Sharper Harper

One of my fellow Folk Festival volunteers was there even though he hadn’t heard of Jesse Harper, or Daniel Clarke or John Winn or Darrell Muller.  He had seen guitarist Trey Pollard in some other configuration, but suffice to say, he wasn’t prepared for what unfolded Friday night at Ashland Coffee & Tea as Jesse gathered his main men to do a couple of richly-rendered sets brimming with Harper originals and choice covers.  Jesse has all the goods that could take him to the next level…with solid self-penned tunes like
“Run,” “Falling,” “Porch Swing,” “Memphis,” and “One True Thing” along with an expressive, evolving vocal style and smartly tasteful guitar work.  He’s a total package ready to break through the artistic glass ceiling.  It was a joy to watch and listen to these guys take great delight in each others’ contributions and Kay Landry’s sensitive work on the mixing board brought every nuance to the all-in-the-family trackside crowd.  Though it’s not as good as being there, here’s a video of their take on Johnny Mercer’s “I’m An Old Cowhand” I shot with my new phone (and my very first YouTube upload). It’s always a treat when Daniel’s in the band especially given his busy schedule touring with the Dixie Chicks and the Court Yard Hounds.  Here’s Danny C dueting with Emily Robison at a Court Yard Hounds gig up in Rochester, NY this summer.  And he’s completely jazzed about k.d. lang’s upcoming country-flavored album they’ve been finishing up in Nashville.  He’ll be out globetrotting in support of that March release for most of 2011.  Pretty cool.

And the ever-versatile John Winn took a vocal turn on “With A Little Help From My Friends,” and performed perfect fills on sax, flute and clarinet.  John brings his quartet consisting of Adam Larrabee on guitar, Randall Pharr on bass and Brian Caputo on drums to a 7pm free show in the beautifully restored Henrico Theater on Nine Mile this Thursday night.  Free, but reservations required at 328-4491.  And if Daniel makes it back from his Hounds gig in Minneapolis, he’ll probably sit in too.  The boys love to play.

Another Harper was in the audience that night…mando prodigy Harper Speagle-Price (at left with fellow 8-stringer Sam Bush) fresh from an inspiring summer soaking up the music at Mt. Shasta Camp in California and other western outposts.  Hear what her fingers are thinking now at Ellwood’s Coffee this Friday night from 8-10pm…Jack Cowardin sits in on fiddle. 

They’ll be up against those roving Johnson Boys that night…that’s right, the Big Boss Combo heads north for a no-cover stop at the Ironhorse across the street from AC&T.  The tunes and the wisecracks run from 9 to midnight…Rusty, Harry, Tiny, Slim and Big Red will be expecting you.

Back up one night and enjoy the newly formed but well-seasoned Commonwealth Bluegrass Band (above) during their monthly stop at Gus’s Italian Cafe in Mechanicsville this Thursday from 6:30 to 9.  No cover but get there early if you want a table.  They’ll be at their fresh-out-of-Galax best.

And head-mongrel Page Wilson with his Reckless Abandon band shares the bill with Brad Spivey and the Honky Tonk Experience this Saturday night at Pocahontas State Park down in the big amphitheater.  Page’s bum knee has made for tough going this summer…head on out and show him some love, and enjoy some homemade all-American music.

Taking second runner up mandolin honors at Galax this year was Brian Muller who joined his dad Paul, uncle Damian and Galax resident Ken Melton for the annual bluegrass gospel service at Hebron Church out in Goochland Sunday. Paul can always be counted on to deliver a well-chosen and -executed set list for this much-anticipated summer sing…it was recorded for a subsequent CD…let me know if you want one…including classics like “A Beautiful Life” and “The First Step To Heaven” in fine four-part harmony.

We’re getting excited about getting the JAMinc/In Your Ear fall schedule started on September 10 with Mike McAdam and Ericson Holt.  Check their websites and call Wally to make your reservations at 804.320.7067. 

