Sarah, Emma Grace, Lindsey, and Matthew
“How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! O LORD, they walk in the light of Your countenance.
“In Your name they rejoice all the day, and by Your righteousness they are exalted.” (Psa 89:14-16)
Journal,
We returned from another trip to Branson, Missouri. I love Branson. You get to see and hear the most talented people who planet earth has to offer. And most everything you see and hear has a Christian motif to it.
The highlight of the trip for me was getting to listen to four marvelous and talented young people, the group, ‘Southern Raised’. These young people have a bluegrass sound that is uniquely theirs. If you love Celtic music, Irish ballads, and mountain music, you will fall in love with ‘Southern Raised’.
Many people are not aware of the background of bluegrass music. Bluegrass has its roots in the early Irish, Scottish, and English settlers of the Appalachia mountain region. That is why bluegrass is often called ‘mountain music.’ The settlers brought their traditional music with them. The music has been characterized as, ‘Scottish bagpipes’ and old-time fiddling.
What makes it even more interesting is that over time, bluegrass music carries with it a blending of African-American music. So, what do we have in bluegrass? We have wonderful music that speaks of our traditional American heritage.
How about a medley of ‘Southern Raised,’ music. See what you think. Might even get a bit of foot tapping a going. [Here is their web site: http://southernraisedbluegrass.com/]
Would it be great to have Southern Raised make their introduction to Central Louisiana. What do you think?
OK, what this about…
New Additions to the Family
I’m talking about new additions of stringed instruments to the Buddy Martin collection. Don’t rightly know how many guitars I’ve had, including the ones I’ve passed on to my kids. Making a quick count in my office, I see eight guitars of different orders, two banjos, a mandolin, and a couple of harmonicas.
This is where ‘Southern Raised’ put the bug in me for more bluegrass mountain music. So, off to the ‘Cedar Creek Dulcimers’, music story in Branson, we go. Wow, what a great place! Cedar Creek provides ‘Handmade in the Ozarks’ dulcimers, along with other stringed instruments.
By the way this is not an advertisement for them, but if you ever want to check out a dulcimer, they have a web site: http://cedarcreekdulcimers.com/
Well, I did it. Here is a picture of my mountain dulcimer.
Of course with my grandson Jared, I watched him closely to see if I could catch a glimmer in his eye towards a bit of mountain music, You know what I mean. I wanted to see if he had the inkling towards the dulcimer.
Yep, I saw it. The gracious owner of Cedar Creek Dulcimers, showed Jared a bit on the dulcimer, and that grandson of mine began picking and a strumming like it was a natural.
Good investment. I made sure Jared had one in his hands. And we got to listen to Jared play his dulcimer in the car on our way home.
But then, I also got to thinking about Zach, our Yorke back home. Zach had nothing to play, so I decided to get him a ukulele.
Here it is…
But the truth be known, I have a love for almost every kind of music, from classical to Spanish, and everything in between. (Not rap – Never could see any music in it.)
Yet there is something about Southern Gospel and bluegrass that stirs my heart deeply.
Guess it goes back to my early years when I bought my first guitar. It was a Sears and Roebuck Silvertone.
The one record I played over and over was, ‘The Cattle Call’, by Eddy Arnold.
Even learned how to yodel. (No, I’m not going to embarrass you or myself by seeing if I can still yodel.)
OK, enough of that. Guess the only thing I have left is to let you hear what dulcimer music sounds like.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRs2ayUWhl0[/youtube]
Hope you enjoyed all the music.
May the good Lord bless and keep you.
Your brother and friend in Christ always,
Buddy
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