Kelly Country Pick - 2012

Another year, another pick.

Made the trek to Beechworth for the annual Kelly Country Pick.

Yet again, I made a mistake in booking my accommodation. I went on the internet and queried accommodation in Beechworth. I'd left it a bit late as usual and ended up picking a motel near the bottom of the list that had good rates. Put all the information in, booked and paid for the three nights. It's only when I determined the address of the motel that I had an "Oh NO!" moment, the motel is in Wodonga! Too late now, I'll just have to wear it.

Good catching up with the attendees and meeting new faces and learning new tricks. I took the Dobro, my "Banjo Killer" for support :)

Friday night I picked until 3:00 am, then the drive back to Wodonga.

Saturday up at 8:00 back to Beechworth and attended the singing harmony and bass workshops. Old South led the harmony singing and by the end of the hour the forty or so attendees were lifting the roof with five part harmony. The bass workshop was led by Evan Webb and had five attendees as well as two guys on guitar and mandolin singing songs for the bass players to play along with. All very civilised. Evan made them work by teaching in keys were you didn't have open notes and scales, both major and minor.

Had lunch at the Hibernian, Nachos, mmm...

Picked away until about 5:00 when I felt a bit tired so I drove back to Wodonga and had a meal and a nap. Back on the road at 11:00 pm and played until 3:00 am. Drove back to Wodonga.

Sunday I had intended to attend a workshop or two, but the bed won and I slept until 11:00 am. More picking and watched the Kristy Cox show sort of by accident as I was talking with Quenton Fraser and he said he had to go as he was on next. Little did I realise he was playing Bass for Kristy Cox. Oh well, no pain :)

Ended up at the Empire Hotel for the final get-together. There were two camps: Old South's camp and Wendy and Peters camp. Lots of playing in a confined space made it difficult to work out what was being played, so I mainly stuck to rhythm.

Long weekend but good fun.

I met up with a player who thought it would be a good idea if I showed up at BOSTO. BOSTO? Yes BOSTO! Brunswick Old Time String Orchestra, put together by Andy Baylor and Brian Strating. It runs every two weeks and it's on this Thursday. I think I'll make the trip down and check it out.