See Our Ad on the back page for great prices!

#38

CONTENT VALID THRU APRIL 2012CELEBRATING

7 YEARS!

Russell Mooreand

IIIrd Tyme Out

MEET: IN THIS ISSUE:v Rail Tunesv The Dreaded Gv Love Canonv Plan B

IN THIS ISSUE:v Rail Tunesv The Dreaded Gv Love Canonv Plan B

2

April 2012

3

April 2012

Americana Rhythm is published six times a year. All correspondenceshould be sent to PO Box 45, Bridgewater VA, 22812 or email togreg@americanarhythm.com. Copies of Americana Rhythm are madeavailable free at various pick up locations within the publication’s re-gion. Subscriptions are available inside the United States for $15 UScurrency made payable by check or money order sent to Subscriptionsat PO Box 45, Bridgewater, VA, 22812. Foreign subscription requestsshould be sent to greg@americanarhythm.com. Copyright 2008. Allrights reserved. Reproduction of copy, artwork or photographs is strictlyprohibited without permission of the publisher. All advertising materialsubject to approval.

PUBLISHER/EDITOR IN CHIEFGreg E. Tutwiler

EDITORIAL ASSISTANTSEd Tutwiler

Jacenta TutwilerLisa Tutwiler

MARKETING & PROMOTIONMark Barreres (GrassRootsNetworking.com)

ADVERTISINGGreg Tutwiler

Business office 540-433-0360

CONTRIBUTORSEd TutwilerKaye D. Hill

Wayne ErbsenRyan Babarsky

UNC Ashville StudentsAndrew McKnight

Doak TurnerBecky AllenScott Perry

DISTRIBUTIONMark BarreresDavid LaFleurNate SparksEd Tutwiler

Doug WilliamsStuart Thomas

Floyd Country StoreLetters, Comments, Suggestions

greg@americanarhythm.comwww.americanarhythm.com

Questions, comments, suggestions:greg@americanarhythm.com

So, we’re into another year already - wow!Can you believe it’s 2012? This is theyear, right? Okay, so let’s have fun thisyear. With all the political hoopla in theair - I say boycott the whole circus - occupya live music event this weekend instead. You knowit will be a heck of alot more fun!Anyway, thanks for coming along with us for ourseventh year. I can’t believe it! we’ve got plentyof new great stories and cool things to talkabout. (Might even have a book or two onthe way.)Let’s get out and support all the great livemusic venues and outdoor events - there’sso many to choose from, and it’s good foryour soul. We all need some of that! See youout there!Sincerely,

Table Of Contents:

45678910121415

Love Canon

Shenandoah Music Trail

IIIrd Tyme’s A Charm

Travel The Crooked Road

Plan B Broadway

Market Place

Welcome Folk Alliance

Readers, 2012!

Y’all have fun now!

Image Preview

Listen24/7365

15

www.AmericanaMusicProfiles.com

Check this out:

4

By Edward Tutwiler

April 2012

Did you ever ride a train? No, Idon’t mean a commuter jolt into aday job somewhere; I mean a realtrain with cars that had sleepers,diners, and loungers. No, me ei-ther. Nevertheless, let me tell youa little story about some folks thatdid get to take that fantasy ridelast year and are going to get todo it again in 2012.

Three up and coming Americanastring bands joined their talentsfor a magical mystery tour of anuncommon sort. This experiencehad them boarding a train in Oak-land, CA and playing tour datesacross AZ and TX and finishing inNew Orleans, LA. Along with theband mates, a company of familymembers, support staff, film crew,and media people made the trip.All in all, some 120 folks made thetour.

Now, music groups tour all thetime. That is how they bring theirmusic to you. They travel to festi-vals and venues all across this fineland. They move about by car, byvan, by bus, and often by plane;nevertheless, when is the last timeyou heard of a musical groupcoming to you via train. Whistlestop tours is the name the politi-cians called these cross-countrytrain trips back in the last centuryas they crossed the country seek-ing votes. This trip we’re tellingyou about here is no whistle-stoptour. Traveling exclusively in vin-tage rail cars pulled by twoAmtrak locomotives, the Ameri-cana bands of Mumford & Sons,Edward Sharpe & the MagneticZeros, and Old Crow MedicineShow traveled across the Ameri-can Southwest for a month andstopped the train to play at six dif-ferent festivals along the way.Plus, Mumford & Sons took thetime while the train was in Aus-tin, TX to tape an episode of theAustin City Limits TV show.

What It’s LikeThe Railroad Revival train is 1,500feet long and consists of 15 vin-tage railcars including sleepercars, meal cars and storage carsfrom the 1950s and 60s, pulled bytwo locomotives [for you trainbuffs out there, the two locomo-tives were the AMTK 134 and theAMTK 1].

The bands eat, slept, and recordedon the train as they traveled across

the American Southwest, bringingtheir special blend of Americanastring music and roots rock to fansfrom California to New Orleans.The bands had equal billing andequal time on stage. The variousstops along the way. The entire2011 tour was filmed and turnedinto a documentary that capturesthe spirit of the journey.

To give you a glimpse of what lifeon the rails was like for thegroups, here are some observa-tions by Ketch Secur of Old CrowMedicine Show that I gleanedfrom the RRRT web site: Thesleeper cars were located at thetwo ends of the train and werevery quiet. Ketch further de-scribed the sleeper car’s variousaccommodations including aroomette which consists of a chair,a stool and a fold down single bedthat filled the compartment whenopened. Other rooms have bunkbeds or double beds, and one carconsisted solely of bunk beds withno rooms. Down the hall, therewas a toilet and a fully function-ing shower.

A Jammin’ RideKetch went on to describe a typi-cal day of the trip. Morningsstarted in the center of the train,where there were two kitchens, acafeteria-style serving area and adining car. After breakfast, folksmoved to the various hangoutcars. Ketch said that he usuallywent to the car that provided

wireless internet service and wasalso the headquarters of the filmand media crews. He spent hismorning sorting photos andblogging the trip to fans.

Afternoons found the musicianscongregated into one of the mu-sic rooms wherethey would jam andplay until theyreached the destina-tion of the nextvenue. He found itto be quite excitingthat their fans andtrain lovers greetedthe train all alongthe tracks. Upon ar-rival, a group of themusicians wouldgather in a giantwindow of one ofthe cars and put ona mini show for thefans.

