Take your pick

Take your pick

Today’s Grist Quote: Pick that banjo solid (Jimmy Martin) Most bluegrass musicians need a pick to make their instrument produce a good sound. Bass players can use their fingers and probably will never need a bow. Fiddle players on the other hand do need a bow (unless...
Turkey Day Eve Ruminations of Thanks

Turkey Day Eve Ruminations of Thanks

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day, my favorite holiday. I know it’s become an overly commercial boondoggle and a slippery slope into the dreaded Christmas season (even Charles Dickens bemoaned the commercialism of Christmas in the 19th century!). Regardless of all that,...
Our Very Own Cartoonist

Our Very Own Cartoonist

(Editor’s note: I begged my old friend Rick Cornish to contribute some fresh content for our web site. Rick was my first choice for the job because he produced such great content for so many years when he ran the site) Here’s Rick: Your web site content director Bert...
You Can Dance, If You Want To

You Can Dance, If You Want To

One of the peculiar benefits of being a performing musician is I get to see a lot of people dance. There’s just no action of self-expression as pure and universal as dance.  I see little kids who can barely walk dance impulsively to live music. I have seen elderly...
If These Walls (or Fields) Could Talk

If These Walls (or Fields) Could Talk

Did you ever go back to someplace after many years away? It could be almost anywhere – a place you used to live, a restaurant you used to frequent, a lake or trailhead. It’s amazing how evocative places can suddenly remind you of things you did or how you felt, long...