Breakfast with Earl Scruggs. Rockygrass. A new Nechville banjo. Best weekend ever.

Why was the last weekend in July the best weekend ever? Let me count the ways.

I finally saw Earl Scruggs perform. Remember last year when I was so excited about going to the Four Corners Folk Festival to see Earl Scruggs perform? And how disappointed I was when Earl was ill and had to cancel, last-minute? Well I finally got my chance to see Earl.

How did this happen?

My friend Warren scored RockyGrass tickets, backstage passes and a hotel stay. Warren, a great banjo player from Colorado, is a long-time friend of the Scruggs family. He did the tablature for Earl's book and, as you'll recall, he filled in for Earl when Earl was ill at 4CFF. The Scruggs family had tickets and VIP passes to RockyGrass which they gave to Warren, then Warren gave one set to me.

That's me, Kyle and Warren at RockyGrass. More on Kyle later when I talk about my new Nechville banjo. (That's right, a new Nechville banjo. I did mention that this was the best weekend ever, right?) But first, more about that hotel stay I mentioned, which resulted in...

I had breakfast with Earl Scruggs. Since we were staying in the same hotel, I got to have the free hotel breakfast with the whole Earl Scruggs with Family and Friends band. I asked Earl if I could have a photo as proof, since I could hardly believe it myself.

But enough about my stalking of Earl Scruggs (with family and friends). RockyGrass was so much fun, it'd have been great even without the extra helping of Scruggs goodness.

More RockyGrass highlights:

• The gorgeous Colorado scenery of RockyGrass
  
• Showing off my sawed-off banjo
  
• Strangers sharing their funnel cake
• Vocal harmonies workshop with Anne & Pete Sibley
• Constantly being mistaken for Vince Herman of Leftover Salmon ("Dude, it was five in the morning and you had that woman dancing on that cooler, remember?")
• Having a VIP backstage pass
  
• Lots of great bands
  
• Dancing in the rain
  
• Tom Nechville teaching me how to loop back the string on the banjo peg so it doesn't slip
• Band contest
  
• Quietly sitting off to the side, playing chords on my banjo, along with the band
• People in cool T-shirts
  
• Taking a hike while playing my banjo
• Jamming (and recording jam sessions for later use in practice)
  
• Spending time with Warren
  

Best weekend ever.