1 COPYRIGHT CENTRAL TEXAS BLUEGRASS … · (L to R: Billy Bright, Alan Munde, Elliott Rogers...

1 COPYRIGHT © CENTRAL TEXAS BLUEGRASS ASSOCIATION

IBMA MemberVol. 32 No. 12 Dec 1, 2010

Central

Texas BluegrassCopyright © 2010 by Central Texas Bluegrass Association

Tis the Season to be Jolly - Enjoy the Holiday Season - Pray for Peace on Earth

Sending out a very special wish for a happy holiday season to all. We hope that you find peace and happiness during Christmas, Hanukkah, and in coming the New Year. Keep your

heart open, your mind relaxed, and your fingers nimble. But above all....keep on picking!

Special thanks to www.eddiecollins.biz for the tablature. Thanks Eddie!

(L to R: Billy Bright, Alan Munde, Elliott Rogers (hidden), Tom Ellis, Jeff Robertson) View the CTBA EXCLUSIVE You Tube Video : <-- (click it)

If you missed CTBA’s exclusive showing of “O’ Brother Where Art Thou?” at the Alamo Draft House on South Lamar you missed a really good time. The audience was thoroughly entertained by the wonderful vocal harmo-nies of The Carper Family, the huge voice of Jeff Robertson, the excellent musicans of Alan Munde, Billy Bright, Elliott & Janice Rogers, and Tom Ellis. Dan Foster gave the opening remarks and Christy & the Plowboys sang Old Time songs from the movie. CTBA raffled off a banjo donated by Fiddler’s Green and matched the amount collected at the event as a benefit to the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians (HAAM). CTBA President Jami Hampton presented HAAM with a check for $500! Thanks everyone!!!

The Listening Post is a forum established to monitor bluegrass musical recordings, live performances, or events in Texas. Our mailbox sometimes contains CDs for us to review.

Here is where you will find reviews of the CD’s Central Texas Bluegrass Association receives as well as reviews of live performances or workshops.

The Listening Post


10 Year Anniversary Showing of 0’Brother 11/6/10

CTBA got a Christmas present early from Dr. Elmo (it was still 90 de-grees outside when we got it). The (faux) Dr. Elmo sent us his Bluegrass Christmas CD! He also gave CTBA permission to put one of the tracks from this CD on our web site for the month of Decem-ber and he sent us a FOUR PAGE tablature of one of the songs, “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”. The Time Life CD has sev-

eral cool Christmas tunes on it. I liked the cute lit-tle tune “Grandpa in the Santa Suit Show” with the line “my favorite part of my favorite day” as Granpa gets on his Santa Claus Suit. There are several tra-ditional Christmas songs like “Jingle Bells”, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”, “Deck The Halls” , and of course an instrumental version of “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer”. There is some good mu-sicianship and the vocals make you want to sing along with the good Doc.

Bluegrass Christmas

Donna Hughes New CDThis is a real easy CD to listen to. Smooth and solid musicianship from start to finish. Tony Rice pro-vides his signature sound. Donna’s approach to singing uniquely blends elements of both the sing-er/songwriter style and traditional bluegrass.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDPmiwGlkYg


SARAH JAROSZ on ACL

Cabin 10 Presents RiceFest in Fischer, TX 11/13/10

SARAH MADE IT!!!!!!! Sarah Jarosz, the young lady from Wimberley with talent enough for twenty was featured on the pres-tigious Austin City Lim-its. For those of us who have watched her grow and develop as a musi-cian all these years well, we can only sit back and say “what did I tell you? Isn’t she great!” Yes, we all feel like we are watching our own little girl make it to the big time!

Sarah was featured on Austin City Limits shar-ing the bill with Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers. Sarah tore it up on her Grammy-nominated song Mansin-needof. She showed the world that she is a great singer, banjo player, man-dolin perfectionist, and an excellent guitar player as well. Sarah represents a movement by a small number of musicians to-wards creative acoustic American Roots Music, pulling from Bluegrass and Old TIme to develop awesome new sounds.

L to R -- Billy Bright, Peter Rowan, and Tony Rice at RiceFest Cabin 10, Inc. would like to thank everyone who came out to make the

7th Annual Rice Festival the best ever. We had a great weekend in Fischer in support of higher education in the arts. Please mark your calendars for March 26-27, 2011 for RiceGrass II, our second annual springtime hoote-nanny. This year tickets are only $40 for two days of concerts, workshops, jamming and camping, and will feature Nora Jane Struthers & the Bootleg-gers, Evie Laddin, Old Man Leudecke, Milk Drive, Ranch Road 12, Billy Bright and Chojo Jacques, Lost Pines, Sad Daddy, Salt Rock Rounders & Dennis Hubbard & Friends. Tickets are on sale now - at www.cabin10.com. Thank you for your support of CTBA! -Jeff Gavin

Season Finale of Texas Pickin’ Park 11/12-13/10We bid farewell to Texas Pickin’ Park until April 2011 when it starts back up. The festival featured the Double Eagle String Band, Robertson County Line, Wabash Ramblers, Sidemen For Hire, Armstrong Family, Autumn Walkers, and the Pickin Park Jammers (above). Good fun!!!


