May 4 Ruskin Heritage and Tomato Festival - Ruskin, FL
Bluegrass Parlor Band with Cory and Jarrod Walker

May 17 Red White and Bluegrass Festival - Hollywood, FL
Bluegrass Parlor Band with Cory and Jarrod Walker

The last weekend of April was a busy one for me. Friday and Saturday evening I played down in Sun City Center. There was a 2 night Bluegrass Concert series with the Bluegrass Parlor Band and Southern Star Bluegrass. Then on Sunday I played out at Sweetwater Farms with some friends and that was also a blast.

We are going to be taking about a month break from the Thursday evening jam session. Tranquillo, the coffee shop we were holding the jam at, has closed down so we do not have a location at the moment to hold the jam. I am also swamped with end of semester schoolwork so I decided to just wait a month or so until school wraps up for me to start scouting a new place. If anyone knows of a place that would welcome our group on a Thursday evening, please let me know.

I ran into Charley Groth at Sweetwater Farms this past weekend and he had some news I wanted to pass along. He has a new CD out and will be having a CD release party over at the Bluegrass Shop on April 17th. So I would encourage everyone to go over and support Charley and the Bluegrass Shop for that.

Here is the email he sent out with all the details....

Hi friends...

This Sunday at the Sweetwater Organic Community Farm (www.sweetwater-organic.org): Sunday market 12 noon- 4 pm -- Open mike noon to 1 pm and 3 to 4 pm

Who: Claire Lynch
What: The Claire Lynch Band in concert
Where: The Pinellas Park Performing Arts Center
When: Friday, March 7, 2008

Click on the picture below to see a video from Claire...

I had a busy Saturday this past weekend. I played at Cracker Country at the Florida State Fair with two groups.

The guys from Southern Star Bluegrass invited me to come and fill in for Danny the past two Saturdays and, of course, I jumped at a chance to play with those guys.

The Palatka Bluegrass Festival is happening this weekend and it sure look like it is going to be a great festival. Here is what Ted Lehmann has to say about the festival:

Fingerstyle Guitar Players Showcase
just like open mic but for "Fingerstyle Guitar Players"
Hosted by Ted Wray

Open to beginning thru advanced Fingerstyle, Chord Melody, Flamenco and Classical guitarists
If you are not playing, come and listen!

You could expect to hear:
Classical, Flamenco, Jazz, Rag-time, Travis Style & Modern Music

By fingerstylist such as:
Don Hanby, Jim Allen, Don Kautz, Ed Kawalec, John Lieberman, Michael Marth, Terry Premru, Richard Taylor, Jack White, Dave Wiley, Ted Wray, Dan Cappinella, Michael Zwerdling, Rich LaPenna