Eddie Biebel

I’ll be playing Mar. 29th & 30th with the Special Blend Bluegrass Band. Mar. 29th will be an 8pm show at the Minocqua Brewing Company in Minocqua, WI and Mar. 30th will be a 9pm show at Molly McGee’s in Green Bay. It’s a special opportunity for me to get to play some Bluegrass with a great bunch of guys: AJ Srubas – fiddle, Joe Cronick – mandolin & vocals, Nate Cover – banjo and Dave School – bass & vocals. Be sure not to miss it!

I’m looking forward to playing some Bluegrass with Special Blend for a couple shows in Green Bay Thanksgiving weekend, Nov. 23, 10pm at Frets (formerly IQ’s) & Nov. 24, 9pm at Molly McGee’s. It’s a rare opportunity for this group of seasoned musicians to get together so be sure not to miss it!

Fiddler extraordinare AJ Srubas and myself are scheduled to play together on Fri. Sept. 14th and also in a Bluegrass band, Special Blend, with Joe Cronick – mandolin, Dan Schrei – banjo and David School – bass, on Sat. Sept. 15th at the 6th Annual Bluegrass Adventure Roots Festival near Algoma, WI. Come and join us!

I’m back in Wisco after a 10 day road trip to & from Texas, where I spent 2 days recording with Wayne Hancock at at the Zone in Dripping Springs. Also on board for the 2-day session were Tjarko Jeen – guitar, Bob “Texaco” Stafford – guitar & trombone, Zach Sapunor – upright bass and of course “the Professor”, Lloyd Maines, producing. Wayne told me the title for his new record will be “Ride”, which is also the name of one of his songs we recorded. Wayne’s recent motorcycle club activity was the inspiration for this uptempo rockin’ song and record title. In honor of the occasion Wayne rode his Harley out to the studio on the 2nd day of recording and proudly wore his club colors.

Other highlights of the trip included stopping by the Beale on Broadway in St. Louis, Missouri enroute to Texas to see and hear the amazing local R&B, Blues and Gospel vocalist Kim Massie and her incredible band the Solid Senders. If you combined the vocal talents of Aretha Franklin, Mavis Staples and Dorthy Love Choates all into one, that’ll give you some idea of Kim Massie’s soulful voice. By all means check her out! Better yet, if you’re ever in St. Louis on a Tues. or Thurs. night, stop by the Beale on Broadway and catch her live show. http://kimmassie.com/

Also while enroute to Texas, Vickie Lynn and I played a show and hung out in the wonderful town of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. From there we stopped by Woody Guthrie’s hometown of Okehma, Oklahoma. In Okehma we visted the site of Woody’s boyhood home and also met up with some friends at Woody Fest, where there were concerts and a celebration of what would’ve been Woody Guthrie’s 100th birthday.

After crossing Red River on I-35 south into Texas we drove west on Hwy. 84 out of Waco to scenic Hwy. 281 south. We stopped in Lampasas and sampled some mighty fine Texas BBQ and then proceeded south to Marble Falls, where I was able to refuel for $3.07/Gal(!). After arriving in Austin, we caught Heybale’s Sun. night show at the Continental Club. The following day we spent sight seeing around Austin, hiking around Zilker Park and then topped it off with some delicious chicken fried steak for supper at Threadgill’s. Also while in Texas we drove out to Luckenbach one afternoon and had fun pickin’ and singin’ ‘neath the old oak trees out behind the general store and bar.

After leaving Austin we took the scenic route north up Hwy. 281 to I-20 east to Hwy. 51 north out of Weatherford to Gainsville and then I-35 north into Oklahoma. My heart sank, as it always does, when crossing Red River traveling north, leaving Texas behind. From there it was I-35 north thru OK City, up to Whichita, KS and then northeast up to KC (where we visited the historic KC Jazz district), east toward Chicago and north back to Wisco.

Hope to see you out & about sometime soon. Til then keep ‘er steady.

Biebs