SFMS presents Tracy Grammer & Jim Henry Feb. 2, 2019 in Harrisburg, PA. An Interview with Tracy Grammer.

 Interview with Tracy Grammer by Chris Milsom

Acclaimed contemporary folk music star Tracy Grammer brings her springwater-clear alto voice, perfectly intoned violin, and percussive and delicate guitar playing to Central Pennsylvania for a Susquehanna Folk Music Society concert on Saturday, February 2, 2019, at the Fort Hunter Centennial Barn, 5300 N. Front Street, Harrisburg. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m.

Grammer rose to prominence as half of the “postmodern, mythic American folk” duo Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer. Between 1998 and 2001, they released three internationally celebrated, chart-topping albums featuring Carter’s mytho-poetic Americana songcraft. In 2002 they toured with Joan Baez both as featured artists and as her band mates. Their rise in the music world ended in July 2002 when Carter suffered a massive heart attack and died at age 49.

Determined to honor their trajectory and keep Carter’s songs alive, Grammer stayed on the road, releasing several solo and archival recordings, including Little Blue Egg, which was the number-one most played album on folk radio in 2012 and contained that year’s number-one most played song.

She is currently touring to celebrate the release of Low Tide, her first album of original songs. Co-produced with long-time touring partner and multi-instrumentalist Jim Henry, who will appear with Grammer in the concert, the album was released January 19, 2018 on Grammer’s own label.

Concert tickets are $24 General Admission, $20 for SFMS members and $10 for students ages 3-22. Advance tickets are available at http://www.sfmsfolk.org/concerts/TracyGrammer.html or by telephone at (800) 838-3006. To learn more about Tracy Grammer visit her website at http://www.tracygrammer.com.

Recently, Tracy spent some time sharing her thoughts with Susquehanna Folk volunteer interviewer Chris Milsom.

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It occurs to me that you are about the age now that your music and life partner, Dave Carter, was when he suddenly passed away in 2002 while you were on tour together.

Yes, turning 50 was a trip.  Turning 49 was scary because I was like: this is how old he was? This is unthinkable. I feel like a spring chicken. I was only 34 when Dave died.  Then when I got to 50, it was very disconcerting, strange, and sort of tragic in its own way.  Then I thought, alright, it’s ok, I am still here, my heart is still beating.   I hadn’t realized that I had been hanging onto this fear that I was going to share the same fate for 16 years.  So, then it was like, now what? What am I going to do with the gift of my remaining years?  It seems like a small miracle that I live longer than he did.

I had this sense when I met him that he was either going to die young or live forever. It’s kind of both in a way.  He did die young but he left all this music behind and there it is, your “little tiny” contribution that will go on without you.  It’s very interesting, the whole trip.

Probably the most helpful thing anyone told me was that it took them about 5 years to start feeling like themselves again.  At first, I was like, the heck with that!  On the other hand, I relaxed into those 5 years and let it be. When I hit the 5 year mark, I checked with myself and said,” self, do you feel better now?”  I could say “yes”. I do feel like I came around.  I definitely felt like, that 5 years was a window I could work with.

I want to congratulation you on the success of your 2018 release Low Tide. It is ending up #9 for folk albums on the Folk DJ List for 2018.   I am so impressed with the powerful songs you have written and the process you took to get to those songs.   What is that you want to tell us about that?

Well, what I can say is that pain is really good for creativity.  It is such a deep well. There are so many levels to it, right?  There is the feeling level of it, you just have to sit there and feel it.  But it doesn’t have to be just pain.  If you can cultivate a curiosity about anything you are going through, there are just levels and levels of art you can make from it.  It can be any emotion or sense of wonder or boredom or grieving. This is what I am learning to do. This sort of seems to be what my life is teaching me, to just sit with whatever comes and see what it has to offer. Sort of turn it over in your hand like it is a little stone you are trying to see what it’s made of.  You hold it up to the light and get to know it, taste it and smell it and not really be in resistance because once it’s here, you can’t have it not be here.  This has been sort of my meditation.

The songs on Low Tide come from that kind of attention, to a period of time in my life when I was going through a bunch of stuff. They really have nothing to do with Dave, in spite of what some people think.  They are really more specific to a particular relationship and time.  Then there is the song about my Dad, a healing song.  (Tracy’s father died of cancer in 2013. They sometimes had a difficult relationship and he was very sick before he told her he was dying, passing away before she could see him in person)

So, just the process of sitting with things and being curious about them and letting them move you into art. That is sort of my big revelation with Low Tide, that capacity.  It is a very different relationship to my music career than singing Dave Carter songs. In that realm, I have a creative foot in it but not the same.  I make it pretty and presentable and make it alive, of course, for Dave Carter fans but it’s not quite the same as pulling from your own self as a source.  It was quite the trip, I will say that.

 I can believe that! So, you wrote these songs 4 years ago and now you are out there touring in support of this album.  I wonder as you are performing them now, how have things changed for you?  Do you feel differently about any of them now?  Do you sing them differently?  How does this move you through a place you were 4 years ago?

They do, they are starting to feel different.  Partly what happens when I am writing, I am letting stuff come through that I don’t necessarily understand.  I have a daily writing practice I have been doing forever. I write longhand for at least an hour every day.  I am really comfortable with my voice and the flow of words.  I take a playful approach to it.  When I sat down to write those songs, it was sort of like conjuring. I just let them come through.   It they sounded pretty, or made me cry a little or if they just felt right, I let them go but I didn’t necessarily understand them.  So, the process of singing them, and performing them and seeing how audiences react has really taught me what they are about.  So now, I feel like when I deliver these songs, I can go a little deeper with them.   On the surface it may seem the same as a year ago, but my feeling about them is different.   I understand myself a little better and understand my muse a little better.

I do occasionally think to myself, if you keep singing “Hole”, which is basically: I am never ever going to get married, how are you ever going find a partner?  One wonders to what extent one is casting futures one doesn’t really want by repeating the same message over and over again.  Maybe in the next batch of songs I will look at things from a different perspective.

It is very like me all my life to be just a tad tragic. I have what I call the “Blue Gene”, a depressive streak that I think I inherited from my father and grandmother.   Not so much anymore, since I turned 50 and got free of that fear of dying. The Big Exhale, ha, ha.

Well now, since you have this daily writing practice, I’m assuming you are writing more songs?  It took you 4 years to get from writing those songs to putting out Low Tide, your 11^th release but the first one of your own songs.  Where are you at with your next project and how are you feeling about things?

The writing I do is not songs, it’s just flat out journaling.  It’s like a meditation.  It’s the first thing I do in the morning. After getting my latte, I sit down to write and I don’t usually remember what I write.  I am planting seeds and see it as tending my rows not knowing what may grow. I sometimes underline words as I write that I want to come back to later. I am messing around with language which I think is fun.

What I am preparing to settle into is some memoir work which has been long neglected.  I started this in 2007 after taking a memoir class, writing a chapter here and a chapter there.   I was in a writer’s group for about 4 years when I lived in Pennsylvania but stopped when I moved to Greenfield, MA.  Luckily, the success of my fall tour will allow me to take this winter off from performing so much so I can get working on this project.  I am ready to dig into my journals from 1998 up to about 2012, the 10 year mark (of Dave’s passing) and see what I’ve got.

