How about that?! The official Notes of Blue logo! By Tanner Autry!
It’s a good thing all my kids are good with technology. I’d be severely lacking if they weren’t. I love ’em and appreciate all their assistance.
So this logo will appear on everything: this website, the YouTube page, and the Facebook page. Everything Notes of Blue!!!
If anyone has suggestions for how we can improve the logo, I’ll promise we will consider it, at least until it comes time to file for a licensed trademark. That pretty much locks it in as is.
I should have waited until the logo was finished before I ordered the first run of business cards. It’s okay. You live and learn. Besides, when this order runs out , I’ll add the logo to the next order. No big deal.
Share the logo if you can! I hope you’re as happy with it as I am. Adios amigos!
Most folks don’t even know that I’m in another band. It’s not that I have hidden it (why would I?); it’s just that we’ve only played one gig. That was last September, and we’re so busy we haven’t played or practiced since.
But yeah, we’re called Rough Cut, and we play a mixture of Country, old and new, Southern Rock, Classic Rock, whatever the guys in the band like to play.
(my daughter Kenlee created our logo))
The reason I’m sharing this now is because I was just given the date and time of our second gig. Yahoo!
(from Facebook)
Third Saturday in June, 10AM, we’re leading off a day of great music. Here’s the day’s schedule, in case you want to see some other bands:
Wow! Now that’s a full day of music! McHenry SummerFest has definitely grown into something admirable. In fact, it’s what I’m hoping to do with Rosine Autumn Jam, which I started last Autumn in the Rosine Community Park.
We’re slated for October 4, 5-9:00PM this year (flyer coming soon), but for now Rough Cut is focused on June 21 in McHenry.
Our band is me on bass guitar. My brother Kevin Autry on acoustic guitar. Brennan Embry on lead guitar. Joby Miller on steel guitar. And Ralph Jones on drums (needing a keyboard player and/or fiddler).
My brother Kevin sings lead on most songs (I’ll sing a few). Ralph and I handle the harmony vocals.
We really have a lot of fun practicing, and boy did we have a blast last fall at Rosine Autumn Jam. That’s what it’s all about—having fun and giving the folks in the audience a chance to have fun, too.
(photo by my daughter Lauren Autry)
From left to right, Joby Miller, Brennan Embry, Kevin Autry, Ralph Jones, Yours Truly. Ralph’s drum kit says Tailgate on it because Tailgate is his main band, and they are doggone good!
I hope to have a replica of a huge saw blade with “Rough Cut” on it in time for McHenry SummerFest.
The heat was on last night at The Rosine Barn Jamboree’s 33rd season opener. In more ways than one!
The air outside was a bit nippy, so we had the furnace running. The biggest source of heat was coming from the stage, though.
Dennis Cook, Chairman of The Rosine Association (we lease the barn and manage The Rosine Barn Jamboree), stepped up to a hot mic and welcomed the crowd, and away we went!
It took just a short while to get back in the swing of things after being closed for the winter, and it wasn’t long before everyone was warmed up with love for bluegrass.
Open mic started right on time at 6:00. I was a little concerned at first because it looked like no one was going to participate. You never know from one week to the next. Stage full of folks one week—me all by lonesome the following week.
My worry was premature, though, because Ed Edwards stepped out with his mandolin ready to pick. Ed has been here at the barn from the beginning in 1992. I consider him one of the founders.
After Ed, here came Gloria Jackson. She chipped in singing harmony. Then wouldn’t you know it old “Flip Flop” Floyd Stewart jumped on the bass.
“Floyd and Friends” play from 6:30 to 7:00 each Friday. Floyd, who also is foundational, wasn’t able to sing this week due to a sore throat, but he came on stage to pick with us during open mic and stayed through his 30-minute set.
It works that way some times. We all do what we can to make every Friday as entertaining as possible.
The Rosine Barn has established itself as an international travel destination. One year the New York Times designated us as one of the top fifty places to visit in the USA. Now that was pretty cool!
For opening night, I chose mostly Monroe tunes to play and sing for open mic. If it wasn’t for the Monroe family, mainly Bill and Charlie, we wouldn’t have even been gathered together last night.
After a few of their tunes, we played and sang a few sacred numbers. One was “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” a favorite of mine. Bill Monroe recorded it and released it in June, 1951.
