By Gary Allegretto

In a Hohner sponsored session on July 30, 2015 I returned to the Ferris detention facility in Wilmington Delaware; a full-security juvenile facility for boys whose mission is to “provide educational and therapeutic services to adjudicated youth in a safe, staff-secure and gender sensitive environment preparing them for successful re-entry into the community.” Over the years Harmonikids' ongoing programs to assist the youth at Ferris have become among my personal favorites because the participants (many of whom have been neglected, abandoned, and/or abused in their young lives) receive much-needed self esteem and confidence from the experience.

Download your copy of Easy Reeding to find out what is going on at Hohner! In this issue you will learn all about our move to Nashville and what that means for you. We dispell all myths about changes to the Special 20, and announce our amazing new return policy for harmonicas!

Often my Harmonikids sessions have particularly deep-rooted personal meaning. This is especially true in the case of my return visits to the Sunflower Landing facility in Mississippi. So much of the music and musicians that made the Blues the most popular and beloved music ever to be played on the harmonica came from rural towns in the Mississippi Delta. Howling Wolf, James Cotton, and Sonny Boy Williamson are just a few of the great Blues harpmen to come directly from the area. In my teens I had the unsurpassed thrill of witnessing the legendary Clarksdale, Mississippi-born Bluesman Muddy Waters perform with his band that included the legendary Pinetop Perkins, James Cotton, and Bob Margolin. The experience changed my life and shaped my musical direction. I imagined myself playing with them someday.

It was with great privilege and respect that Hohner has chosen, Buddy Wakefield, as its 2015 recipient of The Hohner Lifetime Achievement Medallion. For over 2 decades, Buddy has merged his 2 loves, playing music and helping people. His enormous heart has benefited a long list of notable charities and set forth an educational program of his own “Tuning for Better Breathing.”

Bruce Elementary School and Texas Children's Hospital in Houston, TX

On May 21, 2015 I provided two Hohner sponsored Harmonikids sessions to two facilities in Houston, Texas. The first was coordinated by the Houston Blues Society and provided educational outreach to 50 schoolchildren in an economically challenged area of the city. Many of these participants are recent refugees from Africa. The second session was to a dozen patients and family members at the Texas Childrens Hospital. In each case the participants were entertained then gifted harmonicas and taught to play four songs.