Sorry I’ve been so long in updating, but the spring and early summer has flown! We’ve had great shows at the Orange Blossom Trail Music Hall in Lost Creek, WV, the Vandalia Gathering and Festivall in Charleston, and the Lincoln County Bluegrass & Gospel Festival at the Mud River Dam in Lincoln County, as well as a July 4th weekend show with Lou Reid at the Lincoln County Fairgrounds. Most recently we performed for a great audience at the Putnam County Fair, where a Channel 13 news crew filmed some footage of the band to use in a story that’s going to air on the 6 O’clock news on July 25. If you’re home (or have a dvr/Tivo) catch that. However, the biggest event in our lives at the moment is the impending wedding of our daughter Amy Elizabeth to Chad Taylor (yes, she’ll Amy ELIZABETH TAYLOR) on August 6. Between wedding plans, buying a mobile home for them to live in while they finish college (they’re both seniors), painting it, moving furniture in, learning some love songs for the reception (we’re playing, accompanied by our band and a couple friends on drums and electric guitar to add some variety and dance music), our lives are pretty hectic. Sandwiched in the middle of this (before the wedding) we have trips to Roanoke for Fiddlefest, where we’ll be performing with Paul Williams, Sierra Hull, and a lot of other great groups, and a festival in Ohio. Immediately after the wedding we have shows at the Pinch Reunion and Johnny Staats’ bluegrass festival in Parkersburg, before hosting our first-ever “Gabefest”.

On the subject of Gabefest, Valerie and I have assembled a lineup of outstanding professional groups (Lost & Found, Darrell Webb Band, Monroeville) and the best regional groups, and are taking a big financial risk in trying to promote this music. Please help us by attending and telling your friends. Advance tickets are only $25.00 for the whole weekend (less than most festivals charge for a single day) and camping is free. Tickets can be purchased online at our “Store” or can be purchased in the Charleston-Huntington area at Pied Piper Music, Fret ‘n Fiddle, Route 60 Music, and Musician’s Paradise. If you can’t come, buy a ticket and give to a musician friend as a gift. All of the regional groups are playing multiple days and will be staying overnight, so there should be lots of jamming after the stage show ends.