Dan Crary

Growing up I was a very lucky kid. Through a odd chain of events, I ended up on my very first magazine assignment, at the age of 16! My job was to go to Winfield, Kansas (I was born there) and photograph a Flatpicking festival for FRETS! Magazine. There I was able to get close to several of my Bluegrass idols, one of which is shown here - Dan Crary. My father had photographed Dan 15 years before during the first festival held in Winfield.

One evening, I was invited by Stu Mossman (father of the Mossman guitar) to a get-together at his home. There I met Dan Crary, Harvy Reid, Tom Chapin and many others. A guitar was passed around from musician to musician. Once it landed in Dan's hands I requested my favorite tune - If the Devil dreamed of playing Flamenco with a Flatpick. Dan told me he couldn't do it right then, but he would do it the next day on stage. Well, he played it the next day, just as he promised, only he did it on the 12-string guitar!! What a showman.

(Nikon F3, 180 f/2.8, TRI-X)

click on the small image to view a larger version in .jpg format.

All images © J. Brian Stephens . . .use only with permission