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04/30/08

Hey there from lovely Pegram, Tenn. I'm back in the studio today mixing our duet record. Well, Tim (our engineer) is mixing. I'm writing to you while I wait or him to call me up that way for a listen.

Just read about something really cool in my MBOTMA newsletter and wanted to share it with you. It's called Operation Happy Note and has supplied our soldiers deployed throughout the world with over 2000 instruments and instructional CDs since it's inception in 2005.

Steve and Barb Baker started Operation Happy Note when their son was deployed to Iraq. Even though their son is now home with his family, the Bakers are continuing the program because requests for instruments keep coming in.

For more information about Operation Happy Note and how you can become a part of bringing musical joy to our men and women in uniform, visit their website: OpeartionHappyNote.com.

See you down the road!

Becky

04/25/08

Hey and howdy!

Spring is in full swing down in these parts. We have an amazing patch of purple and white lacy irises in our front yard which are protected, of course, by a garden gnome.

Val and I finished up the last few bits of recording on our new album yesterday. (No, I can't believe it either.) We conned Mike Compton and Alan O'Bryant of the Nashville Bluegrass Band into guesting with us at the last minute. I have been a huge fan of their group for about as long as I can remember.

Now it's on to the mixing process. I'll keep you posted on our progress.

If you're in the area tonight, stop in at the Bell Buckle Cafe for some great food and Bluegrass with the Friday Night Orphan Brigade. (That's my honey's band!)

Have a great weekend!

Becky

04/17/08

Hey and howdy, all your fine friends and neighbors!

Thought I'd give ya'll a shout before we head out for Maryland this morning to the Arcadia Bluegrass Festival.

EI-YI-YI-YI-YI!!!!!!!!

(That was the shout. Corny, I know. I haven't had my coffee yet.)

Val and I had a busy week. Monday and Tuesday were spent singing and picking on our new duet record. We've got one more recording session next week and then we're into the mixing. Yea!! Thunderous applause...as my mother would say.

Yesterday, we were up at Tom. T & Miss Dixie Hall's studio in Franklin to work on the next Daughters of Bluegrass album. Val did a beautiful job on an original Tom T. & Miss Dixie tune which I got to do some funky fiddle things with. They let me play my new guitar on it, too...it's first foray into recording! I also added fiddle and vocals to another couple tunes. All in all, it was a fun day and such an honor to work with the legendary Halls and producer/engineer Paula.

Well, the bus has arrived outside Val's door so I'd better get this sent off to you. Have a great weekend!

Becky

P.S. Here are some great pictures of VSLP and Moi from my friend Mike Morbeck up in the great north woods. Hope you enjoy them!

04/09/08

Hey everybody!

My dear darling Uncle Dan is in town and it's so good to have him here. We went to see Etta James and the Roots band last night at the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville. She had a touch of pneumonia...had even been in the hospital earlier that day! However, the show had to go on. The folks at Skyline Medical told her, "Well, we could keep you or you could go to the show. What do you want to do?"

The salty 70-year-old blues legend opted for the show and brought a bunch of folks from the hospital with her. And she put on a great show. What a voice, so dark, sultry and buttery! Of her hits, the one you might recognize is "At Last," which is sung at lots and lots of weddings. (By the way, Monroe Crossing from Minnesota has a great version of that one.)

It was really inspiring to see her resiliency and to know she was up there performing with two of her sons in the back up band.

Just thought I'd check in and say "Hey!" See you soon!

Becky

PS Emmy Lou Harris was there in the audience! When
Etta greeted her from the stage, she waved.

PPS I had never been to the Wildhorse for a show so I
didn't know the lay of the land. You'll probably want
to get tickets for the 2nd tier or the ground floor if
you go as you'll be able to hear much better.

"Oh the pain of being drilled...." Well, it wasn't painful and it was relatively quick. I was back in the chair for a root canal today. I think the worst part is the shot and the whiney whirring of the drill. But I made it out alive and tried to take part in the very interesting conversation about Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones and Foreigner...as much as one can take part in a conversation when you're mouth is being excavated. It's amazing to me how much they understand! Do they take a course in how to understand patients with their mouths full? Or is it just on the job training? It's springtime in a Tennessee, all green loveliness. The daffodils my honey and I transplanted from a ditch somewhere near Normandy Lake to my front yard came back this year! I was so excited that I ran right outside and welcomed each one of them.(Now my neighbors know for certain that I'm bats.) Great weekend! We played at the Naperville Bluegrass Festival in Naperville, Ill. Got to see lots of friends and even my Aunt Marianna and Uncle Jimmers as well as their friend Rita. While at the festival, we got a call saying that Rhonda Vincent was sick and had canceled her shows, including one in Two Rivers, Wisc., for Brad Kablunde's Concert Series. He asked us to fill in for her. But before we headed for the Green Bay area, we stopped by Bobby's hometown of Wheatfield, Ind., for a show at the municipal building and a Sunday morning church service. We drove all night to get from Wisconsin back to Indiana for school shows on Monday morning in DeMotte and Monticello. We love doing those! It's so much fun to introduce Bluegrass to the students. As always, thanks for your support on the road and for stopping by the site. See you soon! Becky PS Hagar, thanks for the half pounder cookie care package!

