January's West Ashley Hometeam Free Bluegrass line-up

Santa Cruz VS. The World

Here is a clip of Aaron playing his '72 D-18 and me playing my '00 Indian Rosewood Santa Cruz D(which is for sale.) Cherokee Shuffle

West Ashley HomeTeam BBQ Line-up for the rest of 2009

Roses are Free

This summer my good buddy Austin Nelson, Tree Climber Productions, shot The Bluestone Ramblers at Hometeam on Sullivan's Island with his high-tech HD Video Camera. I know Austin from my home town, Florence, SC. We followed Phish back in the 90's.
Enjoy!
Sandy- BSR (Yes I learned the song from PHISH)

The Blue Stone Ramblers- Roses Are Free from Austin Nelson on Vimeo.

October West Ashley HomeTeam BBQ Line-up

September West Ashley HomeTeam BBQ Line-up

July Line-up at West Ashley HomeTeam

June's Thursday Night Line up at HomeTeam BBQ West Ashley

Gelb Rehearsal Dinner at SeeWee Restaurant

This was a great time back on April 24th. We had the great fortune of having Alan Bibey fill in for Keith that night. Sorry about the camera angle's view of GP's better side.

Sandy

USS Truxtun Commencement show

Here is a clip of The Bluestone Ramblers playing "Tom Dooley" for the USS Truxtun crew and Navy Guest on April 23th.

Sandy

A Month From My Last Post

It has been a great month in the days and lives of Lowcountry Bluegrass. I have several video and audio clips of the last month, including a lesson from Cletus, a Bluestone Rambler Gig with Alan Bibey filling in for Keith, and a documentary of the infamous Birdfest.

Stay tuned...
Sandy

Hometeam BBQ Bluegrass Jam last Thursday Night

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of picking with David Vaughn and Allan Thompson from Blue Plantation along with Gary Payne and Jacob Phillips from my band, The Bluestone Ramblers.

Sandy

2009 Bridge Run Weekend

Well it was a rare weekend off, and I just happen to live two blocks past the finish line of the Cooper-River Bridge Run. I got some great footage of the mayhem outside my front door. Also my friend Aaron from Blue Plantation stopped by to pick after the "craziness" settled down. We picked just about every song we knew. Lonesome Fiddle Blues is in the video:



Sandy

Rainy Thursday Night Bluegrass at Home Team BBQ

PBR in the Wind

Last night I payed Cletus a visit to learn some tunes, and to try and catch some rare footage of his southern banjo pick'n ways. I was hoping to get him to show me some standard tunes I have learned wrong and played wrong for years. I need to grab the bull by the horns and relearn them. They say it is 7 times harder to relearn a tune after playing it wrong. You have to over come the bad habits you have instilled in the melody, and retrain your motor skills to play the correct melody. Cletus is a great teacher and has no problem telling you that your melody is wrong. 

The tunes I am focusing on are Temprence Reel, Blackberry Blossom, Whiskey Before Breakfast, and Billy in the Lowground. I was fortunate enough to have him show me a great Mark O'Conner Tune called Picking in the Wind.

Here is the rare footage of my friend:

Sandy

Another Monday Night at Yo Burrito

This Monday was no different than any other except I got a Flip Ultra Video Camera!



Sandy

Renofest 2009

Renofest, is always the 4th weekend in March and one of my most anticipated events of the year for me. This was my 5th year attending and my 4th time competing in the Guitar Contest. True to form... this year was no different from the past, getting all nervous, fumbling my notes, and failing to make the final cut (Top 5). I played Maydelle's Reel.

Although I did not take home the coveted Wayne Henderson Guitar or come close to the prize, I would not change a thing or quit trying. For the past 5 years I have aspired to be a "contest Picker" and I have grown by leaps and bounds since my first attempt in 2005. Although the nerves are still the same as the first time I took the stage, I seriously doubt they will ever go away in the contest setting.

