July

Mary and I surprised Dean with a retirement party - invited friends and family and a bunch of pickers. Don and I wrote a funny song with 4 verses about Dean being sick of work and it had everyone laughing. Of course we jammed after the potluck! Here's a photo.

What a great time we had jamming at the festival south of Kalona with lots of good pickers - Max was there with his friend Pat, Jack Langley, Bill H. from Huxley, Mark, Joy and Corky from Castle Ridge, Dan from Fairfield, and more. It is very friendly festival. I backed up one of the jam camp bands playing bass on stage - it was a hoot! Keith Yoder does a great job with jam camps .. wonderful teacher ... and we appreciate the fact that he is doing so much to bring in a younger generation of bluegrass pickers! We also got to hear Gabe playing with The Mayflies ... wow!

We want to thank the Presbyterian Church for having us provide the music for their outdoor service at a park in Cedar Rapids. We really enjoyed it, and the yummy potluck afterward!

Also want to thank our jamming buddies who came to hear us play at Solon.

We'll be heading to the Backbone Festival, so hope to see /jam with more pickers there.