A bit of family history, my nephew, and a giveaway.

We grew up in Dos Palos, California. Life was simple then, and I have so many fond memories of growing up in that small town - rich with agriculture, a strong sense of community, and Grandma Bessie's house.

♥

Ryne @ 3

My "baby" brother Tim loved Grandma Bessie like I did, and he spent a lot of time at Grandma’s house with our two cousins, the Jones boys. They were my grandma’s younger grandkids, and by the time they were old enough to make their way to Grandma’s on their own, she was well seasoned in the art of grand-parenting teenaged boys. They lovingly called her Bess and she ate it up. Oh how she loved having those three boys pay her visits.

My nephew Ryne grew up hearing stories of Grandma Bessie as told by his dad, my brother Tim. He loved those stories so much that while he was writing songs for his solo CD he wrote a song about his Great-grandma Bessie.

Last year while we were all in California saying our final farewells to my mom, my brothers had their guitars out and Ryne played “Ole Bessie” for us for the first time. We loved it! I asked him right away if he had plans to include it on his CD and we were all really happy when he said yes.

In the past year I’ve heard Ryne play “Ole Bessie” a few times, but it wasn’t until I heard his recording, with my brother Tim singing harmony in the chorus that it really hit me. It was so amazing to hear my brother’s voice, blended so beautifully with his son’s in a song about our awesome grandma.

I sent Ryne a text and thanked him for that song. I thanked him because it’s just the perfect tribute to a really cool ol’ gal like Bess. I think she would be crazy about that song, and probably very tickled that Ryne would write a song about little ol’ her.

Today I’m hosting a giveaway, and the prize is an autographed copy of Ryne’s new CD, This Tempered Tongue, including the song “Ole Bessie” for your listening pleasure. I know you’ll love the other songs too – I have a few other favorites myself.

To enter the drawing, just leave me a comment here on this post, or you can leave a comment and/or like my post about this giveaway on Facebook. I’ll randomly select a winner and announce it on my blog on Monday, October 21.

If you don’t want to wait until you see if you’ve won my giveaway, you can download This Tempered Tongue on iTunes as of today.

I’m so proud of you, Ryno!

And I know that Grandma Bessie would be too!

♥