Growing up in the Show-Me state, our children flourished as teenagers. The older sister was an artist, and the younger sister was a scholar. Mom bought our son a guitar, and he soon conquered it as well as the cello for school orchestra. His dad reactivated dormant banjo skills, and the lad taught his father how to play bass. Before long, they were performing at gigs together.
The Hitchin` Post, a bottomland saloon near the Missouri River, was choked with patrons and cigarette smoke on Sunday afternoons when the Hartsburg pub hosted its weekly Bluegrass jam session. The father-son duo not infrequently played back-up for fiddlers, pickers, and singers.
The BRC founder became a regular banjo picker at the pub, and he soon polished-up his knack for tune smithing by penning “The Hitchin Post Song.” It became a wrap-up anthem at the conclusion of Sunday jam sessions when all assembled adjourned to go “ridin` home late.” He collected this and other newly written tunes into a file that he called the “Hartsburg Anthology- songs mostly about Missouri ” which became the title of his first CD recorded to benefit the Childrens Hospital (Copyright 2004). On the below sound file, all instruments and vocals are performed by the author. Enjoy.
It has been decades since the last Hitchin` Post picking session in Hartsburg, and BRC life is now populated with grandchildren. In recent years, a new jam scene has sprung-up a only few miles down the Jeff City Rd. at a yogurt shop in our state capital of Jefferson City.
In this pandemic era, however, the musicians practice precautionary behaviors of outdoor picking on the sidewalk in front of the shop, mandatory masks, and safe distancing.Songs from the “Hartsburg Anthology” CD are performed when requested by listeners during these evening jam sessions, and we disperse after sundown when all assembled adjourn to go “ridin` home late.”
From the BRC: Be safe, be well, keep on picking.
