Looking Back at Some Fun Events of 2015

Last year was another busy year for the Annie Mae Rhodes Band as we had many fun performances around the local area. During the last summer we had the honor of playing for the regional VFW picnic in Lowell and the food was fantastic and the people were so amazing and friendly. They must have heard we were coming far in advance though and had to put up a special warning sign that the world famous Herb Hill would be loose at the picnic celebration. LOL

One of our other regular performance spots each year is the Shady Oaks Father's Day brunch. We always love having our youngest member of the the band Miss Clara Lynn join in for a couple of her favorite songs. She just gets better every year and always steals the show, and now she has learned how to play the Ukulele too!  

Be sure to check back to see more updates of our fun adventures and be sure to check out our next upcoming event performances listed on the right hand side of our blog ----------->>>>>

Bluegrass State of Mind

We have finished the recording of our new CD and now have copies available to purchase. Here is a video of the title song for everyone to watch from the new album "Bluegrass State of Mind". The trip Annie took back to North Carolina recently was a fantastic adventure and she visited with many friends and family and also made a stop at the radio station WKRK in Murphy that plays her music. Hope you enjoy this slideshow video we put together of some of our recent activities the last year. If you like our music and want to buy a CD you can visit CDBaby.com to to purchase this awesome album!

Looking Back

The past year has been very busy as usual for the annie mae Rhodes Band, and we have enjoyed many fun and exciting events around the area. One of the highlights was the Cottage Grove Bohemia Days Celebration where we were entertained by Chris Booher and his wife and kids. Chris has a very talented group of kids who play fiddle and sing and they put on a great show. Here below are a few pictures from some of the activities and events we performed at over the last year.

Chris Booher Family Band

Setting up at Bohemia Days

Father's Day at Shady Oaks

 Friday Night Indoors at Saginaw Vineyard

The Youngest Member of the Band

We have so much fun playing music and Annie's grand daughter Clara Lynn has got the bug too. She loves singing songs with the band and so from time to time she will get up on stage and perform one of her favorites. It is so much fun to listen and watch Clara Lynn and the crowd always cheers her on. She seems to steal the show every time she gets on stage with us and I am sure we will see her more often as she grows older and learns more songs.

Another Sell out Crowd at the Crab Feed

This last February was the 5th annual Habitat for Humanity Crab Feed and just as before, it was a sell out crowd. Everyone seems to love the event every year and  there are plenty of crab legs to go around so if you haven't been to one yet you should make plans to attend next year. Our band always has a great time playing for the crab feed, we enjoying seeing all the people having a good time and they really give us a great response to our music. 

It is so awesome to have a great activity for the whole family to enjoy and for a worthy cause too. Unfortunately the only the missing this year was our amazing fiddle player Linda Danielson could not be there since she had traveled to Thailand to visit her cousin. We are happy that she made it back safe & sound and she had a great trip report to tell when she got back. Be sure to come see us perform this year and you can visit and talk to Linda or anyone else in the band and learn more about us and our adventures.

   

   

Fund Raising Event at Saginaw Vineyard

This past year has been another fun filled list of activities for our band. We have many functions we play each year and some gigs that pop up from time to time that are new. We always enjoy our normal Saginaw Vineyard events, but this year we were involved with a fund raising event for a local celebrity favorite, Marty Martin. Saginaw Vineyard was the host of the fund raiser and with the help and planning from Larry Barkemeyer, we helped by performing during the 4 hour show. Along with our band was Larry's group The Huckleberrys, and also a Eugene favorite, Fiddling Sue. The event was a great success and over a thousand dollars was raised to lend Marty a hand in battling his cancer. We wish the best for Marty Martin and look forward to seeing him continue singing and spreading joy around the community.

Summer Events

This past summer we had our usual busy schedule of various functions around Cottage Grove. One of the big events that we performed for was the Covered Bridge Celebration at the new park on 10th street. The festival was a big success and many people came out to enjoy the activities and shows throughout the day. While we were there, we thought it would be fun to get some new pictures of the band in the new park and so we asked Kelly's niece Amy to come down and take some photos for us. Amy is a great photographer and we really appreciate all the pictures she took. Here are just a few of our favorites.

So now that the year is near an end, we look forward to the new year coming up and more great fun we will be having around the community. Be sure to check in from time to time to see what we will have on our "performance dates" schedule located on the right side of our blog. Hope to see ya soon!

Third Annual Crab Feed

This last February we had the pleasure of performing again for the Cottage Grove Habitat for Humanity Crab Feed fund raising event. This was the third time they have held this dinner and all three times has been a huge success. It is always fun to see all the guests crack crab and get all messy and see the big smile on their faces. The dinner is so popular that they need to split up the dinner into two separate times during the evening to allow everyone a chance to get a seat at one of the many tables.

Our band played music through the whole three hour event with a break in between while they cleaned tables for the second group. Since we have been very active playing for many Habitat events, I had the privilege of writing the "Habitat For Humanity Song" for the local Cottage Grove chapter. With many people coming and going during the crab feed, our band played the song so many times, the guys could actually play it with their eyes closed. (LOL) It was very fun and we enjoyed hearing the audience learning the song too and even singing along with us.

After everyone had finished, we got a chance to dig in and finish off the last of the crab and have some fun getting ourselves all messy too. Looking forward to going back again next year and play our songs for the hungry crowd!

This past summer we were very busy with so many local events happening in Cottage Grove. One of the last big activities that we were involved with was the Cycle Oregon Bicycle Tour. They started off this year's ride in Sutherlin and made their first stop in Cottage Grove. Our band had the pleasure of performing in the downtown area where Main street was closed off'.