03/27/08

Hey there! Thanks to everyone who came to see us tonight at the Arts Center of Cannon County in Woodbury, Tenn. They had the stage decked out for their current production, "The Sound of Music." I couldn't help but yowl through a chorus of "Climb Every Mountain" at the very end of the show. And since we're on the subject of the Von Trapp Family Singers, I have to tell you that I recently read their life story, "The Story of the Trapp Family Singers." I highly recommend it! Maria, the Captain and their family had amazing faith...which was all they had for quite some time. But God always saw them through and blessed them so very much. Their lodge in Vermont is still going strong and is a big resort center, with skiing and concerts and all sorts of fun stuff. Many of the Trapp Family children still live and work up at the lodge. Our special guest guitar picker this weekend is the amazing Rebecca Fraizer of Hit and Run Bluegrass out of Colorado. She and her husband recently moved to Nashville. Hope you have a chance to hear her with us! This past Tuesday, I was part of an East Tennessee State University "Bluegrass and Country Music Program" student and alumni extravaganza at the Paramount Center for the Arts in Bristol, Tenn. It was quite a shindig! Megan Gregory and I performed a song together as the West Maple Sugars, which was our duo act back in college. Megan has such a quirky sense of timing and harmony; it's always fun getting to sing with her. We were joined by Will Parsons on guitar and Daniel Boner on bass. My two favorite moments in the concert were when Adam Steffey and Raymond McLain played "East Tennessee Blues" and when Jesse McRenyolds and the twiddling group class...here "twiddling" means "twin fiddling"...played "Dixie Hoedown." I didn't know Jesse played the fiddle! Found out that night that not only did he and Vassar Clemens write that song together, but that Jesse played fiddle on the original recording and that the sound post in his fiddle was a 20 penny nail! I believe Jack Tottle, founder and former director of the ETSU "Bluegrass and Country Music Program," said that they have 400 students this semester! I think we had about 100 students in the program when I was there so many moons ago. Thanks for stopping by! Becky

1/30/08

Greetings!

The 2008 Bell Buckle Music Cruise was our best yet! I
was recently given a digital camera and one of my New
Year's Resolutions is to post more fun pictures for
you all to enjoy...a photo essay, if you will, of all
the crazy places we've been, people we've met, dishes
we've eaten...

I love visiting historical sites. In fact, the band
makes fun of me because I'll pour over the map as
we're going down the road in the bus and, if there's
something of historical significance nearby, I'll beg
J. Gregory to stop. (They keep bringing up that Pony
Express Station out in Kansas from last summer...)

I had the opportunity to tour the Mayan ruins of Tulum
with Benji, Mark and Lisa from Monroe Crossing; my
dear friend, Benji's mom Bea; and Mark and Lisa's sons
Cole and Burlin, who were celebrating their 6th
birthday.

The Mayans were pretty amazing people. How did they
know all that they did about astronomy and
architecture? What did they know that we have lost?

Tulum happened to the hub of Mayan honey. All the
buildings have the honey god carved in the stone
lintels. It was a big town on the trade routes
because of its close proximity to the sea.

Their clock was a little building with a hole in the
back wall, through which the early morning sun shines
on the spring and autumnal equinoxes. In spring it
says "Time to plant!" In fall, "Time to harvest."

The summer and winter solstice early morning suns
shine through a hole in the wall connecting the spring
portion of the clock to the main temple. Summer
solstice was the Mayans' biggest festival, when they
would celebrate the coming of the rains.

We were unable to stop at Grand Cayman due to rough
seas, but that didn't keep us from having fun. There
were lots of jams going on and the concerts were
great, too. We even had a "Bluegrass Idol" talent
competition. The winner took home the fabulous
"Thumbs Up."

After the cruise, we headed over to the Yee Haw
Junction Bluegrass Festival. I had some high, high
hair on Friday night.

Why so high, you ask? Well! I'll tell you! After
the first set a mysterious woman came up to me as I
was walking to the table. She handed me a furry, gold
bag and said, "I would like a picture of you in this
dress because it has nice fiddle arms."

I was skeptical, I must say, as anyone would be when a
mysterious woman comes up to you and asks for a
picture of you in a dress you've never seen before and
have no idea if it will even fit.

I toted the dress back to the bus and tried it on.
What luck! It fit and it was quite rockin' awesome,
especially had we been doing a Halloween show. Alas,
it was January not October. However, that did not
stop me!

But the hair! What about the hair!? Well, with a
dress like that...obviously an old Elvira costume, but
Betty had added black lace, which gave the whole thing
a very elegant touch...I needed some high hair. Our
friend Dee, who was traveling on the bus with us, just
happened to be well-versed in the art of the beehive.
Oh! It was quite the deal, let me tell you!

I guess that's what I've been doing, eh? But don't
take my word for it; see for yourself on the
gloriously updated photo page.

On Saturday night (Feb. 2) we'll be performing on Song
of the Mountains at the Lincoln Theatre in Marion, Va.
The shows are filmed for PBS, so you may just see our
kissers on a public TV channel near you sometime soon!
Better yet, come be part of the audience!

Hope all's well and thanks for stopping by!

Becky