Once at the venue, the bandswould disembark the train, playthe show, and then get right backon the train for a midnight depar-ture to the next destination.

Secur remembered that theywould all have a late night snackof Cup Cups, which were littlemeals baked in bread in a muffinpan all having great flavors. TheCup Cup rush was followed bygathering for drinks where thebands then played into the earlyhours of the morning. Ultimately,

fatigue caught up, andthe bands would retireso that they could beginthe process again thenext day. Ketch Secursummed up his experi-ence this way, “Lifeaboard the Railroad Re-vival train was a goodlife, indeed.”

Comin’ RoundAgain

All in all, everyone en-joyed the train ride somuch that the plannersare currently finalizingdetails for a 2012 Rail-road Revival Tour witha new lineup and somegreat music. The Rail-road Revival Tour is setto roll again in 2012 butat press time we did nothave the exact schedule

or the names of the acts that willbe touring. Don’t despair; justnavigate your computer browserto http://railroadrevivaltour.com.All the information that you need,including ticket sale information,will be posted there in plenty oftime for you to plan your spring

listening tour. If you are as luckyas the 2011 attendees, your ticketwill include an MP3 download oflive recordings from the tour aswell as a commemorative ticketcustom-designed for each site,with no additional service fees.

Are you jealous yet? Yep, me too.I want to ride that joy train andlisten to all that music. I’ve got tobelieve that this Railroad RevivalTour experience would be waybetter than any of those psyche-delic bus trips folks took withWavy Gravy back in the 1960’s.

5

April 2012

2011/02/blue-grass-jam-at-marinos-lunch/

New Hope GuitarsRon Sharp, owner of New Hope Gui-tars recently stopped by our JMUMusic Jam one Tuesday evening toplay some music. And he had a sweet,mellow, beautiful, “killer” guitar.Wanting to know more about the gui-tar, Ron invited Martha and me tostop by his shop. With Ron’s direc-tions and following a path less trav-eled, we arrived at Ron’s New Hope,Virginia home and his out back work-shop. It was there we got to see firsthand how he turns trees into won-derfully hand crafted works of art.

Originally from Clover Lick, WestVirginia, Ron explains, “I’ve alwaysgone to the extreme when trying newthings. I wanted to learn to fly, so I

built my own airplane.” “I wanted tobuild a guitar with quality workman-ship that was also affordable,” Ronstated, “It’s all about the wood andthe best guitars start with a red sprucetop.” Ron continues, “I played guitarfor many years and even repaired afew old guitars. Then I discovered thatmy favorite guitarist, WayneHenderson was also a premier luthier.

One day I just got in my car, drove toRugby, Virginia unannounced, whereI found Wayne at his shop.” The twohave become good friends. Ron alsoshared that he traded wood withWayne and under his tutelage haslearned how to build a reminiscent1930’s Martin style guitar.

Ron showed us how he often uses hisown gizmos, gadgets and inventionsin the building process. Stacks of ex-otic wood from all over the world sur-round his work bench. He neverseemed to stop moving about. Al-though he did sit down for a momentto play a few songs with me as I triedout his newest sensational guitar. Ronhas been building guitars for a littleover five years and even takes time toteach others how to build their owninstrument. Making a guitar is a truepassion and an art.

To know more about New Hope Gui-tars or want to find out how to buildyour own you can contact Ron at http://newhopetonewoods.com.

For a more detailed report as towhat’s to do on the Shenandoah Mu-sic Trail check out our web sitewww.shenandoahmusictrail.com orcall 540-209-3540.

Along the Shenandoah Music Trail By Don DePoy

Marino’s Music Jam About fifty years ago a few regularsat Marino’s Lunch asked the ownersTony and Arline Marino if it wouldbe alright to bring in their instrumentsand play a little music. They said,“Why of course you can!” And his-tory was in the making. Every Tues-day night thereafter for the past 48years there has been a regular musicjam at Marion’s Lunch, a smallneighborhood bar in Staunton, Vir-ginia. It has turned into an institution,and the walls are covered with a who’swho of local music talent.

Although her husband has passed,Arline continues as the current owner(now for over 25 years), and is thethird generation making a go ofburgers, beer, and bluegrass. Arlineexplains, “I really enjoy the music, butnow my daughter Beanie, with herhusband Larry Ruleman, have taken

over working the Tuesday Jam.” Whata jam it is too! The front has a fewbooths and tables filled with listenersas the musicians stand, or sit on anold bench and few chairs. Out back asmaller room is filled to capacity aslisteners and pickers vie for space. At

Marion’s you will find multiple gen-erations of locals who come in tomake music, listen, eat, drink a fewbeers, and enjoy the company of goodspirited people.

The jams are held every TuesdayEvening starting around 7pm untilwhenever the last soul leaves. Formore info call (540) 209-3540 or visithttp:/heprofessionalforeigner.com/

6

April 2012

John Duffy

By Wayne Erbsen

The Dreaded G Scale & the Magic NumbersI once heard it said, "There ain't nonotes in bluegrass music, you justpick it.” While it may be comfortingto suggest that music theory andbluegrass music don't mix, in fact,knowing a little so-called musictheory could be downright useful ifyou want to develop as a musician.Granted, many people are scared todeath of musical scales. Trust me,this won’t hurt (all that much), andsoon scales will be your new bestfriend.

First, since bluegrass is often playedin the key of G, we’ll start by learn-ing a G scale. Like all scales, a Gscale starts and ends with a G note.After the G note it just goes up thealphabet. Keep in mind that a G scalehas one sharp, an F sharp. So a Gscale would go G, A, B, C, D, E, F#G. That’s it.

Don’t know where to find these noteson your instrument? OK. I’ll help.

On a banjo in G tuning: G=3rd stringopen or unfretted. A=3rd string at thesecond fret. B=2nd string open.C=2nd string first fret. D=1st stringopen. E=1st string second fret. F#=1ststring fourth fret, G=1st string fifthfret.

On a mandolin: G=D string fifth fret,A=A string open, B=A string secondfret, C=A string third fret, D=A stringfifth fret, E=E string open, F#=Estring second fret, G=first string thirdfret.