Picks, Happenings, and ReleasesA new local bluegrass jam event is being held, on the third Saturday at Danny Ray’s Music in Round Rock. Danny and his staff are friendly and helpful, and of course delighted to help meet your musical instru-ment needs. The next jam is December 18, and the first jam of 2011 will be January 15. The jam starts at 2:00 pm and runs until 5:00.

Go North next Summer! Dates: June 3-5, 2011, Place: Olivet College, Olivet, MichiganWebsite: http://www.midwestbanjocamp.comCheck out the lineup of instructors of both Old Time and Bluegrass.

The Two High String Band will get together again for a performance at Fiddler’s Green on Dec 18th. The cool thing is that they plan to re-cord a “Live” CD during the performance. Geoff & Billy are inviting you all to come be a part of the recording. There are several excellent guest artists who will sit in. The show costs $15. (I’m bringing my cowbell).

The Lost Pines are going in the studio in January. They have garnered the support of the Grammy award winning producer and music leg-end Lloyd Maines. They are going to need some money, seriously. Contact the Lost Pines if you are interested in supporting their effort. Maybe you’ll get your name in the liner notes of an up and coming Austin band.

HCAMP held its first winter camp last February. They have set the date for this years event for February 11-13th, 2011. The camp features Alan Munde (Banjo), Steve Smith (Mandolin), Eddie Collins (Flat Pick Guitar), Chris Sanders (Voice), Tim Porter (Guitar), Dick Walker (Fiddle), Pops Bayless (Ukulele)

Fire On The Stings will change locations AND dates for their event to July 15-16, 2011 in League City, TX at the Southshore Harbor Re-sort & Convention Center on Clear Lake. There is an RV park down the road. We all hope this new venue works out for BABA.

News Release!!!


By Tom Duplissey

In the 70’s there was a band in Dallas called Young Country which featured Rick Sparks on the five-string. Young Country was one of the few bands in the Dallas area playing blue-grass at the time. One of the members of the band was Randy Brooks (a relation of the old TV comedian Foster Brooks). Randy’s big claim to fame during that time was writing a little song called “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer”. Yes, it’s that one.

Here’s the story. Young Country traveled to Lake Tahoe to play the Hyatt. While there, they met another band with Elmo Shropshire on banjo. Elmo & Patsy was the bluegrass duo that recorded the original hit version of Grandma. When Elmo & Patsy split, Patsy’s parents maintained the publishing rights. Elmo went on as a solo act under the name Dr. Elmo. He continued to record the song on several CDs. Elmo and his current wife, Pam Wendell tire-lessly promote Grandma. Randy gave Elmo permission to market the Grandma line of toys we see in the shopping malls around Christmas by way of Dan Dee Toys.

Elmo started out playing Bluegrass, and has continued ever since. In fact he popularized Bluegrass in the San Francisco Bay Area with his Bluegrass radio show on KSAY 1969-1971, “The Great San Francisco Bluegrass Experience.” Time Life released the latest Dr, Elmo CD. (reviewed earlier on page 2). What about Randy?

“These days I play with The Bad Monkeys (www.thebadmonkeys.com.) Our gimmick to get hired is that we do a good bit of Buffett and dress in Hawaiian shirts...but beyond that we play oldies and some original stuff. No bluegrass - but a couple of Saturdays ago I flew out to Virginia City and sat in with my old Young Country buddy Rick Sparks. A number of folks in the audience were with the Northern Nevada Bluegrass Association.” By the way Rick was wandering around the (wet) campgrounds at Old Settler’s this year. I missed him.

This following tab is from the Dr Elmo’s Time Life CD “Bluegrass Christmas”. The entire piece is four pages. While we don’t have room to print the entire tab, Dr. Elmo has given CTBA permission to put it on the CTBA web site. Here’s a little part of the entire piece that you can learn and impress your friends at all the parties this Christmas. For copies of the CD please go to www.drelmo.com.

Salmon Lake Park34th Annual

Bluegrass Festival

Grapeland, TX

September 2, 3, 4, 5 - 2010

Learnin’ a Little: J.S. Bach


© 2000 Elmo Publishing, all rights reserved

Jesu, Joy of Man's DesiringJ. S. Bach, arr. Elmo Shropshire

As played by Dr. Elmo from Bluegrass Christmas (Time Life #25894-D)

Tab by Bill Evans

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a few photos from recent events.....Thanks again to Ken Brown!

The BOXCARS

Claire Lynch Band

at Farmer’s Branch

The Toy Hearts at

Artz Rib House

..and to David Stall Photography

Sidemen For Hireat

Texas Pickin’ Park Season Finale

(see you in April)


Meet a CTBA Member:Rixi Rosenberg

Introduce yourself. Tell us your name, a little bit about yourself, what city you live in, and why you joined CTBA.

Rixi Rosenberg. I’ve lived in Austin almost my whole life so I’m hooked on live music. I joined the CTBA because I wanted to do my part to support

local bluegrass music and musicians.

