WEll BonAmi, this ain't real helpful, but if you listen to the real authentic blues guys and most of the old timey mountain bunch, you'll notice that technique and great pickin' really aren't a big factor. Playing great is wonderful and all that and I love great pickers, but I like authentic, "from the heart" folks a lot more.

Do you ever listen to Frank Proffitt? I think you need to. The playing is adequate in technique, but sure nothing to write home about. His singing by most standards of performance is pretty poor. But listen to him. In every twangy note and missed beat and nasal lyric is truth and authenticity. Whatever he may lack in everything else, Frank Proffitt could deliver a song in such a way that gives me shivvers sometimes when I listen to him.

Thing is, the worst I can do is to try and be Frank Proffitt. Imitation may be flattery, but it is imitation and therefore not real, not from your heart. When I sing one of Frank's songs (or one I heard him do) that I really like, all I can do is to make it mine in the best way I know how. It's not the notes, the beat, the words, the pickin'........it's truth. I always believed in that truth, but it was hammered home by listening to Frank.

Spaw