On a guitar: G=third string open,A=third string second fret, B=secondstring open, C=second string first fret,D=second string third fret, E=firststring open, F#=first string secondfret, G=first string third fret.

On a fiddle: G=D string with ring fin-ger, A=A string open, B=A string in-dex finger, C=A string middle finger,D=A string ring finger, E=E stringopen, F#=E string index finger, G=Estring middle finger.

Now, let’s learn what I like to call “theMagic Numbers.” This is nothingmore than assigning numbers to eachof the eight notes of a major scale. Forour G scale, it would be G=1, A=2,B=3, C=4, D=5, E=6, F#=7, G=8.

What’s so good about the Magic Num-bers? The Magic Numbers will meanyou can take one little lick and turn itinto many little licks, all in differentkeys. This process is called transpos-ing. Stay calm. I’ll show you.

Let’s learn a simple walk-up or introto a song like “Pig in a Pen,” which isa fairly common bluegrass song. Themelody starts on a G note. As an introto the song, we can walk up to thatfirst G note. How do we do that? Bystarting on a lower note, in this case aD below (in pitch) the G. So a nicelittle walk-up would be D, E, F#, thenthe G. Try it.

Using the Magic Numbers, let’s givenumbers to our walk-up. 5=D, 6=E,7=F# and 8=G.

Now let’s say we want to steal thislick, and use it as a lead-in to a Cchord. A C scale with the Magic Num-bers is C=1, D=2, E=3, F=4, G=5,A=6, B=7, and C=8.

So if we transpose the same lead-inwe used in G using the Magic Num-bers, we’d have 5=G, 6=A, 7=B and8=C. So presto, you have recycledyour G lick into a C lick. It’s amiracle!

Now your “homework” is to takesome of your favorite licks, figureout the names of the notes, assignthem Magic Numbers, and transposethem into all the popular keys likeG, A, C, D, and if you’re brave youcan try B flat, B and E.

Brilliant musicians who have whatwe call “good ears” don’t have tomess with the Magic Numbers, oranything else, for that matter. Theyjust hear these things, and can dothem effortlessly. For the rest of uswith “tin ears,” it’s no crime to usetools like the Magic Numbers to helpus teach ourselves how to play ourinstruments.Wayne Erbsen has been teaching banjo,fiddle, guitar and mandolin since dinosaursroamed the earth (really about fifty years).Originally from California, he now makeshis home in Asheville, North Carolina. Hehas written thirty songbooks and instructionsbooks for banjo, fiddle, guitar and mando-lin. Check out his web site at http://www.nativeground.com/ or email or call fora FREE catalog: (828)299-7031 orbanjo[at]nativeground.com

7

April 2012

If you happen to come across oneof Love Canon’s colorful (andsometimes strange) posterspinned up somewhere aroundtown, you’ll see that they prom-ise you “bluegrass covers of allyour favorite 80’s top hits.” Andthat is certainly what they deliver.However, their posters fail tomention some key facts, includingthat all the musicians in the bandare virtuosos, their covers aremeticulously and creatively ar-ranged, and that there will mostlikely be aviator sunglasses, adancing crowd, and perhaps aguest star or two at all their shows.

The core members of Love Canonare Jesse Harper on acoustic gui-tar, Darrell Muller on upright bass(both formerly of acoustic super-group Old School Freight Train),Adam Larabee on banjo, andAndy Thacker on mandolin. To-gether they are Love Canon (one“n” on purpose!), and they enter-tain their audiences with coversof 80’s tunes arranged on blue-grass instruments.

There are several auxiliary mem-bers of the band as well, includ-ing the mustachioed ZackHickman, who plays bass in JoshRitter’s band, and who was actu-ally a founding member, and NateLeath on fiddle and Nick Falk ondrums (both of whom were alsoin Old School Freight Train).

Humble BeginningsThe idea for Love Canon camewhen Harper and Larrabee weredriving to Virginia from Boston(where Larrabee lived before hemoved to Virginia) when “GirlsJust Want to Have Fun” came onthe radio. Larrabee, who had hismandolin (yes, he plays mando-lin too!) on his lap, started learn-ing the tune on the spot: “We justlearned a slow version of it, wethought it was kinda cool. I thinkwe drove right to Miller’s andduring a … set break, we playedit. It just felt fun. There wasn’t re-ally any point to it.”

Zack Hickman helped shape theoriginal idea into a band, and thegroup even played their second-ever show at Josh Ritter’s wed-ding. Because Hickman playshundreds of shows ever year withJosh Ritter, he plays with LoveCanon here and there, when hecan.

Later, when Larrabee moved fromBoston to Virginia, he and Harperdecided to revive Love Canon.They recruited Muller andThacker and the group began ar-ranging material. Lately, theyhave been playing regular gigs inthe Charlottesville area, as well ashitting the festival circuit and ven-ues out of the area.

80’s BluegrassYou may be tempted to think ofthe idea of 80’s bluegrass coversas being reminiscent of the“Pickin’ On” records (some ofwhich Old School Freight Trainwas a part of). However, LoveCanon’s sound and philosophy isquite different: “All though we area cover band, we do vocals andharmonies. [The “Pickin’ On”records] feature relatively strictinterpretations. We like to playwith it a little: Stay true to the songbut make it a little more interest-ing to us.”

Not a fan of 80’s music? That doesnot mean you won’t like LoveCanon. They “have a lot of peoplesay ‘we don’t like 80’s music, butwe like what you do.’” Even man-dolin player Andy Thacker wasn’ta huge fan before he joined LoveCanon: “I was never into 80’s mu-sic before, but I definitely have awhole new appreciation for itnow that we do these songs.”

The group has been gatheringquite a following of late, mainlybecause their act is so fun. Their

twice-monthly gig at Rapture onthe Downtown Mall inCharlottesville is always packedwith a crowd that loves to dance.

Just a Small Town BandOnce the core group started play-ing together, they got organized:“From there, we kinda got com-mitted and set some goals for our-selves, like try and get a couplenew songs every couple weeks,and at the minimum rehearse ev-ery week. We have the wish list ofover 100 tunes that we want tolearn. There’s always more therefor us to learn than we have timeto actually work with.”

