3-finger Scruggs Style and some Clawhammer pickin' as well; and yours truly, playing banjo, guitar and fiddle. I had a lot of fun playing a fiddle tune I learned from a Kenny Baker You Tube video titled "Shelby Rock". This is a tune my dear friend up in West Chazy, NY, Donnie Perkins, often would play and I would back him up on banjo. Now I find myself down South playing it on the fiddle and having a dear friend down here back me up on the banjo. Mike Laws really liked playing along with it. It's a great tune. It's on my "Fiddle Tune Practice Page", so be sure and check it out.

Eddy's grandson, Matthew Franklin, also joined us on stage and was featured as a guest musician and played Amazing Grace flawlessly. He's a very talented young man and a pleasure to have on stage. He also sat in and played guitar for a few songs in the background. Also, Frank Culler and Barbara King were present and a couple of band members had Frank come up and sing a few numbers with them. Later, we were also treated to a duet with Mike and his lovely mother, Mary, who sing beautifully together.

Mary, Norma-Jean Campbell, Mrs. Mary Laws (Mike's mother) and Sue Laws (Mike's wife) and other members of the extended Laws' family also were a part of our entourage that stayed to enjoy the hospitality of The Farmer's Daughter and they all had fun, too.

The band is scheduled to perform there again this coming Saturday from 4 'til 7 p.m.
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Saturday night, Mary and I attended a Bluegrass Festival of sorts at the private home of Sheriff Mike Hensley. Several bands played, including "Moccasin Gap" and "The Spivey Mountain Boys". The bands were excellent. The sound system was spot on and the concessions were really good. What a wonderful party thrown by our banjo-pickin' Sheriff! He pointed to across the street and showed me his old home place where he was brought up as a young boy. The Sheriff and his Under Sheriff, Frank Rogers, joined in with Adam Larkey and his dad, Erik and the bass player for "Spivey Mountain" to play a set on stage. These guys just tear up their instruments when they play. Wow, what musicians! Mary will have pictures later, that I'll post on the website here. We sat in a row with many of our local friends. Jerry and Kathy Sams, Ron and Sherry Duncan, Gordon and Cindy Hoyle, Roy and Bonnie Barnett, Norma Jean Campbell and  Terry Tester to name a few. I took off for a little while and jammed in the parking lot with Eddy Ray and his grandson, Matthew Franklin. Later, when the cool night mountain air started to dampen the back of my neck, Mary and I left the festival and met up with Tim, Crystal, Caleb and Ariana Decker at Mc Donalds in Erwin where we visited for a couple of hours. We had a great time.
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Friday, May 11th, Mary and I went up to Kingsport with Ron and Sherry to listen to the band "Nolichucky River Boys" who were playing on Broad Street. It was the first performance of the season when the city blocks off a portion of the street and sets up a stage for the band. The band is a local band from the Chucky area over by Greeneville. I've jammed with three out of the four members before. The members are Charlie Phillips, guitar; Maynard Shelton, mandolin; Phil Hensley, standup bass; and a banjo picker I hadn't had the pleasure of meeting yet, named Erik Bowman. As a special guest, the band called 12 year old Ryan Henard up on stage to play Shucking The Corn on his mandolin. Ryan is a very talented young man and a pleasure to visit with, too. We got to meet his younger sister, Amber, who is already playing fiddle. Later, I had my picture taken with James Shelton, guitar picker for Dr. Ralph Stanley. James was just hanging around visiting with many of his friends and fans. I also was fortunate enough to meet and get my picture taken with G. C. Matlock who is a very well known guitar picker from the Kingsport area. We were hoping to get into a jam session but there was so much other music going on in town we eventually reasoned that most of the pickers had gone to see "Third Tyme Out" , the "Adam Steffy and the Boxcars" or another band playing elsewhere in town.
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Thursday afternoon, Mary and I met up with Gordon Hoyle, Jerry Sams  and Ron and Sherry Duncan and went to Terry Tester's 45th birthday party in Hampton. After a superb buffet of all types and manner of salads, ribs, chicken, casseroles, cakes and drinks, a few of us settled in to playing some Bluegrass music under a beautiful sunny sky with great warm temperatures. Gordon Hoyle and Jerry Sams played guitars, Ron Duncan played mandolin, I played fiddle and Terry Tester played banjo. We had a wonderful time, playing until about 5:30 or later.

Then, we all hurried up to the Red Barn in Sciota for the weekly Thursday night Bluegrass party. Rather than go inside and listen to the bands, I chose to hang out outside with a few others and pick Bluegrass in the parking lot. I played different banjos that were available and had a great time picking duets with Edison Wallin who is a remarkably talented banjoist. Ron Duncan played banjo for awhile, too, as did Roger Messer. Terry Tester played standup bass and so did Gary Taylor, later on. Gordon Hoyle, Jerry Sams and Void Hopson all played guitars. The damp evening air eventually chased us inside to listen to the bands. "Jeff Sharpe and Friends" was still playing when I went in and I enjoyed their last few numbers a lot. The "Red Barn Band" followed them but Mary and I were tired and had a lot to do at home, so we took off early.
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Monday night, Mary and I went to the Bluegrass jam session at The Sunshine Market. There we learned that the Rheatown Market has been sold and that the last Bluegrass jam held there was last Saturday night. It isn't clear whether the new owners will continue the tradition or not. I sure hope they do. That jam session was one of the first jams we went to and we loved going there and we met a lot of really good musicians there, too. (NOTE: I HAVE SINCE LEARNED THAT THE NEW OWNERS INTEND TO RETAIN THE BLUEGRASS MUSIC PICKING ON SATURDAY NIGHTS). 

Pickers that showed up tonight in Elizabethton (as I can remember them) were: Charlie Booher,standup bass; Jim Woods, standup bass; Ed Dance, Eddy Ray and Ron Lewis on mandolins; Cooter Williams, Harvey Tester, Jerry White, Ron Duncan, Jerry Sams, Gordon Hoyle and another fellow on guitars; Terry Tester on banjo and yours truly on fiddle.

Later in the evening, we broke into two groups and the group I was in played until around 11:00 p.m.

We all had a great time picking and visiting.
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Saturday, May 5th, we went up to Jonesborough early in the morning. It was raining cats and dogs when we arrived at the Farmers Market at about 8:20 a.m. Regardless, by 9:00 o'clock, "Rural Route Bluegrass" was playing Bluegrass music under the protection of a canopy. We played until 11:45 before leaving the event. It cleared up about half an hour before we finished pickin', so that was good. There were around 32 vendors present at the market and many came by and offered their "Thanks" to the band for entertaining them while they sold their farm goods.
It was great to pick with the Jeter family again. This is the last time we'll all pick again as a band until June 16th when we play at the Johnson City Farmers Market.
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Friday night, Eddy Ray got in touch with me to play a few gigs with him and his band "Eddy Ray and The Flint Creek Boys" at the Farmer's Daughter over on Rte 107 towards Greeneville. I was happy to accommodate him as he's a lot of fun to pick with. The Farmer's Daughter Restaurant is about as nice a family-cooked meal as one could ever find in Tennessee. It's like Shirley's Restaurant in Hampton. I'd hate to have to pick a favorite between the two. They're great places to eat. The gigs will be in May and in August. I can't wait.
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Thursday, May 3rd, Mary and I went down to the Red Barn on the Sciota Road in Unicoi to listen to "Fiddling Carson Peters and His Band" and "The Red Barn Old Guys". After a short while, several of us die-hard jammers went way out in the parking lot and got a good old Bluegrass jam going that lasted way past when the inside performances were over and done with. We had a good time out there. I played fiddle, Ron Duncan and Terry Tester played banjos, Cooter Williams, Gordon Hoyle, Roger Messer, Junior Banks, Void Hopson and James Powers played guitars, Mary played the mandolin and Galen Jeter played standup bass. I'm sure there were other pickers, too, I just can't remember who all was there. It was a beautiful night out under the stars.
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Here's an accounting of our Bluegrass (and some other) activities for the month of April, 2012, just after they occur. Scroll down to reach the earliest activities of the month.

Monday night, April 30th, was the time to head for The Sunshine Market in Elizabethton for the weekly Bluegrass jam. Quite a few pickers showed up and we all played outside. We broke into two groups. The group I was in consisted of Charlie Booher on standup bass, Roger Messer on guitar and banjo, Terry Tester on banjo, yours truly on banjo and then fiddle, Richard Bloustein on fiddle, Tim Decker on banjo, Harvey Tester on guitar, Cooter Williams on guitar, Ron Lewis on mandolin, Michael Little on Dobro and Eddy Ray on mandolin. The other group had Ron Duncan on guitar and mandolin, Gordon Hoyle on guitar, Terry Tester on banjo, Jeffrey Lewis on guitar and perhaps some others that I missed. Bobby Colbaugh, Elridge Nidiffer and Gerald Nidiffer were around but I didn't see them picking any instruments, although they probably played inside the store where all the country musicians gather. There were other pickers around, too, but I've forgotten already who was there.

Later, Tim Decker, his wife Crystal, and their children, Ariana and Caleb met Mary and me over at Taco Bell's for our weekly treat.
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From Saturday morning until late Saturday night all I did was play my fiddle and guitar. I brought my banjo along but never got to pick it. The occasion was the Fiddleheads & Fiddlers Festival and Car Show at the Farmhouse Gallery in Unicoi. There must have been twenty five bands playing on at least three different stage areas throughout the day. I played with two bands, both of which played on the main stage. The first band I performed with was a special edition of "The Watauga River Boys" comprised of Cooter Williams, Phil Hensley, Harvey Tester, Mike Laws, Will Bears and yours truly. The second band was "Tru Grass" and it was comprised of Jeffrey Lewis, Chuck Poore, Mike Laws, Frank Culler and yours truly.

When Mary and I first arrived, there was a jam session going on that went on for the better part of the entire day. Pickers I can remember seeing at different times here at this huge circle of musicians are: Sheriff Mike Hensley, banjo; Edison Wallin, banjo; Tim Decker, banjo; (there were several other banjo pickers I didn't know); Ron Lewis, mandolin; Ed Dance, mandolin; Mike Honeycutt, mandolin and fiddle; two fiddlers from Greeneville that are friends of Edison's; Teddy Morton, Dobro; Alice Hensley, fiddle; Ashley Davis, fiddle; and many others, too.

Here are just some of the musicians I can remember seeing at the festival: Bob Nelson, Homer Ball, Charlie Black, Charlie Booher, Kenny Williams, Gary Taylor, Burl Mast, Caleb Decker, Roger Messer, Terry Tester, Jerry Sams, Don Anderson, Gary Wayne Laws, Bill Slimons, Paul Masters, Terry Nelson, James Clayton, Ed Snodderly, Lisa Pattison, Ron Duncan, Sherry Duncan, Gordon Hoyle, Art and Kathy Lang, Rhody Jane Meadows, Elridge Bears, Frank Rogers, Julie Rogers, Carson Peters, Jamie Peters, Tom and Bobbie Dier, Adam Larkey, Sarah Grace Larkey, Eric Larkey, Jason Skinner, Grady Johnson, Brenda, Murrell and Gerald Nidiffer,  Perry Francis, Void Hopson, Bob and Barbara Guinn and Page Powers. There were many, many others that I either haven't met yet or just simply can't remember.

Mary took many photos and I'll be posting them to a special page when I get them from her.
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Friday night, Mary and I went up to Ernestville to the community center where I had a lot of fun picking my banjo along with Edison Wallin who was also picking his banjo. We played through a bunch of old Bluegrass standbys. Later, Cory Jeter and his friends from ETSU took the stage and performed some great music. The audience was smaller than usual and Mary and I left before the next band came on, so I'm not really sure who came up to play after Cory's band finished. I showed up early intentionally to be able to jam with area musicians, but it was one of those rare nights indeed where no one had a guitar with them. There wasn't even a standup bass around. There just wasn't a lot of jamming going on. Mary and I had been invited out to some friends' home so we left about 8:00 p.m. to go visit with them.
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Thursday night, April 26th, Mary and I went up to the Bristol Mall in Bristol, TN where I played banjo on stage with the band "Rural Route Bluegrass". It's a wonderful venue (The Pickin' Porch) in the sense that the stage and sound system are very professional and the audience large and appreciative. The colored lights made it very hot, temperature-wise, on stage and I nearly roasted to death. As bad luck would have it, during my time to shine, a time in which I love to perform Ralph Stanley songs and drive my banjo hard, wouldn't you know that during my final banjo break I got to doing triple pull-offs and right at the end of a huge flourish, my banjo bridge flopped over with an incredible BANG and lay tightly against the banjo head still under full pressure of the tightly wound strings. There was nothing to do but to finish the tune and head off stage, repair it and return. I made it back for my break in the next tune, which I would say was record time. The event was being taped for a television show so it's my sincere hope that it will be edited. On the way home, the thought did occur to me that after 45 years of wanting to play on the stage that recognizes where Country Music started, my banjo playing was a "flop", (the bridge flopped over) but Mary was quick to remind me that I received a very nice applause each and every time I took a break.

Galen, Katie and Cory performed very well. Especially when considering they were all just getting over a nasty head cold and sinus problems. All in all, we were very well received. Chalk up another well done performance by "Rural Route Bluegrass".
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Wednesday night, April 25, I went to band practice with the special edition of "The Watauga River Boys" featuring Cooter Williams, guitar; Harvey Tester, guitar; Will Bears, Dobro; Phil Hensley, standup bass; Mike Laws, banjo; and yours truly on fiddle. Practice was held at Cooter's studio in Stoney Creek, TN. We played through lots of numbers for several hours before calling it quits for the night. We are scheduled to play this Saturday at the "Fiddleheads & Fiddlers Festival" in Unicoi at the Farmhouse Gallery grounds. I'll be playing with The Watauga River Boys early in the day and in the evening I'll play with the band "Tru Grass". I'm also looking forward to a busy day of jamming in the field with a lot of the different musicians who'll be playing in the different bands that are scheduled to play throughout the day and evening.
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Monday night was band practice with the band "Rural Route Bluegrass". Mary came with me and we were treated to a superb dinner prepared by Galen before we practiced our set for our upcoming gig in Bristol at the Pickin' Porch. The salad and spaghetti were both delicious and hit the spot just right. Galen, Katie and Cory are all getting over colds and didn't feel right up to par like they usually do, but still, they managed very well through practice.

Mary suggested after band practice that we see what Tim and Crystal were up to since it was still early, so we called them and ended up bringing ice cream treats from McDonald's and visiting with them for a couple of hours. I brought my banjo in with me and Tim and I traded banjo rolls, licks and tunes for at least an hour and a half. We had a blast while the women folk tried to visit over top of all the noise we were generating with two banjos blaring full blast. Truly, what could one expect when two banjo aficionados assemble?......certainly not peace and quiet!
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Sunday morning, April 22, I composed a rollicking fiddle tune I call "The Clinchfield Line". It's replete with train calls and all. I've been having a blast with it all morning.

Later in the day, Mary and I went to visit Tim and Crystal Decker so that I could install "Keith-Scruggs Tuners" on his old Gold Star banjo when he was restringing it with new wires. He had an absolute blast getting used to the new de-tuners playing tunes like Flint Hill Special, You Are My Sunshine, Randy Lynn Rag, Home Sweet Home, Foggy Mountain Chimes and others. At one point Crystal threatened to hide his banjo if he wouldn't stop playing and visit with us for a while. Tim stopped playing when she put the TV on the "Rap Music" channel and turned it up real loud. That was enough to get his attention! lol:) We had a great time.
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Saturday night I had to play fiddle for the "String Fever Band" over at Shirley's Restaurant in Hampton, the other side of Fish Springs, TN. I had the pleasure of playing at Shirley's last Saturday, too. The food is absolutely wonderful! I can not say enough about the excellent taste of such great home cooking. I filled in for the bands' usual fiddler who was unable to attend this gig. Those that were able to play were: Gary Taylor, bassist and band leader; Jerry Sams, guitarist; Ron Duncan, banjo picker and yours truly on the fiddle. Mary came along and took lots of photos that will eventually show up here on the site. I always enjoy sitting in with the "String Fever Band".
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Friday night, Mary and I went over to Wade and Shirley Ledford's in Valley Forge, TN, for a birthday party celebrating another year for Roger Messer. Quite a few of the "regulars" showed up to partake in the festivities, eat a little cake and creamcheese pie and pick some Bluegrass music. Wade played and sang a few tunes on guitar and Harvey Tester, Cooter Williams, Frank Culler and Roger Messer played their guitars, too. Mike Laws played banjo, Mary (my sweetheart) played mandolin, Ron Lewis also played mandolin and I played fiddle for most of the evening, pausing only a couple of times to play guitar. Warren Shelton was also present, but chose not to play, just listen. Steve and Helen Murray, Barbara King and one of Wade's sisters (I can't for the life of me remember her name) all visited with Shirley and we all had a blast. It was a great night among friends. Mary and I love all these people dearly. We always enjoy ourselves so much with them.
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Thursday night, Mary and I met with members of the band "Rural Route Bluegrass" and I played with them at Creeker's BBQ Restaurant in Stoney Creek, TN. It is a real nice venue and we enjoyed playing there very much. It was an off evening and attendance was low.

