Volume 38, No. 5 © Central Texas Bluegrass Association May, 2016 Memorial Day Fest, Grapeland: May 26-29 he 19th annual Memorial Day festival at Salmon Lake Park in Grapeland kicks off at the T end of this month. I’ve written about this place before in these pages. See the August, 2015 issue (Vol. 37, no. 8) for maps, photos, and more extensive description of the park. You can find that issue in our online archive, here: http://www.centraltexasbluegrass.org/Adobe_Newsletters/Aug15.pdf The Memorial Day festival is advertised as a “bluegrass/gospel music festival,” but judging from the lineup, it will probably lean more toward the latter than the former. Several of the bands will already be familiar to CTBA members, especially if you’re a regular at Grapeland; The Marksmen, Robertson County Line (a CTBA member band), the Baker Family from Mis- souri, Pearl and the Polka Dots, and Catahoula Drive. Catahoula Drive, a superb four-piece You want shade? This festival has shade! The stage area at Salmon Lake Park straddles the creek, behind the covered footbridge, and the audience sits in the shaded area to the left. Photo by K. Brown. May birthdays: Benny Cain, Maybelle Carter, Rodney Dillard, Jerry Douglas, Nick Forster, Bill Grant, Tom T. Hall, Jan Harvey, Rob Ickes, Lance LeRoy, Mike Lilly, Benny Martin, Gail Rudisill, Scott Vestal, Paul Warren, Mac Wiseman. The Central Texas Bluegrass Bulletin is published by the Central Texas Bluegrass Association, a 501(c)(3) tax- exempt Texas nonprofit corporation. Contributions are deductible as charitable and educational donations. Work published in this Bulletin is used by permission of the writers, artists, and photographers, who retain all copy- rights. Jamie Stubblefield, president Jason Pratt, vice president Central Texas Bluegrass Association Box 9816 Sam Dunn, board member Austin, Texas 78766 Mike Hurlbut, membership chair Nan Hurlbut, board member www.centraltexasbluegrass.org/ Alice Moore, secretary Lenny Nichols, treasurer Jeff White, webmaster Tim Towell, board member Ken Brown, hapless newsletter editor Bob Vestal, board member 2 band from Louisiana, gets the Editor’s Stamp of Approval. If you go, don’t miss these folks! They know their bluegrass and can deliver the goods. And I’ve already written about the spec- tacular fiddling of Trustin Baker, of the Baker Family. But there are also four other bands on the bill that are new to me. I’ve never seen them, and about all I know is what I can glean from their web sites. A curious aspect to this is that many bands these days seem to be reluctant to disclose where they’re from. The Hartley Family consists of Tom Hartley (banjo and guitar), Deb Hartley (bass) and their daughter Abby (guitar, mandolin, and fiddle) and son Micah (banjo, fiddle, and mandolin). A whole family of multi-instrumentalists, probably from Arkan- sas, but you can’t tell from their web site. Alan Sibley and the Magnolia Ramblers are from Ackerman, Mississippi, but Alan’s web site does not disclose how many Ramblers, who they are, or what they play. A photo on the web site shows banjo, bass, and guitar, with Alan on mandolin (in years past, you may have seen him on mandolin with the Sullivan Family, starting at age 15 in 2001). If you subscribe to Bluegrass Unlimited, you may have seen display ads by the Farm Hands. Founded in 2011, the Farm Hands consist of Tim Graves on dobro (an 11-time Dobro Player of the Year for SPGMA), Daryl Mosley (bass, formerly a member of the Osborne Brothers and New Tradition), Keith Tew (guitar, an alumnus of Rock County and Rhonda Vincent and the Rage), and Bennie Boling (banjo). Their web site doesn’t disclose where they’re from, although I know that Mosley is from Tennessee. Earlier this year, the Farm Hands were named Vocal Group of the Year at the SPGMA award ceremonies. They’ve got a couple of CDs (“Better Than I Deserve” and “In a Country Town”), and I’ll bet they’ll have some for sale at Grapeland. They also have a new CD, entitled “Dig in Catahoula Drive at the Salmon Lake Labor Day festival, August 30, 2014. If you go, don’t miss these guys! Photo by K. Brown. 3 the Dirt,” to be released on June 3. Will they have advance copies for the Memorial Day festi- val? We’ll have to wait and see. Full Quiver is an eight-piece family band (I’ll refrain from referring to them as an orchestra) consisting of John and Shawn Grubb and six of their children, from Collinsville, Texas. These are Melody (27, fiddle), Faith (24, mandolin, bass, guitar), John (23, guitar, mandolin, bass), James (21, dobro, bass), Abigail (18, fiddle), and Joshua (15, guitar, bass). In Texas, they’ve appeared at places like Glen Rose and the Triple Creek park in Woodville. The Baker Family at the Labor Day festival in Grapeland, September 4, 2015. Photo by K. Brown. 