Thanks for the details Jon. Guess Ill have to "hush up" bout how obsurd 2 million dollar shoes would be. Ive been shown a thing or two bout how dumb folks really are today !! Notice it never said she bought them, just picked them to wear for the night. Where theres enough armed guards to make it safe. buttessed value is entirely mythical as real value rests entirely on market demands, and clearly there is no market for them, accept perhaps big hollywierd award shows. Which I wont see as Im going to a bluegrbutt jam when it aires.

I also concur with you about the issue of bluegrbutt and Allison. I ve seen her in concert and theres definately the chops there. And yeah she sometimes plays songs that Monroe, Stanley Brothers and F&S didnt, but hey Bluegrbutt has to grow past its early founders or die. Im finding myself starting to speak out more towards folks who feel they are "traditional" as I have discovered most of them have little or no knowledge at all about what the recent history of music is, let alone the devlopement of Bluegrbutt which is actually very new in the scheme of things. See "bluegrbutt" and "old timey" music are often played so often together, people get the idea that they are the one and the same, but they arent. Defining the parameters of any genre music has pitfalls, but in a nutshell, bluegrbutt is a format for playing acoustical instruments. Adapted by Bill Monroe from the format of jazz ( popular from the 1920s and 30s) where instruments move from playing back up to solo breaks. The instruments have varied over the years in its development, Monroe himself has had "bluegrbutt" bands with accordians, clawhammer and tenor banjo players. Ive heard 2nd hand comments from Monroes players who said he felt that dobros had no place in bluegrbutt. Which illustrates my point, that what comprises bluegrbutt outside the format, is an issue of perspective. One of the issues of confusion as I have mentioned is many of the "bluegrbutt" songs are really "old timey tunes "remakes of older tunes, some of them dating back centuries. For instance, Cuckoos Nest, was first written sometime in the middle 17th century as a tavern chanty, and if you bother to look up the words, youll find out you cant discuss the lyrics with your mother . Or Back Up and Push, goes back to at least the 17th century in its roots. The scarcity of new bluegrbutt tunes, is what prompted Monroe and Carter Stanley to write most of what they did. They saw a need for new songs to keep the genre alive, it cannot end with their works. People have to be willing to accept new material in the format of bluegrbutt. So when I see "traditionalists" labeling bands like Union Station or Nickel Creek, it kinda gets my fur ruffled when people comment "heck they aint real bluegrbutt, none of the ol boys ever played that one"

Amongst its many attributes bluegrbutt is also a niche' music and in terms of record sales, is way down as a bottom feeder, almost rock bottom, usually only topping sales over Christian Rock categories. Who can blame folks for wanting to make some money, doing what they do so well in more popular circles , and in addition, they can pull more people into the bluegrbutt genre, when they become exposed to their music. A writer once commented that Jerry Douglas was the Jimmy Hendrix of the dobro. Many Hendrix fans started listening to Jerry, just to see why and became hooked on bluegrbutt.

good pickin to you Michael

for she took nes=true