by Christine | Aug 13, 2020 | Welcome Column
I’ve been thinking a lot about my role in supporting Black Lives Matter, and how to be an ally for Black, Indigenous, and People Of Color. There are great organizations I can contribute to, many powerful, brilliant books to read, and conversations to be had with...
by Christine | Feb 8, 2015 | Welcome Column
Not so long ago most people found out about the music that was making a stir by turning on the television set. My generation just had to watch the Beetles live on the Ed Sullivan Show. Before that there was Elvis Presley and after that Michael Jackson. So simple. Plop...
by Christine | Mar 10, 2013 | Welcome Column
I have a rather large collection of bluegrass CDs that I’ve accumulated over the years. Many of them are pretty old now. Periodically, I dig out a new old favorite to carry along in my car so I can get reacquainted with it. It’s even easier to scroll...
by Christine | Aug 13, 2017 | Welcome Column
There are few characters more revered in popular music than the African-American folk hero, John Henry. Bluegrass fans all remember the “standard ballad” as sung by Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys:When John Henry was a little babyNo bigger than the palm of your...
by Christine | Aug 6, 2014 | Welcome Column
Songs, like smells, can be very evocative, bringing back poignant memories or impressions, when you least expect it. Yesterday, I heard the Country Gentlemen’s version of “Bringing Mary Home” by chance on the way home from work. As I was enjoying John Duffey’s amazing...
by Christine | Apr 9, 2010 | Welcome Column
One late night, I think it was at Pete and Laura Hicks festival by the fruit stand outside of Gilroy I was playing a new song I’d written. When I was finished, Larry Kuhn said something to this effect: I don’t know why people write songs. There are thousands of great...
by Christine | May 22, 2018 | Welcome Column
New Country SongIf I could write a country song -say all red, white and blue -you know the stuff – ‘bout love and lossand I been done wrong too,I’d bring my darling up on stageand light her bright gold hair that she had doctored up for mein case I’d call her...
by Christine | Dec 2, 2015 | Welcome Column
Over the years, I have written a fair number of songs. Not hundreds (although I have started hundreds), but dozens. I don’t write songs steadily, but in dribs and drabs. Some have made their way into the repertoires of the bands I play with. One found its way into the...
by Christine | Sep 16, 2012 | Welcome Column
Have you ever been on a picnic? You know what I mean, where someone (the picnicker) takes the trouble to spend time making sandwiches or maybe frying chicken, baking cookies, tossing up some good potato salad, chilling a thermos of freshly brewed sweet tea or a bottle...
by Christine | Jun 22, 2012 | Welcome Column
How long does it take you for life to get back to “normal” after a Father’s Day Bluegrass Festival experience? That’s a profound question on several levels, when you stop to think about it. For me, re-entry into regular life began on Sunday afternoon with the fading...
