Reno and Smiley

But depending on whether or not I've been practicing some particular thing, I may actually be a horrible resource for this thing.

you know, I remember I spent a lot of time studying Don Reno's playing at one point, which was super fun.

And actually, maybe I should check out some Don Reno guitar stuff now.

But I remember teaching at a camp and there was a Don Reno class that was being taught and the teacher had to leave for one reason or another.

So I had to step in on that class.

I had my classes, but then I said, hey, do you know any Don Reno stuff? Can you step in and teach this? I was like, Oh, yeah, totally.

I got all these tunes set up, whatever.

Step into the class.

Yeah, it was developed, like, uh, yeah, at first it was just anything that had bluegrass banjo.

And then, then I, uh, began to listen to people like J.D. Crowe & The New South, and, um, Flatt and Scruggs, uh, Reno & Smiley, The Stanley Brothers.

That's edgy sort of mountain bluegrass.

There's all these different kind, just like with-

And he brought them out to play for my dad to see if it was the kind of music my dad liked.

And it was Reno and Smiling, Stanley Brothers and things like that.

And we were like, wow, here's some of this music we've never heard before.

He went in the Navy.

And his name was Royce Perkins, and he was maybe away for many years from Maine.

And that banjo sitting there, I wasn't allowed to touch it, of course.

And occasionally we'd put one of his 45 records on the new stereo, like Reno and Smiley.

And they said, oh, we've got to start buying those records.