After leaving Creeker's, we went to Unicoi to the Christian Church to catch the last band playing there which was a band I used to be in called "Bob & Homer and the Bluegrass Boys". It was great to see Bob Nelson and Homer Ball again. It was also great to see their banjo picker, Jason Skinner who does such a fine job playing in the traditional "Reno Style". Mary and I visited with a lot of our dear friends and had a grand old time before heading home.
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Wednesday, we returned to the Senior Center to visit with our many friends there and to shoot pool with many of them. Iss, Henry, Willard, Kenneth, Frank, "Red", Terry, James, Patrick, Marvin and several others all had a great time playing pool. In the evening hours, we were the guests of the Tim and Crystal Decker family in Erwin where we had ice cream treats and talked music, music, music! Tim's a banjo picker's banjo picker and he's just wonderful to talk music theory with.
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Tuesday, the 17th, I learned the Kenny Baker fiddle tune "Dry and Dusty". It's in the key of E and it's a fun tune to fiddle. Mary and I went to the Senior Center and shot billiards for a while and spent the evening home working on our own little projects.
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Monday night, April 16, Mary and I had a great time down at the Sunshine Market.When we got there, I immediately started playing fiddle with a group of pickers right outside under the porch. Charlie Booher played standup bass; Terry Tester and Ron Duncan played banjos; Gordon Hoyle, Harvey Tester, Cooter Williams and another fellow played guitars; and Ron Lewis and Ed Dance played mandolins. After a while, fellow band members from "Rural Route Bluegrass" showed up, so I left the jam session and went over to the other side of the front porch and partook in some band practice with Galen and Katie Jeter and their son, Cory. We had a very productive session and then I left and went around to the back parking lot and got in on a jam going on with Jason Skinner, banjo; Zayn Skinner (Jason's son) on mandolin; Clancy Mullins on banjo; Tim Decker on guitar; Cory Jeter on guitar and me on fiddle. After that I returned to the front and sat in for a short while with Teddy Morton playing banjo; Randy Carrier and Ron Lewis, mandolins; Terry Tester playing upright bass; Gordon Hoyle picking guitar and a couple of other musicians that I can't remember. I also saw Mike Reed, Reese Kenard, Murrell Nidiffer, Brenda Nidiffer, Wes Holtsclaw, Jerry White, Michael Little and Alan Shepard, Jr., all very capable musicians, but I didn't see them playing any instruments. Then I went over to the other side of the front porch and got into a nice jam with Jerry Sams, guitar; Ron Duncan, banjo; and me on the fiddle while Gary Taylor, bass player and band leader for the group "String Fever" stood by and watched us and enjoyed the music. He had left his bass home.

I'll be playing this Thursday night at Creekers BBQ in Stoney Creek with "Rural Route Bluegrass" and Saturday night at Shirley's Restaurant in Hampton with the band "String Fever" (filling in for their regular fiddler, Lisa Pattison, who is unable to make the gig), so it was real nice to get some ahead-of-time practice in.
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Sunday, I learned a couple more fiddle tunes. "Smoky Mountain Rag" and "Ashland Breakdown" are both great fiddle tunes by Kenny Baker. I've played them countless times today here at the house, sinking them into my memory as best I can, so that they'll be a part of my fiddle repertoire. Now I can't wait to include them in my next jam session. I've created a new page on this website named "Fiddle Tune Practice Page" and put up YouTube videos of these two Kenny Baker tunes.
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Saturday, the 14th of April was a busy day of Bluegrass music, for sure. I played fiddle at a wedding on the back side of Watauga Resevoir with "Tru Grass" Bluegrass band and went directly from there to Shirley's Restaurant in Hampton and played fiddle and banjo with "Rural Route Bluegrass". Both events were fabulous and Mary and I had a wonderful time with so many of our friends. At the wedding, Mary visited with Susy, Mike Law's wife and their little grandchild, a baby girl. Mike played banjo and guitar, Chuck Poore played Dobro and guitar, I played fiddle and guitar, Frank Culler played guitar and Jeffrey Lewis played standup bass. We all sang at one time or another. The newly weds just loved our performance.

From the Wagner wedding, Mary and I headed directly over to Shirley's Restaurant where we met up with Galen, Katie and Cory Jeter, and Alan Reinpold. Alan was a guest of the Jeter's and sat in with the band. We played there for a couple of hours and then had a fine country-cooked meal before heading home after a beautiful day of Bluegrass. Jeff Sharpe owns and operates "Shirley's" and he's a real fine Bluegrass musician. Usually, when he's not too busy in the kitchen, he'll come out and perform as a guest with whatever band is playing, but the restaurant was way too busy for him to get away. Maybe next time. 
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Friday the 13th of April found Mary and me up at the community center in Earnestville (Temple Hill) where I played fiddle in the band "Rural Route Bluegrass". I usually play banjo with this band, but tonight (and tomorrow night) the group had the pleasure of Alan Reinpold from Fairview, South Dakota, picking the banjo so I thought it would be nice to fiddle with the group. The audience really liked our sound and I sure did enjoy playing with the Jeters and their friend Alan. Tomorrow afternoon, after I finish playing for a private wedding in Butler, TN, I will be able to play a couple of hours in the evening at Shirley's Restaurant in Hampton, TN with "Rural Route Bluegrass". I'll probably switch off between fiddle and banjo so that Alan can play some Dobro when I'm pickin' banjo. I'm excited to pick with him again. And, of course, I'm always excited to play with "Rural Route Bluegrass".

After performing at the community center, we went down to Tim Decker's home in Erwin and Tim and I went through a few mandolin duets. Mary and I both enjoy hanging out with Tim and Crystal and their children, Ariana and Caleb.
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April 12th, Mary and I had a wonderful day playing billiards at the Senior Center and then went out to the Roadside Cafe with our friends Tim, Crystal and Ariana Decker. It was fun talking musical "shop" with Tim. He's a very knowledgeable musician with a good background in theory. He's also the banjo picker with the band "Makeshift" which is an incredibly tight band here in sunny Tennessee.
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April 11th, I went down to East Side for band practice with "Tru Grass". Band members were all present and accounted for and we had a very productive evening. We were having fun playing Bluegrass in keys like E Flat, E, F, B Flat and A as well as D, G, B and C. Lots of fun. We have a wedding to play this coming Saturday, so we're getting up to shape.
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April 10th, Mary and I went over to band practice at Galen and Katie Jeter's house. After a superb meal prepared by the Jeters, we settled in to a very productive practice of a couple of hours of material for our upcoming shows. Practice lasted over three hours and I was very excited about the quality of the harmonies the family produces. I really enjoy picking with "Rural Route Bluegrass" and Mary and I both enjoy our friendship with their whole family.
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Mary and I had a great time tonight, April 9th, down at The Sunshine Market in Elizabethton. Many musicians showed up and early on I got into a jam session that lasted the entire evening, so I don't really know who all picked with who and how many groups formed. I picked with Cooter Williams, guitar; Jerry White, guitar; Ron Duncan, guitar; Clancy Mullins, banjo; Terry Nelson, mandolin; Tim Decker, banjo; Caleb Decker, mandolin and guitar; Gary Laws, standup bass; James Story, mandolin and guitar; Gordon Hoyle, guitar; and yours truly, fiddle. Many of the tunes and songs performed were led by a core group within the pickers, namely the "Makeshift" Bluegrass band. "Makeshift" is comprised of Vernon Story, guitar (Vernon was not present tonight), James Story, mandolin and guitar, Tim Decker, banjo, Gary Laws, standup bass and Caleb Decker, guitar and mandolin. They all sing and harmonize as tightly as any group traveling anywhere. They are as tight a group as Mary and I have heard here in sunny Tennessee. It was truly a huge pleasure to pick with them.

I saw lots of other pickers around, too, but didn't get to pick with them this time. Some of the musicians I can remember seeing are: Roger Messer, Teddy Morton, Randy Carrier, Tom Harrald, Wes Holtsclaw, Charlie Booher, Harvey Tester, Terry Tester, Jason Skinner, Eddy Ray, Bobby Colbaugh, Bill Hardin, Smokey Barnett, Gerald Nidiffer and many others, too.

I had a super time playing music. Then, several of us went to Taco Bell for a grand old visit and some snacks before heading down the pike to get some much needed rest.
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Yesterday afternoon, April 7th, Mary and I went for a drive into North Carolina traveling from our place down to Red Hill, NC and turning off onto back roads leading us to Green Mountain, Relief, Huntdale, Ramseytown, Sioux, up over Spivey Mountain Pass and back into Tennessee at Ernestville and returned to Erwin. We were heading home when we decided to go to Thompson's up in Embreville to catch the band "Bakersfield Country" and meet up with many of our friends. Look for some incredibly beautiful photographs. They are posted in the "Down South" page and also in the "Spring 2012 in the South" and "Trains in the South" pages. I've also added a few of Mary's pictures to "Bluegrass Country Pictures Page 3".
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Early in the day, April 6th, Galen Jeter called me to let me know that "Rural Route Bluegrass" would be playing at Shirley's Restaurant on April 14th in the evening. The Jeter family has a guest visiting them from afar and he used to play with them a lot, so it's like a reunion for them all to be able to play together. Shirley's is on route 321/67. Leave Hampton, Tennessee and head East towards the little community of Fish Springs and look for the restaurant on the right hand side of the road. On the same day, I'll be playing a wedding for the niece of Jeffrey Lewis. Jeffrey is bassist for our band "Tru Grass" and so I will be unable to play with "Rural Route Bluegrass" for this gig. Here's the link to Shirley's Restaurant:  http://www.shirleyshomecooking.com/music/

Tonight, Mary and I were bored and I felt like playing a little music and she felt like visiting with her female friends that show up Friday nights at Wade and Shirley Ledford's. So we decided to leave our home a little early and travel some different back roads that we hadn't been on yet. When we got down into Valley Forge, I took the Siam Road and followed the entire loop (coming close to Watauga Lake Dam at one point) back into East Side before heading up River View Drive and taking the Garrison Hollow Road and turning off to Wade's house. The Tennessee countryside is beautiful. Mary took lots of pictures which will soon be posted to the various pages here on this website.

Several of our dear friends showed up to jam Bluegrass music and to visit. They were: Frank Culler and Barbara King, Steve and Helen Murray, Terry Tester and Norma Jean Campbell, Harvey Tester, Cooter Williams, Alfred Carter and his son, Curtis, and Mary and myself. We all had a blast picking Bluegrass and visiting. Wade, Frank, Harvey and Cooter all played their guitars while Terry picked banjo and Alfred and I sawed our fiddles. This went on for several hours and then we finally split up and headed home. It was a great night with great friends.
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Although there were plenty of places to jam Bluegrass music, Mary and I laid low Wednesday and Thursday and just enjoyed each others company at home and got rested up each evening from a day at the Senior Center playing pool.
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Tuesday, the 3rd of April, Mary and I had the pleasure of going out to dinner with Frank Culler and Barbara King. They met us at Fatz in Elizabethton and while they all had barbequed ribs, I enjoyed a chicken pot pie. It was nice to hang out with such wonderful southerners and we plan on doing this again at the same fine restaurant. Frank and Barb are so down-to-earth and a riot to be around because of the humor that abounds. There's never a dull moment.
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Monday, the 2nd of April, Mary and I were just plain too tired to go and play music so we stayed home and enjoyed the evening together. I must admit, it felt kind of strange not playing music for a night. (So I practiced fiddle and banjo around the house for a while before retiring early.)
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Today, April 1st, I spent quite a while this morning learning a Don Reno banjo tune named "Banjo Signal". I learned it off from a YouTube video provided by Jason Skinner. Jason has studied Don Reno's banjo style for many years and does a great job at playing it the same as Don intended. He has a great site at www.renopicker.com so be sure and stop over there by clicking the link. I had learned this tune many years ago while watching Don play it up in Skowhegan, Maine at a festival at Yonder Hill Campsites. I've always been drawn more to the "Scruggs" style picking but I find down South here that an awful lot of banjo pickers play "Don Reno Style" and get after me to do the same, hence I'm going to learn a few Reno tunes.

Speaking of "Reno Style", Mary and I arranged to meet Tim Decker and his wife Crystal and their daughter Ariana at the public park in Erwin this afternoon and Tim and I traded banjo licks and played lots of Bluegrass under the pavilion out of the rain. Jason Skinner had intended to come but his plans were changed at the last minute. Tim can play lots of "Reno" licks and tunes, so it's fun to watch him play. We also like to play fiddle and banjo tunes together which are very popular down here.  

Here's an accounting of our Bluegrass (and some other) activities for the month of March, 2012, just after they occur. Scroll down to reach the earliest activities of the month.

Saturday, March 31, we woke up to intermittent showers and I worried a little for the newlyweds that I was to perform for at their wedding at the Maple Lane Farm on the Cherokee Road in Johnson City. But as good luck would have it, the skies cleared in plenty of time to dry the beautiful lawns and the wedding was under beautiful skies with warm temperatures. In fact, it was a gorgeous afternoon. I played the fiddle for the prelude and recessional portions of the ceremony while seated adjacent to the gazebo down by the pond where the wedding took place and then was joined by our full Bluegrass band "Tru Grass" for the reception immediately following up in the pavilion area of the grounds. The wedding was beautiful and the reception was lots of fun and the band really was enjoyed by those in attendance. It was a great way to spend the day. Our best wishes go out to the bride and groom, Mr. and Mrs. Roger Cole.
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Friday, during the day, March 30th, has been reserved for practicing the fiddle most of the day for the upcoming wedding ceremonies tomorrow at Maple Lane Farm in Johnson City, TN. Tonight, I will be playing the fiddle at the Temple Hill Bluegrass Party up in Earnestville, TN. I'll be playing with the same band as I did last night in Unicoi, the "Tru Grass" Bluegrass band. We'll be playing a different performance set because much of the audience expected tonight was also in attendance last night at the Christian Church in Unicoi.

Mary and I had a wonderful time at the Temple Hill Bluegrass party. Our band had a really nice tight sound and we received a lot of applause after each number. There were several musicians jamming when we first got there. I remember seeing Bob Van Horn, Bob and Barbara Guinn, Eddy Ray, Matthew Franklin and a couple of others, too. After the jam musicians finished up, our band took the stage. The "Spivey Mountain Boys" took the stage after we finished up. They sound so great. Every one loved their sound. The community center was packed with people all having fun and eating various casseroles and desserts provided by the many generous patrons who faithfully show up each time we all get together.
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Thursday night I played fiddle and guitar in the band I'm in called "Tru Grass", consisting of Mike Laws on banjo and mandolin; Jeffrey Lewis on standup bass; Chuck Poore on Dobro and guitar; and Frank Culler on guitar. We played at the Unicoi Christian Church on Tennessee Street from 8 'til 9:15 p.m. Many friends and fans attended the concert and it was lots of fun to see them. Mary and I will be looking forward to seeing many of them again tomorrow night when "Tru Grass" plays at the Temple Hill Bluegrass Party from 7 'til 8 p.m.
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Wednesday night, the 27th of March, Mary and I went down to Ron and Sherri's and rode up to The Creekside Restaurant in Jonesborough with Ron and also Gordon Hoyle. There we met up and picked with Bob Nelson, guitar; Homer Ball, guitar; Dave Wilhoit, guitar, Michael Little, Dobro; Ron Duncan, mandolin and yours truly, banjo. A little later we were joined by Roger Messer on banjo. We all had a good jam session. After we broke up at about 8:30 or so, Ron, Gordon, Mary and I went to The Acoustic Cafe in Johnson City but left there after a short stop and went to The Down Home where we stayed for a couple of hours and listened to various single acts and duets. We all had a nice evening.
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Monday night, March 26th, we went down to Elizabethton to the Sunshine Market for the weekly Bluegrass jam sessions. Quite a large group played outside while another smaller group played inside in the back "Bluegrass" room. I chose to stay outside nestled in a comfortable little spot out of any passing breeze. I was very comfortable all evening playing right up until after 10:00 p.m. when the market closed. Some of the pickers I can remember were: Gordon Hoyle, guitar; Ron Duncan, guitar; Jerry White, guitar; Ed Dance, mandolin; Eddy Ray, mandolin; Terry Tester banjo; yours truly, banjo and later the fiddle; Cooter Williams, guitar; Jim Woods, standup bass; Murrell Nidiffer, guitar; Brenda Nidiffer, guitar; Frank Wing, banjo; and probably a few more that I've missed. Grady Johnson, Teddy Morton, Harvey Tester, Jerry White and some others played in the backroom. Several of us went to Taco Bell afterwards. It was another great evening with great friends.
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Sunday night, March 25th, I went down to Mike Laws for band practice for the band "Tru Grass". We had a full band and our practice was very thorough and productive. We are going to be playing three gigs leading up to the end of the week. We're playing at the Unicoi Christian Church on Tennessee Street on Thursday night, then at the community center in Temple Hill on Friday night and at a private wedding near Johnson City on Saturday, so practice is very important.

Mike had just finished building another dreadnought guitar. Words cannot describe how incredible his guitars sound. I have never heard guitars that match his in quality of build and crispness and fullness of tone with such powerful projection. I had the great pleasure of playing this new guitar and then playing Frank Culler's guitar that was also built a short while ago by Mike. What great enjoyment that was to play these fine, fine instruments. Frank's is built with mahogany back and sides with a Sitka spruce top and this new one is built from the same block of mahogany and it has an Adirondack Red Spruce top. These guitars are absolutely incredible in their respective tonal qualities.
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Saturday night Mary and I had the pleasure of our first visit from Mr. and Mrs. Tim Decker and their family. Tim, Crystal, Caleb and Ariana (and two of Ariana's friends) came over to visit with us and eat some pizza, have some fun and play some Bluegrass music. Tim brought his 1981 Gold Star banjo for me to have fun playing. He played my Gold Star while I played his and we went through a lot of banjo duets we both knew. Caleb played along with guitar or mandolin and we were joined frequently by Mary playing mandolin.

