"Haulin' Grass" by Jerry Butler and John Wade - CD Review

“Haulin' Grass” is the out of the box effort by Jerry Butler & the Blu-J's, a new band founded by Jerry along with his friend and bandmate, John Wade. This is Jerry's first effort fronting his own band after years of honing his skills and establishing his reputation with a series of national bands after an apprenticeship in and around his home of Knoxville, TN. During the past decade, he has appeared as lead vocalist with Lynwood Lunsford & the Misty Valley Boys, Pine Mountain Railroad, and for the past three years Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road, where his work received wide recognition and where he developed a strong fan base. A knowledgeable person in the bluegrass world said to me recently, “Jerry has improved every band he's been with, and the bands have never been the same after he left them.” That's quite a reputation for this experienced and high quality former side man to carry into his first effort fronting a band. His voice is instantly recognizable when he shows up on XM/Sirius radio, no matter which band he's singing with and his winning personality shines through his voice.

Jerry Butler

John Wade

 

“Haulin' Grass” is a release from Blue Circle Records, the Tom T. and Dixie Hall label. For a first effort, this sets the bar high, which Butler, Wade, and the pick-up studio band that recorded this CD clear easily. Designed to be a collection of trucker songs, but appealing to anyone who enjoys the sound of bluegrass and classic country, the album is a fully satisfying disk, which would make an excellent Christmas present, especially for your favorite trucker, truck enthusiast, or anyone else who spends a lot of time on the road. The thirteen songs include several originals as well as older songs by Merle Haggard, John Denver, and Lester Flatt. Presenting some classic country songs from the seventies and eighties as well as new work all clearly presented in bluegrass style, “Haulin' Grass” is a satisfying and fun filled romp down the interstate highway system.

“Movin' On” was Merle Haggard's theme song for a 1974 – 1976 TV series of the same name (Wikipedia). A single of the same name was released in 1975. An anthem to the mythic job of the big rig driver, this up tempo song helped to establish the importance and romance of driving the interstate system when it was first recorded and loses none of its charm with this rendition. Coffee, the highway rhythm, gear jamming, and the addiction to the road are believable. Troy Engle's driving banjo roll creates the road rythm for this quintessential trucker's song. Chris Harris contributes one his many first rate mandolin solos on this cut. “It takes a special breed to be a truck drivin' man, a steady hand to pull that load behind,” goes the song. As it does throughout the album, Butler's voice makes the lyric clear as he communicates the likable self that his singing style embodies.

Jerry Butler, John Wade, Tim Goins

 

“Forty Years of Lonesome” by Don Rigsby and Dixie Hall “was originally written with Larry Sparks in mind, “ says Rigsby, “during the planning stages for his "40" project and he was not sold on it at the time.  I am glad Jerry liked it and he does a nice job on this piece.” Ron Stewart's fiddle playing in counterpoint with Matt Leadbetter on resonator guitar set the tone for this song of leaving the road after forty years of traveling without ever being untrue. “My driving days are through and I'm coming home to you,” but there's something wrong when he arrives at the door.

“Shorty is Forty,” written by Tom T. and Dixie Hall for this album and the featured single on terrestrial and satellite radio, celebrates the truck stop waitress who makes sure that everyone who stops in is greeted by hot coffee, a friendly smile, and her “better than sex cake” regardless of how tired she is or how much her feet hurt. Shorty knows how to handle the come-ons without ever insulting the customer. Anyone who's ever eaten at a truck stop knows Shorty and appreciates her smile, her welcome, and her direct humor. Shorty is a classic American prototype brought to life in this delightful song.

“Backin' to Birmingham” by Lester Flatt appears twice on the album, first in Jerry's very pleasant rendition, and second in a salute to Flatt by Butler singing in his best (which is very, very good) Lester Flatt voice. Jerry's as convincing with his Flatt voice as anyone I've ever heard. As you listen to this song, close your eyes and try to imagine backing an eighteen wheeler down the highway from Chicargo to Birmingham and just sit back smiling.