As all the men in the group aremarried and have lives in theCharlottesville-area, Love Canonis hoping to stay mostly local, withthe occasional mini-tour here andthere. The point of the group is tohave fun. They’re also hoping tobe a bigger part of the festival cir-cuit: “We got big plans. As long asit stays fun, we’ll play anywherefor anyone. We’d love to get moreinto the festival circuit in the sum-mertime.”

But there are also some biggervenues around the area that wantLove Canon to play.

No Exception to the RuleThe Love Canon guys have im-posed a strict set of rules upon theband, which help them achievethe goals of keeping things inter-esting and challenging them-selves to become better musiciansand arrangers:

1.They cannot repeat a song by anartist until they reach 100 tunes.That means they will learn songsby 100 1980’s artists before theycan start doubling up on songs bythose artists. So, you will not hearthem play 2 songs by Journey orany other band until they’velearned 100 tunes. Right now,they’ve learned close to 50 covers.Of this goal, Larrabee said, “whenwe hit that number, it’s going tobe a party!”

2.The other big rule is that theywill only play covers that werewritten between 1980 and 1989. “Alot of the songs that people asso-ciate with the 80’s were actuallywritten in 1979, like some by theCars, The Police… lots of ‘classic80’s tunes’ weren’t actually writ-ten in the 1980’s.”

By Ryan BabarskyLow Fat, 80s Bluegrass

continued on page 11

8

April 2012

By Greg TutwilerIIIrd Tyme’s A CharmEvery group relishes the opportu-nity to be recognized for their tal-ent. And most groups, givenenough time and the right ap-proach, will eventually garner afew awards of some kind to en-courage them along the way. It’snot often though that a calibergroup like Russell Moore and IIIrdTyme Out comes out of the gatewith a unique sound and grabs anumber one song – and then goeson to notch 50+ industry awardsin 20 years; including the covetedIBMA Vocal Group Of the Year,seven times in a row.

Texas native Russell Moore, wholeads the group, is an originalfounding member and IBMAthree time Male Vocalist of theYear winner. Chris Stuart wrote inthe liner notes for the band’s Foot-prints CD; “IIIrd Tyme Out hastheir own brand of bluegrass: un-matched quartets and trios, mas-terful lead singing, dead-onrhythm, tasteful fills, lyrical solos,and great songs. From stage leftto right they are a complete band– perhaps the most complete bandof the past two decades.”

I got a chance to catch up withRussell recently and get a glimpsebehind the scenes of this power-house of talent. Russell started outin Texas with a group calledSouthern Connection in the earlyeighties. The fellas relocated toAshville, NC before disbanding in1985. Russell then spent a seasonwith Doyle Lawson and his bandQuicksilver before leaving to formIIIrd Tyme Out – the name is syn-onymous with his third musicalventure.

Making It Work“The third time has truly been acharm,” Russell said. “For 20years; It’s been a great ride. I’mtickled to death with what we’vebeen able to accomplish so far.And we’re looking forward to thenext 20, hoping to make a differ-ence there also.”

“I can remember years ago whenI would hear of a group having a25 year anniversary celebration, itseemed like it wasn’t long afterthat that they would be through –reaching the end of their run. ButI feel like we’re just getting startedafter twenty years. We’ve got anew record label we’ve been

working with, Rural RhythmRecords – and we have two re-cordings out with them now –they’re great family operation,and we’re excited about whatwe’ve got going on with them.”

A Good Long RunAlthough Russell is the only re-maining original founding mem-ber, Steve Dilling (banjo) has beenwith the group for 19 years,Wayne Benson (mandolin) hasbeen with the group for about 17years, and their sound technicianDonny had been with the groupfor about 17 years. “There’s guysthat have been here for a longtime,” Moore recalled. JustinHayes (fiddle) and EdgarLoudermilk (bass) round out theband’s current line-up.

I asked Russell about the originalintention behind launching IIIrdTyme Out back in 1991. “It beganwith the desire to explore somethings in bluegrass that we hadideas about and to our knowledgehad not been done before up tothat time,” he said. “For example,using quartet harmonies in vocalson non-gospel songs, like theStatler Brothers or the Oak RidgeBoys. Our first number one songwas a non-gospel song done withfour part harmony called, “EraseThe Miles.” That song went tonumber to one in late 1991 and put

IIIrd Tyme Out on the bluegrassmap. And according to Russell, itremains one of their most re-quested songs.

“We do some other differentthings too, like a cover we have ofthe old Platters tune “Only You,”which is done Acapella. I think wejust wanted to be at the helm ofthe ship – doing it ourselves in-stead of working for others.There’s a thing about musicians,when the chemistry is right, itmakes for a harmonious workplace. We’ve been very fortunateto have some of the best playersin this group – still today theydon’t take a back seat to anybodytalent wise. It’s really been enjoy-able through the years – becausewe’ve all gotten along so wellthrough the years.”

And that environment allows theguys to stay creative and at the topof their game. “That is just as im-portant as being able to play andsing the best. We travel a lot, andwe’re with each other a lot – so wehave to be able to get along – andwe do really well,” he said.

Our Stamp On ItWhen it comes to style, Mooresaid, “We’re not in the “newgrass” vein really – all of us reallylove traditional bluegrass, and Ithink we’re rooted there. But we

also are influenced not only be themusic outside of bluegrass today,but also the music we grew up lis-tening to outside of bluegrass. Itall plays a part in what our musicends up sounding like. For ex-ample, I think you can hear a dif-ference in chord progression attimes, and that’s probably a directconnection with growing up lis-tening to country music. We’re tra-ditionally rooted but with a con-temporary flair. We like thatkitchen sink approach,” helaughed.

And success continues to followthem. “We’ve got several thingsgoing on right now that has putwind in our sails so-to-speak,”Moore said. “We recently had thenumber one single and numberone CD on Sirius XM radio for theweek ending in December 31st,2011. And we had a number onesong on the top 30 bluegrasscharts in Bluegrass Unlimited offour last album, “Hard RockMountain Prison Til I Die.”