Enjoy the blessed relief of temps in the eighties all week…a well-earned break.  And a hydrilla-free James River.  How did that happen?   TT

(Commonwealth Bluegrass Band photo by Si Cottrell)

Summer Love

I’ll confess to a level of frustration at Lake Wobegon, Minnesota’s historian and chief gossip Garrison Keillor’s apparent need to become a singer too.  The past few years of his three-decades-old Prairie Home Companion radio show have found him soloing and sharing vocals with nearly all his guests…and not always successfully, IMHO.  But from his grand entrance from the rear of the sold-out audience at Lewis Ginter last Friday with Summer Love tour co-star Sara Watkins, through the rest of the three-hour enchanted evening, I’ve had a change of heart.  Garrison loves the American songbook and takes sincere joy from participation in it.  A simple melody becomes a wondrous new thing with the right harmony line, and my frustration has now become envy when considering all the luminaries with whom he gets to collaborate.  His earnestness gives him great license.  Accompanied by the Guy’s All Star Shoe Band led by keyboardist Rich Dworsky and guitarist Pat Donohue, Garrison and Sara cast a spell with a range of tunes that included romantic old standards and new, including Dylan’s “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight” and the Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There.”  Sometimes  cheesy but ultimately charming.  And of course Keillor’s unrivaled gifts as an observer and storyteller were made all the more impressive when seeing him spin all those engaging yarns without script or note. Human Foley wizard Fred Newman provided a dazzling array of his signature vocal sound effects, astounding in their accuracy.  It was a comfortably cloudy and breezy evening on the lawn above Ginter’s Rose Garden complete with a well-timed twilight flyover by a wedge of Canada geese during a moving sing-along of “Amazing Grace” that was already producing goose bumps.  I was disappointed that the delightfully versatile Sue Scott wasn’t on the tour, nor did Garrison make even one reference to the fact he was at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden.  But it was a fitting exclamation point on a challenging Groovin’ In The Garden season that we hope will encourage the promoters at Haymaker to do it all again in the spring of 2011. 

Rewind to a previous Wednesday night at Ashland Coffee and Tea where we witnessed FloydFest discoveries Morwenna Lasko and Jay Pun cast a spell with their inspired interplay.  Charlottesville-based and Berklee trained, don’t miss any opportunity to hear them with or without their band.  Take a look at the road ahead for them here.

On the way home from a weekend with family near Sparta, NC, I stopped by Felt’s Park in Galax for a walkaround of the hallowed grounds of the Old Time Fiddler’s Convention just getting underway for its 75th year.  It’s almost with a sense of shame that I admit to never having been to this event that so many of my musician friends hold so dear…Randy Cook showed me around and told of amazing jams he’d already been part of with the likes of Adam Steffey, Sierra Hull, Clay Hess and others…and this was only Tuesday!  The new stage seen above made its debut this past week and this year’s winners can be seen here.  (Only the youth winners were listed at the time of this posting)

Tonight affords a rare opportunity to hear two of our town’s jazz greats performing together…John Winn along with his dad Jack’s quartet will do a few sets from 7-10p at Bogart’s in the Fan to benefit the new Patrick Henry Charter School.

This coming Friday poses a dilemma that I’ll leave you to deal with…John sits in with Jesse Harper and pals Daniel Clarke, Darrell Muller and Trey Pollard at AC&T while up in Charlottesville at the Southern, four of the six former members of King Wilkie (Ted Pitney, Nick Reeb, Abe Spear and Jake Hopping) will perform as the Low Country Suits.  Ted and friends will surely do some stuff from his terrific new EP Genesee.  Decisions, decisions.

 

JAMinc’s In Your Ear Studio Concert Series gets rolling again for the fall season on September 10 as former Richmonder and Good Humor Band alum Mike McAdam joins Eric Holt and most likely our own Robbin Thompson (playing AC&T solo 8/21) sitting in for what should be a memorable musical evening.  That’s Mike (right)with GHB back in 1976.  He’s since been on tour with players like Steve Earle and Mary Chapin Carpenter…reservations soon at JAMinc.org.  Down the road:  Duck Baker on November 12 and Jonathan Byrd on December 2.  And don’t forget about our great compilation CD available at Plan 9 and soon on our website.  And it’s hard to believe that we’re less than two months away from the third edition of the Richmond Folk Festival, down by the river side the weekend of October 8-10.  I’m about to bust wanting to share the incredible lineup of artists set to join us this year…I know the bar’s set pretty high but this might be the best ever…you’ll just have to trust me until the official announcement which will likely come this week.  Fall can’t come soon enough for me.   TT

(Mike McAdam and John Winn photos from their websites)