Laid-back, easy jammin'

The jam atmosphere was most relaxed last night. About a dozen pickers waded through scores of songs, fiddle tunes and banjer blowouts. A little smaller crowd than usual listened intently -- perhaps they knew Chris Burgoyne wouldn't be there!?

George, who can be spotted looking for serious in today's Roanoke Times, led us through "Matterhorn" and "In the Gravel Yard." Wayne was the sole solo mandolinist and he whipsawed through "Whiskey Before Breakfast", "Road to Columbus" and numerous other signature solos. He sang "Blue Ridge Mountain Girl," which is fast becoming a new jam favorite.

Joe dusted off "Big Scioto(i)" and ran off "Down Yonder" for Lewis. Jason and Tim laid waste to a fair share of tuneage. Dale sang "John Henry Blues." Kendall was a vocalizing monster. Doug Dalton and Ralph were not frightened by the numerous appearances of B-flat. Doug Cappucino kept us all in line. Oh yeah, P.J. played banjer. A fine time.

Robert Plant and Alison Kraus

I like this song the best on that Raising Sand album.

How was Cherryholmes?

How was Cherryholmes? I didn't make it. I can't make the jam tomorrow. Hope youzall have a good time.

My neighbor Gary was lucky enough to catch this tour in Lexington, KY.

Worldwide Connection

Some of you might have had a chance to meet Martin from Sweden at the jam a week or so ago. He was in town to do some research on Blacksburg. He was here visiting on 4-16-07 and was in McBryde Hall when the shootings happened. It was a shocking introduction to the USA. He was staying with friends of ours and I got the chance to meet him then and again when he returned. He's a good fellow. He and his companion Ida were duly impressed by the skills of the jammers, as well as our fine community. Here's a bit of video about Martin from the Roanoke Times.

Always interesting to find the original...

I learned this one from the Bluegrass Album Band.

This is (as far as I know) the original of "Christine's Tune (Devil in Disguise) from the Flying Burrito Brothers




And JD Crowe does this one...

Cherryholmes at Radford Saturday Night

Hey Teens,
I'm pretty sure I'm gonna make it out to this.
Any body else?

Cherryholmes Band

Radford, VA

April 26, 2008

8:00PM

Preston Auditorium Radford University For tickets call (540) 831-5420

Not a great development

What's up with this?
Radford City earns a dubious distinction.
From the Washington Post:

Life Expectancy Drops for Some U.S. Women
Historic Reversal, Found in 1,000 Counties, May Be Result of Smoking and Obesity

By David Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 22, 2008; A01

For the first time since the Spanish influenza of 1918, life expectancy is falling for a significant number of American women.

In nearly 1,000 counties that together are home to about 12 percent of the nation's women, life expectancy is now shorter than it was in the early 1980s, according to a study published today.

The downward trend is evident in places in the Deep South, Appalachia, the lower Midwest and in one county in Maine. It is not limited to one race or ethnicity but it is more common in rural and low-income areas. The most dramatic change occurred in two areas in southwestern Virginia (Radford City and Pulaski County),[Emphasis mine] where women's life expectancy has decreased by more than five years since 1983.

The trend appears to be driven by increases in death from diabetes, lung cancer, emphysema and kidney failure. It reflects the long-term consequences of smoking, a habit that women took up in large numbers decades after men did, and the slowing of the historic decline in heart disease deaths.

It may also represent the leading edge of the obesity epidemic. If so, women's life expectancy could decline broadly across the United States in coming years, ending a nearly unbroken rise that dates to the mid-1800s.

"I think this is a harbinger. This is not going to be isolated to this set of counties, is my guess," said Christopher J.L. Murray, a physician and epidemiologist at the University of Washington who led the study. It is being published in PLoS Medicine, an open-access journal of the Public Library of Science.

Big Fun, Old Pals

Good jam last night as usual. With the warming weather, some of the boys got to play outside, and we had a surprise pop-in from our old pal Greg Van Nest (guitar builder and picker). He moved up to Joisey a couple years back, and he reports that, as you might expect, the jammin' just isn't as happenin' in the Garden State as it is here in the NRV.

Last night was notable also because it was a bit of a sendoff for our pickin' Princess, Asenath. She's movin' down to Chilhowie to go to school and to supplement the Mountain Empire jam scene. I won't make too big a deal of it because 1) it's not that far away 2) it ain't forever --though she's bound to get discovered one of these days and we'll only see her on CMT or the stage at IBMA.

Greg is proof! She'll be back!

Everyone learn this tune and meet me back at the Mill Monday after next. (I'm back out of town next week.)


Bonus: Check out this... The Big Bug Shuffle

Get involved, or just hang out... TreeFest

Come hear Doublenaught Jethro throw down some tunes on the trail.
11-1 at the Park street parking log, on the trail in Wildwood Park.
That's at the intersection of Park and Sundell. It's right at the end of Sundell Street right down the hill from the Rec Center.

