Happy Birthday Russ!

Yesterday evening, Alan, Charles, Gary, Jeff, Paul and I played at Russ Logan's 80th birthday party, at the invitation of Russ' wife, Carolee.   Alan was roaring hot on his Tele, and we had a great time.  We sang in the formal living room, and people either walked through, or sat in folding chairs to take in the concert.

Russ is the "papa" of our band, playing mandolin, guitar and 6-string banjo.  But this night was for Russ, so he was part of the audience, cheering us on.   In the picture at the top of this blog, he is the dark haired gentlemen immediately to my left, playing the mandolin.   

Truth is . . . none of us in the band knew Russ was that old!  He doesn't look 80, he doesn't act 80, and he sure as heck doesn't play like he is 80.  He is still a very young man in heart and spirit.  As an engineer for Texas Instruments for many years, he accumulated over three type written pages of patents.  His family is one of the esteemed musical families of West Texas.  His late brother, Homer, was a world class country western swing fiddler, and his brother, Tex, has been one of the best bluegrass fiddlers along the east coast.   Russ holds his own with mandolin and guitar.

80 years old!  C'mon, no way!

Happy birthday Russ!  We all love and appreciate you so much.