Bobby Clark

“The Road I'm On” by Dale Pyatt and Steve Thomas is an original for this CD. It's a sad and effective road song capturing the “rough and rocky road/I've learned to take it/life is what you make it/bein' strong/that's the road I'm on” draws an analogy between the truckers life and the broader road of life. Dale Pyatt says, “We wrote the song for workin' people when the fuel was so expensive. That was a great rendition the Blu-J's did and an honor to be included.” This is first rate original song writing interpreted with thoughtfulness and feeling by Butler. Gulley's tenor harmony adds depth and feeling to this sad and mournful song.

Jerry found three of the songs in this collection on old Del Reeves cassette tapes. “Looking at the Road Through a Windshield” was written by Jerry Chesnut and first recorded by Del Reeves who took it to the top five on the country charts. Chesnut had several hits with a variety of country singers, including a Grammy nominated song sung by George Jones. Butler's rendition is a bouncy bluegrass styling of this excellent song. “Legend of the Highway” by Jerry Chesnut & Mike Hoyer (1969) is another song developing the theme of the mythic driver on the open highway, the only competition coming between the singer and his girl. “Be Glad” by Justin Tubb and Kent Westbury was also recorded by Reeves. The song urges people to recognize the gifts of life when they come and to grab the moment. Tubb was a mainstay of the Grand Old Opry and the oldest son of Ernest Tubb. He had a successful career as a song writer. The inclusion of these three songs in bluegrassed versions links bluegrass to the country roots which has diverged from it. “Worth the Ride” by Robert Evans, like “Be Glad” examines facing the difficulties of life and embracing them as an opportunity to make the most of life.

“Eighteen Wheels” by William Boling was first recorded by the Bluegrass Cardinals sometime between 1978 and 1981. The song describes the way in which working as a truck driver to meet the family's needs separates people from the ones they love and may end relationships. The strains of absence may be too much to sustain a good marriage. “Back Home Again” strikes the opposite note, as the singer exults at getting off the road for a while to enjoy the ordinary elements of life, like neighborly gossip, the farm, and being together with loved ones. This John Denver song captures the warmth of home and family.

Daddy's Girl - Sami Butler

 

“Daddy's Girl,” a new song by Tom T. and Dixie Hall was written especially for Jerry and features his daughter Sami in a a cameo appearance. Any father who's been away and returns to his child will appreciate the sentiment and the warmth of this song, presented simply with Jerry's guitar and a light bass and mandolin rhythm behind it.

John Wade and Jerry Butler

While using a number of songs from the country music repertoire, there's no doubt this is a bluegrass album. Butler's firm, friendly, and always recognizable high baritone voice always keeps the focus on the lyrics, even though the CD is filled with the finest of guest musicians. Throughout the CD, Butler's smile is as clear as it is from the stage. Butler's voice always communicates warmth, sincerity, and the joy of the song while sticking to straight renditions that are bang on the melody. His singing doesn't show off or bring attention to him, rather, he sings the song. He is one of the most appealing and genuine singers to be found on the bluegrass stage today. Joining him on this CD is former Carolina Road bandmate John Wade who is always solid and creative on the electric acoustic bass. The guest list on “Haulin' Grass” includes bluegrass luminaries like Steve Gulley, who provides tight tenor harmonies as only he can do, bringing another voice as comfortable in classic country as it is in bluegrass to the work. Wade's steady baritone vocals complete the trio work. On banjo Kenny Ingram is a standout, along with Troy Engle on four tracks. Chris Harris' solid chop and delightful mandolin solos work extremely well. His background work with fills is pitch perfect. Matt Leadbetter on Dobro is maturing into one of the top resonator guitar players, a worthy successor to his more famous Dad. Ron Stewart contributes his always fine, award winning fiddle to the project. Melissa Lawrence appears in one vocal. The guest appearance by five year old Sami Butler on “Daddy's Girl” makes the song especially poignant.

Dixie Hall wrote, “When Tom T. and I wrote Daddy’s Girl for Jerry Butler, a truck driving album was farthest from our minds. Likewise with “Shorty” and “Forty Years of Lonesome.” But, truck drivers are daddies, too and what would a truck stop be without an engaging personality such as Shorty? Forty Years of Lonesome (an idea from Don Rigsby) is just as applicable to a truck driver as any loved one whose career takes him across the miles and the years. John & Jerry have done a marvelous job of presenting America’s truckers as real people not just shadows on the road. Every song is “right on” and we sum it up as a very outstanding project worthy of launching this group into the fast lane!”

