Banjo versus TV week 101: Shorty's Strickly Bluegrass Festival on the radio

A check-in on the Banjo versus TV project — J.R.'s ongoing plan to spend more time on his banjo than on TV. This post covers 1/31/2010 through 2/6/2010.

The banjo highlight of my week was WLUW's Live 'n' Kickin' Bluegrass show. Why?

Reason #1: David Bragman hosting. Of course, David (my banjo instructor) hosts the show every first Saturday so that's not really why this show was so good. This show was good because of...

Reason #2: Shorty. I had introduced David and Shorty so I took pride in hearing David interview her about Shorty's Strickly Bluegrass Festival, which is coming up in Peoria on March 4-7, 2010. Shorty made a good case for why you should swing over to Peoria that weekend to enjoy the bands and the jamming that she's arranged. (Discounted rooms are still available at the Stoney Creek Inn.)

Reason #3: Playing along. I decided to do a little playing along with the songs and I did pretty well. Yay me!

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Things I learned at this week's banjo lesson:

• In honor of the day, David had me work on Groundhog.

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Also in the last week:

• On the TV front, I watched Meet Dave and really enjoyed it. Shut up.

Cross-posted at J.R.'s Banjo Hangout blog

Mark Your Calendars: Shorty's Strickly Bluegrass Festival

Shorty's Strickly Bluegrass Festival is one of my favorite bluegrass events and it's coming up the first weekend in March.

This will be my third year attending the festival, which is held annually in East Peoria, Illinois. Shorty, the festival's promoter, puts together a great event with as much emphasis on jamming as on performances. (Take that, Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival, with your broken promises of jamming!)

The best way to enjoy the festival is to book a room at the Stoney Creek Inn (where Shorty has arranged a festival discount) so you can take advantage of the round-the-clock jamming areas. The lodge itself is a comfortable timber-themed kind of place and the staff is very festival-friendly.

This year's performers:

• Carolina Rebels
• New Blood
• Prairie Grass
• Redhead Express
• Summertown Road
• The Punches Family
• The Martins
• Truman's Ridge

Cross-posted at J.R.'s Banjo Hangout blog