We're pleased to announce that our music video, Life is Hard, has been accepted to the Christian Worldview Film Festival in San Antonio, TX! We've performed at this festival twice, and always appreciate enjoying a weekend of Christian movies and bumping shoulders with friends in the film making industry!
Currently this video is exclusively available on our DVD "House of the Johnson Strings".
Festivities!
Special thanks to all the guests we met across many different states at our Christmas concerts this season. You made this Christmas a truly memorable culmination to our year of music! Here's a few highlights in pictures.
A lovely Advent Christmas Tea. Special thanks to Brittany Hosford for the pictures of this event!
We never tire of the thrill of making music live!
Christmas reds and snowy whites
"Oh holy night, the stars are brightly shining, it is the night of our dear Savior's birth."
Come sleet, ice, or snow, the show must go on!
One church in South Dakota put on a sweet live nativity to entertain the guests before our concert. The camels really got into charachter!
Upon completion of our Christmas concerts, we had the wonderful joy of visiting family in several states, including touring Garden of the Gods! One morning my uncle, along with a few other early birds, traveled to an outlook to beat the sunrise so Laura could capture this photograph!
Seth "rising" to the challenge. (He made it all the way to the top of the balanced rock.)
How many cousins can you fit in the hollow?
The gloves came off for the cousin's crossbow competition!
It takes a lot of BBQ Meatballs to keep the crew fed...
Heading for a girl cousins round of frisbee golf - the trees escaped remarkably unscathed this year!
Karen and Silas enjoying "Chimes" - a musical based on a Charles Dickens play performed by our local Christian theater.
And that's all for now folks, stay tuned for an update on our coming music mission trip to Guatemala!
TV Special!
There's still time to catch our Christmas TV special! Tune in to UplifTV on DIRECTV Channel 379! Our show will be playing on Saturday, December 24 at 3:30 am and 11:30 am, and Sunday December 25 at 9:00 am (Central Time)! We'll see you there!
www.upliftv.com/schedule
Carol of the Bells!
New Christmas Music Video - Carol of the Bells!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWbESrimURY
Christmas Concert Tonight!
Kick off the holiday festivities with an evening of music! During this special Johnson Strings Christmas concert, a free-will offering will be taken to help support their upcoming music missions trip to Guatemala!
Concert will begin at 7:00 pm on Saturday, December 3, at First Congregational Church, 401 3rd St, Parkersburg, IA 50665.
Blooper Reel Teaser Trailer!
"Lights, camera, CUT!" Laugh with us at our outtakes in this teaser trailer from the 6 minute blooper special feature - found only on our DVD!
Purchase the DVD here for more fun - www.thejohnsonstrings.com/cd-catalog/house-of-the-johnson-strings-dvd-2016
New DVD for sale!
Now available for purchase online! Our DVD, longtime in the works, is finally here with exclusive music videos, entertaining behind the scenes stories of how we shoot our own videos, fun bloopers and more! Watch the trailer below, and get your own copy in our online store!
www.thejohnsonstrings.com/cd-catalog/house-of-the-johnson-strings-dvd-2016
In The Books!
DONE! Our last concert before our Christmas concerts begin is history! Thanks South Dakota for such a warm enthusiastic welcome!
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Treble in Texas!
Opening Night Kick-off Concert! Premiering "Exceedingly" - written by Rodney Griffin of Greater Vision, arranged for banjo, piano, bass, cello, triple fiddles and vocal trio by Abigail!
Trick fiddling on Orange Blossom Special
Love our backdrop! How fitting for an election year.
Piano Quartet - 40 fingers on 80 keys! While rehearsing this audience favorite, one of the piano benches they were using collapsed without warning! Thankfully we were able to borrow a wooden bench for the concert.
A dramatic presentation of the Family Camp theme - "Now is the time. Let your light so shine!"
Special tribute to the outgoing president.
Col. and Mrs. T - you will be missed!
The resident rodeo clown.
Stick Horse Rodeo buckaroos! The HUNDREDS of kids that participated in the rodeo rode their ponies hard delivering Pony Express Mail, barrel racing, and more.