Do you play an instrument?

I play the Guitar and a do a little fiddlin’ too. What bluegrass artist do you like to listen to most? Right now, I can’t seem to stop listening to Chris Coole and Ivan Rosenberg, Farewell Trion. What is your all time favorite bluegrass song? Probably this one version of Jimmy Martin singing “Honey You Don’t Know My Mind”.

Rixi is a CTBA Board Member. Visit her at her web site www.rixirosenberg.com

Chasing Blue

for bookings(512)963-7515

[email protected]

Artist Profile:Chris Hirsch

Instruction for Banjo, Guitar and Mandolin Online and Private Lessons

Eddie Collins www.eddiecollins.biz

512-873-7803


I sat down with Chris Hirsch at the BABA Monthly Meeting and learned a lot of things about this long time musician and leader of the Lonestar Bluegrass Band. Current members of LoneStar Bluegrass Band are Chris Bagley, George Hanson, and Matt Morris. At the beginning of the interview we talked about our bands playing for Chelsea Street Pub in the mid to late 70‘s. His band at that time was called The Broken String Band. Chelsea was one of the few clubs in Tex-as that was bluegrass friendly and paid its musicians well. That got the interview started.

You started out in Austin in the early 70’s. Back then you went to Saint Edwards University. Did you start out by taking banjo lessons?

I saw Deliverance and thought, if that kid can do it, I can do it. Of course I found out later that he wasn’t playing. I always hated school and my first “grades report” was straight B’s. The best grades I ever made in my life. My Mother was so elated that she bought me this banjo I always wanted and of course that was the end of the grades. I bought a tenor banjo first an old pre-war tenor, I still have it on the wall. I took one lesson on that and then quickly realized that wasn’t what I wanted to play. Then I realized that I had to get a five-string. So I got a five-string Alvarez and I sat down and put my knuckles on the head and I played with two fingers. I was fast, really fast and then someone told me that I should learn how to play it. So I got Earl Scruggs book and picks, three fingers! What? So I had to start all over. Within nine

months I was playing my first paying gig.

Awesome. Who did you play with?

It was a short lived band with some rock and roll-ers. They wanted to try to do some sort of acoustic thing. They were called Shackwood Junction in ’73-’74. It was nonsense.

Interesting I was in a rock and roll band called Citadel about that same time. We lived near the Armadillo.

I actually got to play a show on the main stage at the Armadillo. We played the (beer) garden a lot but one time we got to play inside. I’ll never forget going backstage and saw Bill Monroe back there. The first time I ever saw Bill was with my mandolin player Jim Shubert. Jim and I were standing in the doorway under this little overhang and it was rain-


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ing. We were waiting to see Bill Monroe for the first time and looking over the parking lot. Do you re-member those craters? They were all full of water. We looked out across the parking lot and there was Bill Monroe, with an umbrella and his girlfriend decked out in a red cowgirl outfit. It was amazing. He hand-ed her the umbrella and I remember thinking, well that’s nice. He reached down and put his pants in his boots, got the umbrella, waded across the park-ing lot and left her standing out there. Walked up to me and said, would you hold this please (laughter). Later on I was backstage jamming with Bob Black, playing Blackberry Blossom and I hear this mandolin behind me. Bill played a break, laughed and walked off. We didn’t even know that he knew it. Dennis McDaniel said it the best, he said, “that old man has forgotten more than we’ll ever know”. I credit a lot of my knowledge then to Dennis McDaniel. He was the first guy I knew that was a real picker. I just talk-ed to him the other day on the phone. We’ve been friends ever since. We used to go over to the fire-house, where he was a fireman, and sit over there and pick. That was where I got my first real introduc-tion to bluegrass music. I mean you’re playing Duel-ing Banjos and Foggy Mountain Breakdown and you go over there and he wants to play Stanley Brothers.

Who were some of your early influences?

As far as local people, there was a guy in Austin named Johnny Thompson. He played melodic style. He disappeared not too long after that but that got me interested in melodic style. I bought a book by Bill Keith and learned Sailor’s Hornpipe. They had a banjo contest at Castle Creek. Do you remember that place? I went over there and won that thing. It was the first contest I ever played in and I won with Sailor’s Hornpipe.

When was that?

‘74-ish. A lot happened in that first year. I played so much my fingers would bleed and I would have to go to another finger to slide. I played 12 hours a day. My grades just died because I was just so infatu-ated with that whole thing. I’ve got a lot of regrets from back then. I didn’t know how to jam. I broke up a lot of jam sessions. I played so darn loud back then. I look back and wish I could just apologize to everybody. I feel like I got a good handle on it now because I stood next to another banjo player years ago doing that same thing and that’s when I realized that I was doing the same thing. Some people prob-ably remember me in that way.

Some of our CTBA members had some questions they wanted me to ask and so I would like to go into those a little. Ken Brown wanted me to ask you if you are going to make Chris Bagley (guitar player for Lonestar Blue-grass band) change his name to Brad.

