Final vinyl

We have been trying to downsize. After my mother died three years ago Barbara and I discovered what it is like to clean out the house of someone who saved everything. After we emptied and rehabbed Mom’s place we rented it to a woman who was something of a clean freak...

Finally an excuse!

Reading Mark Evans’ Message Board thread entitled “One Association would benefit all California Bluegrassers” and the responses to it took me back to another time in my life, a time when I served as lead staff to the Santa Clara County Committee on School District...

Find Your Sound, or Make Your Sound

One of the bands I’m in is breaking in a new member, and I had forgotten how much a new musician in the mix affects the band’s sound. It makes me realize that a band needs to decide if they’re going to expect a newcomer to conform to their sound, or embrace the...

Finding the Seam

“How many of you like classic country? Would you like to hear a song by Hank Williams (Ernest Tubb, Merle Haggard, Merle Travis, Hank Snow, George Jones)?” The voice from the stage at your favorite bluegrass festival asks the question. How many times have you heard a...