americana rhythm magazine issue #57
DESCRIPTION
Our latest issue, features contemporary bluegrass act, Volume Five. Plus we explore the rhythm in Americana, take a look at Harrisonburg Virginia's Blue Sprocket studio, artist profiles, spring festival preview, SPINS, and more!TRANSCRIPT
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Image credit https://trueblueridge.files.wordpress.com
June 2015
Let life be like music.~ Langston Hughes ~
As I put the finishing touches on this issue, preparing it for publication, Ifound myself almost giddy with anticipation of the coming outdoor mu-sic season. I mean, just gazing at the landscape of our little corner of theAmericana world, I’m having a hard time deciding how I’m going tosqueeze it all in!
It’s a great time in the music world to be a string music fan. With everynew round of interviews and CD SPINS we encounter, I can almost liter-ally see/hear/feel the evolution taking place. New terms like indie-mountaingrass, and Smokey Mountain folk, as well as unique genre’ spe-cific classifications like Swamp-pop, and Zyda-grass show up every week,adding more and more cool music to listen to. We just call it all Ameri-cana Rhythm!
We’ve got lots of festivals, events, conferences, and camps for you to par-take of this go ‘round. I hope you’ll have as much fun thumbing throughas we did curating it all for you too.
Oh, and watch for our newly remodeled site coming on-line early thissummer. See you out there!
Questions, comments, suggestions:[email protected]
Americana Rhythm is published six times a year. All correspon-dence should be sent to PO Box 45, Bridgewater VA, 22812 oremail to [email protected]. Copies of AmericanaRhythm are made available free at various pick up locations withinthe publication’s region. Subscriptions are available inside the UnitedStates (only) for $16 US currency made payable by check or moneyorder sent to, Subscriptions at PO Box 45, Bridgewater, VA, 22812.Foreign subscrip t ion requests should be sent [email protected]. Copyright 2014. All rights reserved.Reproduction of any content, artwork or photographs is strictlyprohibited without permission of the publisher or original owner. Alladvertising material subject to approval.
PUBLISHER/EDITOR IN CHIEFGreg E. Tutwiler
Associate EditorEd Tutwiler
MARKETING & PROMOTIONMark Barreres (GrassRootsNetworking.com)
ADVERTISINGBusiness office 540-433-0360
CONTRIBUTORSEd Tutwiler
Wayne ErbsenDonna Ulisse
Don and Martha DePoyAndrew McKnightDonna Marie Miller
DISTRIBUTIONEd TutwilerZebra Media
Associated Dist.
Letters, Comments, [email protected]
PUBLISHER
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cont. on page 6
About two years ago, in (Issue 44)Americana Rhythm, we delvedinto the use or absence thereof ofdrum sets in the old-time and tra-ditional bluegrass genres of Ameri-cana string music; and for thatmatter at that time, also in progres-sive and new-grass iterations aswell. I even went so far as to ob-serve that I had no desire to hear adrum line chasing through mySteep Canyon Ranger listening ex-perience.
My-oh-my what a difference twoyears make. About a year ago, Iwent to a live performance by theSteep Canyon Rangers at theCarnegie Hall in Lewisburg, WVAand discovered that this progressivebluegrass group had added a per-cussion type of instrument and adedicated player thereof to their
standard line-up. I caught themlive again at Merlefest last spring—rhythm percussion is a permanentpart of their act now.
The Rhythm SectionLast summer at an outdoor festi-val featuring some mainline blue-grass acts and an up and comingbluegrass gospel group named TheChurch Sisters. I had lunch be-tween sets with their manager, andshe posed this question to me,“What do you think about my girlsadding percussion to the backupband?” Now, this is not an old-timeor traditional act but they do singgospel songs in a pure mountainmanner abet with a fresh young
sound and back up themselveswith the expected instruments.Given my negative drum preju-dice, I slowly responded with this,“Well, maybe a beat-box type ofinstrument but never a full drumset.” She replied that was herthought as well. I haven’t heardthem live lately so I do not know ifthey’ve yet made the addition butI expect they will.
If you remember, most of the re-spected folks we consulted at thetime of that first article, alludedthere has always been a presenceof rhythm percussion in old-timeand traditional music—just pro-duced with obscure instrumentssuch as metal spoons, fiddlesticksand some foot-clogging but done ina subtle manner. Last fall at theIBMA’s big bluegrass gathering in
Raleigh, NC, one could hear infre-quent sounds of rhythm percussionin some of the performances. Per-cussion is going to be more preva-lent among the divergent youngstring music groups of that there isno doubt; and I expect it to takethe form of simplistic rhythm per-cussion We’ll never hear (I certainlyhope) a 10-minute long, frenzieddrum solo like Gene Krupa’s bigband renditions from the 1930’s,but percussion will emerge. Hav-ing said that, let us tell you aboutthe most probable instruments toexpect.
By Edward Tutwiler
Puttin’ TheBeat In It
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Beat Box StyleI mentioned the term beat-box abit ago. That was a somewhat in-accurate response to the ChurchSister’s manager. That term origi-nated within the hip-hop musicscene and actually defines a formof vocal percussion that prima-rily involved the performer us-ing mouth, lips, tongue, andvoice to produce drum beats,rhythm, and musical sounds. Amore exact term for what is be-ing used most frequently instring music is a box drum and amore precise term for that boxdrum is Cajón. This is a Spanishterm best pronounced as Ka-honand generally denotes a box,crate, or drawer. Commercialmanufacturers produce fancyand elaborate versions of this in-strument but many performersconstruct their own units fromplywood using plans that theypass from artist to artist. TheCajón is of Peruvian origin (prob-ably by way of West Africa viathe slave trade) and is nominallya six-sided plywood box that isplayed by slapping the front orrear faces with the hands, fingers,or sometimes various imple-ments such as brushes, mallets,or sticks. The sound produced isa very pronounced yet unobtru-sive and somewhat hollowsounding rhythm that compli-ments well the string instrumentsounds. The modern Cajón is of-ten used to accompany an acous-tic guitar, and is fast becomingpopular in a broad range of mu-sical genres.
The Cajón is often used insteadof a full drum kit when a groupor solo performer is performingin minimalist settings. As youmight have surmised, this boxdrum type of rhythm percussionis rooted in African music; andsince the early Appalachian mu-sic was an amalgamation of 18th.Century Scot-Irish and African-American musical traditions, it iseasy to see how this latest trendtoward simple rhythm percussionseems to now fit so well in themodern equivalent of that styleof music—the old has once againbecome new.
Just Stomp ItAnother rhythm percussion in-strument that one sometimeshears with string music bands isa Stomp Box. A Stomp Box con-sists of a small wooden boxplaced under a musician’s foot.The performer taps or stamps on
the box rhythmically to producea sound similar to that of a bassdrum. A Stomp Box allows a per-former (such as a singer or guitarplayer) to create a simple rhyth-mic self-accompaniment. Themost common use of these instru-ments is in folk and blues musicbut certainly not limited to thatgenre as you can hear them be-ing used across the musical spec-trum: A Stomp Box can be a pureacoustical instrument as a simplemeans to add a subtle hint of
rhythm to a performance. Inmodern use, a microphone, orpiezo transducer, is usuallyplaced inside the box to send asignal to a small portable elec-tronic amplifier. Commerciallyproduced Stomp Boxes are readilyavailable but performers often
simply put a microphone insidewhatever box they have handy.
A great listening example ofStomp Box playing is on somesongs performed by The SteelWheels, an eclectic hard to definefolk/old-time acoustic string bandwith a national following. TheSteel Wheels lead singer, TrentWagler, also uses a uniquerhythm percussion device thatconsists of a four-foot tall colorfulwooden stick emblazoned with
large metal washers and rattlesthat he shakes tambourine-styleand sometimes uses with hisStomp Box when his group doestheir version of raw, powerful Af-rican-American spirituals. (As anaside, Pete Vigor, who heads anold-time string music groupbased in Central VA, mentioneda similar rhythm device fes-tooned with soda bottle caps thatwas used by folk-singer PeteSeeger when he did African-American influenced spiritualsongs.) Recently, I contactedTrent Wagler and asked him togive us the proper name of his in-strument, and here is what hetold me, “In Australia they call ita Lagerphone; and we’ve collectednames for ours including TheGospelator and Jingling Jonny, butwe just call it the Washer Stick.”(Editor note: for my part, consid-ering how emotionally moving Ifind the Steel Wheel tunes to bewhen the sound of the Gospelatoris added, I want to also give it amiddle and a last name: Spirit andStick—thus, The Gospelator SpiritStick.)