Tim is quite well versed in music theory, so I was able to shout out some chords before starting tunes he's never heard and he'd pick right up on them and we sounded good playing together. For example, we played all kinds of styles of fiddle tunes (Tim on guitar and me on fiddle) and he'd catch right on. I played Cape Breton waltzes that were full of interesting minor chords and he would go right to the proper chords. Then I'd play jigs, Cajun reels, Old-timey, French-Canadian, I couldn't shake him. What a pleasure! We had a blast. All the while, Mary and Crystal were enjoying their company and the girls created their own fun together as they "suffered" through our style of music. Tim and Caleb really enjoyed playing the hand-built guitar I got from my dear friend Steve Lane up in northern New York. What a wonderful family and what a wonderful way to spend a Saturday night in the hills of Tennessee.
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Friday night we were invited to Wade and Shirley Ledford's for a wonderful dinner followed by an evening of Bluegrass music. Pickers and listeners that showed up were Wade & Shirley, a couple of Wade's sisters, one of Wade & Shirley's daughter's and one of their nieces and also a man named "Mac" and then Brenda and Murrell Nidiffer came, as well as Cooter Williams, Harvey Tester, Frank Culler, Barbara King, Roger Messer, Steve and Helen Murray, Norma Jean Campbell and Mary and me. We played some great old Bluegrass tunes, one right after the other for several hours before going home. It was a great picking night with a superb meal among truly wonderful friends.
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Thursday, the 22nd, we just hung around the house and worked on various projects we've got going. We are going to be busy Friday night, Saturday afternoon through night and Sunday afternoon and evening, so we decided to stay home. I practiced fiddle and banjo and worked on the website while Mary sorted through thousands of pictures busily backing them up to different formats.
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Today, Wednesday, March 21st, I've decided to stay home and catch up on some much needed fiddle practice while Mary catches up on so much of her photography work that needs completion. These upcoming weddings are super important occasions to all those involved and I sure do not want to get right in the middle of it and start scratching on my fiddle bow and hitting sour, wrong notes! So practice it is. Here's a list of tunes I've selected to draw from to play while the guests are being seated before the actual ceremonies:

Bluegrass
E    Footprints in the Snow
A    Uncle Pen
A    Gold Rush
A    Goodbye Liza Jane
A    Mayor Gordon’s Coat*

Waltzes
G    The Dreamer’s Waltz
D    The Anniversary Waltz
C    The Westphalia Waltz
C    The Black Velvet Waltz
D    Ashoken Farewell
A    Sweet Journeys

Reels, Breakdowns, Hornpipes
D    Happy Acres Two-Step
D    The Woodchopper’s
C    Billy in the Low Ground / Am    Jay Mountain
D    Liverpool Hornpipe
D    Whiskey before Breakfast
A    The Decipious Fiddler*
D    Angeline Baker
D    Saint Anne’s Reel
D    Cuckoo’s Nest
A    Little Home in West Virginia

Jigs
G    The Irish Washer Woman
D    Li’l Burnt Potato

They are not listed in the order that I would play them. The tunes marked with an asterisk(*) are my original pieces. I doubt that I'll have to play all the tunes while the guests gather, but there's always after the wedding at the reception where I'm sure a few waltzes will be requested.
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Tuesday, (3/20/2012) again found us at the Senior Center. Later in the day, I practiced fiddle for several hours to better be in shape for a few upcoming weddings in which I am required to play the fiddle. I can't say it was a "quiet" evening at home, because I also practiced the banjo. My Gold Star with the 1963 Gibson tone ring in it is anything but quiet. The band "Tru Grass" has three back-to-back gigs coming up very shortly and I want to be in as tip top a shape as I can be.
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Monday morning (3/19/2012) found Mary and me down at the Senior Center in Erwin shooting pool. While there, we happened to run in to Marvin who heard the group I'm in called "Rural Route Bluegrass" last Friday night when we played up at Temple Hill. He just couldn't get over how good we all sounded and wanted to know where we were playing next. I told him I'd print out a copy of our schedule and give it to him next time I saw him. I sure do agree that the Jeter family has great harmonies and play their instruments well. I super enjoy playing in their band!

Tonight, Mary and I will go to Elizabethton to the Sunshine Market jams. It's been in the mid-to-high 70s all day, so I rather imagine a lot of us will be up for picking outside tonight. That will be lots of fun and I'm looking forward to it. More on this later......

Well, we're back from the jam session at the Sunshine Market. The Bluegrassers all decided to pick outside tonight due to the beautiful, warm weather. Mike Reed played bass and sang; Jerry White showed up and sang some of his favorites which we all love so; Harvey Tester played guitar and so did Cooter Williams. Bobby Colbaugh played his guitar, too. Ron Duncan mostly played guitar with some mandolin thrown in once in a while and sang a bunch of his favorite old traditional Bluegrass songs. Gordon Hoyle played his new Martin ( I later played it some when we moved inside due to the cooler, damper night air); Roger Messer had a super time picking banjo. He played his old Gibson RB250 that I set up and boy was he tickled. I played banjo, too and the two of us had fun trading licks. Teddy Morton played some mandolin and sang some great high tenor. Eddy Ray picked mandolin and later played my banjo when I switched to guitar. Mary played mandolin. Gary Taylor dropped in but didn't play his standup. Many fans and friends of the music and musicians showed up to listen and even to dance to the faster numbers. There was also a good turnout of the old-time country musicians who get together each Monday night in the front room of the Market. Some of the many faces I remember seeing in the country line up were: Shirley Long, Smokey Barnett, Reese Kenard, Gerald Nidiffer, Tom Harrald, Bill Hardin and Wes Holtsclaw. There were many more. As has now become somewhat of a ritual, several of us "Bluegrassers" headed to Taco Bell after the jam session finished. A great time was had by all.
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Sunday morning, (3/18/2012) I finished setting up the old Gold Star banjo and began working on the old Gibson Mastertone RB250. Both banjos turned out to be really good sounding. They both have professional tonerings and are well made banjos. The Five Star heads help the tone, too, mainly because they can be stretched a little more than Remo's and can take the excessive pressures required to make them ring like the old raised heads (these are both flatheads). They both have sharp, brilliant lows and highs. I really like the sound of both. The old RB250 had a different ring in it than the factory ring and I'm not sure what it is. But it sure sounds good. I put them up against my Gold Star with the '63 ring and it was close, but I'll keep mine just the same.

Well, I've got to go to band practice later for "Tru Grass' so there's another Bluegrass moment to look forward to. There just isn't a dull moment here in Eastern Tennessee - Bluegrass country!

After practice: Well, practice was very rewarding. Mike had a couple of pieces he wanted to go over that were in the keys of E and E Flat. These are both beautiful keys for the fiddle because of the rich-in-tone lower register. Frank is singing a slow number in the key of F and that, too, is a great key for the fiddle. Unfortunately, Jeffrey Lewis was feeling poorly and unable to attend practice. After practice I picked up Mary at home and we went to Ron Duncan's and while there he and I worked on a Morgan Monroe raised-head (archtop) banjo he got a short while ago. We got it really "popping" now and it sure is sounding good. Then, Mary played mandolin, I played guitar and Ron picked his archtop banjo and we had quite a jam going there for a while.
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Saturday (3/17/2012) has been spent practicing fiddle tunes and working on banjos I've been asked to set up. I'm sure happy to have had the opportunity to work on a 42 year old Gold Star 5-stringer. While setting it up and adjusting head tension, etc, and going back and forth between this Gold Star and my newer Gold Star (with the 1963 Gibson ring in it), I managed to compose a banjo instrumental I have named the "Gold Star Breakdown". It's a real fun tune to play. Tomorrow I've got an old early '70s Gibson RB250 to set up.....who knows, maybe there's a tune in it somewhere that's never been out.
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Friday, March 16th, during the day we went down to the Erwin Senior Center for the St. Patrick's Day party and to shoot some billiards. Then we returned home to prepare for tonight's Bluegrass party at the community center in Temple Hill. Before we went on stage, the band "Rural Route Bluegrass" posed for several pictures taken by Mary. After the jammers finished up their great set, "Rural Route Bluegrass" played for slightly over an hour before the "Bluegrass Ambassadors" took the stage. Not enough jammers showed up to really have a good hour's session and it is earnestly hoped more jammers will show. I know I like to jam with the many varied musical talents that show up. Sometimes it's difficult for me to stay on stage with the jammers because I'm often playing with one or more of the bands that are scheduled to play. I get tired and my back gets sore from holding up the heavy banjo for such a long time and so quite often I'll end up sitting in a chair to perform. Mary and I went home early due to the heavy rains and thunder storms coming in all around us. I am fortunate enough to be in the band "Rural Route Bluegrass" and enjoy playing music with the Jeter family very much. See the band's dedicated page on this site here.
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Thursday night, March 15th, We went to the Unicoi Christian Church Fellowship Hall and listened to three bands: the "house country band' (I'm not sure of their name); The "Senior Express"; and the band I'm in called "Wade Ledford & Friends". The "house country band" consists of Shirley Long, guitar and vocals; Reese Kenard, guitar & vocals; Perry Francis, guitar and vocals; Void Hopson, electric bass; Smokey Barnett, guitar; and some other musicians that I didn't get to meet. They have a nice early country sound and are very enjoyable to listen to. The next band up was called in on short notice to replace "String Fever" which had to cancel out of playing. This band, "Senior Express" provided an hour of entertainment for the audience and then the band I play fiddle in, "Wade Ledford & Friends" came up to play from 8:00 p.m 'til 9:00. Wade was not feeling up to par and was not able to make it to the concert and so he had his band go ahead and play without him. His band consisted of Harvey Tester, guitar; Cooter Williams, guitar; Frank Culler, guitar; Mike Laws, banjo and guitar; Jeffrey Lewis, standup bass; and yours truly on the fiddle and one tune on the guitar. We all had a great time. Many of our dear friends were not in attendance and we're hoping to see some of them tomorrow night at Temple Hill.
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Tuesday afternoon and evening I spent at Cooter William's recording studio in Stoney Creek, TN. After having discussed my plans with Cooter, it was decided to record "rough drafts" of my original material in which I played each instrument (accomplished by multi-tracking) and we mixed a rough version down to CD for the musicians that were selected for inclusion in the album. This gives those musicians a CD to rehearse with and to get ideas together on how to arrange the individual pieces when the final recordings take place later on.
Cooter is such a professional at sound recording and engineering. I fit right in to his studio owing to the fact that there are a lot of similarities between his present studio and the one I had back up in Jay, NY. It felt so good to be in a studio setting again!
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Monday night, March 12th, was an absolute bonanza of Bluegrass pickers picking and singing at The Sunshine Market in Elizabethton. Here's a partial list of the players that I can remember, but there were plenty more: Gordon Hoyle, guitar; Ron Duncan, mandolin and vocals; Teddy Morton, Dobro and vocals; Mike Reed, standup bass and vocals; Eddy Ray, mandolin; Harvey Tester, guitar; Cooter Williams, guitar; yours truly, fiddle, guitar and vocals; Galen Jeter, standup bass and vocals; Katie Jeter, mandolin and vocals; Cory Jeter, guitar and vocals; Roger Messer, guitar; Terry Tester, banjo and vocals; Bobby Colbaugh, guitar; Brenda Nidiffer, guitar, vocals; Murrell Nidiffer, guitar and vocals; Gerald Nidiffer, vocals and mandolin; Mr. & Mrs. Niles Onka, vocals and fiddle; Frank Wing, banjo; and more that I just can't remember. What a jam session. Several of us went outside to jam because it was so warm out. What a summer it's going to be with all this participation so early on. Wow!
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Sunday night, March 11th, I drove down to Mike Laws' home in East Side for band practice. We had a super practice and everything just came together for some great music for 3 1/2 hours. It was decided that Frank Culler would become our newest member of "Two Step Bluegrass" and that the name "Two Step Bluegrass" will be changed to "True Grass". So from now on, the band will be called "True Grass" and consist of Mike Laws, Chuck Poore, Jeffrey Lewis, Frank Culler and yours truly. I will go back through the applicable areas in this website and make the necessary changes to reflect the new band name. We also went through upcoming playing dates and added new gigs where applicable. We'll be practicing again within a few days.
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Saturday night, March 10th, we returned to Wade and Shirley's to practice for the scheduled performance at the Unicoi Christian Church. Band members present were: Wade, guitar; Harvey Tester, guitar; Cooter Williams, guitar; Frank Culler, guitar and standup bass; Mike Laws, banjo and guitar; and Yours Truly on fiddle. We had a very good practice and picked out many songs and tunes to play. Those of us that are scheduled to play the wedding gig on the 31st also decided to hold a special practice again tomorrow night at Mike's place in East Side. So, we're all getting plenty of music playing in lately. As always, Mary and I had a wonderful time at the Ledford's.
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Friday night, March 9th, we went to visit Wade and Shirley Ledford in Valley Forge, TN. Wade was holding a band practice for the upcoming performance at the Christian Church in Unicoi which is the continuing "Red Barn" series of Bluegrass and Old-Tyme music held each Thursday night for many, many years by Burl Mast. (During the Winter months, Burl holds this event at the Unicoi Christian Church and during the Spring, Summer and Autumn months, he holds the events at his homestead on the Sciota Rd). Wade's band will be playing on the 15th of March. Tomorrow night, the 10th of March, will be another practice which will include just those musicians that are a part of his band. Those musicians present tonight were: Wade playing guitar; Alfred Carter, fiddle; Harvey Tester, guitar; Cooter Williams, guitar; Terry Tester, guitar; Frank Culler, guitar; Tim Hughes, guitar; Roger Messer, guitar; and Yours Truly, guitar, banjo and fiddle. Other musicians present that didn't play tonight were Warren Shelton, Curtis Carter and Mary Winchell. We all had a great time.

Part of the absolute enjoyment of going to Wade & Shirley's to play music (apart from the wonderful friends, conversations, humor, great food and drinks) is the opportunity to play such incredible instruments. Tonight I played two hand-built guitars made by the regionally popular luthier, Mike Laws from East Side, Elizabethton, TN. (One guitar was built for Wade and the other for Frank Culler). Mike's guitars are hand crafted from the finest tonewoods available and when they're brand-spanking new they sound like 50 year-old seasoned Martins. Mike has a special way of gluing different components and arranging braces and other important aspects of construction that just sets his guitars apart from other builders. Wade has some old Martin guitars that are incredible to play, too. Mike Laws is in Wade's band and sings and picks banjo.
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Wednesday night, March 7th, Mary and I rode up to Jonesborough with Ron Duncan and Gordon Hoyle. We attended the weekly Bluegrass jam session at the Creekside Restaurant in the old historic part of town. This section of town is absolutely beautiful.
Among the musicians who showed were: Bob Nelson, guitar; Dave Wilhoit, guitar; Ron Duncan, mandolin; Kenny Williams, fiddle; Charlie Black, standup bass; Michael Little, Dobro; and yours truly on banjo. We all had a really good time picking as all are seasoned pickers who understand "Bluegrass Etiquette" and practice their picking manners with such conventions as understood by professional musicians. This is the type of "jam" that really sounds great. The audience present really approved of the music as was clearly obvious by their approval and frequent applause. It was a fine musical evening. I was provided a humorous list of the "Ten Commandments of Bluegrass Jam Etiquette" by one of the players and I've posted it on my "Philosophy of Musicianship" page. Stop by and peruse the "Commandments".
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Tonight, March 5th, Mary and I met up with a lot of our dear friends at the Sunshine Market in Elizabethton for our weekly Bluegrass jam session. There were a lot of pickers that came and contributed to the wonderful Bluegrass music that flowed. Here's a list of those I can remember: Terry Tester, banjo; Jim Woods, standup bass; Ed Dance, mandolin; Ron Duncan, mandolin; Caleb Decker, mandolin; Tim Decker, guitar; Teddy Morton, Dobro; Amber Langlois, fiddle; Randy Carrier, mandolin; Mervin ?, Dobro; Gary Laws, guitar; Cooter Williams, guitar; Harvey Tester, guitar; Frank Wing, banjo; a couple of guitar pickers that I don't know their names yet and Yours Truly on fiddle. We all had a great time pickin' an' singin' and then many of us headed for Taco Bell on our way home. It's such a genuine pleasure to spend time with our wonderful friends. Mary and I just love it!
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The evening of March 4th was time for a special practice for an upcoming wedding on the 31st of March. Wade Ledford was asked to provide a band for the special occasion and gathered up Mike Laws, banjo, Frank Culler, guitar, Jeffrey Lewis, standup bass and yours truly on fiddle. We all got together at Mike's home in East Side. I've been refreshing my fiddling with a few waltzes lately in preparation for the weddings I've got booked, so I spent some time teaching the other band members a few waltzes like: "The Anniversary Waltz", "Ashoken Farewell", "The Black Velvet Waltz", "Dreamer's Waltz", "The Tennessee Waltz" and "The Westphalia Waltz". Other fiddle tunes we worked on were "Faded Love", "Angeline Baker", "The Arkansas Traveler" and an original of mine named "Mayor Gordon's Coat". We also practiced a lot of up-tempo Bluegrass instrumentals and several slower dancing-type tunes and songs. We all plan to meet one more time before the wedding to fine-tune any glitches. As usual, we all had a great time. These fellows are a great bunch of pickers!
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March 2nd was a tornado watch/warning scare for most of the day and well into the night. We got up late on the morning of the 3rd, (today) feeling un-rested and after a short while around the house, we went to see Ron and Sherry for a brief visit. (Ron's band "String Fever" had played the night of March 2nd at State Line Bar & Grill in Bristol and I wanted to hear all about it). Later, Mary and I went up to Bristol, TN. to "Pete's Corner Pocket" billiards hall. The establishment is owned by Pete Grubbs and is very nicely kept. There were seven 9-foot tables and all kinds of 8-foot, 7-foot and bar box tables there to play on. We enjoyed the afternoon shooting and later went to Elizabethton for a quick bite to eat on our way home. When we got to Hampton, I was successful in talking Mary into riding up the very steep, winding, Black Mountain with me. She took lots of pictures of the night skyline overlooking Hampton. We'll post them soon. Earlier in the day we had heard from Charlie and Wanda Booher. They were going to the Rheatown Bluegrass jam at the Rheatown Market and wanted to know if we were going. We told them we might go another time, soon, because we miss seeing them. We had a great day and were very thankful to have been spared the devastation so many others went through with such violent tornadoes tracking through the southern states. Our hearts go out to those affected.
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Tonight, March 1st, the band "Rural Route Bluegrass" played down at the Unicoi Christian Church on Tennessee Street in Unicoi. The band is made up of Galen Jeter on Bass and vocals; his wife, Katie on mandolin and vocals; and their son, Corey on guitar and vocals. I play the banjo for them and also do some singing. We were well received by the large audience that came to listen. (Mary will have lots of photos soon and we'll post them on the "Bluegrass Country Pictures, Page 3" dropdown. Another band that played right after us was called "The Tyler Williams Band". Tyler plays guitar and sings with such a great way of expressing himself. I really enjoyed listening to him. His girlfriend, Ashley Davis is a very, very accomplished fiddler. Kenny Williams plays the standup bass for them and Haley Stiltner picks banjo for the band. She's incredible having played for Rhonda Vincent before. Mary and I had a great evening and visited with so many of our friends. Some of my musician friends that were present in the audience are: Burl Mast, Frank Culler, Mike Laws, Jeffrey Lewis, Terry Tester, Warren Shelton, Eddy Ray, and others.
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FEBRUARY:
After the two of us spent the entire day at the Senior Center in Erwin shooting billiards, Mary and I rode up to Jonesborough with Ron Duncan this evening to attend the Wednesday night (February 29th) Bluegrass jam at the Creekside Restaurant in the old historic part of town. Pickers that showed up to play were: Bob Nelson, guitar; Dave Wilhoit, guitar; Michael Little, Dobro; Ron Duncan, mandolin; Kenny Williams, standup bass; Jerry Sams, guitar; and Yours Truly on banjo. It was nice to see Dave Wilhoit again. I used to pick with him a lot up in Rheatown nearer where he lives over by Camp Creek. It was a nice tight jam and everyone had a super great time pickin'. Many of us also had a superb meal while we were there. I had a Swiss cheeseburger and a bowl of really good tasting potato cheddar soup. If you're ever in Jonesborough and you want to have a nicely prepared meal at a reasonable cost, be sure to stop in to the Creekside Restaurant. It's located adjacent to the old Court Building down in the parking lot by the creek.
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Sunday afternoon and evening, February 26th, was band practice for "Rural Route Bluegrass" up in Johnson City. Galen, Katie and Corey Jeter welcomed Mary and me into their home and prepared a wonderful dinner for us all. We practiced before and after dinner and went through our set list without a hitch. Their harmonies are spot on and they're a real pleasure to listen to as well as play with. Corey is a masterful guitarist of top notch ability and a real pleasure to trade licks with. He is enrolled in the Bluegrass Music Program at ETSU. I enjoyed talking music theory with him during the intervals between songs. Katie plays her Flatiron mandolin very handily filling in her breaks with tasty licks and Galen thumps a "mean" bass maintaining a driving Bluegrass rhythm that we all rely on for that traditional sought-after sound. We're all set now for our first show of the season which will be this coming Thursday night at 7:00 P.M. at the Unicoi Christian Church in Unicoi. This is all part of the "Red Barn Series" hosted by Burl Mast. Galen will be booking a lot for performances for us all as we approach Spring and Summer. I'm really looking forward to it all.
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Today, Saturday the 25th, Mary and I went up to Bristol to Borderline Billiards to catch some of the Great Southern Billiard Tour pool tournament which is going on today and tomorrow. We got to see the "Calcutta" and to watch part of the first round of the playoffs before leaving to get home so that we could head over to Thompson's in Embreeville to see the Bluegrass band playing there. Look for lots of "pool" pictures in a day or so over at the new page title "The Billiard Hall". While in Bristol, we just had to step inside the "State Line Restaurant" which is quite famous for being on the state line between Virginia and Tennessee. It was fun. 