Grass Keeps GrowingAs the genre of string and grassmusic grows, Russell Moore andIIIrd Tyme Out love getting thechance to perform at indoorshows and venues that haven’tbeen as receptive in past years tobluegrass music. “We’re alwaysexcited to have new faces to per-form in front of. We feel we canwin them over if we’re given achance,” Russell said.

“With everything that’s gone onlately, the fact that there’s been adown turn in the economy, peopleare looking for something maybea little more wholesome,” he sur-mised. The’ve kinda been slappedaround into reality here lately - it’snot as easy as it was a few yearsago to make a dollar bill. Peopleare going back to core values.They’re searching for somethingto identify with - looking forsomething more towards the tra-ditional side of life. And as blue-grass music grows and evolves, Ithink you’re seeing it fill that voidfor people.”

Twenty years later, they continueto demonstrate why they are at thetop of their game. As of this writ-ing, Moore and the band havebeen nominated for five SPBGMA(Society For the Preservation OfBluegrass Music) awards – theindustry’s other prominent bodyof recognition.

9

April 2012

Virginia’s Crooked Road, on a mapit looks like a snake on steroids. Onthe ground it travels like a rollercoaster ride. It is the homeplace ofmuch of America’s music. In the de-cade since the idea was brought fourthon a snowy night at the Carter Fold,The Crooked Road has become aguided trip through American musicheritage, culture and creation. On thathistoric night, no less than JanetteCarter gave her blessing on a conceptthat has evolved into a most uniquelyAmerican musical experience.

The Crooked Road stretches for morethan 253 miles through the Appala-chian Mountains. The northeasternend of the road is Rocky Mount,county seat of Franklin County. Theroute winds through 10 mountaincounties and finds its western termi-nus at The Breaks Interstate Park inDickenson County. Along its way, canbe traced the origins of much of thestring band music that birthed OldTime, Folk, Bluegrass, TraditionalCountry, Rock-A-Billy and about ev-ery other American music form.While the Crooked Road Corridor hasbeen expanded to include the entire19 county region that encompassesSouthwest Virginia, it is this ribbonof road that was first designatedVirginia’s, Heritage Music Trail.

No Cell Phone NeededThe Crooked Road is a great place tobring your GPS and leave your cellphone home. Oh, and bring your ears,heart and mind. It is a journey thatstarts the music of the first frontier, istouched by Civil War, becomes theanthem of the industrial revolution, istouched by two world wars and is stillgrowing in the electronic age. Itstarted with the fiddles that the ScottsIrish, Palatine Germans and othersplayed to brighten the nights along theCarolina, and Great Roads, as theytraveled through the Cumberland Gapand beyond. Black slaves brought sev-eral versions of what would becomethe banjo. Eventually the guitar, stringbass and mandolin were added toyield a truly American creation, thestring band. The settlers who decidedto stay in these mountains developedtheir own sounds, each a part of awhole that has evolved into what cannow be heard in the hollows and hillsof the Blue Ridge and Appalachians.

Mountain Music of some kind or an-other is played on about every nightof the week somewhere along the trail.Jams take place at barbershops, ga-rages, VFWs, restaurants, grocery

stores and about any place that localmusicians can form a circle and play.All comers are welcome as long asthey don’t need an amplifier. This isacoustic music made by wooden in-struments. The object is to see friends,drink a little coffee (or something) andhave a good time pickin’. That doesn’tmean visitors aren’t welcome, be-cause they are.

It’s AliveOn most weekends, the eight majoranchor venues of “The Road,” cometo life. In Franklin County stop by theBlue Ridge Institute at Ferrum Col-lege for a primer on the music, his-tory and culture of the region. Takethe trip up to Floyd and visit the FloydCountry Store for the Friday NightJamboree. Head south to PatrickCounty and pick up the Blue RidgeParkway at Meadows of Dan andtravel the ridges to the Blue RidgeMusic Center on the boarder ofCarroll and Grayson counties. Takesome time and head to Galax, homeof the Old Fiddlers Convention in lateAugust or stop by the Rex Theater onFridays for a show. Galax is a goodplace to bunk down for the night be-cause the next trip is up over themountains, White Top or MountRogers, to Bristol and the Birthplaceof Country Music. Along the way lis-ten to how the musical styles subtlychange. The old time picking stylesof Galax the Round Peak area, WhiteTop and the Blue Ridge begin to giveway to music that is influenced by therailroad, the Great Valley and theWilderness Road. Bristol takes twostates, Virginia and Tennessee to tellthe story of the Bristol Sessions. TheCarters, Jimmy Rogers and a host ofother musicians answered RalphPeer’s 1927 ad for musicians to recordwhat would become known as Hill-billy Music. While in the Bristol area,take a ride up I-81 to exit 14 and visitthe Heartwood Artisan Center for anoverview of the entire region and itsmany attractions.

The FoldMake sure to leave a Saturday nightfree for a visit to The Carter FamilyFold near Hiltons in Scott County. Ifthere is any one place that can be con-sidered the heart of The CrookedRoad, it is “The Fold”. It is mecca tolovers of the Carter Family, JanetteCarter, June Carter Cash and JohnnyCash, who played his last concertthere. Visitors can still feel the magicof the Carter Family and their music.

By H W. “Bill” Smith

Southwest Virginia’s Crooked Road:America’s Musical Birthplace

continued on page 11

10

April 2012

Bumblee Slim

Written by UNC Asheville students enrolled in the Liberal Studies IntroductoryColloquia, “The Art of the Blues” (Fall 2005) and “Jazz and Blues in AmericanCulture” (Fall 2003) Supervised by Project Advisor: Bryan Sinclair.

“Influenced by ragtime, country string bands, traveling medicine shows, and popu-lar song of the early 20th century, East Coast Piedmont Blues blended both blackand white, rural and urban song elements in the diverse urban centers of the South-east and mid-Atlantic region. In contrast, the Delta blues style of rural Mississippi isbelieved to have less of a white influence, as it was produced in a region with ahigher concentration of African Americans. Although it drew from diverse elementsof the region, East Coast Piedmont Blues is decidedly an African American artform. The Piedmont blues style may even reflect an earlier musical tradition than theblues that emerged from the Mississippi Delta.” http://toto.lib.unca.edu/sounds/piedmontblues/

East Coast Piedmont Blues

By Andrew Eckenrode, former UNC Asheville students

Bumble Bee Slim was born inBrunswick, GA. Shortly afterhe became a teenager, hemoved away from home to jointhe circus. He traveled with thecircus across the Midwest untilhe finally settled in Indianapo-lis. Here, he would often play atdances and small halls, but notmuch else. In his early days as amusician, he was highly influ-enced bythe likes ofLeroy Carrand Scrap-perBlackwell.

