I really love bluegrass music, I think I may be obsessed with it. I think about it most of the day. I read about it, write about it, and whenever I have a spare moment there's a guitar in my hands. I even take a guitar to work so that I can play during my lunch break. I've been into it since 1985 but it seems it's more consuming now than ever before. Over the years I've developed a repertoire of probably two dozen songs/tunes that I seem to repeat over and over, much to the chagrin of my wife Meg. In fact she said to me just today "if you could sing and play like Eric or Leigh Gibson I'd say why don't you play for me." I responded "oh," she said, " but you don't, so take a break." So I figured, maybe she's tired of the same old tunes, maybe if I learn some new stuff she'll come round. So I jumped on the internet and searched for bluegrass music. I found one publication that sounded interesting. It was titled "Parking Lot Picker's Songbook," put together by Dix Bruce. He's someone I'm familiar with seeing how I learned to play from one of his books some years ago, It was bluegrass/ old time music, but I can't remember the title. Well anyway the new book has 200 of the most popular tunes played by grassers. Many of the tunes I have heard and liked but never got around to learning the music or the lyrics so this should be fun for me. I'm hoping Meg will like the new sounds and encourage me to play on for hours, oh what bliss that would be. One of the tunes in the book I particulary like is "Katy Dear," a traditional song which tells the story of two young lovers who weren't allowed to marry so they ended their lives with a silver dagger, some real cheery stuff but a scenario that's been repeated throughout history. There are many more that tell stories of hard times, sad times, loss of homeplace and feats of daring and strength. They all must have some truth in them and if we had lived during the period when they were penned we could quickly relate. I'm sure I will never learn to play or sing all of these tunes but I will have a grand time trying. "Without music, life would be a mistake." Freidrich Nietzsche.
I am also extremely addicted to Bluegrass. I think about it all day just like you said and when I get home there's hardly a minute where I don't have a guitar, banjo, or mando in my hands pickin away. I feel like bluegrass does this to so many people. One of my favorite things about is that there is a community of people who want to play the same old songs with you over and over cause its always fun.
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