I haven’t had a chance till now to say something about this years Kid on Bluegrass. What an incredibly wonderful group we had once again this year! We had 30 kids this year but interestingly we had the biggest group of new kids that I think we have ever had! 16 of the kids had performed with us before and 14 were new to the program! The other amazing thing was the amazing talent the a these new kids showed especially when you realize that about 10 of these new kids were under 11 and their pickin’ was just overwhelming! Regina Bartlett joined the KOB team this year and had this younger group. Regina did a WONDERFUL job with these kids. Thank you Regina for working so hard, your group was fantastic!
When Regina first started getting the kids to play songs they were almost like a little group that had done this before, and when I first started watching them I was just amazed!
Betsy Riger did her usual magic with the older group the majority of whom have been with the KOB for a long time. Betsy also is just incredible and worked soo hard! Some amazingly talented new kids in this group too. Thanks to Steve Elliott, Rodney Lee, Betty LeBlanc, and of course Frank Solivan! What a group!
As for the kids, well, each and every one of these kids worked very hard and put in many hours to give their best to make a great show. This is not an easy show to put on and when you think of it every band that performs on stage has all year and many years to perfect their show. We have two days to take 30 -50 kids and create a full 50 minute set. Quite a feat when you think of it and these kids and these kids are TROUPERS! As are the staff. Sometimes it comes together easy, sometimes hard but it always comes together on the stage!
So many things I want to say but I’ll save more for my KOB story. A real highlight though for the KOB and probably especially for Savanna Agardy, was when Bradley Walker came on stage and sang with Savanna. She knew nothing about this until just before going on! What a treat!
Cheyenne Gray came to the KOB for the first time and what a voice! She sang Wayfaring Stranger and just wowed the crowd! We had two kids playing the cello for the first time that I know of and that was great! Kurt Doerfel of the Doerfel family band joined the KOB and it was fun to have him. Bethany McHenry took the stage and before she sang her song so beautifully, she took a moment to thank Frank Solivan for his many years of dedication to the KOB and thanked him for helping to make sure that kids just like her have a place to perform. She also thanked the staff for what we do. Very, very nice. Thank YOU Bethany. I would really like to mention each and every one of our kids here but that will have to wait. But HUGE thanks to every one of our incredible kids!
We also had film crew with us this year that Frank Solivan brought in. They were filming footage of the KOB in hopes of making a documentary about the Kids on Bluegrass to help promote this kind of program everywhere. I believe this film crew will be with Frank at several more festivals to get more footage. Big thanks to Tom, Jeff and Ken. They were great and were really enthralled with our Kids on Bluegrass!
THANKS KIDS FRANK AND STAFF, YOU ALL ROCK!
Thanks CBA for giving them a place and thanks to all the KOB supporters and audience! YOU ALL ROCK TOO.
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