The rules for Renofest are simple:
1. Contestants will be judged on 50 possible points.
2. Competition will begin PROMPTLY at 10:00 AM. Any contestant who is not present to compete when his/her number is called will be disqualified.
3. Judges will not see the contestants. Contestants will be referred to only by their numbers. This blind judging makes the competition as fair as possible.
4. Contestants will be judged on arrangement, execution & tuning, and overall performance.
5. Flatpicking or fingerpicking allowed.
6. Contestants are allowed one instrument back-up (accompanist) of their choice.
7. Contestants are not allowed to sing or speak into the mike.
8. In the preliminaries contestants will play one tune with a time limit of three (3) minutes with 10 points being deducted for exceeding time limit.
9. In cases of broken strings/picks, etc., contestants will be allowed to repeat the same tune without penalty.
10. No electrical instruments allowed for contestants or accompanists.
11. The top 5 contestants will be announced from the stage at approximately 12:30 pm. Contestants will assemble promptly at 12:35 PM behind the stage area to draw numbers for their playing order. ANY CONTESTANT WHO DOES NOT APPEAR FOR THE DRAWING PROMPTLY AT 12:35 PM WILL BE IMMEDIATELY DISQUALIFIED.
12. Finals will begin PROMPTLY AT 1:20 PM. Any contestant who is not present to compete when his or her number is called will be disqualified.
13. Finalists will perform 2 tunes with a time limit of three (3) minutes per tune. They will be judged and scored only on this performance. Previous scores will not be considered. 10 points will be deducted for exceeding time limit.
14. Winners will be announced at approximately 4:05 PM.

This year winners were:
1. Eric Hardin, Warrensville NC
2. Bryan McDowell, Canton NC
3. Matt Lindsey, Dunbar WVA
4. Josh Pickett, Cana VA
5. Zeb Snyder, Lexington NC

It's a rare day if a South Carolinian can crack the Top 5!

Eric ripped it up playing Whiskey Before Breakfast in the first round, and Lonesome Fiddle Blues and Blackberry Blossom in the second round. Any of these guys can win on any given day and I had a great time rubbing elbows and competing along side them.

Until next year! (Just like you would hear a USC fan say)
Sandy

Thursday Nights in April at Home Team BBQ

Food and Wine Festival in Retrospect

After the dust settled from a busy week in March, I am finally getting around to posting about The Bluestone Ramblers' BB&T Food and Wine Festival experience.

As you can see from the photo above we played bluegrass for 1,000's of people through out the day of March 7th, 2009. I started the day of fueled by Kudu Coffee and started playing at 10am. Pick'n at 10am on a Saturday in the middle of Marion Square is the best way to kick off a my Saturday!


The morning started off like the photo to the right, quite, desolate, almost an eerie calm before the storm. The temperature was 70 degrees at 10am. It was a picture perfect day for sampling the best Food and Wine Charleston has to offer.

We started promptly at 10am and were well into our first set when a line started to form for Bobby Flay's Burger demonstration. Yes, it was hard to pick smelling that wonderful smell, BURGERS!
As they started letting people in to the event we were rocking some great tunes, then out of now where a man dressed in the black PDA garb came hustling our way, "We have some complaints from the Bobby Flay cooking Demo, "I can't hear Bobby over that Banjo."" Ahh, the mournful cry of some fare soul having there life altered by the banjo! Captured is a rare picture of such an scary monster, known as "Banjozilla." Yes he appears to be bigger than the tallest of Hotels in Charleston.

Well after our extended set break, so that the banjo would not interfere with the day's biggest event, we promptly kicked back into bluegrass high gear. We had Will Dantzler on Fiddle, wowing the young ladies with his 17 year old charm and mad skills on the fiddle. We also had a brief time where we had double mandolins, Phillip Barker and Keith McCullough playing there respectable mandolins, The "Kimble" and The "Wood." I mean I am surprised I can still hear after having mando's in both ears on top of "Banjozilla". As you can see in this picture I am searching for more volume in my guitar. Volume where can you be?

We wrapped up the Festival around 5pm, packed up, and headed on to the Kismet Spring Party on Wadmalaw Island and played from 7pm till 10pm. Exhausted we were and we would do it all over again in a heart beat!

Sandy

Crazy Thursday Night

Well my work day ended around 5:30 and I headed straight home to do some pick'n with Jason. We played Maydelle's Reel, and Jason gave me some pointers on singing (God knows I need all the help I can get). All and all it was a great time and I got lots of homework to do!

Around 8pm I made my way over to the Pour House to see Town Mountain from Asheville, NC. I meet up of with my good friend Phillip Barker at El Bohio and we stepped out to the Pour House Deck to check out Steven Sandifer and friends. His weekly Bluegrass happening with various local pickers. This week he had Southern Flavor Bluegrass Band members the Col. George DelPorto and FB DelPorto. I was able to catch the last few songs before they ended at 9pm. Good Stuff!!!

Meanwhile inside the Bridge 105.5 had a great artist Sharon Little playing an early show. She was an awesome singer and very good looking. It was just her and her guitar player Scot Sax. They had so much stage presence and a captive audience.

