A band "picture" seven years in the making

Just a few minutes ago, I completed a very important photo montage to me.

Seven years ago, in my original book The Buddy Wayne Chronicles, I unveiled the Spears Family Band.  Based in the foothills of east-central Kentucky, between Lexington and the western Appalachian Mountains, this family is keeping the bluegrass music traditions alive.  Central to that is its beautiful backup banjo player and lead singer, Brittany Raylene.

I have given the names of the band members on several occasions, including the book and an "interview" I did with the singer/songwriter.  (Yes, Brittany Spears is her real name, but I have an alternate stage name in order to make her more realistic.)  I have also brought you the story of how Brittany became B.W.'s one true love, so much so that he dumped his first wife in order to gain something better.

Now for the first time, you can see what they would look like.  (I hope that I got their instruments right, if not please correct me in the space below.)

From left to right are Bradshaw, the fiddler; Bunch, the mandolin player; Brashears, a cool-looking string guitarist; Brittany; Breckinridge (the group's founder also known as "Grandpa Breck"), lead banjo player; and Blanton, Jr., the bass guitarist.  Blanton's father, Blanton, Sr., has also played with the band but I have decided not to show him here.  Blanton and Bunch are Brittany's brothers, while Brashears and Bradshaw are first cousins.  "Grandpa Breck" is the elder Blanton's father and Blanton, Jr.'s and Brittany's grandfather.

It's also worth noting - and I may have done it here somewhere before - that Brittany isn't the only parent in the family group.  Bunch and his wife have a daughter, Brielle.  She is three years old, while Blanton Elizabeth ("Lizzie"), B.W. and Brittany's daughter, is not quite a year old.

How it all came together: Four of the six people are actually members of a band of students at Wheeling Central High School in West Virginia, while the other two are with the Umpqua Valley Bluegrass Band in Oregon.  I placed Brittany's face on top of the clothes worn by one of the high school students.  Three of the six faces (Bunch, Brittany, and Breckinridge) had to be modified by use of various adjustments layers to reduce their bright red looks.