When Dave, Sue and I were setting up our equipment in Pembina Lodge, Westlock this evening, Fern, one of the senior residents asked if she could join us for a few songs…She came back from her suite with a mouth organ and played beautifully for the entire set without any music! It was the first time Fern had played with a band before, and she was fantastic…Thanks Fern, and thanks to Pembina Lodge for hosting us for another fun night of singalong music. #bluegrassbreaks

We rehearsed for our upcoming Edmonton Symphony VIP’s concert this evening…We’re delighted to be joined by the multi-talented Mr Ben Todd! Ben is an incredibly versatile multi-instrumentalist – an accomplished trumpet player, he’s been a flautist, pianist, banjo, dobro, mandolin and guitar player on the Edmonton music scene for decades…and he’s a really nice, down-to-earth guy!

Our community music group entertained the residents of St Albert’s Youville Home this evening. We had a few of my musical friends and a couple of my students join us to play bluegrass, country, celtic songs and some old favorites…A fun evening! #bluegrassbreaks

We didn’t have the sunshine we had hoped for, but it stayed relatively dry at Spruce Grove Kids Carnival today…The kids enjoyed facepainting and pony-riding, and we played an assortment of music, raising funds for Alberta Scouts Polaris 88 troop…Thanks again to our musical volunteers who regularly give of their time and thanks to Spruce Grove & District Agricultural Society for inviting us to play today!

We provided musical entertainment for a golf world cup/olympic event at Glendale today…Good luck to all of those golfers competing at Rio Olympics in 2016!

Our community group played for the seniors of Pembina Lodge, Westlock this evening. Despite being decimated to a trio during the holidays, we had a great evening playing a Bluegrass/Gospel set and a ukulele set, and had fun interacting with the residents. We were especially grateful that my bass/ukulele bass student Jaden gave up some of his free time during the school holidays to volunteer to play music with us and meet the seniors! Thanks to Pembina Lodge for their generous donation to our Polaris 88 Alberta Scouts fund…We’re on course to meet our 2015 target.

Our community group Bluegrass Breaks played for our friend Aurelio’s 80th birthday party…there was lots of music, food and drink, and we even had some sword-fighting later on!

We joined some of the members of my student Jacob’s band to play for St Albert Art Gallery’s Artwalk event…and the weather was beautiful!

We had a great day of playing music today…My group Alberta Rose opened the St Albert Canada Day celebrations at Rotary Park this morning, then our community music group Bluegrass Breaks played for the seniors barbecue at Ironwood Seniors Home this afternoon…We had the privilege of opening for Elvis! (Well, an Elvis impersonator anyway…) We finished off the evening with a band meal at Boston Pizza, and a good catch-up with one another. Happy Canada Day everyone!