Hambone It UpWhen we speak of African-American influenced rhythm per-cussion in Appalachian influencedstring music, we would certainlybe amiss in not mentioning theHambone. Now, less you thinkthis is some obscure art form fromthe way-back, let me quickly dis-pel that notion. I saw an excellentpresentation of Hambone in a full-on progressive bluegrass festivalin Washington, DC just lastmonth. It is not at all obscure.Hambone is another form of bodymusic that adds percussion to
Scott Senior, formerprecussionist withthe Duhks.
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string music performances. Theperformers use their hands to slapthe thighs and the chest musclesof their body in a .rhythmic pat-ting motion. Most sources placethe origin of Hambone in WestAfrican dance and of course in themigration through the misery ofslavery to the US south. No one
really knows why the art form iscalled Hambone but it is easy toassume that the term was derivedfrom the action from hitting yourthigh—your actual hambone.Nevertheless, doing the Hamboneis not an uncommon part of pri-marily the old-time and bluegrass
genres of Americana string mu-sic performance.
We could go on sighting obscureand some not so obscure ex-amples of rhythm percussion likethe occasional snare drum/steelbrush combination but suffice tosay the use of rhythm percussionthreads through and throughAmericana string music reachingfar back before the time of re-corded music. There is no doubtthat rhythm percussion is here tostay because it was really neverever missing. I find my biasshrinking as some of my favoritegroups incorporate some rhyth-mic percussion sound to enhancethe richness of the sound pro-duced by their talented string in-strument players. However, hav-ing said this, I never ever want tohear Americana string music ac-companied by a harsh, pounding,overpowering array of drum para-phernalia, which is apparently re-quired in the over amplified, elec-trified world of rock and moderncountry music.
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I love being a happy girl. I’mmost comfortable in this stateand annoyingly will ing toshare my joy through positivesongs that I write and perform.Lately, my Snow White ap-proach to daily life has beensmudged by friends goingthrough personal crises andloss and has left me hurting forthem. Don’t get me wrong, mylife is not so charmed that Iwhiz past any personal sorrowor that I haven’t had my ownkinds of heartache. I have, oh,I have, and maybe that is whyI am able to take on someoneelse’s anguish. I tend to borrowheartache every now and then.In fact, my first bluegrass CDwas filled with thoughts of agood friend’s divorce and tear-drops. Shameful, I know, but a
real treasure trove for my songcatalog and the launching padfor my bluegrass career. Ithank her to this day for let-ting me sing out her brokenheart.
Saying Good ByeThis past winter season was anespecially tough one, cold, icyand long. The frigid monthsgathered up some dear, oldfriends and escorted them intothe great beyond. Sayinggoodbye to cherished parts ofmy past is never an easy choreand as years go by this task hitsharder and harder - sad emo-tions that turn my pen and pa-per into therapy. Not only haveI lost friends but also I havehad to watch a sweet friend gothrough the loss of her child. I
can’t think of a sadder thing.It puts life out of order some-how. This particular friend hashad a large portion of heavyloss and this was more than ashoulder should have to bear.
In my writer’s heart, I tried toimagine what my friend wasfeeling. If this had happenedto me I would not be able tosee the sun shining even onthe sunniest, warmest of days.In my mind my heart wouldturn wintery. We have all beentold that at some point therewill be a thaw but when in thethroes of this kind of heart-break, I don’t imagine seeingpast the gray, cold sorrow. Itook all of this imagery and allthe sadness I felt for my friend
and turned it into song. I’d liketo share what I came up withand let you see how I see heart-ache.
Date Of CreationUnderneath the title and myname you will notice the date.Before the date you will seeDOC. This stands for date ofcreation. Heading your songsjust the way you see mine is agood habit to get into as youwrite your songs. The date ofcreation is important for a fewreasons: you or your publish-ing house will need to recordthis date for copyright enroll-ment, and if there are ever anylegal issues you will certainlyneed proof of when you com-posed your song.
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THOUGH THE GOLDOF SUMMER SHINES
Written by Donna Ulisse© 2015 Uncle Hadley Music
(ASCAP)DOC March 6, 2015
HEARTACHE HITS LIKEBLINDING SNOWLEAVES ME STUMB’LININ THE COLD
THIS ICY CHILL IS SOUNKINDTHOUGH THE GOLD OFSUMMER SHINES
GRAY FILLS UP THIS HEARTOF MINEROLLS IN WAVES OFWINTERTIME
IN SEARCH OF WARMTH ICANNOT FINDTHOUGH THE GOLD OFSUMMER SHINES
FLOWERS USED TOCHEER ME UPI ALWAYS LOOKED FORBUTTERCUPS
NOW YELLOW CANNOTCATCH MY EYETHOUGH THE GOLD OFSUMMER SHINES
GRAY FILLS UP THIS HEARTOF MINEROLLS IN WAVES OFWINTERTIME
IN SEARCH OF WARMTHI CANNOT FINDTHOUGH THE GOLD OFSUMMER SHINE
I LONG FOR SUN UPONMY FACEBUT I AIN’T GOIN’ OUT TODAYI’VE LOCKED THE DOOR ANDCLOSED THE BLINDSTHOUGH THE GOLD OFSUMMER SHINES
GRAY FILLS UP THISHEART OF MINEROLLS IN WAVES OFWINTERTIME
IN SEARCH OF WARMTHI CANNOT FINDTHOUGH THE GOLD OFSUMMER SHINE
Things have changed in the worldof music. What was once a maledominated genre’ now featuresquite a few notable female frontladies like Rhonda Vincent, AlisonKrauss, Dale Anne Bradley, DonnaHughes, and Loraine Jordan, justto mention a few. Some historyeven suggests that the high tenorvocal lead present in traditionalbluegrass originated with thewoman supplying the vocals.
However, it’s still intimidating fora lady to sit down with a big circleof men and “jump right in,”Martha Hill stated. Martha frontsfor the old-time duo, Me & Martha,with her husband, Don Depoy.
For the past five years Martha hasperformed at private and publicmusic venues from Maine toFlorida. “Women playing bluegrassmusic often need to be encouragedto join the male dominated jams.“My goal is to invite women tohave some fun while learning skillsto make them feel more confidentwhen joining any music jam,” shesaid.
So, ladies, here’s something just foryou! Martha Hills, Outreach Co-ordinator for The ShenandoahMusic Trail, has created a woman’sonly bluegrass jam workshopplanned for June 6th from 10:30amto 3pm at Eastern MennoniteUniversity’s Music Department,Lehman Auditorium, inHarrisonburg, Virginia.
“The Bluegrass Jam Workshop forjust women will be for all bluegrassinstruments and all but beginnerlevels,” Martha said. If you knowhow to tune, know basic chords,and can lead a song or two, thisworkshop is for you. The goal isto help you improve jamming andsinging skills in a welcoming andempowering environment.
This workshop covers standardbluegrass songs, will encouragegood timing, playing, lead and har-mony singing, jam etiquette, trad-ing breaks, playing back up, kick-offs and endings. “There will bejust enough music theory to notmess up your playing,” Ms Hillsaid.
To be a part of the workshop youcan call Martha at 540-209-3540 oremail [email protected] registration and information.
Women Only
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FEATUREARTISTS
Thanks to our partnership with ReverbNation (www.reverbnation.com) we are honored to give you apeak at a few of the nation’s hardest working indie artists. Each month we select one entry to showcasefor you here. Enjoy!
