Sep 212008
 

Robin and I spent the weekend at the Bluemont Fair and had quite a great time. Man, lots of great music, good food, hellos and hugs with friends, meeting new people here and there.

Feel The Wag played a pretty nice set at 11:00 am, and we got some good feedback here and there. I thought we were in good form. Christine Galante from Footworks came down and danced for a few of our numbers. She is a clogger, and Footworks is a percussive dance ensemble. (I don’t know more about Footworks but I think I need to find out.) I played a solo set at 3:15 pm, which was fairly low-key in the hot afternoon sun. The set went fine though, and I sold a few CDs.

Who else did we see there? The Lisa Taylor band was pretty tight, and we couldn’t believe it when she told us afterward that they hadn’t played together before. Eric Balkey was awesome as always. My brother heard him there for the first time and was digging the songs. We caught a few numbers by TM Hanna, who is one of my favorite songwriters around here. Who else? The Fabulettes were energetic and fun for a few numbers that we heard. I’m leaving out some acts for sure, but that is a good sample.

If you’ve never been, try to catch the Bluemont Fair next year. It’s very easy-going and there are a lot of sweet people out there.

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Sep 172008
 

It’s been about a month since I put my new CD of folky originals out there. So far, so good. I got one confirmed airplay over the Labor Day weekend. Tom Bingham from SUNY Fredonia played my “Corporation Blues” in a Labor Day special, mixed in with a lot of great and classic artists. So strange and flattering to be played between Paul Robeson and Johnny Cash.

In the past day or two I have received some nice comments from some other folk DJs. One fellow says he is playing my CD in his car, which is true praise from a DJ, I think. Another told me that he will play “Graven Image” and some other tracks. So I’m very encouraged by positive feedback, and airplay is the greatest compliment of all.

Sep 142008
 

This afternoon I went to the Speedy Tolliver Fiddle Festival in Arlington, Virginia. My friend Barney has wanted to go for a few years, so he decided to make it this time. He offered me a lift there, so off we went.

Speedy is a fiddler in Virginia who turned ninety this year. He is the chief attraction and judge of this “contest.” The festival is a rather casual contest. Fiddlers and banjo players sign up, and then each gets a few minutes on the stage. Judges choose top folks in each category, but everyone is very laid back about it all.

We got there around contestant twenty out of fourty-some. We listened to maybe fifteen or so. Some of the ten- or twelve-year-old kids were awesome. One girl played a very credible Back Up and Push including the Orange Blossom shuffle in the B part. How exciting to see young kids playing fiddles.

The festival was in a dinky little park called Lubber Run Park. The amphitheater seated maybe one hundred fifty. We sat down and started to chat with some friends nearby, but a woman sitting in front of us gave us mean looks. So one person there was not laid back as the rest.

The second contestant we saw was Marcie from Dead Man’s Hollow. She’s a good fiddler and a friendly person to play with. She had Mike on guitar from the band. She did a cross-tuned version of Red-Haired Boy, and something else that I really liked, but I can’t remember what it was called. I think it was an original of hers.

After sitting there for an hour, Barney (with his banjo) and I (with fiddle) caught up with Mike and Marcie. We had a great little jam session for maybe forty minutes off in a quiet spot. A couple guys were listening in and digging the music. They taped everything we played, which was flattering. We did some usual ones, like “Cindy,” “Slewfoot,” “Westphalia,” “My Own House,” etc. I showed them “Sandy River Belles” which they didn’t know, and Marcie showed me “Grandmammy Look At Uncle Sam.” Love that Uncle Sam tune the way John Hartford played it, but I’ve never learned it myself.

We played “Duck River” at Marcie’s suggestion, and then I showed them how I play Duck as a counter-theme to Sandy River with the Feel The Wag guys. They liked my weird little fiddle sonata thing. Mike plays some great backup guitar, and he jumps in and plays the melody right there with the fiddles too. Barney has a sweet clawhammer style that reminds me of Doc Watson’s banjo playing. No double thumbing or “melodic” trickiness. A lot of folks try to play melodic clawhammer and they never quite get good timing or tone. I like the simpler banjo styles unless someone can really pull off the intricate stuff.

As so often happens, Barney and I said that the jamming was even better than the listening, but it was all excellent.

Bye for now. c

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Sep 132008
 

Hello, here’s hoping that this new blog holds up. I’m focusing on reflections relating to music here.

To kick things off, here are some thoughts on new fiddle books that I am terribly excited about.

1. Aroebics For Fiddlers, by Carol Ann Wheeler: This book and CD have some awesome technical exercises

2. Fiddler’s Friend, by Randy Miller: This is a small book that will fit in a fiddle case. It has forty effective exercises that really emphasize some of the tricky bowing and left-hand stuff that holds fiddlers back.

3. American Fiddle Method has a new volume of Canadian tunes and instruction by April Verch and Brian Wyckland. This is a book and CD that gradually introduces Canadian repertoire and ornamentations. I’m planning to play through this book sometime this winter when I have a few free days. Just glancing through it, it looks somewhat easy but still very interesting and fun.

4. Richard Greene has a brand new book and CD with transcriptions of all his recorded solos with Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys. I haven’t received my copy yet, but it promises to be biblical fiddleness.

So that’s what this fiddle nerd is excited about recently. More to come soon.

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