The band at Thompson's was supposed to have featured E.C. Miller, but he was in the hospital and so the band ended up to be some last minute pickers that he has worked with over the years and that were assembled on the fly to provide entertainment for the large crowd that always gathers at Thompson's on a Saturday night. The banjo picker was Ken Price from Mountain City. He's been on RFD-TV lots of times and plays his banjo upside down and left-handed. He's amazing! Mike and Joanne Draughn played mandolin and bass, respectively, Tim Decker played guitar and Kenny Williams led the band with his fiddle. They all put on a superb performance. We sat with Ron Duncan, Gordon Hoyle and Jerry and Kathy Sams. Mary and Kathy spent a good part of the night "kickin' it up" on the dance floor while the men folk sat around and shot the "bull".

Later, after the show was over, many of us met again down at McDonald's fast-food joint in Erwin for some ice cream treats. We all had a wonderful time, as usual.
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February 20th: After spending several pleasurable hours playing pool at the Senior Center in Erwin, Mary and I went home for a very short stay before heading out to Elizabethton for the weekly Monday Night Bluegrass Jam at the Sunshine Market. There was a regionally well-known country music singer / guitar player out in the front part of the store being accompanied by the usual group of country musicians who always gather there on Mondays. The parking lot was so packed that cars were parked three deep and it was nearly impossible for some to find a place within reasonable walking distance. I've never seen the place so crowded.
When I got into the store and worked my way through the audience to get to the back room where many of us gather to play Bluegrass, it was the same way....packed! There were many pickers I'd never seen and some I've played with before but still haven't officially met. I'll try to at least list those I can remember playing an instrument (many, if not all, sing, too). Here goes: Ron Duncan, mandolin; Dan Boner (from ETSU) fiddle; Teddy Morton, Dobro; Gail (E.C. Miller's sister), vocals; Terry Tester, banjo & guitar; Roger Messer, guitar; Harvey Tester, guitar; Cooter Williams, guitar; Alan Shepard, vocals; Mr. and Mrs. Neil Onka, fiddle and guitar; yours truly playing an old GTR banjo that belongs to Roger Messer; Ed Dance, mandolin; Jim Woods, guitar; Gordon Hoyle, guitar; Wes Holtsclaw, guitar; and several others I'm unable to name playing various instruments. What a picking session!

One can just tell what spring and summer's going to be like with all this "cabin fever" going on. I can't wait until warmer weather gets here so we can get out of that noisy room and spread out and break up into smaller picking groups outside all around the parking lot. It won't be long now.
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Today, the 18th of February, Mary and I went with Ron Duncan to Greeneville, TN, to meet with other members of the band "String Fever". The band had to play at Bachmann Chevrolet. The car dealership was sponsoring a cherry pie bake-off with many entrants enrolled and prizes of considerable amounts (1st place $500.00)! Gary Taylor, leader of the band, played standup bass, Jerry Sams played rhythm guitar, Ron played banjo, Jim Hady played mandolin and lead guitar and I filled in on fiddle for Lisa Pattison who was away on vacation. We all had an absolutely wonderful time picking and singing and employees of the dealership and the pie contestants and other patrons really enjoyed our music. Later, several of us stopped at "The Farmer's Daughter" restaurant on the way home and "pigged out" on a superb meal. Here's the link in case you're ever of a mind to have an excellent meal in a great surrounding: http://thefarmersdaughterrestaurant.com/ Mary and I always enjoy hanging out with Ron, Jerry and the "boys".
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On the 17th, we went up to the biweekly Temple Hill Bluegrass Party. The evening started out with the first jam band playing for about an hour or so. If I can remember correctly, the musicians were: Ron Lewis, mandolin; Bob Van Horn, guitar; Terry Tester, guitar; Frank Rogers, fiddle; a man playing electric bass who I didn't know; and perhaps another musician or two that I missed. The next group up was Eddy Ray's band (which I've been calling "The Baronry of Bluegrass") consisting of Eddy playing mandolin; Ronnie Shelton, guitar; Terry Tester, bass; and yours truly on banjo. We were later joined by Ron Lewis on mandolin; and Frank Rogers on mandolin and fiddle. (It is such a treat to pick with Frank, as he is a very highly accomplished musician). The next group up was Ron Duncan, banjo; Jerry Sams, Guitar; yours truly, fiddle; Frank Rogers, mandolin; Terry Tester, bass; and perhaps a couple of others. This group morphed into another group consisting of Mike Hensley on banjo; Frank Rogers, fiddle & mandolin; Ronnie Shelton, guitar; Warren Shelton playing bass for a while and then doing vocals without picking an instrument and a few other pickers. Later, I was asked to go back up and play a couple of fiddle tunes along with Terry Tester as he played clawhammer banjo. I know there were musicians I have never met that played very well, but I was so busy running around I didn't get a chance to meet them, so I'm not able to include their names in this list. Wow, what a night!

The covered dishes people brought to share were so tasty. There must have been over thirty different types of casseroles to sample and I'll bet there were twenty types of desserts. This Friday night jam is turning into a premier event, for sure.

Mary had the time of her life out on the dance floor with old Elmer who can really kick it up at over eighty years old. We'll include pictures of the festivities later.
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Tonight, February 15th, Mary and I went with Ron and Sherry Duncan and Gordon Hoyle to The Creekside Restaurant in Jonesborough for the now weekly Wednesday night Bluegrass jam. We met up with fellow musicians and played for several hours before returning to Erwin. Musicians present were: Bob Nelson, lead guitar; Charlie Black, standup bass; Mike Little, Dobro; Ron Duncan, banjo; yours truly, fiddle; Terry Nelson, guitar; Ed Dance, mandolin; and a couple of gentlemen I've seen around and finally got to meet and pick with, George Bottcher, guitar; and Mike Sanford, guitar. The place was packed and everyone really enjoyed the music. Tomorrow night many of the same musicians plan to meet at "Pickles" restaurant, also in Jonesborough for another jam. Mary and I plan on going to the Unicoi Christian Church to see Adam Larkey, his sister, Sarah Grace Larkey and their dad, Eric, as they perform for an hour or so.
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Tonight, February 14th, was band practice for "Two Step Bluegrass". We all gathered at Mike Law's home on the East Side in Elizabethton. It's such a pleasure to listen to Mike Laws, Chuck Poore and Alan Shepard sing 3-part harmonies together. They've all been in many different bands over the years and have gathered a whole lot of expertise. They all play their instruments very well, too. Jeff Lewis plays the standup for the band and does a great job. He also sings bass parts in some of the songs we perform. I've been playing predominantly fiddle lately since Alan has been providing the rhythm guitar so necessary in Bluegrass. I always look forward to a practice with these guys. They literally know hundreds of songs. Great music by a great bunch of guys.
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After a couple of nights of hanging around the house waiting for the February snowstorm to thaw, Mary and I ventured out today, the 13th, and spent the day at the Senior Center shooting billiards with many of our friends there. later, we went to Elizabethton for the weekly Monday night jam.

Many of the usual pickers were there and it was good to see them. I brought my guitar (hand made by Steve Lane of northern New York) and my Magini fiddle while Ron Duncan brought his mandolin, guitar and fiddle. He played fiddle for several tunes while I played guitar. It was a fun switch for a change. Harvey Tester, Cooter Williams, Gordon Hoyle and Roger Messer all played guitars while I fiddled and Terry Tester played the banjo. Later, when we all moved into the front, Frank Wing showed up and played banjo along with Terry. Randy Carrier played mandolin as did Terry Nelson. Terry Nelson played his handmade mandolin built by Mike Draughn, luthier. The mandolin is an exact copy of a "Loar" and sounds superb. Merv Nidiffer was also present and played guitar and sang some great old Bluegrass numbers. Several other pickers were also present but I either don't know their names or I've forgotten who all was there.  

Not specific to this evening alone, but other evenings included, lately several pickers have been quite bothered by the constant noise level in the back room where we all gather to play. I've mentioned it to others as well and many share my same concern. When the musicians begin to play, the room builds such reverberation that the music becomes muddled and the clarity is lost in the poor acoustics. "Clarity" is something that serious musicians strive for in their music. There are usually many fans who gather to listen and to converse with other friends and fans. The volume of the various conversations mixed with the constant "roar" of so many guitars and persistent tuning of banjos finally just gets the best of me and I pack up and wait until the front room is available to pick in. (For a treatise on how I feel about the optimum experience of musicians working together for the good of all, i.e., the good of the overall music, be sure to visit my "Philosophy of Music" pages here). When a singer sings a song, the backup musicians should play "backup", not leads, all the way through. This condition of playing "breaks" all the way through a singing song is incredibly distracting to the singer; annoying to those musicians who gather and hope for the most optimum outcome; seriously affects the overall "spirit" of the story being told within the verses and chorus of the song; and it's also downright rude! It's enough to ruin many a great jam sessions and turn them into mediocre jams. When the song is over, musicians should refrain from excessive tuning and discuss what the next tune to be played might be; not contribute to the chaos even further by incessant tuning and halfhearted plucking.
I know of a few musicians who have refrained from attending due to the chaos taking place. It's a shame to see this Monday night jam begin to deteriorate due to a lack of Bluegrass Jam Etiquette. In order to have the most optimum experience in practically any social gathering, rules and conventions are necessary.

I hope those responsible will take a more active role in sharing these concerns with the group so that this Jam will be all it can become.
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Tonight, February 9th, we went to a new place to jam. It's called "Pickle's Restaurant" and it's in Jonesborough. It was the first night that the owners have had Bluegrass music pickin' there and they loved it! The idea was conceived by Terry Nelson of "The Olde Timers" and most of the members of his band showed up to play along with several other pickers. Those that I can remember picking Bluegrass are: Terry Nelson, mandolin and guitar, Charlie Black, bass; Bob Nelson, lead guitar; Bill Slimons, guitar; James "Jimmy Lee" Clayton, banjo; Ron Duncan, banjo and mandolin; Roger Messer, guitar; Yours truly on fiddle and another nice older gentleman playing guitar that I didn't learn his name in time to publish it at this writing. Several others in attendance had very tasty meals served up by the owners. Mary and I had the homemade coconut pie and some fresh decaf since we had already eaten a ham and scalloped potato dinner before leaving the house. We're all looking forward to attending this jam again. The acoustical qualities seemed to provide a clarity not usually associated with working restaurants, but the sound projection was probably assisted by the concrete masonry blocks serving as both interior and exterior walls.
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Mary and I rode over to the Creekside Restaurant in Jonesborough tonight (February 8th) with Ron and Sherry Duncan for the first Wednesday night jam there. We were pleased with all the pickers who turned out. In addition to a wonderful time picking Bluegrass, we had a delicious meal as well. There was a very adequate and comfortable place set aside for the pickers.
Some of the musicians who turned out were: Larry Nelson, mandolin and bass;  James "Jimmy Lee" Clayton, banjo; Charlie Black, bass; Bob Nelson, lead guitar; Michael Little, 1935 Dobro; Jerry Sams, guitar; Ed Dance, mandolin; Ron Duncan, banjo, fiddle and guitar; Mary, guitar; and yours truly, fiddle and banjo.  Roger Messer and Bill Slimons were present but didn't play. There may have been others pickers who were present and didn't play, too. Everyone had a great time. The owners asked us to please come back next Wednesday and so I'd rather imagine there will be a nice group of pickers and listeners who return. It's really a nice atmosphere for jamming with plenty of seating for musicians and audience alike. I got to thinking about the different members from various bands that were present. Except for Paul Masters, all the members of "The Olde Timers" were there. Two members from "String Fever" also were present: Jerry Sams and Ron Duncan. Two from the band "Bob & Homer and The Bluegrass Boys" were there: Bob Nelson and Charlie Black. Charlie's also in "The Olde Timers". (I used to pick with "Bob & Homer & The Bluegrass Boys", too :) 

Earlier today, (February 8th), I finished composing a D Minor tune for 5-string banjo. It uses the d-tuners to establish the minor 4 chord (G Minor) and also to revert back to the Tonic. It also has an up-the-neck variation of the theme established in first position. It's a melancholy piece which will certainly be complimented with harmony fiddles and tremolo mandolin parts. I can't wait until I can get in the studio to record it. In the mean time, I'll record the banjo parts with my Flip Camera.

Mary and I spent the morning playing pool down at the Senior Center with our friends, Red, Willard, Marvin and Frank. We had to leave early to get ready for jamming in Jonesborough tonight.
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While having a wonderful telephone conversation today, February 7th, with my longtime friend Donnie Perkins from upstate New York, I got a chance to hear him playing fiddle, mandolin, guitar and bass on a four-track (multi-tracked) recording produced by him in his studios in Chazy, NY. The tune he recorded and mixed was a tune he composed when he was only sixteen years old. He recently thought of a name for the piece based on a mishap a dear friend of his had one time while square dancing to the very same tune. Donnie named it "The Broken Zipper Reel". It's a very catchy tune in 2/4 time in the key of D Major. I can't wait until Mary and I head north in May of this year so that I can have him teach me how to play it. Donnie's written lots of fiddle tunes over the years including "Olympic Hornpipe", "Don's Homemade Jig", "Chum's Hornpipe", "Buff's Hornpipe", and "Bits and Pieces". He knows several hundred tunes by memory and is forever coming up with a tune I've never heard him play before saying "Here's one I almost forgot I knew". Mary and I can't wait to get to see him and Pat (Don's wife) and also Joe and Phyllis Ezero (Don's sister and her husband) when we return north for a visit. Don is featured here on this website in a number of places including the bands "The Perkins Family" and "The Food Stamp Ramblers" under the "My New York Bands" page under the main title "Bluegrass & Fiddling" and his own page titled "Donnie Perkins" under the "Fiddliferous" tab under the "Bluegrass & Fiddling" main title. Be sure to check him out.
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Tonight, the 6th of February, we went to The Sunshine market in Elizabethton for our usual weekly jam. Many of the "usual" pickers were present. Pickers like: Harvey Tester, Cooter Williams, Tom Harrald, Ron Duncan, Gordon Hoyle, Roger Messer, Terry Tester, Teddy Morton, Randy Carrier, Jeff Lewis, Tim Decker, Gary Laws, Alan Shepard Sr., Alan Shepard, Jr., Eddy Ray, Mary and yours truly, and probably a few others that I've forgotten. There was lots of Bluegrass and old-time played and everyone present had a lot of fun and enjoyed pickin' and singin'. When we finally broke up, several of us headed for Taco Bell which has now pretty much become a routine Monday night stop. While we were there we happened to see and visit with Chris Mathes, the Sheriff of Carter County, who stopped by for a Taco. It was fun visiting with him about Bluegrass music as he's a great picker and singer. We had seen him the other night at the Christian Church in Unicoi when he was playing with the band "Jeff Sharp & Friends".
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Mary and I met Ron and Sherry Duncan, Gordon Hoyle, Mr. & Mrs. Jerry Sams and Mr. & Mrs. Eddy and Dorothy Ray at The Choo Choo Cafe in Erwin tonight, February 4th, to have a pleasant dinner and listen to Eddy Ray's grandson, Lee Franklin and his band "Sons of Bluegrass" perform. All the members of the band are enrolled as students in the Bluegrass music curriculum in ETSU (Eastern Tennessee State University) and they're all very accomplished musicians. Lee plays guitar and is pretty much the lead singer of the group with additional harmony vocals provided by bassist Chris Armstrong. Lead guitar work is masterfully played by Arron Foster while the mandolin and fiddle work is excellently performed by musician/composer Kyle Murphy. The banjo picker is new to the band having only been with them for a couple of weeks but you'd never know it as his playing fits like a glove. His name is Dan Troyer. Anyone interested in booking this very fine band may visit their website at www.sonsofbluegrass.net. I also had the fine pleasure of meeting another banjo picker who was also in the audience. His name is Isaac Mainer and he plays with a couple of local bands around the Erwin area.
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What an absolute blast Mary and I had this past Friday night, February 3rd, at the Temple Hill Bluegrass party! There were three different groups of musicians who gathered on stage to play. The first was Eddy Ray and his two grandsons, Lee and Matthew, along with Terry Tester, Warren Shelton and yours truly. Eddy and his youngest grandson, Matthew, both played mandolins, his oldest grandson, Lee, played guitar and sang most of the leads while yours truly picked banjo and sang harmony lines. Terry Tester also played guitar and sang high tenor lines as he does so well and Warren Shelton played bass and also sang a few of his (and mine, too) favorite songs.

