Mississippi Chris Sharp

Just glad to be here!

IBMA Report

I had a rather large time at the IBMA in Nashville this past week. It was great to see old friends and make new ones.

I arrived in Nashville on Wednesday, October 26, and immediately began leaking money at a rather precipitous rate. The Renaissance is a nice facility, but damn it’s expensive! A small leak, unattended, soon becomes a deluge. I finally just got my wallet out and let folks at the hotel just take what they needed. Parking fees, valet charges and tips, bellman tips, room charges, occupancy tax, hotel tax, local calls for $1.00 each, bottled water in the room for $4.00 a pop, maid tips, expensive food, $4.50 beer at the bar, $140.00 floor ticket for IBMA (Which I did NOT buy!), and $40.00 tickets for Fan Fest (which I did buy because it got me on to the floor of the vendor exhibit area.) And of course, the money I spent on the items which I had to purchase from the vendors!!!! I am home now, and the leakage has stopped, but unfortunately, it stopped at nearly the exact time the money was exhausted, at which time it would have stopped anyway!

The photo above, from left: Kim Robins, Mississippi Chris, Richard Bailey, Kazuhiro Inaba, Stephen Gilchrist, Ed Dye, and the great Roberto Blanco

People I got to meet during my stay???

SCORPION banjo bridge maker, Silvio Ferretti. SCORPIONS are my favorite banjo bridge. Thanks, Silvio, for your graciousness, and your contributions to the banjo world. They are very much appreciated.

Cobalt Pick man, Bob Perry. I have used Cobalt plated Showcase 41 picks for a couple of years now. Bob persuaded me to try his own brass cobalt plated picks, and I like them. The only thing I did not like about the Showcase 41’s is that they hurt my fingers. The Brass picks Bob makes are much kinder and gentler to my fingers. They play easy, and sound fine. Thanks, Bob, for recommending these. I like them!! It was good to meet Bob, who has been a very competent and faithful supplier.

Desert Rose banjo maker, Scott Zimmerman. Scott is a longtime member and virtual friend from the BANJO HANGOUT. It was good to meet him, shake his hand, and play one of the fine Desert Rose banjos. They’ve got that KNOCK that I look for in a banjo. Scott knows a lot about luthiery and the musical instrument business. I have learned a lot from him.

Dave Schenkman from Turtle Hill Banjo Company. We talked a little business. It was good to meet Dave.

Tanya Ogsbury, from OME banjos. A very gracious person. I’ve never played an OME banjo that I didn’t like, though, somehow, I’ve never owned one. Perhaps one of those OME openback banjos are in my future.

Banjo maker Arthur Hatfield. It was good to meet Artuhr, who last year made a five string neck for an old TB-1 I have.

Banjo maker Jaroslav Prucha was a pleasure to meet. He, very graciously, provided a sip of the most refreshing beverage he had stashed away in his booth.

Friends (old and new) visiting the suite that I shared with Butch Robins, which we dubbed UNCLE BUTCHIE’S INSTITUTE OF BANJO METAPHYSICS: Life-long friend Raymond Huffmaster, Alana Stewart from Black Crow Booking, Jim Richter from Richter Digital Media, author Pat Ahrens, Mike Compton, David Grier, Bill Keith, photographer and mandolinist Phil Zimmerman (a new instant friend), Danny Jones, Julia LaBella, the great Tony Williamson (if not my favorite musician, then way up there near the top!!!), Tony’s friend Jessie, Matt Combs, David Long, Roland White, Chris Henry, my great and long time friend John Hedgecoth , Walter Eisenhart and his friends from Arkansas (What a songwriter Walt is!), Future Man, Gillian Welch, David Rawlings, Richard Bailey, Kathy Chiavola (I Love Her!), Bil VornDick, Bob Carlin, new friend and great picker Patrick Sauber, old friend Kazuhiro Inaba, super mandolinist and red shoe baron Shin Akimoto, Chris Clarke, Sam Bush, Peter Wernick, fiddler Aaron Till, Dave Harvie (I hope I got that right) from Washington, the man from Virginia with the RB-7 and the GOOD moonshine (Oh, how I wish I knew where to find him!!!), the great and gracious Stephen Gilchrist, Billy Constable (one of my favorites for over 20 years!), Kerry Hay and his wife, and so many others. I know I’ve left some people out, and reserve the right to add to this list as my memory is restored after the damage it suffered from sleep deprivation.

Needless to say, the music was sublime, with Compton and Grier getting off a couple of hours of jaw-dropping music which silenced the crowd and had pickers rushing to put their instruments back in the cases and LISTEN!

Clint Jordan and Augie Joachim, along with Cousin Ed Dye were part of that entourage. Ed Dye held court several days, as people from all over sought him out to pay their respects to this most wonderful person.

It was a pleasure to meet Kim Robins

It's always great to spend any time in the presence of the gracious and charming Betsy Mabry.

My Thursday was spent with the folks at Crafter's of Tennessee. Thanks Mark and family for being such gracious hosts. While Mark was talking, his wife was working non-stop. Charlie Flannery's dad is a great banjo picker, and obviously where Charlie gets his talent. Enjoyed Bob Black and Randy Escobedo picking together. Tut was his usual great self and was really surprised by the birthday cake. Great meeting Bobby and Motti Bristol, Bullett, SuperDave, Jccobrian, Bill Butcher, Carl Shaffer, Forrest, and all my friends from the Banjo Hangout. Ron Satterfield was a gadabout all over the place. Good seeing Tom and Dan. Howdy and mighty fine . . .what a good time!!!

