Bluegrass Boogie

J introduced me to bluegrass a while ago and since I'm not a fan of country music, I had no expectation of liking it.  It took almost no time at all for me to realize that bluegrass is NOT country music.  The intricate melodies skillfully played on various string instruments, the crystal clear voices, and the addicting vocal harmonies immediately roped me in, and I was a fan.  The band I was most strongly drawn to was Hot Rize and there was many a car trip where their CD was played on repeat.  Here's a sample - it's one of my favorites (a couple more good ones here):

What made me think of this today?  Well, Boeing's Houston site hosted a Multicultural Festival today and one of the fantastic contributions was a small string-instrument-playing band of children!  They ranged in age from 6 to 13 (!!) and played in a variety of combinations with violins, fiddles, guitar, cello, bass, and keyboard focusing mainly on bluegrass type melodies.

They were such a fantastically talented group of kids (props to their teacher too!) and I had trouble tearing myself away to get back to work.  I took a handful of pictures and videos to remember them, though.  There was one of the fiddle players who actually sang some bluegrass too!

(poster from here)