In Good Keeping...

Before the National Folk Festival becomes an all too distant memory, I want to acknowledge and acquaint you with the wonderful new book by Virginia folklorist Jon Lohman. It's entitled In Good Keeping and it celebrates the first five years of the Master/Apprentice program sponsored by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. It "pairs an experienced master artist with an eager apprentice for a one-on-one, nine month learning experience, in order to help ensure that a particular art form is passed on in ways that are conscious of history and faithful to tradition." At the Folk Festival just past, the traditional area around Tredegar featured performances, demonstrations and workshops by all this year's teacher/student partners ranging from all sorts of musical instrument building (and playing) to brewing up the definitive kettle of Brunswick Stew, to properly pinstriping a stylish pink sedan.

I spent an inspiring day on Friday taking master steel drum builder and player Elton Williams (above) and his apprentice Earl Sawyer to school appearances at Henderson Middle and Woodville Elementary. Mr. Williams brought his craft to tidewater Virginia from Trinidad where it originated, and it was fascinating to learn how the quest for musical self-expression meant countless hours pounding or "sinking" an oil drum into a fully chromatic, two-octave musical instrument (correctly called a steelpan) that instantly evokes island breezes. Jon Lohman has not only gathered these masterful mentors for the past five years, he has told their varied stories eloquently in this book, illustrated by Morgan Miller's rich photography. For those who found the most compelling component of this year's festival in the Virginia Folklife area around the New Market Stage, you'll want a copy of this book. For those who spent most of their time on Brown's Island, you'll want a copy too, to find out what you missed. Order yours here. And a grateful nod to Jon for all he's done to promote and preserve some of our Commonwealth's most worthy treasures.

Our next JAMinc/In Your Ear Concert is coming up this Thursday evening and features worldly-wise singer/guitarist Mike Lille (like the flower) in an intimate performance in IYE's acoustically and aesthetically perfect Studio A. Everyone's invited to bring a covered dish/snack of some sort (even if it's just a small KFC) and a favorite beverage and enjoy the hour pre-show social. That starts at 6:30. Our goal in presenting these "house" type concerts is to bring artists to town who our group feels are worthy of your ear. Maybe you've never heard of Mike Lille, or Jake Armerding (our next guest on November 9th) but we have a hunch you'll like them and probably like them a whole lot. So head to our Website, click on "Events", read up on what makes Mike tick and reserve yourself a seat. We'd love to have you.

And if we weren't headed for the woodsy wilds of Powhatan Saturday night for some serious home-made music and well-marinated meats, we'd be with Kay & George at Ashland Coffee & Tea for an increasingly rare appearance by Old School Freight Train. I hope someone will report back to me on how far down the tracks these talented guys are these days...it's been too long.

Pray for rain, here and especially in southern California...TT