The Friday Night Jam Sessions!

I was just a kid with dreams of playing the banjo when I landed in Fairbanks in 1973. All that first summer I heard tales of a local stringband called The Sidewinders who were on a tour of Southeast Alaska. When they returned home, I was told that I would be able to hear them at a regular Friday Night Jam Session in the home of Doc and Louise (bless her soul!) South. I hitchhiked across town that Friday to the South's home off of Chena Hot Springs Rd., and met Doc, Louise, their kids and a few other pickers, but no Sidewinders. I was just learning the banjo, had never played with others, and had just come to listen. Well...evidently, "just listening" wasn't part of the program, and Doc took a spare banjo off the wall, handed it to me, said "G,C and D" and off we went through an evening of tunes. For me it was like hanging on to the back of a speeding fire truck. What fun! 

Doc and Louise always made me feel like one of the family, and I even enjoyed a stint with the Doc South Family Band...my very first band...before joining The Sidewinders! So, thank you Doc and Louise for hurling me into the big, fun world of music. It has made all the difference.

(I'll add "June Apple" to Danny's list of tunes learned from Doc. And for me, "Old Molly Hare" will always be Doc's song).

robin dale ford