Did I tell you I write songs? Guess that makes me a songwriter. I don’t know about all that, but it’s something I like to do. Even more so, it’s something I need to do. To keep me sane, I suppose. Anyway, about six years ago I wrote this one called “Mama Was Preachin’.” I […]
12
Nov
Nov
Since the Rosine Bluegrass Gospel Show on Saturday, December 20 will include caroling, I thought it might be neat to look at the history of this tradition. It seems caroling came about through the mingling of two old traditions—one Christian and one pagan. In 1223 AD, St Francis of Assisi created the first nativity scene. […]
31
Oct
Oct
When I walked past the Wall of Fame at The Rosine Barn Jamboree today, something caught my eye. Do you see it? How about now? No, it’s not a spider! Here, try this… Yes! It’s a cricket! When I saw it, my mind immediately went to a memory from decades ago. One night—I suppose I […]
I’ve been a Pittsburgh Steelers fan since the heyday of the 70’s Super Bowl teams. At the time, I was in 4th or 5th grade at Horse Branch Junior High, playing Pop Warner football. One year we ordered those NFL duffle bags with the black, hard-plastic handles. We could choose any NFL team we wanted. […]
04
Oct
Oct
The 5th Annual Run the Ridge 2025 is a little more than a week away. 8am, Saturday, October 11, at the Monroe Homeplace. As usual I’m kicking my own tail to get everything ready. One task I’m hard at is making the race medals, one for each participant. They’re little cedar mandolins on a piece […]
So I wrote this new song called “Farm Cats.” It’s about growing up on a farm as a UK Wildcat fan. Tonight, Friday, September 19, I sang it, I recorded it with my iPhone, and I posted it to my Notes of Blue YouTube channel. My phone’s audio quality wasn’t all that great, so I […]
17
Sep
Sep
This gorgeous, sun-streaked scene greeted me Sunday morning, September 14, 7:50am, last day of the Jerusalem Ridge Festival, as I drove in to start parking cars. Of course, I had to stop and take a photo. Those of you familiar with Jerusalem Ridge will recognize this as the place where Charlie Monroe’s house used to […]
09
Sep
Sep
(pic from Johnny Casteel) This past weekend, September 4-7, was the 11th Annual Showdown in the Bluegrass, which is the Kentucky state championship for cowboy fast draw competition. It was hosted at the Beaver Dam Amphitheater by Ohio County’s Bluegrass Fast Draw Club, a local affiliate of the national Cowboy Fast Draw Association(CFDA). This year […]
Okay, so I finished the story “Coons in the Corn,” which I was writing and releasing in episodes on my Notes of Blue FB page. It’s about a man in Rosine who has a raccoon problem that he sets out to fix. There ended up being 25 episodes released over about 30 days. I enjoyed […]
The first Rosine Bluegrass Gospel Show is in the books, and it was a success. I couldn’t be happier. Everyone, the bands and the audience, showed God how much they love Him. For an intro, I spoke a little about the church’s history with Bill Monroe and thanked the Rosine Community Church members for hosting […]