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