I listened a little bit and headed straight back to the "green room" and proceeded to do some pick'n with the Town Mountain boys. We ripped through Brown County Breakdown, Stoney Creek, Stoney Point, and Dusty Miller. Man is great to pick with them!

Town Mountain took the stage around 10:30 and kicked it off with a great version of The Moonshiner. They played a bunch of great Bluegrass tunes they wrote as well as a Springstien Cove, I'm on Fire. The instrumental I heard in the 1st set that stood out was Daley's Reel. I love that tune!

Well around Midnight I had to make it back home to crash so I would be well rested for a busy weekend for The Bluestone Ramblers that includes a rehearsal dinner on Kiawah tonight, The BB&T Food & Wine Festival all day Saturday, and The Kismet Farm Spring Party Saturday Night.

What a "Little Friday"
Sandy

Learning a New Tune From the New Guy

Ah yes... another week started off with a great Monday night at Yo Burrito, followed by an interesting night tightening up my chops with Cletus.

Last Night, I had the pleasure of having the new picker, Jason Schorr, over for some flatpick'n. We started off by warming up with the Dixie Hoedown, then he showed me an old-time number, Maydelle's Reel, picked out of "E." The key of "E" is a key most bluegrassers stray from playing open. This is a really cool tune that will give me a work out in open "E."

Here is a clip of Jason playing with the "nome" at 60 clicks:


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Really Cool!!! He played it BBAABB form, for learning sake, but the tune is traditionally done AABB.

Here is the tune a little faster with me trying to figure the rhythm out:

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Yep it's going to be a keeper in the arsenal. Thanks Jason for sharing a new tune!

Sandy

Pick'n with Cletus on a Cold Winter Night

Well after a fun night at Yo Burrito, I spent my Tuesday evening visiting Ole Cletus. It was freezing cold over on the Mountain they call Pleasant, but the fiery temperament of Cletus was more then enough to forget about the cold and focus on my guitar pick'n.

We started off playing the Dixie Hoedown then moved on to the Red Haired Boy, then to Cuckoo's Nest. As a guitar player I struggle with playing melodies in time. Ole Cletus has much to correct me on this night and I captured some great moments in this "lesson".

Here is me falling off the melody of Cuckoo's Nest and Cletus's response:

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Yes funny stuff! After we spent a good half hour on Cuckoo's Nest we went on to Angeline the Baker and Over the Waterfall medley. Here is a clip of why any picker should turn there phone off when pick'n:

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Ole Cletus is a character, but in all seriousness it was a great night we spent cleaning up some tunes I am struggling to pick. Thank goodness for a dedicated southern banjo picker!

Sandy

YO Monday

Yet another Monday night at Yo Burrito (downtown) has come and gone for the Bluestone Ramblers.  Somehow i think that we will remember this past one for a while.  From time to time we have guest pickers join us for a few tunes on the illustrious recycled rug that some say is the source of Sandy's strumming power.  Local legends such as Chris Robinson, Banjo Ben, and Cletus have joined us on the colorful rug (i think it needs a nickname, but more on that later). 

This time we were joined by Jason Schorr, a talented picker who only just recently moved to town.  He played some banjo and guitar with us, but I hear he is quite capable of pickin' the doggy-doo out of just about anything with strings on it.  We had a blast.  It just goes to 

show that you can't judge an evening by the amount of dollars that end up in the tip jar (in our case, the fiddle case).  Perhaps a better measure would be the amount of beer that ends up in the beer bucket.  It looks like it was a good night!  

Thanks Jason for coming out.  

Here's Dixie Hoedown from on top of the recycled rug at Yo Burrito (Keith-mandolin, Sandy-guitar, Jacob on bass, Gary-dobro, Jason-banjo).

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Keith

SEWE 2009 (Southeastern Wildlife Expo)

This is the third year that The Bluestone Ramblers have provided foot-stomping, baby-tossing bluegrass for the Southeastern Wildlife Expo. We definitely got a workout for our fingers and fortitude. It's tough to play bluegrass when it's chilly!

Saturday's cold and wet weather forced us to take breaks to cover our equipment, yet Gary (Pheelno) Payne still managed to fiddle (yes fiddle) with the dobro onstage during a break. Gary is a man of many talents, and we are lucky to have him! His dobro pickin never fails to draw a crowd.

