Hey gang, Recently, I was contacted about a print sale of a musical hero. After recalling the story behind the images, I thought I'd share the story with the class.

In April 2006, Meghann and I attended MerleFest, one of the nation's premiere acoustic/bluegrass/americana music festivals. At the time, I managed a bluegrass guitar Pat Flynn (of New Grass Revival fame), so we had all access passes, securing our place on the main stage's side wings anytime. We caught the Jerry Douglas Band performance, and Jerry gave me a 12-second photographic gift that I'll never forget.

Jerry Douglas is a world-class dobro player (btw...the dobro is essentially an acoustic guitar with a metal resonator that is played flat with a slide; think blues and twang instead of strumming), and part of the hot band Alison Krauss & Union Station. For this festival, Jerry's own band, a collection of top acoustic players, performed killer instrumentals to the 82,000+ crowd. Yes, folks, 82,000+ people. During the set, I'm backstage on the stage right wing with my humongo lens pointed at Jerry, waiting for just the right moment to make the capture.

While playing to the huge crowd, Jerry glances over his right shoulder and stares down the barrel of my lens (left side of image above). NOW is the time, and I start firing! He then turns to face me for a photographic gift of a lifetime. For a mere 12-seconds, he played for my lens (middle of image above) and turned back to the crowd with a big rock star grin (right side of image above). Fun times. Just wanted to share. That was a great show, and a great 12-second photo gift from a master musician. Do yourself a huge favor: catch one his shows if he's playing your area. Cheers. -gregory byerline