Our friend Fred Robbins was on hand for Tex Logan’s 85th Birthday Bash in East Hanover, NJ recently, and filmed the better part of the day’s activities. He has posted the first of what he says will be several videos, this one just over an hour in length.
Logan has been a notorious figure in bluegrass music since the the 1950s when he worked sporadically with Bill Monroe, and more regularly with The Lilly Brothers. With Monroe he cut one of the more definitive fiddle kicks in the history of our music for Christmas Time’s A ‘Comin’. He also worked as an electrical engineer during this time, and had done stints with M.I.T before settling in with Bell Labs in 1956.
He never quit playing music, though, and was a figure in the northeastern bluegrass scene until recently. A particularly memorable grouping had him working with Peter Rowan for several years.
Tex was also known for the parties he hosted over the years, and now that he is well past retired, his friends host a birthday party for him every year. In this video Fred shot, you see a good many of Logan’s musical friends on stage, shepherded by Rowan. Great stuff.