THIS MONTH’S FEATURE: By Greg Tutwiler
Steph Stewart And The Boyfriends
Before Stephanie Stewart formedSteph Stewart and the Boyfriends,she grew up on a steady diet ofclassic country and traditionalChristian hymns in the foothills ofNorth Carolina. “I grew up listeningto my Grandfather’s classic countryrecords and singing traditionalhymns with my Grandma inchurch,” Stephanie recalled. Thevoices of Patsy Cline, Johnny Cashand Ernest Tubb were amongseveral of the first influences in herearly life that made her want tosing. In 2013 Stephanie formed herfirst official Americana string band,and they just recently released theirsecond album, Nobody’s Darlin’.
Although she couldn’t play aninstrument yet, Stephanie beganwriting songs in fifth grade. “It wasjust lyrics with a melody I hadcreated and memorized,” she said. Itwasn’t until years later that shedecided she wanted to accompanyherself with guitar. “At that time,only teenage boys were playingguitar in the small, rural townwhere I grew up, and I got tired ofsinging along to all of the music theywanted to play. I wanted to makemy own songs, so I picked up mydad’s old Kent electric guitar, andgot a small amp that year forChristmas, along with a book ofchord charts and Beatles songs, andI taught myself the basics.”
At 16, Stephanie was a regular atthe local coffee shop’s open micnights where she performed originaltunes and other things from theinfamous Lilith Fair cannon. “Isuppose that was pretty much thebeginning of where I am today,” sherecalled.
Putting It All TogetherStephanie met her first band mateOmar Ruiz-Lopez in the summer of2011. They were both playing withdifferent people and happened to beon the same bill at a show in ChapelHill, NC. “That fall he sat in withme and a friend and the rest ispretty much history,” Stephaniesaid. “The following year he con-vinced his friend from music school,Mario Arnez, to move from Florida,and the three of us started playingtogether regularly.” In January of2013 they met Nick Vandenberg ata Mandolin Orange concert and hehas been their bass player eversince, as well as produced their firstalbum and mixed the current one.
In describing their music, Stephaniesaid some songs have a more classic
country feel (like “Pearl”) whileothers lean more towards traditionalAppalachian folk music. “Americanais a catch-all phrase really, but it’sprobably the best way to describeour sound,” she said.
New InfluencesStephanie said her childhood influ-ences were very informative as herfoundation in music goes. “But as anadult,” she added, “I have continuedto actively seek out new music andfind inspiration from new sources.As of late, I have enjoyed bingingon old Alan Lomax and Bill Ferrisfolk music documentary films,which has definitely made animpression on the songs I wrote onthis current album. I love therawness and emotion that comesthrough in the music of folks likeClarence Ashley, Roscoe Holcolmb,and Sarah Ogan-Gunning. Theyweren’t just performers - theyactually lived the tragedies and strifethey sang about, and I think you canhear that in their voices.”
Everyone in the group is asongwriter, and everyone contrib-
utes to the songs the band chose tocall their own. Two of the songs onthe new record were co-writes interms of lyrics. Stephanie wrote “AllOver the City” with Nick, and“Promised Land” with Mario. Mariowrote one of the songs on the newalbum too; “Songs & Arms.” “Ev-eryone pretty much forms his ownparts and contributes to the ar-rangements,” she said.
All For One“I think it’s pretty unique how weconstantly motivate and inspire oneanother to be better. For example, Inever had plans to play banjo, butOmar heard it in my music andloaned me his, saying I needed tolearn. Finally I broke down andtook some lessons. It’s been the bestthing. So many new songs andsounds I had never known wereinside of me came out through thatinstrument, and I owe that to him.”
All the guys studied music incollege; while Stephanie was anEnglish major who liked writingsongs. “I’ve learned so much aboutmusic theory and song craft fromworking with them.”
In addition to fronting her band,Stephanie is a full time Montessoriteacher for children three to sixyears old as well as an outdooreducator at Learning Outside. “I doall the booking and publicity alongwith my husband and gig in my freetime (weekends, holidays, sum-mer),” she said. “Our goal is to keepgetting our music out there forpeople to hear and writing songstogether that we enjoy bringing tothe stage. It’d be great to reach thatplace where we can afford to hirean outside person to handle thebusiness side as well.”
www.stephstewart.net
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Terry andhisDerringBanjo.
Chatam County Line
“Hangman’s Reel”always reminds me ofmy old friend andmentor, Albert Hash. Ifirst met Albert at theGrayson CountyFiddlers Convenion inthe summer of 1972, andtook an instant liking tohim. Not only was he agreat old-time fiddler,but I was drawn to himby his plain-spokenways and his humblespirit. He spoke in anold-time SouthwestVirginia dialect, and Ihung on his every word.The man was wise fromhis head to his toes, andI spent a lot of timehanging out and playingmusic with him at his
By Wayne Erbsen
Hangman’s Reel © 2015 by Wayne Erbsen
Whitetop Mountainhome. His wife, Ethel,used to serve meinstant coffee with hotwater from the tap. Itwas delicious!
Back in the early1970s, Albert taughtme “Hangman’s Reel”along with the storythat goes with it. Overthe years, I’m sure I’veembellished both thetune and the story.Anyway, here’s thestory.
Many years ago way upin Canada there was aprisoner who waslocked tight in his cell,awaiting his execution
the following day for a crime thatis long forgotten. Outside thewindow of his cell he could hearcarpenters building his gallows.The jailhouse walls were too thickto tunnel through, so he wasdesperately trying to figure out a
way to escape his fate. Lookingthrough the bars, he could see anold fiddle and bow hanging on thejailhouse wall. That gave him anidea. He called the jailer over and
pretended that he was the greatestfiddle player in that entire region.They got to arguing back and forth,and the prisoner managed to goadthe jailer into make a bet.
If he could prove that he was the
greatest fiddler, he would be setfree. But if he was lying, and wasnot the great fiddler that heclaimed he was, then he wouldmeet his fate at the end of thehangman’s rope. They shook hands
Albert Hash and Emily Spencer
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and sealed the bet. The jailor didallow the prisoner to keep thefiddle and bow in his cellovernight. The next day, with thenoose around his neck, he wouldget the chance to play the fiddlefor the crowd and settle the betonce and for all.
The truth was that the prisoner hadnever held a fiddle in his handsbefore, but it was the only thinghe could think of to try to win hisrelease. You can bet he stayed uplate that night trying to figure outhow to play that fiddle. On thegallows the next morning, theprisioner raised the fiddle andplayed the tune that has sincebecome known as “Hangman’sReel.” History did not bother torecord whether the prisioner wonhis freedom or instead, receiveda “suspended” sentence.However, it is a darn good tune!
For more information about play-ing banjo in clawhammer style,check out Wayne Erbsen’s book:Clawhammer Banjo for the Com-plete Ignoramus! Wayne has writ-ten three bluegrass banjo books:Bluegrass Banjo for the Com-plete Ignoramus, Bluegrass Jam-ming on Banjo, and Starting Blue-grass Banjo from Scratch. Alsocheck out his instruction booksfor fiddle, mandolin and guitarat www.nativeground.com. Freecatalogs are available by callingNative Ground Books & Music at(828) 299-7031.
Hangman’s Reel is arranged for clawhammerstyle banjo. For detailed instruction for theclawhammer style, check out Wayne’s book,Clawhammer Banjo For The CompleteIgnoramus! You might also enjoy theYoutube clip “Wayne Erbsen Teaches theClawhammer Banjo.” Lick.” By the way, thistab of “Hangman’s Reel” will be included inWayne’s upcoming book, ClawhammerBanjo – Tunes, Tips and Jamming availablefrom www.nativeground.com.Hangman’s Reel Tab
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At the influence ofhis father, northernMississippi’s GlenHarrell started playingguitar when he wasnine years old, andpicked up the fiddlewhen he was just 14.Just last year, the part-time insurance sales-man, along with hisband, Mountain FeverRecording artists, Vol-ume Five earned twoIBMA nominations – along way from home-town, childhood fiddleand guitar contests –but not surprising.Quickly becoming aband to watch – Vol-ume Five’s latest CD,Voices, just might bethe record that putsthem on the map forgood.
