Had a great time last night at friend and fellow Mound City Slicker Bob’s house. For the last couple of years, Bob and his wife Andrea have opened their house once a week for what is advertised as a band practice for the Slickers, but is really an old-time jam session for the band and friends and a great opportunity to spend time with a lot of good musicians and good folks.
I don’t know why, but last night both felt and sounded so good! The bunch of us hit a groove that we sometimes don’t get to. The fiddles were playing remarkably well together and the rhythm section was darned good and tight. My shoulder and arm were acting up, so I didn’t play as much as usual -- maybe why we sounded better! -- and got to listen without being quite so much in the thick of the playing. I was really impressed with the two banjo players: above mentioned Bob and Dan’l, who plays with me in the Hot Baloney Boys. Both of them were playing some terrific licks and supporting what the fiddles were doing. It made me smile a lot to hear it.
Another unusually nice thing about the evening was that Jesse, who plays Irish accordion and played with the band in an early incarnation, had a night off from his usual Morris Team playing and stopped by. It’s always good to see Jesse and his presence prompted us to play a half-dozen or so tunes that we haven’t visited in too long a time; “Far From Home”, “Flowers of Edinborough”, “Temperance Reel”, “Genevieve’s Waltz”. All good tunes that we ought to play more often. Good to be reminded of them.
As fiddler David said a few weeks ago, “I just feel sorry for anyone who doesn’t play old-time music.”
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2 comments:
You know, I thought I caught you digging some banjo that night! Thanks for the shout-out, as the kids nowadays say.
And I felt the same way as you did about the whole evening. It's silly to say that your sitting out several tunes might have been a positive influence. Of course you're joking, but for the record, I really noted the absence of your rhythm playing on those numbers. But yeah, some things fit together really well. Must have been a peak in the communal biorhythm or some such. I don't care what, I'm just glad I was there!
It's always great to see folks enjoying making music. Any kind of music. In fact, I feel sorry for anyone who feels sorry for anyone who doesn't play his particular type of music.
Or something like that.
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