“The Mandolin Case” at the IBMA
I think it was Tom T. Hall who said every day in Nashville someone is all but ready to pack up and go home, then has a hit. For years they’d tried to find their voice and then all of a sudden folks got it.
That’s kinda how I feel about “The Mandolin Case.” After ten years it’s an overnight success. Of course John Grisham ain’t laying awake at night worried I’m gonna catch up with him, but the book is an artistic success and has made me many new bluegrass friends. That’s enough; everything else is gravy on the biscuits.
There were many reasons I wrote “The Mandolin Case.” I wanted there to be a place where the decent prevail over the greedy. I wanted Harvey County to be a “Bluegrass Lake Wobegone” where Docs played music with their patients and were still friends with them instead of treating ’em like some dadgum statistical aberration on a ICDM-9 code number graph. I wanted a place where music was to search for the truth and where lyrics came from the heart instead of some cold-hearted SOB in an office who calculates the demographic market impact of a hook line.
Call me idealistic if you want; I don’t care. Me and my Marfar are just two old people having fun who hope to lock in a spot in Heaven’s Bluegrass Band, and no one can stop us.
Y’all look us up at IBMA. We’ve got a table there in the exhibition hall. The last time I had a booth in the exhibit hall was when a 4th grade painting won a white ribbon at the Harvey County Fair, so I’m real proud. Y’all come visit.
Dr. B
Tags: Bluegrass Lake Wobegone
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Dr. Tom Bibey: Stories of the Bluegrass Music Road 
September 24, 2010 at 9:42 am
Go get ’em, Dr B!!
September 24, 2010 at 10:27 am
Thanks Beth. We’re having fun. Dr. B
September 24, 2010 at 11:05 am
We’re looking forward to it!
September 24, 2010 at 11:21 am
GP, You are true bluegrass. -Dr. B
September 25, 2010 at 1:23 pm
Glad things are still going well for you Dr. B. Know that you enjoyed the time with your son and the golf game and the hot dogs….
It is good that family means so much to you.
I never had a booth at anything. I did win first prize for my cornbread at 4H when I was abut 12 years old. That has been the high point except for Valedictorian.
September 25, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Cindy,
He’s a good boy and treats his mama with respect, so we get along well in spite the big age difference.
Valedictorian and first place cornbread sounds pretty like high cotton to me.
Dr. B
September 26, 2010 at 11:00 am
Congratulations, Dr. B! This is incredible, and I’m so glad. I’ve got to say – I think that you’re book is receiving its due after the hard work and the years you put into it. It’s an artistic endeavor that has a whole lot of truth and heart in it and it deserves every sale and good review that it gets!
September 26, 2010 at 11:25 am
Bless your heart slightly,
You’re a good young’un. All I wanted was a chance to show what I believed to be the truth about the world of doctors and bluegrass music, and I got to do it.
I don’t know where all it will go. If it sits on a dusty lirary shelf somewhere long after I’m gone and someone picks it up and gives it some thought, my humble effort at art will have done more than I could dream.
Dr. B