Have you ever wondered about the offstage world of a professional musician? Every month in this column, bluegrass now will provide a glimpse into the lives of some of your favorite bluegrass stars. To see captions, just move your cursor over the photos!

Thirty miles north of Atlanta, nestled under old oaks and pines and embraced by the Chattahoochie River, lies the town of Suwanee, Georgia, population just over 9,000. It's a pretty town, known for its trees and history, and for all the fine bluegrass music that is played here. This is the home of Honi and Jeff Deaton.

Some folks remember Honi from her work with The Grasshoppers; others will recall Jeff's work with Junior Sisk and Rambler's Choice. A year ago this month, Honi and Jeff merged their personal and professional lives. Thus far, the results have been pretty spectacular: they're delighting audiences wherever they play, and delighted with each other, both on and offstage.

At home in Suwanee, things are fairly idyllic. Jeff grew up in this community, and his great-grandmother's old homeplace, still owned by his family, is right next door to the house he and Honi share now. “They play music inside the old house every Saturday night,” Jeff says. “Behind the house is Everett's Music Barn, a small auditorium that holds about 150 people. They have music there every Saturday as well, and they've been doing that for over 30 years.”

“We live in the historic district of Old Town,” Honi says in her warmly melodious voice. “It's a ranch-style house, but the inside… I'm old-fashioned with my decorating!” Honi's décor is charmingly Victorian. Her favorite piece of furniture is an upright piano that her mother gave to her, and it still has its original ebony and ivory keys.

The Deatons' bluegrass band is called Honi Deaton and Dream, and consists of Jeff on guitar, Honi on bass, Kristin Scott Benson on banjo, Chris Davis on mandolin, and Dewey Brown on fiddle. Much of the material Dream performs is composed on that old piano.

“Jeff and I have actually been writing together; that's something we do a lot,” Honi is pleased to report.

“Sometimes I'll hear Honi start to play, and we'll just stop what we're doing and sit at the piano for hours,” Jeff confirms. “Everything we do, we do together.”

On November 29, Jeff and Honi Deaton will celebrate their first wedding anniversary. Though they'll be on their way to a gig in Pennsylvania, they'll probably try to steal some time for themselves. “But you shouldn't have a certain date to do things together,” Jeff says. “On March 14th, for example, or any day… it's not our anniversary, but we'll go out anyway, to celebrate us.”

The Deatons' wedding took place in Idaho, where Honi lived at the time. Honi's friends and family helped set up the event, as she and Jeff were both working. “We sat down and made a tape of all our favorite songs, to be played while people were coming in,” Jeff says, in a slow Georgia cadence that evokes wide porches filled with sleepy-eyed coon hounds. “Everything from IIIrd Tyme Out to Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, from Marvin Gaye to Journey… all the love songs we grew up listening to. We walked down the aisle to IIIrd Tyme Out's 'Only You'. When the ceremony was over, we went back down the aisle to 'John and Mary'! It was really neat.”

As Jeff talks, his son Chase, a boisterous and happy little fellow, plays with Babe, Honi's dog. Chase is a handsome young man of three and a half, and Jeff and Honi both take obvious delight in his antics.

“It's really interesting, to get to see the world through his eyes,” Honi muses. “Things that I would miss, he notices. I learn a lot through him.”

Honi and Jeff's favorite activities are the ones they can share with Chase. “We like to turn the air conditioning up, get it really cold in the house, build a big fire in the fireplace, make a pallet in the middle of the floor, pop some popcorn, and watch movies!” Jeff says.

“Oh, and one of the things we do, at least twice a week, is crank up the stereo in the living room, and we all dance!” Honi chuckles. “We love rock and roll, R&B, fifties music… and Chase loves to put on IIIrd Tyme Out, and hop around to Papa's music - that's what he calls his grandpa Ray.” (Grandpa Ray, of course, is 3TO bassist Ray Deaton, who happens to be Jeff's dad.)

Chase often goes on the road with Honi and Jeff, and is as comfortable on the band bus - a 1988 Eagle coach - as he is at home. When Chase starts kindergarten in a couple of years, things will be a little different; the Deatons are considering all options, including private school and home-schooling. For now, however, they're delighted to have him along on their travels.

Both Honi and Jeff say that their greatest pleasure is in each other's company. “Being together too much - well, that's not a problem,” Jeff says. “We're best friends, and we talk about everything. Even when I'm driving the bus, Honi's right up there with me. When we get home, we have to unpack, and do laundry and all that… but it doesn't matter if the grass outside is head high, or if there are a million things we've got to do: we always devote time to each other.”

Look for a new CD from Honi Deaton and Dream in early 2003. In addition to the stellar members of Honi's Dream team, super musicians Rob Ickes, Wayne Benson, and Greg Luck will all have guest appearances on the project. Visit the band online at www.honideaton.com.

Jeff's tips for a tidy bus

“Our band is about the best group of people that anybody could ever want to work with,” enthuses Jeff. “They're really incredible, and they're all respectful to everybody else on the bus. We have a thing called the Dollar Rule. If you leave something out in the common area of the bus - a Coke can, or a pair of shoes - it'll cost you a dollar. At the end of the year, we'll split it up for Christmas. We borrowed the idea from IIIrd Tyme Out. That's how they keep their bus so clean!”

Honi's tips for a well-preserved voice

“My mother is a piano and voice instructor, and she's taught me so much,” says Honi, a remarkable vocalist. Here are some of Honi's tips for vocalists:

• Get enough rest! Your throat gets tired if you don't have enough rest. I get enough sleep because I want to be ready for my audiences, and to be the best ME that I can be. I just can't do that if I'm tired and worn out.
• You shouldn't drink caffeine very much when you're going to be singing. The day that I'm singing, I don't have any caffeine at all. It stretches and tightens up your vocal cords.
• Yawning is a good relaxation technique.
• You should always swallow, and never clear your throat.
• Always breathe from your diaphragm, and not your chest!

From The Kitchen of Honi Deaton:
Aunt Betty's Peach Cobbler

“I got this recipe from my Aunt Betty in Idaho,” says Honi. “When I was a kid she taught me how to can green beans, beets, pears, etc. I bought so many peaches that we ended up canning 75 quarts! I didn't know what to do with them all, so she taught me how to make cobbler. We had peach cobbler for months!”

Ingredients:

1 qt. canned peaches in syrup
1 c. flour
1 c. milk
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 heaping tsp. baking powder
1 stick melted butter

Mix flour, milk, sugar, salt, vanilla and baking powder in a bowl until batter is formed and creamy. Pour melted butter into 9x13 baking dish. Then pour batter over top of butter, but DO NOT MIX. Spoon canned peaches over batter and pour the peach syrup over top of peaches. As the cobbler bakes, the batter will rise through the peaches to form a really yummy crust on top. Bake for 45 minutes in a preheated oven at 350 degrees. Serve with vanilla ice cream!