I know. I’m behind. I still owe y’all the conclusion on 1 John, and Daniel and I also have started on Hebrews for our Tuesday morning studies. I missed a couple of Song Share Saturdays. And I still haven’t posted our vacation photos (sorry, mom).
BUT
We played for the first time on stage as a bluegrass band this past Friday!
So we have been busy rehearsing the past few weeks to get ready. The kids’ music instructor, Gary Waldrep, has a weekend jamfest called Camp and Jam on the Farm every year in September. We went last year, and the kids participated in some of the informal jam sessions, but this year we decided to actually play on stage!
Yes, I said we.
If you don’t already know, Tyler plays banjo, Troy plays mandolin, Audrey plays fiddle, and Jeremy has played guitar since before I met him. Now, they all can play additional instruments, but those are the ones they take lessons on. Esther has also started taking violin/fiddle lessons, but she’s just beginning. Our friend Daniel takes mandolin lessons with Gary, as well. So they have all been playing together for a while. It’s nothing for Daniel to be over a couple of times a week to jam. Barn nights are also always big music nights, when others bring their instruments and there’s a wide variety of music played, from bluegrass to rock, country to gospel.
When they decided to play at Camp and Jam, they decided they needed a bass player. And, as “luck” would have it, Jeremy bought me a bass guitar for Christmas last year. That I had played a grand total of 3 times and had to be reminded of where the notes were every time I played. But, as they say, the show must go on, so I had a crash course in playing bass while singing back up. I won’t say the result was astounding, but I made it through.
My kids, though…I am so proud of them (and Jeremy and Daniel, too 😉). Audrey was extremely nervous about playing, but she was a rock star. It didn’t take Troy long to be comfortable on stage and he was soon eating it up. Tyler jumped up there like he’d been born to do it. This wasn’t Daniel or Jeremy’s first rodeo, but the first time we were all together. We aren’t professionals, and our playing wasn’t perfect (I think I personally hit MAYBE 65% accuracy), but I think we did a pretty great job for our first performance. We are still working on a band name, but have one we have been throwing around and mulling over. Maybe I can let you in on that soon!
We had several friends come support us that night, and I asked one of them to record the show for us. I have broken it down into the individual songs and will share them a couple at a time over the next little bit, interspersed between my other posts. So here, for the first time ever, I give to you (for the moment anyway) The Johnsons and Daniel!
