Pickin' in the Pines

Glorious day yesterday at a Bluegrass & Acoustic Music Festival, put on by Flagstaff Friends of Traditional Music!   Patti and I went up to Flagstaff for a wonderful bluegrass festival.  

The day did get off to a somewhat dubious start - the drive up was a little disconcerting when we were almost involved in two separate accidents on I-17.  Both times I was in the right lane, toodling along at 75, minding my own business.  A sporty white car just ahead of us, in the left lane, swerved off onto the left shoulder, missed the guardrail by a hair, and, overcorrecting, swerved back toward us.  You'd think that would have been a wake up call for him to stop doing whatever (texting?) and pay better attention to his driving - except that only a couple of minutes later, ahead of us in the right lane, he swerved off onto that shoulder.  I was glad when he shortly raced off to have his accident elsewhere.  But a little further up the road a pickup, pulling a large trailer, was alongside us when he drifted way into our lane.  He did move back to his side of the line when I laid on my horn, but when he corrected the trailer fishtailed, and I honestly don't know how it missed hitting us.  Now I was a little concerned, since 'these things' seems to happen in threes... but we arrived without any further excitement.

The weather was perfect (glad it was considerably warmer than the 67 Patti had heard forecast on the news the night before) and the music was absolutely outstanding!  We heard 8 incredible bands (Whistle Stop, Run Boys Run, The Blue Canyon Boys, The Jack Webb New Orleans Jazz Band, X-Train, Honey Don't, The Hillbenders, and Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper), each an absolute delight to listen to.  Guess that was no real surprise since most of the groups have won impressive awards at national competitions and some very prestigious festivals.  

I especially looked forward to hearing X-Train, since I know their guitar player Peter McLaughlin. I'd met Peter in the late 70s when he came down to Supai to visit Carl, another teacher down there.  

Here is a short list of some of Peter's awards:

• 1975: Arizona State Guitar Championship, 1st place, Payson, Arizona.
• 1977: National Country Music Awards, Guitar Championship, 1st Place, Warrenton, Virginia.
• 1982, 1983, 1984, and 1985: 1st place, 4-Corner States Bluegrass Guitar Champion, Wickenburg, Arizona.
• 1985: Bosque Bluegrass Festival Guitar Contest, 1st place, Algodones, New Mexico.
• 1988, 1991: Telluride Bluegrass Guitar Championship, 1st place, Telluride, Colorado.
• 1986: National Flatpick Guitar Championship, 2nd place, Walnut Valley Festival, Winfield, Kansas.
• 1988: National Flatpick Guitar Championship, 1st place, Walnut Valley Festival, Winfield, Kansas.       

 If you ever get a chance to hear Peter play, jump on it!
Here's X-Train playing in 2010:

When Tom and I got married the end of April in  '88, most of our Arizona friends couldn't make it to Maryland for the festivities.  So when we returned to Kingman (after a honeymoon scuba diving in Bonaire, Curacao and Aruba) we threw a party to celebrate with our Arizona friends.  Peter's band, Flying South, provided the entertainment.  Flying South also toured the state in the 80s as part of a program to bring music to kids, playing at various schools.  When they came to Kingman they played at 'my' school; when the kids found out that the band was staying at my place (Peter graciously offered his thanks before the entire school) I became an instant celebrity. I missed getting to hear X-Train last month up on Mt. Lemmon, but they're playing in Tucson in October, and Cindy and I have already arranged to go down for that.

Bought some CDs at the festival yesterday so I could bring the good times home with me.  Picked up a couple of Peter's I'd been wanting, and also couldn't pass up this one which "showcases Chuck's high energy music for children."  (Chuck ran a children's workshop during the festival elsewhere on the grounds Saturday and Sunday mornings.)

I found his song titles intriguing (Chocolate-covered Brussel Sprouts, Milkstache Blues, A Big Dog Ate My Homework, etc.) and when we played it on the way home, many of the lyrics made me laugh out loud.