The next group up was Ron Duncan, banjo; Jerry Sams, guitar; Bill Harris, guitar; Terry Tester, bass; Ron Lewis, mandolin; Bob Van Horn, guitar (for a couple of songs); and near the end of their set, I was asked to come up and play my fiddle for a few numbers. This group cut a lot of Bluegrass and sang some beautiful numbers. Ron loves to play the instrumental called "Washington County" and often has me come up and fiddle it with him while he picks it on the banjo. I have always enjoyed picking with Ron since I first met him shortly after arriving in Tennessee. If anyone's doing much picking at all, it won't be too long before he/she runs into Ron playing his guitar, mandolin or banjo and singing and picking the old traditional (my favorites) Bill Monroe, Stanley Brothers, Louvin Brothers, & Flatt & Scruggs songs and tunes.

It was great to see "Big Ron" Lewis again. I haven't seen much of him this winter and I really enjoy pickin' and visitin' with him. Also, Gordon Hoyle and Mike Hensley were in the audience but chose not to come up on stage and perform, preferring to sit and listen. Mary spent most of the evening visiting with Sherry Duncan and Norma Jean Campbell when she wasn't out on the dance floor "kickin' it up"!

The third group to take the stage was already an active working band with an incredible amount of talent: the band called “Makeshift” consisting of Gary Laws on bass; James Story on mandolin and guitar; his father, Vernon Story on guitar; and Tim Decker on banjo. All four sing and harmonize beautifully. What a polished sound these fellows have! I just love listening to them.

After “Makeshift” was finished with their set, a bunch of pickers began a jam session at the foot of the stage. I picked banjo, Terry Tester played bass, Ron Duncan played guitar, Tim Decker played guitar, his son ( I apologize for forgetting his name) played mandolin, Frank Rogers played mandolin and fiddle, Eddy Ray played mandolin and Jerry Sams played guitar. Many of us sang and we played until after midnight. In fact, when Mary and I left, there were a few musicians still playing including Terry Tester who was clawhammering the banjo to the pleasure of Gail and Worley, the hosts of the party. Many pictures (taken by Mary) of the festivities will be posted to the "Bluegrass Country Pictures, Page 2" within a day or so.
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Thursday night, February 2nd, Mary and I met up with a bunch of our friends at the Christian Church in Unicoi to listen to The Carson Peters Band perform. Carson turned eight years old a short while back and he's already been tearing up a fiddle for several years now. The young boy is absolutely amazing. (More to follow. I'll be posting pictures, too.)

_Here's an accounting of our Bluegrass (with a little bit of other stuff thrown in from time to time) activities for the month of January, 2012, just after it occurs. Scroll down to reach the earliest activities of the month.
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January 31st, Tuesday night was band practice for "Two Step Bluegrass". Band members Mike Laws, Chuck Poore, Jeffrey Lewis, Alan Shepard and yours truly were present and practiced for about 3 1/2 hours. The vocal harmonies produced by Alan, Mike and Chuck are simply beautiful. The repertoire from the combined individuals is practically endless, so there will be a lot to choose from when the set lists are completed. Having Alan play guitar frees me up to concentrate on the fiddle a whole lot more. This gives us the banjo, Dobro and fiddle for lead instruments and guitar and bass for rhythm and bottom. As with each practice, I always enjoy the Bluegrass talent and the lighthearted humor.
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January 30th, Mary and I were busy shooting billiards at the Senior Center and later went to Elizabethton for the weekly Monday night Bluegrass jam. There were lots of musicians there this week. I’ll try to remember them: Mike Reed and Gail; Galen, Katie and Cory Jeter from “Rural Route Bluegrass”; Harvey Tester and Cooter Williams; Ron Duncan from “String Fever”; Gordon Hoyle, Randy Carrier, Tom Harrald, Frank Wing; then there was also Terry Tester & Eddy Ray from “The Baronry of Bluegrass”; Ed Dance, Teddy Morton, Roger Messer, Charlie Booher, and probably some others whom I’ve forgotten.  Terry played Ron’s newly acquired Morgan Monroe “Ralph Stanley” Model 5-string banjo. It sounds real good, having that sharp, brilliant tone associated with the raised-head tone rings.

It was nice to see Charlie Booher playing again after being under the weather for a few weeks. It was also nice to see “Big Ed” (Ed Dance) again. He had his “new” Gibson “Sam Bush” (2002) mandolin with him. It’s a “Hoss”. At one point in the evening, I was sitting between Big Ed picking his “Bush” and Randy Carrier playing his 1923 Loar-signed Gibson. Now that’s what I call “Stereo Heaven”. Then, later, Teddy Morton played Big Ed’s mandolin. I didn’t realize that he played mandolin, but he does a fine job on it. I now know he plays resonator guitar, guitar, banjo and mandolin. This is typical individual multi-talent for this whole Eastern Tennessee area.

Many of us played right up until closing at 10:00 p.m. Several went to Taco Bell afterwards for a snack before heading home. What a great night with friends.
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Friday, during the early afternoon, Mary and I went down to the senior center where we love to shoot billiards. Later, we went to Wade and Shirley Ledford's to pick some Bluegrass. As usual, we had a blast. There were a lot of pickers there this evening. Alfred Carter and his son played fiddle and guitar; Tom Harrald and Mary played mandolins; Frank Culler, Wade, Harvey Tester, Cooter Williams and Mike Laws played guitars; Burl Mast and yours truly played banjos (I played fiddle when Burl played banjo); Warren Shelton played a little bass and sang. Jeffrey Lewis played bass and so did Frank for a while. We stayed an hour or so later than we normally do because we couldn't tear ourselves away from all the pickin' and singin'. All the people who show up here to pick are so talented. It's a real treat to pick with each and every one.
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During the day, Thursday, January 26th, I got a call from Galen Jeter. He called to say his shoulder was on the mend and that he and his band "Rural Route Bluegrass" was back to taking on a schedule. I was excited to hear the good news about his shoulder being on the mend and also that I'd be playing again with them. They're a fine family band with great harmonies and Cory, their son, picks a fine flattop guitar. Our first gig that's scheduled will be March 1st, a Thursday evening at the Unicoi Christian Church.

Later, Thursday night, Mary and I went down to Unicoi to the Christian Church to listen to the bands "Dusty Roads" and "Makeshift". We got there a little late to catch all of the first band, but what we did hear was excellent both in harmony and instrumentation. The next and last band for the evening was  "Makeshift" and they were really hot. What a great bunch of fellows with great harmonies and musicianship. The band consists of Vernon Story on guitar, his son, James Story on mandolin and lead guitar, Gary Laws on bass, Tim Decker on banjo and for a special treat, they had a guest performer up on stage for a couple of numbers, Tim's son, Caleb Decker on mandolin doing a great job. He's only been playing since last August and he tore the mandolin right up for a couple of tunes, "Salt Creek" and "Pike County Breakdown". "Makeshift" is a really tight group and would be worth the trip if they're playing anywhere around you. (I can't get over the talents of James Story. Wow!) It was a fun night. Mary and I always enjoy seeing so many of our friends each time we venture out of the house.
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Tuesday night was band practice for "Two Step Bluegrass". It was held at Mike Law's home in East Side, a community offset from Elizabethton. Practice was about 4 hours of intense musical rehearsal of tunes ranging from the repertoire of Balsam Range, Third Tyme Out, early J. D. Crowe material and good old traditional tunes and songs. Lots of stuff in the keys of B (5 sharps), B Flat (3 flats) and E (4 sharps). These tunes lend themselves quite nicely to what I would call "pretty" music owing to the intricate finger-picking styles that Chuck Poore uses when he plays guitar and the gorgeous chords and overtones coming from mandolin, played by Mike Laws and also the riffs and melodic strains on the violin, (Bluegrass is truly beautiful when played in E) played by yours truly. As always, Jeffrey Lewis keeps a steady beat going on the standup and adds so much with the occasional passing tones from chord to chord. When we get into the standards, Mike usually switches over to a hard-driving banjo style and Chuck grabs the Dobro while I take the guitar. It's always such a pleasure to get together with these fellows and pick and sing. I'm already looking forward to our next practice.
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Monday night, January 23rd, we went to The Sunshine Market for our weekly Bluegrass jam. The parking lot was full when we arrived and so we had to park way around back. We were let in the back door which saved us a lot of walking while carrying so many instruments. Many of the usual pickers were there. Pickers that I knew and can remember were: Harvey Tester, Cooter Williams, Gordon Hoyle, Earl Duggar, Mike (who played standup bass most of the evening along with Gail), Roger Messer, Ron Duncan, Eddy Ray, Alan Shepard, Mary & Yours Truly, and Teddy Morton, and some others I'm sure I've forgotten. I was asked to pick banjo when we first got there and I stayed on that instrument the whole night. Even though I brought my fiddle, I didn't play it. I particularly like this Monday night jam because so much of the old, traditional Bluegrass is played and sung. The harmonies are super.
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Friday night, the 20th, Mary and I went to visit Wade and Shirley Ledford. There were several Bluegrassers present and we all picked for several hours. Harvey Tester, Cooter Williams, Frank Culler and Wade all played guitars, while Tom Harrald picked mandolin (and guitar a little here and there) and Mike Laws played mandolin (and some guitar) and I played banjo (and a few tunes on guitar, too). I left my fiddle home thinking that my friend Alfred Carter would be there and play his, but he didn't come. Later in the evening, Tom had me play a few tunes on a fiddle he had brought to the jam. Everyone who desired to was treated to a chicken liver dinner with greens and taters and the whole shootin' match. The Ledfords are wonderful people and we all enjoy visiting them.
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Thursday night, Mary and I went down to the Unicoi Christian Church Fellowship building to partake in the Bluegrass fun. This is a weekly event that moves here in the winter from The Red Barn on the Laurels Road. Tonight was the first get-together for the winter season. It is still run by Master of Ceremonies, Burl Mast, but hosted by the Church. The event moves from The Red Barn each winter due to the potential for lousy weather and the concern for cars getting stuck on the grass parking lot/lawn of The Red Barn.

I intended to only be a listener tonight and to sit with Mary in the audience and I didn't even bring any musical instruments with me to play. But, the moment I walked in the door, I was asked to play banjo with The Olde Timers Band. Mary and I had the pleasure of listening to the band earlier this past summer when they played at a church social and benefit on the Cherokee Road and we attended with our friends Ron and Sherry Duncan and Gordon Hoyle. We enjoyed the Olde Timers very much back then and we all enjoyed them this evening, too. I especially enjoyed them because I got a chance to be on stage with them and be a part of their performance. They're a great group of gentlemen and it was a pleasure to fill in for their regular banjo picker, Jimmy, who was out due to sickness. I needed a banjo to pick and my good friend, Frank Culler, asked Burl Mast if I could play Burl's Gibson Mastertone. He graciously consented and even provided me with finger picks to use. Burl's banjo is set up just right and was a dream to play. Needless to say, I enjoyed picking it very much. Quite a few patrons came up after the show and commented positively on my playing which was very nice of them. The band members, Paul, Bill, Charlie and Terry also thanked me and Eddy Ray for sitting in with them. Thank goodness the band played tunes I had heard before. Tomorrow at some point, I'll have Mary post some of the pictures she took of the festivities. We'll post them on the "Bluegrass and Country Pictures, Page 2" page. Be sure and check them out. Later, on our way home, we talked about how much we like our friends here in the South. What a great place to live.
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Wednesday night, January 18th, I had band practice with "Two Step Bluegrass". Our practice was held at Mike Law's home in East Side, a residential district on the outskirts of Elizabethton. The core group consisting of Jeffrey Lewis, Mike Laws, Chuck Poore and Yours Truly attended with the additional treat of Alan Shepard sitting in with us. Jeffrey had suggested that I play a few banjo tunes (outside of my normal role of fiddle and guitar) and that Mike play some guitar tunes and songs (outside of his normal role as banjoist and mandolin player). This, of course, opened up a wide variety of material for the band to perform. Alan, Mike and Chuck had played together a lot over the years and their harmonies were spot on. It was a real enjoyment for me to listen to the intricacies within the blending of their voices. Mike is a very accomplished guitarist (as well as many other instruments) and Chuck does really well on both resonator guitar and flattop guitar. I had a delightful time and before I knew it, it was late and time to go home. They're a great group of fellows and I enjoy their company very much. Now I'm just waiting 'til the next practice.
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Tuesday found Mary and me down at the senior center in Erwin shooting billiards with some of our friends there. "Red", Roy, Terry, Henry, Willard and Iss all played with and against us throughout the late morning and early-to-mid afternoon. Buster and Frank were there, but didn't play when we were there. They probably played before we arrived. Many of the members are real early birds and play pool right after the place opens. Anyway, we just love hanging out down there. Everyone is so nice. It's a wonderful way to pass time, be with friends and enjoy the sport.
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Monday the 16th, Mary and I attended the jam in Elizabethton. We had an absolute blast visiting with our many friends there and pickin' Bluegrass. Charlie Booher wasn't there so Mike and Gail took turns playing standup bass while Harvey & Cooter played guitars. Gordon Hoyle had his brand new D-16 with him and wow, what a sound from a brand new guitar. Terry Tester played banjo. I played fiddle and Ron played guitar, too. Later, Frank Wing showed up and played banjo and Terry switched over to guitar and Ron played my fiddle for a few numbers while I switched to guitar. Alan Shepard also had his guitar with him and later, he and Terry and Gail sang some beautiful harmonies while Mike played the bass for them and Frank picked banjo. The women folk visited back and forth and Mary took quite a few photos (see them on "Bluegrass Country Pictures, Page 2"). We all had a great time and quite a few of us ended up at Taco Bell to finish off the evening with a snack.
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On Friday the 13th of January, Mary and I woke up to our driveway and yard blanketed with about a half-inch of snow. Later in the day, in just a few minutes, we had the driveway salted and passable. We received a call early from Eddy Ray informing us that the Temple Hill Bluegrass jam had been canceled due to poor weather. But, after a nice warming period throughout the day, we later received a call from Ron and Sherry Duncan informing us that the Bluegrass jam was back on. It was about 5:30 p.m. when we got the call, so we hurried around and got to the jam about 6:40 p.m.

 It seems I must have totally misunderstood the format of the evening because one group of musicians played for over two hours (they were playing when we arrived and still playing when we left) while many very capable Bluegrass singers and pickers remained seated in the audience. Those on stage were all accomplished musicians and very enjoyable to listen to. But, I preferred the format used a couple of weeks prior, on New Years Eve, when there were several impromptu groups who took turns performing on the stage which provided all those who wanted to play with an opportunity to do so. Mary and I left early and enjoyed the evening at home.
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On Tuesday night, I traveled to Dennis Cove, TN, to play Bluegrass with the band of the same name. I followed Don Anderson up the mountain (around 4,200 feet in elevation of incredibly winding roads) and down the other side to Carl Hazelwood's home with the privilege of sitting in on one of their weekly practices. When I first heard the band performing at Thompson's, there was a lot of noise from people dancing and talking and I just wasn't able to hone in on the band's real talent. I knew they were accomplished musicians, but I didn't realize the extent of their talent. That all changed when I had the opportunity to hear them in the intimate setting of Carl's living room. Wow! They've been practicing every week for several years now and it really, really shows. Talk about "tight", they're tight. I was blown away by the songwriting talents of Chris Hazelwood, mandolinist...I mean blown away. I still am feeling my pulse to see if I'm alive. This man has songwriting talent that just has to be discovered by a larger audience. I can't wait until their new CD is out. I know Chris is going up the food chain of musical possibilities. Another songwriter with a real knack is Don Anderson, bassist for the band. He performed a couple of his originals, too, and they were expertly crafted gems. Along with the traditional Bluegrass tunes and the many original tunes, I spent a wonderful evening fiddling with these guys. Dean Burchett is a fine banjo picker with an authentic mix of Scruggs, Crowe, Stanley and Burchett licks to satisfy the most demanding listener. Carl plays a rhythm guitar that really holds it all together in a special way. Carl, Chris and Don handle the vocals with true harmonies that are a perfect blend. I had a blast fiddling along with the tunes I'd heard before and played much more quietly when the original material was presented due to the intricacies of the chords and melody lines.

