I discovered a great band over Labor Day weekend: Straight Drive. Their banjo player is Terry McGill, who is awesome. As soon as I realized how awesome he was, I bought both of their CDs. Or, rather, tried to buy them, because he wouldn’t let me pay for them. You can hear some of Terry’s playing on his MySpace page or order the CDs at the band’s website. 
Terry and I have a mutual friend in Greg Garing. I discovered this when I heard “Far Over The Sea” on Straight Drive’s CD. I also sing that Greg Garing original, and I actually recorded it with him a few years back. It was never released as far as I know, but I found it tonight on Greg’s bluegrass MySpace page. (That’s me on the banjo.) I hope to record it myself someday.
Terry also plays on the Old Time Blue Grass Singers’s CD Threads, which is well worth ordering!
A couple videos from my time at Thomas Point Beach turned up on YouTube, courtesy of Nick Novia. This one has the song “Train on the Island” sung by April Hobart, who is a great singer. You can hear the new Casey Henry model in action. (The music starts about a minute in…) This one has us singing a silly kids song to please Dick Bowden’s adorable four-and-a-half year old granddaughter Gwen—”Animal Dance” I think. And, finally, this one has Andy Cartoun picking “Mastertone March” on my banjo. I’m on guitar.
Tags: casey, greg garing, old time bluegrass singers, straight drive, terry mcgill, thomas point beach