Newgrass for the New Year

Another year is about to roll around—and it’s an opportunity to put together a playlist for the occasion. (I am obsessed with making playlists.) The new year brings up all kinds of thoughts: parties, winter time, drinking, dancing, staying up past midnight, reliving...

News

Good morning from Whiskey Creek, where one dog is a dog but three are a pack, where Jamestown springs make you feel like you’ll live forever, where there are as many shades of green on a May afternoon as there are grains of sand on Poipu Beach and where all is well...

News

Seems like there’s a giant caldron of it these days….here’s a splash. We’ve got two new Regional Vice Presidents as of our last CBA board meeting. Larry Phegley has replaced the retiring Duane Campbell down in Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties and Jenny...

Skin Deep

Yesterday, I did something I’ve never done – I solicited story ideas on Facebook. I received several good ideas almost immediately, but one caught my eye and fired my imagination up. I will quote the suggestion verbatim: “Why is it that people expect a female musician...

Nicknames

If you’re gonna be a Bluegrass fan, you gotta have a nickname. It’s as simple as that. Fortunately for me, I was reared in the Southeast, (where Bluegrass was born). Colorful nicknames are the rule there. My mom called me “Bert Boy” almost before I was born. I kid you...

Nicknames Revisited

A couple of weeks back, Bert Daniel wrote a column about nicknames that engendered a lengthy thread on the Message Board. It got me thinking…. If you’re reading this, you know me as Slim. That’s fine with me. I’ve been tall all my life (6’ 4”) and , for most of it...

Nights in Nashville

I’m on vacation, but the miracles of the Internet allow me to write today’s column and get it to you, dear readers.I’m in Nashville! I have been here a few times before, working the CBA Hospitality for the IBMA World of Bluegrass event when it was in Nashville. Those...

No balcony jamming

Good morning from Whiskey Creek, where we’ve welcomed yet another mammal into the household, this time an eight month old kitten whose name is Stewart.  Lynn and I tend to be frugal with pet names, which is to say if we can find the least bit of an excuse we’ll...

No Bass Walking Part Deux

Did it work, the no walking bass thing at his year’s festival as introduced in my last month’s welcome? The answer is mostly. Tuesday night there was a pretty good jam at my campsite and plenty of jams in the nearby campsites the rest of the week. However, I was...

No Bluegrass Content

So how bout them Giants? After a terrific year based on timely hitting and a dominating starting pitching staff led by the no hit stuff of Matt Cain. That doesn’t mean that this year didn’t have diversity, the loss of your closer is usually a death sentence to winning...