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So, how did all of this get started? One day I got this e-mail forwarded to us from Edie and Sam Thibodeau (aka Tidwell). The e-mail was forwarded to Edie from her son Frank Thompson in Burrillville, RI. Frank had seen an article about a new Bluegrass association    for RI and southern New England musicians founded by Pascoag, RI native Richard Guilbault who took lessons from Sam way, way, way back .  

Here is a quotefrom that press release  “Guilbault says that part of the association’s mission will be working to spread the popularity of bluegrass for present and future generations. But while others will focus on that effort, his personal interest within the association is recognizing and preserving the music’s history. He is collecting historic accounts of bluegrass musicians in Rhode Island, with information on the music’s local performers from the present day back to the 1930s and ‘40s.”

From an e-mail from Rich  “This is the meat and potatoes of my new organization: To give due credit to those who set the stage for the current BG society in the Southern New England area, and to tell the story as it was, back in the day. I truly feel that if I don’t do it nobody will and eventually all these pioneers will be gone and we will have no record of their doings. What you have opened is a “gate” to so much in the way of memories and feelings. Now the gate is opened I feel compelled to keep on moving–to find out as much as I can and to spread the word for all those who might or might not remember these folks. They were BG musicians, yes, but they wewre also people and personalities. Each has their own story and I want to tell it.”

What Rich is referring to (“the gate”) is that I sent him an e-mail inquiring if he wanted pictures and a bio of Bob. It was at that point that we realized that Bob is in his 40th year of Bluegrass and we should chronicle it here and let Rich take what he needs for his site. Then that mushroomed to include Sam (my cousin and Bob’s introduction to Bluegrass – without an introduction to each other). As we were digging through pictures (OK, you don’t “dig through” pictures on the computer) we found more RI and New Englanders and added more pages.

Sam has sent some from his prized collection and his son Dave sent 30 via e-mail