In case you’re wondering—no, he didn’t write it. That song pre-dates Mr. Monroe by several decades.
Just as we were finishing up that song, Jasper Beatty arrived. Boy, was I glad. I had sung about seven straight, and my voice was dragging.
Jasper can probably sing from sunup ‘til sundown. I sure am proud of that boy; he’s making a name for himself on the road playing the music we love.
Darrell “Bigfoot” Madison came out next, and everyone was tickled to see him. He’s one of the foundational pieces of The Rosine Barn Jamboree, but he’s been bravely battling cancer for more than a few years now. Any Friday Bigfoot can muster the energy to make it out for some pickin’ is a doggone good one.
From your left to your right, Ed Edwards, Yours Truly, Darrell “Bigfoot” Madison, Jasper Beatty, and Floyd Stewart.
You can’t tell it in the photo, but I kept my word—I’m wearing a blue guitar! I said I was playing blue guitars for open mic this season. This first one is an Applause by Ovation. It’s called the Jump model (AAS-69).
Before long it was time for the first band of the night, Brand New Box of Matches. Actually, they’re a duo! From Knoxville,Tn!
Elizabeth Sherman and Ryan Hardison are not new to The Rosine Barn Jamboree. They played two dates here last season.
Sherman plays bass, and Hardison plays just about everything else. They both handle singing duties. And very well, I might add.
Like I said earlier, the furnace was already on. Add in the heat from a burning box of matches and you got a heatwave.
Check ‘em out on Instagram: @brandnewboxofmatchesband. Or visit their website at www.brandnewboxofmatches.com. You can catch their show at a number of the venues they play all over the south, especially when they visit us again in the fall.
The last band of the night were newcomers, and they kept the heat on. The Grassy Creek Bluegrass Band hail from Gatlinburg, Tn.
The band is led by Brian Eversole on mandolin and lead vocals. Interestingly two of the other members are his children: thirteen-year-old David Eversole on guitar and fourteen-year-old Julia Eversole on bass and harmony vocals. Last, but certainly not least is young Aston Murray on banjo.
Together they made some mighty fine bluegrass and made the whole place even hotter from their fiery pickin’.
Check ‘em out on Instagram: @grassycreekbluegrassband.
A great big “thanks” to these two Tennessee bands for coming all this way. Words can’t express our gratitude enough, but we’ll try anyway.
Also, a quick shoutout to Jenny Edward’s, Ed’s daughter. She was home from Tennessee and gave me a helpful, social media lesson.
Folks, I will be needing a great many lessons before progressing very far with this venture into the world of technology and social media.
I do have a Notes of Blue YouTube channel set up, but I haven’t begun posting videos yet. Never fear, though, for they are coming soon.
That is, if the Good Lord’s willin’ and the creeks don’t rise…
As you can see in the photo, the road leading to the Monroe Homeplace was almost washed away in the flood last week.
It’s the worst I have seen it on that particular section between the railroad and Hwy 62.
I had actually fixed that same erosion about a month ago with the Bill Monroe Foundation’s little blue, New Holland tractor, but the February flood damage wasn’t as bad then.
The road department is supposed to be repairing it this time around. Good thing, too, because my repair work obviously didn’t last.
I parked my truck by the hole to add some scale perspective to the photo. I put the orange cone there to warn people to stay away. If one of your wheels slips off in there, you’re stuck—no getting out by yourself. Tow truck time!
I was talking with Marty Hayse last week about it. Marty lives in the Monroe Foundation doublewide with his wife Robin. They are the caretakers of the Homeplace.
Marty was wondering how Robin would get home from work if Hwy 62 was flooded. I gave him a couple routes she could take.
As we were talking, I told him about a flood that came when my family lived in Charlie Monroe’s house in the 70’s, somewhere between ‘72 and ‘75.
I remember Dad taking me and my brother Kevin down the hill in the dark to where the flood water was roaring through a gap it had cut through the road.
The gap appeared, to my little eyes, a mile wide. In truth, it was maybe ten or fifteen feet across, four or five feet deep.
And there on the other side was Mom. She couldn’t get home from work.
She ended up spending the night with relatives while Dad, Kevin, and I went back to the house without her. Sad.
I sure wouldn’t want that to happen to Marty and Robin Hayse—two lovebirds separated by a flood (might be a song in there).
I think about that night without my mother every time storm water rises and rushes over that road.
