Not many of us from the American West - Doug in Colorado, Alice in Montana, and me, I'm Jon in Utah. I got into folk music through the blues - starting with blues/rock and working back to the originals like Blind Willie McTell. Then a friend at work introduced me to Irish music through the recordings of Planxty and others. From there I have started listening to other types of folk a little also. I used to play bass guitar, picked up six-string when I got into acoustic blues, later took up tin whistle enough to play the melodies but not the twiddly bits (as Alison calls them) and still later my current obsession, banjo. I play 5-string in a melodic finger oriented style based on a book by Ken Perlman that features mostly Irish & New England fiddle tunes. I have performed very rarely and only in local neighborhood talent show type of things, where I usually do so poorly I embarrass myself. But I keep trying.

I have a wife and seven daughters ages 15 down to 2. Most have more musical talent than I. My wife has sung with choirs and symphonies and majored in music. The weather here (Salt Lake City area) has been nice for a few days, getting cold at nights but fairly warm during the days. The leaves are turning and falling.

I've been visiting the Mudcat almost daily for over a year. Does that qualify as addiction?