I made my annual 700 mile trek up to Sorrento, B.C. a couple weeks ago for their weeklong Bluegrass Workshop. This year marked the 20th year they’ve held the camp. It was great as usual…..lots of picking late into the night. I didn’t get a lot of sleep, but I have the rest of the year to catch up!

I took the advanced rythym guitar class this year taught by Chris Stevens. It was great…..if you’ve never met Chris there is no describing the guy….he kept us enterained, so say the least. Brian and Caroline were there again, of course, and brought along a friend of theirs from Bozeman (his name escapes me), but he’s a fine bluegrass singer.

We had a good size fire up on the mountain just south of us that kept things interesting. It got a little smokey at times, but not bad.

There were around 250 musicians (students) there for the week. You can’t get through the gate if you are not taking a class, so as you can imagaine with 250 pickers around the jamming was pretty much nonstop.

This has become an annual event for me. It’s well worth the long drive….if it wasn’t I wouldn’t go back every year. It’s a solid week of bluegrass….no phone, no tv, no work, no newspapers…….nothing but good old mountain music. Does it get any better than that? 🙂

Here’s a little clip on youtube of a group we threw together for the student concert.

Tim Whitney
Chinook

Just a reminder that we are having our 3rd annual gathering in Zurich the first weekend in May (1, 2, and 3)…   Potluck on Saturday night.   Weather permitting, we’ll be outside most of the weekend.  If not, we’ll gather round the fireplace in the pavillion…….either way, we’ll be playing a lot of music.  For those who are not familiar with the beautiful Milk River Valley in Northcentral Montana, Zurich Park is approximately 32 miles east of Havre just off U.S. Highway 2.   Plenty of places to camp…  There are no shower facilities, but there are some outhouses.  It’s a nice park nestled in a grove of cottonwood trees.  We should be in between mud season and mosquito season, so take a drive on over and join us…  Give me a call or drop me an e-mail if you have any questions.   tjwhitney69@yahoo.com    406-357-3840

We are having our 3rd annual jam/campout at Zurich Park on May 1, 2, and 3 this year.  We’ve had an excellent turnout the first two years with folks coming from the Billings area, Livingston, Helena, Glasgow in addition to around the Chinook/Havre/Harlem area.  We have been blessed with nearly perfect weather the first two years, but there is a large pavillion we have rented at the park in case we have some bad weather.  It’s heated with a stove as well as a large fireplace.  Steve Hughs ramrods this event.  He can be reached at 406-353-2655.

Zurich Park is located approximately 32 miles east of Havre just off U.S. Highway 2 (approximatley 2 miles north of the highway) in the beautiful Milk River Valley of Northcentral Montana.  It’s a very nice park with plenty of places to camp.  There are motels in Chinook and Havre for those who do not wish to camp.

So, come on over and join us…  It’s not all that far…  Shoot, Missoula is only about 100 miles from Montana.  🙂

Tim