Maybe this time the road department will make it where it can’t erode like that again. Maybe add a little concrete or something.
And there it was. I had all but given up finding any today. It seemed like I had walked at least a mile with no luck whatsoever; in fact, I was on my way back to the truck, plumb worn out and dejected. And there it was.
In a place I wasn’t expecting, there, a foot from my foot, was a little morel (not a mushroom). I looked around and saw no poplar tree. Where was its symbiotic friend? The only tree in close enough proximity to fit that bill was a hickory.
You’re thinking, “Why is he so surprised? Aren’t they called hickory chickens?”
Well, yes, they are. And you would think that’s where I find these things. Except I don’t!
This species is of the Black variety, and my family finds them under poplar trees mostly. I don’t even bother to look under hickory’s because normally they aren’t there.
So I suppose I was lucky to notice it as I walked by that hickory tree. Yes, it must have been luck indeed for I found six more near it. That made a lucky number seven.
Oh, you don’t believe in luck? Or fate and stuff like that?
I do. For example, fate brought me and my wife together. I know it in my heart and soul.
Luck and fate may not be the same thing, so I can’t say conclusively if luck played a role in me finding those “7”!
At any rate, seven isn’t enough for a mess. So I left them all right where I found them. That way they can finish dropping all their spores and grow more next year.
Hopefully, someone else doesn’t come along and find them. If they do, I hope they’ll leave them for seed.
I found another first today when I returned home. A package! A big box!
If you’ve been keeping up with my blog posts, you might have a good idea what was in the box. I myself knew right away because of the box’s shape. A big rectangle about five-feet long, about two-feet wide, and five- or six-inches deep.
Let me help you. The thing inside was blue, and its purpose relates to The Rosine Barn Jamboree.
Yep! You guessed it! A guitar!
My first ever blue guitar! I said in a post last week that in order to promote Notes of Blue I would be playing blue guitars every Friday during Open Mic for at least this season.
In case you’re wondering, the guitar is an Applause, which is made by Ovation. Model is AAS-69, a slope-shoulder dread (short for dreadnought). That’s actually another first for I have never owned a slope-shoulder, just numerous standard dreads.
And if you’re also wondering where the pick guard is, I took it off. I didn’t like the original, so I’ll be replacing it as soon as the new one arrives.
A day of firsts. Here’s one more for the road. Because of all this datgum rain postponing last week’s Bill Burden Tribute show, the first Friday night of the 33rd season of The Rosine Barn Jamboree will be this week.
I’ll be there with bells on—and my blue guitar! Auf weidersehen!
For a while the blog might look weird or off because the website is being built out. Stay tuned as the website is soon going to look like it should. Thank you for your patrience.
Wouldn’t you know it! All this bad weather forced us to postpone tonight’s opening of The Rosine Barn Jamboree’s 33rd season.
That means we’ll have to reschedule the Bill Burden Tribute, probably until some time in June. When we have a new date, I’ll share it here at Notes of Blue.
I was really looking forward to honoring Bill tonight. I had been thinking about singing one of the many songs he sang on Fridays in Rosine, but I decided to leave that to those who knew him a lot longer than me.
I only came to know Bill very well in about the last ten years. Before that I only knew him from afar. I’m thankful for the friendship we formed.
I was also keenly preparing for the first “open mic” of the new season. I had brushed up on a few Monroe songs to sing this evening, two of Bill’s and one of Charlie’s.
Of course, I was also excited to be sharing this new blog of mine with the crowd tonight. I had ordered some Notes of Blue business cards to hand out, but they aren’t set to arrive in the mail until next week. Makes me think of Bill Monroe’s “No Letter in the Mail.”
If the cards arrive in time for next Friday, that’ll be the only good to come from this confounded deluge and cancellation.
Well, wait a minute now. That might not be true. There might be another bit of “good.”See it’s been a frenzy since I started this whole blog thing. A stressful frenzy. The tech is kicking my behind just as I figured it would; the website hasn’t even begun to take shape.
The only thing on the website is the blog. And I have so many ideas and plans I’m bursting at the seams. In fact, one idea just came to me yesterday.
This idea, like the blog business cards, involved ordering something online, so I wasn’t going to be able to share that tonight either.
But maybe, juuust maybe, pushing opening night back a week will now provide me the opportunity to share some of my new ideas.