Old Friends re-visited:

Of course I was extremely pleased to spend some time visiting with two fellows who share the same hometown as me, Mike Compton and Greg Boyd. We were all born and raised in Meridian, Mississippi. Mike is an extremely accomplished mandolinist, at the very pinnacle of his career. Greg brings the gift of music to so many people by providing the very best in instruments, and good customer service to those who are wise enough to trade with him. I’ve known Greg and Mike, and their entire extended families for most all of my life and can’t think of any two fellers I like more.

It was a pleasure to see Mike Bub, who was honored with the IBMA Bass Player of the Year award. Mike told me that he was going to perform one of my songs, THE LUCKIEST MAN T’WAS BORN on the OPRY OLD TIME VARIETY SHOW, and very graciously invited me to play with him. I joined him with Matt Combs and David Long to do the song. I "lent" a hand on rhythm guitar and harmony vocals, and had a thorough good time. This was my first time to perform on stage with Matt Combs, one of my favorite fiddlers, and David Long, who is also one of my favorites.

The photo at right is from the show. From the left is Matt Combs, David Long, Mike Bub, and then my smilin' self. This photograph was taken by Linda Kattuah who very courteously allowed me to use it here. You can visit Linda's website at http://www.inrepeat.com/about_us.html

It was also the first time I worked a show with the other Chris Sharp, of "Oh! Brother" fame. He is a super guitarist, and has a red hot band! It was pleasure to see him and work with him.

It was also my great pleasure to meet and work a show with the talented and Dick Bowden, and also his be-costumed gag band with the 'lectric guitar. There is no doubt that you have to be good musicians to play that bad! That part of the show was hilarious.

The very talented Casey Henry, along with my favorites Leroy Troy, and Mike and Lester Armistead, were also on the show . . . so many other performers I can’t remember their names.

I asked for someone to please tell me who the ringer for Uncle Dave was. Dick Bowden informed me that it was Uncle Doc Wilhite, from Paducah, KY, in official Uncle Dave garb. He was electrifying!!! I loved his performance. David Ferguson was fun to meet, and kept me laughing. I suspect he got lots of butt whippin’s as a child, to no avail.

The Saturday night showcase I played with Butch was great. This was Butch’s show, but he very graciously deferred to our JANG-A-LANG act, which has been so successful on the Sucarnochee Revue (www.sucarnocheerevue.com) and is being carried by Alabama Public Radio. While the crowd may have expected to get a full set of banjo pickin’ gymnastics, they got a taste of Jang-A-Lang, which they seemed to like. Jang-A-Lang would be pretty far to the left of where most Bluegrassers are, but folks seemed to enjoy it nonetheless. We did have about four folks get up and leave when we started, but I don’t know if they had somewhere else they needed to be, or didn’t like the music. I expected more to leave than that, so I was satisfied.

In any case, the folks remaining got to hear something they’d never heard before. All of our music was original except for the finale, SARO-JANE on which we were helped out by Kazuhiro Inaba. Ed Dye was a crowd favorite as always, and Uncle Butch tore the banjo up. We had a few hilarious moments with Ed and Butch. Clint Jordan and Augie Joachim were in excellent form as well.

The music went from Bluesy, to ballads, to balls-to-the-wall. There were smiles on the faces in the crowd, with heads bobbin’ and toes tappin’, and a big smile on the face of our host, Chris Clarke, who said he really enjoyed the music. The international guests at the showcase seemed to enjoy it the most! Thanks, y’all, for this opportunity!!!

The Chris Sharp and David Long Band played before us and after us. The place was overrun with Chris Sharps. As Ed Dye said, “Two Chris Sharps, no waiting!” We did have some interesting faces in the crowd, as a few of Nashville’s super pickers had heard about the Jang-A-Lang experience and came to see us. For that interest, we are extremely grateful.

Greg Boyd came to see us play, and Greg bought me a drink after the show. Thanks Greg, for that drink and the gift of your friendship for the best part of 30 years.

Thanks, everyone, for such a good time. Thanks to the hotel staff, who were very helpful, efficient, and friendly. Damn those tempermental, foul dispositioned elevators!!!!

Both photographs immediately above are courtesy of Nobuharu Komoriya. Photo to right: from left; Ed Dye, Mississippi Chris, Kazuhiro Inaba, Clint Jordan, Butch Robins. Photo to left: Ed Dye, Mississippi Chris, Butch Robins, Clint Jordan.

Be Sure and and Visit www.butchrobins.net

From Left: Mike Compton, David Grier and Julia LaBella; David Rawlings, Gillian Welch and Ed Dye; Butch Robins and Patrick Sauber; Bill Keith; Butch Robins, Stephen Gilchrist, John Hedgecoth

Butch and Tony Williamson; Bob Carlin and David Long; Chris Henry and Mike Compton; Mike Compton and David Grier; Billy Constable; Compton and Grier

David Grier and Julia LaBella; Kathy Chiavola; Kathy, Kazuhiro Inaba, David Long; Richard Bailey and Kathy; Matt Combs

Pat Ahrens and Raymond Huffmaster; Patrick Sauber holding the banjo of his dreams; Shin Akimoto; Shin Again; Red Shoe Shin; Tony Wiliamson; Trouble x 2, Betsy and Jessie; My Virginia friend with the refreshing beverage and a fine RB-75.

SuperDave, Motti Bristol, Mississippi Chris, Bill Butcher - The Walnut Club at Crafters of Tennessee in front of the Martha White Bus; Roland White and Mike Compton; David Grier and Aaron Till (That's MY 1939 D-18 that David is playing!); Shin, again; Bill Keith.

Bill Keith; Augie Joachim; Jim Richter and Shin; David Grier's left hand; Bil VornDick; Peter Wernick and three lovely singers, under that hat with the banjo is Billy Constable.

Future Man; David Rawlings, Gillian Welch and David Grier.