by Christine | Dec 2, 2019 | Welcome Column
This is a reprint of the PorchTal column.Master Fiddler Brandon GodmanBrandon is a Kentucky native master fiddler and relatively new transplant from Nashville to San Francisco. He has played with greats such as Dale Ann Bradley, Melvin Goins, Karl Shiflett, Doyle...
by Christine | Oct 24, 2003 | Welcome Column
At 5:30 a.m. this morning, Lynn informed me we were going to the cow cafe for breakfast. It’s actually named something else but we call it the cow café because the entire décor is done in post-modern bovine—cow place mats, cow coffee cups, cow wall hangings and...
by Christine | Nov 27, 2012 | Welcome Column
Last week I took my banjo apart, right down to the smallest pieces. It was the scariest thing I’ve ever done, but I felt like I had to do it sometime, and I had put it off long enough. I am in the childhood of my banjo life, something like preschool age, and I...
by Christine | Jul 27, 2019 | Welcome Column
Some of the truth is: the world has gone mad. It often feels like day is night and night is day. I couldn’t tell you anymore if fish are to swim upstream or down; or if songs are only to be heard, not sang. Every day we are bombarded by something—usually...
by Christine | Aug 17, 2020 | Welcome Column
We all have our favorite bluegrass bands. Some of them have been playing together for many years and they have a familiar mix that just never gets old. A band member may change from here to there but some bands have a consistency over time that is a big part of their...
by Christine | Jun 20, 2012 | Welcome Column
Another Father’s Day Festival in the books. By nearly all accounts, it was a good one – although the comments directly following the festival always seem overwhelmingly positive. So, how was this one any better than others? From a CBA standpoint, that really can’t be...
by Christine | Dec 10, 2019 | Welcome Column
It ain’t Bluegrass , but it is darned good entertainment! “Bight Star” is a near perfect play with straight-forward words and music, but at it’s core it is a story as old as humanity. It is the story told by the Greeks and perfected for the English...
by Christine | May 27, 2013 | Welcome Column
In the world gone web in which we live, it’s a novelty to receive, via the United States Postal Service, a personal letter. Ninety per cent of the mail I receive is bills and the other ten per cent is junk. So it was a surprise to find a small envelope of personalized...
by Christine | Aug 4, 2019 | Welcome Column
It is that time of year again when I get to go to Bristol to teach and coach at a one week jam camp in conjunction with the Rhythm & Roots Festival (http://lineup.bristolrhythm.com/# ). Bristol considers itself “The Birthplace of Country Music” and the museum...
by Christine | Jan 22, 2019 | Welcome Column
Not Waving But DrowningNobody heard him, the dead man, But still he lay moaning: I was much further out than you thought And not waving but drowning. Poor chap, he always loved larking And now he’s dead It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way, They...