Let me be clear about something, though. They may be called business cards, but I don’t see my blog as a business. It’s really just another outlet for expression, and I’m pretty big on that.
Everyone needs an outlet for creating and expressing what he or she thinks and feels. Hold all that inside for too long, and bad things will happen.
What? Wait! No! No, I did not forget that other idea that came to me just yesterday? I was letting the suspense build. And now that you’re properly suspended, I’ll tell you.
I’ve been slowly thinking of ways to emphasize the color blue since the blog is Notes of Blue. Makes sense, right? Naturally, I made the business cards blue.
As I was brainstorming, I realized that the best chance to be “blue” is every Friday night during opening mic.
First, I thought about wearing a blue hat. I thought better of that, though, because the local folks, the regulars, are too used to my brown Fedora.
As it is now, if I come in with something else on, or Heaven forbid, no hat at all, Harry Grimes or Barry Geary will let me know about it right away. So no blue hats.
I actually need something a little more prominent anyhow. What could be more prominent on stage than a guitar. That’s right! From now on for open mic, I’ll be playing a blue guitar.
Already ordered it. An Oscar Schmidt. Hope it arrives in the mail before next Friday!
Two things I discovered when I went looking for a blue guitar was their abundance and low cost.
So inexpensive, in fact, that I just might start a collection of cheap, blue guitars, and swap up each week. One week the Oscar Schmidt, the next an Epiphone, then a Yamaha, then whatever I can come up with. Then start the rotation all over.
Don’t expect me to walk in with a blue Martin or Gibson, though. Check out these prices!
Can’t afford that! Can’t even smell it!
Whatever I end up with will be way, way, way back down at the other end of the scales. But I promise if one of these blue guitars can’t meet the standard on stage then that one will be staying home and going back on the market.
I would like to ask a favor. In your travels, if you happen to spot a relatively cheap, blue guitar, perhaps in a pawn shop or flea market, please make a note of it. What brand is it? What condition is it in? Price? If you would be so kind as to share the whereabouts of this blue guitar, I would be mighty grateful.
And if it’s not too far from home and it’s within my means, I just might check it out. And if the stars line up juuust right, I’ll add it to what I’m going to call my Rosine Barn Jamboree Open Mic Collection.
I didn’t set out to write the song knowing I would give it the “Queen of Hearts” title. My song’s title wasn’t in my head when I wrote the first line, “She was sitting underneath a tree beside Olaton Road.”
I had an image in my mind of an innocent young maiden in trouble and a young lad coming to the rescue. What a new concept! Right? Good thing that’s never been done before. Ha!
That’s maybe the most difficult thing about songwriting, finding a fresh way to sing about a theme or plot that’s been addressed a million times over.
There are no new themes to be had; what was there in the beginning is all we have to work with still today. All a songwriter can do is rework what was written in times gone by.
Go on YouTube today, and you’ll discover songs with that “Queen of Hearts” title from just about every genre of music, from country to southern rock to thrash metal. And Bluegrass!
In 2024, Lonesome River Band released their latest album The Winning Hand and one of the tracks is “Queen of Hearts”, written by their mandolin/vocalist Adam Miller and guitar/vocalist Jesse Smathers.
I love the song, but I’m going to love just about anything they do because I happen to be an LRB freak.
Miller and Smathers did manage to approach the subject in a somewhat newer light. Their protagonist is a man with two loves: a woman and poker, both queens of hearts. The woman he loves is a good queen of hearts, but he doesn’t know if he can avoid the other queen of hearts, the bad one, gambling.
Either way, he must give up one to have the other. It’s a take on the theme of temptation and destruction.
Joan Baez had a “Queen of Hearts” song in 1965. Gregg Allman wrote one in ‘73. And there have been many others since.
The most well-known “Queen of Hearts” song is Hank DeVito’s masterpiece. It was first recorded in 1979 by Dave Edmunds. Ten years later in ‘89, Rodney Crowell recorded it.
The most famous version, however, was recorded in ‘81 by Juice Newton. I might have had the 45 back in the day. For you younguns, that’s a record that spins at 45 rpm.
(from Google Images)
Here’s an interesting examination of the subject: When people hear those words, “queen of hearts,” which comes to mind more, Newton’s “Queen of Hearts…or the Queen of Hearts character in Lewis Carrol’s 1865 book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland?
