Steve Tibbetts

My sister Ellen worked for many years rowing a boat named “Music Temple” for a company called Grand Canyon Dories. In 1982 she invited our family to come on a staff trip through the entire canyon from Lee’s Ferry to Lake Mead. It took three weeks. I brought along a cheap guitar, a kalimba, and a small portable cassette recorder. My girlfriend Barb and I hiked in to meet them at Phantom Ranch.

I recorded Ellen giving my father instructions on routes through the rapids and a kalimba improvisation while Kenton Grua pounded a huge stalagmite in a cave.

RIP, Kenton.