Great jam to end the year!

Chris, Joe, tell Wayne about it. I'm headin' out on the road.

Thought it would be small and chill. It was paked!

If Trouble Don't Kill Me

As our blog audience is almost entirely literate, I've got some big news.
Not only can all the members of the band read, one of them can write real good, too.

Ralph's book, If Trouble Don't Kill Me is generating pre-release buzz. I'm angling for a role in the movie.

Cybergrass writes:

Ralph Berrier, Jr.'s book If Trouble Don’t Kill Me: A Story of Family, Brotherhood, and Bluegrass, the true story of Ralph's music-playing grandfather and his twin brother, is slated to be published by Crown in July, 2010. The book is a memoir about Ralph's grandfather, Clayton Hall, and his twin brother, Saford. Briefly put, the brothers grew up in the hardscrabble foothills of Patrick County, Va., where they learned to play music and sing from their mother.

In other news, I'm changing the name of the Java Brothers to "Judy Hall’s Bastards."

Blue Highway

This is what we were gonna see.

Damn you, snooooowwwwwww!!!!

Blue Highway Canceled

Snow done the show in...

> We apologize for any inconvenience. Our hope is to have a rescheduled date as soon as possible and we will alert you at that time. Information will be emailed to you as well as posted on our website as soon as it is available. Your current tickets will be honored at the door. If you are unable to make it to the rescheduled date, we will refund your purchase. If you have questions, please call the box office directly at 540.345.2550 x 1.

Hope they come around again soon.

Blue Highway

I'm organizing a party to see some fiery bluegrass.

Blue Highway is playing Friday Night in Roanoke. Who's with us?

These guys are the real deal and they've made it 15 years. That's somethin.

The JB's are approaching our 3rd anniversary, by the way. We're 20% as long-lived!

Ho Ho Ho-down 2009

The Coffee Mill Fiddle and Banjo jam had our Christmas party last night and it was, as usual, a good ol time.

We had caroling - Kendall led the group and fired up the Christmas spirit up and down main street. We even got called back for an encore at Mi Puerto. We hit Barry's, the Nail Shop, the Chrysalis shop, and got 'em fully riled up in Sharkey's.

Then we picked some tunes and had a fine feast. I ate way too many cookies and too many of those baked potato skins. Dang, they were tooo good.

George Smith led the tour de force "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer." Lucy did some fine jinglin' on Jingle Bells.

I'm glad to know you all and we did some fine pickin! Merry Christmas!

Encore for Jack

Buckdancer's Choice. This one's a great example of his ragtime style.

Jack Rose 1971-2009

The world lost a great guitarist and a fun guy to be around. I did not know Jack all that well, but had made music with him on several occasions when I was with the Black Twig Pickers. He had become an influential fingerpicker in recent years and seemed to have really found his musical voice.

Jack was best pals with my friends and fellow BTPs Mike Gangloff and Isak Howell, who are grieving over his death.

Jack was only 38.

Only the good, as they say.

Smokin' Jam tonight

The jam is in a very healthy state right now, IMO. George Smith got out tonight with his fine banjo; George always seems to elevate the pickin. Hanging out with no desire other than to see and hear music were Bill and Wayne. Christian and Dan expanding the mandolin section. Timmy Mills, playing the whole night! Ralph, Richard, and Geoff fiddlin' up a stawm! Corey and Wayne en fuego.

Chris, Joe, Nancy, Kendall, Super Doug-E Fresh.

The jam was cookin'.

I enjoyed the John Hardy particularly.

Blue Highway in Roanoke 12/18

FYI Y'all!
Blue Highway in Roanoke!

Too busy!

I guess we were all to busy to write it up, but the jam on the night of Monday 11/30/09 was a fine one. We had an excellent crowd, and excellent bunch of pickers, and a bunch of familiar and not-so-frequently-played tunes.

Remember that the Christmas party is coming up on Dec 14th - little less than 2 weeks away.

"We'll have food, drinks and fun as part of our annual holiday party."

Monday, Dec. 14, 7 p.m.
The Coffee Mill
Bring your instruments and an appetite.