The first day of MerleFest's 20th is done and a little late afternoon/evening rain did little to dampen spirits. Asheville's Steep Canyon Rangers playing nearly a home game, kicked things off on the Watson Stage followed by the beloved Waybacks (coming to Richmond's Science Museum on June 16th), and then John Cowan, sporting a new banjo player and a close-cropped new do. The remarkable (they're not a novelty act anymore) Cherryholmes put in a finely polished hour of favorites and some new stuff too. The Cow returned to host the Kickoff Jam with his own great band and a serious guest list including Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones, The Dirt Band's John McEuen, dobro pioneer Tut Taylor, Pete Wernick, Uncle Earl, John's step son Luke Bulla, Stringdusters Chris Eldridge and Jesse Cobb, and young mando master Sierra Hull. An impressive number sat through cool, light drizzle to soak it all up.
And then, to top it off, we made it back to the motel to in time to catch Tony Trischka, Bela Fleck and Steve Martin close out the Letterman show with Steve's original instrumental The Crow. They got a huge ovation and Dave did something I'd never seen him do. He was so genuinely impressed, he came over to personally thank Tony, Bela and Steve by name, and then asked to be introduced to the rest of the band, whom he proceeded to also thank personally by name. It was probably the same band that accompanied Tony at AC&T earlier this month including the amazing Michael Daves on guitar. In decades of watching Letterman, I've never seen him do that. What a great night for this music!
It's crazy late...more to come....TT
4.27.2007
4.25.2007
The Big One...
I knew this would happen...I'd commit to making a few musical notes from time to time and I end up putting things off until I have such a backlog that I procrastinate even longer. A quick recap though...
Tony Trischka put on a killer show at AC&T which I sadly missed. Friends who were there were particularly impressed with Greg Liszt's innovative and complementary banjo work, and the incredible vocal stylings of Michael Daves. We'd caught him guesting with Chris Thile at The Living Room in NYC last year and knew we hadn't heard the last of him. Just wait! Our JAMinc non-profit was able to arrange an early same-day performance for Tony at St. Christopher's School senior assembly. He had them in the palm of his hand or at least in the middle of his resonator. Don't forget his Letterman appearance Thursday night with Bela Fleck and Steve Martin.
My loyal bluegrass partner and I headed straight to Ashland Saturday after a couple of glorious days near Afton, VA to catch the Infamously Amazing Stringdusters again. They continue to blow us away as they set the bar ever higher for their musicianship. They're so good and tight one can't imagine much room for improvement. But past is prologue and they'll find a way. Ben Eldridge and John Starling were among the supportive fans in the crowd. Don't miss these guys live...check their schedule at www.thestringdusters.com.
The nation's biggest and best (IMHO) festival gets underway tomorrow in Wilkesboro, NC...the mighty MerleFest...thirteen stages of musical pleasure over four days in the foothills. www.merlefest.org I've been Cabin Stage manager for the last fifteen years and it's a grand experience for artists and audience alike. There have been some rumblings of change afoot this year...I'll do my best to keep you posted as to whether bigger is indeed better. Until then...
TT
Tony Trischka put on a killer show at AC&T which I sadly missed. Friends who were there were particularly impressed with Greg Liszt's innovative and complementary banjo work, and the incredible vocal stylings of Michael Daves. We'd caught him guesting with Chris Thile at The Living Room in NYC last year and knew we hadn't heard the last of him. Just wait! Our JAMinc non-profit was able to arrange an early same-day performance for Tony at St. Christopher's School senior assembly. He had them in the palm of his hand or at least in the middle of his resonator. Don't forget his Letterman appearance Thursday night with Bela Fleck and Steve Martin.
My loyal bluegrass partner and I headed straight to Ashland Saturday after a couple of glorious days near Afton, VA to catch the Infamously Amazing Stringdusters again. They continue to blow us away as they set the bar ever higher for their musicianship. They're so good and tight one can't imagine much room for improvement. But past is prologue and they'll find a way. Ben Eldridge and John Starling were among the supportive fans in the crowd. Don't miss these guys live...check their schedule at www.thestringdusters.com.
The nation's biggest and best (IMHO) festival gets underway tomorrow in Wilkesboro, NC...the mighty MerleFest...thirteen stages of musical pleasure over four days in the foothills. www.merlefest.org I've been Cabin Stage manager for the last fifteen years and it's a grand experience for artists and audience alike. There have been some rumblings of change afoot this year...I'll do my best to keep you posted as to whether bigger is indeed better. Until then...
TT
4.09.2007
Back and forth...