As far as the next album is concerned, my hope is to come out with something in 2020. Low Tide is good for another national tour. I will be taking it out again in the fall. Making Low Tide was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to doing the next album.

You tour with some pretty amazing musicians and will be coming to the Susquehanna Folk Society show with Jim Henry.  What do you want us to know about him? 

I have known and played with Jim Henry since 2003. He was with me for my first big tour after Dave died.  He has been my stand by guy.  He is a fantastic multi-instrumentalist. He is also a songwriter and producer and a podcast host and just wrote a book called “50 Pro Tips for Musicians”. He can do it all, was Mary Chapin’s guitar player for a while.

Jim and I have spent so many miles and shows together, we have a really great balance. Jim is the perfect counter point to my dark side with his funny banter and good stories. Also, when he comes along, I get to play my violin more which my fans always enjoy hearing.  People can expect a lovely multi-instrument show with funny stories and a real lovely sound. Jim is a great harmony singer.  This is my preferred presentation, the duo with Jim Henry.

I was wondering about that, which format you prefer, solo, duos, or touring with a larger band?

Actually, I really like solo shows and I like touring with Jim Henry.  When you are solo, you have a slightly more intimate, more direct contact with the audience.  It’s more of a conversation. When I am with Jim Henry, it is more of a show.  We are involving the audience, also, but we have a thing that we are doing.  It’s my impression, and I could be completely wrong that the shows with Jim Henry might have a broader appeal.  Some folks like Jim’s stories, guitar players nerd out on his gear, there’s just a little more for everybody.  We have been doing it for so long that it is seamless for us and super fun.

You mentioned that with the Jim Henry shows, you get to play your violin more.  Is that your preferred instrument?

You know, I spent so many years touring, just me and my guitar that I am more up to speed on the guitar at this point, but I played violin all my life and I do love violin and of course, I played violin and mandolin with Dave.  That’s how I got my start in folk music. That’s who I was.

It will be interesting as you continue on this journey of “who am I and what am I really doing?” which instrument you will gravitate toward.  Maybe that violin will be popping up more in your future?

Well, I did buy myself a looper recently because I was starting to feel self-conscious about not playing violin on the solo tours. This way, even on the one-woman tours, I can start with guitar or the violin and play the other instrument over it, without getting all excessive about it.  I know that many people groan when they hear the word, looper, but I think there is a tasteful way to do it. I think it is a super creative tool.  I won’t be doing it on this tour, though, because I haven’t practiced with it enough yet to feel comfortable using it in a show.

I don’t like playing the violin unaccompanied and I thought this would be would be a way for me to play it more because my fans actually bought me this violin.  Yes, in 2004; I think it was the first crowd funding exercise ever.  Somebody from Michigan heard that my old violin was having problems with tone and started a Pay Pal donation site and in something like 3-6 week’s time they had raised $10,000!  So, I thought, Ok I guess I am getting a new violin. This was before Facebook. This was email.  This was really hand to hand grassroots stuff.  Now, I show up for my solo tours and my fans will ask “where is that violin we bought you?” so that is another motivation to learn the looper. It seems appropriate.

Wow! That is amazing! What a testament to you and your fans.

The last thing I wanted to ask you was about your cat, Miss Kitty, who you described in your interview with Artie Martello as a “lifesaver” for you.  Does she travel with you on your tours? 

She does! Miss Kitty went on the fall tour which lasted 6 or 7 weeks.  She is an old girl now, at almost 17. She is very content to sit in the back on her pillow. She is great in the hotels and rides on the luggage cart. She doesn’t come to the shows.  That’s a little bit too much stimulation for her.  She is a great companion and it really is quite grounding to have a little someone to take care of on the road.  You can really get lost in your head out on the road traveling by yourself.

Thanks so much for your time, Tracy.  We all look forward to seeing and hearing you in a few weeks.

 

Chris Milsom lives in Wrightsville, PA.  A bass player, dubbed Mrs. Bobby, she and her beloved singer-songwriter husband, Joe, aka Robert Bobby, performed as a duo until his death in March 2018.

 

A Conversation with Luthier and Musician Wayne Henderson, who will appear in concert with the Jeff Little Trio on Nov 10th in York, PA

Join us as the Susquehanna Folk Music Society presents an extraordinary evening of old-time music with finger-pick guitarist and luthier Wayne Henderson and the Jeff Little Trio in concert on Saturday, November 10, 2018, at 7:30 p.m., at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of York, 925 S. George Street, York.

 

 

Preceding the concert Wayne Henderson, who is a National Heritage Fellowship recipient recognized for his excellent craftsmanship, will give a talk on guitar building from 6:30 pm-7:15 pm. Henderson has built guitars for Tommy Emmanuel, Doc Watson, Peter Rowan Gillian Welch, and Eric Clapton.

 

To purchase tickets for the evening visit: http://www.sfmsfolk.org/concerts/JeffLittleTrio.html

 

Curtis Rockwell, a fellow luthier based in Huntingdon, PA had the opportunity to interview Wayne, and offers his insights in the article below:

 

 

Whittling with Wayne: 

 

By Guest Folkmama Blogger Curtis Rockwell

 

In the world of folk and bluegrass music, Wayne Henderson of Rugby, Virginia, is well known as a musical artist for his skillful picking guitar style, having been most greatly influenced by the music of his close friend, the late Doc Watson.   But perhaps even more significantly, Wayne is known as an esteemed luthier.  His guitars and mandolins are highly coveted and sought after by collectors, instrument enthusiasts, amateurs, and professional musicians, as well as nearly anyone who has followed the development of guitars and mandolins which are inherently designed to reproduce the tone and craftsmanship of the great Gibsons and Martins of the 1920’s and 1930’s.  He’s built instruments for the likes of Peter Rowan, Gillian Welch, Eric Clapton, and Doc.  On the rare instances when one of Wayne’s instruments shows up for sale, the prices can often reach well into the five-digit category.  Otherwise, you can still order a guitar or mandolin directly from Wayne, if you’re willing to wait several years to enjoy playing your new instrument.

On Saturday,  November 10, Wayne will be joining the Jeff Little Trio in York, PA for a concert following a 45-minute talk on guitar building which starts at 6:30 pm at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of York on South George Street.  As a luthier myself who has known of Henderson’s instruments and their reputation and desirability for years, I jumped at the chance to interview Wayne when Jess Hayden asked me to do so for her “Folkmama Blog.”

With building instruments and playing music being so linked in his life, I wondered how Wayne got started.  His first instrument was a six string flat top guitar that his brother ended up with second-hand.  The original owner “Ordered it for 9 dollars and a half.  He said they had two models and the other had maybe another strip of binding on it and had Carson Robison’s name on it and it cost eleven and a half, and he said he couldn’t afford that eleven and a half so he got the nine dollar and a half one.”

“It was an old Recording King – it’s a pretty nice guitar – that Gibson made.  They sold it through Montgomery Ward.  It was a flat top – sort of an odd shape, like a Gibson 185 or something, sort of like a small J-200.  It was a cheaper model, but it was a pretty nice guitar for this area at the time.  My brother knew three chords and he showed me those three chords and ever since I got those three chords when I was five years old, I beat on that thing for years and years.  Luckily I still have that old guitar in my collection.”

