(Last Updated July 14, 2008 )
New Coffee House Venue
While they have been around for a while, we are very excited to play at a new coffee house in downtown Apex called Common Grounds. Click here for a review of the shop. Great coffees and desserts. Stop by after dinner at one of the several downtown Apex restaurants.
In memoriam: John Emerson
Sadly, last year we lost our good friend and colleague, John Emerson of ESP, to a battle with cancer. We had gotten to know him over the past several years through playing concerts together with him and his band ESP. His musicianship (he was a great bass player), humor, and gentle spirit will be greatly missed.
Doyle Dykes Concert!
We were fortunate to be able to attend a Doyle Dykes concert (www.doyledykes.com) at the Raleigh Music Academy on August 11. Wow, Doyle is such a fantastic guitar player (awesome fingersylist) and showman. If you ever have a chance to see him, by all means do so! He has had a rough time of it over the past few years having a battle with cancer. But happily he is healthy and back playing better than ever! Here is a picture with me and a few of my fellow Doyle groupies! (Doyle is standing to my left in the black shirt and yes I did get a crew cut!)
New Hope Valley Railroad CD Now Available!
It's official! The CD "Steel Rails Through the Valley" is now available to benefit the New Hope Valley Railway. The CD is available at the NHVRY Museum Store and you can contact us for a copy.
We were honored to be invited to record a few songs on the CD that is a compilation of various railroad-themed songs by local artists (including us) to benefit the New Hope Valley Railroad museum. We sang three songs on the CD: Steel Rails, Freight Train Boogie, and Jenny Dreamed of Trains. We think the CD has a nice mixture of styles that include ballads and some very hot bluegrass playing.
Pete had the opportunity to spend an entire week at the Swannanoa Gathering Guitar Week at Warren Wilson College outside of Asheville attending a guitar camp with some of the luminaries of the acoustic guitar. Spending time playing and learning with such great musicians as Ed Gerhard, Pete Huttlinger (guitarist for Leann Rimes, Nashville session musician, and former lead guitarist for John Denver), grammy award winner Al Petteway, Mike Dowling, and Steve James was nothing short of an amazing experience. Check out the Swannanoa website for further details on the program. Here are some pictures of Pete with some of the Guitar Week staff:
Pete with Pete Huttlinger
Pete performing on stage with Al Petteway
We had the opportunity to help out a talented luthier, musician, and friend, Alan Phelps, at his booth at Merlefest this past weekend! Alan has a local store in Cary where he builds and sells award winning mandolins and acoustic guitars. With special passes, on our off time we were able to go backstage to be with all the performers. We were privileged to see and meet some of the "who's who" of bluegrass and country. We met such artists as Vince Gill (see picture below), Russ Barenberg (guitarist on the stellar "Skip, Hop, and Wobble" CD with Edgar Meyer and Jerry Douglas), Sam Bush, Gillian Welch, Doc Watson, Patty Loveless, Mark O'Connor, Natalie MacMaster (fiddle player from Cape Breton, Canada), and Jorma Kaukonen. acoustic fingerstylist with Hot Tuna and former guitarist with the original Jefferson Airplane. Wow what a weekend of wonderful music and meeting new friends. We even got to meet John Paul Jones, the former bassist for Led Zeppelin! Yes, Led Zeppelin. Many of you may not know (including us) that John plays one mean mandolin! Even hard rockers love acoustic music!
A very special thanks to Alan for including us in this wonderful experience!
Pete and Jane with Vince Gill
John Paul Jones, former bassist of Led Zeppelin!!, with our friend Don Smith from ESP at Alan's booth at Merlefest.