H.A.B.O.T. or the Heart Of American Bluegrass & Old Time Music club meets every third Friday of the month from September thru April. There is a regular stage show but always a lot of jamming in many of the adjacent rooms as well. There is a snack and beverage bar, a dessert table, prize drawings and always lots and lots of pickers and singers around.
President Byron Jones and the "house band" (Alan Prater (bass), Kenny Coates (banjo), Walt Weigand (guitar), Mike O'Roark (guitar) & Janice Wolebracht (fiddle)) opened the show with "How I'd Love To Be Alone With You" and "Gotta Travel On." Kenny Coates had those banjo strings jumpin' with "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" while Mike O'Roark sang a couple of songs from his new gospel CD, "Road To Gloryland" & "Precious Memories," then a crowd favorite: "Old Shep." After Walt Weigand treated the folks to "Grandfather's Clock," Alan Prater swapped his doghouse bass for a guitar and sang "Meet Me On The Mountain" and "Streets Of Gold" to the crowd's appreciation. We can't for the life of us remember where we've seen and heard Royce King before, but it was sure nice to hear his smooth voice again, singing "House Of Gold" and "Suppertime." We appreciate Mary Edding's hard work at every H.A.B.O.T. meeting and we surely enjoyed hearing her sing "A Daisy A Day" and "Long Black Train" for the folks.
The band portion of the program usually consists of three bands which perform several numbers each and tonight the first of these bands was called CC Bluegrass from Cass County, MO and consisted of five senior gentlemen (Jim Sears, fiddle; Bobby Glenn, banjo; Don Duvall, bass; Joe Wilkerson, guitar & Doug Mathis, mandolin) from that area who sure knew their old time music. Among their selections were: "Just Because," "Home Sweet Home," "Blue Bonnet Land," "Hell Among The Yearlings," "Tennessee," "Take This Hammer," "Love Of The Mountain," "John Henry," "Gold Rush," "Frankie & Johnny" and a great gospel medley: I Saw The Light/Somebody Touch Me/I'll Fly Away." An absolutely great job! The second group of folks to take the stage are called Clinton County Bluegrass, and right away we noticed a lot of familiar faces: none other than Deryle Cline (guitar), Jean Bartee (vocals), Monty Parker (mandolin & Dobro), Alan Prater (bass) & Jeremy Peiter (banjo & fiddle). These folks are incredible musicians & singers and everyone enjoyed hearing "Hit Parade Of Love," "Close By," "Swing That Hammer," "Roving Gambler," "You'll Get No More," "Bluegrass Breakdown," "Till The End Of Time," "Mama's Hand," "Somebody Touched Me" and one of our favorite fiddle/mandolin tunes: "Back Up And Push." The last group of the evening were the Gray Family from St. Joseph, MO and consisted of the dad, Lonnie (guitar), mother Vicki (bass) and daughter Shayla (fiddle & vocals). Although the son couldn't be here tonight, we thought Shayla had a beautiful voice and we enjoyed hearing "Souling," "Moses On The Mountain," "Wayfaring Stranger," "Green Pastures," "Old Suzanna," "Rank Stranger," "Old Crossroads," "Hold To God's Unchanging Hand," & "Wild Moor" among others. This was a great start to hopefully another great H.A.B.O.T. season. See you in October!! (Below) Royce King sings "Suppertime" with the "house band"
