I’ve been a DJ on listener-supported WPKN for 40 years. Time enough for my show to have a name, but I’m still working on it. I love doing live music, and sometimes it just totally comes together. One such night was October 29, when I hosted two bands, Five in the Chamber (a really tight Connecticut bluegrass group) and The Littlest Birds, a unique cello and banjo duo from California that’s more in the old-time vein.

This is a story told in video. The highlight of the evening, for me, was when the two bands played together at my urging. They both knew “Hot Corn, Cold Corn,” so here they are ripping it up–half an hour after they met for the first time!

And here’s “Five” on their own, doing “Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em.” For some odd reason, this is the first time I videotaped a group I had on the air. Bless the iPhone 5S:

And finally, the Littlest Birds stayed over, and I persuaded them to do this rousing number–about roadkill–in my living room. If there’s a tradition of cello in old-time music, I sure don’t know it, but it works wonderfully. Check out Bruce Hornsby playing piano with Ricky Skaggs and talking about “the long tradition of piano in bluegrass.” Not!