Posted by JedMarum on Tuesday, November 24, 2009
I don't play as many Civil War events as I'd like to, but I spent last weekend doing just that, at Liendo Plantation in Hempstead TX.
It was great! Cold, wet, misty, muddy - lotsa horses and guys with bits of sharp pointy metal and explosive gun barrels. I slept in a cattle pasture 50 yards from a Brahma bull and his ladies. I got up each morning with the sun and wandered out to the front gate where I sat under a canvas "fly" and played my banjo for 10 hours each day - and I did that for three days in a row. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven!
"Do you play the banjo?" I asked every kid that walked by and stopped to listen, "No? Not yet, you mean. Remember Christmas is coming. You need to ask Santa to bring you a banjo!"
Then I'd spend a little time talking about where the banjo comes from and how they are put together, what the different ones sound like and how they are played.
"Girls really make the best banjo players," I swore to all the young girls. "They just seem to get the right hand thing," I'd give as the reason. Of course I have no idea if it's true - but it sparked their interest and made them smile.
In between these discussions, I'd sing a few songs and sell a few CDs. I did get the chance to sneak off for the odd turkey leg once a day and a cup of coffee or two ... but mostly I just played my banjo. I made things up. Played songs I didn't know I knew. I put the A part of one tune to the B of another, then put them back together again. I just kept those notes rolling off my fingers all weekend long.
Toward the end of the day on Sunday, one sassy little fella with a Dallas Cowboys football jersey on, bounced by my site with his Mother. "Who's number 24?" I wondered out loud to him about the number on his jersey.
"Barber," he replied with confidence.
"Are you a running back?" I asked him.
"Yep," he responded with 8 year old pride.
"Well you know, all running backs are good banjo players first," I assured him.
"Really?" he thought about it.
"Yes and Marion Barber is one of the very best banjo players."
I love this job!
2 comments on “Liendo Plantation”
Banjov1 Says:
Wednesday, November 25, 2009 @9:54:28 AM
Great Stuff Jed!
Marion Barber might be one of the very best banjo players, but I sure like the melodic licks that Tony Romo puts in his stuff ;-)
T
JedMarum Says:
Wednesday, November 25, 2009 @11:48:32 AM
LOL - yep. Me too!
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