It wasn’t just the playing of music that was preoccupying Wayne’s attention.  “I’ve always made stuff even when I was a little kid.  If I got a store-bought toy, I would always try to make one like it myself.  I always wanted to be making something.  I’ve got a guitar body or a guitar that I made when I was like eight or nine years old out of a cardboard box and I whittled out a neck and put fish line on it, and I still have one of those too in my collection.  Evidently, I’ve just about always had that guitar building something on my mind.”

“In the sixties, in the early sixties, I finally got one made that I thought was a real guitar and I put a serial number in it in 1964.  That is my number one, but I made several instruments and things like instruments before that.  But that one actually plays and has a fingerboard.  You can actually play it.”  It’s one of many significant instruments Wayne still has in his collection.

By the time Wayne was working on his seventh guitar, he was working hard to emulate the famous and coveted Martin D-45 and was able to whittle the intricate grooves for its fancy inlays with his pocket knife.  I wanted to know more about how Wayne came to understand the relationship between a guitars structure and its tone.  “I learned to build mostly by doing repair work on the Martins.  Somebody brought me one that had been run over by a car and I got exactly to see all the brace patterns and every time I would ever work on it, I’d study every piece of it to try to figure out chisel marks, sander marks, everything – how did they do that?  The old ones were pretty much handmade in ways that I could figure out how they did it.”

Even now, Wayne admits “If I get a really nice instrument, I still do a lot of looking and studying and I just did that for years.  In the early seventies, I would work in Nashville at Gruhn Guitars.  He would have me come down there and do repair work for him and I got to work with a guy named Randy Wood who was a good repair guy and builds stuff too, and that was probably the first, and maybe the only repair guy that I ever worked around too much that I could learn stuff from.  He knew some pretty good tricks and I worked with him quite a bit.  I’d go down there and stay two or three weeks and then I’d come back home because I always had my shop here with more stuff to do than I could do, and I’ve been behind for forty years.  But it was fun to go down there and work in that shop there where all kinds of really nice instruments – famous people’s instruments – would come in there all the time.”

To look at a Henderson guitar is to see a masterful reinterpretation of the great pre-World War Two Martin guitars from Nazareth, PA.  “They’re some of my favorite guitars and always have been.  I assumed that if I could make any of mine look or sound like the ones made back in the thirties, especially, when they had great materials and great craftsmen working, and they had to do more hand work.  Their guitars are still great today, but they’re done much more by machine.  Back in the twenties and thirties, I think they were just a bunch of people working by hand – carving tools and hand chisels and stuff like that.  That’s the kind of work I appreciate the most and try to copy.”

For some builders, there are musicians, and styles of music that are of particular influence in the way guitars are shaped, woods are chosen, inlays are designed, and the instruments are voiced.  I asked Wayne if there were any musicians who were particularly influential in his designs. “Doc Watson is one of my most influential people in my picking and instruments, and all his nice old records – the ones I’ve loved and listened to first – he was playing an old Martin in there – a D-18 that I just absolutely loved the sound of.  Of course, most of that sound was probably coming out of him.  The people influence the sound almost more than the instrument.  Tony Rice gets a sound like almost nobody else in the world and everybody says it’s that old guitar that he plays all the time, but I’ve worked on and played that guitar.  When I play it, it doesn’t sound any better than all the rest of them, but when he plays it, it’s something special.  Doc’s guitars – he was always playing something different back in his early days, recording days.  He almost never owned those guitars, they were borrowed guitars.  He would play anything he could get a hold of and make it sound great.  With that caliber of player, it has more to do with their touch than the instrument.”

I wanted to further discuss the subject of Wayne’s choice of traditional tonewoods, many of which are becoming increasingly difficult to procure in the quality that’s desired for musical instruments.  This immediately led us to discuss Wayne’s daughter, Elle Jayne Henderson, now 33, who is building beautiful guitars and ukuleles of her own.  I recently met Jayne and had the chance to play one of her guitars that was made using some stunning Black Walnut that she found at a sawmill near her home.  When I asked Wayne about the woods, he said, “She has opened my eyes to that stuff a whole lot.  I have to go by my customers, too – you know what they ask for.  I’m a traditional builder.  Everybody that wants me to make a guitar wants me to make it out of traditional stuff like Martin used, you know Mahogany and Rosewood, and that’s what I’ve always done.  But since she’s been doing that, I’ve discovered what great guitars can be made out of our local wood here.  I’ve checked and that white oak she uses sometimes has about the same weight and density and hardness of Brazilian Rosewood, and it sounds like it, and its beautiful stuff.  And Walnut always makes great guitars.  I haven’t made very many, but seems like all I’ve made, I’ve been impressed with, and the ones she does are gorgeous and sound good too!  It’s bound to get sometime when you can’t get a hold of that exotic wood.  It’s pretty much that now.  It’s hard to get good Brazilian and stuff like that.  I’m sure sometimes, it’ll get so hard to get, it won’t be worth fiddling with.”

Jayne’s interest in moving towards alternative, more sustainable woods is an outgrowth of her interest in environmental studies and law.  When she completed her degree, school debt brought her to the doorstep of her father’s shop.  “She’d seen what my guitars bring in on eBay and she wanted to know if I’d build her a guitar she could sell to pay her student loans.  Of course, I said I probably would, but y’all ought to build it yourself.  She said no she couldn’t do that, but I knew she could because I’d seen her artwork, how good she is with her hands, stuff like that and I knew she could do that if she would.  She said, well she’d try and she started building one of my guitars.  It’ll have to be made just right and you’ll have to re-do stuff, have to put up with that.  She said she would.  She got about halfway through that guitar, came in one day and said, you know I can’t believe this, but I’m having a good time!  She really got into it, then started making her own after that, so she’s been at it ever since and has been behind on orders ever since.  She makes beautiful stuff – whole lot better business person than I am.  I’m real proud of her, the way she does everything.”

The tradition continues…

 

Curtis Rockwell is a luthier and part-time school bus driver from Huntingdon, PA.  You can follow and contact him through Facebook at Curtis Rockwell Guitars where he shares his latest musical exploits and musings.

Thursday, September 20th Corn Potato String Band play in Harrisburg, PA!

The Corn Potato String Band will make their grand return to the Susquehanna Folk Music Society stage when they appear on Thursday, September 20, 2018, at 7:30 p.m. at the Fort Hunter Centennial Barn located at 5300 N. Front Street in Harrisburg, PA. Tickets are $24 General Admission, $10 Students, and $20 Susquehanna Folk Music Society members.

For tickets and information visit https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3594138

The band has delighted audiences with their driving fiddle tunes and harmonious singing across the US, Canada, Europe, Mexico, and India. In addition to being champion fiddlers, they play banjo, guitar, bass and mandolin and deftly handle many different old-time styles including ballads, “ho-downs,” country “rags” and southern gospel, specializing in twin fiddling and double banjo tunes.

As those that went last year found out–onstage they are infectious, fun, and VERY entertaining! Aside from humorous songs and stellar musicianship, we’ll also get a chance to see a “cranky” (scrolling picture show) and some flatfoot dancing!

We had the chance to learn more about the band during a chat with band member Aaron Jonah Lewis (updated for a 9/17 interview)

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FOLKMAMA: What can people expect to hear when they come to a Corn Potato Soup concert?