Also unanticipated when this project began were the band changes to come. As a result, Jerry Butler and John Wade have formed Jerry Butler and the Blu-J's. As might be expected, the only players in the new band found on “Haulin' Grass” are Jerry and John. The band's earliest performances were in conjunction with the Carolina Road Road Homecoming Festival. When Lorraine Jordan decided to change to a more Monroe-centric sound, Jerry and John agreed that the new project had opened wider opportunities to reach out on their own. After discussing options with Lorraine, it was decided that Jerry and John should run with the new band while “Haulin' Grass” was fresh. Family concerns forced father-son pickers Jim and Jason Fraley to leave the band after about six months, but the addition of Bobby Clark, formerly of the Williams & Clark Expedition has brought deep experience and a widely recognized mandolinist to the group. Tim Goins on Dobro fits musically and helps add a restrained and somewhat quirky comedic strain to the Blu-J's performance. Daniel Oxendine has recently joined the band on banjo. Jerry, following J.D. Crowe's lead, characterizes the group as “pure American music.” The band can be counted on to offer first rate bluegrass music within the context of high level, entertaining performance. They're seeking bookings now, and will prove themselves to give high value to promoters.

Jerry Butler

 

People wishing to purchase “Haulin' Grass” can get it here . This is a well-structured recording which deserves purchase as a complete CD. While given a title designed to appeal to truckers, anyone who spends time on the road will appreciate the songs and sentiments of this fine production.

Holiday Photo Treats I: IBMA Fan Fest - Saturday

The days are getting shorter, the bluegrass events are getting sparser.  It's time to showcase a collection of the best photographs we've taken during the past year.  During the rest of the year, along with reporting on a couple of events, writing some CD reviews, and adding a couple of book reviews, I'll comb through the twenty-some thousand images we've (both Irene and I) accumulated and give you a look at ones that stand out for me as highlights.  The first pictures in this series were all taken on October 3, 2009 at IBMA Fan Fest, an all-star bluegrass festival held in conjunction with the annual World of Bluegrass Convention held by the International Bluegrass Music Association in Nashville each year.  Between now and mid-January, when we leave for the winter bluegrass season in Florida, I'll be posting who  knows how many times or how many pictures.  I look at these as a seasonal gift to you, who've become loyal readers of this blog over the years.  Enjoy them and, as always, I look forward to your notes and comments. The pictures are, more or less, in chronological order.

Renaissance Hotel - IBMA Convention Hotel

Heather Berry and Joe Zauner (stage manager)

Daughters of Bluegrass (IBMA Award Winners)

Daughters of Bluegrass with Miss Dixie Hall

Jeanette Williams and Benny Greene

Carl Jackson and Mark Newton (Fan Fest Producers

on the Search for New Talent (Isaac Moore)

Bradley Walker

Donna Ulisse, Bradley Walker, Carl Jackson, DeeDee Thacker

Sierra Hull

Cory Walker

Carl Jackson and Sierra Hull with Highway 111

Christian Ward, Cory Walker, Jacob Eller  and Clay Hess

Proud Parents Dreema and Larry Stephenson

with "Phaylon Whysper" Sidney Stephenson

Tim Shelton

Christy Reid

Kenny Ingram

Larry Stephenson

Lou Reid

Buddy Melton (Balsam Range)

Marc Pruett (Balsam Range)

Michael and Danny Paisley

Alan Bibey

Kim Fox

Dale Ann Bradley

Joe Diffie

Travis Book

Jesse Cobb

Jeremy Garrett

Donica Christensen

Larry Cordle

Mark O'Conner

Steve Gulley

Jamie Dailey and Irene Lehmann

Jamie Dailey

Jamie Dailey, Jeff Parker, Darrin Vincent

Bertie Sullivan and Darrin Vincent

Sammy Shelor

Andy Ball (Lonesome River Band)

Mike Anglin

Paula and John Breedlove  (Songwriters)

Some Daughters of Bluegrass

Annette Kelley, Frances Mooney, Tami Butler, and Jeanette Williams

Gary Waldrep

Chris Harris and John Wade

Pete Kuykendahl, Bertie Sullivan, Kitsy Kuykendahl

Lou and Christy Reid

Cindy Baucom and Hero Worshiping Friend

That's all I think I'll post from IBMA this year.  It's worth saying, once again, that whether you're a fan or a professional in any of the many categories IBMA serves, and you want to advance in your field or interact with the greats in the music, IBMA offers a great week of serious insight and wonderful music.

