Child Prodigy? Wunderkind? Little Johnny Cash!
It’s hard to believe your eyes and ears when you see this little second grader wield an acoustic guitar as if he was on the main stage at the Stagecoach Music Festival. Affectionately known as Little John, the boy loves singing Johnny Cash songs and bluegrass love songs from the likes of Flatt and Scruggs.
If he keeps it up, he will be a bluegrass superstar by his teenage years.
Future Crossover Megastar
Imagine the career path for Little John. As a teenager, he’ll have a stellar career that would make productive old men jealous. Little John could then make moves to become a country crossover artist like Taylor Swift. But before all that happens you gotta see his humble beginnings on a stage at one end of a grade school gymnasium.
One Legendary Night
The house was full of tired parents and rambunctious siblings waiting for their sons and daughters to take the stage for the local talent show. Looking out over the gathered crowd, it’s a sea of cell phones, old camcorders and high-end prosumer camera gear depending on the financial status of the parents in the room.
One thing’s for sure, these parents are gonna capture the moment their child hits the stage. Family heirlooms are being created tonight.
All Cameras on Him
When Little John took the stage he steps up to the microphone and in his cute little kid voice, he stammers as he addresses the crowd and explains what song he’s about to perform.
“Done by Lester Flatt, it was called the Flatt & Scruggs band. It’s called, “I Wonder Where You Are Tonight.”
This Kid Can What?
Nervous laughter is heard from the doubting few and curious multitudes. It seems like everyone is holding their collective breath for that first strum of his giant guitar. Way oversized in the arms of a second-grader. I re-iterate, Little John is a second-grader. That’s between the ages of seven and eight years old.
As soon as he strums into the first lick, the audience was in awe.
Bringing The Grade Schoolhouse Down
When Little John strums the first chord and jams into the crazy fingering of “I Wonder Where You Are Tonight,” the audience lights up. His rendition of the much-loved song is something to see and hear.
How can a little boy’s small hand pick that guitar, strum those chords, and finger those strings like an old pro? Most likely lots of practice and a love for the music.
A Hillbilly Love Song
“I Wonder Where You Are Tonight” was written by Johnny Bond when he was waiting to get on the Gene Autry “Melody Ranch” radio show. Bond and his band had nothing to do but wait for their shot on the show, and write songs. The song was never a chart-topper but it has been recorded by many artists and appears upon over a hundred albums.
Little John heard it performed by his musical mentors Flatt & Scruggs.
Foggy Mountain Boys
Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs formed the Foggy Mountain Boys back in 1948 and they are considered the principal bluegrass band in the history of the sound. Bluegrass is an American Roots music style that came out of Appalachia. Bluegrass is rooted in African American Jazz and folk traditions from England, Scotland, and Ireland.
And as Little John knows all too well, it’s Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs who are the masters of the medium.
Little John wow’s the audience and has really impressed the masses on social media. Such a young age to be so good at fingerpicking the guitar.
At one point he rips into a guitar solo that will make the average picker blush.
As one commenter suggests that he will steal a lot of hearts, another said he already stole her heart.
“This lil bit has stolen my heart! so talented!” she commented.
Be sure to scroll down to see this wunderkind in action, wowing the audience in the gymnasium and across the internet.
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