During thistimeEaston wasalso look-ing topursuecareers ineithercomedy oracting. It wasn’t until around1930, when he moved to Chi-cago, that he finally got recog-nition for his music and decidedon the musical direction that hewanted to go in. He recorded“Stumbling Block Blues,” “YoYo String Blues,” and fourothers for the struggling recordlabel Paramount.

During the mid-1930s Slim waswriting and recording rapidlyand outselling many of his

contemporaries. Between 1934-1937, Bumble Bee Slim re-corded over 150 sides forVocalion, Bluebird, and Decca.Even after such a prolificperiod, Slim was dropped by allthree labels in 1938. After thissetback he moved out west toLos Angeles and became musi-cally inactive for an entiredecade. He started back up

again briefly inthe 1950s,when herecorded forlabels such asFidelity,Marigold,Specialty. Herecorded hislast album in1962 forPacific Jazz.

For the re-mainder of hiscareer Slim

stuck to playing in small Cali-fornia clubs until his death in1968. Bumble Bee Slim was aforgotten legend of his time.Although his instrumental skillsare considered less accom-plished than many of his con-temporaries, he is rememberedfor his ability to write greatblues lyrics and his vocaldelivery.

11

April 2012

3.One other fun thing they’restarting to implement is allowingtunes from the 80’s decade ofother centuries. For example,Love Canon just learned a tunefrom the 1780’s, the first move-ment of the Mozart’s 40th Sym-phony in G Minor!

The Sum of the PartsOne of the biggest reasons LoveCanon is so entertaining is thateach and every musician is just sodarn good at his instrument (andvocals). Each member is a vir-tuoso, practices on a daily basis,and has lots of experience play-ing in bands.

All of the members also haveother musical projects going on:Harper is currently working onhis second solo album of his origi-nal songs. Larrabee is a musicteacher who splits his time be-tween UVA, JMU, and VCUwhere he teaches jazz guitar,banjo, mandolin, and does en-semble coaching. Thacker playswith several groups in the areaincluding the bluegrass/countryband New Best Recipe. Muller isone of the most coveted bassistsin the area, and he plays withmany groups.

Cover BandLove Canon is often asked howthey feel about “just being a coverband.” And how they feel isproud: “Great musicians are al-ways in cover bands. Miles Davisplayed covers, John Coltraneplayed covers. It’s valid…”Larrabee describes their processas putting all “the energy and cre-ativity towards arranging.”

Love Canon’s audience loves tohear their favorite tunes done in aslightly different way. Some don’teven know they love the tunesuntil Love Canon gets to the cho-rus: “The best Love Canon tune isa tune where people kind of knowwhat it is, but then as soon as thechorus hits they go ‘oh my god, Ilove this song!’”

Love Canon is currently workingon the first installment of a record-ing project that will eventually bea 5-disc set. Expect Love Canon:Volume One sometime in early2012. Also, you can check them outonline on Facebook andYouTube.

Love Canon, continued from page 7

Visit the museum in A.P. Carter’s oldstore and visit his cabin.

The Fold is also a kind of turning pointfor the music as the trail heads up intothe Coalfields of Lee, Wise andDickenson counties. Coal minerscame from all over the world andbrought their music with them. Themusic of the miners combines withthat of the original European settlersto create a sound that is a bit moreaggressive and at times angry as itechoes the hard life along the back-bone of the Appalachians. In WiseCounty, near Norton, check out theCountry Cabin on Saturday nights orLays Hardware in Coeburn on Friday.

Doc BoggsThe Country Cabin honors DockBoggs, a legendary banjo player re-discovered in the early 1970s by MikeSegar. There are also jams at the Cabinon Tuesdays and at Lays on Thursdaynight. Also on Thursday, the folks inPound, “Where the Crooked RoadBends,” throw a great jam that usu-ally includes a potluck dinner. In theCoalfields the music takes on theharder edge of Bluegrass music andlovers of that style will find plenty ofplaces to hear it made as it was origi-nally intended. The music is foundedon faith, hard times and dangerous

work and is an expression of a peoplewho make their livings going underground. Dr. Ralph Stanley, more thanany other individual, encapsulates thatsound in his music. Dr. Ralph livesup on a ridge between Wise andDickenson counties and still visits astate of the art museum dedicated tohis musical legacy. The Dr. RalphStanley Museum is located inClintwood, deep in the heart of themountains he so eloquently describesin his music.

There are dozens of other stops alongThe Crooked Road that are equally asinteresting. There are hundreds ofmusicians to meet, talk with, learnfrom and get to know. There isn’tenough room in one article to truly tellthe story of Southwest Virginia andits music. So, the best thing to do iscome see for yourself. Get on thes o u t h w e s t v i r g i n i a . o r g ,crookedroad.org, virginia.org or anyof the many other trip planning sitesfor events and routing and then justhit the road You will find one ofAmerica’s hidden gems waiting.H W. Smith was the first ExecutiveDirector of The Crooked Road and nowoperates CROOKED ROAD ENTER-PRISES. He can be reached atcrookedroadenterprises.com orcrookedroadenterprises@gmail.com..

Southwest, continued from page 8

12

April 2012

Local venues for live music providethe only outlet for local and regionalentertainers to showcase their talentfor you to enjoy. As you know by now,whenever the folks at AmericanaRhythm hear about a new live musicvenue they immediately want you tohear about it too. Don DePoy, in hiscolumn in our last issue, mentioned anew place in Broadway, VA that hadjust opened. Enough said. I knew thatwe must know more so I contacted theowners, Mr. George Neall and his wifeLisa, and asked them to tell me allabout this venture that they call PlanB.

