All posts tagged: Acoustic Music

Few Things Beat a Car Radio

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I love listening to music late at night when driving on a country road.   There’s a warmth that’s hard to capture in other settings.  You feel connected to the world, but the distractions are minimal and the darkness enfolds the car as if in a cocoon.  Tonight I had teenager taxi duty after an especially late party, so I found myself driving alone through the only stretch of road that could remotely be considered country on my route.  Rock Creek Park is an oasis of nature in the midst of the city.  It is also one of Washington’s treasures, and tonight I was crossing through in a drizzle, with only the threat of wandering deer to worry me. Another great Washington treasure is Mary Cliff’s Traditions, a long-running folk-music show on public radio.   Since Mary switched stations a few years ago, she comes on later and I don’t have the chance to hear her as often.  But tonight I was tuned in, and the sound of Jack Williams playing Dylan’s Forever Young came through during a set to  …

For a Pre-Inauguration Party, Try Peter Ostroushko

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On the night before President-Elect Obama becomes President Obama, those of you in the Washington area may be looking for an Inauguration Eve party.  If you love acoustic Americana music served with a healthy dose of major musical chops and sly humor, let me recommend Peter Ostroushko at the Monday night Institute of Musical Traditions concert on January 19th.   You’ll laugh, be amazed at the musicianship, and avoid those huge crowds at the big public parties with their high drink prices. I’ve heard Peter play on several occasions and met him when we shared a house one evening during the Oak Grove Folk Music Festival with our friends Margaret and Oakley.   Those of you who attended the National Preservation Conference in St. Paul in 2007 will remember his beautiful musical turn at the opening plenary.  As the former musical director for Prairie Home Companion, he can play any kind of music – and does.  And best of all, Ostroushko has a sly sense of humor.  Check out his version of the parody Benny’s From Heaven in the …

Merry Christmas

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Merry Christmas from More to Come… to all our regular readers and to those who find us by accident on that great information highway.  We’re with family this year, which is always a bonus since we don’ t have immediate family in the Washington area.  The presents are out, the calls from all parts of the country have already started, and we’re working on a great Christmas morning breakfast. As a Christmas gift, here’s a video of Canadian singer-songwriter Allison Crowe singing one of our favorite seasonal hymns, In the Bleak Midwinter.  Enjoy, and best wishes for the holiday season. More to come… DJB

Scandinavian Christmas Closes Out IMT Fall Season

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Strings, strings, and more strings were the order of the evening as the Institute of Musical Tradition closed out its 2008 Fall Season with a Scandinavian Christmas concert tonight in Rockville.  Before a full house of Swedes and Norwegians (or so it seemed), Andrea Hoag, Loretta Kelley, and Charlie Pilzer were joined by Bruce Sager for a night of polskas, waltzes, walking tunes, and other music from the north.  The evening opened with triple fiddles backed by Pilzer’s steady bass, and throughout the night the four musicians played wonderful music as soloists, duets, trios, and a quartet. The dance polskas (not to be confused with polkas) were great fun, but I especially enjoyed the walking tunes such as Solskenslaten (The Sunshine Tune) and The Bell Tune, where the bells on the reins of the bride’s  horse were tuned with the fiddle to ring in harmony as the fiddler led a traditional wedding procession. Loretta Kelly (left in the photo above) played two different hardingfeles (or Hardanger fiddles) with their sympathetic vibrating strings, while an energetic Bruce …

Playing Music

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Playing music with friends over Thanksgiving has pushed me to reorder my schedule to find even more time to play.  And – no surprise here – I’ve loved it.  I’m reacquainting myself with some of the playing of Norman Blake (check out the Nashville Blues video below of Norman and the Rising Fawn String Ensemble) and other musicians I admire. In the delightful book Practicing, author and musician Glenn Kurtz says, For me, sitting down to play has very little to do with discipline.  “It isn’t just education and discipline that makes one so devoted to work…it is simple joy.  It is one’s natural sense of well-being, to which nothing else can compare.”  Love of music brings me to the practice room. I am finding that joy in playing again and it is a wonderful feeling. So I’m off to play a bit now, and then tomorrow evening I’ll be at the Celtic Christmas concert of the Institute of Musical Traditions for some great acoustic guitar by Al Petteway and Robin Bullock.  If you’re in the Washington, …

Thankful for Beautiful Music

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On Thanksgiving morning, Candice and I visited our neighborhood Episcopal Church in Silver Spring.  We went to give thanks for all we have, but we also went to this particular church because we knew that one of the DC-area’s best hammered dulcimer players – Karen Ashbrook – was providing the music. Over the course of the next hour, Karen played six beautiful tunes.  Of special note was the haunting O Savior Thee – a Scottish Christmas carol – which made for a wonderful time of reflection following the readings and sermon. The small Gothic church was acoustically alive, providing a nice setting for Karen’s music.  It was a wonderful start to our Thanksgiving Day. Check out Karen and her husband Paul Oorts on this video of Irish tunes. More to come… DJB

Great Acoustic Guitar in Washington

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There are few things in life I like better than the sound of an acoustic guitar.  So I’m looking forward to two upcoming concerts in the Washington, DC area by three terrific players. On Monday night, one of the best guitar flatpickers on the planet will be playing at the Institute of Musical Traditions series at Saint Mark’s Presbyterian Church in Rockville.  David Grier is well-known to flatpicking aficionados and along with a busy session schedule handles the guitar duties in the supergroup Psychograss.  Watch the video below of Grier and Wyatt Rice – younger brother of guitar superstar Tony Rice – and you’ll see why we flatpicker wanna-be’s will be in attendance on Monday, flatpicks clutched in our right hand taking in every lick. For those of you who prefer your acoustic guitar fingerstyle (which I also love), you only have to wait two weeks to December 8th for the IMT concert featuring Al Petteway, Amy White, and Robin Bullock.  Petteway and Bullock both have inventive minds and beautiful tones.  Their holiday-flavored concert, which features the silver-throated White …

There’s at least one good story in today’s Wall Street Journal

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On the day the stock market fell another 678 points, the only good story I could find in today’s Wall Street Journal was on Dobro God Jerry Douglas.  Entitled:  Jerry Douglas:  Irreplaceable Instrumentalist, it is a nice feature on how Douglas thinks like a vocalist when he plays.  The article also has Douglas’ take on why so many young bluegrassers expand their playing into more jazz-oriented music:  Bluegrass is such a chops-oriented music. It builds stamina and strength in your hands because it’s such a physical music, so hard-driving. And you have to stay up; you can’t just play half the song. Sometimes it seems like it’s an endurance test to see who can play fastest the longest! And with that training, you can go just about anywhere else, because you’ve already played all those notes in rapid succession. Thanks to the irreplaceable Bluegrass Blog for highlighting this story on an otherwise dreary news day. More to come… DJB

Beauty in Metal

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About 15 years ago, my younger brother Joe left his corporate job to work full time as a blacksmith artist.  It was a gutsy move, but he’s loving life and never looked back.  Over that time, he’s matured as an artist and has received increasing publicity.  So I was pleased but not surprised when I was looking online and found this Nashville Public Television blog for the Tennessee Crossroads  program where my brother’s work was featured. For those in the Nashville area, the show airs on October 9th and 12th, but anyone can see the clip by watching the video at the NPT website.  It is a good piece, but any short television feature isn’t going to capture the fundamental niceness that’s at the core of Joe’s being.  He’s simply among the nicest people on the planet and he’d give you the shirt off his back.  I’m looking forward to seeing Joe and his family next month when I’m in Tennessee.  Maybe it will be warm enough to sit on that wonderful front porch of his and pick some …