Acoustic Musicians sighted at Dempsey's

Ken and Stan Nelson along with Camey and Delvin Hackwith were spotted at Dempsey's Brewpub in Watertown SD getting in a little practice on Saturday December 22nd.  Fiddles, mandolins, guitars and even a Dog House Bass were also in attendance.  When asked what was going on they replied that they were just shaking off a little bit of the rust from not playing enough.  Rumor has it that this little group of like-minded musicians will be putting in some more practice soon.  Is there an actual gig in store for the near future?

Ya'll Come

Saturday January 5th starting at noon there is going to be a gathering of the SD Old Time Fiddlers at the Golden Corral in Sioux Falls.  Thank you George Mallory for setting this up for us.  Rosin up your bow, tune up your guitar and lets go play some music.  Good way to shake off some of those winter blues and shake some tunes out of those fiddles.  What a great way to start off the New Year!  See ya there.

New Year's Day Music

Back to South Dakota music.  Come one, come all.  Joey Koustrup called last night and there is going to be music New Year's Day at the old school in South Shore, SD.  Things are going to get rolling around noon or so.  There will be some BBQ made up. Bring something to drink, some buns, some paper plates, utensils, chips and an instrument to play.  It should be a good time.  It is just a chance for some musicians to get together and play some music.  If you have friends that want to come and listen they are welcome also.  This is a musicians' jam. It will give us a chance to work on some songs and learn from each other without doing it in a performance setting.  Thanks Joey and company !!! 

Roys Barn

Back with "The Pretty Good String Band" again.  Saturday night we were playing a fundraiser at the Red Barn which is North of Bozeman, Montana. OK, it is really Roys Barn and Lodge but it is cool no matter what you call it.  We got to play music up in the loft of the barn and everyone had fun.  This was going to be the last year this particular fundraiser was going to be held here.  The event had outgrown the location.
The first we year we were hired to play, the organizers warned us that after the meal and the auction, the kids and young adults would bail on the music and only a few folks would hang out to listen.  We started playing, called a few dances and all the racket brought the young folks back in - and they stayed - and they had fun, lots of fun.  The next year they brought their friends and everyone had more fun.  It got so big they had to limit the number of people upstairs in the loft.  The owners were worried the crowd was going to literally bring down the house.
For this gig they brought in a second dance floor and set it up outside under a huge tent.  We were completely wireless so some of us played down there and some of us upstairs.  First time I had ever called dances for people I could not see.  Thankfully, J. L. was down below to help with the dance instruction.

What a kick !  Sad to see the week come to an end.  Thanks for letting me play guys.

Detour to Clyde Park

Heading back to Livingston for the last gig with "The Pretty Good String Band" I had to make a stop in Clyde Park for Old Settlers' Days.  The crew that has taught me hundreds of great Old-Timey fiddle tunes was going to be jamming and invited me to stop.  These guys are awesome - their enthusiasm and love for their music is unmatched.  You may find better musicians, but you will not anyone who has any more fun than these guys and gals do.  After a few tunes the fingers get limbered up, the voices clear up, old stories get dug up and it is a runaway - there is no stopping them.  One warning though if you are playing rhythm - they will sometimes lie about the key they are in. It's not malicious - it's just hard to keep thousands of tunes straight.  Grab that guitar and let's go.  Ken Nelson on guitar and Livingston's own Bud Schleicher on his fiddle, Old Ivory. 

Let's Go to Billings

Saturday morning I got invited to play a little music at the Farmers' Market in Billings.  Of course I couldn't turn that down.  Notice who does NOT have a microphone however.  Nor is the mandolin plugged in - these guys are no dummies.  Of course all unrehearsed.  I flew so much by the seat of my pants this trip I wore out two pair.

63 Ranch

Gig two with the band finds us at the 63 Ranch outside of Livingston Montana on Thursday night.  I have now had a chance to practice the new material and life is much better.

This has to be our favorite place to play because we get to interact so much with the guests and the location is drop dead gorgeous. These are also the folks that went out on a limb and gave us our first steady gig.  Thank you Jeff and Deanna Cahill for letting the band play for another season.  That's J. L. Wilkins on bass,  Robert Frisbey on Fiddle, Ken Nelson on Mandolin, Sam Gordon on Guitar.  J. L. and Sam take care of the vocals. 

Mountain Sky Guest Ranch

Getting to play with "The Pretty Good String Band" when we get back to Montana is always special.  The band was shy a mandolin player for the week, so they let me sit in for three gigs, make a little gas money -- and have a lot of fun. At least they didn't spring too many new songs on me.

Mountain Sky Guest Ranch is located up Paradise Valley from Livingston, Montana.  Wednesday evening we got to play at the cookout at the Pavilion. While we may not get a chance to interact as much with the guests because they are eating part of the time we are playing, the band still gets the guests' toes tapping as we dish up some mighty fine music to go with great scenery and all that wonderful food.  The pie - all seven kinds of pie. Yum !