In his early teens, Gleneventually got togetherwith some kids his agethat were playing, andthey formed a band. Over the yearshe jumped in and out of differentgroups, all the while learning moreand getting better as a musicianand a singer. “We did a lot of jam-ming in between,” he recalled aswe sat down to talk.
Heading OutGlen landed in a bluegrass gospelgroup, which lasted four or fiveyears, and then went on to playfiddle with Marty Raybon forabout six years. “Being a fiddleplayer all the time, you don’t getto sing very much,” Glen laughed.“I’d always wanted to put my owngroup together,” he said. So he did.“I like to sing, and in the gospelgroup I did quite a bit of singing,(harmony and lead) and I missedit. I thought to myself, ‘if I’m evergoing to do this, I better do it be-fore I get too old,” he quipped.
“But let me tell you, it doesn’t mat-ter what you’ve done, or whoyou’ve played with – when youput a group together you’re backat zero. I have really worked my
butt off trying to build this band.I guess in some ways, I had no ideawhat was involved, but it’s worthit for sure.”
“More than anything,” Glen said,“I wanted this band to play musicthat would define us and let ev-erybody in this band create theirown identity. Instead of soundinglike every other band – you know,having that same sound or samefeel – and playing whatever is hoton the radio at the time. We reallywanted to create our own distinc-tive sound. I want to be able towalk around places like IBMA andhear other people playing oursongs too. To me, that’s the bestcompliment you can have.”
A New BreedVolume Five is a one of the newgeneration bluegrass bands. Theyare a hybrid of contemporary andtraditional sounds melded with acreative new approach to blue-grass. “I’m a baritone singer,” Glensaid. “So I’m not going to put myguitar in a higher key and scream
and try to reach the note – I sing inthe key that best fits my voice –and sometimes the sound we getis not what a typical bluegrass bandsounds like. We want the vocals tobe really crisp and clear, and to playmusic not just for the people thathave been going to bluegrass festi-vals a long time, but also for thepeople who are new to bluegrass.We want to attract a newer,younger audience, as well as thelong standing bluegrass fans,” hesaid.
“I think we’ve got something foreverybody. I just don’t want to belabeled as contemporary or tradi-tional. To me, music is either goodor it’s not. I’m pretty cut and dryedabout that. I really appreciate dif-ferent styles of music, and I’m veryopen-minded. I appreciate themountain sound of the old-timestuff – but I don’t just want to playeverybody else’s music all the timeeither.”
It is hard to be completely original,of course, and Volume Five doesn’t
mind mixing in songs from otherbands and artists. “For example,”Glen said, “we love Lost AndFound. I think those guys producedsome of the best original music. Sowe’ll play some of their songs fromtime to time. It’s good to have afew familiar songs that audiencesknow right off the bat. And I lovethe old Country music songs toolike those from Merle Haggard andGeorge Jones. We don’t mind play-ing some classic stuff, but we alsowant to be know as a band that’sbring new, original music to thecatalog for others to be able to playtoo. The only way to create yourown identity is to be original asmuch as you can.”
We Write The Songs“We probably write about half ofour own songs, and the rest wechoose from other song writers weknow, or songs that get sent to us,”Glen said. “For the most part I’mthe one picking the material, andthe first thing I look for is, does ithave a good story? Does it saysomething that’s interesting to
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people? And, could it impact aperson’s life? Then I listen forthe melody. If a song doesn’thave a good melody, I don’tcare what it says, it’s just hardto sing. And if someone sendsme a song, I’ll listen to it threeor four times to see if it will
work for us, and then I don’twant to hear it again. I’ll writethe lyrics down on a piece ofpaper. If I listen to somethingtoo long I will start to soundlike the demo. I really don’t todo that. I want to put our owntwist on each song we do. Af-ter that, all these guys in theband are great musicians, andthey can bring a great song tolife.”
“Great songs are what reallymake a band great. I’ve beenreally blessed over the lastseven years with this band,”Glen reflected. “We’ve hadsome guys that were reallygreat song writers, or theyknew someone that was a goodsongwriter. So we’ve been for-tunate to find really goodsongs. I’m really, really pickyon what we record. I have tonsof music sent to me every year.A lot of them are really great
songs but they’re just not whatI’m looking for,” he said.
Making It All Work“You’ve got to be a highly mo-tivated person,” Glen said.“You’ve got to set goals, andmore than anything, you’ve got
to go after it. You really do haveto work hard. People aren’t justgoing to beg you to play forthem, or hand you a recorddeal. You can have the talent –but that’s only about 20 per-cent of what you need to makeit in this business. It’s not theFriday and Saturday work. It’sthe Monday through Thursdaypart that’s going to make yousuccessful. The weekend workis the gravy.”
“Just because you can make itsound good doesn’t mean yourtelephone is going to startringing. You’ve got to be a per-son who’s pretty good at talk-ing with people because every-thing in this business is basedon relationships. I love people.You have to love people in thisbusiness, and it’s the peoplethat I’ve met – the relation-ships that this business has al-lowed me to make – thatmeans as much to me as get-ting to make music.”
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You might recall a ReverbNation fea-ture we did with Matt Hoggatt inour October, 2014 issue (#53). Matt’sstory is a bit of a fairy tale story,with a crescendo of sorts, and backdown to earth again. Matt recentlyshared the follow letter with hisFacebook followers. We share it nowwith you – not so much as a “poorMatt” but really as an encourage-ment to any and all musicians outthere striving to share your craft.There are ups, and there are downs.However the downs don’t have tomean you’re out. - editor
Folks, in case you didn’t know, I’mnot touring full-time anymore. Idon’t have a booking agency, arecord label, or a manager. I’m justa one-person, one-guitar, com-pletely indepen-dent singer/songwriter thatonly plays selectshows that in-vite me to per-form. The lastthree years havebeen a lot of fun,but unfortu-nately fundoesn’t alwaystranslate intomonetary profit;and so I’ve re-turned to work-ing full time.
I’m not upset, let-down, disap-pointed, or mad that I didn’t Make-It. What does that phrase reallymean anyway? I got to live a com-pletely different life for three yearsthat took me all over the countryand introduced me to all kinds ofpeople and all kinds of cultures.Most of the time I was completelyin debt, and barely broke even inmost cases. But it was a great ex-perience, and one I can be proud toshare with my children as they getolder. Now, if that’s not making-it,then I don’t know what is anyway.
A WhirlwindIn the last three years I wrote asong, won a song contest, playedon stage in front of thousands, quitmy day job, became a traveling
musician, stayed at JimmyBuffett’s House, toured the coun-try as traveling musician, wore outmy mini-van, bought a bigger van,put a cot and a microwave in theback of the bigger van, lived out ofthe van, toured the country play-ing small venues and house con-certs, drove Jimmy Buffett aroundNew Orleans while he ate mybeanie-weenies (last can of beanieweenies), sold as many records asI gave away for free, met tons ofcool people, tons of great tailgateparty hosts and ate TONS of greatfood, stole a beer from JimmyBuffett’s dressing room, made anew record, ate peanut butter andrice cakes with Keith Sykes, got“sweated” on by Lionel Richie, sawmost of the country through the
windows of myvan, held offthe bill collec-tors, mortgagecompany, in-surance com-pany and I.R.Sfor two yearsand barely keptfrom goingbankrupt. Fi-nally, in De-cember of 2015to make endsmeet, I madethe hard/not so
hard decision to go back to workfull-time. And thankfully, I’m stillhear to talk about it.
All’s WellHere’s the happy ending to thatstory though. Since returning towork, I’ve been able to concentrateon booking better shows and writ-ing more music, and I’ve had evenbetter record sales now that I canconcentrate on quality gigs insteadof quantity. I still play virtuallyevery weekend and have showslined up in Texas and Florida thissummer, and a busy calendar.
My message to anyone trying tomake it in the music business; youhave do whatever it takes. Stick toyour guns and stay original evenif you have to work a day job tomake the nightlife a reality!
Making It ...What Does That Mean Anyway?
By Matt Hoggatt
June 2015
June 2015
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Don and Martha host the BluegrassMusic Jam at the Elkton CommunityCenter in Elkton, Virginia everyTuesday evening from 6 to 8:30 pm.It’s free and open to the public, andall levels of pickers and listeners arewelcome.