I'm looking forward to sitting in on another session some time in the future. I don't fancy myself as talented enough to readily play the intricate melodies, timings and chordal structures without a steep learning curve, so after a day of thinking it over I called and thanked them for their kindness and time. I've just got a whole lot more learning to do before I step out with my fiddle. Watch for the Dennis Cove Band when they're playing a venue near you......they're well worth the trip to see and hear them and be sure and pick up one of their CDs.
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On Monday, January 9th, Mary and I had a great time at the Elizabethton Bluegrass jam at the Sunshine Market. There were quite a few pickers there. Roger Messer showed up and played his Recording King guitar and he also brought a hand-made 5-string fiddle for me to try out and see what I thought...I loved it! Charlie Booher played bass, Terry Tester played guitar as did Cooter Williams and Harvey Tester. Gordon Hoyle played guitar, too. I started out playing mandolin while Ron Duncan played banjo and later I switched to banjo. Eddy Ray showed up, too, and he played mandolin as did Randy Carrier. Alan Shepard sang a few numbers with Ron and Terry. Everyone had a good time. The back room lends itself very easily to noise, and the minute the front room became available, we all headed right out there to pick. The acoustics just aren't that good in the back room. Many people that were present here tonight have expressed an interest in attending the Temple Hill Bluegrass jam this coming Friday night.
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January 8th, in the evening while I was practicing a new banjo tune I'd just composed named "Fred's 5-String Breakdown", I received a call from Carl Hazelwood, guitarist for the Dennis Cove Band. He asked me to call Don Anderson, bassist, and to attend their next band practice and bring my fiddle. I had mentioned to them back on November 12th when they played at Thompson's Produce, that I'd heard they were looking for a fiddler and I'd be willing to try out for the position. They kindly took my name and told me they would call me in January....and by golly, they did. So, this Tuesday, January 10th, I'll try out for their band. They play a lot of intricate stuff in the keys of B (5 sharps) and B-Flat (3 flats) so I'd rather imagine I'll have my hands full trying to keep up since the fiddle is an instrument I've struggled with for many years when it comes to the keys of Bb, Eb, Ab, and B. They're a great group of musicians and I'm sure they'll be fair. If I feel that I can't help them -in fact, only hurt them with my playing - I'll walk away none-the-less for trying. It should be a lot of fun auditioning. Time will tell. Stay tuned; do not adjust your set :-)
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY EARL SCRUGGS and FRANK CULLER! January 6th, early in the day, we attended a party at the Senior Center in Erwin where there was a celebration of Elvis Presley music and other well known songs. Later, in the early evening, Mary and I went to Wade & Shirley Ledford's to play Bluegrass and see many of our friends. Alfred and Curtis Carter were there playing fiddle and guitar along with Harvey Tester and Cooter Williams playing guitar, Mike Laws playing banjo and guitar, Frank Culler was playing guitar, too, and Wade played guitar and I played mandolin. later I got to playing guitar, so it was kind of a guitar evening. It was also Frank's Birthday, so we all sang the old "Happy Birthday" song to him and wished him many more. Jeffrey Lewis was there but didn't bring his standup bass so he just sat and visited with Mary, Shirley, Barbara, Helen, Steve and others who were present. It was nice seeing him again, too. (Jeffrey and Mike Laws are members of the band "Two Step Bluegrass" which I am fortunate enough to also be in). It was a great night jamming and like always, I enjoyed it very much. Later, on the way home, I got a call from Roger Messer and he told me that Roy, the owner of the Sunshine Market in Elizabethton, would like to have jam sessions on Friday and Saturday nights throughout the winter and would like to have as many of us pickers show up as possible to get it started. I told Roger that I would gladly spread the word. I know that Fridays will be taken up for Mary and I as we alternate between Wade's in Hampton and the Temple Hill jam sessions in Ernestville and Saturdays will find us occasionally attending jams in Rheatown. But I think I would like going to a Saturday night jam in Elizabethton at the Sunshine Market, too, once in a while to offer my support to such a wonderful effort on Roy's part. Many thanks to him for his continuing support of our Bluegrass jams. 
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January 4th, Mary and I were down at the Senior Center shooting billiards and saw our good friends Ron and Sherry Duncan and visited with them for a while. We learned that the band "String Fever" will be playing a couple of places in Bristol this week. If I can remember, Ron said one place was the "State Line Bar & Restaurant" and the other "The Picking Parlor". They are also scheduled to play somewhere in Gatlinburg, too. Sounds like a busy week for the band. They're all such wonderful people. Mary and I always enjoy being in their company. To book the group, email Gary Taylor at gtriver@earthlink.net.
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January 2nd was the first opportunity I had to do some Bluegrass jamming and wouldn't you know it, Mary and I were so busy with other little odds and ends that we plum forgot about the jam and when Ron and Sherry called to see where we were, it was too late and there was 3/4 inch of snow on the roads, so we decided to stay home. I since have filled in the jam dates for January in my little white schedule book and hopefully I won't miss any more music picking.
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The last night of December (and of the year 2011) was spent playing Bluegrass music at a Bluegrass party in Temple Hill. When the clock finally struck 12:00, I was playing the fiddle with a group of my closest friends. What a way to enter the New Year! Mary was in the audience having an absolute blast with a bunch of her closest friends. We had an absolutely wonderful time bringing in the New Year. Check out the pictures on "Bluegrass Country Pictures, Page 2".
I'll try to remember who all was pickin' Bluegrass at our party. At first, I played banjo at the request of Eddy Ray who played mandolin and had me pick with him and his long time friend Ronnie Shelton who played left-handed on a right-handed guitar. Eddy's grandson, Mark, played mandolin for a short while and to the pleasure of the audience, he played Amazing Grace. Ronnie Shelton is a very accomplished lead guitarist and has a super Bluegrass voice including a high tenor to kill for. (At the close of the Party, Eddy played Mike Hensley's banjo while Mike played my fiddle). Next, we were joined by Terry Tester who played bass for most of the evening including playing bass for all the other pickers, until much later when he switched over to claw-hammer banjo and Warren Shelton played bass. Then, a little later, Terry played guitar. Terry is an incredibly talented musician who also has a wonderful high tenor voice. Warren Shelton is a great musician and singer, too. It's always a treat to pick with him. Then we were joined by our friend from the Rock Creek Band, Bob Van Horn, who played a resonator guitar. It was great to see Bob again as he has been quite ill and now has to be on oxygen full-time. We all wish him a speedy recovery. He did a great job singing several of his favorite numbers. Then Ron Duncan came up on stage with his banjo and I switched to fiddle. Ron is an all-around talented guy who knows more Bluegrass songs than I've probably ever even heard. He's a veritable warehouse of Bluegrass lyrics and a real pleasure to know and to pick and sing with as well as pal around with. Then Bill Harris came up and sang and played guitar. Bill is a musician's musician with limitless talent and such a wonderful man to play with and to visit with. Later, we were all joined by Alan Shepard from the Stony Point/ Hunter area around Elizabethton, TN. Alan has a wonderful Bluegrass voice and is an old "pro" at harmony singing. He's such a great guy to pick with and a super nice fellow. Then Mike Hensley and his son (I'm sorry, but his name escapes me at this writing) came up and played some great numbers. Mike can play his 5-stringer lightning fast and his son can play the devil out of a lead guitar. They just tore the place up. Mike also plays fiddle really well and played my fiddle for a few numbers towards the end of the evening. Also, right around this time, my good friend who has run The Red Barn for so many years, Burl Mast, came up and played his banjo for quite a few numbers. Burl does a great job. There's no one I've ever met who's done more to promote Bluegrass music than Burl. He's a great guy to visit with, too. Later, the Larkey Family entertained us all. Sarah Grace with her beautiful vocals, Adam with his intricate fiddling and Eric, their father, holding it all together with his great guitar work. I'm sure I've forgotten a few pickers and singers, but if I can remember them, I'll put their names in later. My friend Gordon Hoyle was also present in the audience but chose not to play his guitar on stage, preferring to listen rather than pick. It was great to see him again, too. The Party was a total success and I can't wait until the 13th and 27th of January when we do it all over again.
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Friday night, the 23rd of December, we visited Wade and Shirley Ledford over in the hills of Valley Forge, TN. They had a lot of company and family stopping over throughout the evening hours and Mary and I got to meet several people we'd never met before. It was fun. As usual, the musicians showed up in great numbers and we all had a super time picking through the many Bluegrass tunes we all know. It's always such a pleasure when Wade picks up a guitar and sings a few of his old standbys. Cooter Williams and Mike Laws were absent due to not feeling up to par and we wish them speedy recoveries from their nasty colds. It seems like everyone has come down with a cold lately. Also absent were Tom Harrald and Jeffrey Lewis. Hope they're OK. Mary and I wished everyone a very Merry Christmas and left early to get home and go to bed early. Mary has been baking pies and bread and getting ready for the holidays and she's having so much fun as she always does this time of year. It's fun to watch her enjoy this time of year so much. Christmas in Tennessee is really special. We have so many new friends to share this joyous season with. The food is great, the music is out of this world and our friends are special. Who could ask for anything more?  Of course we miss our immediate families and many dear friends back up North, but we manage to stay in touch often which helps so much this time of year, especially.
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Monday, December 19th, during the day, Mary and I spent several hours at the Senior Center playing billiards with some of our many friends there. "Red", Henry, Terry, Willard, Millard, Roy, Charlie, Kenneth, Iss, "Buster", Frank and Jack all had a great time enjoying the sport.

Later, in the evening, Mary and I attended the Monday night Bluegrass Jam at The Sunshine Market in Elizabethton. Here, several of our great friends showed up to pick and to listen. Charlie and Wanda Booher, Norma-Jean Campbell, Ron and Sherry Duncan, Gordon Hoyle, Eddy Ray, Alan Shepard, Alan Shepard, Jr. and his little boy Thomas, Harvey Tester, "Cooter" Williams, Teddy Morton, and many other listeners and players all showed up. We had a great time. The back room was a little on the cool side and it looks as though within a couple of weeks the group will be moving up to the front of the market as the Country Music group will be switching to Saturday nights. Nothing definite yet, just being discussed.
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Saturday night, Mary and I played at The Moose in Johnson City. Mary played mandolin. We picked with the core members of String Fever, which are Gary Taylor on bass (later, after Gary had to leave, Sherry played bass), Ron Duncan on banjo and guitar and Jerry Sams on guitar. I played fiddle for the most part but switched over to banjo and guitar for a while, too. We were invited to a wonderful smoked turkey dinner with all the fixings one could imagine. We always enjoy playing at The Moose Lodge and seeing our many friends there.
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Friday night, Mary and I were invited to Wade and Shirley Ledford's home for their annual Christmas party. There were many "finger foods" available and we all enjoyed them. After the eats and treats portion of the evening, many of us started playing Bluegrass music. Frank Culler played guitar, as did Cooter Williams and Harvey Tester. Mary played mandolin and I played banjo. Usually Mike Laws plays banjo, but he played guitar. He had just finished a brand new guitar that he built for Wade. So we all got to listen to it. Mike is an absolutely phenomenal guitar builder. His guitars begin their lives with incredible sound. Mike knows the exact formula for bracing guitars. His new guitars sound way better than any professionally made guitar I've ever heard. I'm not kidding, they sound that good! Alfred Carter played fiddle and another fellow named Lloyd played bass. Tom Harrald usually plays Dobro, but as I remember, he played mandolin for a while. Many of the Ledford's friends were in and out throughout the evening, so I'll not attempt to name them all. Mary and I had a truly wonderful time with so many of our friends. We always enjoy going to Wade and Shirley's.
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We ventured out away from home last night, Monday, December 12th, to head down to Elizabethton for some Bluegrass pickin' at the Sunshine Market. Several pickers showed up, so we all had a great time. I started playing banjo with Charlie Booher playing standup bass and after a while, Ron Duncan came in and played guitar. Later, we were joined by Teddy Morton on resonator guitar and Harvey Tester on flat top. Later still, we were joined by Alan Sheppard singing beautiful harmonies with Ron taking the lead lines. Lots and lots of Stanley tunes and Carter Family numbers were played. We all had a great time.
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We really had planned to attend the Monday night (December 5th) jam at The Sunshine Market in Elizabethton, but Mary and I both remained troubled by our colds and flu-like symptoms, so we decided to stay home in case we were still contagious. This makes a couple of weeks in a row that we've been unable to attend. Wow, we miss everyone that we usually see there. I called Charlie and Wanda Booher and also Ron and Sherry Duncan to tell them that Mary and I would not be going to the jam and both couples said they were not going either, due to their own sickness. The whole area seems to be sick with this "cold" going around and around. We've purposely stayed away from Wade and Shirley Ledford's on Friday nights, Rheatown on Saturday nights, Elizabethton on Mondays, Bluff City on Tuesdays, The Red Barn on Thursdays (although I did play there last Thursday, even though I didn't feel well)......I'll be glad when we're on the mend and pickin' an' singin' again!
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Mary and I met with Ron and Sherry Duncan, Gordon Hoyle and Roger Messer Saturday night, December 3rd, at Thompson's Produce on Rte 107 for an evening of  entertainment by Kody Norris and the Watauga Mountain Boys. Kody always does a fine job singing and pickin on his flat top. The band played hard-driving traditional Bluegrass for over two hours with an occasional  Christmas tune and some Gospel thrown in for good measure. I'm still trying to recover from a bad chest cold, so I sat right next to the wood stove the whole evening. Mary took lots of photos, so when she gets a chance I'll have her post some on "Bluegrass Country Pictures Page 2".
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Last night, Thursday, December 1st, I enjoyed playing Bluegrass at Burl Mast's Red Barn in Unicoi on the Sciota Road. I am in the band called "Two Step" consisting of Mike Laws, banjo and mandolin; Chuck Poore, resonator guitar and flat top guitar; Jeffrey Lewis, standup bass; and yours truly on fiddle. Last night we were honored to have Frank Culler sit in and play rhythm guitar for our whole set. This freed me up to play fiddle the entire set. We followed the band "String Fever" (I often times am asked to play in this band when a band member is not available). Last night, they had a full band with Gary Taylor on standup; Ron Duncan on banjo; Jerry Sams on guitar; Jim Hady on mandolin and lead guitar; and Lisa Pattison playing fiddle. After my band, "Two Step Bluegrass" finished, we were all treated to a surprise group of musicians:
Hunter Berry, fiddler for Rhonda Vincent and The Rage showed up with Rhonda's daughters, Sally (Hunter's wife) and Tensel Sandker, (they make up the band "Next Best Thing") and some other really good pickers like Brent Burke who has toured in a fill-in position for about three years with Rhonda but now is on the road full time with her. He's an amazing reso-guitar player. Haley Stiltner plays banjo with them. She attends ETSU Bluegrass programs in Johnson City, just up the road. Dan Boner played guitar, including some really hot licks and sang baritone vocals. So, all in all it was Dan Boner and Sally Berry on guitars, Tensel Sandker on standup bass, Hunter on fiddle, Brent Burke on resonator guitar and Haley Stiltner on banjo. Later in the show, 7 year old Carson Peters joined the band for a couple of tunes. Carson is flat out amazing! What a treat to have these accomplished, talented, professionals show up and play for an hour! 

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The Thanksgiving holiday period was a whirlwind of activity in which Mary's children visited for a week during which we all went to Harmony, North Carolina to see other members of her family and up to Bristol to catch the Speedway Lighting Spectacular which included various Christmas themes displaying over two million (2,000,000) holiday lights.
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Monday night, November 21st, we arrived at The Sunshine Market at about 6:30 p.m. I brought my fiddle, leaving my banjo home for the evening. Terry Tester showed up just a little after we got there and he played his banjo along with Ron Duncan who played several numbers on his 5-stringer before switching to mandolin. Teddy Morton played resonator guitar, Charlie Booher plucked the double bass and Harvey Tester and Gordon Hoyle played their guitars. Later, Mary Winchell played a nice Morgan Monroe mandolin furnished to her for the evening by a nice gentleman in the audience. Mary and I left early after having a great time with many of our friends.
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We haven't spent much time visiting with our friends lately at the various Bluegrass jam nights largely due to my practicing for an upcoming CD I will be recording soon at Cooter William's studio on Rte 91, east of Elizabethton. I intend to have an interesting mix of original songs, banjo and fiddle instrumentals, and old traditional standby songs and instrumentals, too. Original songs intended for inclusion are: "Wind in the Woods", "Higher Ground" and "There's No Place". Traditional songs are: "My Little Girl in Tennessee", "I'm Confessing", "Room at the Top of the Stairs" and "I Got A Letter". Original banjo tunes are: "Foggy Mountain Minor", and "Alder Brook" (I'm thinking about adding in my most recent instrumental named "The Unicoi Bounce") and traditional banjo tunes: "You Are My Sunshine", "Sweet Dixie" and a medley of two tunes where I use the Scruggs-Keith tuners, "Earl's Breakdown" and "Flint Hill Special". (I also use the tuners in "You Are My Sunshine"). Original fiddle tunes will be "My Autumn Waltz" and "The Decipious Fiddler". I'm excited about recording the CD. I'll have Mary do all the photography and artwork. Five of the banjo arrangements appear in "The Banjo Book, Volume 1". They Are: "My Little Girl in Tennessee", "Foggy Mountain Minor", "Alder Brook", "Sweet Dixie" and "You Are My Sunshine". I'm fast at work creating the "Nashville sheets" (a unique system indicating chords and number of beats-per-chord) now to provide to the studio musicians for my original pieces.
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Monday night at The Sunshine Market in Elizabethton was a nice evening of jamming Bluegrass music. Some of the many pickers that showed were: Ron Duncan, Cooter Williams, Harvey Tester, Terry Tester, Charlie Booher, Frank Wing, Teddy Morton, and a couple of others. Gordon Hoyle and Mary Winchell were both present but didn't play any instrument choosing to just listen. I had a blast "playing in" my Gold Star banjo. The Keith-Scruggs tuners are a lot of fun to operate and so I've dug out the old tune from Earl Scruggs named "Flint Hill Special" and put that into my list of tunes to pick at jam night. Many of us miss the Sunday afternoon jams we were so accustomed to at The Rock Creek Opry Place in Erwin. Some of the pickers are fast at work trying to find another suitable place for Sundays. (The sooner, the better!) 
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Saturday evening, Mary and I went to Thompson's on the Greeneville/Erwin Road (Rte 107) to watch the "Dennis Cove Band" play. They're very good. Their harmonies are excellent and they are all accomplished musicians. We met our friends Ron and Sherry Duncan, Gordon Hoyle and others there, enjoyed a great buffet meal and then sat down for a great performance by the band. Their website is: www.denniscoveband.com 
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Thursday evening, November 10th, I was pleased to perform with the group "Wade & Friends". The performance was very well liked by the audience and everyone had a great time. Musicians in the band were: Wade Ledford, vocals and guitar; Harvey Tester, vocal and guitar; Mike Laws, vocals, banjo and guitar; Terry Tester, harmony vocals and guitar; Frank Culler, vocals and doghouse bass; Cooter Williams, guitar and yours truly, fiddler. At one point in the schedule, Wade had a couple of his granddaughters come up and sing a gospel number and later in the show the audience was further treated to a duet sung by Mike Laws and his delightful mother. We all had a super time. Many "THANKS" to Burl Mast for his untiring efforts to keep Bluegrass and Old-Time music alive! Be sure and check out the pictures on the "Bluegrass Country Pictures, Page 2" page. They'll be posted sometime later today.
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Tuesday evening, Mary and I attended an invitation-only dinner at the Mary B. Martin Storytelling Hall in historic Jonesborough, Tennessee. We were guests after having been part of Rural Route Bluegrass Band consisting of Galen, Katie and Cory Jeter (and yours truly). The Farmer's Market hosted an incredible dinner to thank the many vendors, musicians and others who assisted them throughout the summer.
The dinner was prepared by The Main Street Cafe and The Bistro (both businesses right in Jonesborough) with food locally grown by area farmers. The meal consisted of fresh salad greens with honey vinegrette dressing, lamb sausage pasta, roasted root vegetables, goat cheese grits, braised greens, pork belly hash, quiche feta mushrooms, and last, but not least, an apple breaded pudding pie. I can not remember when I've had such a tasty meal. Compliments to the chefs and many "Thanks" to the Farmer's Market.
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Monday night many friends of Bluegrass gathered at The Sunshine Market on Rte 400 in Elizabethton for the weekly jam session. I started off playing banjo along with Charlie Booher on double bass (1964 Kay "M" in excellent, almost new condition), Will (can't remember his last name, but he used to play with Josh Graves) on Dobro, and Cooter Williams on guitar. Later, we were joined by Mary Winchell and Randy Carrier on mandolins, Teddy Morton on resonator guitar, Harvey Tester, Terry Tester (no relation) and after another short while, Alan Shepard and a couple of fellows I don't know yet on guitars, another standup bass (played by a woman I haven't met), and, little by little, a host of other pickers came in, played a while and left. It was a fun-filled evening. Ron Duncan, Gordon Hoyle and Terry Barnes (Terry sang and played in Larry Spark's band) were also present but chose to listen rather than play. Promoters of the Tuesday night jam in Bluff City were also present and repeated their request to me to please come up, again to their jam at the Rescue Squad building. I told them I would as soon as my schedule allows, but Tuesday (today, the 8th of November) Mary and I were invited to a catered dinner hosted by the Jonesborough Farmer's Market as a result of me being a member of one of the bands (Rural Route Bluegrass) who played there throughout the summer months.
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Saturday, Mary and I took a drive to Newport to see our friends at the business known as "Strings & Things", a very nicely stocked music store. We wanted to see many of our friends we'd made when we first moved to Tennessee and to jam with Tony and his wife and also Jim and Charlie and so many others. We were shocked when we drove up to the building and found it closed, empty and vacated. "Strings & Things" went out of business, or so we first thought! We were very saddened to think it was closed. However, we've since learned that "Strings & Things" has relocated to Parrottsvile, TN, (a few miles away) and is open from 10:00 a.m 'til 5:00 p.m Monday through Saturdays. Their telephone number is 423- 623-8090. They're also online at: http://stringsnthings.biz  
From there, we took I-40 West past the French Broad River up to I-81, to 11E into Greeneville. From there, we went to Rheatown for the Saturday night Bluegrass jam at the Rheatown Market. What a jam it was! If there was an empty seat, I didn't happen to see it! The whole evening was strictly Bluegrass music and the musicians were all top notch. It was a night to remember. Some of the many musicians that I know (and others I'm just getting to know) were: Charlie Booher, Kenny Williams, Mike Broome, Mary Winchell, Mike (guitar picker), Mike (banjo picker), a young boy playing "hot" mandolin, another fellow playing banjo, and several guitar players scattered throughout the audience. Mary doesn't let me fool with her camera very often, but she let me this time and so I took a picture of some of the pickers and audience but the camera shot I chose didn't pan the entire group (perhaps this is why Mary doesn't let such a camera novice as me take pictures, lol). Anyway, I'll post it soon on the "Bluegrass Country Pictures, Page 2" .
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Friday night, Mary and I played music at Wade & Shirley Ledford's home over in Hampton, TN. The Ledfords had many guests, including musicians Harvey Tester, Cooter Williams, Tom Harrald, Mike Laws, Terry Tester, Frank Culler, Wade, Mary and yours truly. Norma-Jean, Barbara and Steve and Helen were also there enjoying the fun. The band practiced tunes and songs we intend to play at the Red Barn in Unicoi this Thursday evening from 8:00 to 9:00.
Earlier in the day, Mary and I spent the morning with our friends at the Senior Center (where I am a member) playing billiards. We always look forward to seeing so many of our friends there. They're all very accomplished pool players and often we find ourselves in a match against or partner with gentlemen such as Terry, "Red", Roy (two different Roys), Marvin, Frank, Iss, Loy, Charlie, Willard, Buster, and many others. We laugh at the "kidding" that goes on back and forth between these long-time friends as they try to distract one another from potentially game-changing, critical pool shots. Spending time in the Senior Center with these people is truly a lot of enjoyment.