(Laughter) Yes that’s what Bill did. No, we call him Chris B. and I’m Hirsch (more laughter). That’s funny.

One person asks, how has bluegrass enriched your life?

I don’t remember when I didn’t have it in my life. It’s such a part of me now. Doing the radio show and having the band is really what keeps me going. I think if I didn’t have either one of those it might drift away from me.

So that’s how you balance things out. You have the band, you do the radio show, you have fantastic pho-tography.

Well, I’m more known as a Gunsmith than anything else. I do work for people all over the world for that kind of stuff. I only do antiques. I don’t mess with anything past 1900. I have no interest in it. I found a little niche and I’m staying in it. My work ethics are not great because I’ve got so many interests but I make enough to pay the bills so I can go off and do what I want to do.

Another question from our readers. You’ve won sev-eral State Banjo Titles have you ever considered going to Winfield?

I did. I got fourth place. That was around ‘91. The problem was that I would have placed and got a ban-jo but Tony Furtado showed up. I looked over and said, “what are you doing here”? He was in between bands and he was trying to make a living. So, I was in second place going into the runoffs because I had played my big guns, Limerock and stuff. I got up in the runoff and played a few songs and they were just OK. I know I got fourth because there were five of us and the other guy that didn’t get in the top three really messed up bad. So I figure I got fourth. Hon-estly, I wasn’t prepared as I needed to be. It actually ruined my Winfield trip because I was worried about that the whole time. I would never do that again.

What was it like playing with Dave Peters. Dave was like a three time Winfield Winner on mandolin.

We had sort of a love-hate relationship. He was trying to make a living at it and he had to take the highest paying job. So we would have something booked and a week before he would call and say that he had a bigger job. So I fired him and then I fired him again. When he died he was in the band again. Dave was an amazing musician but then he was kind of a regular guy too. I’ll never forget one time he was doing a session with somebody and they said “you might be able to do this”. He got so mad at that guy because Dave could sit down in any situation with any huge classical number they could put it in front of him, he may have never seen it before, and he could play it. He came in for the very last recording he did on our “Best of Times” CD and it was “Sir Duke”, the Stevie Wonder song. We put the music in front of him (here Chris sings this complicated piece) and he just played it and that was it. Walked out and the good thing about it…that night we ended things

with a laugh and a smile. We were laughing and having a good time. (Dave Peters passed away un-expectedly in December 1999. His book “Masters of the Mandolin” contains transcriptions of 150 mando-lin solos by the many of the greats in the industry).

You did the Steak and Ale gig for a long time. I know that’s all gone now. You told one of our readers that it was starting to get hard to find touring acts in to play.

Yes, the big names weren’t coming around here anymore. They just didn’t have any shows down here. This was a great pass-through gig for them. They’d get enough cash money to pay for the whole trip. I’ll never forget when Alison Krauss came in with Alison Brown and they were looking at the place and you could tell when they walked in they were thinking “what is this?” After the first song they were looking at each other and smiling. You remember. These were the greatest audiences there and they all remembered that. I was just in touch with Doyle Lawson recently and he says “oh yes I remember that Steak and Ale, we had a great time”. Twenty-five years I did that. It was hard to let it go but my band, when we played once a month, we packed the place still but I couldn’t really get the local bands in there because I couldn’t charge a cover charge because they were playing free everywhere else and when they would come in, the people didn’t want to pay to come see them. So it was very tough situation.

The Mucky Duck and Dosey Does bring in touring acts don’t they?

Yes, they have brought in touring acts. You know, Dosey Does has never been in touch with me. I can help them too. I have the radio show but they don’t get in touch with me. Mucky Duck has a really good thing going. It’s a good room and every now and then they bring a bluegrass band in there.

Another banjo question. What advice would you give people that want to get better on the banjo?

Just work hard at it. It just takes repetition. These licks that I just throw in there, for hours I would sit there and play them over and over (mocks the sound) until I could get comfortable with them. Un-til my mind was somewhere else and I was still doing it. It’s just so much repetition. My problem in school


was that I would be reading this stuff I was supposed to be studying and in my mind I would be at the lake fishing or something and I wouldn’t remember what I read. I can sort of do that on the banjo. When I’m working on this stuff I can still do other things in my mind. I still can think about things I need to do but I’m still working on those licks.

So basically practice.

Yes, but repetitious practice. It’s boring as heck to most people but to me its like a meditation. I don’t want to get metaphysical, I’m not into that stuff but it would literally be this mantra, over and over again until I get that lick. On songs. I would take a really hard song and work on one part and then the next part, then add them together, then the next part and work on all of that until I could do them together. That’s how I do it. In segments. But most of the time I just hear it and then will play my version of it. I’ve found that the easiest thing to do was to be me and not try to be somebody else.

What are some of the things that opened up the fret-board for you?

Chords. Full chords. All that stuff that Scruggs was doing was off of a chord shape. I’ve found that if you make the whole chord when you are just improvis-ing up the neck and stuff. If you hit a wrong note in the melody it’s still going to be right. So you’ll see me making full chords. I may only be using the two strings on the bottom but I’ll make the full chords as much as I can. It’s saved me a lot of bad notes.

