Buddy Emmons & Jeff Newman - RIP

I'm deeply saddened by the lost of my mentor and teacher, Buddy Emmons. I studied under Buddy's teaching at Jeffran College of Steel Guitar, Nashville Tenn in 1983 and 1984. Words can't describe the privilege of learning from "The World's Foremost Steel Guitarist". Here's some pictures from those days:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/11725703@N02/albums/72157656154962989 and
https://www.flickr.com/photos/11725703@N02/albums/72157656551813022

More details...
http://banjoboyd.com/musicblog/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Buddy-Emmons-Virtuoso-o..1.pdf

And I forgot to blog about the death of Jeff Newman. Jeff perished in an ultra-light airplane crash in 2004. I had previously attended his school in 1980. I can't begin to tell you how great of a teacher he was. I've never learned so much steel guitar and music theory in my life. Jeff was the World's Foremost Pedal Steel Guitar teacher. He was the first to ever develop modern instructional material for the pedal steel.  Jeff and I both enjoyed flying airplanes. Jeff also flew RC airplanes.  I miss Jeff...

Music Lessons - Cowboy Crossing Youth Band - Hugo Oklahoma

On July 6 of 2015 I was contacted by Doris and Mike Merritt of Cowboy Crossing Church in Hugo Oklahoma.  The reason for their contact was to ask me about teaching a group of teenagers (ages 13-16) to play various instruments in hopes of forming a youth band for their church.

So on July 14 I began a weekly trek to Hugo to teach my first full classroom of teens! During the following weeks the students went from knowing pretty much nothing about their respective instrument to gaining a knowledge of their instrument, how to tune their instrument, and learning how to chord and strum their instrument. By the way, the instruments and musicians are:

• C.J. Hughes – bass guitar
• Joseph Nelson – 5-string banjo
• Ty LeBlanc – rhythm guitar
• Lily LeBlanc – dobro guitar

As their teacher, I am SO proud of these teens for what they’ve accomplished in just eight weeks!  On September 2 all of the students assembled at Cowboy Crossing to play their first concert together. I had been eagerly anticipating the day when they could all come together and play a couple of songs as a band. When Debbie and I arrived, we found that they were as ready as I was! I didn’t even have to ask them to tune their instruments…they were ready to play!

Recording HWY19

During spring break my friends Dr. Stuart and Tammy Anderson came to Stringbender Music to record a couple of new songs. HWY19 has been playing music for several years, and have recorded several albums.  But this trek to Paris was just to record a couple of new songs for their website (which was also created by Stringbender Music).
Arriving in Paris, Stuart and Tammy unloaded their instruments and got right down to business. We first started working on a tune call "Red Sails in the Sunset". Stuart laid down the banjo track and added an additional track just in case we needed some variation.  Tammy tuned up her guitar and simultaneously played rhythm and sang the song.

Before we knew it, it was time for lunch.  Since Debbie and I were keeping our grandsons during spring break, we knew they would be ready for something to eat. So, we took off for Magel's.  We had a good time visiting during lunch...and the lunch was delicious! Stuart also told me some long forgotten facts about my first Banjo championship at the First Annual Bluegrass Festival held at East Texas State University in 1976. I actually won based on a tune Stuart taught me to play.  Stuart told me that Buddy King (Shady Grove Ramblers) was one of judges and stated that I "had the Scruggs style down perfect".  I didn't even remember Buddy being a judge.  I DO remember admiring his banjo playing at Bill Grant's festival in Hugo on one particular occassion.  I had payed him a compliment and he was so humble and gracious.
After returning to the studio, we set out to record one of mine and Debbie's favorite songs, "In The Garden".  For this recording, Tammy played the guitar and sang into one microphone.  Stuart sat back a couple of feet behind Tammy and played banjo.
After Stuart and Tammy left, I started the mixing process.  To make a long story short, the music came out great.  And, you can find it on their new website, "HWY19.org".