Ink in the co-inky

Sunday evening my dad and I were talking about country music, as we often do: he's as knowledgeable on the subject as anyone I can think of. In particular, we were discussing country accordionists--I have accordions on the brain, these days, because I'm about to buy one. So we talked about Joey Miskulin, the accordionist for Riders in the Sky, and also about Wilene "Sally Ann" Forrester, who played accordion in an early lineup of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys. And lastly we discussed Sonny Day, accordionist for Roy Acuff's Smoky Mountain Boys.

So I was surprised the next morning to get a message from Dad telling me that the (Nashville) Tennessean was running an obituary for Day, who died Sunday at age 80. I can't find the Tennessean piece on-line, but here's an item from the web site of a Knoxville television station. (I love the pronunciation guide for Acuff's name.)

It's sad when these fabulous old musicians pass on, but I think they're all really just at a big hoedown somewhere. Another great country accordionist was, of course, Wisconsin's own Pee Wee King.