Super show last night at Mohegan Sun! The three chill-inducing highlights for me were 1)Patty's song Harlan, (excellent banjo intro and backup by NBB, 2)the end of Del's motorcycle song, and 3)Keep on the Sunny Side by the Whites. It was the last of several songs by the Whites and on the previous ones Buck and the girls seemed a little subdued, after the recent passing of Buck's wife Pat it must have been difficult for them to go on stage. But during Keep on The Sunny Side, smiles slowly came to their faces as if the message of that song had a healing effect.

I left a little early and I think I missed Patty and Ralph Stanley singing together, darn. The Nashville Bluegrass band I thought did a fine job, Stuart Duncan, in the beginning maybe was reaching too far in his improv, but by the end he was in the groove and his fiddle playing was like a bird singing. Mike Compton's mandolin playing was very Bill Monroe-ish. I think maybe the parts that John had alluded to as simplistic were in fact one of Monroes favorite techniques, which any mandolinist will say are quite difficult to do, playing only downstrokes. Monroe liked the extra "bite" this gave to the mandolin's tone and Mike Compton is a tone master. One rough spot I did notice was of "I am weary" when Stuart and Nancy Blake weren't quite together singing the ending but they made up for it with a crowd pleasing version of "Get up John" with words added by Marty Stuart sung by Emmylou, that they had just learned in the dressing room before the show. I think the audiences favorite was Del and the boys.