John Cowan and Sierra Hull at Heritage Museum, Lexington, MA

The John Cowan Band and Sierra Hull will be performing at the Heritage Museum in Lexington, MA on Saturday, December 12 under the auspices of the Boston Bluegrass Union. BBU has advertised the event as having Sierra open for Cowan with the Cowan band serving as her back-up band. This opening set will feature Sierra Hull playing her music, perhaps from her CD “Secrets” with Cowan singing with her. Cowan is then scheduled to present his Christmas program featuring material from his newly released Christmas CD “Comfort and Joy,” which, according to him has had a strong response from traditional Cowan fans as well as people less familiar with his music. He will also include material from his lengthy catalog, which begins with his emergence as a key member of the New Grass Revival during the seventies. Sierra Hull has recently enrolled at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and the BBU sees this event as a welcoming to New England for the talented and much heralded young mandolin player. The event should stand as a delightful ushering in of the Christmas season and welcoming for Sierra Hull.

Sierra Hull

Sierra Hull emerged as a member of the group of extraordinarily talented young mandolin players now on the scene when she was about thirteen years old.  A small, slip of a girl from Byrdstown, TN, she was already a seasoned bluegrass player with wins at mandolin and guitar contests and soon her own touring band, Sierra Hull & Highway 111, which currently features hot young pickers Clay Hess on guitar and Cory Walker on banjo.  Her debut album, Secrets, featuring such pickers as Ron Block, Jerry Douglas, Barry Bales, Stuart Duncan, Jim Van Cleve, as well as Clay Hess and Cory Walker, both of whom perform in her band, and others. 

This fall, after giving thoughtful consideration to her future, Sierra decided to enroll at Berklee College of Music while continuing to tour with her band where possible. Berklee represents an interesting choice because of the large number of hot, young, progressive bluegrass musicians who have been graduating from there and the obvious support for acoustic roots and bluegrass music that has emerged in its programs.  The statement of purpose on Berklee's web site says it "...was founded on the revolutionary principle that the best way to prepare students for careers in music is through study and practice of contemporary music."  The program has "...evolved to reflect the state of the art of music and the music business."

In a phone conversation a few moments after returning to school from a death in the family, Sierra reflected on her first semester at Berklee.  While Sierra comes to Berklee with extensive performance experience in bluegrass and having had numerous successes as a featured performer on the mandolin, and guitar, as well as singing her own material, she was very open in saying her grasp of theory is considerably lighter than her performance record would suggest.  Her first semester has been extremely busy as she continued to fullfill her prior commitments by performing around the country on weekends and returning to school for classes during the week.  This busy schedule has interfered with her capacity to adjust to the College and to Boston, so she looks forward to her second semester as a chance to settle in.  She discussed her realization of the vast amount of knowledge others come to Berklee with that she hasn't encountered before.  She seemed less aware of how the experiences and perspectives she brings with her as she embarks on this new adventure will affect others on the campus.  It will surely be interesting to follow Sierra Hull through the next few years as this traditionally developed bluegrass musicians grows and matures in Berklee's soup of progressive musicians and instructors.  Her performance with the storied John Cowan suggests there will be lots to see.

Sierra Playing at 2009 IBMA Awards

At Merlefest 2009

The John Cowan Band

 

John Cowan has been a noted and creative voice within and outside bluegrass music since he emerged as lead singer for the New Grass Revival in the early seventies, just after that fabled bands first release.  The story goes that Sam Bush, NGR's founder, arrived at an audition to hear John's powerful tenor voice and immediately commented that the role of lead singer was no longer his.  During the following eighteen or so years, NGR changed the face of bluegrass, bringing influences of rock and roll, both musically and culturally, into the music.  As with other second generation groups like The Seldom Scene, The Country Gentlemen, much NGR's work went from being revolutionary to being part of the genre's standard repertoire.  John Cowan was in the center of this movement.