A quick look back at Saturday's solo debut by Jesse Harper at AC&T...Daniel Clarke had set our expectations high for this outing from Old School Freight Train's lead singer/guitarist. Daniel's credibility was more than reinforced as we were treated to a compelling set of tunes Jesse's worked up for his upcoming album. His growth as a vocal stylist, guitarist and songwriter has been impressive since the early days of OSFT and his good taste to invite such a strong supporting cast added significantly to the wide-ranging set list. It was great to see Ann Marie Calhoun, fresh from her Jethro Tull star turn, back on the trackside stage along with Richmond jazz stalwarts John Winn on clarinet and the aforementioned Mr. Clarke on keys. The band was rounded out by two terrific musicians who were part of opener Jake Armerding's group, Zach Hickman on bass and Neil Cleary on drums. Jesse and these potent players ran through a strong list of songs drawn from Randy Newman, Sam Cooke, Lennon & McCartney and his own growing vault of originals. I can't overstate what a vicarious thrill it is to watch these folks evolve into such compelling musicians since we've known them for so long. It underscores what talent and hard work can mean. Jesse's excursion is short-lived, at least for now, as OSFT has a busy spring and summer booked, including an Ashland date on May 25.
And speaking of opener Jake Armerding, he and his two-man crew (see above) set the bar pretty high Saturday night with some fine original material delivered to his own guitar and fiddle accompaniment. Check out the title track of his new CD "Walk On This World" and "Keep The River On Your Right." http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=48691665 We're working on getting him into In Your Ear for one of our JAMinc Studio Concerts...stay tuned.
And speaking of JAMinc, we've set up an early in-school performance at St. Christopher's School for five-string wizard Tony Trischka this Wednesday, preliminary to his AC&T gig that night.
Lucky kids. Hope to see you on the tracks at 8pm. www.ashlandcoffeeandtea.com
Let's warm it up around here...it's the second week of April for Pete's sake...TT
And speaking of opener Jake Armerding, he and his two-man crew (see above) set the bar pretty high Saturday night with some fine original material delivered to his own guitar and fiddle accompaniment. Check out the title track of his new CD "Walk On This World" and "Keep The River On Your Right." http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=48691665 We're working on getting him into In Your Ear for one of our JAMinc Studio Concerts...stay tuned.
And speaking of JAMinc, we've set up an early in-school performance at St. Christopher's School for five-string wizard Tony Trischka this Wednesday, preliminary to his AC&T gig that night.
Lucky kids. Hope to see you on the tracks at 8pm. www.ashlandcoffeeandtea.com
Let's warm it up around here...it's the second week of April for Pete's sake...TT
4.04.2007
Busy April...
A quick update on a musically meaty month folks, and much of it focuses on the "Center of the Universe." Legendary guitarist David Lindley (Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor) plays Ashland Coffee and Tea tomorrow night with our own Charles Arthur opening. Friday, it's venerable balladeer Page Wilson with his always Reckless Abandon. It'll be worth showing up just to see his new buzz cut alone! And don't forget about Jesse Harper's big night at AC&T this Saturday; the buzz is loud and clear. Our favorite tavern on the tracks also has banjo master Tony Trischka on tap for April 11 to showcase his Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular CD. www.ashlandcoffeeandtea.com The other banjo guy at the Ashland gig will be former Charlottesvillian Greg Liszt, a young and gifted five-string pioneer in his own right. And a related tube tip: Tony will have his a-list collaborators along for the ride as TT, Bela Fleck and Steve Martin do the Letterman show in NY on April 26. And if you haven't heard The Greencards yet...they're an engaging acoustic band that's toured with Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson. They play Ashland on April 12th. We've already mentioned the Infamous Stringdusters, same time, same place on April 21.
Bluegrass music's reigning royal family, the Del McCoury Band will play the Canal Club on Saturday, April 14. www.thecanalclub.com We need to encourage the promoters who bring top-drawer acts like this to town by showing up. Spread the word...
Bluegrass music's reigning royal family, the Del McCoury Band will play the Canal Club on Saturday, April 14. www.thecanalclub.com We need to encourage the promoters who bring top-drawer acts like this to town by showing up. Spread the word...
4.01.2007
Ah spring...
Hope you made it through April Fool's Day unscathed...having it fall on Palm Sunday takes most of the mischief factor away don't you think? To share a few musical highlights of the wonderful week just passed...
We are so blessed to have as potent a musical presence here in River City as the VCU Jazz program. We caught the Jazz Orchestra II under Taylor Barnett's skillful guidance roll through an engaging program of Duke Ellington and Thad Jones material with special guest (and Taylor's mentor) John D'Earth, Charlottesville's highly-pedigreed trumpet legend. He even brought his talented mate Dawn Thompson down this way for some of her soaring and often surreal vocal stylings. Anthony Garcia heads up the nationally-renowned VCU Jazz machine...shoot Tony an email and ask to be placed on his busting-at-the-seams VCU Jazz E-News list (ajgarcia@vcu.edu). Speaking of VCU, their guitar program led by John Patykula is offering up another Guitar and Other Strings series this summer, with local faves The Jackie Frost Ensemble opening up on July 7th. After that, the venerable Mike Seeger on July 13th.
http://www.pubinfo.vcu.edu/artweb/Music/concerts/other_guitar.html
I do want to acknowledge the high level of improvisational musicianship we enjoyed last Friday night during Harmonica Crossroads at In Your Ear Recording during our most recent JAMinc/Studio A concert. What a treat to hear Phil Wiggins stretch his wings with fellow harpist (and former student) Allen Holmes to the tastefully solid accompaniment of Daniel Clarke at the grand and Brian Jones on percussion.