 

AARON: We play old-time music in a broad sense.  You will hear old-time Appalachian tunes, Country Rags, Mexican Polkas, Early Country and some Western Swing.  We like to dig up beautiful and unique songs and instrumentals from the 1920s and 1930s.  You will definitely hear something you haven’t heard before, and if you have heard it before, we might do it differently.  We recently have been featuring “Classic Banjo” which is a style of music that comes from the 1890’s-1900’s.  The banjo music of that era has a ragtime feel and reminds you of silent movie music, which is why we have our own scrolling picture show to accompany a couple of the banjo pieces.  We also can’t get through a show without letting Lindsay do some flatfooting.

 

FOLKMAMA: How did all the members in the band meet?

 

AARON: We all met for the first time at a Spaghetti Dinner in Richmond, VA, where our mutual friend was hosting a variety show.  None of us remember it, so the second time we all met was at the Appalachian String Band Festival in Clifftop, WV.  Lindsay and some friends recruited Aaron and Ben to play Klezmer music for a latke party.

 

FOLKMAMA: How did the band get its unusual name?

 

AARON: The Corn Potato String Band got its name in the tradition of band names that evoke a bucolic setting with a suggestion of gaiety.  We have since realized that it gives us the tagline:  “The Ears and Eyes of America” which is kind of fun and weird at the same time.

 

FOLKMAMA: Tell me a little bit about the band members—specifically what they bring to the band.

 

AARON: Aaron is the Brains, Ben is the Face and Lindsay is the intestines.  Aaron and Ben played in a bluegrass band in Richmond for a long time.  They love to play fast and have great chops on fiddles and banjos.  Lindsay is a puppeteer but when she met up with Aaron, who is her household companion, she always wanted to be in a band.  She has managed to sneak some cranky shows and the occasional novelty song into the Corn Potato repertoire.

 

FOLKMAMA: Are you all full time with the band, or do you have other projects?

 

AARON: We are not a full-time band right now.  We do have other projects.  Ben Belcher plays with the Hot Seats, based in Richmond when he can. Lindsay and Aaron play and tour with Roochie Toochie and the Ragtime Shepherd Kings.  Aaron also performs solo and plays with several other bands in and around Detroit and some Chicago and New York-based projects when he can.  Lindsay continues to make puppet shows and works with puppet companies in Minneapolis and Vermont.

 

FOLKMAMA: Tell us about any CDs which you have recently made. (Which concert-goers may want to purchase!)

AARON: Our latest CD is called: “Good Job Everybody” and features a little of everything we do.  Highlights include a double fiddle polka, an old country song about UFOs, an original double-banjo “stomp,” and one of our favorite novelty songs about drinking too much from 1928.

 

Our three previous CDs are currently out of print but they are available on our website http://www.cornpotato.com. We will also have a couple of Aaron’s CDs from other projects available: Square Peg Rounders’ “Galax, NYC,” an all-instrumental album of traditional fiddle tunes played with fiddle, banjo, and guitar, and lots of flair, and “Wild Hog,” an experimental/traditional album of classic old-time songs and tunes played with fiddles, banjo, guitar, and bass, in the style of old-time musicians who also love who also love free improvisation.

Tėada, from Sligo, Ireland to appear March 18th in Harrisburg (tunes, music + dancing)

“One of the most exciting traditional groups to emerge in recent years” Irish World

Coming from Sligo, Ireland the band Tėada (the word means “strings” in the Irish language) has achieved worldwide acclaim for its ability to stay true to the timeless, expressive force of traditional tunes inherited from previous generations of great Irish musicians.

Midstaters can experience Tėada in a Susquehanna Folk Music Society concert on Sunday, March 18, 2018, at 7:30 p.m., at Appalachian Brewing Company, 50 N. Cameron Street, Harrisburg. The five-piece band expands to seven for this event with champion step-dancer Samantha Harvey and legendary singer and musician Séamus (SHAY-mus) Begley.

Tickets are available at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/3050248)

Téada first appeared in 2001 on Irish television, led by County Sligo fiddler Oisin Mac Diarmada. Though still in their teens, the young musicians were driven by the timeless, expressive force of music inherited from previous generations.

The band was quickly cheered for “keeping the traditional flag flying at full mast” (The Irish Times). “A fresh force in Irish music” said Earle Hitchner in the Irish Echo, and Irish Music Magazine described them as “the strings that bind…a young band with a deeply authentic sound [at] the cutting edge of the next generation.”

“We try to capture some of the rawness and individuality of the solo artist tradition, within the dynamic of a full band,” says Mac Diarmada.

The original quartet is now often a septet with Seamus Begley, the elder statesmen of the group. From a famous musical family in County Kerry, named 2013’s Traditional Singer of the Year (Irish TV TG4), Begley brings a deep trove of songs as well as fiery accordion playing and wit.

Téada’s most recent release, In Spite of the Storm (Gael Linn, 2013), follows a string of acclaimed albums on the Green Linnet and Compass labels, and the first to feature Begley. “One of the outstanding releases in recent memory,” raved Daniel Neely in The Irish Echo. “Another typically thoughtful and thought-provoking excursion from a band still hungry for tunes– and, belatedly, for songs,” added Siobhan Long in The Irish Times.

The American tour is supported in part by Culture Ireland, a branch of the Irish government promoting Irish arts worldwide. For more information on the band visit their website at teada.com

Concert tickets are $24 General Admission, $20 for SFMS members, and $10 for students ages 3-22. Advance tickets are available online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com or by calling toll-free (800) 838-3006.

To listen/watch Teada visit these sites:

AUDIO

In Spite of the Storm: https://teada.bandcamp.com/album/ainneoin-na-stoirme-in-spite-of-the-storm

VIDEOS

Song with Seamus Begley https://youtu.be/W2_-oHPm5C8

Blue and Ragtime with Del Rey on Thursday, April 6th at the Ware Center in Lancaster

West Coast blues guitar and ukulele queen Del Rey brings her quirky, infectious stage presence and command of blues and ragtime to Lancaster on Thursday, April 6^th. A 7:30 p.m. concert is sponsored jointly by the Susquehanna Folk Music Society and the Ware Center concert. The concert will be held at Millersville University’s Ware Center located at 42 N. Prince Street in Lancaster.

Del Rey is known for performing on both the resonator guitar and the resonator ukulele and is a foremost authority on the music of blues giant Memphis Minnie.

Del Rey began her musical training in classical guitar at the tender age of four. When she hit her teens and found blues music, the serene classical numbers fell to the side. Her music soon rang with the soul of blues, but jingled a little, too, with ragtime and jazz, and even some rock flavoring to stir things up.

Her distinctive fingerstyle playing has a fascinating complexity such that she makes her solo instruments sound like a whole band. Rags, blues, and tunes of the early 20th century are her specialty, even as she writes new music to add to the tradition.

Rey has taught and played all over the world, and has toured with Steve James, Suzy Thompson, and Adam Franklin. She writes about music for various publications, including Acoustic Guitar Magazine, and is a popular instructor at numerous guitar camps such as Ashokan and the Swannanoa Gathering.

Concert tickets are $25 General Admission, $22 for SFMS members and $5 for students ages 4-22. Advance tickets are available through the Ware Center Box Office in Millersville or Lancaster or by calling (717) 871-7600. For more information, visit the Susquehanna Folk Music Society website at http://www.sfmsfolk.org.

