Writer tries hand with bluegrass gospel group

When I emerged from the sewing shop recently with a newly embroidered shirt, it finally felt official: I’m a member of Dogwood Cross.

The maroon golf shirt had the group’s emblem on one side and “Ernest” on the other. Wow!

Dogwood Cross is a bluegrass-gospel group based in the Dogwood Crossing community of Lincoln County, Miss. Now they have a banjo-player from Amite County.

I recognized as a young man that I have two talents: writing and music. In other words, those are two things I can do out of the many, many that I can’t.

I settled on writing as my vocation and played my music at home, in jam sessions and sometimes at church. And I was content with that.

But last December, Dogwood Cross member Keith Guy handed me the group’s CD. I was smitten and asked to practice with them. One thing led to another and I wound up a member.

The Bible tells us we are supposed to use the talents God gives us. It also tells us that to everything there is a season. This appears to be the season for me to use this talent.

My mainstay is the banjo, but I also dabble with other stringed instruments, like fiddle, guitar and banjo-mandolin. I take a relaxed approach to music, but our weekly rehearsals — which can go as long as four hours — are forcing me to get serious.

My fellow members are Thomas Bessonnette, who plays six- and 12-string guitar; Billy Gunther on banjo; Guy on mandolin, harmonica and fiddle; Tim Higginbotham on guitar, dobro and dulcimer (and his wife Wanda on the sound system); and Sam Moore on bass. A versatile bunch, obviously.

Unlike me, these guys are singers — fantastic singers at that. The combination of the vocals and the bluegrass instruments is what won me over.

Shortly after I joined, we played at the Southwest Mississippi Forestry Association annual banquet, then a benefit at Bogue Chitto Baptist Church and a concert at a church in Jackson.

We have gigs booked intermittently through February. I was relieved to learn the group rarely plays on Sunday mornings, since I like to attend my own church then.

Our schedule is complicated by the fact that Bessonnette works offshore, so roughly half the year is off-limits. I like that, too; I don’t want to be running all over the country every weekend.

I admit to having had trepidations shortly after I joined. What was I getting myself into?

There would be weekly practice sessions at Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, which is nearly an hour from my house and would mean getting home late on a work night. There would be concerts on Saturdays and Sundays when I’m used to working in my garden or taking some much-needed rest in the hammock.

But those fears quickly dissipated as I found myself eagerly looking forward to each get-together with the group. Playing with Dogwood Cross is a joy, not a chore.

Members are already talking about recording another CD this year, and we’re working on new material.

Music can be a ministry. How many times has it soothed your soul when you felt tormented? Turned your thoughts toward God and heaven? Helped you feel the “peace that passes understanding?”

Music pervades the Bible, especially the Psalms, so there’s no doubt that it can be ordained of God. I’m just glad to have a hand in it now, however small.