Mary Had A Little Lamb
 At the recent Gospel
Jubilee at Bean Blossom (1999), a nightly jam session took place
at the camper of Talmadge Law. The regular members of Talmadge's
band participated, plus a few others. On fiddle, was Roger Smith,
a former Blue Grass Boy, who with his friend, Vern McQueen, also
present, played in Bill Monroe's band way back in the '50s. If
you would add all the years each individual in that jam session
had been playing bluegrass music, it surely would add up to more
than 150 years.
There are so many times at Bean Blossom when
the thought strikes me, "If only a network TV news camera
could be here now". Because into the middle of that jam
session involving so many bluegrass veterans, walked a father
with his young (7 or 8) year-old daughter sporting a gleaming
miniature fiddle. The father expressed the wish that his daughter
might be allowed to play along with the musicians gathered there,
to improve her timing. All thoughts of doing anything else immediately
disappeared, and Roger gently took the little fiddle and checked
its tuning.
The graciousness and patience displayed by
this group of very talented musicians struck me as being something
quite rare in today's world. Soon, the child was playing "Mary
had a little lamb", to the accompanyment of 150 years of
bluegrass talent-to the great delight of everybody present. A
typical heartwarming happening at Bean Blossom that few people,
except those present, would ever be aware of.
Jim Peva
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