(from Google Images)
For certain the Queen of Hearts has become entrenched in our culture. And it didn’t start with Lewis Carrol’s book because his story is based on a 1782 British nursery rhyme with the same title.
Oh, but wait! That nursery rhyme is itself based on the face cards in a deck of playing cards. And according to Wikipedia, the Queen of Hearts playing card may date back to pre-1440 Germany.
So the Queen of Hearts has had centuries to become a part of us.
At some point while writing my “Queen of Hearts” song, which started as a “boy saves girl” tale, the thought occurred to me—what if she wasn’t really in trouble but was deceiving the boy?
The “what if” question is a valuable one for you writers out there!
I have no earthly idea why I redirected toward the themes of betrayal and manipulation. And once I decided her suffering was a ruse, I don’t recall the moment it came to my mind to see her as a queen of hearts and make that the title.
One long shot explanation could be Tom Petty. What? Huh?
You see, in the 80’s I listened regularly to his songs, like “American Girl,” “Refugee,” “Mary Jane’s Last Dance, “ and “Free Fallin’.”
Maybe you still haven’t made the connection? Here, let me drop some breadcrumbs…the 80’s marked the birth of music videos and cable channels like MTV and CMT.
Petty released his Southern Accents album in 1985. The first song on that album was “Don’t Come Around Here No More,” written by Petty and Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics. If you saw the music video on MTV—and remembered it—the light bulb in your brain would light up brightly. Aha!
(from Google Images)
Though the song had no obvious mention of Alice or anything else to do with Carrol’s classic, the bizarre and controversial video featured Alice, the Mad Hatter, the Caterpillar, and one extremely Mad Tea Party. But the Queen of Hearts character is nowhere to be seen.
Cowriter Dave Stewart has always claimed the idea for the video came from a Stevie Nicks party, the same party where the song idea originated.
At any rate, when I made the girl in my song the opposite of innocent, could a long ago memory of a Tom Petty video have sparked something in my mind? I don’t really think so, but you never know.
I suppose it all traces back to Carroll’s fantastical story about Alice, for it was Carroll who first made the Queen of Hearts a villain.
Science still doesn’t know all that much about our brains and our imaginations, except that we all have them. In the end it boils down to billions of cells upstairs producing chemicals and electricity.
Finally, here’s what my brain cells came up with about a week ago.
Queen of Hearts
She was sitting underneath a tree beside Olaton Road Weeping uncontrollably while she was all alone My heartstrings, they all complained, they yearned to save the miss That all her tears were false…oh, how was I to guess
I helped her up, I held her close, I dried her tears away Lady, what has gone awry to make you mourn today Woe is me, she sighed and said, my honor I have lost A man I loved, I thought loved me, our child and me he crossed
She played my heart like a string on her fiddle She knew the part, she knew how rue to kindle All the world’s a stage, they say, and so the story goes She’s the wily queen, the Queen of Hearts you know
The man she claimed a rogue I caught, I wore him up and down I found him mumbling by himself, the other side of town He wailed about the Queen of Hearts, she’d made him for a fool She cleaned him out…he cried, oh, God, she’s cruel
She played my heart like a string on her fiddle She knew the part, she knew how rue to kindle All the world’s a stage, they say, and so the story goes She’s the wily queen, the Queen of Hearts you know
May 24, 2025! The Old Get Together. A brand-new, first-ever Bluegrass festival at Potter Farm in Bowling Green, Ky. Seven bands and much to see and do! Like jam!
There will be a jam circle, guitar circle, pickers circle, whatever you want to call it. Kenneth Newell and I will be leading it.
We’ll be there at 1:00 representing The Rosine Barn Jamboree and the Jerusalem Ridge Festival. All are welcome! Come on out and join right in!
I finally took the plunge and traveled to SPBGMA this year. That’s right! Back in February, 2025, I undertook the drive down to Nashville to attend the annual convention of the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America.
Kenneth Newell has been after me to go for years now. I’m not sure why I waited so long, probably because I’m not much good at jamming. And when I think of SPBGMA, jamming is the first thing that comes to mind.
I’m mostly a strummer. Oh, once in a while I’ll throw in a run or two, but as far as taking a break solo, I’ve not risen to that level. My forte is writing songs.
This year Kenneth convinced me SPBGMA had far more to offer than just jamming, for example, showcases, award shows, trade shows, contests, booths, food, and more.
