Enjoy a festive music-filled 4th of July weekend,
With friends and neighbors,
And sunny skies.
From the BRC: Have a restful holiday.
Last weekend, the BRC musician and spouse drove across sprawling fields of Great Plains farmland to an annual rural community summer Fair in southwestern Missouri. The banjoist was slated to perform with a familiar jam band.
With an ample sound system, the musicians performed on a rustic stage. The skies were muted by a cloud cover, and so the audience was not withered by sunshine. A harmony singer (red shirt stage right) had clogged at the Silver Dollar City park in her youth, and she danced on a platform in the left foreground of the bandstand. Children joined her in the frolics.
It was a marvelous June day for the band and the festival goers.
From the BRC: Have a splendid summer season.
A talented singer and musician recently joined our weekly Thursday evening jam sessions. A skillful guitar picker and mandolinist, Brian is also a capable vocalist. He just recently acquired a splendid new NorthField mandolin.
It is a long-standing tradition at our weekly jam sessions that anyone bringing a newly acquired instrument to the evening assembly is obligated to provide a celebratory ice cream treat for all.
The pickers and singers paused for ice cream cones and conversation.
The musicians are all smiles after listening to Brian`s mandolin chops on his newly acquired instrument. When not playing Bluegrass music, this cheerful and busy newcomer operates two nearby bicycle shops. Welcome Brian to our weekly Bluegrass throng. Lucky us.
From the BRC: Enjoy a summer filled with music, song, and ice cream.
Journeying afar might be an occasion to review archival issues of the Banjo Newsletter- if available. For size reference below, note the small yellow van traversing the background.
Like the pyramids, the mysteries of the 5-string are sometimes slow to reveal themselves. Unlike the pyramids, banjos originated in West Africa, far from the parched desert sands seen above.
When sojourning through distant lands, streetside musicians are not infrequently encountered. Pause to hear their music.
If you prefer to travel stateside rather than abroad, there are plenty of places where Bluegrass musicians can reconnect with their inner hillbilly roots.
From the BRC: Enjoy your vacation journeys this summer wherever your plans may take you.
Springtime reawakens our hinterland, and wildlife reappear in the Missouri countryside. The lake behind the BRC domicile will soon witness the return of the Great Blue Herons from the Southland where they wintered.
In the early morning sun, a doe and her tiny fawn graze on the lush lawn behind the BRC domicile undeterred by a plastic heron perched nearby on the patio woodwork.
Moments after a cloudy sunset, a rainbow appears briefly on the far side of our backyard lake.
From the BRC: Summer cannot be far away.