A young Indian makes his way to the rendezvous.
Rachel Kane, the gorgeous 2016 Rodeo Queen! She was paraded around the arena to the strains of Yellow Rose of Texas, courtesy of the musical entertainment - us!
The ongoing comedic play between rodeo events.
Kidnapped!
Ropin' the bad guys!
High drama!
Dr. Lew Sterrett from Sermon on the "Mount" with Handsome the horse!
Gotta love Luke's expression...."are you sure about this tempo"? We performed as part of Community Night with Dr. Lew Sterrett. Giving a concert outdoors is always challenging due to the unpredictable weather, but this one was doubly so! First a rain shower rolled in during set-up, necessitating a hurried re-packing of the sound system and instruments in the van, then the humidity descended upon us so heavily, there were drops of water sitting upon our instruments and equipment. Afterward we arrived back at our accommodations, we set the electronic equipment and instruments out to dry overnight!
Photo booth "Wait for it..."
"Ta da!"
Silas in the bow of his and Laura's canoe - capturing second place for their canoe race!
Assisting with the compilation of the Biblical books of John and Romans in the Tamil language for distribution overseas!
Each booklet is read by approximately 20 people!
Can you spot the Karen? Post your answer in the comments! She's watching from the sidelines during a fascinating protection dog demonstration by Dunetos K-9!
Dunetos K-9 provides service, protection, and tactical dogs. They demonstrated many different skills including search and rescue, dog/handler training techniques, and protection/attack scenarios (pictured).
Speaker Darren Myers from Freedom Focus
Special thanks to Maj. and Mrs. H for their coodination of the week!
Special thanks to the a/v crew for your work throughout the week.
TV star and speaker Rick Green from Chasing America's Legends
Well that's it for Texas, folks! Hope to see you in person at one of our concerts this year. Special announcement coming tomorrow!
Summer at Wintergreen
Throwback to Karen's chamber music intensive this summer in VA! Pictured with the incredible nationally acclaimed violinist Frank Almond.
Texas Snapshot
Texas memories from our tour down south this month! Silas just catching a few rays of warm morning sunshine. Hang tight for more pics to be posted soon plus a special announcement!
Jackson Concert Series
Our group was privileged to kick off the Jackson Concert Series "Music at 4" 2016! The acoustics were incredible!
The audience was so receptive - it was a delight to play! Special thanks to Jane for snapping these pictures.
Aren't the stained glass windows gorgeous?
Headed downstairs to enjoy the incredible meal prepared for us by the Seligmans of Musical Hammers Family Trio - thank you!
95 Days till Christmas!
95 Days till CHRISTMAS! We only have one date left open till ALL our Saturdays and Sundays are filled up! Schedule now! Bookings available for Monday - Friday concerts as well.
Day at Disney
A little sparkle glittered throughout and graced our day at Magic Kingdom! I must say, the Disney effect was pretty spectacular! Even intermittent downpours possibly caused by the approach of Hurricane Hermine couldn't spoil our day together.
Touring the "metropolis". We put many miles on those shoes of ours!
The majestic center of the park. If you look closely, you can see the zip line from which Tinkerbell "flew" during the fireworks finale!
Ladies in ballgowns galore swirled and stepped throughout the festival parade!
The fireworks show was a perfect last hurrah to the day!
Dolphins and Seashores
During our last evening vacationing in Florida, we visited Sunset Beach at well, sunset! Laura couldn't let her professional photographer skills go unchallenged on such a beautiful evening. Though I did my best to capture the beauty of the ocean waves, my phone camera doesn't do it justice! Perhaps soon I can post Laura's favorite image of the sunset.
While Laura experimented with apertures and f-stops and all that jazz, the rest of us enjoyed shelling on the sandy beach and wetting our feet in the oncoming waves. Luke even found a couple of shells with living occupants!
Though this final picture was taken at a harbor in St. Petersburg, the two dolphins that showed up to play were such a wonderful surprise!