 

Below Hank Imhof, an area guitarist and blues enthusiast who is a favorite on the winery and coffeehouse circuit, tells about how purchasing a Del Rey teaching video was a “game changer’ for him.

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The name Del Ray kept on showing up in my music studies, so after taking some time to read about her music, I decided to purchase one of her learning DVD’s called The Blues Styles of Memphis Minnie published by Homespun. I learned that Del Rey is considered one of the finest interpreters of the music of Memphis Minnie –a blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter whose recording career lasted from the 1920s to the 1950s. Memphis Minnie wrote, played and recorded many great blues songs, some of the best known being “Bumble Bee”, “Nothing in Rambling”, and “Me and My Chauffeur Blues“. She has inspired many great musicians, male and female, among them Del Rey.

While working with the video I have been really floored by Del Rey’s playing abilities and style. I started in and have very much enjoyed the lessons. Del Ray is very infectious and teaches with a light heart and a lot of smiles. I also bought the other Del Ray DVD Boogie Woogie Guitar before even finishing the first. I’m looking forward to spending as much time as I can to learn from these video lessons!

My discovery of Del Ray and her music talents have been a game changer for me personally. Del Ray’s study of blues, blues history and guitar along with her beautiful spirit and a bunch of smiles are a force to be enjoyed. Her guitar skills on her steel bodied resonator guitar set up a groove and infectious sound that is wonderful.

Del Rey’s music reflects a deep study of black history, blues history and especially channeling the female perspective of all of the above through the soul of her hero Memphis Minnie. Del Ray sings and tells stories about Memphis Minnie while adding her own musicianship and spirit to everything she plays and sings. It’s very much like hearing the two of them play together on the same stage.

Equally inspiring to me has been learning more about black history, black women’s history and the power of women, all women. Del Ray is furthering the awareness of this music and an history that maybe you’ve never heard before.

Please come and enjoy Del Ray, I’ll be there!

 

 

April 1st in York, PA: Hawaiian Slack Key Guitar and Hula with Keola Beamer & Jeff Peterson, with Moanalani Beamer

Hawaiian slack key guitar master and legend Keola Beamer, who has stretched the boundaries of slack key guitar music while remaining true to the soul of its deeply Hawaiian roots, comes to York, Pennsylvania, for an April 1st Susquehanna Folk Music Society concert at 7:30 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Society of York, 925 S. George Street. He will be joined by his wife, Moanalani, a hula dance master and musician, who will lead a free hula dance workshop at 5 p.m., and by slack key guitarist Jeff Peterson.

Working together, Keola Beamer and Jeff Peterson present a concert of superb guitar playing that explores the resonant, multi-cultural beauty of Hawaiian music. They will be accompanied by Moanalani Beamer, who brings hula and Hawaiian chants to the stage, and adds musical texture with ancient Hawaiian instruments.

At the free 5 p.m. hula workshop, Moanalani will teach basic hula movements, including hand motions that are used to tell a story. Learn about the close relationship between hula dance and nature.

Concert tickets are $24 General Admission, $20 for SFMS members and $10 for students ages 3-22. Advance tickets are available through Brown Paper Tickets online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com or toll-free (800) 838-3006. For more information, visit the Susquehanna Folk Music Society website at http://www.sfmsfolk.org.

Below is a story about Slack Key guitar which features quotes by Keola and Moanalani Beamer and information about their performance. The story appeared in The Burg Magazine, used by permission.

 

 

Some of the sweetest, most melodious guitar music can be found in Hawaii, and Keola Beamer is considered to be the foremost master of the style of guitar playing called Slack Key. He has been exploring this beautiful traditional music, which uses open tunings and loosened strings, for the past 35 years.

It is only in Beamer’s lifetime that Slack Key guitar music has been played outside of the home. “It used to be that a dad would come home from work, take off his boots and pick up his guitar. It was really a back door kind of thing.” Beamer said in a recent interview. “Families would be very secretive about the songs that they knew and the tunings they used. If you weren’t a member of the family and wanted to learn the music, well just forget it.”

All this changed when pianist George Winston fell in love with Slack Key guitar music and decided to record Slack Key musicians for his record company Dancing Cat. “He’s a very able musicologist and preservation was his object “said Keola’s wife Moana. “He especially wanted to be sure to record the older musicians.  He wanted a chance to meet with them and talk to them before they weren’t here anymore.”

It was through these Slack-Key guitar compilations that Slack-Key guitar music began to gain popularity outside of Hawaii. “We never could have toured before the records were released” said Beamer.  “We tried, but we just couldn’t get out of Hawaii. Nobody knew what it was, nobody sold it. And all of a sudden the music was in Borders. And then the whole touring thing opened up for us.”

Slack Key guitar music can be played on any standard guitar, although the magnificent guitars that Beamer tours with were built by a German luthier and designed to be able to project more sound. There are approximately 46 different tunings, and each one conveys a different feeling or tonal pallet. “The true art of the Stack Key guitar is to match the tuning with song. It has to elevate the piece” says Beamer.

On Saturday, April 1 Keola Beamer, Jeff Peterson and Moanalani Beamer will give a performance of Hawaiian Slack-Key guitar and hula at 7:30 PM at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of York. Moana Beamer, an experienced hula dancer who began her training at age four, will lead a hula dance workshop at 5 PM during which she hopes to show people “how varied,  rich and wonderful hula is.”During a concert Keola and Jeff will play guitar and sing in Hawaiian and English while Moana plays traditional percussion instruments, recites poetry and dances.

These events are sponsored by the Susquehanna Folk Music Society and are funded, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts and Bob and Donna Pullo.

Workshop w/ Blues Master SCOTT AINSLIE, April 2nd, HBG, PA (concert too!)

If you are a blues guitarist or a guitarist who just wants to learn more about the music that rock came from (including Delta Blues, Slide Guitar, Open Tunings, Piedmont/Ragtime Style fingerpicking Blues) then you should plan on registering for Scott Ainslie’s “Blues, Give Me Your Right Hand” workshop which will be held on Saturday, April 2, 2016 from 2-5 pm at the Fort Hunter Centennial Barn located at 5300 N Front Street in Harrisburg. The workshop is sponsored by the Susquehanna Folk Music Society.

Blues, Give Me Your Right Hand This 90 minute workshop will focus on right hand techniques used by acoustic blues masters. We’ll look at Mississippi John Hurt’s ragtime picking, Rev. Gary Davis’s stunning two-finger picking, Robert Johnson’s thumb-heavy attack, and work toward building on your understanding of coordinating the thumb and fingers without sacrificing power and versatility. Bring a guitar and come join us. Participants are also welcome to bring an audio recording device, paper and pencil are recommended.

The cost of the workshop is $45. We are asking that you get your workshop tickets by March 29th at www.sfmsfolk.org/concerts/ScottAinslie.html. Scott Ainslie will also be featured in concert at 7:30 on the evening of the workshop. A separate ticket is required for this concert and is available on-line or at the door.

Ainslie is the author of “Robert Johnson/At The Crossroads”—a book of transcriptions, history, and annotated lyrics from Johnson’s famous solo blues recordings of 1936-37. He is an experienced teacher and has an instructional DVD on Johnson’s music on Starlicks Master Sessions.

Ainslie has studied with elder musicians on both sides of the color line, in the Old-Time Southern Appalachian fiddle and banjo traditions, as well as Black Gospel and Blues. He plays this music with affection, authority, and power.

