Sane women do not wake up one day at 47 and think, “I have never learned a musical instrument, I don’t know how to read music, nor have I ever listened to Bluegrass (Hee Haw and Roy Clark not withstanding – not sure that counts anyway) I think I’ll learn banjo.”
Fortunately for me, I am a redhead and I’ve never been accused of being sane.
I’ve only been playing banjo since May of 2012. Bluegrass is new to me. I’m still learning who is who and what is what. I had a hard time learning songs at first because I’d never heard Cripple Creek (Remember THIS post?), or Orange Blossom Special and other classics. Foggy Mountain Breakdown yes, you’d have to live under a rock to not know that one, the rest all sounded the same to me.
Wanting to do well in my new adventure I decided to immerse myself in Bluegrass and I went out and spent roughly $300 on CD’s before discovering there is good bluegrass, and there is horrible bluegrass — Teach made me promise to never again waste my money on another CD unless I run it by him first. The man has saved me a fortune. I now feel good about owning Alison Brown, Sam Bush, and Allison Krause. This week, I get to add a new favorite, Rhonda Vincent. (Teach owns all of her CD’s)
I posted a Bill Gaither video for Music Monday not that long ago and in this video was Rhonda Vincent and the Rage. I just posted it because I thought it was a cute song — I had no clue who Rhonda was – or the Rage. I was more interested in Bill and the comedy aspect of it, than I was them. They did however sound familiar to me, so I decided to do some research. Come to find out, I’d actually seen Rhonda live last year at the Claremore Bluegrass and Chili Festival, I just didn’t remember her name.
Rhonda falls into the excellent category — She’s all over YouTube and has several CD’s available onAmazon. I recently placed an order through Amazon for two of her CD’s.
I remember her singing this song in Claremore last year — we were on our way out (hubs wanted to leave) and this song just stopped me in my tracks. I like her arrangement better than I do Dolly Parton’s. If you enjoy this, look her up on Itunes and see what else she has. You will not be disappointed.
Disclaimer: FCC regulations require full disclosure – no goods or services have been given in exchange for this endorsement of Rhonda Vincent or the The Rage.
Personal Note: When I was much younger (In my early 30’s) a sweet friend in my 12 step rooms introduced me to the Gaithers. She would have me watch their videos and listen to their songs and write down everything I learned about the God of my understanding. — I actually had a God that I believed in back then, He was harsh, judgmental, and indifferent. He was absent in the big deals of my life (or so I believed at the time.) I find the Gaithers to be very uplifting, both in their music and in their overall message. Even though I’ve never met them, nor seen them live for that matter, they played (and continue to play) a rather large role in my Spiritual formation. They are coming to Tulsa on July 27 and this time, I plan to be there.
Deana O'Hara - Speaker, Comedian, Writer 