Brookdale Bluegrass Festival
Excited to be joining this line up!
Grand Prize Winner
35th Annual The Fiddle Bango Contest September 30, 2018, Columbia, California, Historic State Park
(yes, “bango”) is held at the gazebo in Columbia State Historic Park on Saturday 10:30 am to 4 pm. More than 40 musicians compete for prizes in the following categories: fiddle, banjo, vocal, guitar, mandolin, miscellaneous, and original song.
Mountain View, AK Dulcimer Contest
2nd place in Championship. Keith Reynolds (Dulcimer) and Laura Lind (Autoharp) Duet
Mountain View Arkansas Dulcimer Contest, Ozark Folk Center State Park
A friend and I took a road trip from Nebraska to Arkansas on a whim to study Mountain Dulcimer last Spring. My friend, Todd had gifted me a very beautiful dulcimer and I needed an introduction to playing it. In addition there was a contest, and I decided, why not. Go for it.
I wandered around trying to find a duet partner. When I was unsuccessful and the contest entry was very near closed, someone suggested I go down to McSpadden’s Dulcimer Shoppe just down the road and see if I could find someone. So I was dropped off and went up to the cash register and just made an announcement asking if there was anyone game enough to enter the contest at the last minute? And standing next to me is Keith Reynolds and he says, well, I won second place at Winfield last Summer. I told him he would do. We laughed. Went out side and it was tricky to find tunes we both knew. We choose “Southwind” a traditional 3/4 waltz and a contemporary tune the Everly Brothers made popular, “Dream, Dream, Dream.” We had about 15 minutes to get to the contest entry. Raced back to the festival and we signed up. Let ones to sign. Had about 1/2 hour before the contests began. Didn’t have time to get back to the hotel to change…just went for it. WE rehearsed a few times and mostly we winged it. WE each gave room for the other to solo. The dulcimer started the tunes as per the contest. Just decided to have fun. And to our surprise, we won 2nd Place!
Special Award of Merit
Columbia California July 4, 2012, Historic State Park
I received this special personal award from the most decorated Vietnam Veteran in the region. I drove up to the mountains to march in the Fourth of July Parade. I marched directly behind the walking veterans, just behind the rolling veterans, with a group of friends playing Autoharp and singing. We sang ‘When Johnny Comes Marching Home” the entire parade route. At the end of the parade we continued marching through the stores and saloons in the town. Later we played music for the Virginia Reel Dance in the street.
I walked into one of the bars following friends. Almost immediately I was approached by a man who said very quickly, “I’ve seen you today and I watched you give of your self above and beyond duty. I want you to have this.” And he was gone. Vanished with me standing there with my hand out holding this large enameled coin.
I immediately was approached by about 4 people who said, “Do you know what you have there? That is very special. Not very many of those are given out. You are very fortunate” The reason he vanished the group told me is that he does not want to talk about his experiences in Viet Nam. He’s a very private person. I felt exceptionally honored by this award.
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