Picture of the day - May 4, 2007

A Fun Evening At The Pickin' Porch Show

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but sometimes it takes more than a single picture to tell a story. Last night's Pickin' Porch Show was jam-packed with fun and great Bluegrass music from start to finish, so there is no way to really do the story justice without showing several snapshots of the action. Last night's show was a bit unusual to say the least. The group that was originally scheduled to perform cancelled earlier in the week, then just a couple of hours before the show was to begin the replacement performer cancelled as well. This unexpected turn of events left booking manager Teddy Helton scrambling to find yet another act to perform on extremely short notice, so he contacted Pickin' Porch regulars The Skinner Family. Always eager to help out any way they can, Jason and his wonderful family graciously agreed to hurry on over to the Comfort Systems USA Performance Center and give the audience what they came to hear: plenty of great Bluegrass music! Every time The Skinners perform on the Pickin' Porch stage they seem to do even better than they did the last time, which is quite a feat since they always sound absolutely great! Jason and Jennifer obviously spend a lot of time teaching young Zane and Alyssa how to play their instruments and perform in front of a crowd. As you can see in the photo below, they really seem to enjoy performing, and the crowd always appreciates their fine efforts. Although he is just 11 and still needs a stool to reach the microphone, Zane is already one of the best mandolin pickers around. It's always a treat watching him play song after song without missing a lick, even on the most difficult numbers such as Bill Monroe's "Rawhide".   And then there is 8 year old Alyssa, one of the cutest little dobro players in the country (if you don't believe me just read her shirt!). This little lady can already play the dobro just as well as many adults, and before long she'll be doing it better than most. Mark my words...   The usually silent Teddy Helton played along with the Skinners on bass, and at one point during the show several members of the audience requested that he step up to the mic and sing. He reluctantly obliged by borrowing Jennifer's guitar and singing a cute song about "Sweet Linda". Teddy doesn't sing very often, but when he does he really gets the crowd going! I don't know of a single person who doesn't like Teddy Helton, and everyone loves to hear him sing one of his "entertaining" songs. Well, the evening didn't go as planned, but I sure didn't hear anyone complaining about it! In addition to their talents for making great music, the Skinners also happen to be some of the nicest people on the planet. Throw the amiable Teddy Helton into the mix and you have a recipe for a fun and highly entertaining show - and so it was.   Visit the POTD Archives for previous "Pictures Of The Day"!     Submit a photo of your own!            Why I publish the "Picture of the Day"