Release the hounds...

We couldn't pass up the chance to be part of history tonight as a long-vacant vaudeville and movie house took its first breaths as Richmond's newest and most elaborate music hall. Having toured the place last summer when it was stripped back to the bare walls in painstaking restoration, it was stunning to see the TLC that brought The National back to its former grandeur with all the modern bells and whistles one could imagine. The Radiators had the honor of playing the first notes on opening night, a veteran band of guys my age playing solid New Orleans-style rock & roll. They of course ended up as the opening act for Dead disciples, the Dark Star Orchestra, bumped from last Friday's scheduled startup since things weren't quite properly permitted as far as the city fathers were concerned. There's still a lot of punch list stuff to complete at 7th and Broad but those who were part of the packed 1st night crowd were treated to elegant surroundings, a liquor license which eluded Toad's Place for a couple of its early months, a generous abundance of bars and restrooms making the place very user friendly and the excitement palpable. The VIP areas weren't quite ready and the adjacent corner restaurant will be a few months in opening but all in all, The National is good to go and whatever your musical tastes are, there's a new reason for heading downtown. We all owe a lot to Bill Reid, Brad Wells, Lorin Willis, David Peterson and their entire team for saving this diamond in the rough for all of us to enjoy. Check the schedule, pick a couple of acts you like and get your tickets. Let's make sure this labor of love stays around to be a part of Richmond's cultural frontline for years to come.



And I do need to mention our fine old time at the center of the universe Saturday night. We somehow missed the memo about it being prom night, but Old School Freight Train chugged in wearing non-matching formal wear that I might have worn at my prom back in the sixties. Once we adjusted to the new look, we settled in for a few old favorites including a hot take on Pete Frostic's Celtic-flavored "Mr. Parshif's Jig" and Randy Newman's haunting "Louisiana." The boys just finished a new cd which we got a good sampling of along with the tasteful percussion of the band's latest addition, Nick Falk. He played Jesse Harper's red American Tourister with respect and taste. Jesse's solo project is also due out this spring...look for an all-star release party you'll not want to miss.



And it's back to Ashland for Jimmy Gaudreau and Moondi Klein on Friday night...two guys too good to pass up. Trust me.



And I hope you'll forgive the less-than-ideal phone camera shots I post occasionally when I don't feel like (or am not allowed to use) my SLR. I figure sometimes at least something's better than nothing.



Thanks for the visit, as always...TT

A fond farewell....

No Depression magazine, which has been a beacon of light to all who follow and participate in what could be called alt-country or as Page would put it, American mongrel music, has announced its next issue will be its last. A victim of record labels' shrinking ad budgets, the publishers who have never been in it for the money in the first place are having to face the changing music industry realities and shut it down. They promise a continued Web presence, but it's not the same as having a brand new issue, full of familiar and fresh new faces as well, arrive in the mail every couple of months. You might want to order that last edition on their Website and maybe listen to a recent NPR interview with the founders. A lamentable sign of the times.

Hope to see a bunch of you tonight at AC&T for another snapshot of the ever-evolving Old School Freight Train. We haven't missed many of the band's semi-regular "homecoming" visits and this one will be especially poignant for D & me as daughter Em, who's been with us for just about every one, will be making her last trip south from Fredericksburg to meet us, as Mary Wash commencement is coming in May. Time is a runaway freight train...

Will we ever have a real snow again? Or frozen ponds to skate on? It seems winters in this part of the world are now only frosty memories...TT

Finding a way...

I've been working my learning curve to post audio here on the journal and I hope this first effort is successful. One of my favorite bands, King Wilkie is in what one could call reassessment phase these days after critical raves and the prestigious IBMA Emerging Artist award in the fall of 2004. I spoke with Reid Burgess and John McDonald in Nashville the day after they won.
Click here and it'll take you to the interview. If this works, we'll have more down the road...old and new. Let me know how it goes, or if I can streamline the process.
Thanks as always for your interest.
TT

Blown away...

It was one of those rare days when the normally placid James River was whipped into white caps as the cold front rolled in and the high winds ahead of an overdue return to winter temperatures threatened to knock out the power for Grammy night. I'll confess to being somewhat of a sucker for award shows, especially the big one for the music industry, despite its hype and self-indulgence. We even checked out the pre-show Webcast when they give out the trophies that don't make the prime-time cut...especially the bluegrass album Grammy. We were pulling for the Seldom Scene while kinda expecting Tony Trischka to win, when lo and behold Jim Lauderdale walked away with it for his album The Bluegrass Diaries. An emotional Lauderdale and producer/dobro man Randy Kohrs took the stage to accept...and Jim somehow forgot to say that he'll be joining the Waybacks here in Richmond for the annual Music For Massey benefit on June 13. So he had a few other things on his mind. We'll let you know when tickets go on sale for that one.

And how about former Old School Freight Train fiddler fatale Ann Marie Calhoun who was the hands-down winner of the national My Grammy Moment competition to play with Foo Fighters as the featured instrumentalist on the orchestral take on "The Pretender." Zeppelin's John Paul Jones led the symphonic contingent made up of the other young finalists in the voting. Sadly Ann Marie's playing wasn't really featured at all but she did get a good bit of camera time and another big boost to her already soaring career.

Old School makes its way back to Ashland Coffee & Tea on the 23rd of this month to be followed on the 29th by half of the dynamic Seldom Scene spinoff Chesapeake. That of course would be Jimmy Gaudreau and Moondi Klein who will reprise some of the old Chesapeake chesnuts and some nifty instrumentals as well. After hearing their upcoming Rebel Records release 2:10 Train, I must say it's great to have Moondi back where he belongs...on stage and on record sharing that one-of-a-kind voice. And Jimmy joins Randy Waller, Eddie Adcock and Tom Gray as the Country Gentlemen Reunion Band in a JAMinc/Virginia Historical Society presentation on March 20th. Details still coming together.



