Italians Can Pick Too

Today my son and I helped a friend who is preparing to move. He really dove into the work, hauling load after load of iffy material from her garage, coming up with and demonstrating alternative uses for unknown objects, and just being a good fun kid.

As we drove away, he sighed, "I'm really gonna miss her."

So will I. This friend has been around a long while, and was there when Son of Mando came outta my belly and into the world. Since that moment he's been his own kid, kind of an old soul in a young body. He's eerily insightful and genuinely funny. He has his teen moments, but most of the time he's good to hang around with.

This tune, Old Joe Clark, is one of the first fiddle tunes he learned to play -- on fiddle, guitar, and mando. He has it in him to do it all if he could just recognize in himself all that the rest of us see in him. He is extremely bright, incredibly compassionate, and very talented. And I'm glad he enjoys this music.

That fella in the middle is a guy named Beppe Gambetta. He's "the" Italian bluegrass star, here sharing the stage of his Acoustic Night performance with Darrell Scott and Brad Davis in the retelling of this trad favorite. My son is proud of his Italian heritage (on Dad's side) and so it's a fitting little tribute to him to share with you.

Enjoy one called "Banjo Clark". Listen carefully to the words. As my son would say, there's more than meets the ear.