Election Stomp

Well, that was quite a week. I'm still pinching myself, trying to grasp that it's over, that the GOP is getting a time-out, and that I get to keep my ovaries for four more years. (I was going to send them to "John McCain" since he seemed concerned about the "health" of the mother. Seems like they mean more to him than they do to me.)

I've been enjoying fooling around with some older bluegrass tunes on the mando. I have a book put together by Roland White, whose workshops I've had occasion to attend at the last few IBMAs. The book is fun; it's got the tabs for a few dozen tunes, a pair of cds, and fun pics and stories. I had been listening to the old Monroe recording I have on my iPod and a few tunes really stuck out, like this one, Bluegrass Stomp. It's definitely got that "Stomp" style swing to it--akin to Rag, it's a popular blues format after the early black string band tradition. I don't know how Big Mon credited those influences, whether he acknowledged the roots of some of the music. I know Kentucky is not particularly into the whole diversity craze, never has been. But Bill certainly was his own person, and a bigger-than-life figure in a rather small corner of the music world.

Anyway, I sure have fun playing this one, called Blue Grass Stomp. I play it with a lot less apprehension now that I don't have to pack to move to Canada. Enjoy.