Ronnie Simpkins

Mm-hmm.

I asked everybody the same question, like, who do you key off of to keep the rhythm, keep the pocket? And I asked Ronnie Simpkins, who played a lot with Tony.

And of course, he said, oh, I just listen to the rhythm guitar.

But of course, he's listening to

And so everybody goes around solo.

So at one point, someone nodded at the bass player to solo, but the guitar player next to him soloed at the same time.

So there were these two guys just basing guitar, and it was the best moment of the whole night because they didn't realize they were each soloing at the same time, but the interplay, even though it wasn't really interplay, it just sounded so fantastic.

Oh, it's just by accident.

Yeah, so when you're in a band, bluegrass band, the mandolin obviously has an important role.

As you mentioned, the chop is usually the mandolin's rhythm area.

So when you're playing chop in a band, who are you keying off of to get the pocket, get the groove, keep the groove? Are you keying off the bass player all the time? Who was I talking to? Somebody said, no, I key off.

I was talking to a bass player, actually, Ronnie Simpkins.