So studying the chords, knowing where the chord shapes are on the fretboard opens it up?

Yes, you have your D chord shape and your G chord shape. Just work all of them. Learn where they are. I don’t like it but every now and then I have to do that one finger bar chord. I don’t like it, I hate to see others play it, I hate to hear it. Every once in a while there is something I have to do that uses that posi-tion. That’s just my little quirk. I just don’t like that.

We talked earlier about who some of your earlier influ-ences were but who has knocked your socks off lately? Say, within the last 10 years or so.

The banjo God to me is Scott Vestal (originally from Ft. Worth). He does it all. He can sound like anything you want him to sound like and he’s a great guy too. I knew him years ago and we still touch base now and then. I think the best overall banjo player in the world is Scott Vestal. I really do. I mean I would go see Earl Scruggs strum a banjo mainly because he is a hero. Sammy Shelor is a great straight style of banjo player, I reluctantly say Scruggs style but that’s pretty much what it is. Don Reno was one of my hero’s. I do that stuff all the time. I love it. It’s just a great addition and offset to your sound. Alan Munde is a fantastic banjo player. Bill Keith. Bobby Thompson was just amazing. The subtle genius of his playing, wow, I’ll tell you another subtle genius. Alan Shelton. That guy is just amazing and I can’t get that no matter how hard I try. Because it came from his heart. It didn’t come from any technical books, he played what he heard and it was amazing.

Let’s talk about your hobbies. You do a lot of photog-raphy in addition to the radio show on Sundays. Your photography is amazing but before I ask about that, you wrote a book! Your book, Texas Gun Trade has got-ten excellent reviews, five stars on Amazon, and is still available. Are you thinking about following it up with another book?

No, I wrote one book and that’s all. It took me twen-ty-five years to do that (laughter). The extent of the research you did was one comment

that resonates through all of the reviews. I assume this was at a time when you weren’t playing the banjo.

It was a long, drawn out process. I had about 200 names of gun dealers, gunsmiths, and gun makers in Texas before 1900 and I thought I needed some pic-tures that I was going to put in this little pamphlet I was going to create. So I went down to the Texas room of the Houston Library. That was like ‘93 or ‘94 and I went in there. It was about April. I got on the Microfilm machine, every other day, all day long, un-til October. Every other day. I was totally zoomed in like with the banjo. I walked out of there with over 1,000 names and 1200-1300 pictures and ads, you wouldn’t believe how many original ads. The lady at the Library said “do you realize that no one has ever done what you have done?” I looked through every


Gazette, every newspaper from the beginning. But I’ll tell you one of the main reasons I had to do this, because I heard people say, and I know they were saying this, that it will never get done. People always start a book and never finish it. No, I’m going to do this. I’m going to do this and it’s going to get done. I approached a major gun publisher and he said “YES, I want it”.

Do you still attend gun shows?

I started to go to gun shows in the 60’s and they are so boring for me now, I don’t even go to gun shows anymore. There’s so much online. Houston has one of the biggest antique gun dealers in the world at Richmond and Fondren, Collector’s Firearms. I could stay broke forever going in that store.

Your photography is excellent. I’m curious about what equipment you use.

Well I could never do what I’m doing with my film cameras. I take 500-600 shots when I go out. When I come back there may be two or three good ones. What I call “award winners”. I haven’t won any awards but I’m just calling it that. When finally the camera came out that I wanted. It was a Nikon. I had old lenses from my Nikon film camera and they would work on the digital camera but you would have to do everything manual. So I started taking (digital) photographs and decided that if I was going to do it that I need to get a good, good lens. I got a 500mm. It’s called a P lens because it has a chip in it that will do the metering but it’s all manual focus but I don’t ever use that anymore. I do everything manual, all manual settings. The only time I use automatic is when I use my walk-around camera. Which is a D90 Nikon and I’ve got a D300 for the big lenses. I have a 300mm 2.8 lens, a 500mm 5.6 lens, and a 500mm F4 lens and those are my main lenses.

You capture a lot of bird-in-action pictures. So let us in on your secret to capturing those excellent photos.

Anticipation. If you know where they are going to be flying, like a feeder, you focus on a particular point and wait. When something comes its (fast clicking sound) and you get multiple frames, you look, and again, one out of 500, but you’re going to get one.

Anybody can take a picture of a bird sitting on a limb but I’m trying to get something a little more exciting. I took my first action shot with a cheap lens in South Texas by accident. I saw that and went “Oh, wow!” So I kept trying and trying and you start learning what the birds are going to do. You start learning when they are going to look and what they do be-fore they fly and then click that picture. I really enjoy it. Its an excuse for a 57 year old man to wander aim-lessly through the woods. They look out there and say “oh, he’s a camera guy, he’s alright”. Otherwise, Homeland Security will be on you (laughter). One thing I forgot to mention. My asset in life is

patience. I’m able to sit down in my shop and work on the minutest thing and keep doing it for hours because I’ve got patience and I think that it all gets down to the point where my mind can go elsewhere. Some people have names for that. My concentra-tion is still always there and to be able to sit and wait for 30 minutes for a bird to fly is something I can do and I enjoy it.

