It’s June 2001. John Hartford is on the cover of a popular bluegrass magazine, wearing his brown derby hat. His long, mixed brown and grey hair falls below the rim of the hat and rests on a red scarf that is wrapped around his neck. A couple of his music albums are about to be reissued. The feature article in the June issue of the magazine about John Hartford was, of course, written before it went to print. The magazine’s writer could not know at the time that John Hartford would pass-away on June 4th.
Scheduled to play at the 27th annual North Carolina State Bluegrass Festival in June are Jim and Jesse, Doc Watson, Charlie Waller and the Country Gentlemen, Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys, Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys, Mac Wiseman, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, The Osborne Brothers, and Dave Evans and River Bend.
Ricky Skaggs and his band Kentucky Thunder are scheduled to play at the 18th annual Mineral Bluegrass Festival. Unlike many years later, Ricky doesn’t need a hair cut.
Bill Monroe’s mandolin has been sold to the Bill Monroe Foundation for $1,125,000. A new band has been formed in the Nashville area, The Roland White Band. A new film, “Songcatcher,” has recently been released, featuring Hazel Dickens, Dolly Parton, Gillian Welch, Emmylou Harris, Iris DeMent, and Patty Loveless.
The 26th CBA Fathers’ Day Festival is being held mid-June at Grass Valley, California. Featured bands (among others) are The Seldom Scene, the Good Ol’ Persons Reunion, Lost Highway, New Piney Creek Weasels, and the Keith Little Band.
A national bluegrass survey shows the number one song for June is, “I Am A Man of Constant Sorrow,” by the Soggy Bottom Boys. And the number one bluegrass album is, “O Brother Where Art Thou?” (various artists).
During the summer months the festival season is in full swing, and Rhonda Vincent plays at a number of them. She has dark hair, and wears buttoned-to-the-collar shirts. None of her songs or albums make the charts for June. But she waits, waits, waits. Her star will soon be rising, and she will wear her crown as, “Queen of Bluegrass.” Rhonda is patient.
Dolly Parton’s second bluegrass album, “Little Sparrow,” flies into our awareness. Dolly is smart. The musicians on this album are Nashville’s finest: Bryan Sutton (guitar); Jerry Douglas (resonator guitar); Chris Thile (mandolin); Jim Mills (banjo); and Barry Bales (bass).
Keith Little’s bluegrass album comes out, “Distant Land To Roam.” Keith manages to keep his bluegrass music firmly anchored in traditional waters. His tenacity will pay off. Fourteen years later Keith and his band will still be in demand.
It has been 33 years since the movie, “2001: A Space Odyssey,” has come out. Most Americans now have their own personal computers, and the people who remember the movie are still suspicious that computers are trying to take over the world.
