Playing in McCall at the Pancake House

It was an absolutely perfect day today.  We were hired to play at the Pancake House in McCall from 3 to 5.  A super nice lady named Susie saw us playing at the Bluegrass Barn about a month ago and she talked to my husband John about hiring us to play in McCall where she works at The Pancake House.  We came up with a date that worked for us all and so today was the day. 
The weather was absolutely perfect and we headed out of here at 10:30 this morning for the hour and a half drive over to McCall.  All of us piled into Will and Gail's pickup truck and headed down our gravel road to the main highway where we met up with Mike Schmidt then we headed out to McCall.  We loose an hour going that direction because the time zone changes from Pacific where we live to Mountain Time just 25 miles south of us.  So we enjoyed a beautiful drive in the sunshine and along the scenic drive all the way there. The fresh green colors on all the trees and grass is just beautiful this time of year and lot's of trees are still blooming so the air smells so wonderful.  It was a very pretty and relaxing drive. 
When we got there Susie the lady who'd hired us, was just finishing up her shift at work and she and the owner showed us where we were going to be playing out front in a gazebo area.  We all helped set up our sound system and then went into the restroom to change into our band clothes.  Will and Gail had brought with them Hannah's two sisters who I also teach and they got to get up and play two songs with our band.  Hannah plays full time with the band but her sisters who are younger get to come along most of the time and play a couple of songs with us too.  11 year old Callie plays the fiddle and also knows how to play a guitar but her main instrument has ended up being the fiddle. 10 year old Victoria plays the bass and banjo but also plays the guitar too. 
They played Old Joe Clark and Angeline the Baker and both songs they really nailed.  We played them at rip roaring speed and they never missed a beat playing them unbelievably well.  What a magical moment it was hearing my students playing like that and really doing such a great job.  I teared up once again and realized that the dream Will and Gail have had of their grand kids learning to play is materializing through me.  I've worked long and hard with these kids to get them to this point and the last two days have been the icing on my cake.  They've all jumped a plateau and it's great for me to see. 
We couldn't have had a better day for playing bluegrass.  70 degrees, sunny no wind, and just a totally perfect Spring day today. 

It's been a perfect Mother's Day Weekend so far and tomorrow Gail is hosting all of us for a hot dog and marshmallow roast.  So the weather is going to be nice once again tomorrow and it'll be perfect!  After church we'll all head up to their house and the Barela's, Williams and all their grand kids will be there, but I think today's fun trumps even tomorrow's events.  Church in the morning! 

I love my grand kids

Woke up the other morning to the phone ringing at around 7 AM and thinking "who in the would be calling me this early?"  I jumped up out of bed and grabbed the phone to hear the cute voice of my 5 year old grandson Greisyn.  He says "hello grandma, how are you doing?"  My heart melted and I knew instantly that there's nothing better than getting to be a grandma.... Then he proceeds to visit and tell me all about everything in his life.  What a wonderful way to start my day. 

I love my grand kids and I love to get to have them come and stay most of their summers with us.  John and I love to have them as much as we can and when we retired 4 years ago that's one thing we wanted in our retirement, a place where the grand kids could come and do fun things that they don't get to do living in the city.  So when they come here they can ride 4 wheelers, catch water snakes and frogs, hike, ride horses, and swim in the pond down at Gail's.  He tells me that he can't wait to get to come see me and can he stay a long time again.  Family and grand kids are the icing on the cake of life. 