So I made plans and went—without a guitar. I drove from Rosine to Westmoreland, Tn, where Kenneth and his wife Angie live. We carpooled from there to the Sheraton Music city Hotel, where the convention is held.
(an artist’s rendering of the hotel on spbgma.com)
Interestingly, this year was the 50th Annual SPBGMA.
We parked in a lot at the foot of the hill and didn’t have to wait long for a shuttle. It was nearly full when who was last to get on? Bob Minner!
I’ll be writing a post about Bob soon, but for now let’s simply say Bob is on fire in the world of Bluegrass, with awards and newly released music.
As Bob was nominated for SPBGMA Song of the Year along with John Meador of Authentic Unlimited for writing “Fall in Tennessee” and the awards show was later that night, I wished him luck before we exited the bus. As Bill Monroe would say, I was “pulling for them” to win.
Turns out they didn’t. The Grascals won for “Tennessee Hound Dog,” but at least Bob, John, and Authentic Unlimited won for the same award at the IBMA’s back in November of ‘24.
The first thing you do at SPBGMA is walk into a cavernous lobby full of bluegrassers. Some folks were dressed to the nines; some were dressed casual like us, blue jeans and t-shirts. I believe I was wearing a black, Jerusalem Ridge festival t-shirt from a few years back.
Of course, upon entering you can’t help but hear all the music from different jams scattered around.
The first person I saw that I recognized was Arnold Freeman Flener from Horse Branch. She comes from a long line of HB educators. Arnold Freeman was looking for her daughter MacKenzie Bell. We parted going opposite directions, and wouldn’t you know it, we met MacKenzie less than a minute later.
MacKenzie Bell has been playing fiddle since she was a youngun and just keeps on getting better and better. She plays with Ohio County Judge Executive David Johnston the first Friday of every month, April thru December, at The Rosine Barn Jamboree.
Next, I met Brian Stevenson, the leader of the Breckinridge County Bluegrass Music Association. He also leads the Bluegrass show at the lodge at the Rough River Dam State Resort Park in Falls of Rough, Ky, the second Friday of each month year-round.
Brian is a powerful guitar picker and singer in his band Blue Again. And I would add that his is about the loudest big ol’ Martin I’ve ever heard—D-35 bought from Mark Royal, if I’m not mistaken.
The first trade room we came to was full of instrument vendors and attendees checking out their wares.
Over in one corner multi-instrumentalist and videographer Jared Finck was filming pickers in front of a curtain back drop with a blue-lit SPBGMA sign. I was impressed with his setup.
Jared and Justin Reno have skillfully and artfully graced the stage at The Rosine Barn Jamboree several times in the past couple years billed as Reno and Finck.
At one point Jared had several folks waiting to be filmed playing Jimmy Martin’s guitar. I enjoyed watching Keegan Day take his turn on it, accompanied by his brother Redmond Day on mandolin. Those boys can pick now!
On the far side of the room, Kenneth met a young, fellow mandolinist Vance Bonebreak. They swapped mandolins and picked a little. Vance was playing a Ringley, and Kenneth had his McClanahan.
I’m sorry to say I don’t know the first thing about Ringley and Sons mandolins, but from what I heard in that moment, they can hang with the best.
I do know Jonathan McClanahan builds some of the finest mandolins around. And he sure knows how to play one, too. There will be a McClanahan post on this blog in the future.
Just ten feet away was the Gallagher guitar display. I had heard of the Gallagher brand before, and I had read about the new Josh Rinkel signature model. But I’d never heard one up close.
A little bio here—I have a hearing problem; I’ve recently tried some in-ear monitors and I believe they’re going to help. When I want to know what a guitar truly sounds like, I ask someone else to play it so I can hear what is projected directly in front.
Let me just tell you! When Kenneth jarred down on one of these guitars, I was astounded. It was the purest, warmest, most-balanced sound I’ve ever heard from a guitar, and I’ve heard quite a few.
We spent some time talking with owner David Mathis, and before you know it Angie was in the process of owning a G45 model. I set a goal of owning one within five years. I’ll be writing a more in-depth post on the Gallagher company in the near future.
The next vendor room was much bigger. Right away I found Dennis Cook and his wife Sharon sitting at the Jerusalem Ridge Festival table. I sat with them and chatted for a while. Dennis is Chairman of the Bill Monroe Foundation and works his hind end off on Jerusalem Ridge. I don’t know what we would do without him.
