All posts tagged: Acoustic Music

Bluegrass Hair and Obscene Solos

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The bluegrass world’s answer to the satirical paper The Onion – the always off-kilter Bluegrass Intelligencer – is at it again with several not-to-be-believed posts from the world of roots music. In the wake of last weekend’s DelFest Bluegrass Festival and bad weather in the mid-Atlantic region, BI’s intrepid staff reports on how rain, hail, and gale-force winds could not dislodge the “bluegrass hair” of the host Del McCoury band. As reported by BI online: On Saturday, an unfortunate combination of gale force wind, torrential rain, powerful lightning, and crushing downfalls of hail rocked DelFest, the popular musical event hosted by the Del McCoury Band. Importantly, the relentless onslaught of life-threatening weather was not sufficient to disturb the hair of anyone in the McCoury family. Another BI post reported on the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that a solo by  guitarist extraordinarie Bryan Sutton was “pornographic and obscene.”   What, you didn’t hear about that one from Nina Totenberg?  Well, the NPR legal affairs reporter can’t be expected to catch everything.  That’s why we depend on the …

Matt Flinner’s Music du Jour Satisfies

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The Matt Flinner Trio’s Music du Jour is another in a string of strong new releases this year from Alison Brown’s Compass Records.    Flinner is one of the country’s top mandolin players, heard in recent years with David Grier and super bassist Todd Phillips as well as with Missy Raines and the New Hip. In 2006, Flinner’s trio (Finner on mandolin, Eric Thorin on bass, and Ross Martin on guitar) began to perform what they termed “Music du Jour” tours.  Each band member agreed to write new music to be performed that evening.  The only rule:  the music be started, completed, and performed all in one day.  I’ll let the website Jazz News pick it up from there: The players continued with their daily musical challenge, giving birth to the concept of the “Music du Jour” tours and later the Music du Jour album (out now on Compass Records). Between Flinner, Ross, and Thorin, over sixty new tunes were composed during three western U.S. tours, and in December 2008 the trio committed the twelve best to …

Majestic Kansas City

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In Kansas City for work, some colleagues and I went in search of some live jazz last evening.  Our host suggested The Majestic Steakhouse – just two blocks from our hotel. The Majestic is located in the historic Fitzpatrick building (the name is still outlined in tile on the entranceway), a building with a colorful past.  Built in 1911 as a saloon and bordello, it became a popular speakeasy during prohibition – and that basement hideaway is now the home of the jazz club. The Bram Wijnands trio (piano, drums, and sax/flute) was good – and made up of a couple of colorful characters.  For many people, Kansas City is a real surprise in the heartland.  I had been in town before with a group of National Trust supporters and knew we were in for a treat.  We heard last night they are “down” to only 70 barbecue joints and they have about an equal number of jazz venues. The Majestic and Kansas City – recommended! More to come… DJB

Double Play with Liz Carroll and John Doyle: CD review

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John Doyle is — to my ear — about the best rhythm player in roots music today.  Ever since first hearing him as the original guitarist with the Irish super-band Solas, I’ve been taken with the mixture of power and musicianship in his playing. In recent years, Doyle has been playing in a duo with Fiddler Liz Carroll, and they just released a new CD in March on Compass Records.   As promised last week, I’m highlighting several new releases from Compass in the hopes of encouraging others to take a look at this label’s varied offerings from a talented group of artists. Double Play is the second release from the Carroll/Doyle duo.  The CD begins with a medley of two Carroll tunes, The Chandelier and Anne Lacey’s.  Liz Carroll is not content to simply play traditional tunes, but she’s quite a composer of new Irish music.  The interplay between the major key of The Chandelier and the minor tones of Anne Lacey’s makes for a great pairing. Doyle’s singing is strong on tunes such as …

Different Views of Merlefest

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MerleFest is so big, with 14 active stages over four days, that perspectives on the festival can differ widely.  Two regular bluegrass bloggers have posted entertaining and informative stories about their MerleFest experiences in 2009 that I encourage you to check out. When I started More to Come…one of the first posts was about a show of the Lovell Sisters, and one of my first comments came from Dr. Tom Bibey.  Since then I’ve regularly checked out his Stories of the Bluegrass Road blog, and was pleased to see that he was posting from MerleFest.  This was the first year out of my four at MerleFest that I missed Mandomania, so I was glad to read Dr. Bibey’s update on this annual tradition:  the Creekside Stage filled with mandolin players all supported by one guitarist.  Check out Stories of the Bluegrass Road for a good read. The most extensive reporting on MerleFest I’ve come across is from the alliterative Ted Lehmann’s Bluegrass, Books, and Brainstorms blog.  As you’d expect from a retired English teacher, Lehmann’s blog …

