Last night we had a great time jamming late into the night. The weather was perfect as it was not too hot and not too cool.

We played a lot of great old songs and good new songs.  Now I’ve got to grab a beer and start playing again.

We are having a great time at “the Bunker” playing music, telling stories, drinking beer and eating some good food.

We had a great jam session last night and woke up to grits and eggs!

I only remembered to take pictures this afternoon,  but I promise to take some more later.

Kelly

Well folks, I’m sorry. I really thought that I would have some videos to put up this week, but I am on my way out-of-town.

I am headed towards an undisclosed location, deep within an unused government bunker 2 miles beneath the surface of the earth for a weekend jam with very, very dangerous folk musicians.

There is a van headed this way and soon I’ll be put under sedation and wake up some time later at the secret location.

In all seriousness, I will be playing some great tunes and songs with some friends this weekend and I just don’t have time to get anything else done before I leave.

I am taking my cameras and recording equipment, so hopefully I can record some in between the booze, food and songs!

I’ll keep in touch!

Kelly

One of the great things about raising my niece Amber, is that I get to see a lot of life through her eyes. I really enjoy seeing the look of awe, happiness, sadness, excitement, and joy that comes across her face when we do things together.

My wife says that I have ruined her by turning her on to so many of the things that I love. At 16, she is now a devoted fan of Doctor Who and I get to relive the first time I saw the show 28 years ago.

The best part of the last year has been teaching her how to drive. My wife, Sandy rode with us the first time I was teaching her and then it has been just Amber and I now for the last month or so. Sandy finally rode with us this weekend and I have to say that the surprise that we had in store for her was fantastic.

Amber and I have a routine when we get into the car to go somewhere. First she moves the seat since she is a foot shorter than I am and adjusts her mirrors and puts on her seat belt. The last part is the most important: she wants her “driving music”.

The driving music to me is the best part. We always start with Leroy Troy’s CD, “The Old Grey Mare.” She loves the first track “Bald Knob Arkansas.” She loves the song and sings along to the whole thing!

The look on Sandy’s face was priceless. I have never seen someone in such shock in my life. All she could do was shake her head and say “You’ve ruined this girl!” Her reaction just got Amber and I to sing along to the whole CD as she drove.

If you haven’t checked out Leroy Troy, you really should. He is a great musician and entertainer. You can find his website here.

Amber now wants to plan a vacation around a Leroy Troy concert, but I don’t know if we’ll be able to talk Sandy into it.

Hopefully persuasion, trickery or just plain old fashioned love will allow Amber and I to get Sandy to come along! 🙂

I am very sorry to say that I and Eric Bushman have been sick as dogs since we got back from The Henry Reed Memorial Fiddler’s Convention in Glen Lyn, VA.

We are not sure what we did, but sore throats, severe colds and Bronchitis has just about wiped us out. I had to take 2 days off of work and then went back at about 40% and worked 11 days. As the old saying goes, “there’s no rest for the wicked.”

I am working today and Saturday and somehow have to pull of a performance or two this weekend. At least the chest is better but the sore throat is gonna slow me down big time.

The only time I left the house this last weekend was to see Sandy and Amber participate in the Warrior Dash. They had a great time and I just took some pictures and rested until they took me home to bed.

I am hoping to do something next week, but we’ll see what happens.

I have some changes and additions that I wanted to get to ASAP and tell you all about, but it looks like I’ll put that off until next week.

I will also try to get up some more pictures and videos of Henry Reed to share with you all soon.

Until then, enjoy some pictures of Sandy and Amber after they survived the Warrior Dash!

I had wanted to get all of the Henry Reed Fiddler’s Convention videos and pictures up sooner, but this summer cold that has taken me and Eric Bushman out is really dragging me down.

I’ve been working extra hours and the fun just hasn’t stopped! 🙂

This video is the one and only Colonel O’Connor performing Black Velvet Band on the stage at the Festival.

We had a great time and I’m hoping that you can all visit it some day!

I had a great time at the Henry Reed Memorial Fiddler’s Convention in Glen Lyn, VA this past weekend. I took Dr. Scott, Marcel, Eric and The Colonel for a 10 hour van ride on Wednesday night and arrived early on Thursday.

We set up camp as quick as we could and hit the stores for some supplies (beer and ice). We became known as the Styrofoam Cooler Bunch because of the number of coolers we had in our canopy!

It was a lot of fun and once again, Marcel stole the weekend! Hands down, he has to be the most popular man at the Convention!

Just to give you an idea, I had to put up this video of him singing La Mer! I will be putting up more videos and pictures soon.

The only negative of the whole experience is that when I woke up Monday morning, I had a sore throat and it hasn’t gone away yet. Oh well, no rest for the wicked!

See you soon!