This post is a contribution from world renowned podcast celebrity Wichita Rutherford. Be sure to visit his site 5MinutesWithWichita.com to listen to his weekly podcast featuring interviews with bluegrass stars.

Do you like hats? I love seeing them on somebody who wears them well. Jerry Cherryholmes wears a hat well. So do his boys. Bobby Osborne goes without saying as does Mac Wiseman. Do we even need to bring Bill into this? Few things are more humorous than someone who tries to wear a hat that just doesn”t “take”. My uncle Edward for example. 78 years old and nobody ever told him that when he wears a hat it looks like there”s been an attempt to kidnap him and he got away and forgot to take off the blindfold they tried to put over his face. Oh its pitiful. You”d think one of his closer loved ones would say something to him. I guess I could. But what would we talk about at Thanksgiving? His sister, Aunt Mayetta, always thinks the flower arrangement on the table is a cat and she tries to “shoo” it away. “If Marilyn catches you on her table she”ll gut you like a Christmas goose! She will too. I”ve seen her do it!” She”s been saying that as long as I can remember. I believe NASA is studying her for their Mars program because she”s been 87 for about 36 years and has apparently discovered some sort of suspended animation without having to be asleep. She wears a little Christmas hat every year. It”s the same one. It just sits there” bobby pinned to the side of her head just daring me to pull it off and put it on myself and start talking like her. It would be so easy. She probably wouldn”t even know it. Oh bless her heart. Then she looks at me with those sweet little old lady eyes, pats my hand and says “How are you honey? I sure love you. You”re gettin’ so biiiiiig”" Then she tells me the same story she always tells about how she got me my first hat on my 5th birthday. A little cowboy hat. With a badge on the front. I”ve been wearing one ever since. Sans badge. “You looked like a little Bill Monroe” she”d say. “Of course he had good teeth and took better care of his hair. But you sure were sweet.” Oh the older ones loving the younger ones and the younger ones loving the older ones. A bizarre dichotomy when you get right down to it. Then add a bunch of hats to all that. Wow. And guess what… it”s the Bluegrass way.

Your pal,

Wichita