Thursday night was a night to remember forever. It was our first visit to Carter Fold. We rode up to Virginia with Ron and Sherry Duncan and Gordon Hoyle. Audie Blaylock and Redline were playing. Audie's played with such Bluegrass greats as Jimmy Martin, Rhonda Vincent and Michael Cleveland, to mention a few. His band is comprised of just about the very best in the business. His fiddler is Patrick McAvinue (playing an 1820 Hopf), banjoist is Russ Carson (playing a 1981 Gold Star which was bought at the same music shop, the same year as Tom Adams got his), mandolinist is Jason Wood (playing a fine sounding "Sam Bush" model F5 from Gibson which Jason has tweaked and worked on so much it's almost a "Jason Wood" mando) and his bassist is Reed Jones (if he isn't the best bassist in Bluegrass today, I'd be surprised). These musicians are in the top class of pickers and singers. Carter Fold has a great show area and a great museum that relates the history of the Carter Family. After the performance, I got to talk with each musician. So did Mary who also won a free CD by being the only one out of all the people there to find a "hidden mandolin" in the liner notes of Audie's new CD. Audie kidded her over the microphone and claimed her "free" CD was "blank".
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Tuesday, November 1st, Mary and I nearly went to Bluff City to the rescue squad building for the weekly jam. But, I was still having discomfort in my right shoulder blade and arm from an old injury and we decided it best to give some more rest to the injury so that when it comes time to play for Wade Ledford's band on November 10th I'll be OK to do so. I also have to play for a parade in Elizabethton before that, so here's hoping everything goes fine. It seems so strange not playing musical instruments very much at all for such a long period of time. I know I'm going to be "rusty" when I finally do chance it and start pickin' again. Tuesday was a beautiful day though. We hung out with Ron and Sherry in the afternoon. 

I didn't play music much on Monday night (Halloween), just a little mandolin. I'm still babying my right shoulder from a previous injury that has recently flared up. Mary played her mandolin and Ron Duncan's mandolin quite a bit, though, so at least there was music from our family being contributed to the overall mix of musicians. Speaking of musicians, Kenny Williams played some great fiddle, Cooter Williams, Ron Duncan, Harvey Tester and later, Terry Tester, played guitars. Terry started off the evening playing banjo. It was hard to recognize Terry since he was all made up into quite an impressive Halloween costume. (Pictures will be posted later to the "Bluegrass Country Pictures, Page 2" page). Later, Ed Dance came and played mandolin and Frank Wing showed up and played banjo. Alan Shepard, Jr. was present but didn't sing or play. It was nice to see Norm Stickney again. He attends lots of Bluegrass jams. Eddy Ray was present and may have picked some with Tom Harrald who played country music in the other room with a lot of other musician friends of ours. Alan Robinson taped the evening's music and will make DVDs available to those requesting one. It was nice to see Jeff Lewis, again, too. He's been quite busy lately. He's the bass player for a band I'm in called "Two Step Bluegrass". We have a practice this Wednesday night and a gig playing on a Float in a parade this Friday before Mike Laws and I have to practice at Wade Ledford's later Friday evening for an upcoming performance at "The Red Barn" on November 10th. The music is still keeping Mary and me busy as we find ourselves running all around the countryside pickin' and grinnin' with so many of our wonderful Tennessee friends.
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Sunday afternoon was lots of fun at the Rock Creek Opry Place in Erwin. Before we got started playing very much Bluegrass, we all signed a get well card for our friend and fellow band member, Bob Van Horn, who has been in the hospital for over 10 days. We all miss Bob and wish him a speedy recovery. Musicians that came out this Sunday were "Big Ed" Dance, Eddy Ray, Warren Shelton, Ron Duncan, Gordon Hoyle, Mary Winchell and yours truly. Another fellow showed up after a while and played guitar and sang a few numbers, but I didn't get his name. Also, as a special treat, Robert Crigger, our host, came up and played fiddle for several numbers. He has a great "touch" on the fiddle and does a great job with "Maiden's Prayer" and "Faded Love" among many others. We all had a great time.
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Saturday night Mary and I went out with Ron and Sherry in search of some Bluegrass music. Ron had read in the paper that the Dennis Cove band was playing at Gentleman Jim's but when we got there and inquired about it, we were told that Gentleman Jim's was closing forever that very same night and they had cancelled the band and didn't get the news into the newspaper in time. So we went up to Jonesborough to the Cranberry Thistle but it was a country band scheduled to play, not Bluegrass, so we went from there into Johnson City to the Empire Buffet Chinese food restaurant, had dinner and drove back to Erwin, got in our car and Mary and I came home to watch TV and retire early.
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Due to discomfort from a rotator cup, I intentionally refrained from playing music Wednesday and Thursday. Friday night Mary and I went over to Wade and Shirley Ledford's so that I could practice for the upcoming show on November 10th at The Red Barn. My shoulder blade was still too painful to operate freely. I just listened to the rest of the band rehearse so that I would have a better idea what the program material was going to be and what keys I would have to play the fiddle in on the night of the performance. Wade, Frank Culler, Harvey Tester and Mike Laws all played guitars as they worked out material for our song list. Mary played along on one of Wade's mandolins for the fun of it. I was itching to play the whole while everyone else was playing but limited my playing to a couple of breaks on a couple of tunes...that was it. 
Mary had taken pictures of Wade & Shirley and Steve & Helen and also Wade and yours truly earlier in the week at a family picnic of the Ledford's and she was eager to present the enlarged copies, all nicely framed, to Shirley and Helen. They really liked the pictures a lot. Also, Shirley had made a Blackberry Pudding Pie from Wade's grandmother's recipe. Mary and I had never tasted one and Wade had promised he'd have one there for us when Friday night came. Wow! What a treat! When we left, Shirley gave us the remainder to take home and enjoy. Sore shoulder and all, I appointed myself the one to carry the pudding pie to the car! 
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Tuesday night we drove up to Bluff City to the Resue Squad Hall on Rte 44. Mary and I learned in Elizabethton a couple of Monday's ago that the Rescue Squad in Bluff City had recently started a Bluegrass Jam on Tuesday nights. We've been wondering what to do some Tuesday nights, so we thought we'd take a drive up there and check it out. We both were quite impressed with the musically talented people who showed up to jam. Many of the people are members of the same band so the music had a more polished, rehearsed sound to it than would be otherwise. It was more like a band practice with the ability for others to sit in. We're thinking of going again, but bringing more "jammers" and opening up another of the rooms available for music. Mary and I saw several familiar faces and even saw our good friend, Gary Taylor, who heads up the band "String Fever". Gary lives close by in Bluff City.
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Monday night at the Sunshine Market was a lot of fun. Many of the pickers showed up and played in the back storage room which had been cleared out and several rows of chairs all lined up for listeners. I played banjo for over an hour before switching to fiddle when Teddy Morton switched from resonator guitar to banjo. Ron Duncan, Randy Carrier (for a few tunes) and Mary all picked mandolin, while Terry Tester, Cooter Williams and Harvey Tester played guitars and Charlie Booher played bass. Later, Cory Jeter and a couple of his fellow Bluegrass music students from ETSU showed up and flat-picked and sang and had a great time. There was also another group of Bluegrass pickers in the front room of the store. I noticed Alan Shepard and his son, Alan, Jr., picking out in front with Frank Wing on banjo and Randy Carrier on mandolin. There was a bass player and a guitar picker that I hadn't met before that were also part of the group. We all had a super time. Monday nights are a real musical pleasure for a lot of people. There's always a good audience that shows up to listen to the traditional Bluegrass.
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Sunday at the Rock Creek Opry Place started off kinda slow at first but developed into a nice jam session with me playing my banjo, Eddy Ray playing Mary's mandolin, Mary playing Ron Duncan's mandolin, Ron Duncan and Gordon Hoyle playing guitars and Warren Shelton thumpin' on Eddy Ray's double bass. We all sang and picked for a couple of hours and then Mary and I had to leave to get to a family picnic hosted by Wade and Shirley Ledford. We got to meet a lot of the members of the extended family and have some excellent food on an absolutely perfect Tennessee day. Wade told Mary and me that we are part of the family and we sure do feel that way. We feel like we've known them for years even though it's only been about three months. This coming Friday night, Mary and I will be attending a Halloween party in Elizabethton at the request of Mike Laws and directly after we leave there, we'll be going (with Mike) to Wade and Shirley's to practice for Wade's upcoming performance at The Red Barn on November 10th. Wade has told me all about Shirley's special blackberry pudding and said he'd have her make it special for us......so I don't want to miss that!
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Saturday afternoon I played in the little town of Milburnton, Tennessee, with Bob and Homer and The Bluegrass Boys. We played at a little Methodist country church after having a wonderful meal hosted by the church members. There was not a cloud in the sky and the weather was beautiful with a temperature around 58 degrees as the sun prepared to set. It was a little cool to pick our instruments in the shady areas but we all endured the cold, numbing effects of Autumn and enjoyed the day just like all the many who turned out for the Milburnton Community Fall Fun Day festival. Members of the band playing traditional Bluegrass and Bluegrass Gospel today were: Bob Nelson, lead guitar; Homer Ball, rhythm guitar; Mike Broome, resonator guitar, mandolin and fiddle; and yours truly on banjo. Mary took some pictures of the band and we'll post them here shortly along with pictures of our trip to Marshall, North Carolina and also some pictures of our Monday night jamming at Elizabethton. As Mary and I traveled on Glendale Road out to meet with 81 South, we couldn't help but notice the sheer beauty of the rolling hills and the perfectly kept farms dotting the hillsides all seeming to remind us of why we're so happy here in sunny Tennessee with our many country friends. About a half-dozen people came up to me after we finished playing at the church pavilion to comment on my banjo playing and one fellow I distinctly remember saying "I'm so glad you've moved to Tennessee...What took you so long?"
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Mary and I spent Friday evening at Wade and Shirley Ledford's picking and singing with many other guests. Wade played guitar and sang. Also, Cooter Williams and Harvey Tester played guitar and Harvey sang a few numbers. Terry Tester picked banjo for a while after he played Wade's new guitar that Mike Laws built for Wade. I mostly played the fiddle, but I did sing a few songs while playing Wade's new guitar. Roger Messer played some fiddle and some guitar and Tom Harrald played mandolin. Mike Laws played mostly banjo, but did play some mandolin towards the end of the evening. Frank Culler played some guitar, too. Mary played a 1919 Kalamazoo mandolin (belonging to Frank) and enjoyed it very much. We all had some summer sausage, crackers, sharp cheese and pickles and after some conversation, got right back into picking and singing again. Mary and I always enjoy our visits to the Ledford's. What a great way to spend a Friday night............pickin' 'n singin' amongst friends!!!
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Wednesday was a practice Bluegrass around the house day and catch up on errands, etc.
Thursday was quite a day indeed! Along about 4:00 p.m. Mary and I stopped at Ron and Sherry's to visit and before long, we were all in the car heading for Marshall, North Carolina, to catch Bobby Hicks playing at the Zuma Coffe House on Main Street. Mary and I had been several times and each time I would take the floor and jam and play along with Bobby and the gang of musicians who faithfully show every Thursday night. But this time I had forgotten my banjo picks and changed the strings on my old fiddle that same morning and worried that I would be distracting by having to tune a lot, so I left the instruments in the car and just became a listener for the evening. The musicians present were: Bobby Hicks, Adam Masters, Mac Claflin, Roger Howell and Kathryn Parham on fiddles, Bryce Parham (Kathryn's father) on guitar, and Cathy Arrowwood on double bass. The band was later joined by my friend Steve Davidowski, pianist. Noticeably missing was Orrin Jenstad on mandolin. Also missing from the last time Mary and I were there was Leonard Hollifield, vocals and guitar, and Branson Raines on fiddle. We all had such a great time!
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Tuesday Mary and I played some of Terry Tester's CDs while we drove around doing different errands. I've been asked to record with Terry at Cooter William's Studio here in eastern TN, so I figure it's a good idea to get acquainted with the "flavor" of his music, i.e., timing, phrasing, special tunings of instruments, etc., before hitting the studio ill-prepared. Terry also has asked Kenny Williams to play guitar, Mike Laws to play bass, Ron Duncan to play mandolin (and me to fiddle) while he plays banjo on the CDs. Terry is a pleasure to pick with. He's a very accomplished musician who has played with Bill Monroe and Raymond Fairchild. He knows how to play a number of different instruments very well and sings so high the Apostles can hear him!
I'm looking forward to the recording sessions.
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Monday night in Elizabethton was truly a fun time. There was just the right mix of pickers. I started out playing banjo with Charlie Booher on bass, Kenny Williams on fiddle, Cooter Williams, Harvey Tester and Ron Duncan on guitars and after a short while I decided to take a breather and Terry Tester played banjo along with those already mentioned and Teddy Morton played resonator guitar and Gordon Hoyle on guitar and Eddy Ray and Roger Messer playing different instruments and then I switched back and forth between mandolin and fiddle. Later, Alan Shepard, his son Alan Jr., and Randy Carrier, Jeff Webb and others kept the Bluegrass flowing for quite some time. My sweetheart, Mary, played mandolin for quite a while throughout the evening and also thumped the washtub bass for a few tunes. I took her camera and got a few pictures of her playing and I'll post them soon. Many of the "Sunshine Market Bluegrass Ramblers" signed the washtub bass which belongs to Wes Holtsclaw who can really play it very well. It's a really cool instrument in the hands of someone who knows how to play it.
It was fun playing some twin-fiddle stuff with Kenny Williams tonight. Usually either Kenny will play fiddle or I will and Kenny will play another Bluegrass instrument (he's very talented and can play several instruments) so it's really a treat to get to play double fiddle stuff. It never ceases to amaze me how many other of these southern musicians around eastern Tennessee can switch off between so many different instruments....and play them all so well.
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The Bluegrass music jam at Rock Creek Opry Place in Erwin this past Sunday, October 16th, was a lot of fun. Most of the usual pickers were present. Pickers such as: Bob Van Horn, Ron Duncan, Eddy Ray and yours truly. Then we were treated to other pickers that come less frequently, such as Terry Tester and Ed Dance. We missed seeing Warren Shelton, Kenny Williams, Jerry Sams, Junior and others, but hopefully we'll see them next time.
A special treat was when Tim Decker showed up and brought his banjo. Tim is a very accomplished banjoist and high-tenor and lead singer. It was a pleasure to have him on stage.
Another joy was when Adam and Sarah Grace Larkey and their father, Eric, showed up and performed for about an hour. These kids (and their father) are very talented. They were joined by Tim Decker on banjo (he often accompanies them during performances) and Terry Tester on bass.
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Saturday morning Mary and I left early to travel to Jonesborough. On the way, we stopped at Gentleman Jim's for a light breakfast and arrived in Jonesborough ahead of schedule. Here, we met with Galen, Katie and Cory Jeter who all make up the Bluegrass band "Rural Route". We began playing (I played banjo) at 9:00 a.m. and finished around 11:30 a.m. I had never performed at The Farmer's Market and found it to be a very pleasurable experience. Later, Galen, Katie, Mary and I had lunch at The Mountain View restaurant on route 11E before heading over to the Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park where "Rural Route" played from 2:20 'til 3:50. While at the Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park, Mary and I had the good fortune of meeting up with Mr. and Mrs. Mike Broome who were in attendance in the audience. Mike is a fellow member with me in the band called "Bob and Homer & The Bluegrass Boys". He's a super picker and a wonderful fellow. Other bands that played at this event were: TV Barnett and the Roan Mountain Moonshiners; Lonesome Pine; and Payne Town Crossing.