John Cowan

With his piercing blue eyes, impish grin, and striking blonde hair, Cowan still is at the forefront of Americana music.  He has been a genre buster from the start.  After the breakup of the New Grass Revival, he toured with rock band The Doobie Brothers for a time before continuing to follow his own muse.  Since the formation of The John Cowan Band in the in the early part of the 21st century, Cowan has merged his bluegrass and newgrass roots with those of his R&B singing and remarkable rock bass playing.  He has surrounded himself with a first rate band of acoustic players and continued to create new music while also singing older material for which he is known and loved.  At age 56, Cowan says he stays in shape with a daily regimen of swimming at least a mile while tending to home and family. His current tour is in support of his new Christmas CD Comfort and Joy for which he says producer Walter Carter wrote a series of wonderful arrangements. 

Jeff Autry

Shad Cobb

John Frazier

Bryan Larrance 

The band provides John with the sort of very strong support he wants.  He pointed out that out of consideration for the audience at this event, drummer Larrance would most likely be playing the Cajon, an Afro/Peruvian instrument, which has recently gained some acceptance in the bluegrass world, rather than the drum kit.

Cajon

John Cowan

 

The John Cowan Band and Sierra Hull will appear at the National Heritage Museum in Lexington, MA on Saturday evening, December 12th as part of the Boston Bluegrass Union Concert Series.  Tickets may be purchased here, or at the door at $22.00 for BBU members and $25.00 for non members.  The National Heritage Museum is located at 33 Marrett Road (Route 2A), Lexington, MA 021421:

View Larger Map

The venue is quite pleasant with comfortable seating and excellent sound.  If you come, please take time during intermission to say hello to Irene and me.  See you there.  

South of Broad by Pat Conroy - Book Review

Pat Conroy is the quintessential contemporary American writer of the South. Grotesque, beautiful, Gothic, modern, angry, loving, funny, sentimental, cold-eyed, and overflowing with words, his writing fills the heart and gushes along the pathways of the mind while exploring the horror and wonder that living and growing up in the South can create. Raised in Beaufort, SC, the son of a Marine pilot assigned to the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort, just across the bay from Parris Island, he writes with a strong sense of place and context. He graduated from The Citadel, in Charleston, and his novels are set in the Low Country of South Carolina. Conroy luxuriates in the atmosphere of the Low Country with an especial feel for life on and near the water. In his novels, he explores the joy and damage of family life among several psychologically and physically maimed people in the South. His latest novel, South of Broad, continues in the line of stories about young men trying to grow up and achieve a more-or-less normal adulthood in the face of extreme family violence and sexual abuse, while they learn how to cope with the region's historical anomalies of race, loyalty, humor, and violence. If you're a Conroy fan, South of Broad ranks with his other very successful tales as a page turner of unusual power and attractiveness. If you haven't read Conroy before, perhaps you'd be better advised to start with his two earlier, and perhaps greater, novels The Great Santini or Prince of Tides.

South of Broad begins on June 16, 1969 where Leopold Bloom King is off to deliver his papers. Now, those of you with a literary bent have already perked up your ears. For those of you who aren't familiar with the date, June 16, 1904 is the day in which James Joyce's seminal novel Ulysses follows the perambulations of its hero Leopold Bloom through the streets of Dublin. Thus we're introduced to Leo King, who will lead us through the streets of Charleston, SC during a series of life changing experiences during the summers of 1969 and 1989. Leopold, to complicate matters still more, has been sentenced to a variety of community service projects growing out of the traumatic suicide of his brother, Stephen Daedalus King some years before. His mother, Lindsay is both a noted Joyce scholar and the principal of the high school which Leo attends and at which his father Jasper teaches. On this day, he encounters almost all the essential characters who will enrich, complicate, and nearly destroy his life over the next twenty years. It all sounds complicated, but the combination of beautiful, ugly, loving, hating, gay, straight, black, white, orphaned and parented people creates a delightful and wondrous mix of characters a reader can't help caring about. I won't say anything more about the plot, except to note that it's full of surprises, some of which you won't like and others which seem, at the very least, well deserved, whether delightful or not. I also want to mention that this is very much an R rated book. It features graphic sex and violence as well as themes that some readers might find disturbing, especially when they revolve around varieties of mental illness.

