LK & RB Live in Maine

Back from Maine to the still steaming South. While in Maine autumn is in the air and summer’s end is all too evident here in Georgia there is the faintest hint that the ovens have been turned down and that the long gentle southern fall is just over the horizon. Nothing like frost or days of 55F rain, just day time temperatures hovering below 90F and nights finally falling below 70F. There’s none of the urgency and intensity of New England falls and I think I can get used to it. And foliage, well I’ve seen plenty.

I was lucky enough to catch my friend Walter in his office on Wednesday and he says I don’t write enough about the band and bluegrass as I should given how much I think ( and talk ) about it and maybe he’s right. We had a fantastic gig at the Old Town House in Union, ME and the rehearsals were even better. The hall is remarkably intact and a super facility for intimate musical performance. The antique quilts on display help the sound ambience ( as well as visual ) and the angled stage, beadboard walls and general air of the nineteenth century made for a fun time. Although the audio quality is atrocious this gives an idea of what we were up to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71dm60Yd1fI

We played twelve hours straight on Saturday with time out only to drive to the gig and back. It turns out that we’re all equally crazy about this project and have been putting in lots of woodshed time. Thus the sound was even more our own and even better than last time. We can’t wait for next time.

 

the Nashville Bluegrass Band in Georgia

The Nashville Bluegrass Band played at Randy Wood’s little stage last night and it was a refreshing dose of quirky roots acoustic music of the sort the NBB have been doing for nearly 30 years. With the fantastic pipes of Pat Enright, the easy virtuosity of Stuart Duncan, the rhythmic stylings of Mike Compton and the encyclopedic knowledge of American song shared by the whole band they have the ingredients for excellent ensemble music.

They’ve kept their focus on the blues aspects of Bill Monroe’s music. One hears the influence of black musicians more explicitly in their style than any other modern bluegrass band I can name, whether its the Piedmont blues that fascinate North Carolinian Alan O’Bryant or the Delta blues that Meridian, MS native Mike Compton brings to the band one hears the same blending of cultures that led to rock and roll. Their rocking version of Blue Yodel made me consider a possibility new to me, that Jimmy Rodgers was an Elvis of his generation, bringing elements of black music into the white mainstream and helping to create a new genre.

Randy Wood is a wonderful feller and south Georgia is lucky to have him. Not only for his fine craftsmanship but for his warmth and generosity and genuine caring for music and musicians. He told me last night he’s been friends with our friend Claire Lynch for 35 years, that he had introduced Eddie to Martha Adcock, and that he’d all but been present at the creation. Alan O’Bryant gave him a heartfelt tribute from the bandstand that sounded like what every musician that mentions him says, that he’s real good people. He’s built a tiny little venue adjacent to his shop and has had a succession of great acoustic performances there for the last two years. The sound reinforcement is always unobtrusive and excellent and it makes for an intimate performance that is very rare in this modern world. Thanks Randy!

For me, to be able to see Stuart Duncan in such a setting is a real privilege. Surely one of the best sidemen of our generation even some one who goes to as many bluegrass shows as I do rarely gets a chance to see him. NBB does very few shows, who knows how they keep it up. They were instrumental, as it were, in my return to the bluegrass fold in the late eighties when I recorded a couple of performances of theirs off of the radio and played them over and over. That they’ve stayed so consistently true to their vision of acoustic music is a good and reassuring thing.

 

Dodged a bullet

Another fantastic gig as the band gets better in oh so many ways.  This time the singing was better, the audience was bewitched and we remembered some of the arrangements.  Today in South Georgia a front came through with much needed rain and the pressure drop did this.  I’ve been stressing about it the last three gigs, had spare strings along just in case  ( though not very good strings ) and while one never likes to see a $50 string give up the ghost doing in my music room two days after a gig is the best way it could happen.

 

Tiffany Tavern gig coming up

The band plays the Tiffany Tavern this coming Saturday, June 16.

We get better every time and the last gig was more fun than is legal in many states. We’re doing three sets, come on out if you’re any where near DC. Rob and Bob will be there too, they’re just not in this shot which features Lisa Kay, our fearless leader.

 

Wildfire returns

I see, via bluegrassblog, that Wildfire is getting themselves back together after big personnel changes.  I liked the first incarnation a lot, they picked good songs and had the right ideas about how to present them.

When they played at Suwannee in 05 they introduced Bradley Walker and backed him up on a couple of songs, including the country classic  “I Never Go Around Mirrors” which Bradley nailed in his inimitable style.  It was a generous move, giving him the spotlight and backing him up so well and made me think even better of them.

On mandolin they’ve added Chris Davis whose work with Larry Cordle really impressed our whole band.  At Graves Mt. last year he was on fire, singing high and playing hard.  With Cord laying low recuperating its really good that Chris will be out gigging.  Check him out if you get a chance