Band practice tonight

After the kids played at the school today I hurried home in order to get back in time for band practice with The Foggy Mtn Girls, and then Gravel Road after that. Wow what a full day of Bluegrass.........did I say how much I loved it... Yes, yes, yes...
When we left the school after the kid's assembly, Victoria asked if she could ride out here with me because her and Callie were spending the night with their grandma and grandpa Will and Gail and are going to get to come with us to McCall where Gravel Road playing tomorrow.  Anyway she asked if she couldn't ride home with me so I thought that was fun.  All the way home, we sang all the kids' songs and also some that she wants to start learning for their kids band "The Bluegrasshoppers." It was so much fun to be singing with a kid that has so much enthusiasm to want to learn.
Once I got home I dropped her off up and her grandparents place and then I headed down home here to unload my sound system and clear out my Jeep a bit.  Shortly after that I had to head right back down to Will and Gail's for band practice with our girls band The Foggy Mtn Girls, and Victoria was so excited and full of energy to play. I have her on banjo in that band too, so for her and I it was a big bluegrass day, the school assembly then our practice.  I love seeing kids who have the passion like I do and for me to be able to teach them is such an honor.  Once we finished the practice with the girls band almost immediatly it was time to practice with our band Gravel Road.  Will surprised us all when he asked PT our mandolin player in the girls band to take out her mandolin and at least chop the chords and sing some harmonies with Gravel Road as we practiced tonight. It was so fun to have her there and most of the harmonies she picked right up on adding that 3rd part.  She's so talented that way and I know that the harder tunes she'll be able to get with just a few practices.
Afterwards Will invited her to play with us at Kamiah at the Super jam which will be a week from tomorrow.  He said that he would like her in the band but he wants her to start learning some lead work with her mandolin.  I'm hoping that she won't be too scared to try it and maybe she could be the answer to my prayers.
Our band Gravel Road is loosing our mandolin player, Will and Gail's son Chris, due to a job change and not having the days off to be able to play with us anymore.  Will has been frustrated enough that he has thought of throwing in the towel and not having his band anymore.  I've been so sad over it all that I've been praying for an answer to help keep us going.  If PT will be willing to try and take breaks with her mandolin she would be put into our band and would be a great asset.  As I said, she's very talented on her harmony vocals and I would love to have her in our band.  She just needs to gain confidence to try and take some leads on her mandolin.  I'm not sure where she stands on that, but I'll keep on praying.  Future posts on here will tell!  Please, please, please let this work out!

The Bluegrasshoppers debut performance today

The school here in Grangeville asked me if my Kids In Bluegrass would do an assembly for the entire school K-8th grade and today was the day.  I had a band practice with the core kids yesterday who I've pulled out of the group to form their own band, "The Bluegrasshoppers."
Today was their first time to actually get to play as a band with no help from me.  I've been telling their grandma Gail just how well they've been doing but today was her and grandpa Will's first time to get to hear them for real.
I was busy setting up sound in the gym due to the school not letting me have use of the room until 30 minutes before we were to start so I had the kids get tuned up, and I told them to warm up starting down the set list while I went to work on the sound system real quick.  Luckily I had Grandpa Will and Grandma Gail to help me so they pretty much got the sound set up.  When I came back into the warm up room where all the kids were waiting they listened to how I'd instructed them to warm up.  When I walked into the room and heard them singing and playing Angeline the Baker it just blew me away because they were doing it all by themselves and executing it perfectly, keeping time right and sounding so awesome as the mandolin, and fiddler were playing and Illyana was keeping perfect time on her bass.  Little Victoria was playing her banjo and grinning ear to ear, and Emilio was chopping his mandolin, all singing really good too. The two Nelson Boys Mickey and Matthew had the chords perfectly and were leading the others with their guitar playing.
     It was so amazing for me to hear them for the first time actually coming together and being independent of me.  I felt so touched that I started to cry and couldn't hold back the tears.  I've worked so hard to get these kids ready for this day and today was that big day.  They played a 40 minute set and I only helped on 2 songs.  It was a most amazing day!  These are awesome kids and it's a privilege to be teaching them.  As they left to put their instruments away some of them were singing their hearts out and it was a special moment in time for me.  Love it!

