Obray, when I first knew your dad he was playing banjo mostly with a harmonica in the handless wire rack that people use, very much like Woody Guthrie only with banjo. He taught me "Fair Ellender", "Pastures of Plenty", "Don't Mind Marryin'", "Hobo's Lullaby", "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie", and a bunch of other songs, some his and some others'. He may not have had a great voice, but he could yodel pretty good.   I never heard anyone yodel the chorus of "Long Black Veil" like he did. His was a high bluegrass kind of voice, though he didn't do any bluegrass when I knew him. I could easily fill an hour or two with stories of Mel and the things I learned from him and the experiences he led me to or provided for me.

Your mother probably doesn't remember me, but I do owe her an apology, which I'd like you to pass on for me if you would. In Portland OR and Marshall NC I imposed on her a great deal. She fed me and gave me a pallet on her floor and didn't fuss when I sang seriously drunk at midnight and woke you kids. I have always thought she was one of the finest women I knew.

I've read much of the stuff on the website you mention, and to me the negative stuff is all pretty much offset by the time he took me to hear Jesse Fuller live on Beacon Street, or the time I got to sit up all night in his living room in Portland west singing the blues with Brownie McGhee and drinking Mel's homebrew.

I'll try to track down the lyrics to "Roaming is a Fever" through the Family. I remember the tune. I don'y want ot listen to it, I want to sing it.   I found the "America" album last year in a second-hand store in Santa Cruz CA, and I enjoy it hugely..

I'm very glad to hear you are doing well, and your mother also. I have forgotten your olest sister's name. but I remember her as a very mature six-year-old, and I hope she too is well.

Thanks for the memories.