What Arnie and ruth said, go with the vibes and you'll do great, and don't forget the black cloggs to go with those red sox!!!!!!!!!! (when's your album coming out?)

cheryl!!!!!!

you'll do fine!

All kidding aside, Cheryl, I know that you'll do great! Good luck in your performance!

i wasn't kidding!

No, no, no, no, I meant I was kidding about Cheryl's set list....Oh, never mind!

Hey Cheryl! I realize you've been mighty busy all weekend, hope you enjoyed the Blunderful Concerts!
But, kiddo, how was your experience playin' at Church?~I'm sure you did great, but cant wait to hear 'bout it! Let us know!

Well, I survived performing in church Sun nite. How the service worked was they had the congregation sing hymns every so often between the acts. I was the 3rd act. I asked if they wanted me to introduce the instruments & they did so I had to come with Yikes stage banter! I played the dulcimer first. I said it was popular in hillbilly areas of KY like where Mike & his brother Bill & Bills wife Bonnie were from. Folks laughed. I did a coupla verse of Morning Has Broken & then a coupla verses of Just As I am Without One Plea. I got nervous & missed a coupla notes & had to compensate for that. On autoharp I played We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder & then Kum By Yah. A poltergeist hit while I was autoharping cuz... Suddenly my Herco thumbpick flew off my finger. I was mortified. I couldn't stop & fetch it or goof up the song. So I had to continue using my other fingers & no thumb. I had wrote down a set list of what I was gonna lay & accidentally left it at home. While playing We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder I couldn't remember that I was supposed to play Kum By Yah next. My mind went blank as to what to do so I wound up playing another verse of We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder & then going into Kum By Yah. Then last I played my canjo which is a can banjo which is a banjo made out of a coffee can. I played on it When The Saints Go Marching In. I didn't look at the audience except once by mistake & I saw black. Instead I looked at my instruments so I could concentrate on my playing. I sat in a chair & they had a mike in front of me to mike me. I survived despite my stage fright. Folks clapped when I was done.

Other acts either sang or played instruments. Like Diana the lady who plays the flute in church played the flute. Becky a young woman with a hubby & several little girls did How Great Thou art & teared up doing it & had to stop & regain her composure. Werner did a song on the guitar which he played & sang. We later found out from him he took a folks song & made up his own words to it, the folk process & he plays banjo too. It was a nice nite. Everyone in the audience was either church folks we knew and also Mikes cousin Sheila who came to see it. We went out to eat at Shoneys with Sheila later.

Thanks for the support ya'll. It was scary but I made it.

I remember when Tristan was 4 years old and his little church school did their end of the year show. Tristan stood there with his back to the audience. I later asked him why he didn't want to be part of the show and he told me he was singing, he just had to face backwards so he wouldn't be scared.

Arlo tells a story about his first time on stage, playing 3 songs during a Cisco Huston concert at the age of 13. He recounts how long it took him to get to the mike & how he had no feeling in his legs (like a monster movie!). He couldn't get his breath & it seemed to take forever to get through his set (which didn't include any of his long songs!) As a side note, Woody once told Arlo, "If you can't be great, be long." Afterwards, he recalls saying to himself, "Arlo, you are never doing that again!" But of course, he's still doing it (Thank Goodness!). So the moral of this story is two-fold: You're in good company (Arlo!) & you should keep on doing it. Congratulations on your performance!

Glad you made it through OK, Cheryl. Congratulations.
Your's and Mike's presence will be missed at the Newberry show next week.

Thanks for the support ya'll. I survived but hopefully won't have to face an audience for along time. Too scary... We'll miss you & everyone else at Newberry. Missed you guys at the shows...

This bulletin just came in:

Following the rousing success of Banjoman: A Tribute to Derroll Adams, Rising Son Records has announced that it is releasing a new 2-CD collection, Canjowoman: A Tribute to Cheryl Harrell.

More details as they become available, if they ever do.

LOL. & It is free with every purchase cuz no one would want to pay good $$$ for a record by me rotfl...

The bootleg audience recording of Cheryl's performance will (no doubt) appear on Arlonet's Rare Tape Registry within the next few weeks... All kidding aside, Cheryl, congratulations! I don't know about anyone else, but I wanna see a photo of this Canjo!
Hank

Here ya go! & It's being played by a fellow blunderite...