For information on The ShenandoahMusic Trail is spon See more at:www.svmmma.org.
Most public jams have a varietyof musician skill levels from begin-ner to professional. Music Jamsserve as a viable way to encouragemusicians to improve their instru-mental skills, learn how to playwell with others and most impor-tantly respect their own journeyand their fellow musician’s jour-ney. Anyone young or old whopicks up an instrument with a de-sire to learn how to play should becelebrated and encouraged everystep of the way. I believe that mu-sicians who attend jams want toplay their instrument and perhapslead a song or two. Some are reluc-tant to take their instruments outof the car, others out of the case,some, with encouragement, arewilling to stand in the circle andsome have found the way to playwell with others.
Jam HogsA musician at a local music jamrecently quipped to me, “The jam’sname should be changed to theFour Brothers Show.” He went onto explain that certain members ofthe jam monopolized about everysong and it left little time for othermusicians to play their songs. He’deven noticed that a number ofregulars had stopped coming. Sothis month we felt it important tohighlight some Music Jam Eti-quette.
As the Jam leader, I do understandyour concerns. When I lead a jamthe intention is for it to be a circlejam, where everyone has the op-portunity to play and/or sing asong in whatever key they choose.I believe a jam leader should bewelcoming and supporting of ev-eryone who is there as a musicianand encouraging (asking) everyone
to lead a song or two. If there is nodesignated leader with thatmindset at the jam, then it can feellike a “show” to some of the moreinexperienced musicians. A “show”can evolve if no one is willing tostep up and play. The more sea-soned jammers will just start play-ing songs they know. As the jamprogresses, however, anyoneshould be able to ask the perceivedleader to sing or play his or her par-ticular song.
As a jammer, I encourage you toseize the moment. Have a songready. State the name and key soeveryone can hear and if you wantsomeone to do a kick-off ask thatperson if they know the song. Ifit’s a standard song, they might ask,“how fast?” Take a breath. Take alook around and make sure every-one is ready, (especially the banjo).This is your chance to perform! Putyour fears away and let ‘er go! Sing
to the person in the back of theroom. This is your moment. Shine!
Banjo Jokes AsideTo my comment, “Wait for thebanjo.” We all know the jokesabout banjo tuning. However,there is a good reason why thebanjo is hard to tune and here it is!The difficulty with tuning comesin part with the constant keychanges. A banjo has to re-tunewith every key change.
So you might wonder why thebanjo is so different. The piano,guitar, mandolin, and other fret-
ted instruments and your electronictuner are even-tempered scales.Banjos, Dobros and fretless instru-ments like the fiddle have an un-tempered scale and require time totune the harmonic overtones to thefundamental first note of the song’skey. So changing keys from A to Bto C back to G up to A, requirestuning time. With more than oneguitar slightly out of tune with theothers or multiple banjos, the tun-ing quickly becomes a banjomare(nightmare on steroids).
Most seasoned jammers will typi-cally, sing/play songs in one key aslong as possible. And keep the circlegoing around until it arrives backto the one who choose the first song.Then perhaps play one more songand then move on to the next per-son and make a key change if nec-essary. (Having said that, some-times it’s just time to change keys.)
Music Trail
Along Shenandoahthe
By Don Depoy, Phd.
Jam One, Jam All
All InclusiveThe Jam Leader is there to makesure that other singers and instru-mentalists have equal time to playsongs in “their” favorite key. Forexample, when going around thecircle and the fiddler asks to playthe tune “Old Joe Clark,” every-one knows it’s in the key of A. Imight ask the fiddler to, “Holdthat tune until we get to A.” andwe all play another song in “B”.The roll of the jam leader is not toforget the fiddler. For that matter,everyone should be encouraged topick and play songs as the keymoves around. If you play in a jam
long enough you knowthe players and the sing-ers and the songs they liketo sing and play. As a jam-mer, you might even sug-gest a song you’d like tohear sung or played bysomeone else in the circle.
The bottom line, somemusicians only get onechance a week to play/sing. The local circle jamis their life’s blood to learnto play well with others.Depending on the size ofthe circle, it may take awhile to get back to yourturn. So over the course ofa two or three hour jam,jammers may only get achance to lead four or fivesongs, (assuming there are
no jam hogs.)
One final though. If you can’t heara singer clearly or a solo break froman instrument, someone is playingtoo loudly. Is that someone you?Sometimes it’s ok to just stand andlisten to the unbroken circle.
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June 2015
Kerrville, Texas has been thehome now for 44 years for theKerrville Folk Festival. Since 1972,the festival founded by RobKennedy, has been held annuallyfor 18 consecutive days in the latespring/early summer at Quiet Val-ley Ranch. And each year the FolkFestival draws nearly 30,000 folkmusic lovers to this music megaevent. Fans and artisans, as wellas a strong artist community gatherfor performances, workshops, edu-cation, camping, songwriting,jams, good food, and good folk fun.
Longest Running FestivalAccording to their website, the fes-tival is “more than just a folk mu-sic festival. Kerrville offers musicof many styles including traditionalfolk, bluegrass, acoustic rock, blues,country, jazz, and Americana. Thecommon thread is songwriting.The focus of the festival is to pro-mote emerging artists while givingour audience exposure to both newand recognized, seasoned talent.”
According to the festival informa-tion it is the longest continuously
running festival of its kind inNorth America. “Over the years ithas become known internationallyas a Mecca for singer songwritersof varying musical styles … a placewhere those just beginning to de-velop their skills have the oppor-tunity to play their music along-side those who are masters. Emerg-ing songwriters as well as teachersare drawn to the festival’s manylearning opportunities.” Those op-portunities include the 35th An-nual Songwriters School, the Roots/ Blues Guitar Workshop, Har-monica Workshop, Ukulele Work-shop, a Music Law Panel Discus-sion, and the 14th Annual Profes-sional Development Program forTeachers.
Grassy Hill KerrvilleOne of the featured events is theyearly Grassy Hill Kerrville NewFolk Competition. Its goal is todiscover promising new singer-songwriters. A field of 800 entriesare narrowed down to 32 finalistswho get to share two of theiroriginal songs in an afternoonappearance on the stage of the
Threadgill Theater. Six winners areeventually selected by a smallgroup of well-establishedperforming songwriters. Inaddition to cash and prizes, eachwinner is invited to the main stageto perform a 20-minute set. A winat Kerrville carries considerableprestige in the singer-songwritercommunity due in part to thepeer-professional judging and thefestival’s long history of recognizingemerging artists who have latergone on to wider success.
This year ’s festival runs fromThursday, May 21 through Sun-day, June 7, 2015 and will againfeature some amazing artists in-cluding David Crosby, EmmylouHarris, Rodney Crowell, TomRush, Peter Case, Ruthie Foster,John Fullbright, Wood & Wire,Sam Baker, Ray Bonneville, GurfMorlix, David Wilcox, Peter Yar-row, and Trout Fishing in America,just to name a few.
About KerrvilleKerrville Texas was settled in themid 1800s as a territory for a newindustry making cypress shingles.Initially named Brownsboroughafter shingle maker and settlerJoshua Brown, at his request, itwas renamed Kerrsville, for hisfriend and fellow veteran of theTexas Revolution, Major JamesKerr. Kerrsville became the countyseat and later the “s” was droppedand the town became known as“Kerrville.” It’s located in the heartof the Texas Hill Country, and con-sidered by many a special paradise,“with friendly people, where theair is always clean and fresh, andthe low humidity climate is won-derful year-round.”
44 Years Of Good Folk Fun
Davis Crosby
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In this new series, we get a little deeper into the inside track with some of our featured artists. These stories are just a snapshotof a longer interview that you can hear in it’s entirety by clicking the link on our web page; www.AmericanaRhythm.com.
Harrisonburg, Virginia is home to The Judy Chops– an “original mountain swing” ensemble, sevenmembers strong. They are a high energy groupspecializing is gipsy swing, roots Americana, andall around good sting fun. They’ve opened for folkslike The Black Lillies, Miss Tess & The Tailbacks,and The David Mayfield Project.