It's difficult to treat Conroy's novels without trying to come to terms with the role of mental illness in the lives of his narrators. They are frequently people deeply damaged by verbal or physical abuse at the hands of their parents as well as traumatized by events in their lives. Sometimes, as in the present volume as well as in Prince of Tides, psychiatrists play at least a part in their healing. The fact that contemporary psychiatry is more about drug therapy than anything to do with behavioral or attitudinal change doesn't seem to occur in a Conroy novel. In Conroy, it's often the power of love that cures the hurts and damage caused by life, and he creates healing scenarios that are often deeply affecting.

  

Tradd Street - Charleston

Photo by David Cortner

Conroy is a child of the South and southern novels, like southern life, often treat with intricacies of racial interactions that those of us from the north are likely too easily to stereotype and oversimplify. From his first novel, The Water is Wide (later made into the film “Conrack” with Jon Voight) dealing with a young teacher in the Gullah community of the South Carolina barrier islands, to The Lords of Discipline about the desegregation of Conroy's alma mater The Citadel, to South of Broad the peculiar intricacies of the relationships between people who have a history of slavery, secret racial mixing, and living in close proximity to each other are explored with humor, insight, and grace. Conroy never papers over the difficult times whites and blacks have encountered, but he exudes a spirit of hope borne from familiarity and respect in the examples he chooses.

House on Tradd Street

Reading Conroy is like scratching a poison ivy itch. The scratching doesn't satisfy the itch, even as the pleasure turns to pain. And you can't stop scratching. I don't know if I love reading Conroy for his ability to move me to tears and laughter, or hate him for being a master of emotional manipulation. Sometimes it's difficult to tell whether his luminescent writing represents inspired riffs or craft of surpassing grace and elegance; whether he's portraying grotesque melodrama or the deepest of human experiences. He's at his very best when writing corrosive, hurtful dialogue portraying the deepest love/ hate relationships between his characters. He writes page turners I can't put down as I wait for his nasty, loving, damaged people to find new ways to love/hurt each other. Further, I can't tell whether Conroy has one of the richest writer's imaginations or one of literature's sharpest memories, or both.

Pat Conroy

 

In the end, Conroy tells great stories using expressive and vivid prose with skill and verve. Whether he writes fine novels that will be read in fifty, seventy-five, or a hundred years in the future or excellent topical and regional works that offer wonderful, if evanescent, entertainment I'll leave for history to say. But surely, his writing and story telling lies on the cusp where asking such questions is relevant.

South of Broad by Pat Conroy is published by Doubleday Books and can be purchased from them directly, at local, or online bookstores. Support your local independent bookseller.

Mark Twain: A Life by Ron Powers - Book Review

As I read Ron Powers' remarkable biography Mark Twain: A Life, I increasingly came to realize how much of America can claim Twain as its own. Spending much of his youth in Hannibal, Missouri, he became a riverboat pilot, giving him access to the entire riverine interior of the emerging U.S., first gained national attention while living in Nevada and California, moved east to woo and wed the daughter of a wealthy Elmira family, lived in Hartford, CT for many years as well as spending many of his later years in Europe. Through his travels and his writing about them, he brought his manic humor and acute observation of the rest of the world to American minds, imaginations, and ambitions. “Breaking the ranks of New England literary culture was Clemens's most important achievement (short of his actual works), and a signal liberating event in the country's imaginative history.” (pg. 5) While American emerged as a world political and economic force in the latter half of the nineteenth century, Samuel Clemens, in the guise of Mark Twain, created and interpreted the American mind and spirit to the people it inhabited. Powers notes that American literature “became a lean, blunt, vivid chronicle of American self – invention from the yeasty perspective of the common man.” as Twain's pen spun out his humor and bile. (6)