Well, that about does it for my questions.

I’m anxious to know who was asking the questions.

Well there were several people that I got questions from. Ken Brown, I mentioned earlier. There was also questions from Sharon Sandomirsky of KOOP radio, and banjo players Eddie Collins, Jami Hampton, Presi-dent of CTBA, and Tracy Sloan from San Antonio.

Wow. I know Ken and Eddie very well. I’m honored that you asked me to do this.

Thank you Chris.

A special thanks too to the Bay Area Bluegrass As-sociation for allowing me to conduct the interview during their free monthly jam/show in the League City Community Center. November’s event featured excel-lent entertainment. This night the Lonestar Bluegrass Band kicked things off followed by The Bluegrass So-lution, and White Dove. There is no monthly event in December. They return the third weekend in January with Saltgrass, Greg English, and Cotton Picking Bluegrass. Oh, and a lot of jamming!


LISTEN TO BLUEGRASS ON THE RADIO

KOOP Radio, Austin, 91.7, Strictly Bluegrass Show 10:00AM every Sunday

KPFT Radio, Houston, 90.1, The Bluegrass Zone, 4:00PM every Sunday

KSYM Radio, San Antonio, 90.1, Hillbilly Hit Parade, Noon every Sunday

KEOS Radio, College Station, 89.1, High Lonesome, 7:00PM every Tuesday

This from Collings Guitar. “Integrating some simple steps to ensure that your instrument does not dry out is easy and relatively inexpensive. Making these procedures a habit will not only prevent your instrument from needing repair, it will also keep the playability of your instrument consistent.

First off, when you are not playing your guitar, keep it in the case (which really is good advice anytime of the year). The case will protect your guitar from any drastic changes in temperature or humidity.

Second, be aware of the humidity where the guitar is kept and adjust accordingly. Most instrument builders agree that 45% RH +/- 5% is ideal (range of 40%- 50%) To determine how much moisture you need to add to the room atmosphere, you will need a hygrometer. There are simple digital hygrometers available to be used in the room that your instrument is kept for easy and accurate monitoring.

Thirdly, invest in a soundhole humidifier for your guitar. They come in a variety of styles and are often are the simplest and most logical way to maintain proper moisture levels. When the humidity level is too dry, simply fill the humidifier with water, place in your guitars’ soundhole, and store in its case with the lid closed. This is to be done whenever conditions are outside of the ideal humidity range. It is also a good idea to maintain the moisture level of your room with a home humidifier.

Lastly, owners of new instruments need to be especially careful of humidity. Much like a new house, a new instrument needs time to “settle”. If an instrument has been properly looked after during this time, then damage due to dry conditions is a bit less likely”.

This from Janet Deering but it applies to any instrument. “The faster you want to play, the more relaxed and comfortable you must be. The more hours you want to play, the more relaxed and comfortable you must be. The more complicated the new technique or song you want to learn, the more relaxed and comfortable you must be”.

A Few Tips...


Randall’s Good Neighbor ProgramThe process to get this started is a bit of a pain, but it makes donating to CTBA, your local schools, or

your favorite non-profit organizations very, very easy. Just go to the link below, print the form and fill it

out, enter CTBA’s code 9735, and take to your local Randall’s store:

http://shop.safeway.com/corporate/randalls/gn_houston_austin.pdf

If you have news about Texans and bluegrass in Texas, we’d sure like to hear from you. We’ll take good news as well as bad news. We’d love to hear from you.

[email protected]

Membership and Advertising Rates

Ad Size PriceFULL PAGE $30.001/2 PAGE $15.001/4 PAGE $12.501/8 PAGE $10.00

Take $5.00 off the advertising rates if you are already ad business member. Copy deadline is the 15th of the month. Publication is on or about the 1st day of the each month. Send electronic notices to: [email protected] Send payment to:

Central Texas Bluegrass Association Attention: EditorPO BOX 9816 Austin, TX 78766

Advertisers assume liability for all content of advertisements and from any claims arising there from. We reserve the right to reject advertising for reasons of space availability or publication standards.

If you would like CTBA to review CD’s or would like us to include pro-mo material for artists performing in Texas, please send to our email at [email protected] or snail mail to the PO Box listed above.

Please Join CTBA: http://www.centraltexasbluegrass.org/join.html


Central Texas Bluegrass Association Bluegrass Newsletter is published by the Central Texas Bluegrass Association, a 501(c)(3) Tax-Exempt Texas Non-profit Corporation. Con-tributions are deductible as charitable and educational donations. Work published in this Bulletin is used by permission of the writers, artists, and photographers, who retain all copyrights. Tom Duplissey, Editor

Board Members: Jami Hampton, President Eddie Collins, Vice President, Carrie Thielemann, Secretary Sam Dunn, Treasurer Mike Hurlbut, Tracy Sloan, Janice Rogers, Rixi Rosenberg, Coleman Stephens

THE CENTRAL TEXAS BLUEGRASS ASSOCIATION IS A NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION WHOSE MISSION IS TO PROMOTE BLUEGRASS MUSIC IN CENTRAL TEXAS. Our members range from listeners and lovers of bluegrass music to world-class professional musicians who all have the same desire: to promote the music. CTBA provides a link between clubs, restaurants, and other venues and Central Texas Bluegrass musicians.