If someone wanted to purchase a vintage guitar, this room at SPBGMA was the place to be. That’s assuming you had tens of thousands of dollars in your pocket. Old Martins! Old Gibsons!
I’m surprised there wasn’t some kind of heist in that room that weekend. I’m guessing the total value of all the instruments in that room might have reached into the millions.
One of the highlights of the day for me was getting to hold a 1923 Loar Gibson mandolin, very similar to the famous Bill Monroe mandolin.
Actually this one was six months and four days older than Monroe’s. It was at SPBGMA because of Emily Wilson and the Karasik Mandolin Project, which I will certainly be writing about soon.
(Kenneth holding the 1923 Loar Gibson)
There was a great contingent of folks from my neck of the woods at SPBGMA ‘25 on Saturday. One group was there to cheer on The Rosine Sound, who was in the band contest. I saw Jasper Beatty and Marty Hayse, and they were looking rather spiffy.
I wasn’t able to catch their work in the contest, but I heard they were great. They didn’t end up winning, but I know they represented Rosine well.
Jasper’s mom Shandy was there, of course, along with Jasper’s grandparents Terry and Jackie Tarrance.
While enjoying a meal, my cousin Conner Raymond snuck up behind and surprised me. Later, I ran into his good buddy Joseph Renfrow. I’m awful proud of those boys as they have formed a Bluegrass band of their own. Kentucky 31, they’re called, a nod to the fescue in the pasture and hay Conner’s cattle eat. You gotta love that name!
I also met Gloria Jackson and her boyfriend Terry Bean. I told them they were the best-dressed couple in the whole place. Terry is a big fan of my “Rooster Red” song, and I appreciate it.
You can hear it on YouTube thanks to Dustin Bratcher and The Rosine Barn channel. Just search for me, and it will come up, along with a few more songs. I may have to write a post about that song in the future.
Of course, Kenneth ran into a great many friends throughout the day. He seemed to know everybody! I managed to snap a few pics.
If you haven’t heard of Wyatt Ellis, you will. He’s a mandolin prodigy from Tennessee taking the Bluegrass world by storm. He’ll be performing at Jerusalem Ridge ‘25 on Thursday this year. You can see him right now all over YouTube.
(Kenneth and Wyatt Ellis)
We also ran into one of Wyatt’s former mandolin teachers, Roscoe Morgan, from Maryville, Tennessee. Roscoe plays mandolin for Clearview, and they, too, are on YouTube. They’re not scheduled to play Jerusalem Ridge this year, but maybe, if we make enough noise, 2026 could be in play.
(Kenneth and Roscoe Morgan)
I’m also going to remember the photos I didn’t take.
For example, while we were looking for a jam on the 3rd floor, Kenneth, Angie, and I ran into Kody Norris. We chatted briefly about the effect Hurricane Helene had on his hometown of Mountain City, TN, back in September of ‘24.
You could tell his heart was still hurting (definitely not the time for taking photos). It was a tender moment, and I won’t forget it. I sure hope those folks, who lost so much, are healing and getting back to some semblance of normal.
Late in the day, as we were making our way through the lobby to leave, who other than Wayne Lewis appeared out of nowhere. I was tickled to see him so I could catch him up on how Mom and Dad were doing.
Way back in the 2000’s, when Wayne served on the Bill Monroe Foundation board with my parents, they became dear friends.
Before we parted, Wayne said to tell Dad he hoped to see him soon. I said I would, and Wayne gave me that look; “That’s my buddy,” he said.
I should have taken a picture with Mr.Lewis, but I didn’t, so I’ll include this one from the 2023 Jerusalem Ridge Festival.
(L to R—Mom, Dad, and Wayne Lewis)
After our time with Wayne Lewis, we headed out the door. We didn’t have long to wait for a shuttle back to the car.
It is very likely that I have neglected to include someone we met that day back in February. If so, I apologize. No slight was intended. My 57-yr-old brain is for sure not what it used to be.
SPBGMA was a great experience. So much so, that I plan to return next year. Might even get a room and take in two days, do some jamming, see some of the nighttime events.
I look forward to next year, but two things I’ll do differently: 1) Take more photos; I’ll need them for this blog, and 2) Take my guitar!
