The King Of Strings bids all an au revoir...
Foto by Nicole Johnson
All weekends at the Fur Peace Ranch are very special… but this one was just… well… crazy fun!
Hidden in the lush foliage...
The food is always great… the fellowship, superb… the music celestial!
Here’s a class picture of my guys:
Great looking bunch of pickers...
Then it was time to pack up and great a little rest before the southern tour. My next stop is the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall in Ponte Vedra, Florida.
The Mule in repose...
Foto by Nicole Johnson
That’s all folks… Onward!
Barbara J. here:
The Fur Peace Ranch is an opportunity to enjoy the creation of Jorma and Vanessa,
with the intention of providing great music, great instruction and participation with Jorma and his friends and family.
There is no other place like it.
Although I have not been there, I hope that my travels will take me there some days soon.
@Craig K
@Craig K
Yes…it was, indeed..FANTASTIC!!
Me and the missus had a BLAST!!!
Joyous pickin’ and safe travels Captain
Brett
@bob b.
You are making me hungry! I love pastrami – with mustard.
+
@bob b. try Katz’s.
I wanted to let you know that we had a fantastic time at the Good Ole FPR last weekend. It really would be hard to top the lessons, the concert, the food, and the companionship. I truly have missed seeing all the good folks from the FPR. You have a stellar team. I feel blessed to be able to sit down with one of my favorite composers (that would be you JK) and go through your arrangements, receive a few pointers, and just shoot the breeze. I hope to see you again soon.
“May the road rise up to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.”
Back attcha brother Craig… and as Roy Rogers, The King Of The Cowboys would say… ‘May the Good Lord take a likin’ to ya!’
Jorma
Thanks for another outstanding evening of music at FPR this past Saturday! I have been a huge HT fan since 1980 when, ironically, I was turned on to you guys as a freshman at OU (James Hall – 3rd floor – Double Dose album). Have seen y’all in many cities across this country since then and always tops seeing you at FPR (acoustic & electric). Also, love having been turned on to Larry Campbell from his tours with Dylan. He is an incredible player. Listened to Peter Wolf’s “Sleepless” CD on Monday on drive back home to Virginia and Larry is all over that fine album. Look forward to the next jam. In the meantime, blessings!
On my bucket list.@jim hitchcock
Doug Mlyn could back me on this…McCabe’s in Santa Monica is a superb place to see Jorma and gang. And I was lucky to see Doc and Merle there once. Have no idea what gauge strings Doc used, but they looked like telephone wires. Man had some powerful fingers.
Can’t wait for November 20 and 21. Two days of CARNEGIE DELI PASTRAMI SANDWICHES!!!
“Winters been a long, long time
Summers hear again
I’ve been trying to make you mine
Since I don’t know when”
i was walking around the track at the local high school last night, and Letter to the North Star just kept bouncing around the ol’ cobwebs in my cranium. I like going up to the track to walk, (in younger days and before an arthritic hip I used to run!). There’s usually a few other people I can smile and chat with – odd, I don’t think I’ve ever talked to someone in a bad mood at the track.
I stopped and talked to a young man who was going through some football type workout, turns out he graduated with my son from the school in 2014 – really nice kid. I challenged him to a race, which elicited a broad smile from deep in his competitive spirit.
“One more time I’m asking you
Let this moment be
All our lives can intertwine
Till eternity”
It was a glorious evening, a stout southern breeze bashing the body, and temperatures in the low 80’s. I talked to another man, closer to my age, and said “I’ve always said I love the change of seasons, but I certainly could take a few more months of this weather. He laughed and countered, “Yeah, about six months more!”
Like a vacation winding down to the last day or two, the summers light is becoming shorter and shorter, at both ends of the day. The diminishing light evokes nostalgia in me – “as I move along the highway, trying to make this moment last.”
I suppose I’ll adjust to the dimming days, joyfully embracing fall and her spastic colors, cool mornings and warm afternoons. Sitting around a campfire and toasting those buns a little on a brisk autumn evening, is a simple pleasure in itself.
But for today at least, I find myself wanting to cling to this moment and not let go. ha! – a bit like trying to catch a butterfly without a net. Good luck with that one.
If I’m alone while walking the track, I’ll sing songs aloud – the problem is I have a range of medium, to just below medium. I remember singing a Jorma song one time while playing cards with some friends. My friend Mike noted, “Jorma’s got a great voice, doesn’t he.” In other words, stop singing! More like STFU!
But as these “days dwindle down, to a precious few” as Willie Nelson and a host of others sang, I intend to sing like a humming bird while traipsing around the track. As Big Bird once noted, “It doesn’t matter if it’s not good enough, for anyone else but you, sing, sing a song.”
Makes me wonder though, will heaven always be “windy and warm, ” (RIP Doc Watson). I sure would miss that 20″ blizzard in January! (yeah I know, I’m sick. Somehow got those wires crossed in my youth – hot – goo, cold – bad.)
Jorma, thanks for all the great songs over the years – keep on truckin’
“With what we got together now
Rest ain’t hard to do
You can’t see, it ain’t no jive
All my love for you.”