Plan B is a child friendly communitycafé that offers a menu filled withexcellent food and drink choices withan emphasis on locally produced in-gredients. For instance, they use onlyLucas Roasting Company coffee,roasted right in Broadway. It also hasfree WiFi, plenty of comfortable seat-ing; a huge, wood-burning, glass-frontstove; and a conference room for upto 49 people. Plan B is a new venturehaving been opened only since Sep-tember, 2011. But wait, there’s more.Plan B is equipped with a 12’ x 24’stage area that is served by a 24 chan-nel digital mixer complete with pow-

ered speakers. The stage electronicsare such that live recordings can bemade of all performances. Further,musicians can arrange for private re-cording sessions that provide themwith a low-cost alternative to an ex-pensive studio.

Mr. Neall told me that the process in-cluded a series of Plan Bs. He and Lisawere living in Chantilly, Virginia (nearDulles Airport) and wanted a rural

property for future retirement and thatthey could use on weekends until thatcould happen. They originally wantedproperty in Highland County, VA,near Monterey.

Remembering The JourneyHere is how he tells it, “After severalweekends looking for suitable prop-erties with no luck, Lisa found a placein Fulks Run using search criteria shethought was "within 15 miles of

Monterey". I said that the property shefound might be 30 or 40 miles fromMonterey "as the crow flies", butprobably 60 or so driving miles fromHighland County.” Nevertheless, theycame, checked out the property, andfound that it was perfect. George said,“It had everything we wanted: fantas-tic tasting spring water, ponds, moun-tains, great buildings and it backed upto the George Washington NationalForest. We were able to make an of-fer that was a win-win for both us andthe sellers. So Plan A was to retire toa small farm in Monterey and Plan Bwas we retired to a small farm in FulksRun.”

Weekend At A TimeGeorge and Lisa spent weekends andfree time in Fulks Run for about fiveyears before leaving their NorthernVA full-time jobs in 2009 to move tothe farm permanently. Like many ofus, the Nealls watched their retirementfunds drop in value as the economytanked. One day, they were ridingthrough Broadway bemoaning thisfact when they saw a building at 202North Main Street that was for sale.They concluded that, “At least withreal estate you could feel, smell, andtouch where your money was! We fellin love with this old 1920's building—its construction, its space, its 14 footceilings covered in tin and its 5300square foot main room.” This build-

By Ed TutwilerOn Stage In Virginia’s Broadway

13

April 2012

ing has had a varied history. Its pastincludes being: a truck assemblyplant, a movie theatre, a roller rink,and a furniture store. This fact ap-pealed to the Nealls. They felt thebuilding needed rescuing; they justdidn’t know what to do with it.

During the annual Broadway FallDays festival, George and Lisa did asurvey of the attendees asking themwhat they would like to see in Broad-way. The consensus was that the townneeded a family friendly restaurantthat was not Italian. The folks saidthey wanted a place where they couldgo to relax and listen to real music.George told me, “Since Lisa and I al-ways enjoyed going to intimate mu-sic venues, and we both like to cookusing locally grown fresh ingredients,we thought that type of place mightbe a good fit for us - so we took theplunge, bought this great building inFebruary 2011, and began the reno-vations in April.”

Working On The InsideWhile George was handling the build-out, Lisa was planning how the busi-ness would look and feel, what kindof food they would offer, where theingredients would come from, and amyriad of other details. The end re-sult of Lisa’s hard work resulted in aretro-eclectic décor establishment thatmakes Plan B a great place to relax or

to work {as there is free WIFI con-nection available}. Then there is thatname, Plan B. George said, “We haddiscussed a number of different namesfor our business, but, somehow, PlanB seemed to be most appropriate.Plan B is really a state of mind—anopenness to new ideas and an appre-ciation of trying new things newways.”

DelayedThe Nealls originally planned for alate June opening but constructiondetails took longer that expected. Thenext opening date was set for August19 and musicians Pierce Pettis & hisdaughter Grace Pettis were booked toperform. Unfortunately constructionwas still not finished, so Plan B gavethe town of Broadway a free outsideconcert that drew 150 fans. Georgeand Lisa set a drop-dead date of Sep-tember 10, 2011 to coincide with theBroadway Fall Festival, and theybooked the Honey Dewdrops to playfor the opening. George said, “Wedidn’t get our certificate of occupancyuntil September 8, just two days be-fore our grand opening. So we openedwith untested equipment; partiallytrained employees; and that deer-in-the-headlights-look. People were sokind! We somehow managed not tototally bungle everything, and theHoney Dewdrops were magnificent.We had a wonderful time in spite of

our obvious inexperience as baristas.We’re entering month five now andhave really improved our game.”

I wondered about the music side ofPlan B and here is how George ex-plains it, “Gosh, there is so much fan-tastic talent in this valley. Performersand audiences clearly enjoying themusic and the state of the art soundsystem. Our professional performerstell us we’ve done a top-notch job withour equipment and our stage andwe’re proud to say that all agree toreturn. Word of mouth is helpingspread the message that Plan B is agreat place to spend time and is com-mitted to bringing the best live musicwe can to our stage. We’ve had a num-ber of excellent performers here al-ready. Also, our Thursday night openmike nights have also started takingoff.”

So, after all the headaches and hardwork he has expended, I asked George

Neall if he would sum up the experi-ence of getting Plan B from plan toreality. Here is how he replied, “We'velearned a lot since we started this: youneed to get music licenses if you'regoing to have live music or play re-corded music and this costs $5200.00per year; advertising is expensive andit's difficult to figure out how to ad-vertise to the right market; there are alot of good musicians out there, butmost have day jobs; and it's easy tolose money in the restaurant/entertain-ment business. We worked a lot lesshard, and many fewer hours per daybefore we retired.”

I made a road trip down to Broadwayone night to check out Plan B. I had apiece of tasty apple pie, a mug of richtasting coffee and listened to singer/songwriter Mr. Rick Harris {whomany say is the best song writer inthe Shenandoah Valley]. Rick wasaccompanied by Mr. Randy Pohlerwith a resonator guitar on his lap anda velvet-lined box full of harmonicasby his side [I truly love the sound of amouth harp coupled with stringmusic].I don’t know about you dearreaders, but I’m excited about Plan B.It sounds like the central valley mighthave us a place like the Purple Fiddleover in Thomas, WVA, and that is agood thing because there is no moun-tains to negotiate to get to Broadway,VA.