He is a legacy instructor at both Common Ground On The Hill in Westminster, MD and at the Swannanoa Gathering’s Guitar Week. His popularity is such that his courses often fill up within the first 15 minutes of open on-line registration!

Questions? E-Mail Scott Ainslie at scott@cattailmusic.com

Legendary Musicians from Quebec to Perform in Harrisburg, PA March 27th

Legendary Quebec traditional musicians Lisa Ornstein, Normand Miron, and André Marchand, appearing together as Le Bruit Court dans la Ville (The Buzz Around Town), come to Harrisburg for a Susquehanna Folk Music Society concert on Friday, March 27, 2015, at the Fort Hunter Centennial Barn, 5300 N. Front Street, Harrisburg. The 7:30 p.m. concert will be preceded by a free workshop on Quebec music at 5:30 and a 6 p.m. potluck dinner.

Ornstein and Marchand first met as bandmates in La Bottine Souriante, the iconoc trad super group that kickstarted Quebec’s folk music revival. Miron is a singer and button accordionist who grew up surrounded by family musicians in Lanaudière, the epicenter of Quebec’s folk music scene. As a trio, Le Bruit Court dans la Ville produces music that is at once deeply rooted, innovative, nuanced, and spontaneous.

Concert tickets are $20 General Admission, $16 for SFMS members, and $10 for students ages 3-22. Advance tickets are available through Brown Paper Tickets online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com or toll-free (800) 838-3006.

Join us for a free potluck supper before the concert. Bring a covered dish to share. Drinks and place settings will be provided. For more information, visit the Susquehanna Folk Music Society website at http://www.sfmsfolk.org

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Because these three legendary musicians were so important in the revival of traditional music and dance in Quebec some 40 years ago, I wanted to speak to the group’s fiddler LISA ORNSTEIN (who is a folklorist) about changes in Quebec’s cultural climate and also how she and her band mates were able to plant some of the seeds that have allowed Quebeoise music and dance to grow in popularity and flourish.

FOLKMAMA: Can you tell me some things about the members in your trio? I know that all three of you are considered legendary in Quebec’s trad music scene.

LISA: Well we’ll begin first with André Marchand. He’s from Jolliet, he’s lived here all his life. His father played violin but it was classical violin, a hobbyist. He got his start playing guitar in the early 1960s. He was listening to Bob Dylan because at that time there wasn’t really a “Quebecoise” tradition of guitar playing. He kind of invented an approach to backing up this music with the kind of guitar playing that you hear with the guitar tuned in standard tuning.

FOLKMAMA: I understand during the time when Andre was growing up that it was difficult to find traditional Quebecoise music because the French Canadian culture had been repressed. What were the politics in Quebec like at the time?

LISA: The 1960s in Quebec began what we call the Quiet Revolution. The Prime Minister who had been quite conservative died, and a liberal, Jean Lesage took his place and he had a completely different vision. The saying during that time was “Masters in Our own Country” because the Quebecoise since 1759 had really been second citizens here. All the administrators and the owners of industry in the province were Anglo-Canadians who had come from British forefathers. The Quebecoise were basically told that they were going to be water carriers.

So Jean Lesage came in and one of the first things that he did was to nationalize electricity. Which was huge in this province—there is hydro-electric power to sell to all of North America. That gave the government the capacity to create all kinds of social services, vocational training, and higher education opportunities. So by the 1970s there was a whole generation of Quebecoise who were beginning to be well educated.

FOLKMAMA: How did Quebecoise trad music and dance play a role in the Quiet Revolution?

LISA: The music got pulled into the equation very much in the same way that music got pulled in with the Civil Rights Movement. The folk and traditional music often had an ideological and political content –especially by some of the singer/ songwriters who became involved in the Quebec Sovereignty Movement. It was a time of Quebecoise pride when the Quebecoise were proud to be Quebecoise.

FOLKMAMA: Did Quebecoise Trad music start to become more widespread?

LISA: In Montreal a group of young university graduates organized a folk festival where they brought in elders. Nothing like this had ever happened– it changed the lives of a whole generation of young musicians who for the first time could hear and learn from the older generation of musicians. So you have this coming together of very traditional musicians who are being brought onto the stage, very much like the Newport Folk Festival, and you have these young urban Quebecoise who are just thirsty for music that looks and sounds like them.

FOLKMAMA: I know that the group La Bottine Souriante was one of most important groups to form during this era.

LISA: Yes, La Bottine Souriante formed as a direct result of this festival. The group was made up of all young musicians, including André Marchand who was an original member and now of course plays in Le Bruit Court dans la Ville. The group was so influential because it not only helped to increase the popularity of Quebecoise music in Quebec, but also brought it to France, the United States and around the world.

FOLKMAMA: So, I know that you are an American fiddler verse in both old-time and Quebecoise fiddling. I understand that you also played in La Bottine Souriante. How did that come about?

LISA: I had been playing fiddle from the time I was 13 or 14. I grew up in a musical family; my mother was a harpsichordist who played Renaissance music. My idea of what music was as a very small child was small ensembles who were improvising on dance melodies. I think that’s why I was attracted to traditional music rather than classical music; it was the social aspect of it and the way that music was made in these small groups. I appreciate orchestral music but I’ve always be interested in how much music can be made with the smallest, the most frugal means. And I think that traditional music is all about that. It’s about the frugality of the means with great creativity in the hands of exceptional artists with immense amount of virtuosity and depth of understanding.

Even though I really wanted to just play fiddle, my parents wanted me to go to college so I went to Oberlin.  In my last year the college asked me if I was interested in the Watson Scholarship which would allow me to study something outside of the country. By then I was so interested in Quebecoise music because of a friendship I had with a Franco-American fiddler Louis Beaudoin.

So I got this grant to come to Quebec and I didn’t know anybody. I went to Université Laval because I knew that they had a folklore archives, but the only Quebecoise musician I could find was a button accordion player names Albert who played on the streets for the tourists. So I played with him sometimes, and during the summer I went to this great summer festival and there he was on stage and he made me get up and play with him.

Afterwards we decided we’d go to this great bar that was right across from the stage that had an outdoor terrace and as we sat there I heard a tune that I thought I knew from my friend Louis Beaudoin, and then one of the members of the band who had heard me play approached me and he said, “Come join us.” And it was La Bottine Souriante. I couldn’t believe these young guys were there playing traditional music.

So we played together all night and then we lost track of each other but next night they invited me to play in their show in front of 20,000 people. Soon after they left for a tour in France, but on the way back some of the musicians couldn’t return because of an airline strike, so I filled in for their fiddler at the band’s next gig. Soon after they asked me to join the band. So I went to Jolliet and played in the band for about 8 years so.

FOLKMAMA: Was that what you were doing full time?

LISA: When I was in Quebec I worked for this traditional arts advocacy group and was really involved in promoting Quebecoise culture and heritage.

Although it’s taken 30 years, Quebec just this past year passed its law recognizing intangible traditional arts. We were working on that dossier in the 1980s. We had a center where there were classes for young people who didn’t come out of singing and playing families. These were young kids who loved the music and dance but didn’t have other chances to learn it. At the time there was no money available in the Quebec government to fund this kind of program. It’s changed now, although the law is in place and there is no budget to enact it. So our organization became more and more politically motivated because we realized that the traditional arts weren’t getting the government support that it should have gotten.