The crowd at the Expo was great. Thousands of people visited Brittlebank Park for the festivities. As great as the people were, I must say that the dogs were my favorite. The Dock Dogs provided endless entertainment with jumping competitions, and countless owners brought their dogs to the park. We saw everything from a 220 pound Newfoundland to one of those little pocket ponies peeking out of a purse. Now while this sounds like a doggy paradise, with dogs everywhere jumping and playing to the tune of Sittin' On Top Of The World, don't forget that dogs will be dogs, and every dog must mark its territory.  I do believe that more than one of us barely escaped having pee stains on our cases.  Gary got the worst of it though. Surely it's no surprise to anyone that the banjo was a natural target. I mean, who wouldn't want to pee on a banjo?

Here's a clip of The Bluestone Ramblers (Sandy on guitar, Keith on mandolin, Gary on banjo, and Jacob on bass) playing Stoney Creek at SEWE 2009.

Keith

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Yo!

Another Monday Night at Yo Burrito! Tonight The Bluestone Ramblers played as a trio, Jacob, Keith and myself. Gary was visiting family in Tennessee.

It was packed and hard to hear ourselves pick, but we made do. 

Here is a clip of Cherokee Shuffle:

Sandy

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Saturday Night Pick'n Party

Once in a Blue Moon there is a gathering of some local Bluegrass pickers in the form of a pick'n party. It's hard to schedule or attend such event due to the local pickers gigging schedules, but Saturday's was an exception.

FB DelPorto from Southern Flavor Bluegrass Band, hosted a killer party with oysters and great beer! In attendance were FB's band mates Anthony DelPorto and Jared Fisher, the great flatpicker Gill Robins, Brook and William sick local jazz players, and Keith and myself from The Bluestone Ramblers. Another rarity of the evening is that there were no banjo pickers to be found. "The" Col. George was on his winter snowbird retreat to the everglades fishing.

Here is a clip of Ragtime Annie featuring Gill on Guitar, Keith on Mandolin, Jared on Mandolin, and myself on Guitar.

Enjoy!

Sandy 

Cletus and The Story of the Fiddle Left Behind

The other night Cletus left in such a hurry, nothing but a cloud of smoke remained where he once stood. After the dust settled I find myself scratching my head pondering how such a dedicated Southern banjo picker could leave his fiddle behind. What am I to do with this old fiddle and bow?

Tonight was a cold bitter evening and instead of making Cletus brave through the cold to reclaim his prized fiddle, I figured I pay him a visit...

Here is a clip of The Canadian Waltz:

Sandy

Monday Night Bluegrass at Yo Burrito Downtown

Tonight we played at Yo Burrito Downtown. This has been a great experience for the past 2 & 1/2 years. Every Monday night "Yo" cooks up some tasty tacos, creating taco madness and we, The Bluestone Ramblers pick.

See y'all at Yo Burrito next Monday.

Sandy

Learning a New Tune with Cletus

Today I was surprised by a local musician, Cletus, dropping by with only a fiddle and a moped. I was thoroughly entertained by his antics and musical talent. 

Cletus is a Southern Gentleman and Banjo Player, who is known to be a legend in his own mind. He can be spotted round town inspiring young musicians to play melodies in time with proper feel. "Timing is everything," "I can't fit my roll in," or "you gotta set the click to that one" are common Cletus Phrases. This Southern Banjo picker has many entertaining stories that will be shared on this blog along with their Bluegrass ties.

Below is a tune Cletus seems to think is called "Road to Durham." Cletus has been around for many years and can pull songs from thin air, but the titles seem to escape him. Whatever the tune is, please let me know.

Sandy

Bluegrass Music

Bluegrass Music is an American staple that was created by Bill Monroe in the 1940's. Bill Monroe was an innovator, mixing his Old Time roots with the Delta Blues. This created a wonderful sound featuring acoustic instruments, Mandolin, Guitar, Banjo, Fiddle, and the Upright Bass. Although Bill created this music, Bluegrass didn't get the hard drive till Earl Scruggs came along with the "Three Finger Roll". Well after that the rest is history, including Earl and Lester bringing in the Blues instrument, the Reso-phonic Guitar to Bluegrass Music.

My name is Sandy and I love Bluegrass music and love to play, perform, and practice Bluegrass. I consider myself a student of this art form and I want this blog to be a place where my friends, band-mates and other musicians can vent, read, and discuss Bluegrass related topics.

I play in The Bluestone Ramblers, a local Charleston, SC Bluegrass Band. I have the pleasure of picking with Keith McCullough on Mandolin, Gary Payne on Banjo and Reso-phonic Guitar, Jacob Phillips on the Upright Bass, and Will Dantzler on Fiddle. We have a lot of fun performing around the Charleston area.

Through out the couse of this blog, myself and the other members of The Bluestone Ramblers will be posting info on pickin' lives!

Stay Tuned...