Lot's of Bluegrass coming up

My mind is in overload fast mode this week as I think of the different bluegrass things coming up this next couple of weeks.  I have several things that I'm responsible for and sometimes my mind just goes 90 mph thinking of everything to make sure I'm on top of things. Kids and what songs they want to sing, The Foggy Mtn Girls set list, and then which songs I'll be singing in Gravel Road.....posters to be made up, phone calls to make... I wouldn't have it any other way though as I love it so much that it's all great stuff. 
So first of all the day after tomorrow, Friday my kids that I teach here in Grangeville have been asked to do a full assembly for their school.  I'll have 14 kids participating in it and about 40 minutes time to play.  So as I previously posted I needed to get the sound system out and make sure it was all working good, which it was.. yay!  Then yesterday I went to town to give lessons and prepare some of the kids, and tomorrow, Thursday I head in again to do a band practice with the core kids and their band "The Bluegrasshoppers".  Friday is the assembly and we're all excited for it especially the kids who've been begging me to get to play for their school again. 
Friday evening is band practice with our band Gravel Road and we're hired to play over in McCall, Idaho on Saturday from 3 to 5.  We'll be playing at a Pancake house there and the lady who's hired us has just been super nice even offering to buy us all dinner when we finish playing.  So it's going to be a really fun way to spend our Saturday.  The weather is going to be good for it we'll get to play outside. 
In between the Gravel Road practices will be practices with The Foggy Mtn Girls.  No big deal just switch brain modes and away we go!
Then the following weekend which will be the 18th - 20th of May both of my bands, Gravel Road and The Foggy Mtn Girls will be playing at the ISBA's Spring festival "The Kamiah Super Jam" so that's why we're all really practicing and getting all the rust off of our strings from the long winter.  Although I can't really say that and be honest as we did just finish playing over in Montana, but it was kind of fun to say anyway!
That Kamiah festival will also involve me doing my "Kids In Bluegrass" program too.  Do you think I'll loose any pounds running around with all of it... ha ha ha... doubtfully but it would be a nice perk now wouldn't it!  I'm on the board of the Idaho Sawtooth Bluegrass Assoc. (ISBA) so I'll have several responsibilities at the festival but I welcome them and love it so much that it's never work. 
Anyway I'm sitting here listening to my Sirius Satellite Radio once again and it's only tuned to one channel all the time... guess which one... you got it Bluegrass Junction... Oh, oh, oh... yes, yes, yes.. one of my favorite bluegrass bands from yesteryear just came on with one of my favorite songs that they do...The Dilliard and the tune Ebo Walker..  I think it's shaping up to be a perfect day...
So with that, I think I'll head out to my front porch and enjoy the sunshine as I make up my Kamiah festival  posters for the workshops and open mic sign ups, and as I work I can enjoy the sunshine and beauty of the mountains in the springtime.  It's a pretty good life here in the mountains.  

Today and the lawn mower saga

Not much to say today but the sun is shining and I spent the morning getting things ready for the assembly that the Kids In Bluegrass will be putting on this Friday.  Then on to housework once I finished setting up my sound system making sure it was all working well.  Now I'm taking some time to check my e-mails and enjoy the warmth of the sunshine.  I do want to say a few things on here today though.  So here you go.... We have a real old lawn mower that's sat outside for 2 years because basically it's just a piece of junk and wouldn't start.  Our neighbor was kind enough to come mow our lawn last year but we couldn't keep expecting her to help out and to fix this old mower a new starter was needed to the tune of $250.  We didn't have the money nor did we want to spend that much on a mower that only cost $700 new so thus it's sat here outside.  Finally after 2 tries last week, and our lawn about a foot tall my husband John went out and worked on it one last time to see if he couldn't get it to run.  Suddenly I hear the mower and he has it going.  What a talented fella!  He was able to make a socket that he used to turn the motor by hand as he cranked it over and he got it started.  So without wasting any time he mowed our lawn and it looks great once again.  Yay.. I'm so excited.  We have to wait for two years when I'll begin getting a retirement check before we can afford to buy a new mower, put new flooring in our house, remodel the kitchen a bit...new car.... yes all those things that we'll be able to afford then.  Meanwhile though I'm very grateful that the mower started today and will get us through a little while longer.  And I'm also very grateful for a nice home in this beautiful area of Idaho where we have wild flowers, jaw dropping views, mild winters...and our Jeep that's still running well and getting me to where I need to go, with all my arsenal of instruments loaded into it almost every time it leaves our driveway.  I've very blessed and am listening to my bluegrass music and singing the songs of the mountains as I type this.  So now that I've got my lawn mowed, the junk mower running again.... and chillin to bluegrass... hey well I need to get outside and soak in some more of this warm sunshine and.... yes....I'm happy!