Also hope to see you in Ashland for a musical Valentine from the refreshingly eclectic retro trio The Wiyos. Former Richmonder Parrish Ellis along with Joe DeJarnette and Michael Farkas comprise this Brooklyn-based band that takes us back to the vaudeville, ragtime, hillbilly blues of the 20's and 30's with a thoroughly modern and energetic enthusiasm. I heard them at FloydFest for the first time last summer and have been looking forward to a second chance ever since. Get your squeeze a few chocolate coffee beans and join the fun this Thursday in the "Center of the Universe." These cats can swing!





We'd been hearing good things about The White Hawk Music Cafe in Goochland so we made our way across the river and west on Rt. 6 to the year-old venue run by musician Terry Hazelton. No beer, no smoking, just tasty sandwiches and some fine live music thanks to Good Natured Riot. I'd enjoyed Nick Harlow's banjo and Andy Burns' mando for years with the Slack Family but they're moonlighting with this acoustic quintet that includes lead vocalist Jeslyn Vaughan, vocalist/percussionist Summer Gentry and bassist John Dacey. These guys take the bluegrass ball and run with it, out into Gillian Welch territory and beyond. They did some well-crafted originals too, including a solid instrumental Andy wrote to vent his frustration at missing Sam Bush at Toad's Place last summer, thanks to a tardy wife. The tune's perfectly entitled "Bushwhacked." It's always fun to find a new band out there worth a listen...and a new music-based venue. They give lessons out there too.


And if you haven't heard, the Del McCoury Band plays the soon-to-open National Theater downtown on March 15th...book it.

(Full disclosure: all photos on this post except Lauderdale at MerleFest are from artists' Websites)

Back To School...

The veteran bandleader and mandolinist Doyle Lawson has been a professor of perfect harmony since he started his band Quicksilver back in 1979. He'd honed his skills and his ear during stints with Jimmy Martin, J. D. Crowe, the Country Gentlemen and the Bluegrass Album Band. Since then, Quicksilver has been a potent proving ground for some of bluegrass music's most gifted players and singers...names like Jim Mills, Scott Vestal, Jim Van Cleve, Barry Abernathy, Terry Baucom, Steve Gulley, and Russell Moore not to mention Barry Scott and Jamie Dailey who've left the group in the last year or so to do their own thing. (Can't wait to hear Dailey & Vincent!) Doyle and his ever-evolving cast have brought home the IBMA's Vocal Group of the Year honors consecutively since 2001. And if you think Jamie Dailey's departure might have robbed Doyle of his comic foil, wait 'til you get a load of Carl White. JAMinc is proud to bring DL&QS back to Richmond for the ninth consecutive year for bluegrass gospel at its inspired and entertaining best. See you at WEAG on Friday night. Come audit the class.

Speaking of gospel, Richmond's Rockin' Robbin Thompson (a fellow JAMinc board member) is getting all mellow and sensitive these days, having married off both his lovely daughters and having snagged a national Independent Music Award in the gospel category for his tune "Movin' On Down The Line." That's the same song that got him invited to Cambodia to help develop a campaign to combat human trafficking. That's the same Robbin Thompson who with In Your Ear partner Carlos Chafin is now composing music for PBS' iconic Sesame Street. Can we now anticipate Bert & Ernie singing "Sweet Virginia Breeze?" Not that there would be anything wrong with that. Anyway, you can catch Robbin rolling out his extensive repertoire Saturday at Ashland Coffee & Tea.

The other option would be to visit Bogart's, the venerable venue that's closing soon, to catch the Mills Family Band. I've been knocked out by young Samson Trinh's virtuosity and versatility since I first heard his amazing CD Very Strange Night produced during his last year in jazz studies at VCU. It features a number of Richmond's jazz standouts in large and small configurations, including his impressive Upper East Side Big Band. According to Doug Richards, "Samson Trinh and the Upper East Side Big Band's vibrant collective spirit captures the essence of the American jazz orchestra." High praise indeed from Richmond's master of jazz. Samson is trying a new sidestreet in his journey with the Mills Family, an acoustic string band featuring the vocals of Allyson Mills with Samson providing sax-based seasoning. You can check out a few of their live tracks on their MySpace page or you can get it first hand Saturday night in Bogart's good ol' smoky back room. While you can...

Early the next day, we might catch a glimpse of favorite son Daniel Clarke on keys with k.d. lang on CBS Sunday Morning sometime between 9 and 11am. Worth starting Super Sunday off with a song, eh?

And if you're looking for a classy Valentine's warmup this Thursday night, check out Richmond's newest and coolest (literally) nightspot Infuzion in Scott's Addition. Last week, my squeeze and I enjoyed some tasty tapas-style eats in the comfy lounge to the swingin' strings of Gypsy Roots, Thomas Wakefield's excellent homage to guitarist Django Reinhardt. And if it's open by then, put your coat back on and spend a little quality time in Infuzion's Ice Bar...a whole room made of ice from floor to ceiling just for sipping designer vodka. Is this town happening or what?

A heads up for March 20th: JAMinc and the Virginia Historical Society present the Country Gentlemen Reunion Band with Tom Gray, Eddie Adcock, Jimmy Gaudreau and Randy Waller in the Robins Family Forum, their new auditorium on The Boulevard. Watch this space for ticket info.

And a closing thanks to the fabulous Farr brothers for last weekend's most excellent comestibles and camaraderie on Gwynn's Island. If you've never tasted sandhill crane, the ribeye of the sky, you haven't lived. The music wasn't half-bad either.

Go Giants...TT