4 2016 Lone Star Fest, Arlington: Wizard! he 2016 Lone Star fest sponsored by the Bluegrass Heritage Foundation at South Oaks in T Arlington (April 22-23), is now sequestered in the history books. As Featherstonhaugh Curbfeeler (the English cousin of the Curbfeeler clan in Catwater, Texas) would say, the festi- val was “simply wizard!” Unquestionably, the highlight of the festival was the 75-minute Saturday night set by Flatt Lonesome. They were just flatt spectacular. As promoter Alan Tompkins put it, “They blew the roof off!” I described it somewhat less eloquently myself, simply running in tight circles and shouting “Flatt Lonesome rules!” to anyone who’d listen. And, wonder of wonders, the festival did better than break even, despite having to compete with Alison Krauss with several other bluegrass luminaries appearing at another show not too far away the same weekend. Below and following are some pictures from the festival (top: lobby; bottom: Kenny and Amanda Smith). 5 Flatt Lonesome. Visible in this photo, L to R: Michael, Dominic, Kelsi, Paul. Photo by K. Brown. The Kenny and Amanda Smith Band. That’s Jason Burleson’s son on the mando. Photo by K. Brown. 6 Pearl and the Polka Dots (Rachel, Stacy, Anji). Photo by K. Brown. Bobby Giles and Music Mountain. Photo by K. Brown. 7 Pine Island Station (Scott, Brian, Janine, Gary). Photo by K. Brown. Robertson County Line (Jonathan, Jacob, David, Jeff). Photo by K. Brown. 8 Local Bluegrass News he Texas Honeybees (the swarm includes Randy Collier, Kevin Willette, Kenny Nichols, T Richard Somers, Cara Cooke and Andy Pennington) play the first Sunday of every month at the Hyde Park Grill South, 451 Westgate Blvd., and on May 21 (11 AM—2 PM) they’ll be at the Saddlehorn Winery in Burton: www.saddlehornwinery.com Max Zimmet’s Hot Pickin’ Bluegrass will be at Pearl for the May monthly jam, at the Hole in the Wall on May 15 (6-7 PM), at the Rattle Inn on the 19th (10-11 PM), and at the Green Mes- quite on the 21st (7-9 PM). Rumor has it that the third annual RayFest will be held on Sunday, May 22. Check the CTBA web site for details. Not So Local Bluegrass News he Earls of Leicester are releasing a second CD on July 15, entitled “Rattle & Roar.” This T one has Jeff White on mandolin, replacing Tim O’Brien who played on the first CD. Here’s the tracklist: The Train That Carried My Girl From Town Why Did You Wander? All I Want Is You Steel Guitar Blues intro Steel Guitar Blues You Can Feel It in Your Soul A Faded Red Ribbon Just Ain’t Mother Prays Loud in Her Sleep I’m Working on a Road (to Glory Land) Will You Be Lonesome Too? Flint Hill Special What’s Good For You (Should be All Right For Me) The Girl I Love Don’t Pay Me No Mind Branded Wherever I Go And best of all, the Earls will be at Farmers Branch for the Bloomin’ Bluegrass festival next October (reckon they’ll be doing the “early” show?). In other news, Roger Siminoff, distinguished luthier and author of well-known manuals on building mandolins, banjos and guitars, retired in April after 56 years of luthery research and development. His instrument string business, Straight Up Strings, will continue under the direc- tion of his stepdaughters, Amy Sullivan and Kali Nowakowski. And finally, dobro picker Gaven Largent, who has replaced Rob Ickes in Blue Highway, turned 20 years old in April. How are Wayne, Tim, Shawn and Jason going to keep up? 9 Late-night hallway jam at Pearl, April 2, 2016. In clockwise order: Richard (upright bass), Tracy, Mike, Bill, Todd, Jim, Jim, Kenny. Thanks to Sue Knorre for this photo, and for joining in on fiddle after she took this picture. Curbfeeler’s Bluegrass Supplies Bass capos, cowbells, banjo mutes (e.g., nine-pound hammers), earplugs, lini- ment, bait, snuff, muleshoes, ostrich jerky. Instructional videos for zither, spoons, cowbell, and lawnchair. Otis Curbfeeler, Prop. Catwater, Texas 10 Letters to the Editor Dear Ed, My cousin Skeeter needed a new banjo head, so he called the music store in Catwater and asked what kind he should get. They said he should get him a “Remo Weatherking.” Skeeter said he ain’t never heard of a “Remo Weatherking,” but he reckoned he’d go down in some bot- tomland along the Navidad, shoot him one and skin it and make his own banjo head. Skeeter never did want to spend a penny if he could help it, know what I’m saying? So he took his shot- gun down there and shot one right off, only it turned out it was a prize goat belonging to the constable’s grandson.