Talkin' Bluegrass Music

PARLOR PICKIN'

ARKANSAS STYLE

February 28, 2016

Many of you know what Arkansas pickin' is like, especially around Mountain View and Stone County. Arkansas bluegrass pickin' is down-to-earth, all-acoustic, and all the time! There is somebody pickin' just about anytime at Scott and Shay Pool's music store on the Square. When the weather has lost its winter chill, there will be pickers in gazebos, on porches, and in front yards all around town.

Several cuts above just reg'lar ol' bluegrass pickin', there is pickin' with a touch of elegance. Country Oaks Bed & Breakfast is one such place where the pickin' is first class. Built and managed by innkeepers Jerry and Carole Weber, the beautiful property offers designer-class rooms in two mansion-like buildings, clean and comfortable beds, plenty of acreage to roam about, tasty breakfast meals to start a guest's day off right, and parlor pickin' on occasion. Their four-legged assistants are Dusty, Tinker, Roscoe the rescued dogs, and of course, Pearl, the serene and gorgeous cat! It's a fine mix of people and pets and we love it!

We went over to a recent parlor pickin' where four musicians whose names you already know provided beautiful instrumental and vocal music for the twenty guests in attendance for the weekend. The musicians were Gary Rounds (guitar and vocals), Pam Setser (dulcimer, spoons, and vocals), Tim Crouch (fiddle and mandolin), and Irl Hees (upright bass and vocals).The artists played two great sets with a break for coffee and cake in the middle of the activities. It was lovely.

This particular group played with enthusiasm tinged with sadness at the recent death of their friend and fellow musician, Donny Catron. We must tell you that over the last year or so, these great musician friends of Donny's rallied around him with jammin' sessions, performance gigs to play, albums to cut with him, calls, texts, and anything else you could imagine to stay close to their friend who was so very ill but continued to play and sing. It was a beautiful thing! Former Tennessee Gentlemen, Richard Bailey and Ron Owen had also kept in recent contact with Donny, along with Ken Irwin of Rounder Records. However, as one of Donny's familiar songs says, "the show must go on," and so it did and so it will.

Here is their wonderful selection of tunes for that special night in the parlor at Country Oaks, with many of the songs serving as reminders of their friend Donny Catron: Set 1: Steel Rails, Arkansas Traveler, Arkansas, Walkin' in Jerusalem, Scotland the Brave, Unknown Legend, Maiden's Prayer, The Field Behind the Plow, The Water Is Wide, Sin City, Dragging the Bow, Songbird, Two More Bottles of Wine, and Closing Nashville Down

Set 2: Orange Blossom Special, Walkin' After Midnight, Tennessee Blues, Amazing Grace, Crying My Heart Out Over You (guest Tacie Johnson), Pass Me Not (Tacie Johnson), Help Me Make It Through the Night, Crooked Ridge, Desperado, Milk Cow Blues, What a Friend, 8 More Miles to Louisville, Watermelon, Back Up and Push, Green Light on the Southern, Georgia, Farmer's Daughter, The Lighthouse, Way Downtown, How's the World Treating You, Red-Haired Boy, Darcy Farrow, and I Don't Love Nobody.