THE  GEM THAT'S BEEN RIGHT UNDER OUR NOSE                                 Stayin' Close With The Redneck Road Dogs                                            Dennis and Brenda Kippa We've been running up and down the roads of East Texas and into Dallas a little more than usual lately. So much, in fact, that we haven't paused to tell you about it. In trying to decide where to start so we could catch up telling you about all of the great bands we've been hearing, it occurred to us that we've overlooked someone that's right close by. We hate when we do this! Anyway, to give you a bit of backstory, we'll remind you that we spend our Saturdays over at the Lindale Care Center, calling the Bingo games for the great people who live there. It's one of the best highlights of our week, and it starts out with an hour or so where we share whatever baked goodies we've made the day before, while we all listen to a couple of musicians who come every week just to sing to the residents. We profiled one of these musicians several months ago. ("The Troubadore Wears A Derby Hat"). Now it's time to tell you about the other one, with our apologies for not doing so sooner. Royce James is a guy who loves music. His passion for it seems very familiar to us; he loves music for it's own sake. The difference between him and the two of us is that he has applied himself over the years and has become a very accomplished mandolin player. Neither one of us ever did that. Well, Brenda tried for a couple of years and could pick out a few tunes, but then she dropped it because she knew she could never begin to match her brother's God-given talents. Dennis, on the other hand, never even tried, but he has an ear for it; he could almost judge the Idol competitions, that's how good he is. Another thing we both have in common with Royce James is that all three of us put the necessary dedication into our careers until we reached retirement age and were able to reassess our lives.The beauty of Royce James is that he never stopped playing, all those years. While he got up every day for some 35 years and put on his "banker hat", he knew all along that in his heart, he was a mandolin player. It really was just that simple: he was a mandolin player. Now, between me and you, he is also a singer, but he doesn't sing as much as he plays. And the thing about his playing is that he isn't chasing stardom or a big bag of money. In fact, most of the time he plays for no money at all; the money is not what it's about for him. It's about getting to play, about hearing his mandolin as it interacts with other instruments, and about entertaining people. In addition to hearing Royce every week at the Care Center, we've also been able to catch him when he plays at festivals; the Edom Arts Festival comes to mind. And most recently, we saw him at The Forge in Ben Wheeler. We've been to this venue once before, and loved it. You already know that we love everything about Ben Wheeler,  with their other venue - Moore's Store - possibly being our very favorite place to go. But a close second place goes to The Forge, which is much like Moore's, only smaller and slightly more quiet. Royce was on hand at The Forge to accompany Rick Babb and Paula McClannahan. Royce has often played along with Rick Babb, but one thing or another kept getting in the way of our seeing them. It was very fortunate for us that we finally got out to see them on a night when they had Paula McClannahan with them. Paula has only recently joined Rick's show, and her stand-up bass adds one of my favorite instruments to the stage. What a great show it was! The Forge had a full house for their show, and everyone who was there, stayed there, until the band packed it in to leave.  I would be remiss if I failed to mention that Rick Babb did a fine job in showcasing his songwriting and his vocal interpretation of the songs he has written. His easygoing manner with the crowd made it impossible to have anything other than a great time. Rick's CD is available on-line and at his shows. Is there anyone out there who long ago put their talents on hold? If you did, how about considering dusting off that passion for another go-'round?