CTBA sponsors jams, workshops, provides scholarships to needy musicians, donates to other non-profit organizations, supports radio stations that promote bluegrass music & musi-cians, and provide festival venues for our listeners and fans of bluegrass music to enjoy. KEEP ON PICKIN’

CTBA’s Volume 2

$10.00

(includes shipping costs to anywhere in the United States)

http://www.centraltexasbluegrass.org/merchandise.html

Central Texas Bluegrass still have a few T-shirts remaining. They are 100% pre-shrunk cotton, high quality shirts with CTBA’s logo on the front. Available in Navy Blue and White. Sizes are S, M, L, XL, and XXL. Only $10.00

512 Dave Seeman(512) 357-6154

Karen AbrahamsBabyhead Promotions(512) 659-5256www.karenabrahams.com

Alan Munde GazetteBill Honker(214) [email protected]

Austin Lounge LizardsMike Drudge, agent(615) 262-6886www.austinlizards.com

Bee Creek BoysJim Umbarger(512) [email protected]

Better Late Than NeverDuane Calvin(512) 835-0342

Blacktop BendGeorge Rios (512) [email protected]

Blazing BowsMary Hattersley (512) 873-8925

Bluegrass VatosDanny Santos (512) 218-4141danny@dannysantosmusic .com

Brian Byrne and Borrowed Time (512) [email protected]

David & Barbara Brown (Jul ‘10) Corpus Christi, TX (361) [email protected]

BuffaloGrass (Jun’08)Don Inbody (512) [email protected]

The Carper Family (May’10)Jenn Miori(281) 682-8174 [email protected]

Chasing Blue (Sep‘10)Suzanne(512) [email protected]

Cooper’s Uncle (512) 736-2664 [email protected]

Eddie Collins (Dec’07, Nov’09)(512) [email protected]

The GrazmaticsL. Wayne Ross (512) 303-2188

Howard Rains(512) 577-0851

The Lost Pines (Jun’10)Talia Sekons (512) [email protected] www.lostpinesband.com

Manchaca All-Stars (Nov’07, May’08)Ben Buchanan(512) 282-2756manchacaallstars@ email.com

Out of the BlueJamie Stubblefield(512) [email protected]

Piney Grove Ramblers (Jan, Apr’08)Wayne Brooks(512) 699-8282www.pgramblers.com

Ranch Road 12Elliott Rogers(512) [email protected]

Randy’s Rangers Sigi Field (512) 869-8076

Rod Moag and Texas GrassRod Moag (512) [email protected]

The Sieker BandRolf & Beate Sieker(512) 733-2857www.siekerband.com

Steelhead String Band Sharon Sandomirsky [email protected] (512) 619-8705

String BeansMike Montgomery(512) [email protected]

Two High String Band (May’10)Geoff Union(512) [email protected]

The Wimberley BunchCharlie & Sally Lewis(830) 899-7511

Hire a Bluegrass Band!!!(Month & year of articles in Newsletter follow name)


HOUSTONBluegrass All Levels JAM (BABA Sponsored)2nd Sat, 1-4 PM, April-November, Houston Railroad Museum,Contact: (713) 319-8906 www. houstonrrmuseum.org

LEAGUE CITYBluegrass All Levels JAM & SHOW 3rd Sat: Jam 5 PM (BABA Sponsored)Show 6:30 PM Jan- Nov. Contact: Rick Kirkland (President) (281) 488-2244

MANCHACABluegrass All LevelsManchaca Railroad Bar-B-Q, FM 1626, Every Thursday 6:30-9:00PMContact: Dave (512) 680-4433

PEARL JAM & SHOW, 1st Sat: Jam all dayContact: Ronald Medart (254) 865-6013 www.pearlbluegrass.com

SAN ANTONIOBluegrass Beginner/Intermediate JAM Grady’s Barbeque at 7400 Bandera Rd. San Antonio. Monday’s 6-8 PMContact: Clifton Bowren (210) 602-5544 [email protected] SHULENBURGRV Park Community Center 1st & 3rd Tuesday, 6:30-9:00PMContact: Loretta Baumgarten (979) 743-4388 [email protected]

WIMBERLEYBluegrass All Levels Jam Fri 8-12 PM, Rolling House ClubhouseContact: Mike Bond

