At the moment I am busy working on new songs and tunes for the first new album on Pinecastle Records, and the music and life of Bill Monroe is never too far away from my thoughts. As you can see from the photo, I recently surrounded myself with several of Bill's instruments, and souvenirs of his life at the Bluegrass Museum in Owensboro, Kentucky, a short drive from the Monroe homeplace in Rosine. One of the artifacts pictured is the headstock of Bill's famous F-5 Lloyd Loar Mandolin that was saved when his instrument was undergoing a major repair at the Gibson factory. I am also working on another Monroe tribute, and this time it's an instrumental, called Jerusalem Ridge Backstep. I would never claim to have the Monroe Mandolin style 'nailed', but I'm happy with the feel of the tune, and I am hopeful that it will make the cut on the new album. There will also be a few real surprises,for me as well as the listener, and a couple of really dark songs.
By the way, this photo was taken by Aidan Butler, and the T-Shirt I am wearing is one that I procured at the Phil Lynott Exibition in Dublin. Phil and I were pals back in the nineteen-digydees, mostly in the Bailey, it has to be said! I was offered a ridiculous amount of Dollars for it in Kentucky and Tennessee, but I managed to hold out, this time !