Very cool to watch the camaraderie develop among players who'd just met the afternoon before, especially Wiggins & Clarke. The cats were killin' as Daniel might say. And kudos to Allen's wife Alison for her haunting guest vocals, Roddy Barnes who took a fine turn at the piano, Robbin Thompson for in imprompt blues wail, and to JAMinc's own Andy Garrigue for some solid harp work and for putting the whole evening together. As one of Andy's, Robbin's and Daniel's fellow JAMinc board members, let me encourage you to get on our email list so you'll be the first to know about future Studio Concerts at In Your Ear. www.JAMinc.org
This is a most gratifying time to be living in Virginia and witnessing Nature's stunning rebirth all around us. With apologies to those suffering the effects of wind-blown allergens, this time of year, with its visuals and the increasingly rich soundtrack of live music...more of it outdoors...stirs the soul. Do take advantage of at least some of the tempting offerings just ahead.
Including...Old School Freight Train's Jesse Harper sharing some of his new work with some old friends like former bandmate/fiddler Ann Marie Calhoun and the aforementioned Daniel Clarke on keys. That's this Saturday at Ashland Coffee & Tea. Daniel is giving it double thumbs up. www.ashlandcoffeeandtea.com
And Emmylou Harris on Brown's Island on May 19th...how about that?
http://www.showtimetickets.com/eventInstance.do?method=load&id=748684
And a tube tip...Alison Krauss & Union Station will be joining Don Imus on MSNBC Tuesday morning to debut her new CD "A Hundred Miles or More...A Collection" the day of its release. There's a lot of her movie stuff and earlier duets (James Taylor and Brad Paisley) on there but also 4 or 5 new ones too. Very nice.
You can preview it at http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/krauss_alison/1487164/album.jhtml
Thanks for the encouragement...no foolin'. Have a great week...TT
We are so blessed to have as potent a musical presence here in River City as the VCU Jazz program. We caught the Jazz Orchestra II under Taylor Barnett's skillful guidance roll through an engaging program of Duke Ellington and Thad Jones material with special guest (and Taylor's mentor) John D'Earth, Charlottesville's highly-pedigreed trumpet legend. He even brought his talented mate Dawn Thompson down this way for some of her soaring and often surreal vocal stylings. Anthony Garcia heads up the nationally-renowned VCU Jazz machine...shoot Tony an email and ask to be placed on his busting-at-the-seams VCU Jazz E-News list (ajgarcia@vcu.edu). Speaking of VCU, their guitar program led by John Patykula is offering up another Guitar and Other Strings series this summer, with local faves The Jackie Frost Ensemble opening up on July 7th. After that, the venerable Mike Seeger on July 13th.
http://www.pubinfo.vcu.edu/artweb/Music/concerts/other_guitar.html
I do want to acknowledge the high level of improvisational musicianship we enjoyed last Friday night during Harmonica Crossroads at In Your Ear Recording during our most recent JAMinc/Studio A concert. What a treat to hear Phil Wiggins stretch his wings with fellow harpist (and former student) Allen Holmes to the tastefully solid accompaniment of Daniel Clarke at the grand and Brian Jones on percussion.
Very cool to watch the camaraderie develop among players who'd just met the afternoon before, especially Wiggins & Clarke. The cats were killin' as Daniel might say. And kudos to Allen's wife Alison for her haunting guest vocals, Roddy Barnes who took a fine turn at the piano, Robbin Thompson for in imprompt blues wail, and to JAMinc's own Andy Garrigue for some solid harp work and for putting the whole evening together. As one of Andy's, Robbin's and Daniel's fellow JAMinc board members, let me encourage you to get on our email list so you'll be the first to know about future Studio Concerts at In Your Ear. www.JAMinc.org
This is a most gratifying time to be living in Virginia and witnessing Nature's stunning rebirth all around us. With apologies to those suffering the effects of wind-blown allergens, this time of year, with its visuals and the increasingly rich soundtrack of live music...more of it outdoors...stirs the soul. Do take advantage of at least some of the tempting offerings just ahead.
Including...Old School Freight Train's Jesse Harper sharing some of his new work with some old friends like former bandmate/fiddler Ann Marie Calhoun and the aforementioned Daniel Clarke on keys. That's this Saturday at Ashland Coffee & Tea. Daniel is giving it double thumbs up. www.ashlandcoffeeandtea.com
And Emmylou Harris on Brown's Island on May 19th...how about that?
http://www.showtimetickets.com/eventInstance.do?method=load&id=748684
And a tube tip...Alison Krauss & Union Station will be joining Don Imus on MSNBC Tuesday morning to debut her new CD "A Hundred Miles or More...A Collection" the day of its release. There's a lot of her movie stuff and earlier duets (James Taylor and Brad Paisley) on there but also 4 or 5 new ones too. Very nice.
You can preview it at http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/krauss_alison/1487164/album.jhtml
Thanks for the encouragement...no foolin'. Have a great week...TT
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