Ron Powers, who writes fiction, biography, and non-fiction from his home in Vermont, was born in Hannibal, MO where he developed a lifelong passion for Mark Twain and his works. Mark Twain: A Life has, since its publication in 2005 and its release as a trade paper back a year later, become the definitive biography of this iconic writer, humorist, and celebrity who stands astride of the second half of nineteenth century America. Powers may be familiar to some readers for his work in television on CBS Sunday Morning, where he won an Emmy award. He was the first television critic to win a Pulitzer Prize. His writing, while comprehensive, is always graceful and readable. It would be difficult to spend many years of a studious life engaged with Samuel Clemens and his alter-ego Mark Twain without be infected by his spirit. Besides offering huge amounts of detail, Powers writing often contains bits of wicked humor, enlivening the book and retaining Twain's huge spirit.

Sam Clemens was born in 1835 in Florida, MO to Orion and Jane Clemens, who soon moved to Hannibal, where Sammy grew up. Orion was a striving, but ineffectual, business man whose struggles to score big never amounted to anything. The poverty young Sam grew up in haunted and helped direct his entire personal, literary, and business life. As gigantic a literary figure as Mark Twain was to become in America and around the world, Clemens' bad business decisions and insistence on stubbornly pursuing them constantly haunted his adult years. It was only when he was rescued late in his career by a generous and wealthy patron that he was able, at least partially, to set aside his fears of financial ruin.

Mark Twain emerged as a writer when he moved to the Nevada silver mines and established a presence in nearby San Francisco as a writer of tall tales and short stories. Much of his work was picked up by eastern newspaper, where his writing in the vernacular of ordinary Americans marked a decided contrast to the more formal writing of Boston and New York's literary lions. Championed by Atlantic editor William Dean Howells, Twain's rise to literary prominence was meteoric. From his short, humorous story The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calavaras Count (1867), through his travel books like Innocents Abroad (1869) and Roughing It (1872) to his series of great novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876) and Huckleberry Finn (1884) through more novels, non-fiction, political and social writing, and more, Mark Twain was prolific and has never been out of print, although sometimes out of fashion. As he became more urbane and experienced, his views on the world often changed, and his voice reflected the changes in American society. He supplemented his income throughout periods of his life by lecturing around the world on a variety of topics in a way that spread his humor, brought him great acclaim, and earned him much money.

Despite the honors and riches his literary life garnered for him, his personal and business life was marked by tragic loss and bad judgment that clouded much of his later years. Sam Clemens married Olivia Langford, daughter of an extremely successful Elmira business man after a long courtship. They had four children, only one of whom lived beyond her parents. Clemens' life was haunted by the threat of death. Furthermore, his father's business failures and family's poverty drove him to a series of disastrous investments, keeping him on the edge of bankruptcy through much of his later life until the Standard Oil vice president, Henry H. Rodgers rescued him by helping him restructure his debts and taking over his finances, leaving Twain to write and travel during his last years. This bare outline, however, doesn't do justice to Clemens/Twain's life. Powers, however, does so in one of the best biographies I've ever read.

Throughout his book, Powers places the man (Twain, Clemens) in the social, intellectual, and cultural context from which he came and which he created. One question always haunting Twain's reputation surrounds his attitudes toward race. Powers builds an argument concluding that young Sam Clemens was early on imbued with the attitudes of slave society but that his growth as a human being took him beyond racial animus. His use of the word “nigger” was an artifact of an earlier age. As Clemens aged and traveled, his views on race, American imperialism, and the contributions of peoples from around the world broadened along with his experience.

