Friends, if you haven’t already, you should check out some of Danny Barnes’ music at www.dannybarnes.com. He’s a really quirky, and, I think, brilliant, writer. His voice, not just as a singer, but also as a writer and player, is unique and highly valuable.

Yesterday we drove together to the Cumberland Caverns, near McMinnville TN, where we played a new concert series called "Bluegrass Underground." The show was recorded for rebroadcast on nearby radio outlets and on WSM in Nashville. I understand the WSM broadcast is set for midnight on Dec 26th, and you can listen online then as well from WSM’s website. You can find out more at www.bluegrassunderground.com. It was a one-off bluegrass set with Danny Barnes, Bryan Sutton, and Dennis Crouch.

Danny thought his mother’s side of the family had come from near there, so he called his mom from his cell phone and it was confirmed. His great grandfather, last name York, had come from McMinnville, and Danny mused that his great grandfather had probably been in the cave where we played. He told me his grandmother’s family moved to Texas in a covered wagon, found a valley that looked like it did around the home they left in nearby Sparta TN. So they started a town there and called it Sparta. Danny told me he has in his possession a plate that traveled in that same wagon between the two Spartas.

I think Cumberland Caverns is a great place to see a show. The cave is beautiful, and the sound is really good in there. You’d think a large rock room like that would have too much reflection and echo, too much reverb. But it’s big enough, with a high ceiling, and of a random shape or something to where the sound has room to just exist happily, traveling to you ear with no problematic detours. I of course couldn’t hear our show from the front, but I did hear Kindling Stone’s excellent opening set from the front and the sound is clear and warm. Their music is also highly recommended. Their CD is beautifully written and performed – and was recorded by Phil Harris, who also recorded yesterday’s show. Check out www.kindlingstone.com.

Did I play "Rod McNeil" yesterday? I had a request through this website, and that kind of approach often has good results. We practiced it and everything, and we even played it during sound check, but I think in the end, I forgot to include it on the actual show. Sorry about that, but keep those requests coming, and I do try to get them in.

I have to say that after five and a half hours underground, I was glad to get back above ground. The owner of the resort asked me to take a short tour after we were all loaded up and ready to exit, but I told him I’d love to come back another time. That’s true, I do want to go back, and I’d enjoy seeing a show there. I’d make a weekend of it sometime, combined with a trip to nearby Fall Creek Falls. If you’re thinking of traveling down that way, remember this: what falls Fall Creek also falls Fall Creek Falls.

The same band -  Danny, Bryan, Dennis, and I – is playing tonight at the Station Inn. That’ll also be recorded and those of you that know how to find that kind of stuff through various outlets will be able to find it eventually. We’ll use the same set as a template, but maybe I’ll get to Rod McNeil this time, and of course it’ll be different in other ways I can’t predict, which is part of the fun.

Also, I want to announce a new Celtic jam session happening every other Wednesday at 12 South Tap Room in Nashville. Various folks around here that play jigs and reels are getting together to exercise those muscles from six to nine pm. We just sit around in a circle and play medleys of tunes and drink a few beers. The next session is this coming Wednesday. There will however, be no session on December 24th as the Tap Room is closed and we’ll all be too nervous waiting for Santa Claus to play.

In the last few weeks I’ve been playing on recordings by Fred Morrison, a wonderful piper and whistle player from Scotland, and by songwriters Craig Bickhart, and Nora Jane Struthers. Steve Earle’s doing some recording next week, with the Bluegrass Dukes, I think, as part of Townes Van Zandt tribute he’s making. I’ve got two more trips to make this year: one to visit my dad in Wheeling and play the Carnegie Lecture Hall in Pittsburgh, and another to play the Etown radio show in Boulder. Hope to see some of you out there.

Link to original article at TimObrien.net:
http://www.timobrien.net/JDetail.cfm?id=68

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