1st Friday each mo., Hondo Hootenanny, starts at 11 AM- Hondo Community Center, 1014 18th st, Hondo, Tx Info 830 426 2831 1st Sat each mo, Field Creek Music - 6: PM - field Creek is between Llano and Brady on Hwy 71, Info call Bill Tuckness 325 247 3223 2nd Tuesday - Each Month, All Gospel Jam 6: PM, first Baptist Church - Medina, Tx, Call Linda Barton for info, 830 589 2486 Every Tuesday beginner friendly jam, Gradys Barbeque, San Pedro and Jackson Keller, San Antonio, 6 to 8 PM 2nd Friday each mo. Medina Jam session, at the Masonic Lodge, 6 PM, Medina, Tx, bring snacks,

Where to go for a BLUEGRASS JAM!!!(FOR A COMPLETE LIST CHECK THE CTBA WEBSITE)

AUSTIN Bluegrass Beginner/Intermediate JAM (CTBA Sponsored)1st. & 3rd Thu. 7-9 PM, (call for location)Contact: Steve Mangold (512) 345-6155

Bluegrass Beginner/Intermediate JAM (CTBA Sponsored)2nd & 4th Sat 4-6 PM; Slow Jam starts at 2:00PM ArtZ Rib House Contact: Steve Mangold (512) 345-6155

Bluegrass Intermediate/Advanced JAM (CTBA Sponsored)Sunday’s 2-6PM, ArtZ Rib House, 2330 S. Lamar

Bluegrass All Levels Jam2nd and 4th Monday 7-11PM Waterloo Ice House (38th and Medical)Contact www.waterlooicehouse.com

BELLVILLE (Spring Creek Club Sponsored)Bluegrass All Levels JAM & SHOWJan. thru Sept 4th Sat; 4pm JAM, 6:30 pm SHOW, Coushatte RV RanchContact: (979) 865-5250 [email protected] www.springcreekbluegrass.com

BRYAN/COLLEGE STATIONBrazos Country Grass Monday’s 6-9PM, JJ. Cody’s, 3610 S. CollegeContact: www.brazoscountrygrass.com

FAYETTEVILLEBluegrass All Levels JAM (Texas Pickin’ Park Sponsored)2nd Sat, March—November, starts at 6 PM, on the Courthouse Square Contact: [email protected] www.texaspickinpark.com

GEORGETOWNBluegrass Jam All Levelsevery Thursday at Duke’s BBQ Smokehouse, 6-8 PM, Contact: 512-869-8076 or [email protected] (www.sigi.us/rr)

GARLANDBluegrass All Levels JAMSaturday, March- Nov, 7:30PM between Main & State St at 6th,Contact:

HARWOODBluegrass/Swing/Country JAM & Stage Show (Pot Luck too!)3rd Sat, 2-9 PM, 9 mi. E. of Luling, Hwy 90Contact: Tony Conyers (512) 601-1510 or (512) 940-3731


The Austin Center for the Treatment of

Obsessive-Compulsive DisorderBruce Mansbridge, PhD

Director

6633 Hwy 290 East, Ste 300Austin, TX 78723(512) 327-9494http://www.austinocd.com

TX INSTRUMENT LENDING LIBRARY (TILL)

A Musical Instrument Lending Program

Contact me if you know a child between the ages of 3-17 that needs a bluegrass instrument

www.tillonline.org

TILL, PO Box 426 Fayetteville, TX 78940Tom Duplissey (512) 415-3177

Central Texas Bluegrass AssociationP.O. Box 9816Austin, Texas 78766

[email protected]

Phone: (512) 415-3177


Dec 2-9 HANUKKAHDec 3 RICKY SKAGGS, RIVERBEND CENTRE, 7:30pmDec 3 Carper Family, Driskill Hotel w/Cindy Cashdollar, 9pmDec 4 Bryn Byrne & Borrowed Time, Patsy’s, 7:30pmDec 5 Piney Grove Ramblers, Threadgill’s North, 11:00amDec 9 BLUEGRASS OPEN MIC, New World Deli, 6:00pmDec 11 Carper Family, Fiddler’s Green w/Joe Sundell, 8pm ($15)Dec 12 Bluegrass Vatos, Artz Rib House, 6:30pmDec 12 The Sieker Band, Tomball Christmas Market (Tomball), 12:00pmDec 15 Bluegrass Vatos, New World Deli, 7:00pmDec 16 Carper Family, Waterloo Ice House (38th), 7:00pmDec 17 Carper Family, Driskill Hotel, 9:00pmDec 18 Two High String Band, Fiddler’s Green, 8:00pm ($15)Dec 18 The Sieker Band, Artz Rib House, 7:30pmDec 19 Air Cargo, Threadgill’s North, 11:00amDec 19 The Sieker Band, LBJ State Park Tree Lighting (Stonewall), 6:30pmDec 22 Carper Family, Threadgill’s North, 7:00pmDec 25 CHRISTMAS DAYDec 31 Carper Family, Driskill Hotel (New Years Eve), 9:00pm

Farewell 2010, Happy New Year!!!!

1 COPYRIGHT CENTRAL TEXAS BLUEGRASS … · (L to R: Billy Bright, Alan Munde, Elliott Rogers...

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Transcript of 1 COPYRIGHT CENTRAL TEXAS BLUEGRASS … · (L to R: Billy Bright, Alan Munde, Elliott Rogers...