After the show, Mary and I headed to Unicoi to catch the last few songs of "String Fever" who were performing at The Heritage Days in Unicoi. Here, Gary Taylor, Ron Duncan, Jerry Sams and Jim Hady were playing along with special guest fiddler Kenny Williams who was filling in for Lisa Pattison who was absent. Later, after some good old laughs, most of the gang headed for Rocky's Pizza in Erwin for a late dinner. When Mary and I finally arrived home, it didn't take too long before we were sound asleep after what was a super day with many of our friends.
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Friday afternoon and evening found Mary and I at the Center for Aging and Health in Erwin for their fall festivities. I played fiddle for the band "String Fever". Other band members playing were: Gary Taylor, band leader and bassist; Ron Duncan, banjo; Jerry Sams, guitar; and Jim Hady switching back and forth between mandolin and guitar. The band was a "hit" and well received by all who attended. Mary took some great photos that will be posted soon. By the time we got out, I was too tired to get to Wade Ledford's house for the Friday night jam and I knew I had to practice banjo for my upcoming work the next morning in Jonesborough with the band "Rural Route Bluegrass". We had a great time at the Center. Thanks to the band "String Fever" for inviting me to play with them.
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Thursday, Mary, Robert, (Mary's brother) and I went to Norma Jean Campbell's for a surprise combined birthday for Lena (Norma Jean's sister) and Mary. The idea was Terry Tester's and Terry and Norma provided a superb meal of ham, mashed potatoes, vegetables, stuffing, cake and ice cream and a whole lot of other foods too numerable to mention. Later, Ron Duncan, Terry and I provided Old-Time and Bluegrass music. Those in attendance were Jim and Lena, Pauline (also Norma's sister), Terry and Norma, Ron and Sherry, and Robert, Mary and me. Ron, Terry and I discussed Terry's upcoming CDs which are in the planning stages presently and we worked on a few tunes that may well be included.
Later, Terry, Norma, Ron, Sherry, Mary and I went over to The Red Barn for the usual Thursday night music scene. After the in-house country band played, "Jonesborough Jim" played for an hour and after him, the featured attraction was "The Adam Larkey Band". Adam (15 years of age) and his sister, Sarah Grace, (10 years of age) rocked the house with their talents. They were very ably assisted by Adam's father, Eric, on guitar, a member of the "Spivey Mountain Boys" on bass and an excellent banjo picker from the local area. (My apologies for not knowing the names of the additional band members, but I'll do a little research and edit this later). (Note: banjoist was Tim Decker of Erwin, TN).
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Tuesday and Wednesday were filled with running errands during the daylight hours and practicing fiddle, banjo and guitar evenings. A practice had been scheduled for "Two-Step Bluegrass" for Wednesday evening but was cancelled a few hours early due to band member last-minute scheduling problems.
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This Monday night was a lot of fun at the Elizabethton jam at the Sunshine Market. Lots of pickers showed up. Space has now been made available in the rear area of the store where the musicians and their "fans" can assemble and enjoy the warmth during the autumn and winter months. Our sincere "Thanks" goes out to the owner for such kindness and consideration. Some of the musicians present that I can remember are: Big Ed Dance, mandolin; Ron Duncan, mandolin; Eddy Ray, bass and mandolin; Randy Carrier, mandolin; Alan Shepard and his son Alan Jr, each switching back and forth on the guitar and banjo; Roger Messer, bass; Cooter Williams and Harvey Tester (neither one played this evening, but both are accomplished guitarists); Terry Tester, banjo; Frank Wing, banjo; Gordon Hoyle, guitar; Mary Winchell, mandolin; yours truly, fiddle and banjo; Bill Fernald, guitar; Teddy Morton, resonator guitar; Kenny Williams, bass; and probably some others that I've forgotten. It was a beautiful autumn evening and we all played outside, taking advantage of the weather knowing full well it won't last forever.
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Sunday, Mary and I and our guests Bill and Sally Fernald took a little Sunday drive down to Buladeen, North Carolina, for an ice cream cone at the local gas station/general store. We went to Bakersville and drove around for a while first. The autumn colors were fantastic. Mary took lots of photographs. I've posted a few of them here on the site. Later, at home, Bill and I played our guitars for several hours running through a lot of the songs we've known for years. We went to bed late and got up late Monday morning. Tonight, we'll go over to Elizabethton for our weekly Bluegrass jam at the Sunshine Market on Rte 400.
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Saturday found Mary and me at a "Community Gathering" near Stone Dam, TN. Here, we were invited to an incredible feast of home-baked goods (all manner of dishes prepared by excellent cooks) that were very, very delicious. Later, after a wonderful meal, I played banjo with the band "Bob and Homer & The Bluegrass Boys". Members of the band that were present were: Bob Nelson, Homer Ball, Charlie Black, Mike Broome and yours truly. (Tom Caldwell was unable to make it). What a wonderful time alongside Pudding Brook, picking Bluegrass and singing to the many community members who gathered there for their annual get-together.
Mary and I followed Mike Broome to the Rheatown Store for some more pickin' and singin' before heading home to await the midnight arrival of our dear friends Bill and Sally Fernald who are in town after having been in the Chattanooga area. They'll stay with us a few days before returning to Zephyr Hills, Florida.
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Friday, from about 3:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. we picked Bluegrass on North Main Street in Erwin at the Apple Festival. We started in the Choo Choo Cafe, and after a few tunes, moved outside to where the crowds were gathered. Passersby had the opportunity to hear our band "String Fever" with all but one member present (Jim Hady was not able to make the performance). Those members present were Gary Taylor, band leader and bassist, Jerry Sams, guitar, Ron Duncan, banjo, Lisa Pattison, fiddle, Ed Snodderly, resonator guitar, and yours truly (filling in for Jim Hady), guitar and mandolin. Over 100,000 people are in town for the festival and there was truly standing room only on the streets, so our Bluegrass was heard and appreciated by a LOT of people. Many passersby stopped and clogged and danced to the music. We all had a blast. Thanks to Gary Taylor for including me in the lineup. I so much enjoy playing with these seasoned veterans of Bluegrass music.
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Thursday night, we jammed at the Red Barn in Unicoi. We all had a great time. We always have a great time at Mr. and Mrs. Burl Mast's "Red Barn". So many of our Bluegrass friends come there each Thursday and we just look forward to seeing them all.
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Mary and I sure had a blast yesterday afternoon down at Norma Jean's house while Mary helped Norma with her computer. I laughed so hard my sides ached! What a wonderful lady. From there, we went to Elizabethton for the Monday night jam. We all picked inside. The core group that first got started picking consisted of Kenny Williams, guitar; Ron Duncan, mandolin; Terry Tester, banjo; Charlie Booher, bass; and yours truly on fiddle. We were joined a little later by Teddy Morton, resonator guitar; Frank Wing, banjo; Clancy Mullins, banjo; Cooter Williams, Gordon Hoyle, Mary Winchell (my sweetheart), and Bill Hardin on guitars. Later, Kenny switched to fiddle, Terry to guitar, and I switched to banjo for another go around at it. We jammed for several hours. There was also a jam session in the front area (inside) of the market. I know Mr. & Mrs. Galen and Katie Jeter and their son Cory were present as were many other pickers. Cory is enrolled in the Bluegrass Music Bachelor's Degree Program at ETSU and can "tear up" a flattop guitar. I'll be playing banjo and fiddle in their band temporarily for a couple of gigs on Saturday the 15th of October for the Farmer's Market in Jonesborough and at the Davy Crockett Park in Limestone later in the day. I'm looking forward to this as they are all accomplished musicians and fun to pick with. 

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Today, Sunday was our weekly jam session at Robert Crigger's Rock Creek Opry Place. The musicians who showed today did an exceptional job pickin' and singin'. They were: Bob Van Horn, guitar; Ron Duncan, guitar and mandolin; Terry Tester, banjo and guitar; Eddy Ray, mandolin; and yours truly on fiddle and a little bit of banjo toward the very end. Bob sang a few of his old favorites as did Ron and Terry. Our special guest star was none other than Robert Crigger who played rhythm Bluegrass guitar for most of the afternoon, sang a few tunes and ended up playing my fiddle while I switched to banjo. Robert is a very accomplished musician and he does a great job on playing double-stop fiddling. He's real smooth at fiddling and he loves playing music just like the rest of us. We all had a great afternoon. Next Sunday the Opry Place will be closed because of the Apple Festival taking place in Erwin when over 100,000 people are expected to be in town. I'll be playing at the Choo Choo Cafe with "String Fever" right there on North Main street all day Friday and also Saturday morning until noon or maybe even 1:00 in the afternoon, so it should be lots of fun. Directly after finishing playing in Erwin on Saturday, I'll have to drive up to Chuckey, TN, to play there in the late afternoon and early evening with "Bob and Homer & The Bluegrass Boys".  
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I think the 1st Annual Rice Creek Bluegrass festival, held Saturday, October 1st, was a huge success in spite of the cold weather. When Mary and I (and Ron, Sherri and Gordon) first arrived, I got right into a jam session with Big Ron Lewis, Edison Wallin and Mike Broome that lasted quite a while and was very enjoyable. Then Mike and I were called off by fellow band members to practice up for our stage show which had been moved back to 6:00 p.m. We started practicing at about 3:45 and played right up until we went on stage and then played on stage for nearly an hour. It was so cold each one of us had problems with our fingers and with our instruments staying in tune, but we toughed it out and had a great time.....now that's dedication. It was 47 degrees with a slight choppy swirling wind! Stay tuned at this website for pictures of band members freezing to death....lol!
The food concessions were superb. Many of us watched the apple butter being made over the wood fire (Mary had fun churning the butter, too) and there were several ground campfires to help us all stay warmer throughout the festivities. It was well attended and I noted many little children having the absolute time of their lives running around and playing, seeming totally oblivious to the cold.
Eddy Ray kindly asked a bunch of us to play at this festival and he practiced with us but became too cold to go on stage with us. Band members on stage were: Ron Duncan, banjo; Jerry Sams, guitar; Terry Tester, double bass; Mike Broome, resonator guitar; and yours truly on fiddle. (Eddy had intended to play mandolin with us). We all give our "Thanks" to Eddy for thinking of us and to Frank and Julie Rogers for hosting us. Needless to say, we're all looking forward to next year and the 2nd Annual Rice Creek Bluegrass Festival.
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Friday afternoon Mary and I rode with Ron and Sherri and Gordon up to the Rice Creek festival site where the festivities are scheduled to begin today (Saturday October 1st). We all dug in for a superb pig and chicken roast with all the fixin's preceded and followed by Bluegrass pickin' extraordinaire. When we arrived there was a small group of accomplished pickers set up in a circle adjacent to the roaster and the smells of food were most inviting. The group consisted of Frank Rogers, Mike Broome, Big Ron Lewis, Edison Wallin and Cathy Arrowwood. Later, when our group formed, it consisted of Ron Duncan, Jerry Sams, Eddy Ray, Mike Broome and yours truly. There was a 15 mph breeze and the temperature was down in the low fifties, yet we all persevered. When it started to rain we went up on the stage to pick. Soon we were accompanied by Tim Decker, Gary Laws, Mike Hensley, Frank Rogers, the young multi-talented James Story (excellent mandolinist) and others. We all picked for several hours, quitting around 9:00 p.m. No doubt we are all dedicated, hard-core "Bluegrassers" !!!
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Thursday night Mary and I went up to Philadelphia, TN, to The Pilot Hill General Store for a tasty meal of hotdogs, hamburgers and french fries, and some Bluegrass pickin' on the porch. Many of the old "standbys" were there pickin' up a storm. It was nice to see them all and we stayed a couple of hours and had a good time. We hadn't been up in the area on a Thursday night in quite a while....it was a pleasure to see so many friends again. We then took off back to Unicoi to the Red Barn to see some more of our Bluegrass friends. I ended up pickin' the fiddle in Burl Mast's basement with Alan Shepard and his son, Alan Junior, and Terry Tester, Ron Duncan and another fellow I have seen several times but haven't been introduced to. We picked for an hour and a half or so and then departed for home.
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Monday night, September 26th, we went to Elizabethton at the Sunshine Market and got into a lengthy jam outside beneath the huge overhang on the right-hand side of the building. The core group consisted of Ron Duncan, Terry Tester, me, Harvey Tester, Ron Lewis and Bill "Charlie" Booher. Many others joined in throughout the night. Later, Mary got into some pickin' with Ron Duncan's Flatiron mandolin and joined in on the fun. Alan Shepard, his son Alan Junior, and his son Thomas, showed up later, too, along with Teddy Morton who high-tenored the Bill Monroe classic "Footprints in the Snow". Others - too many to mention - dropped in, as well. We all had a great time. There was also another group playing inside due to the lightly falling rain. I saw Galen and his son Cory, and also Ken Williams, Randy Carrier, Teddy Morton, Tim Decker and others, but I didn't get a chance to come in and pick with them....hopefully next time. A nice audience was seated all around the pickers and members were very supportive with their applause....just a great time was had by all.
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Sunday, I picked at The Rock Creek Opry Place in Erwin. Pickers on stage at different times throughout the day were: Junior on guitar, Bob Van Horn on guitar, Jerry Sams on guitar, Eddy Ray on bass and mandolin, Ron Duncan on banjo, guitar and mandolin, Warren Shelton on bass, and yours truly on fiddle and banjo. The event was well attended and everyone had a great time. Our host, Robert Crigger is a wonderful man and we are all very thankful to him for providing such a great place to pick and sing.  
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Saturday morning I played with "Bob & Homer & The Bluegrass Boys" up in Chuckey, TN at a nursing home for an autumn fund raising event. Band members present were Bob Nelson on lead guitar and vocals, Homer Ball on rhythm guitar and vocals, Tom Caldwell on mandolin and vocals, Mike Broome on double bass and vocals and yours truly on banjo and vocals. We really enjoyed the audience and playing for them. I always enjoy this group to pick with. They're all such kind southern gentlemen.
Later, we met with our friends at the Bluegrass festivities in Watauga at the City Hall and listened to several groups play at the "Mike Scott Homecoming".
After this event which ended at 6:00 p.m., we went south to Erwin for a Benefit Bluegrass Performance at the parking lot of The Food Lion named "Help For Mike" who is a young man stricken with a cancerous-type disease that Doctors are struggling with. This was a very supportive turnout and much money was raised to help with the medical costs. The main attraction was the last band, "The Spivey Mountain Boys". Wow! What a great group!
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Last night, Mary and I went to Wade and Shirley Ledford's for a wonderful dinner and pickin' Bluegrass. There we picked with Tom Harrald, Roger Messer, Harvey Tester, Big Ron Lewis, Brian, the fiddler, Frank Culler, Cooter Williams, Mike Laws and our host, Wade Ledford. A great time was had by all. It's always a wonderful time at the Ledfords.
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Yesterday, after a surprise birthday luncheon for me arranged by Mary, at the Golden Corral in Johnson City,  Mary and I attended the shows at The Red Barn in Unicoi, TN. I jammed outside with a bunch of pickers until a gentle rain started slowly soaking me and my old banjo. Being a little slower these days, I finally remembered I was smart enough to come out of the rain, so I went inside the Red Barn, found Mary and sat with her through a couple of different bands. We enjoyed them both. The first one, "Makeshift" was a very talented group (4) who had their vocals nailed right down and were very good on their instruments as well. The next and last group of the evening was the "Hilltoppers", a nationally known band who played southern Appalachian music that pre-dated Bluegrass. It was a wonderful performance. My friend Terry tester plays clawhammer banjo with this group as well as playing in a group with Ron Duncan and me called "Dyed in the Wool".
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Wednesday night I was asked to play with the main core of "String Fever" up at the Moose Lodge in Johnson City. Ron Duncan played banjo, Jerry Sams played guitar, Gary Taylor played double bass and I played the fiddle. We were very well received by the audience. We all had a great time pickin', singin' and visitin' back and forth. After the performance, we all hung out in the back room and told stories and jokes and laughed our fool heads off. Many thanks to the Band for letting me sit in.
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Tuesday night I played with "Two Step Bluegrass" at the Life Center Nursing home in Elizabethton. We played for 1 1/2 hours and had an absolutely wonderful time entertaining the "old folks". Mary took some photos, so look for a few here and there around this site, shortly.
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Monday night was a really great pickin' night at the Sunshine Market in Elizabethton. There were four distinct circles of Bluegrassers all pickin' at the same time. This jam is one of my true all-time favorites.
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Yesterday, we picked outside at the Rock Creek Opry Place in Erwin. Lots of fun. A real talented mandolinist, Ed, showed up from Marion, NC and fit right in with our jam. We all hope to see more of him in the near future.
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Saturday, Mary and I left for Rheatown to pick with the gang there. We had a blast, as we always do, and much pickin' and grinnin' was had by all.
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Last night, September 16th, Mary and I were guests at the home of Wade and Shirley Ledford. What a tasty spaghetti dinner followed by some great Bluegrass music with many of our Bluegrass friends providing the entertainment.
Today, we head for a pickin' party in Upchurch, TN. Later, we'll stop by the Rheatown Store for some more pickin' on our way home. Looks to be another great Bluegrass day!
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Today, September 15th, is my brother Dave's ( "Grizz") Birthday. Happy Birthday Grizz! Many more to you Bro. Signed: Your Idol.
Also today, Mary and I will have to decide whether to go down to Marshall, NC and pick with Bobby Hicks and a few of his endearing friends at the Zuma Coffee House in town, or go to the Old Pilot Hill General Store in Philadelphia, TN, and pick there with the many pickers who show each Thursday, or maybe go just down the road a piece to Burl's Red Barn and pick and sing with our many close friends who show up there each Thursday evening. Too early to tell.....but one thing's almost for certain, we'll pick some Bluegrass somewhere!
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Today, September 12th, Mary and I will head down to Elizabethton to the Sunshine Market and meet up with many of our friends and do some serious pickin', singin' and grinnin'!  The Monday Night Jam is always a real treat and so many of us look forward to it every week. One never knows who all will show up to pick and sing. But there's always plenty of musicians. When the weather cools, we'll all be inside in the backroom storage area where it's heated.
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Yesterday, the 11th of September was a picking blast at the Rock Creek Opry Place on rte 395 in Erwin. The Stage Band played for a little over three hours and fun was had by all who attended. We honored the victims of 9-11 by playing The Battle Hymn of The Republic as was thoughtfully suggested by Eddy Ray.