Festival jams
When musicians gather onstage for jams, there’s often unexpected fun and sometimes a bit of magic.
When musicians gather onstage for jams, there’s often unexpected fun and sometimes a bit of magic.
Bela Fleck’s first bluegrass album in more than 20 years came out this week. Progressive bluegrass at its best.
When it comes to underpinning traditional and new acoustic music, it’s all about that bass.
At one point in Monday night’s thoroughly satisfying concert by The Claire Lynch Band at the Institute of Musical Traditions, the band leader mentioned that she started in the music business 33 years ago. It doesn’t seem that long ago when I heard her play at the Shenandoah Valley’s Oak Grove Music Festival, but in fact it may have been two decades since I saw her with the Front Porch String Band. Thirty-three years is a long time to be on the road, but Lynch and her band of hot young phenoms supported by veteran bass man Mark Schatz, had the energy and sound to more than satisfy the sold-out IMT crowd. Lynch has been an impressive band leader, prolific songwriter (truth-in-advertising: some co-penned in the past with my musical cousin, Hershey Reeves), and all-around pioneer in the acoustic music world…but she’s still most impressive as a singer. She showed us all time and again on Monday evening why she won the 2010 IBMA Female Singer of the Year award. Standouts from a wealth of …