Contest Results for Eureka, MO Festival

MABC's Youth Competitions at the 11th Annual Spring Indoor Bluegrass Festival were great.  We had a total of 38 contestants (combined) for the fiddle, banjo and talent competition.  As usual, the talent was simply amazing!  It gets better every year.  Here are the contest results:

Junior Banjo


1st - Nikki Warnecke (Most Entertaining)

2nd - Christi Gray (Youngest)

3rd - Lucas Worthington

4th - Emily Hall

5th - Curtis Lewis



Fiddle Contest

1st - Heather Stortz

2nd - Rosemary Hall

3rd - Trustin Baker (Most Entertaining)

4th - Makayla Smith

5th - Paige Johnson

Audrey Neel - Youngest



Other Talent

1st - The Pickin' Chicks

2nd - The Baker's

3rd - Emily & Rosemary Hall

4th - Paige Rumelhart

5th - Mallory Warnecke



Great job everyone!

March 19, 2011

The Bluegrass Shack will be closed on Saturday, March 19, 2011.  Come join us in Eureka, MO for the big bluegrass festival!

Bluegrass This Weekend!

This weekend is MABC's 11th Annual Spring Indoor Bluegrass Festival held in Eureka, MO.  On Friday, March 18, 2011, I will be managing the Youth Fiddle, Banjo, and Talent Competitions.  You really don't want to miss this!  It is absolutely amazing to see the talent of the up-and-coming musicians.  There will be a free movie on Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m., and bluegrass bands for all of the rest of the afternoon and evening!  There is lots of jamming around the entire facility, so bring your instruments or just yourself and join in the fun!  Click here for a copy of the flyer.

Nikki Picks the Banjo!

It's been a while since I posted anything of Nikki's lately.  She has been playing banjo for four years now and is really doing well.  I took this video today for Nikki to practice with, so I wasn't actually intending to post it.  (Surprise, surprise Nikki!)  It turned out so good I thought I'd go ahead and post it for everyone to listen to.  Great job, Nikki!

New Banjo DVD Now Available!

Bluegrass Shack Productions is proud to present Chris Talley Armstrong's 2nd instructional banjo DVD -- Easy Banjo Tunes 1.   It is now available for purchase on the Learn Bluegrass website, or directly from The Bluegrass Shack.

As with all of Chris' instructional DVDs, every song is explained in detail, note by note.  Tab is also available as a free download for every song on the DVD for those that would like to have that available as an additional learning aid.  The best part?  Over 60 minutes of instruction for only $21.99!

Songs on the DVD include Blackberry Blossom, Old Joe Clark, Bill Cheatham, Clinch Mountain Backstep and Turkey in the Straw.  Take a look at the YouTube video below to see actual footage from the DVD.