Jarom's Story

Okay I said I'd tell you Jarom's story, so here it is.  To preface this blog a little bit I want to tell you about Jarom.  Jarom is a phenomenal boy that anyone would be proud to call their son.  He works hard and lives on a ranch up here on our mountain but on the other side of the draw.  He is the oldest of 7 children in a family of 6 boys and only 1 girl.  He was born with some special problems that ended up involving him having to have a shunt in his head to drain fluids.  This hasn't given him any problems now but obviously has to be checked yearly.  He is very intelligent but struggles a little bit in school work so he's in some resource room classes.  He loves to hunt and play music.
Shortly after we retired and moved to this area in Idaho, one of my best friends and neighbor Gail invited me to ride with them into town to watch their grand kids at their school choir concert.  I had just barely begun to teach their grand kids to play bluegrass guitar and sing.  I'm always one to support the arts and "my" kids that I teach so it was wonderful getting the offer to come hear their concert and I was excited to go.  I knew Jarom from church and from living out here, and of course he was in the school concert too.
While I was watching the kids sing I saw Jarom up there with his class and he was really feeling the music and singing his heart out. I love it when I see kids who actually love to sing and I got to see this through his body language.  It's just so fun to see kids like that....Immediately I felt the Spirit telling me that Jarom was a boy who would love to learn to play the guitar and would benefit from this music.  The prompting was so strong that on the way home I told Gail of my prompting and feelings. I knew that his parents were in no position to be able to buy him a guitar, and so I pondered how I could get a guitar into his hands.  An entire month went by and the Spiritual promptings wouldn't let me stop thinking about and pondering how I could get a guitar for this boy.  I never said a word to him or his parents of my promptings but I just kept pondering my dilemma, meanwhile nothing was getting done to help this boy. 
Suddenly about a month later Jarom comes running up to me at church and blurts out, "Sister Redman I really want to learn to play the guitar, and my dad has a friend at work who is going to give him a guitar for me to use".  I was shocked, as I hadn't mentioned my promptings to him or his parents, but Heavenly Father knew my dilemma and stepped in to help.  So the following Sunday Jarom runs up to me again all excited and his eyes just dancing as he told me, "I got the guitar, I got the guitar."  "It's got a couple of strings missing but my mom told me not to worry that you'd be able to fix it."  "Can you come over today?"   So after talking to his parents it was agreed upon that I'd begin lessons with him the next day, Monday. 
Now he was 11 years old at this time and he's just slowly gotten better and better, but always has kept his same enthusiasm and joy in being able to play and sing.  When I come for his lessons he's so excited and he hurries to get his guitar.  I now also teach his next younger brother and his sister and sometimes when I'm working with them he'll grab his guitar and suddenly he's right there playing along with them.  Never tiring of his lesson time, never saying to me, "how much longer before I'm through," and such things like some others can say.  He loves to play and this music has changed his life and given him something that he can do that's special and that he loves so much.
Every year he begs me to get to play for his class, or to talk to the school to see if we can do an assembly as we've done in the past too.  This year was no exception so I finally went in to talk to his school and they've asked us to put on a full school assembly.  He's so excited to get to do this that he's helping me plan it and giving me "ideas" as to what songs he thinks would be good to play, and which song we should end with, etc.  Every single time his eyes dance with excitement as we talk about and plan it. 
So this is Jarom's story and as I previously posted you can read about our weekend and his first jam.  Now he's really bitten with the bluegrass bug, and the two of us are working on how he can get to stay and play longer at the Kamiah Super Jam, a fun bluegrass festival coming up in a few weeks.  Late last night as we were finishing up our jamming time he looked at me and said, "I've got it, I can stay with my grandma (who lives near the festival site) and she can let me stay and help me out". 
So as the Spirit has guided us through this whole thing once again we were provided a way.  His grandma suddenly showed up at our church today and I was able to visit with her about this past weekend and Jarom's new plight to get to stay longer at the Kamiah Festival.  She is so excited for him and wants to help in any way so it was no problem convincing her to help him out.  She said that she'll let him spend the whole weekend at her house so that he can participate and jam as much as he wants to.

I spend a lot of time teaching and moments like these make it the most rewarding thing I've ever done in my life.  I have several other kids that are suddenly coming alive in the music too, and there's nothing better for me in the whole wide world.  Heavenly Father has blessed me through this music with very nice instruments that there is no way I should have afforded to own.  I know with our income that I shouldn't have been able to buy these instruments but somehow I've been blessed to have them.  I love my instruments and have been blessed to somehow have gotten them.   I've had so much happiness and pure joy of life each and every day since I began playing 25 years ago.  I can show gratitude by giving back to these kids and people that I teach.  When I see the light, then it's me who receives and learns the most, and this is Jarom's story.