Corey and Lorena From New Jersey and “Act Naturally”
You remember Cory and Lorena from New Jersey? They are on an extended stay in the South and gonna be here about a month. They came for the Darin and Brooke Aldridge festival and looked up me and Marfar.
They’ve got ’em a new 5th wheel type rig and parked here in Harvey County for a few days. Bluegrass people have a sixth sense of where the best places are. I’m always amazed at their intuition. Cory and Lorena are only about a mile upstream from Indie’s cabin on the river. Indie always said it was the best spot in the County.
They invited us over to jam tonight. We cooked some chops on the grill, and split open a cantaloupe. I sat back and picked Cory’s fine Deering banjo and watched the birds fly and the water rush along. The river was slow a few weeks back, but we’ve had some good rain. The weather was perfect and I didn’t pull on a sweat shirt until dark thirty.
Cory and Lorena are gonna be at MerleFest. I’ll have to tell Ted and Irene Lehmann about them. Isn’t New Jersey up there near New Hampshire somewhere? I bet they’d enjoy getting to know them, ’cause wherever you go bluegrass folks are kindred spirits.
I’ve heard from my publisher. Out of superstition I’m not gonna name ’em yet, but I grow more confident every week. Right now they are on a final line edit to check for periods and commas, so it is close.
They told me a newspaper man who liked bluegrass got wind of the project and asked to preview it. He liked it so much he wanted to render a quote for the jacket. That tickled me ’cause I’d never met him before. I don’t know what he’ll say, but I figure I’m a doctor and this man writes for a living. If he says I write okay for a doctor, that’s good enough for me. If he likes it, I musta done something right.
Really though, I’m just like Buck Owens. All I know how to do is act naturally. I ain’t Hemingway. I’m just good old Dr. B, and it’ll have to do.
Dr. B
Tags: Act Naturally, jam sessions
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Dr. Tom Bibey: Stories of the Bluegrass Music Road 
April 12, 2010 at 5:47 am
You keep writing and I’ll keep reading….
April 12, 2010 at 6:11 am
Carmen Claypool you are a good bluegrass young’un. Dr. B
April 13, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Hey, Gerry here, from mrschili’s direction.
I’m thinking about getting an octave mandolin, a bouzouki as it were. Any thoughts?
April 13, 2010 at 4:59 pm
Gerry,
Hello there.
For an entry level instrument, I think Michael Kelly is a good place to start. They call it an Octave Plus. I have one of their mandolas and it is pretty darn good; my pal Darin Aldridge plays one just like it on stage at times. I think they have a sound clip of him on their web site.
Check it out at :
http://www.michaelkellyguitars.com/mandolins
and also Darin at : http://www.darinandbrookealdridge.com
In my opinion the best pro mando family instruments at a reasonable price are the Webers. Their web site is http://www.soundtoearth.com
Also The Mandolin Cafe has classified section with a good selection of used mandolins, but you don’t see too many octaves posted. They are a great source for general mando info. Web site: http://www.mandolincafe.com
Hope this helps and happy picking!
Dr. B
April 13, 2010 at 8:30 pm
I hate I missed Cory and Lorena, if Ted and Irene see them, maybe he will post something…………….
April 14, 2010 at 6:19 am
Smitty,
Old Ted is as good’un, so is Irene. We will all meet on the bluegrass trail one day. Hey I posted a double stop lesson. Tell all your mando buddies to proof it for errors, it went up in a hurry.
Dr. B
April 14, 2010 at 4:12 am
Good old Dr. B is more than enough to satisfy your readers. You’re a good writer, and there ain’t nothing you can say to humble yourself that’ll convince me otherwise.
That journalist had better put something tasty on the book jacket – I want lots of people to buy your book Dr. B, because I want to be able to see the sequel come out as well!
April 14, 2010 at 6:22 am
slightly,
I was thrilled the pro writer man liked it, but I gotta tell what means the most of all is that my friends and long time readers like you do, so I hope you enjoy it. I think you will, ’cause it’s just like the blog except proofed for typos. I don’t how to be anything else but what I am.
Dr. B
April 15, 2010 at 3:48 pm
Thank you for the info. My inspiration to maybe get the octave mandolin was seeing Richard Shindell play one (or a bouzouki)at a concert in Fall River, Massachusetts. Mostly, he plays guitar.
It sounded like a wonderful accompanying instrument for vocals.
April 15, 2010 at 5:25 pm
gerry,
I have considered one myself for some mandolin family (mandolin, mandola, octave) trio Christmas concerts this year. I think they do go well with the human voice. Have fun and play hard.
Dr. B