Front man Bill Howard told me that, at least inpart, the band’s sound centers around a strongemphasis on vocal harmonies thanks to the strongvocal presence of sisters Molly and Sally Murphy.They enjoy writing their own material wheneverthey can, and when they do play covers, they stilllike to put their own interpretation on them. “Wetry to cover some traditional stuff as well as somewestern swing, but the mash-ups are where wetend to get a little weird,” Bill laughed. “But it’s allin good fun. The audiences like hearing a familiartune mixed in with the set.”
Although the band has been together for sevenyears, their journey together started further backwhen several of the members were involved inother projects. “I remember late nights after per-formances with our other band we’d have late nightjam sessions, and I remember saying to Molly atone of those sessions, ‘one day we’ll have a bandtogether, I just know it.’ We eventually meldedthe remnants of a few groups into what we nowcall The Judy Chops.”
“We’re a melding of some swing, rock-a-billy, andblues,” Bill said “with a nod to the old-time sound.
Several of the girls in the band have family rootedin old-time music, so we definitely seethat showing up in our music. Moun-tain Swing is about the best we couldcome up with that covered what wedo.”
The Judy ChopsNashville, TN is home for John and Judy Rodman. Judyis an award winning recording artist, stage and televi-sion performer, producer and songwriter – husband Johnis a classical percussionist, touring drummer, and was asession drummerfor one of theworld’s largestjingle companies.
Both are longtimecareer entertainerswho both got theirprofessional startdoing jingles inMemphis, TN at ayoung age. Judyrecalls; “We justwanted to play fullsongs, so we formed a top 40 band with friend,” andfound each other at the same time. “That’s why thisproject that we’re doing now feels like a full circle kindof thing,” she said.
John was raised in Memphis, while Judy, born in Cali-fornia, was from a military family, and moved a lot withher parents while she was growing up. “Nashville’s beenmy home though, for longer than I’ve lived anywhere,”she said.
When what seemed to be the end of a long and success-ful career, John and Judy both felt like they weren’tquite ready to quit playing music. Together, along withsome of Nashville’s elite session players, they recordedtheir new CD, Here We Are. “I was enjoying doing otherstuff,” John said. “But we were watching a James Tay-lor reunion with Carol King a few years ago, and that’swhat sparked it – I said let’s play again. Judy was mostlyproducing and teaching, and I wanted to find out if Icould still play, so we went for it. And it feels like I’mbetter now than I was,” he quipped.
“In the mentoring and producing others and John’s sparkcoming along, it has been so wonderful to come to thispoint and time where we can take all of our past andlove of music and freshly make new stuff,” Judy said.“So we started writing, and before we knew it, we hadseven songs. And we just decided to go into the studioand record them and see what happens. They’ve beengetting wonderful feedback,” Judy said.
John & Judy RodmanThe name Road House Clams invokesvisions of a Jimmy Buffet style rock bandat a local sea side fish house, right? The Clams,fronted by vocalist/guitarist Rik Ferrell, have theirroots along the fertile musical soil of Maryland’seastern shore.
Rik and the band feature that juke joint punch,riddled with clever lyrics, and tight harmonies. Origi-nal tunes like, “I like You Better When You BeenDrinking” set the tone for a high-energy, countryinfused evening out with the Clams.
Rik and fellow songwriter Keith Thompson startedthe band in 2010. “We played around at other gigsand jams together,” Rik recalled, “and every timewe got together there was that magic; that little bitof a spark – the harmonies where already there –without even really rehearsing a lot.”
Keith, from southwest Virginia, brings a rootsy fla-vor to the band, especially with his Mandolin play-ing, whereas Rik is more of the rock and roll influ-ence. “It’s a really nice crosshatch of sound,” Riksaid.
Although their music has a seemingly 70s vibe, Riksaid, “None of it was really intentional. We weren’tquite sure where we were going, but we didn’t wantto limit the songwriting. I don’t worry about genres.I listen to a lot different kinds of music, and thatinfluences spills over into our songwriting,” he said.
For their new CD, Raw Barn, the bend traveled toWashington D.C. to work with top notch producer,Mark Williams. He was a stickler for detail andmaking sure the sound was just right. “It like youwanted to strangle him, but when we heard thefinal track it was like, ‘that’s exactly right.’ We defi-nitely learned to trust him. It was a lot of fun.”
The Road House Clams
To find out more, visitwww.RoadhouseClams.com
To find out more, visit www.TheJudyChops.com To find out more, visit
www.JohnandJudyRodman.com
June 2015
22 www.AmericanaRhythm.com
Not that long ago, if you were anaspiring musician with a real de-sire to record a record, you didn’thave much choice other than to setout for Nashville, TN in hopes of arecord deal. The break-up of cor-porate record labels, and the adventof digital technology has changedall that in recent years – but thisfact remains, if you want it tosound right, then you need to haveit recorded and produced right.Thus returns the big question;should I head out to Nashville tofind a quality studio to help memake my record? Nope – not now.
The Shenandoah Valley of Virginiais rich in so many things. At thebasin of the Shenandoah and BlueRidge mountains, HarrisonburgVA is quickly becoming a destina-tion for many – whether to visit,or settle down. And it’s a great placeto hang out while you’re cuttingyour next recording project. Witha studio like Blue Sprocket Soundas your option, you can have that
Nashville quality andstill enjoy a smalltown relaxed atmo-sphere while youhone your craft.
Blue SprocketSound is the brainchild of Chris Jacksonand founding partnerTravis Whitmore. Ihad the opportunityto tour the studio andchat with Chris, andstudio employees Lo-gan Stoltzfus andAlan Sites recently tolearn about theuniqueness of theirvision for BlueSprocket.
Gaining TheExperience
Chris Jackson grew up in theShenandoah Valley – a music techby training and nature – he lovedhanging around with local garage
bands while he was growing up.“I’ve been a musician most of mylife but I’ve always gravitated to-ward the recording side of things,”he recalled. When I was in junior
high school I heard about this guywho had an 8-track recorder andeverybody wanted to get theirband recorded by him.” That wasall the inspiration Chris needed to
By Greg TutwilerA Sound PhilosophyJune 2015
23www.AmericanaRhythm.com
fuel his passion for the recordingside of music. So much so, that hebargained with his parents; “Imade an agreement with my par-ents that if I got straight As for oneterm they’d help me buy a little 4-track recorder.” It worked, andChris got his recorder and recordedhis band, and everyone else’s heknew too.
Wanting to do the “right thing,”he applied and got accepted to thelocal college, James Madison Uni-versity, right out of high school. Butit just wasn’t his thing. “I think Iwent for one semester, and said,nah, not for me, not right now.”So he packed a bag and headed toNashville, TN.
“Mostly by luck,” Chris reflected.“Through a neighborhood friend-ship, he ended up with an intern-ship at the famed John and MartinaMcbride’s Blackbird Studio. [Black-bird studio has been described as theultimate marriage between cuttingedge and vintage.] “I think John,whether he would admit it or not,wants to build America’s AbbyRoad – He’s the biggest Beatles fa-natic I’ve ever met,” Chrisquipped. “And, he has the world’sbiggest vintage recording equip-ment collection of anyone I knowat this point.”
Miking It RightChris was actually working for astudio tech company repairing con-denser microphones that John hadrelocated from Pittsburg to Nash-ville. “I think it was so that he couldhave the best mic techs on pre-mises,” Chris said. “I would alsodo freelance production aroundtown at other studios on my offdays, because most of my clientscouldn’t afford Blackbird,” helaughed. “It was cool workingthere because you got to see howall these top notch records gotmade. And Nashville has such richhistory that even the affordablestudios were still great qualityplaces to work in.”
Chris’s parents encourage him tocontinue perusing school though,so he enrolled in a recording pro-gram while in Nashville. “Most ofmy education really has been bywatching and being involved in itthough,” he said.
Back To The RootsIn 2007 Chris moved home toHarrisonburg, VA. “I moved backto the Valley because I would comeback and visit my parents and Iwas constantly surprised by theway this area was changing. Andas much as I enjoyed my time inNashville, I think I just missed theValley. The pace oflife here is different.And this area hassuch a rich traditionof music about it.People I would meetin Nashville werehere and would becoming there be-cause there wasn’tan infrastructurehere for them totake advantage offor recording theway they wantedto,” he reflected.