Compass Records artists shine at MerleFest

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I know that when I travel to MerleFest, I’d better take along some spending money for CDs.  The MerleFest Mall includes what I’ve heard described as “the world’s best Americana music store” and I wouldn’t disagree. This year’s store was sponsored by Compass Records, which was appropriate since so many of their artists were playing at the festival.  Compass is a label that over the past 10-12 years has grown to be one of the best in Americana and roots music.  Their website tells the background story: “Co-founded in 1994 by musicians Alison Brown and Garry West, Compass is a new breed of roots-music label: eclectic, sophisticated, and artist-friendly. Called “one of the greatest independent labels of the last decade” by Billboard Magazine, Compass Records has provided a thriving haven of creativity for artists and a reliable beacon of quality for music fans. Its 2006 acquisition of the Green Linnet catalog and the 2008 acquisition of the seminal Mulligan Records label has made Compass the place to go for Celtic and roots music.“ Brown is …

MerleFest Day 4

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I’ve now arrived home and cut off my MerleFest wristband…so it is officially over.  (I’m sure the organizers are glad to know that’s what it takes.) Sunday at MerleFest is a short day, ending at 6 p.m.  If you live 7 hours away, as I do, it ends even earlier unless you want to get home at 1 a.m. Nonetheless, there were some good final day acts that I was able to work in before the heat and the prospect of the drive drove me out the front gate and headed north. I arrived a little later than planned (must have been that early morning post), so I skipped Doc and the Nashville Bluegrass Band’s traditional gospel show and caught up with the Dixie Bee-Liners at the Hillside stage.  I’d seen them the day before as part of the New Generation Super Jam and wanted to see a full show.  They had a very entertaining set, with strong harmonies and interesting arrangements.   They are worth a look if they are traveling to your town. Afterwards, …

New wave and old standards shine at Merlefest 2009

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Merlefest Day 2 began bright and early for me this morning, with a rousing performance at the Americana Stage by the DC-based band Scythian. I caught the irony of having a band fronted by two Ukrainian brothers opening up the Americana stage, but that’s the joy of Merlefest and hey, it is a post-Obama election world. Then came the first great surprise of the morning. I went to the Traditional Stage to hear the New North Carolina Ramblers, but walked in to a packed tent listening in rapt attention to 86-year-old festival patriarch Doc Watson playing a set with old time banjo wizard David Holt.  (It turns out the Ramblers were double-booked and so Doc and Holt were on-call.  And when I say packed, I mean packed.  The picture below was taken from the side because the front was crammed with kids and grandparents alike.)  Doc was in fine form, playing guitar and singing with lots of strength and emotion. Fiddle tunes (Whiskey Before Breakfast paired with Ragtime Annie) were interspersed with Travis-style picking (Deep River Blues) and even …

Jerry Douglas, Travis Tritt, and the Fretboard Journal cap first day of Merlefest 2009

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With just a Dobro, acoustic guitar, and one great country blues voice, Jerry Douglas and Travis Tritt filled the North Carolina night with terrific music at the end of Day One of Merlefest 2009. I left this morning and drove to Wilkesboro on a picture perfect spring day.  The Shenandoah was beautiful as I drove up the valley: red-buds were everywhere, and the hardwoods were just beginning to green.  Just another reason I treasure my 15 years in Staunton and go back as often as possible. I arrived at the Wilkes Community College campus — home to Merlefest — in time to catch most of the Lovell Sisters’ act.  I’ve written about the Lovell Sisters before, but they continue to grow as musicians and as a band, with more complex arrangements and beautiful harmony singing.   They ended with a tune by that well-known bluegrass composer Jimi Hendrix. Wayne Henderson followed on the Cabin Stage.  Wearing his Boston Red Sox hat (see photo at right) and finger-picking on a beautiful Henderson guitar, Wayne and his band-mates …