Since we first posted about Bluegrass Is My Second Language - A Year In The Life Of An Accidental Bluegrass Musician, the new book by John Santa, we’ve heard from readers who have been deeply touched by its story.

Well, John will be Friday’s (6/6) guest on Lonesome Pine RFD with Carol Beaugard on WFDU-FM (streamed online) for folks who would like to learn more about John and his mid-life conversion to the ways of the mandolin and bluegrass music.

John will join Carol at 10:00 a.m. on Friday to read some excerpts and discuss the book. They will also preview some music from his upcoming CD, The Blessing Of The Strings, which features songs from his book.

The show is broadcast from 9:00 a.m. to noon on 89.1 FM in the NYC area, and streamed live online at WFDU.fm.

John shared one thought about his upcoming interview…

“The irony of songs written from a book about North Carolina by North Carolina songwriters premiering in NEW YORK CITY (!!) is not lost on me.”

In an interesting twist of fate, we found a connection between two recent stories that had run on The Bluegrass Blog earlier this month.

Faithful readers will recall the story from May 7 about North Carolina mandolinist John Santa and his new book of nonfiction, Bluegrass Is My Second Language. On May 8, we had a piece about The Baghdad Bad Boys, a group of US servicemen stationed in Iraq who get together regularly to pick some bluegrass.

Not long after that pair of stories were posted, we heard back from Santa that Lt. Col. Greg Rawlings - who is quoted in the piece about bluegrass in Baghdad - had become a new friend of his, and further, that a group with whom John is affiliated was partly responsible for getting musical instruments and accessories into the hands of the G.I.s in Iraq. To make the coincidence complete, Santa told us that he and Rawlings had become acquainted through his book.

“When Greg went over to Baghdad he complained that the instruments there were in terrible shape so my group, The RDU Session Players went to work.”

I asked Santa to tell me a bit more about this group, and how they had contributed to bluegrass in Baghdad, and he shared this wonderful story - in the same roundabout, narrative style as he tells the many others in Bluegrass Is My Second Language.

“The RDU Session Players is a group I started many years ago, and which is described in more detail in my book.

I write music for films and commercials, and as I got more successful I was able to bring in some of the better local players to work on projects with me. We would knock out the music for the client pretty quickly (like I said, these players were the best of the best), and then sit around and play and always end up saying (as they were packing up their gear) we need to do this more often.

So I started inviting them over once a month and as we got older and they found better ways to make a living in music rather than constantly being on the road, more and more of them came to play. For a long time I didn’t allow spectators on the grounds that the best music played was played FOR musicians and BY musicians at three in the morning. Then one late spring night my neighbors down the street rolled in about 2 AM and saw us outside on the car port and walked up and sat down in the middle of a long jam. (more…)

John Santa is a songwriter, audio technician and sound designer in Chapel Hill, NC. He is also a newly-minted bluegrass picker, playing mandolin with the EightTwentythree band, a passion he developed after many years playing rock and blues music.

His discovery of bluegrass and his fascination with both the music and the people who play it has led him to his latest venture, a book of non-fiction based on his bluegrass experiences. Entitled Bluegrass Is My Second Language - A Year In The Life Of An Accidental Bluegrass Musician, Santa uses his mid-life conversion to the ways of bluegrass to demonstrate how suddenly your life can move in unexpected directions, and how being open to such changes can bring great happiness and wonderful new friends.

Coming in at more than 500 pages, complete with a glossary of musical terms and sheet music for some of the songs he discusses, the tale is one of Santa’s personal journey into what was at first an alien culture for him, though one that had existed alongside him in North Carolina all along.

Bluegrass Is My Second Language should be an interesting read for any bluegrass fan, and perhaps a helpful explanation for family or friends who neither share your addiction, nor even understand its attraction. It is written in a breezy, narrative style coming from the pickers’ perspective, but which also conveys the author’s deep respect for the traditions of the music he has embraced, and the people who have kept it alive for so many years.

The book is available at a number of retailers, and can be ordered from John directly online.