River Bound

A fun day in Kirkwood! Check out the "Morning Pancake Breakfast featuring Chris Cakes" - RIVER BOUND will be there providing toe-tapping bluegrass music to accompany your breakfast! 8:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. at the Kirkwood Fire Station, 137 West Argonne Drive, Kirkwood, Missouri.

Route 66 Cars and Guitars Festival 2022 | City Of Kirkwood, MO The festival's theme of "Cars and Guitars" speaks to the rich transportation and music history of the region. Live music and vintage vehicles will anchor this outdoor event.

RIVER BOUND musicians, like everyone else in the world, have dealt with the ongoing pandemic in a variety of ways. Suffice it to say that we've all missed making music together and occasionally performing in public. While our plans are still pending, we are all now fully vaccinated and hope to resurface soon. Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, RIVER BOUND mandolin player Bert Emmons recently travelled to Knoxville, Tennessee to visit family. While there, he took the opportunity to drive an additional ninety miles north of Knoxville to Church Hill, Tennessee. Church Hill is nestled in the beautiful foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, and just a few miles from Tennessee's borders with Kentucky, Virginia, and North Carolina. Yep, pretty much the birthplace of old time music, the roots of what became the bluegrass music that the band so loves.

The reason for Bert's pilgrimage is because Church Hill is where his 1995 Ratliff R-5 mandolin was born. And he was grateful that mandolin maker Audey Ratliff had time for Bert to visit. Audey has been making high quality mandolins, one-at-a-time, since 1982 and has built over 1200 instruments (Bert's is Audey's #533).

Audey looked at Bert's mandolin, pronounced it fit for continued use, and shared a few stories about his mandolin-building techniques, bluegrass music, and his personal story, which includes a stint as bass player for Ralph Stanley.

Bert says he's grateful to have been able to take his mandolin to its original home, to visit with Audey, and to have been able to share thoughts about this important original American roots music. If you get the chance, check out Audey at www.ratliffmandolins.com, or look up one of his many videos on YouTube.