Rural Missouri - May 2013 - (Page 22)
Below: For more than 30 years, Jerry Rosa of Newburg has been involved in nearly
every aspect of bluegrass music. From performing on stage to repairing damaged
instruments to building beautiful custom mandolins, like the one seen here, he
does it all. Right: Jerry repairs the neck of a dulcimer that had split around a
tuning key. He claims he can fix anything with strings smaller than a piano.
WHERE BLUEG
knocked his dream off
course. After graduating
from high school, he
went to work for Southany a bluegrass tune begins deep in an
western Bell in St. Louis
Ozark holler — where clear, spring-fed
designing computer
streams flow beside towering limestone
systems. He’d eventually
bluffs, where dogwoods bloom and
retire from the company
moonshiners hide, where deer and turkey raise their
after 27-1/2 years.
young and the faithful praise the Lord.
Music entered Jerry’s life with a vengeance about
Such a place is where you’ll find Jerry Rosa, a
the time he turned 28. He first picked up a fiddle
multi-talented bluegrass virtuoso who lives tucked
and began teaching himself to play. “I was obsessed
back on 280 acres in Phelps County, not far from
with it,” says the Gascosage Electric Cooperative
where the waters of the Little Piney and the Gasconmember. “But after six months of trying really hard,
ade rivers meet.
I thought to myself, ‘I am not a fiddle player.’”
During the past 30 years, Jerry has
lived as varied a career as anyone
Jerry put down the fiddle, went to Kmart and
could in bluegrass music. While his
bought a $50 mandolin. Almost overnight, he
could play it, he says, and soon he sought
multi-faceted business, Rosa String
Works, is hard to describe, Jerry’s passion
his uncle’s approval.
“He said I sounded a bit wimpy, that I
is not. Whether he’s performing on stage,
•
needed to learn to play double notes to
building a custom mandolin, repairing a
get some volume,” Jerry says. “Well,
broken guitar, producing a record or teachNewburg
the last thing I wanted to be was
ing the next generation to play, music is
wimpy, so I tucked my tail between
always the focus.
“When I was a little kid, we’d ride down
my legs and hid out for about a year
learning to play these double notes.”
old Route 66. We’d get to this area, and I remember
But Jerry took Uncle Don’s advice a little too
wishing I lived here,” Jerry recalls. “So when this
far. Instead of learning to play an occasional set of
place came up for sale, it was like it was meant to be.
double notes for emphasis and extra volume, Jerry
I love living here. It’s heaven on earth.”
learned to play everything with double notes. “So, I
Although Jerry’s official foray into music
play completely different than every other mandolin
wouldn’t begin until he was in his late 20s, his introplayer on the planet. I’m basically playing harmony
duction to bluegrass music came early in life. His
to myself.”
uncle, Don Brown, was an accomplished mandolin
As Jerry’s skills improved, it wasn’t long before he
player who made a name for himself in the 1950s
wanted to upgrade his mandolin. Uncle Don recomplaying with a group called the Ozark Mountain
mended a Gibson F-5 built by famous luthier Lloyd
Trio. Among the original members of the band was
Loar, which he considered the best mandolins ever
a banjo player named John Hartford, who is best
built. But the price was out of Jerry’s reach, so he
known for penning the song, “Gentle on My Mind.”
decided to build his own.
“When I was a little bitty kid, I remember John
Although Jerry’s first mandolin was a little rough
Hartford showing me my first three chords on a guiaround the edges, it sounded great, even receiving
tar,” Jerry says. “It’s just a neat memory.”
approval from skeptical Uncle Don. “That validated
As a teenager, Jerry’s first love was archery, a
it and from that point on, I was building instrusport at which he excelled. He had aspirations of
ments,” he says.
becoming an Olympic archer until a shoulder injury
M
22
by Jason Jenkins
jjenkins@ruralmissouri.coop
Whether on stage, in the studio or in the
WWW.RURALMISSOURI.COOP
To date, Jerry has built three fiddles, five guitars
and 29 mandolins. Known for their volume and
tone, Jerry’s mandolins are patterned off the famous
Lloyd Loar design, and each is crafted with a particular musician in mind. His most ambitious project
Jerry, center, performs with the Rosa String Works Jam Band at
group are, from left, Bev Spencer, guitar; Dick Hatfield, banjo; R
http://WWW.RURALMISSOURI.COOP
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Rural Missouri - May 2013
Rural Missouri - May 2013
Table of Contents
Comments
Columns
Chronicle of the corncob pipe
Missouri Snapshots contest
The family that drills together
Out of the Way Eats
Where bluegrass grows
Outdoors
Hearth and Home
Veggies and vision
Vertical gardening
Around Missouri
Marketplace
Neighbors
Just4Kids
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