Little Billy Wilson for the first time.

I hestitated to post this one, because it’s farrrrr from perfect. This is a recording of Butch and I capturing Little Billy Wilson for the first time. You can hear how he was just riffin’ on something on his guitar, and I kinda bumbled in with some dulcimer notes.. And somewhere in there I must’ve gotten the idea to try an A-tune over what he was doing, so Little Billy it was. I’d had Little Billy Wilson in my head since September, 2003, when we heard it at Carp Camp (the biggest, loudest, craziest jam ever) in Winfield, Kansas.

So this recording was done in our living room in Bowling Green, KY, sometime in 2005 I’m guessing. It was our first major clue that it would soon be time to make a proper CD of our music. I guess it showed us that we had something unique to bring to the old time music community–or a unique way to transport old time music out into the rest of the world. So far that’s been working pretty well… Or at least we’ve had some success at dazzling the dulcimer players we meet. Little Billy Wilson has been pointed out to me numerous times as a “favorite” track on our CD. And although I’ve started taking that CD for granted, I was filled with pride and happiness this morning when I went into Niedlov’s for some coffee and was greeted with hugs all because they love the music. Awesome. Makes me wanna do it again.

So this is basically the sound of Butch and I having a meeting of the minds over this tune. As far as I recall, we have never discussed anything about arrangement or mood when it comes to this one. What a happy accident!

Little Billy Wilson, Butch and Christie’s living room, sometime in 2005, probably.

Obviously, this photo was taken at a completely different time, but in the same house…so maybe it has some of the same vibe. I like how it looks like I have glowing devil horns. Goes nicely with the banjo.