Just before Christmas we went to super party at guitar maker/player Wayne Henderson's. The Saturday after Christmas we managed
get in a few tunes with Eddie Bond and the New Ballard's Branch Bogtrotters as well as Trish Fore at a large family gathering at the Moose Lodge in Galax. A fine potluck meal was had while visiting with
old-time stalwarts fiddler Whit Sizemore and up-side down banjoist Tom
Norman.
Flatfoot dancers and fans of the local BlueRidge old-time scene of the 70's will remember their band The Shady Mountain Ramblers who played every weekend mostly at the weekly dance at the Fancy Gap for over 15 years in the late 70's and 80's. Only fiddler Ivan Weddle of Floyd County has ever come close to such a streak of playing for flatfooters with his band the Kornkutters during that same time period. We got aquainted with many old-timers during that time.
We ourselves played very often for dances and community events with friends
in the Grayson County area where we lived from 1980-84. We also played for radio shows like WPAQ's Merry Go Round and Harold Mitchell's evening show
on WBOB Galax and the Grayson-Carroll Hoedown live broadcast. All this led to us making a LP on the Heritage label which we reissued in Spring of 07 along with our early 90's cassette now both on CD. There was a lot
happening then and still is now. It is hard not to get sentimental with out getting the blues but we are looking forward to 2008. We have got a few things on the calendar now.
This past Sat we hosted a house concert for our friends The Hush Puppies, a string band specializing in old-time music from the 30's 40's and 50's rural country music legacy as preserved initially on 78 RPM records. They also cite old-timers from the NC Piedmont as well as the Blue Ridge mountain as sources for a wide variety of songs and tunes. Our Sunday afternoon jam with some of them left us
filled with a BIG dose of fresh inspiration to learn more new 'old' songs for our repetoire. Like them and all our house concert performer friends we are JUNKIES
when it comes to this genre of music.
We intend to finish a new recording before our big trip to the Bluff Country Gathering in May. This is a prestigious music camp headed up by
Bob Bovee and Gail Heil who are a long running professional country duet from
the northern mid-west. We'll be one of several musician and performers from the
international 'Old-time' scene to be there to teach and perform.
So Keep checking back. We'll be posting new clips of our latest recording ASAP.
Thanks for your support and interest in our music life.
