Montana Rockies Bluegrass Association

Happy spring everyone.  Spring is springing in Montana and May is Bluegrass Music Month. 

We kick off the month with the Zurich Pickers & Fiddlers Rendezvous May 1-3.

Memorial Day falls on May25th this year.  Keep your eyes out for an invitation from Mike & Tari Conroy for their annual Memorial Day campout at West Fork on Memorial Day weekend. 

Save yourself some time with your gardening this year by just clicking on the box below.  Really do it up bluegrass style, by holding down the mouse while you click.

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It’s been a while since I’ve seen Larry Barnwell.  If you’re missing him, like me, you’ll enjoy these videos of him.

Sunny side of the Mountain  from the Montana Musician’s website

Little Girl From TN

 

And another one from Elderly Instruments’ YouTube Channel

Celebrating Martin Guitars 175th anniversary at Elderly Instruments playing Lester Flatts hit “Head Over Heels in Love with You”

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It’s a busy time of the year for bluegrass bands.  Folks are busily booking bands for summer events.  Don’t be left out in the cold.  Make sure that you are easy to find on the internet. 

Here are some tips for getting bookings.

• Make sure your band’s listed in our Members section.
• Create a myspace page or website  (for help see Phyllis Erck Consulting)
• Add MRBA as a friend on myspace.  Our myspace address is www.myspace.com/mtbluegrass
• Join Facebook and join the MRBA facebook group
• Sign-up on MontanaMusicians.com

To get listed or update your listing in the Members Section here

If you have any other suggestions for bands on how to get their names out there, please post them here as a comment to this Posting.

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Fiddle Camp at Montana
by Sive Iver

14th Annual Montana Fiddle Camp sponsored by the Montana State Oldtime Fiddlers Association will have their first week on June 7 to June 12 and the second week will be from June 14 to June 19, 2009. All music lovers coming from different age group will enjoy the camp.

In 1963 a group of musician decided to create a group where musicians had a venue to show their talents and to teach others about their music. This was how MSOTFA (Montana State Oldtime Fiddlers Association) was created. The group provided for activities and educational opportunities that all music lovers can attend regardless of what they were.

Monarch, Montana will be the home for the Montana Fiddle camp. It is a friendly community that is located at the heart of the mining valley of Montana. In the middle of this tranquil and beautiful serene the musicians and students can have a venue to learn more about their music. They will get to experience the big blue skies, crystal clear water and fresh mountain air that the month of June usually brings to the mountains.

The camp will have professional and talented instructors what will give lectures at classes and workshops with venues that are intimate and beautiful. Not only are the instructors talented and qualified to teach but the environment that you will be surround in will greatly help you learn more about music. Music is best learned and created when you are surrounded by the beauty that nature gives us.

The lectures will be of different instruments like the fiddlers, guitar and mandolin players and contra dancing. There will also be different genres or styles of music in the classrooms and workshops. These styles are the Cajun, Celtic, Texas, Canadian, Appalachian, bluegrass, and western swing. The instructors will then organize a nightly concert of their talents and the students music. With all the different styles the camp will provide it might teach you a thing or two about the other genres of music.

About the Author:
Sive Iver has created a business with crafts he made by attended some Montana Craft Shows. Attending some Montana Craft Fairs have added to his income.

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With summer fast approaching.  Here’s a nice little video for:

Redneck Power Windows

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Greensky Bluegrass

Greensky Bluegrass at The Elks

Date:  tonight, April 12, Easter Bluegrass Sunday

Location:  Missoula, MT

Time:  7pm

Check out some of their music on their myspace and also some on their website

There’s a pretty cool webpage that shows this bands tour locations on a map here.  After watching this for a while I decided these guys are “tour fools”.  Not sure if the jag off to Peru is a mistake but even without that sidetrip, they are frantically peforming all up and down both coasts.   Lucky for us, they’re stopping off in Missula tonight.

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Hey y’all,

Broken Valley Roadshow is excited to host YMusic’s inaugural Jam-O-Philia on Friday, April 24th!

Jam-O-Philia activities will include:
- a band-scramble, in which spontaneous bands are created from a random pool of participants. EVERYone who wants to play and/or sing is invited!
- a performance and Q&A session with Broken Valley Roadshow
- a large, all-inclusive jam facilitated by Broken Valley Roadshow

Mark your calendar because Broken Valley Roadshow wants to jam with YOU!
What: Jam-O-Philia
When: April 24th at 7 pm
Where: Downtown Dance Collective, 121 W Main S, Missoula
Cost: FREE for all YMusic students. $5 for others

What is it? A community jam for all ages, all abilities, all instruments– hosted by the Broken Valley Roadshow. See you there!

BVR

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It’s not too early to put this one on your calendar. This year it will be in beautiful Donnelly, Idaho at the Mountain View RV Park. A sneak preview of bands include: Tradition, Chicken Dinner Road, Will Williams and Gravel Road, Conroy-Frank Bluegrass Coalition, PanHandle Polecats.

For lodging reservations: Mountain View RV Park 208.325.2679, Long Valley Motel 208.325.8271 (Donnelly), Holiday Inn Express 208.634.4700 (McCall).

For more information go to http://www.idahosawtoothbluegrass.org

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Just a reminder that we are having our 3rd annual gathering in Zurich the first weekend in May (1, 2, and 3)…   Potluck on Saturday night.   Weather permitting, we’ll be outside most of the weekend.  If not, we’ll gather round the fireplace in the pavillion…….either way, we’ll be playing a lot of music.  For those who are not familiar with the beautiful Milk River Valley in Northcentral Montana, Zurich Park is approximately 32 miles east of Havre just off U.S. Highway 2.   Plenty of places to camp…  There are no shower facilities, but there are some outhouses.  It’s a nice park nestled in a grove of cottonwood trees.  We should be in between mud season and mosquito season, so take a drive on over and join us…  Give me a call or drop me an e-mail if you have any questions.   tjwhitney69@yahoo.com    406-357-3840

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Steve Martin banjo, frailing, clawhammer medly – Loch Lomond Sally Anne

When asked why he started in comedy, Steve Martin answered…”because nobody ever says..’hey look, there’s the banjo player’s Mercedes’….”

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