by Christine | Nov 26, 2019 | Welcome Column
THERE AIN’T NO NOTES ON A DULCIMER – YOU JUST PLAY IT!- JOE CLARK, 1892This little missal is going to be about several small things – all connected – so be patient. The beginning was like this:PART ONE – LEE BRADY – What she was going to doMy wife...
by Christine | Jun 25, 2016 | Welcome Column
“No matter how dreary and gray our homes are, we people of flesh and blood would rather live there than in any other country, be it ever so beautiful. There is no place like home.” ? L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz I just returned home, from a 16 day...
by Christine | Apr 16, 2020 | Welcome Column
How times have changed. At the end of last year we were beginning to get disturbing reports of a new virus threat, and by the spring COVID-19 had turned into a global pandemic. Those of us fortunate enough to have so far survived have huge sympathy for the people who...
by Christine | Jun 7, 2018 | Welcome Column
You might think I’m talking about the bass playing style in some of the early Monroe and Stanley Brother recordings or in some blues, boogie, swing or bebop jams, but I’m not. What I am talking about is not lugging my bass around the 90 acres of the Nevada County...
by Christine | Apr 10, 2019 | Welcome Column
Hello! Things are very very quiet here at CBA headquarters in beautiful Ceres, California. Actually, there is no CBA HQ per se – please don’t tell anyone.But it IS darn quiet, because pretty much everyone is up in Lodi for the CBA Spring Campout...
by Christine | Oct 24, 2010 | Welcome Column
In my last column, I covered the Plymouth Festival. I barely got home from that event and did a little laundry and we headed south to Hobb’s Grove. Hobb’s is a nice setting for a festival; having a Country Fair atmosphere with a nice grassy camping area. The stage and...
by Christine | Jan 3, 2010 | Welcome Column
Writing this column a few days before January 1, I’ve pondered the list of potential topics that are scribbled in a note pad next to my computer. After ten Christmas vacation days of torpid inactivity, those topics requiring mental energy have been passed over. I’m...
by Christine | May 12, 2019 | Welcome Column
Noodling can be good and noodling can be bad. Full disclosure here, I really like to noodle around on my instrument. I do it almost every chance I get. I realize that were it not for noodling my music would get stale and I would have a tough time coming up with new...
by Christine | May 17, 2018 | Welcome Column
When you are learning to play a musical instrument it’s not uncommon to get burnout in your practice sessions. A friend who was learning to play banjo once said to me, “Every day I practice all the tunes I’ve learned and then I don’t know what...
by Christine | Feb 12, 2010 | Welcome Column
When Lloyd Butler died and left me his beautiful martin guitar, he also left me the case that came with it. On that case were a number of stickers and slogans mostly concerning his association with bluegrass music. There were bumper stickers for the California...
