Worth the Wait ~ A Wade Morse Bluegrass Jam

TREMENDOUS VETERAN BLUEGRASS PICKERS, AMAZING ACOUSTICS (720p-HD).

Also see Part 2.   • Worth the Wait (Pt. 2) ~ A WADE MORSE...  

If the Creator wanted to offer a little bluegrass redemption, I think He might consider Wade and Laverne Morse's big barn (I fondly call it "Nickajack.") and songs like these sung by this ensemble of wonderful pickers.

It was a chilly night in early February near Sanford, Florida. The tall RV structure, filled with Cracker Barrel-like momentos and a wide assortment of tools and devices was heated by a sole propane jet blaster that emitted a constant background whoosh but felt mighty good within its red glow. I hated to ask Wade to turn it off for video recording, but he and the guests understood and bundled up for the long evening. We broke periodically from recording to re-heat and eat from the great smorgasbord prepared by our gracious hosts, Lavergne and Wade.

This is the toughest editing challenge I have ever faced, bar none. I started with roughly sixty outstanding songs, all worthy of keeping, but not a workable length for YouTube..

Even though this is a jam, and the tunes were performed spontaneously, I don't know what it is about these pickers that come here from all over, but many know each other and have jammed together for a long time. Others have played professionally. They just know how to listen and play well. I agonized over the raw video and worked the list from sixty or so down to something under twenty. A lot of great songs were sacrificed, and the video is still ample, but I hope you like it. It's the best of the best.

The following musicians come from East Tennessee, North Georgia, and Central Florida including Orlando, Christmas, Winter Garden, and the Lake County, Eustis area:

PERSONNEL (alphabetical order)
Bill Barnard -- lead guitar, vocals
Gerald Clements -- fiddle, vocal
Derek Deakins -- fiddle
Steve Houston -- mandolin, vocals
Bill Miller -- upright 1937 Kay bass
Patrick Moran -- resonator guitar (dobro), vocals
Colton McCormick - banjo
Stephanie Murphy -- guitar, vocal
Bill Norman -- guitar
Bill Phillips -- guitar, vocals
James Rogers -- principal banjo, vocals
Randall Screws -- guitar, banjo
Randy Screws -- guitar, vocals

TECHNICAL NOTES
I wanted to offer you this video as a single program rather than broken into parts for which you would need to search, because I wanted it to have a sense of unity from beginning to end. Feel free to pause and resume.if necessary.
You may notice edits or dissolves near the end of some extended tunes. The video camera only records in 5-minute segments and stops. If a song continues for more than 5 minutes recording must be manually restarted, and the two clips must be attached as seemlessly as possible, not an easy task.

Copyright Disclaimer--"Copyright Disclaimer under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use." NOT FOR COMMERCIAL USE.