FOLKMAMA: It doesn’t seem like you are intimidated by working on the governmental level to promote traditional music.

LISA: I had worked at the Library of Congress. My mother in law was Bess Lomax Hawes. She created the National Endowment for the Arts Folk Arts program and was Curator of Folk Songs at the Library of Congress. She’s Alan Lomax’s sister.

So I had connections with Alan Jabbour at the Library of Congress and folks at the Smithsonian. We brought people from the Government of Quebec’s Minister of Cultural Affairs to visit in Washington to show them that there can be a different vision.  The United States government has acknowledged that not only is this worthy but it’s necessary to support the celebration and transmission of traditional cultural heritage.

FOLKMAMA: So what your third member?

LISA: Normand Miron is from a small village just outside of Joliette. He’s from a very traditional family of singers and instrumentalists. His uncle was an accordion player and his grandfather was apparently an extraordinary singer. The whole area around Jolliet is known in Quebec as being one of the strongholds of traditional singing and particularly especially song and response songs. Norman is the real stuff, he’s straight out of the tradition. Normand Miron was the go-to guy for many of the songs that La Bottine  Souriante was doing because his repertoire was so huge, although was never in the band.

FOLKMAMA: So I believe you have been playing with Andre and Norman informally for many years. Why have you chosen now to tour as a group?

LISA: My children are almost grown and Les Charbonniers de l’Enfer (the latest group that Andre and Norman performed in together) is on hiatus so the three of us just looked at each other and said, “This is our chance.”

 

The Western Flyers perform Western Swing music on February 7th in Harrisburg

One of the most exciting new bands to hit the music scene in years, the Western Flyers, comes to central Pennsylvania on Saturday, February 7, 2015, for a 7:30 p.m. concert sponsored by Susquehanna Folk Music Society at the Fort Hunter Centennial Barn, 5300 N. Front Street, Harrisburg.

Concert tickets are $22 General Admission, $16 for SFMS members and $10 for students ages 3-22. Advance tickets are available through Brown Paper Tickets online at www.brownpapertickets.com or toll-free (800) 838-3006. For more information, visit the Susquehanna Folk Music Society Web site at www.sfmsfolk.org

I had a chance to speak to guitarist Joey McKenzie recently. Joey is recognized as one of the foremost practitioners of this style of music. He is a two time Texas Guitar Champion and is considered to be a state treasure.

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FOLKMAMA: I’m really excited about your upcoming concert with the Western Flyers! The three of you are all such great musicians. I’m wondering if you can tell me a little bit about yourself and your band mates.

JOEY: I live in Burleson, Texas which is a suburb of Fort Worth, and I’ve been playing music my whole life, basically since I was about 11 years old. I play guitar and fiddle and mandolin and tenor banjo, and have really been enamored with Western Swing especially, and a lot of music that is played in the state of Texas

I grew up in Oregon and I moved to Texas 25 years ago to be close to the music and learn from the great Western Swing musicians.   I got to know a lot of those people and become friends with many of the Western Swing musicians and Texas style fiddle players.

So I’ve been teaching also for all those years. I taught the Quebe sisters and eventually we started a band and did that for 10 years. We made the mutual decision to go our separate ways. We wanted to slow down a little bit; we wanted to keep playing but not constantly gone. So we started The Western Flyers with Gavin Kelso and Katie Glassman.

Gavin left the Quebe band the same time that I did. We were on the same page with what we wanted to do and how we wanted to do it so we started the Western Flyers. Katie is an old friend—I’ve known her since she was a kid, for 20 years, and we’ve always loved playing together and feel musically very compatible. So we had the opportunity to form The Western Flyers and Katie was as fired up about it as we all were.

Katie Glassman is incredibly talented. She’s been a two time National Fiddle Champion and a 7 time Colorado State Fiddle Champion and a wonderful singer and songwriter—truly one of the most talented people that I have ever known. She’s just a fun person to be in a band with.

You know the time that you play on the stage is only a fraction of the time that you spend together. Katie, Galvin and I get along great. You know you have lots of hours traveling together, staying at hotels, and eating together. It’s really fun to spend time with Katie and Galvin.

And Galvin Kelso and originally from Neosho, Missouri and he moved to Texas to go to school in Denton at the University of North Texas which has a world class upright bass program. Probably one of the largest program of its kind in the world. He has a degree in classical bass performance, but he really comes primarily from a jazz background.

You know, Western is just country jazz. I always say that we’re just playing jazz with cowboy hats on.

FOLKMAMA: It interests me that you would move to Texas to learn about Western Swing. Is Texas the hotbed for this style of music?

JOEY: Yeah, it was born here. That’s where it all started. You’ve probably heard of Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys. Well, Bob Wills was known as the king of Western Swing. So he started it all in Texas and then he went to Oklahoma in Tulsa and was based there for awhile and then went to California. In those years Bob Wills was a huge star. He was making records and he was a radio star and he was in a lot of movies. He was a huge star back in the 30s and 40s and 50s and the Western Swing became a really popular music. So being in Texas where I’ve gotten a chance to play with a lot of the original Texas Playboys—although there are not many of them left—I’ve been really fortunate to be friends with those guys and learn a lot from them.

The Western Flyers are really trying to carry on the rich tradition that Bob Wills began. We love Western Swing and think it’s important to get it out there and bring it to the folks that aren’t as familiar with it. I really try to do the music authentically, as does Katie and Gavin. So on our individual instruments we really try to capture the style—but do it with our own kind of twist.

FOLKMAMA: So, what has happened to Western Swing music since the time of Bob Wills? Has it evolved? Is it still as popular?

JOEY: Bob originated the style in the 40s, and although it was really popular, by the late 50s and early 60s it became tougher to earn a living because of the advent of television. A lot of this is dance music and people started staying home and watching TV and staying away from the dance halls. The advent of television really changed music in a huge way. So the times got pretty lean and rock and roll came in and a lot of the young people that were listening to Western Swing started listening to rock and roll. So towards the end of the 50s there was a gradual decline in Western Swing music and it made it harder for bands to be able to make a living. It was always around, but you had to look music harder for it.

But in Texas and Oklahoma it still stayed, even in the years when it was not popular everywhere else, it still happened here. And then you know bands like Asleep at the Wheel came to be and they helped keep Western Swing alive and we really try to do our part with traveling and we do workshops. It’s really something that we love and we want to promote and help to perpetuate the music. It’s the sort of music, that when most people hear it, even if they are not familiar with it, they can’t help but like it.

Its fun music and I think a lot of the songs that are associated with Western Swing music are pretty timeless. You know you wonder about some of the music that is being played now, there are some big bands that are playing nowadays, but will their music be able to stand the test of time?

Bob Wills music is still very popular, in fact my wife Sherry and I and our production company, Twin Fiddle Productions, along with the city of Greenville Texas, started in 2014 the Bob Wills Fiddle Festival and Contest. And Bob Wills daughter Carolyn is a friend of ours and she got the Bob Wills Heritage Foundation on board so we started this huge festival.