Chris built a small home studio tobegin pursuing his dream. Hepicked up his college study back atJMU in telecommunications, andcontinued to spend time betweenhis home studio in the Valley andtraveling back to Nashville work-ing on recording projects for oldand new clients.
Eventually outgrowing the homesetting, he knew it was time to ex-pand. In April, 2013 they secureda lease on a vacant building justoff the main highway and beganrenovations. “It took us nearly sixmonths to turn what was basicallythis giant shell into the studio thatwe have here now.”
“It’s been a phenomenally excitingthing to be a part of this,” he said.“We asked people, if there was astudio in this area that had every-thing you needed, what wouldthat look like? And then we set outto try to figure out how to makethat.”
The Right Approach“The whole idea behind Blackbirdis that no one should ever show upthere and feel like they can’t dowhatever they want to do,” Chrissaid. “And on a much smaller scale,we sort of tried to say, how can wecreate a really incredible studiowhere this is essentially a play-ground with the sole purpose of
capturing and helping to facilitategreat performances and recordingthose.
We’re all about creating an envi-ronment that’s comfortable. Andthe studio is built to really be a stu-dio. The infrastructure is such thatwhen someone says, ‘hey, I want
to do ___,’ we can say, sure, noproblem. The technical aspects ofit should never get in the way. It’sa playground, both for the musi-cians as well as the engineers andthe producers. It should inspire cre-ativity and then be able to capturethe fruits of that creativity in thebest way possible.
One For AllGroups recently who have enjoyedthe opportunity to work with theguys at Blue Sprocket include TheSteel Wheels, and The Judy Chops.“We are not genre’ specific either,”Chris said. Logan Stoltzfus added,“It’s always great to hang aroundtoo – we’ll have a hip-hop sessionon Friday, Country on Saturday,and Rock on Monday – and thenbring in a Bluegrass band one nightduring the week.”
The studio is intimate enough torecord a singer/songwriter project,or big enough to capture a 50 pieceorchestra. With several isolationrooms available, and state of theart gear and software available,they also don’t mind rolling out thevintage Hammond organ for a ses-sion either.
“I feel like the multifaceted acces-sibilities of being able to help theclient do whatever they want to dohelps make us a viable option. Ihave broad access to the rightpeople to help the artist make therecording they want to make. I canput you with a producer or an en-gineer who understands your kindof music.”
June 2015
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June 2014
APRILMerlefest
April 23 - 26, 2015Wilkesboro, NC
www.merlefest.com
Charm City BluegrassApril 25, 2015Baltimore, MD
www.charmcitybluegrass.com
MAYHouston Fest
May 1 - 2, 2015Galax, VA
www.houstonfestgalax.com
Guy Carawans Bluegrass JamMay 2 - 3, 2015Buena Vista, VA
www.glenmaurypark.com
Heart Of Virginia FestivalMay 2, 2015Farmville, VA
www.heartofvirginia.org
Doyle Lawson Bluegrass FestivalMay 7 - 9, 2015
Denton, NChttp://www.farmpark.com/doyle-lawson-
bluegrass/
Loudoun Bluegrass FestivalJune 26 - 27, 2015Tysons Corner, VA
www.bluegrassloudoun.com
Central VA Family BluegrassMay 14 - 16, 2015
Amelia, VAwww.ameliafamilycampground.com
Bloomin’ Barbeque & BluegrassMay 15 - 16, 2015
Sevierville, TNwww.bloominbbq.com
Hills Of Home Bluegrass FestivalMay 21 - 23, 2015
Coeburn, VAwww.drralphstanleyfestival.com
Chantilly Bluegrass FestivalMay 22 - 23, 2015
Floyd, VAwww.chantillyfarm.com
DelFestMay 21 - 24, 2015Cumberland, MDwww.delfest.com
Kerrville Folk FestivalMay 23 - June 10, 2015
Kerrville, TXwww.kerrvillefolkfestival.org
Little John Mountain Music FestivalMay 21 - 23, 2015Snow Camp, NC
www.littleJohnsMountainMusic.com
Crooked Road Dulcimer FestivalMay 21 - 24, 2015
Ferrum, VAhttp://crookedroaddulcimerfestival.org/
Gathering In The Gap May 23, 2015
Big Stone Gap, VAwww.gatheringinthegapmusicfestival.com
Fiddlers Grove FestivalMay 22 - 24, 2015Union Grove, NC
www.fiddlersgrove.com
Luray Veterans BluegrassMay 28 - 30, 2015
Luray, VAwww.vfwpost621.org
Graves Mountain FestivalMay 28 - 30, 2015
Syria, VAwww.gravesmountain.com
JUNEBluegrass In Cherokee
June 4 - 6, 2015Cherokee, NC
www.adamsbluegrass.com
Ocracoke Folk FestivalJune 5 - 7, 2015
Ocracoke, NCwww.ocracokealive.com
Blue Ridge Old Time Music WeekJune 7 - 13, 2015
Mars Hill, NChttp://www.mhc.edu/oldtimemusic
Mountains Of MusicJune 12 - 20, 2015
Southwest, VAwww.thecrookedroad.org
Shenandoah River FestJune TBA, 2015
New Brunswick, MDwww.shenandoahriversidefestival.com
Rockahock Bluegrass FestivalJune 18 - 20, 2015
Rockahock, VAwww.rockahockbluegrass.com
Wayne C. Henderson Music FestivalJune 20, 2015
Mouth Of Wilson, VAwww.waynehenderson.org
Music In The Mountains FestivalJune 24 - 27, 2015Summersville, WV
www.adamsandandersonbluegrass.com
River And Roots FestivalJune 26 - 27, 2015
Berryville, VAwww.riverandroots.com
Grayson Co. Fiddlers ConventionJune 26 - 27, 2015
Elk Creek, VAhttp://www.ecvfd.net/home/grayson-
county-fiddler-s-convention
South Branch Valley FestivalJune 27, 2015Romney, WV
Email festival listings to [email protected]
June 2015
25www.AmericanaRhythm.com
I think that we all can agree thatlive music trumps the prerecordedvariety every time. This timethough, there is a twist. How aboutlive music streamed via the internetas it is performed. The publishercalled me the other day and askedif I’d do a piece about such an eventthat he’d recently heard about.
Down in Bloomingdale, GA (lo-cated a few miles west of I-95 andSavannah, GA), master luthier,Randy Wood, has been producingtop-quality instruments since the1960s. Wood has a multi-fold busi-ness—creating custom-made fret-ted instruments, repairing frettedinstruments of all types, and run-ning a retail store that offers a widevariety of new and used stringedinstruments and accessories, in-cluding some of Randy’s famouscustom-made instruments. By hisestimate, Randy Wood hashandcrafted upwards of 3000stringed music instruments, whichnow are in the hands of acousticmusic players around the world.
Wood turns out 15 stringed instru-ments per year, all pre-ordered andpre-paid. On top of all this, is thethrust of this story: Randy Wood’sPickin’ Parlor.
Organic RootsRandy Wood comes to this inter-esting life in an organic way. Hisfather was a carpenter and playeda little music on the side. An Armytour gave Randy the opportunityto run the base woodshop and gainwoodworking skills. During theearly 1960’s folk revival, Woodbuilt for himself an autoharp andbegan developing some musicalchops as well. After returninghome to Georgia, Randy and hisbrother began playing some R&Bgigs around town. Around thissame time, Wood became interestedin bluegrass music. Day job oppor-tunity as a draftsman took him toAtlanta where he made friendswith a fellow woodworker andresonator guitar player. After theirrespective jobs ended for the day,they spent evenings in the wood
working shop turning out hand-crafted banjo necks, which theysold at bluegrass events all over thesouth. Wood eventually startedhandcrafting mandolins and neverstopped. His handcrafting and in-strument repair business grew tothe point that he gave up his dayjob and moved the instrument re-pair business to Muscle Shoals, AL.
