Bio

A couple of weeks ago, the BRC craftsman and spouse attended Bela Fleck`s spectacular touring  show “My Bluegrass Heart” which appeared at an outdoor amphitheater near the shores of the Missouri River just outside our capital of Jefferson City. The troupe included (left to right)) Jerry Douglas, Sam Bush, and premier banjoist Bela Fleck, and all three stars sequentially performed with their respective bands during the busy evening concert. Although the musicians were fresh from the clear mountain air of the Telluride Festival in Colorado, they were undaunted by a stifling mid Missouri summer heat wave and bugs fluttering throughout the stage lights.

The threesome of headliners united at the grand finale, and mandolinist Sam Bush led an enthralling quartet of fiddlers in a frenetic hoedown tune driven by the impeccable rhythms of veteran guitarist Bryan Sutton.

Despite the palpable humidity, it was a marvelous summer evening of energizing entertainment enjoyed by audience and musicians alike.

From the BRC: Can you ever have too much Bluegrass music? Nope.

About 60 years ago, two guys went to a fire sale and purchased damaged banjo parts to construct longneck open back 5-stringers like Pete Seeger had. They taught themselves how to install calfskin heads while listening to Seeger on Weavers albums and Eric Weissberg with the Tarriers. The twosome journeyed toWashington Square in NYC to hear the live folk music gathered there on Sunday afternoons, and they visited Izzy Young`s Folklore Center at 110 MacDougal St. in Greenwich Village. The brothers frequented the Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs to study the picking skills of visiting performers at this now historic venue which remains the longest operating folk music coffee house in the US. Years passed, and their career paths led to becoming busy bone doctors, and the road of life settled them living a thousand miles apart.

The older sibling (right) gifted his younger brother a vintage archtop Mastertone, and the younger guy gifted his older brother an archtop Stelling Masterflower. In the above photo, the twosome sport fun T-shirts from the BRC archives. These guys love archtops.

Throughout the many years in their mutual equations, the two siblings share a life-long love of music and song. Even one of the grandkids is getting a hand into their music these days.

Despite the cautionary advice offered above, it is not unknown for these two guys to exchange a banjo joke by email. Thanks, bro.

 Another calendar year has flown by since those youthful banjo days of yesteryear, and attached is the BRC founder`s all-time favorite birthday card.

From the BRC: Be safe, be well, and be thankful.

The BRC craftsman and his son have enjoyed playing the blues, folk music, and Bluegrass together for decades. A self-taught musician like his dad, the youngster conquered the guitar, bass, and cello in high school and won awards for his expertise. He coached his father how to play the bass. The twosome performed gigs together regularly until the younger man departed his Missouri home for college, law school, and a busy legal career in the faraway Lone Star State. In the below archival photo taken at a sunny Earth Day festival in nearby Peace Park circa 1995, the BRC founder is picking mandolin while his son (far right) plays rhythm guitar.

Nowadays, the twosome reunite a couple of times each year on holidays or when the grandkids are competing in soccer tournaments. These weekends allow the father and son to revisit the music that they shared decades ago.

Recently, a granddaughter has been cultivating interest in stringed instruments and singing in her school choir. She will be a 4th generation musician in our family tree, as her great grandfather played accordion to accompany great grandma who sang full-throated ragtime era classics more than half-century ago in the BRC founder`s boyhood home.

From the BRC: All the Best in the New Year. Be safe, be well, get the booster.

The BRC founder`s older brother played trumpet in a Dixieland band during college and became interested in the tenor banjo. With the arrival of the Folk Revival around 1960, both he and his younger brother were attracted to the curious 5-string version of this  instrument. Sixty-one birthdays ago,  the BRC founder and his jazz  musician brother built their first long neck banjos from damaged parts purchased at a fire sale. The twosome honed their picking skills together for years, but the younger sibling did not build another 5-stringer for half a century. The two brothers got busy being bone doctors in distant cities, and the BRC craftsman received an occasional thematic (Hallmark) birthday card.

In recent years, hand-crafted birthday greetings (below) are now provided by grandchildren.

This Spring, the BRC founder shared a birthday occasion with another senior fellow musician at an outdoor springtime jam session (below) where both were gifted celebratory cupcakes, each adorned with a solitary commemorative candle.

From the birthday guys: be well, be safe, be vaccinated.