This is Wade Medlock. Wade is the Johnny Appleseed of Atlanta bands. Since they're country music bands I guess that makes him the Johnny Hayseed. Wade used to go to Rock Spring Presbyterian Church and noticed at one point that two members, Mike Nugent and Andy Rutledge, had acquired their first mandolins and were learning to play them. Wade knew that mandolins are tuned just like fiddles (violins played with country attitude) and he rounded up some guitar players at the church, Charles Gowing and Dan Byrne, to join them at his house in Clarkston and learn some songs. After awhile Jeff Dore got wind of the group and joined as a guitar strummer. After a few months, the group learned some songs and then had the bold idea of playing them in Fellowship Hall at church on Sunday morning as people were arriving for Sunday School.

     They were well-enough received the first Sunday they came back and tried it again. That's when Haney Brooks approached the group and said, "I bought a banjo about 30 years ago and intended to learn how to play it. After 30 years I'm getting the feeling I'm probably not going to get around to it. If I donated the banjo to the church, would one of you want to take it up?" Jeff had been thinking about the banjo and figured 1) the group had more than enough guitars players and 2) he was just a 3-chord strummer anyway, so he became the band's banjo player.

   Eventually the group became Hicks With Picks and played every Sunday morning before Sunday School. Allison Foster and Jan Antman joined as singers. Haddon Foster joined as bass player, initially thumping on a washtub bass--literally a metal tub turned upside down with a stick and a clothesline attached that he could adjust the pitch on by tugging on the stick--and eventually bought a real, upright bass. Patrick Hodges joined as a lead guitar player. 

   After awhile, Dan and Wade moved on. Hicks With Picks played during some church services, and now "Bluegrass Sundays" are a tradition at Rock Spring, when Hicks does all the music for services four times a year. Jeff tentatively offered a song he'd written for his daughter Rebecca, a children's song called "A Monkey Who Can Dance." The others said, "we'll play it if you'll sing it." That was the beginning of Jeff becoming the band's song writer and one of its singers.

   Anyway, it all goes back to Wade bringing us together. We brought him back to play as Hick Emeritus on our new CD and he was his usual brilliant self on steel, electric and acoustic guitars.