The Pathways people are good people, doing good things for our community. Give them your support!

One for the books?

Who's to say? But we had a big crowd, no Ralph, no Doug. The dynamic was different, but the jam rolled on same as ever. PJ and Chris split the bass duties. PJ, skillfully, and Chris non-disastrously.

Had some visitors from Sweden, but alas, we didn't have Ralph's book. Martin and Ida, hope you had a good time!

So we had no fiddler, and that was a shame, but we did have some new pickers. PJ's pal brought in "My Love Will Not Change" from the Del McCoury Band.

John Madis is proposing a big bus or van trip to IBMA next fall. I'm on board with the idea (unless of course, I go broke between now and then, which is always a possibility...). Who's with us?

For those of you looking for a happy anniversary, it was one year ago today that the Java Brothers played at WUVT in Blacksburg. Also without Ralph...coincidence???

Floyd - Ground Zero!

The JB's dropped the bomb on the Floyd Country Store last night (or maybe bombed...whatever).
With special guest Asenath Cales helping out her great singing and banjo work, they wore those dancers out. It was a late show, and those JBs ain't gettin' any younger, but they tore it up anyway pickin' till almost 11 and workin those folks near to exhaustion.

We love playin' there, and hopefully the folks had a good time.

Next stop for the JBs?

I'm not sure--I'll post again as soon as I figure it out!

Java Brothers Play the Floyd Country Store Tonight

Check us ou, y'all! Java Brothers will take the stage at 9:00 and do our best to wow 'em out of their tap shoes at the FCS!

Spring has sprung, why not kick your weekend off in Floyd?

For more info: http://www.floydcountrystore.com/

Side Door 5 - uh...for continued excellence we strive...

It's hard to come up with those slogans, you know!
We continued our journey into musical history on Saturday night with another eclectic set. It may have been our most varied offering yet, and people seemed to dig it.

Asenath and Wayne delivered a set of mostly bluegrass music with fine harmonies and some straight up nice playing of traditional tunes. We followed up with Triple B -that's Bill Adams on the guitar, Brian Muller on the mandolin, and Bob Thomas on his slurvy bass. Champs, all three. Their set was further augmented by the fiddling of Mike Mitchell. It was my first chance to see Mike, and he's one of the best players I've ever seen up close. I love our Side Door crowds, because they seem to love everything we give them. The Triple B set has some fine swing to it, and some serious chord progressions, but music is music to the Side Door audience. They like the good kind.

Dave Diesel was this session's solo artist. He played some old Jimmy Buffet chestnuts that we all knew, and worked in some birthday banter for Mary and Joe, two of our beloved community members. Hope we'll see Dave again, cause we only got a little taste on Saturday, and he knows what he's doin'.

Scott brought his Acoustic Review back with Abe Goorskey and the aforementioned Mike Mitchell and their bass player Jack. The Acoustic Review took the music in some speedy directions, and defied my expectations as well. They played some really classic bluegrass tunes, some Bob Wills, some progressive newgrass, they hit all the stops and I hope I can get them back out again.

Looks like the next Side Door will be on June 21 - the longest day o' the year! Don't know who's gonna play yet...maybe you!

Wheee-yull Hoss!

If you wanna pick for real, there's no better tune. (In my opinion, anyway.)

Maiden's Prayer

Side Door Rocks Again Saturday Night

The Side Door Sessions is a performance series that showcases musicians who make up the vibrant acoustic music scene in the greater New River Valley.

The next session will be:
Saturday, April 5th, 2008.
7:00PM - 10:PM
Admission: $5

The lineup for this Session includes:
Asenath Cales - a powerful singer who performs in a style influenced by Alison Krauss, Bill Monroe, and the great singers and players of Bluegrass. She's a terrific singer, and a fiery instrumentalist as well.

Triple B Trio - Bill Adams, Bob Thomas, and Brian Muller join forces to play their distinct brand of Cowboy Jazz, and cover artists ranging from Duke Ellington, to Chet Atkins, to Django Reinhardt, to Bob Wills. This group will lay down serious country swing.

Abe Gorski and Acoustic Review - Abe Gorski is an ace mandolin player, a fine singer, and he heads up a tight unit of pickers who have absorbed the tradition of acoustic music, drawing from everyone they hear-- from the Monroe Brothers to Tony Rice

Dave Diesel will play a set of eclectic tunes. This local boy's putting his show back together, and the folks at the Side Door will be among the first to hear it. The Side Door has something for just about everybody.

These groups and more will appear at the Side Door. Doors open at 7:00PM, music starts at 7:30.

Admission is a paltry $5. Come on out and support local music!

The Side Door is located in the Weltens office building on the corner of Third and Grove Ave. just up from Taylor Office Supply and just down from the Virginia Employment Commission.
Mapquest: 200 Third Ave., Radford Va. 24141

For more information: email chris.burgoyne@gmail.com