14

As more and morepeople discover ARMagazine, more andmore groups and labelsare getting in touch withus - Here are some ofour favorite picks! Sometell me this is their fa-vorite page - cool! Iknow the artists like tohear that. We give youa web link as often aspossible so you can lis-ten and decide for your-self. Try iTunes too. Ifyou discover somethingyou like - tell them ARMagazine sent you!

CD Submission:Americana Rhythm Maga-zine, PO Box 45, Bridgewa-ter, VA 22812.

Michael JohnathonFront Porch

www.michaeljohnathon.comSongwriter/Fo lk s ingerMichael Johnathon is an ac-complished entertainer in hisown right. As the creator/pro-ducer of the Woodsongs Old-Time Radio Hour, Johnathonknows a thing or two aboutfolk - and the new CD - tops.

OllabelleNeon Blue Bird

http://ollabelle.bandcamp.com

Gene WatsonBest Of The Best

www.genewatsonmusic.comTaking nearly four years tocomplete, the members ofOllabelle decided to go italone on this project - no la-bel - no management - justreal music their way. Itworked! Soul/Blues/Gospel/Roots vibe at it’s best.

Music From Your Neighbors Music From The National Scene

Breaking GrassBreaking Glass

www.breakinggrass.com

Humming HouseHumming House

www.humminghouse.comI like different - this is differ-ent - in a good way! Hum-ming House mixes swing,Irish folk, modern acousticand nuggets of Rockabilly intoa groovy, catchy toe-tappin’vibe. You’ll want to checkthese guys out for sure.

Janie FrickeCountry Side Of Bluegrass

www.janiefricke.comMy friends over in BuenaVista, VA have done it again.Yes, a CD, but I’m talkingawards - just named 2011SPBGMA Entertainers Of TheYear. Oh and the new CD,that’s good too. Traditionalflair with a contemporary vein- and spot on vocals.

Nothin’ FancyNothin’ Fancy

www.nothinfancybluegrass.comJanie’s career began singingjingles - back up for many,until launching a solo careerin ‘77. 23 albums and 18 #1hits later, she puts a bluegrassspin on several of her hitswith this new CD. Fans andfirst times will love this set.

Martin Zellar & The HardwaysRooster Crows

www.martinzellar.comThe authentic Americana fla-vored, country tinged musicof Martin Zellar on this newCD, Rooster Crows, marksMartin’s 25th year in the mu-sic business - an admirablefeat in any business. His overdue new collection is rich withthat mellow 70s FM sound.Nice.

A fairly new entry to the con-temporary bluegrass scene,Breaking Grass, from North-east Mississippi, has the rightstuff. The 2011 state champsare quickly making a regionalname for themselves. Afterspinnin’ this one, we like it.

Wayne TaylorIt’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Day

www.waynetaylorandappaloosa.com

Noam PikelnyBeat The Devil And

Carry The Railwww.noampikelny.com

Punch Brothers banjoist and2010 winner of the SteveMartin Prize for Excellence inBanjo and Bluegrass - NoamPikelny delivers big on thiscollection of banjo/grassinstrumentals.

John DuffeyThe Rebel Years

www.rebelrecords.com

From Leeds, England - TheDunwells have that uniqueblend of Euro Pop laced withhints of Ameriana rootsthrough out - just the rightcombo for what could be thenext trend. Blind Sighted Faithis a great collection.

The DunwellsBlind Sighted Faith

www.thedunwells.comOne of the greats - John Duffyhelp put The Country Gentle-men on the map. He went onto help create another legend-ary ensemble, The SeldomScene. Duffy fans will defi-nitely want to add this collec-tion of gems.

The Steel WheelsLay Down Lay Low

www.thesteelwheels.comIn a class all their own - TheSteel Wheels, (Harrisonburg,VA) releases their latest - LayDown Lay Low. Their rootsy,soulful twist is phenomenal.Watch these guys break outbig this year. Catch ‘em whileyou can.

Wayne’s career spans de-cades - back to the 60s. Hislatest stint and most notablehas been the last 18 yearswith the Navy’s Country Cur-rent. His most recent project,It’s Gonna Be A Beautiful Day,is good ‘ol fashion grass.

You can send new Americana CD releases for consideration to PO Box 45, Brodgewater, VA, 22812

Celebrating 50 years in coun-try music, Gene Watson hasbeen heralded as one of themajor influences in the indus-try. His music paved the wayfor many in the 60s and 70s.This collection of re-recordedhits is a great addition.

Bill Emerson & Sweet DixieThe Touch Of Time

www.gotech.com/billemersonThere aren’t a lot of the “origi-nal class” of grassers stillplayin’, but Country Gentle-men co-founder Bill Emersoncan still pick with the best of‘em. His new CD, The TouchOF Time, is right on the mark.Thanks Bill for the music.

April 2012

15

Mail with your check or money order for only $16 payable toAmericana Rhythm, and send this to PO Box 45, Bridgewa-ter, VA 22812. PLEASE PRINT CLEARLY!

NAME:

MAILING ADDRESS:

CITY, STATE, ZIP:

PHONE NUMBER:

EMAIL ADDRESS:

THANK YOU FOR READING AMERICANA RHYTHM!

Don’t Miss an Issue! SUBSCRIBE Today!

ATTENTION MUSICIANSAND OTHER SERIOUS GRASSROOTS BUSINESS FOLKS

Grab a $9.99 Domain name and build a

FREE WEB SITEFrom CUSTOMWEBRESOURCES.COM

And receive a complimentary web promotion packageFrom WebPromotion.com

PLUS a free listing onUSAmusician.net

Need help building your site ... no sweat ... visitWeCanBuildYourWebSite.com

email us atinfo@WeCanBuildYourWebSite.com

for a complete rundown on how we can get your siteTO THE TOP OF THE SEARCH ENGINES!

Visit AmericanaRhythm.com

0212

Jerry’s WeCanPublishYourBook.com

April 2012

Order your“OCCUPY LIVE MUSIC” t-Shirt

Send a check or money orderfor $14.95 (includes s/h)

TO: AR Magazine, PO Box 45Bridgewater, VA 22812

Specificy shirt size in check memo

Please allow 4 to 6 weeks for delivery