Big harp comeback

[Bob Loomis <miltloomis@xxxxxxxxx>]

   I played harp (and a little washboard and
resonator ukulele) with the Dan Freeman Texas
Country Band on Saturday at Camp Parks Reserve
Training Facility in Dublin, CA. It was the first
gig I've had in years where I played a lot of
harp. I had a jaw muscle problem around 1990 when
I was trying to be a blues harper and traced it
to movements I was making with my jaw to bend
notes on cross-harp. I've since found that if I
play straight harp, the problem rarely occurs.
  Anyway, it was  a pleasure to find myself able
to fit right in with the country tunes the band
plays. I took my share of leads and people seemed
to like it. It was also nice just to be a sideman
instead of having to sing almost every song as
with my band Grab Bag (wherein I play guitar and
plectrum banjo and John Barclay plays harp). I've
been playing harp quite a bit lately (ironically
because I'm resting my ailing left hand)
andreally enjoying it. 
   I'm finding diatonics much easier and more
suitable sounding to play for country and
bluegrass than chromatics, though I did play some
chrome at a bluegrass jam last week. Anybody else
find this true? Is this why Charlie McCoy and
others mostly seem to use diatonic in country
music? Or am I wrong in that observation ... I am
playing 270s and I find they are a bit like
driving a truck where the diatonics are more like
a sportscar. 

Harpy Webtrails, Bob Loomis
The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo.
http://search.yahoo.com