Many vendors set-up booths and lots of bicyclists and visitors wandered in and out all day to enjoy the food, unique shopping and of course stop and listen to our music. It was fun to see the bicycle riders come by and stop and listen and some even did a little dancing.

Another fun and unique thing we got to do was visit the famous Deathmobile from the movie Animal House. Many people stopped by to have their picture taken with the historical movie car and of course we did too.

So now we are ready to kick back for the winter season and work on more music. Now with Linda Danielson, our new fiddle player joining the band, we are looking forward to some new and exciting songs to work up. We are very happy and fortunate have Linda join our band and I will have more on that in the future, so keep checking back for more news and band performance dates!



Pictures courtesy of Sarah Craig of So Fresh Photography.com == Thanks Sarah!

Summer Events

This year has been a very busy summer for the annie mae Rhodes band! We have played for many different events all over town and we have really enjoyed all the great response from our fans new & old.
This year our new endeavor has been the addition of drums for another variation of songs for us to play with a little more of a country rock sound. Herb Hill steps in on the drums, Kelly White takes over on the bass, Brad Markham continues to add the awesome banjo picking which gives us our unique style and flavor. Neil Fain grabs his telecaster electric guitar and gets the rocking started and with me (Annie Mae) switching back & forth on rhythm guitar & mandolin, we have a great time!

We have already played our first gig at Saginaw Vineyard with the drums and look forward to going back a second time in August. The setting there at Saginaw Vineyard is very beautiful. The people can bring their own food for picnicking and sit around in the grass or under the huge tree and relax while they enjoy the music. They also have food catered there too and of course plenty of wine & beer!

One of the last public events we played for was the Cottage Grove 3rd annual Town & Country Garden Tour of local homes. This seems to be a very popular tour now and this year we set-up and played in downtown and the backdrop was awesome! The small park is right on main street and the wall behind us has a huge mural of a beautiful historical woman in a very unique and colorful picture. We were very excited to have some new photos taken of our band with the beautiful mural behind us. Later on we will be back here to play again for the annual Bicycle Tour.

So keep an eye on our schedule listed on the right and come and have a good time while we play our selection of country/bluegrass and mixture of favorite oldies songs.

The Rose Garden

We had the opportunity to perform at the Rose Garden (Drain, OR/not Portland) this weekend and we sure had a great time. Larry Barkemeyer was so kind to invite us down to be a part of his Saturday night gig and we had a blast. There were a lot of people who came out to hear us and we really got some terrific warm applause and cheers from the crowd. Amy Coumas did a fantastic job taking photos of us and I want to give her a big thanks for the pics.
Also enjoyed listening to Larry and his band The Huckleberrys. They are so good and always but on a quality show.


Want to send a big thank-you to Larry Barkemeyer and his band for allowing us to join in the fun and entertainment!

Woodshed Recording

For the last two weeks the band has been busy recording Annie's songs for her next album. With playing music at different functions and recording this summer has been quite busy for us. Annie is very hopeful to have the recording finished by September so check back from time to time see get an update of when the C.D. will be ready to release.
Last night was our gig at the Como Cafe and we played to a full house. Everyone had fun and the Cosmo Cafe had their prime & wine night so there was plenty great food and drink.

The Band at Saginaw Vineyard

July 3rd was our band's big show at the Saginaw Vineyard. We started playing at 6:00pm and kept it going till 9:00pm. We had a great time and everything went quite well for us. The Saginaw Vineyard is a great place to sit and relax and every friday this summer they will be having live music for free for the public to enjoy. Our band is looking forward to going back to the vineyard on August 21st and play again. They were a great host and we really felt welcome and relaxed in their country setting. Any time you are out and about and want to sample some Oregon wine stop in a visit Saginaw Vineyard just north of Cottage Grove.
Just a little note for reminder, we will be doing recording work at Woodshed Recording Studio
here in Cottage Grove to try to have Annie's C.D. ready by September. All the songs we are recording will be originals wrote by Annie Mae and we are excited to finally be in the recording stage the next few weeks while Larry fine tunes the details at his Studio.
Here we see Annie just before our performance Friday night, probably thinking of memories from back home in North Carolina.

Habitat for Humanity Fundraiser

Come see Annie Rhodes Band at the fund raising event to be held
at the Big K Ranch on August 1. The money raised will be donated
to the Habitat for Humanity and there will be a dinner with music
and then followed with an auction. Annie has wrote a new song
that we will perform at the dinner and is dedicated to the
fund raising event. The Big K Ranch is hosting the event and also
has weekend packages to further help raise money.

Here is an brief summary from the Big K Ranch website;

The Bite – Pit BBQ Dinner and Auction
$35/person

• Enjoy a delicious Pit BBQ Dinner and participate in the fun and exciting auction sponsored by US Bank of Drain.

For reservations or more information call or email Cottage Grove Area Habitat for Humanity. All reservations are handled by Habitat for Humanity and not the Big K Guest Ranch.
541.767.0358 - info@habitatcg.org – www.habitatcg.org

We look forward to being a part of this big event and hope to see you there. It should be a great time and well worth it to raise money for such a good cause.

Father's Day at Shady Oaks

The Annie Rhodes band had a good time this weekend playing music at Shady Oaks in Cottage Grove. We had a little rain from time to time but everyone enjoyed the music and the great food. The Shady Oaks has beautiful flowers and plants available for customers and quality produce as well. The setting there is very friendly and beautiful and we had a lot of fun playing for almost three hours. We also heard that some people were here visiting from North Carolina and have heard Annie's songs playing on the radio back there in N.C. and were excited to see her perform live.
We are looking forward to playing there again sometime so check back to find updates on our performing schedule. It's looking to be a busy summer for us, so hope to see you out there some day.