Performing acoustic music outdoors has been a pursuit of mine for a long time. It all started on a family camping trip when I was in high school. While walking around the campground late one dark night I heard a banjo and guitar being played at fireside. Magic! The sound drew me in as I crept over and listened from a distance. I was hooked, and quickly started my venture into acoustic music (playing my trumpet by fireside just wouldn’t be the same).

When my kids joined 4-H I got involved as a volunteer in many activities. When they became old enough they joined our 4-H/BSA Venturer Program in Kansas, and so did I. We take these young people on backpacking trips, wilderness canoe trips, white water trips, caving, etc. A few of us also like to play acoustic music, so when we’re back in civilization and meet to prepare for a trip, we jam afterwards.

Why not take that on our road trips to the wilderness? My brass tone ring bluegrass banjo would be too loud and cumbersome. A smaller guitar was easy to find so that was my first purchase. The quest for the light banjo was much harder, but met with success when I found the Deering Good Time banjo. Eureka! The picture shows us the night before put-in on our wilderness canoe trip in the Boundary Waters of northern Minnesota in the summer of 2005. We are jamming on our outfitter’s deck that overlooks Moose Lake. We jammed around on the road trip, too. It’s a mix of sing-alongs and performing, and of youth and adults. Total strangers come up and chat with us. Live music, friends and the wilderness just go together!