Marking Time, and Stopping the Clock (For a While)

There’s no need to mark time when you’re young. It just crawls along, and never fast enough. You have to wait to your next birthday, to be old enough to ride your bike to school, to drive a car, to shave, to drink beer, and so forth. Time stretches out before you,...

Masters of the Craft

Despite two left feet and a complete lack of eye-hand coordination, I have long been an avid sports fan – albeit as a spectator only. Nobody wants me on their softball team, believe me. But you don’t have to be an athlete to appreciate the physical gifts on...

Master’s Thesis Introduction

Hey Folks! Instead of my usual album review, I thought I would share the introduction to my recently completed masters thesis! I hope y’all enjoy! Bluegrass has simultaneously been recognized as an archaic folk music and a living, popular art form. Although what was...

May 2018 President’s Message

Our CBA members continue to amaze me with their energy and imagination for sharing our music with communities outside our own Association.  The Board of Directors will support any group of members with an idea for community outreach if it serves the CBA...

May CBA President’s message

I just returned from a week in Nashville where I attended Leadership Bluegrass, a program produced by the IBMA. Roger Siminoff, Joe Weed, Jacob Groopman, Dana Thorin, Yvonne Tatar and Maria Nadauld are the three CBA member Leadership Bluegrass graduates I knew...

May comes in like a lion

Dear friends, Starting to look a lot like bluegrass season. Coming up this weekend there are a couple of events that play into that perception. On May 3rd, all day there will be a civic event in the town of Windsor that has morphed into a one day bluegrass festival....

May President’s Message

My favorite festival of the year is getting closer. The Father’s Day Festival in Grass Valley was where it all began for our family in the mid 80’s. I have close friends who attended from the beginning but we didn’t get there until the 9th or 10th and were immediately...

May President’s Message

This April and May are busier than usual at CBA Headquarters. We are celebrating 40 years with a bang and a leap into the electronic world. We have come a long way since the first mimeographed Bluegrass Breakdown and first festival four decades ago. The new...

May President’s Message

We began attending the Father’s Day Festival in the mid 80’s and by 1989 or 1990 we met a contingent of Alaskan bluegrassers who were also attending the festival. Grass Plus was on a western tour after winning (as I recall) a Pizza Parlor Bluegrass contest and were on...

May’s CBA Board Meeting

Good morning from Whiskey Creek, where, for the time being anyway, everything is eye-poppingly green. Far and away the loveliest season up here in the Mother Lode. The now 13-member strong board of directors met on Saturday and, as you’d expect, most of our agenda...