Bruce

We have a lost a dear friend and passionate musician.

Bruce was with his 3 daughters and Sharon and now is at rest. His daughters are truly wonderful and their constant presence and love through these last weeks was a great gift to both Sharon and Bruce.

He was a main pillar of the Orlando Contra scene who among others sustained our dance and kept it going through thick and thin over a number of years. Bruce would play and call a dance at the same time...while running the sound...whatever it took.

Bruce and Sharon hosted the largest percentage of the Wednesday Tunes old time jam sessions in recent years and they held some wonderful house concerts. Many of us only got to see, hear and meet some of our "old time heroes" due to their efforts.

He was a friend to, and student of, Stu Jamison. Bruce helped spread Stu's music, turning thousands on to "Stu, Tom & Bill" through mixing and posting his music on MP3.com in, as Bruce put it, "the early days when MP3 was free".

They welcomed countless visitors, new pickers and beginners into their home and where else could you go to play old time tunes among marimbas, sitars and every musical instrument imaginable?

You have to smile when you remember Sharon and Bruce and their hats at FOTMC in Dade City.

Bruce was a creative chef who was quick to invite others in for a gourmet meal; he pushed you to try new things you might not be accustomed to in this area, just as in music.

Likewise we will miss the thoughtful conversations, and very, very passionate discussions.

He was a unique guitar player who always gave it absolutely everything he had, every tune, every song, every measure.

He left us with wonderful memories and cherished times. He has left Elderly instruments with a vastly reduced market for really strange instruments and I can only imagine what they will ever do with the huge supply of Martin G strings they had to keep for him.

They never ran out...but he had them working nights.

Bruce was raised up as a military brat, living in Japan, Virginia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Texas, and even South and North Dakota. His parents were music lovers, and he was exposed to a wide range of musical styles from heavy classical to serious folk, with a healthy dose of pop and jazz interjected into the mix. He obtained his first guitar right about the same time as the Beatles' debut in the USA and began a life long love affair with six strings.

Kudos included placing first finger picking guitar at the 2000 Florida Old-Time Music Championships, a 2nd place finish finger picking guitar at the 99 Florida Old-Time Music Championships, as well as winning awards in numerous other competitions. He taught Finger-picking Guitar at the Sunshine Music Camp at St. Petersburg. In years long gone he was a repeat performer at the annual Texas Independence Day Celebration playing guitar with the string band, The Dewberries.

Bruce's influences were diverse, but certainly included Mississippi John Hurt, Leo Kottke, Stefan Grossman, Eric Clapton and Dan Crary. He had a powerful rhythmic style and a harmonic sense that complemented Sharon's fiddle lines and Billy"s melodic runs, along with Chris's getting down low.