We had the Time Jumpers with Vince Gill, a wonderful Western Swing band from Nashville and we had other Texas bands, Jody Nix and the Texas Cowboys played plus Bobby Flores and the Yellow Rose Band—they’re a great Western Swing band from San Antonio. And then we had a world class fiddle contest. We had competitors that came from 10 different states.  We also had a Bob Wills division where people had to play a song associated with Bob Wills. And that was very popular, and they also played the traditional Texas Breakdown style of fiddling. That was a first year event and people came from everywhere. The shows were sold out—it’s an indication that Western Swing music is really having a resurgence. There are so many young kids that are starting to learn to play Western Swing so I think the future is pretty bright.

FOLKMAMA: So, how would you describe a Western Flyers concert?

JOEY: We always have fun when we play. The main reason that we play is because we love it. And we love to travel.

So we play music that we love and it’s not entirely Western Swing. We’ll throw in an old swing jazz tune like you may hear some Benny Goodman, we throw in a Texas Style Fiddle tune every once in awhile, like you may hear from Benny Thomasson or Howdy Forrester. Or we might throw in a classic country song like you may hear from Ray Price or Connie Smith. And we try to play music that is not all just the same, but also has a connection.

So Ray Price loved Bob Wills and Bob Wills love Ray Price and the fiddle players loved Bob Wills and Bob Wills loved the fiddle players (of course he was a fiddle player). They were all listening to one another—Benny Goodman listened to Bob Wills and Bob Mills listened to Benny Goodman. It’s all related, so we try to do a little bit of all that and we have some fun and we talk a little bit about the music as we move through the show.

It’s just a real passion for all three of us, and a pleasure and an honor to go out and be able to share this music with the rest of the country.

 

 

 

 

 

Bluesman & Entertainer ROY BOOKBINDER to play in Harrisburg, PA October 12, 2014

Guitar-pickin’ hillbilly bluesman and storyteller Roy Book Binder appears at Harrisburg’s Fort Hunter, 5300 N. Front Street, on Sunday, October 12, 2014, for a Susquehanna Folk Music Society concert. The 7:30 p.m. concert will be preceded by a free 6 p.m. potluck dinner.

Concert tickets are $20 General Admission, $16 for SFMS members and $10 for students ages 3-22. Advance tickets are available through Brown Paper Tickets online at www.brownpapertickets.com or toll-free (800) 838-3006. A free 6 p.m. potluck dinner precedes the show. Bring a covered dish to share; drinks and place settings will be provided.

Roy Bookbinder talks about his music, his time with Reverend Gary Davis, how he came to be friends with Jorma Kaukonen, his gig as M.C. of the Blues Stage at MearlFest and being on the road at 70 plus years old.

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FOLK MAMA: Tell me about your early days. How did you come to be a blues singer and entertainer?

BOOK BINDER: I started out when I went on the road after I was in the service. I met Dave Van Ronk and from there I went to Reverend Gary Davis and I dropped out of school, yet again, to go on the road with Reverend Gary Davis.

I picked up some tricks from him. I never intended to be a Gary Davis—I don’t know what the word is– “copier”. I don’t play a thing like Gary Davis but I do a couple of his tunes. I also met and traveled with old “Pink” Anderson from Spartanburg, South Carolina. He made records in the 20s. He was an entertainer, more known for entertaining and singing than his guitar playing, although he was more than adequate.

FOLK MAMA: It was lucky that you got to play with some of the old bluesmen.

BOOK BINDER: And now everybody’s dead. The last old friends I had were Honeyboy Edwards who died in his 90s and Robert Lockwood, Jr. who dies in his 90s. Those were the last two guys who recorded pre- World War II.

FOLKMAMA: I like that you play a lot of the old songs, yet you interact well with the audience.

BOOK BINDER: I always like to tell people that I’m an entertainer. That’s what I call myself. I play enough guitar to impress the front row but that’s not my goal. I tell young players that the only way that they’ll ever make a living playing this kind of music is to be able to entertain the friends and neighbors and relatives that the guitar plays and the blues music enthusiasts bring to your folk show, kicking and screaming.

FOLK MAMA: You’re a pretty funny storyteller, and you’ve had your brush with country music too!

BOOK BINDER: It’s true; I put a lot of humor in my performances. I did 32 shows on Ralph Emery’s Nashville Now TV show back in the 80s where I would do a song, sit on the couch and tell stories and play the guitar. That was a pretty exciting time. I always say when I went country all I did was get a bigger guitar, a bigger hat and a bigger mustache. Everyone in Nashville liked me. Grandpa Jones was nervous, but he came around.

FOLK MAMA: You’ve been on the road for a long time and have seen a lot.

BOOK BINDER: Well, I’ve certainly met a lot of characters in my life. I’m in my 70s now. I’m in a good time in my life. My last album was all originals songs, and some of them could pass for old time songs if I didn’t tell anybody. It’s my proudest accomplishment—that last album. It took me ten years to get around to doing it.

So, you have to make a mark at some time. My favorite songs are my own. In concert I do about 40 or 50 percent of my own, they seem to go over really good. Back when I had just a few songs that I wrote, it was quite often that people would ask, “Who wrote those last two songs?”And I’d say, “They were mine.” And they’d say, “Those were the best.”

FOLK MAMA: You have a long association with Jorma Kaukonen and you teach regularly at the Fur Peace Ranch ( Jorma and Vanessa’s concert hall and teaching camp in Ohio). How did you first meet Jorma?

BOOK BINDER: I’ve been teaching there a long time. Jorma Kaukonen was in Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna and back in the 60s when I was starting to play the clubs Hot Tuna was recording a similar kind of music: they were very influenced by Gary Davis’ music. Jorma was always a fan of Gary Davis’ music.

I’d be playing the Hesitation Blues somewhere and someone in the audience would yell out “Jorma!” I didn’t know what they were talking about. And when I found out that Hot Tuna was a group and that they were doing “my” songs, I was not thrilled about that. I thought, “What are these rock stars coming into my turf playing coffeehouses?”

So I called up a place that I played every year and I said that I needed this particular weekend. So the club owner said that we have Jorma Kaukonen that weekend. So I said to myself, “Oh Darn”, but he said why you don’t open up for Hot Tuna?

So I played and people were very receptive to me, and afterwards I went in the dressing room and saw Jorma and he said, “I never saw anyone do that to my audience before. You’ll killed them.’ Then he said that he had all my records, and I said, “Really?” And then he said, “We ought to be pals.” I went to dinner at his house the next day and all of a sudden we were pals and I did some shows with him and its funny how it worked out. You never know in this business.

FOLK MAMA: You’ve been an M.C. on the Blues Stage at MearlFest for years and years. How did that come about?

BOOK BINDER: Well that started during my Nashville period, when I got discovered by Nashville TV. I was doing a lot of shows with John Hartford at the time. I ran into Jerry Douglas at the airport one day and I asked Jerry, “What’s with this MearlFest? Is it a paid gig?” And he said, “You call them up and you tell them your price.” And I’ve been there for 21 years in a row.

Every year on my stage I book four or five finger picking, bona fide acoustic people and that stage is very popular now. No blues festival in the world has done what Merlefest has done for acoustic blues. Doc and Merle used to love John Hurt and all those old blues people.

FOLKMAMA: So, what should people expect at your show on October 12^th?

BOOK BINDER: It’s a very comical show. When I went to Australia, one of the concert reviewers in the Sydney Morning Herald said,” Behind the humor lurks a musical master. “I like that quote. My greatest joy is to hear people laugh. But the music gives me the audience.