Hall of Honor Inductee

From Suzie Jan. 2025: 

Louie Armstrong said, "Music is life itself. What would this world be without good music? No matter what kind it is." I guess that has been the theme of my life. I started piano lessons at 8 years old and began violin at 10, the same year I asked for a guitar at Christmas after I saw “Your Cheatin’ Heart’ at Thanksgiving. I was hooked. My dad did not like country music so I had to play my records when he was not there. He was the choir director at church and gave me my love for gospel music. I helped start The Old Country Church in Denver in 1999 and they are still going strong on Saturday nights. In 2000 my late husband Bing and I produced the first GospelGrass festival and my current husband Gary and I continued them through last summer, which was the 25th annual. We are not continuing them in Colorado but are still putting some on in NC where we live now. I taught piano and guitar since I was a teenager but did not know a lot of bluegrass and oldtime until the summer of 1984 when I first went to Telluride. I went home Monday and rented a fiddle from Rockley Music. My career was performing for schools for over thirty years with a Colorado history program in story and song. I played and explained the stringed instruments in the bluegrass genre. I love this music and want it to continue so that is why I will teach and promote lessons and jams as long as I can. CBMS and all the friends I have made through the years has immeasurably enriched my life.