The Go-To GuyWood’s legend as a great repair techgrew, and many famous pickersused him as their go-to guy. In1970, Wood and two partnersopened a shop in Nashville, TN toput them closer to the music cen-ter. The business shared an alleywith the Ryman Auditorium al-lowing some famous folks in thecountry music business easy access.In 1972, they moved the businessto a location that included an at-tached performance space. Thisperformance space became the OldTime Pickin’ Parlor and soon be-came the go-to spot for musiciansand fans alike. In time, they ex-panded the performance space andheld twice a week shows that fea-tured the best acoustic performersaround. In fact, many later to befamous performers got their startat the Pickin’ Parlor.
Something MoreWood sold that business in 1979and moved back to Georgia. For thenext 20 years the semi-retiredRandy Wood ran a woodshop, anda small mail-order business; how-
Pickin’ & Streamin’
Continued on page 26
26
The Foghorn StringbandDevil In The Seat
www.foghornstringband.comWith eight CDs under theirbelts - thousands of shows,and 10 years as a band, TheFoghorn Stringband is consid-ered by many to be the Ameri-can standard for string mu-sic. Their latest, Devil In TheSeat, is right on par.
John McCutcheonJoe Hill’s Last Will
www.folkmusic.com/joehillplay
Anielle ReidAin’t Like ‘Em
www.aniellereidcom
John McCutcheon has beenat it for over 40 years. Thesix time Grammy nominee’slatest, Joe Hill’s Last Will, isJohn’s 37 release - and saysit’s possibly his favorite. It’sall about activist Joe Hills“working class” music.
Band Of RuhksBand Of Ruhks
www.bandofruhks.com
Blackberry SmokeHolding All The Roses
www.blackberrysmoke.comHedging on the edge of Out-law Country, we like it any-way. It’s right down the middlebetween Outlaw and Ameri-cana Rock, with a little bar-b-que sauce on the side. Thelatest from these fellas issmokin’ good stuff. Check‘em out for sure.
The RevelersGet Ready
www.revelersband.comWhat a mix - early jazz, rag-time, country blues, westernswing, and little of this and that- Poky LaFarge makesuniquely strange actuallysomething fun to listen to.Can’t wait to here him play thisnew stuff live - you gottacheck out a Poky show.
Poky LaFargeSomething In The Water
www.pokylafarge.netFormers members of theRedstick Ramblers and thePine Leaf Boys hook up onthe this new project, The Rev-elers. Flavored with Louisianaculture, It’s full of Swamp-popCajun, Blues, and Zydeco.We like this, a lot.
The Gibson BrothersBrotherhood
www.thesteelwheels.comNow, this is some good mu-sic - a collaboration betweenKenny Smith, Ronnie Bow-man, and Don Rigsby - all1990s members of the Lone-some River Band. Need wesay more? Born out of a re-cent LRB reunion, the triowanted more. We’re glad .
Trout Stake RevivalBrighter Every Daywww.troutsteak.com
The Honey CuttersMe Oh My
www.honeycutters.comOrganic country roots is whatthey call this Ashville, NCbased group, The Honey Cut-ters. Me Oh My is their thirdCD. Music City Roots calledit “Smoky Mountain areamodern folk,” we like it. It’smusic you can dance to.
Chris HowdyshellEast Elizabeth Street
www.cdbaby.com/cd/chrishowdyshell
The Alabama Gulf Coast duoof Anthony and Savana LeeCrawford make up Sugar-cane Jane. Yet another genre’twist - it’s a 70s tinged, folkrock collection - homegrown,and organic. Another greatCD to add to your collection.
Sugarcane JaneDirt Roads End
www.sugarcanejane.com
“I never thought this albumwould be finished,” saidHarrisonburg, VA native ChrisHowdyshell. The folk-rock,Americana leaning CD, EastElizabeth Street, has hints of80s garage punk mixed with60s bar room folk - Fun stuffChris, good job.
Della MaeDella Mae
www.dellamae.comThese ladies have been to-gether since 2009. With aGrammy nomination in 2013,thei r sophomore CD forRounder records promises tobe every bit as good - maybeeven better. Their unmistak-ably rich harmonies are atreat to listen to.
This Denver, CO indie-mountaingrass quintet arequickly carving a new niche’for themselves. Steeped inRocky Mountain culture,Trout Stake Revival won the2014 Telluride band compe-tition - and yes, they’re thatgood. Great sound y’all.
You can send new Americana CD releases for consideration to PO Box 45, Bridgewater, VA, 22812
Using music in hope to makepositive change in the world,African-American Aniellebrings a fresh sound to theAmericana/string/folk genre.Annielle kicks her solo careerinto hig gear with her latest,Ain’t Like ‘Em..
Adkins & LoudermilkAdkins & Loudeermilk
www.adkinsandloudermilk.com
Dave Adkins and EdgarLoudermilk pair together forthis new self titled band andCD. Both with plenty of his-tory behind them, they arepoised to be Bluegrass’ newhot band on the block. Dave’sgritty vocals rock.
June 2015
Music From Your Neighbors Music From The National Scene
welcome to the latest edi-tion of SPINS! Feast yourears on these delicious mu-sical morsals (in no specialorder) - How can these guyskeep making such greatmusic? Wow! Grab your iPador Smart Phone and dial upsome of these fine folks. Webet you’ii love them all likewe do! And they’re just intime to help you plan yourspring and summer festschedule.
www.AmericanaRhythm.com.
Uncle Woody,The Spin Doctor
PO Box 45Bridgewater, VA 22812
2011, 2012, 2013 IBMA win-ners, The Gibson Brothers,are likely the best siblingfronted bluegrass band play-ing today. Eric and LeighGibson pack a harmonypunch to be reckoned with.And their new project, Broth-erhood, is another classic.
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June 2015
www.AmericanaRhythm.com
We’d love to show up in your mail box six times a year!The rich culture of Americana music is the
fastest growing music today! Let’s stay in touchsubscription to Americana Rhythm. It’s only $16.
Send us your name and address along with your check ormoney order for $16 made out to Americana Rhythm, to POBox 45, Bridgewater, VA, 22812. (PLEASE PRINT CLEARLY)You can also subscribe Via PayPal on line at www.AmericanaRhythm.com
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ever, he began to yearn for some-thing more, and thus 10 years agohe purchased some property andbuilt a house, a workshop and aretail store; and then later, added a100-seat performance venue that henamed Randy’s Pickin’ Parlor.Some of the best bluegrass, coun-try and acoustic musicians havesince appeared on that stage mostlybecause they know Randy Wood,and his reputation.
This is the point where our storyreally begins. Beginning in 2013,Randy Wood’s Pickin’ Parlor starteddelivering live streaming concertsto fans around the world. Theyhave hosted concerts for many ac-claimed performers such as: VassarClements and Tony Rice, JohnJorgenson, Doyle Lawson & Quick-silver, The Boxcars, MountainHeart, J.D. Crowe, Claire Lynch,Tommy Emanual, Lawrence Juber,just to name a few.
Randy has said that his goal withthis hall is to reach as many peopleas possible with the best quality
Americana, Bluegrass, Acoustic andother genres of music. He is quotedon his web site as saying, “Ameri-cana music has been very good tome over the years, and I feel, withthis pulpit, I can give back a littleto this great and important musicgenre. We hope to be able to livestream and archive very importantpieces of Americana music.” Byteaming up with some very expe-rienced audio-visual folks, Wood isat the very cusp in providing real-time content by capturing the in-house experience of live music anddelivering it directly to fans on theirlaptop, tablet or smart telephone.Randy Wood’s Pickin’ Parlor is com-mitted to delivering the highest-quality broadcast to this virtualaudience free of charge.
Check out this live-stream concertventure by pointing your computerbrowser tohttp://www.randywoodmusic.com/pickinparlor.html . You can seek theParlor on Facebook at:h t t p s : / / w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m /RandysPickinParlor. You can emailthem at:[email protected] andtheir snail mail address is: RandyWood Guitars, 1304 U.S. 80,Bloomingdale, GA 31302.
Pickin’continued from page 24
