The February issue of Bluegrass by the Bay features an interview with Nashville Bluegrass Band mandolinist Mike Compton. Mike and the rest of NBB will be here for the RBA concert series on Feb. 13th and an SFBOT show at the Freight & Salvage on the 14th.

The PDF version can be downloaded from the Members Area of the website; subscribers to the paper edition should have theirs later this week.

The new year is almost upon us and with it a new issue of Bluegrass by the Bay. NCBS members can download the PDF from the members area of the website. Printed copies are in the mail and will hopefully reach you before the first weekend of 2010.

Each member of the Northern California Bluegrass Society can place a free want ad in Bluegrass By The Bay magazine each month. The ads are useful for informing fellow members about lessons, instruments, bands, websites and other bluegrass-related matters. Members can submit ad copy to the (BBB Editors) bluegrassbythebay (at) gmail (dot) com before the 10th of the month preceding publication.

Dr. Elmo Schropshire of Novato, who has appeared many times with his band “Wild Blue” on NCBS stages over the years, will be featured on ABC-TV’s “Good Morning America” program this Saturday morning, December 12. The segment will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the release of the unusual Christmas record “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer” by the then Bay Area bluegrass act Elmo & Patsy & The Homestead Act.

The program will include film shot this past week in the Bay Area with Elmo and other local participants in the recording and promotion of the song, some with a merry view…but others not so merry. The program will appear on Channel 7 in the Bay Area.

RIGHT: Patsy & Elmo Schropshire in 1984.

The story behind the best selling holiday tune of all times is Bay Area bluegrass history at its zaniest and worth reading up on if you haven’t yet. Here are some fun current articles about the unlikely, but meteroic rise of “Grandma” to the top of the charts a quarter of a century ago:

SF Chronicle “Wayback” Column “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer At No. 1,”  December 6, 2009.  (The band story)

SF Chronicle “Radio Waves” Column (halfway down) “Good Morning Grandma,” December 11, 2009. (The radio story)

Vanderbilt Magazine “Southern Journal” Column “All I Want For Christmas Is Another Grandma,” December, 2009. (The songwriter story)

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12/12/09 Update: The Good Morning America Weekend segment (under “GMA Hot List”).

The December issue of Bluegrass by the Bay is now available for download in the Members Area of the website. It’s a little thinner than usual this month to save your poor editors’ holiday-frazzled brain cells, but it includes a lovely and lively remembrance of Yodeling Lady Lolita written by Mike McKinley.

Subscribers to the print edition can expect it in their mailboxes soon, thanks to the work of our dedicated membership chair Gary Anwyl.