Picked this potato bug mandolin up at an antique store yesterday. I think it is likely WWI era. It even had some gut strings on it.
Tomorrow the last known existing very high percentage breeding pair of Grand Canyon Colonial Spanish horses will arrive here.
The mandolin is joining our music program for much the same reason that the Grand Canyons are joining our breeding program.
The very same reason I like Old vaquero tack, and the methods used in making it. Cowboys would sit around the bunkhouse fixing things of an evening, maybe one old hand is teaching the youngster a new button knot, couple of fellows replacing the hondas on their reatas..there was much history made there we will never hear about. How many nights has that old mandolin entertained the neighbors, or played in church..history we will never hear, but it was important to somebody.
ReplyDeleteOur kids learn hide tanning, mounted archery, gardening, simple agriculture and lots and lots of practical history. If it were easy, everyone would do it, thing "Everyone" does not understand is that doing the hard thing mmakes the easy thing all that much easier..and you can see where that goes.
It is not difficult to see how those little grand canyon horses came to be..they are a natural extension of our Banker horses..they just went farther than the shipwrecks which occurred on the east coast..they conquered a continent..Just like that mandolin.
Folks came here from all over the world, bringing their own unique traditions and crafts with them, they brought their music, which when added to the melting pot that is America, melded to make up American folk, and Bluegrass music..and it went west on the prarie schooner behind a couple of oxen, fetched up on a different shore..Listen to old western music..listen to the unique brand of country music as it is played in northern California..there lies the the story of a nation being built. It all ties together.
If you want to get a feel for the Grand canyon horse, the Wilbur Cruce, the plains indian pony, the Banker and the Cracker...click on over to youtube and look up a song by Ian Tyson called La Primera. if you have a soul for these horses, that song will give you goose bumps. -Lloyd
Glad you mentioned Ian Tyson's great song, Lloyd. Couldn't remember the artist when I was telling Kelly about it before she left.--Vik
ReplyDeleteOK, Queen Jane is a Grand Canyon. Now I need to see a photo of her.
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