Sean of the South

He has thousands of followers now.   He has been on the Grand Ole Opry twice, and going back later in September.   He travels all around the country meeting fans, but he feels like family, and I love to watch Sean Dietrich.   I love to hear his stories, and watch him play.   He just becomes friends with everyone he meets, and when you did get just a few moments, he is fully engaged in getting to know everyone.  And walking into the theatre I was just as excited to see his wife Jamie as well.    

Columbiana is hosting these monthly radio shows, hoping to get these on APT or some streaming platform.   He is a great performer, and each show he just adds others in whatever manner he wants to try.   He has included his new friend Becca (a blind girl from Birmingham he met at a show) up on stage with him to sing some songs, always brings his friend Aaron that can play the violin/fiddle well on stage with him, and for this night, he invited his "mentor" Bobby Horton from "Three on a String" up on stage with him.   

Then the show was just as much hearing an amazing entertainer such as Bobby, as it was hearing Sean sing, with some short stories by Sean in between.   We laughed and we clapped (trying to find the right time in bluegrass is sometimes difficult...how much of a solo requires the clapping at the end?), but mostly we sat back and were taken back to a simpler time.   Yes, the audience is a little more gray haired, and yes, we saw two retirement community buses pulling up as we were parking the van, but he is catching on.   After signing a book to Sam, and Sam finishing that book, he is now hooked also on Sean of the South.   

After the intermission, Sean told a story about when his dad tragically died leaving him and his sister all alone.   She was very scared and could not sleep, so he would sleep on a small pallet by her bed every night for 7 years before moving out.   They both no longer thought about an education, and she dropped out of high school shortly after he did.   She being a little younger, never learned to read.  But both of them have since gone back for their GED, and she is now reads everything she gets her hands on...she has two beautiful children, and joined the stage that night to sing a couple of church hymns with her big brother.   Did I tell you that he can sometimes make you cry?   And on that stage, she was the star.   As with all on that stage with him, he humbly makes sure that the light is on the others, or the light is on his fans.   

We were the first ones out of the theater and over to see Sean when he would come out.   I did get a chance to talk to Jamie about the Grand Ole Opry and she said it was amazing.   I told her that we did not get to be there, but we were at home listening, and we were also giving him a standing ovation as everyone did that night in Nashville.  Sean is a big Alabama fan (middle name of Paul...where do you think he got that?), so  I told him about Sam about to head to school there.   He was happy about that, but Jamie yelled "Roll Tide" behind us because she had heard.   He acted like he remembered me, and amongst the thousands he meets, I am sure he did not, but it was a nice feeling, as he is like an old friend to me.   I am already looking on the calendar to see when I can see my old friend again.