A Run Up to Music Camp 2015

Yes ladies and gentlemen, musicians, campers, and even banjo players, it is that time of year where we start thinking about things like the 2015 Father’s Day Festival and our most excellent music camp. To tease you a bit for 2015 here’s our summary of the 2014 music...

A Season of Firsts

This spring has been a season of firsts. I like first because I get bored easily. That which is novel in my life today becomes banal the next. This should not be construed as a pejorative statement on the many projects and activities I’ve been involved with over the...

A Second Dip of Brooksonian Reality

(Editors Note: This morning we do the time travel thing and look bravely into the abyss that is the mind of B. Judd. Why risk such a thing? Why, after surviving the frightful glimpse of it so many years before, why, after tempting the notoriously cruel hand of fate do...

A Simple Man

I wake up every morningTo do what I don’t want to doTo make what I’ve got to haveTo pay what has to be paidAnd I smile when it’s necessaryAnd listen to those talking about thingsI have no interest inBecause it has to be doneTo accomplish what must be accomplishedAnd...

A Small PIece of Small Town Charm Slipped Away

A couple of months ago, a close friend of mine had to close his music store in downtown Martinez.He had run the store for about 9 years, and it had become a treasured part of our downtown. Remember in the Andy Griffith show, where Floyd’s Barber Shop is where folks...

This Is Not Your Uncle Earl

What’s black and white and red? “Many things,” you may say, and you’d be correct. But among those many things is one thing that brings us into the world of bluegrass music. More specifically it is the cover jacket of the latest (5th) compact disc released by the Earl...

A Smattering of News

Good morning from Whiskey Creek, where we still have lovely summer weather and the bluest of blue skies. I’m sitting on a big rubber ball this morning. Truly. It’s about four feet in diameter, filled with air and intended to be a healthy, exercise-promoting...

A Song of Sisters

 It really was just like any other day of the week: a morning of dense virga ‘bove it’s shore. The fog taking its dreamy-sweet time; doing its lazy dance as it rolled in over the waves: contemplating its coup- leaving us quiet and paralyzed by its mystic beauty....

A Sound for the Ages

Not too long ago, Ted Lehmann wrote about the difficulty and improbability of a band developing a signature sound, and what he says is true – regardless of the musical genre. Anyone that goes to bluegrass festivals can tell you, there are an awful lot of great...

A Special Treat to Start 2015

News flash……..Much to the amazement of many bluegrass fans, James King made a surprise appearance at the 28th Annual Blythe Bluegrass Festival held just last weekend January 16, 17 & 18th at the Blythe, CA fairgrounds. You see James King was not on the festival...