As a writer, Powers, who has lived much of his life immersed in Mark Twain and Sam Clemens captures some of Twain's humor in his own clear and graceful writing. For instance, at one point in 1856, Sam Clemens explored taking an expedition to Brazil to chase rumor of a remarkable vegetable that gave partakers huge reserves of energy. Powers comments, “The idea of Samuel Clemens turning Keokuk, Iowa into the mid-19^th century cocaine capital of America has its irresistible nutty appeal, but it was not to be.” (72) Powers' humor surprises and pleases throughout this book which might seem overlong and detailed without it. In discussing Lincoln's election and the run up to the Civil War, he describes how Clemens' brother in law's business was next door to a real estate company U.S. Grant had in interest in. Powers notes, “On June 15 of that year [1861] Ulysses S. Grant found himself a steady job.” This small anecdote takes on added significance when considering that Twain was largely responsible for driving Grant to write and publish his autobiography, saving Grant's estate and reputation. One more example: Writing of the Territorial Enterprise, a newspaper Twain wrote for, Powers comments, “Much of what it printed could be summed up in a two-syllable phrase, had there been enough bulls in the region to anchor the metaphor.” (110) Powers' frequent throwaway remarks are worth the price of admission.

Mark Twain: A Life by Ron Powers is published in trade paperback, a division of Simon and Schuster. It is extremely well-documented and reads smoothly and thoughtfully. For readers of biography, American history, and American biography, it's an important book. For general readers, it's extremely worthwhile. The book can be obtained from all the usual sources. Support your local independent bookstore.

Mainline Express with Jesse Brock at del Rossi's

MainLine Express featuring Jesse Brock delighted an audience of fifty or sixty post Thanksgiving survivors on Friday night at del Rossi's Tratoria in Dublin, NH.  Future performances this weekend will be at Nippo Lake Golf Club and Restaurant in Barrington, NH.  See below for more information.

del Rossi's Trattoria

 

 

We drove to Dublin, NH through a chilly rain and arrived at del Rossi's Trattoria early enough to settle in and enjoy a fine Italian dinner before the music event began.  Located on route 137 a mile or so north of route 101 between Keene and Peterborough, NH, del Rossi's presents fine acoustic music in a somewhat unusual setting.  Combining very good Italian food from a wide and varied menu in an eighteenth century farmhouse, Elaine and David del Rossi are also bluegrass and acoustic music lovers who feature fine acoustic music from the small stage located in a corner of their very pleasant dining room. Upstairs is a small shop selling acoustic instruments and supplies.  Irene had a perfectly prepared lasagna, while I enjoyed a diavolo misto on a bed of pepper linguini featuring luscious muscles and shrimp in a spicy tomato sauce.  The cream of garlic soup was also excellent.  Service was quick and friendly, and the food arrived hot and tasty.  All this offered a fine prelude for a first class bluegrass band put together for this off-season, but sounding seasoned as they played a broad range of classic bluegrass in the style of the Bluegrass Album Band.  Unfortunately, del Rossi's has no significant web presence to help with finding the restaurant or knowing more about menu choices.

MainLine Express

 

MainLine Express has been built around Jesse Brock, IBMA mandolin player of the year for 2009, whose full-time gig is with Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper.  Jesse's hyper-kinetic personality and driving mandolin style help push any band he's playing with to greater heights than it would have imagined possible. He combines impeccable playing with a sense of rhythm that pervades this band. 

Jesse Brock

Josh Dayton on bass took a while to find himself in this new gig, but really laid down the rhythm in the second set.  Dayton worked hard and rose to the ocassion.

Josh Dayton

Gary Filgate

With his wife, Alison Magill, Gary is the owner of Acoustic Outfitters in Straham, NH, the goto music shop for New Hampshire and northern New England. Filgate is an unobtrusive, quiet banjo picker, until you really start listening to his tasteful licks and fills as well as  his inventive breaks.  He brings imagination to his play, as evidenced by the tuneful setting with Roger Williams of the fiddle tune "Old Timey Risin' Down."

John Miller

John Miller, from southwestern Virginia, singing lead and playing rhythm and solo guitar, has strong background an experience.  Last year he played mandolin with Junior Sisk and Rambler's Choice after he replaced Chris Harris.  John has played with J.D. Crowe, Lonesome River Band, Charlie Sizemore, Valerie Smith and other bands.  He also owns and operates a recording studio and works as a luthier. 

Gary Pomerleau

Well known in New England as a French-Canadian fiddler specializing in folk and traditional music, Gary Pomerleau has, in recent years for his bluegrass fiddling, too.  On stage he projects a shy, quiet competence, until his turn for a break comes, whereupon the power and authority of his play shines through. He has been honored at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C. Locally, he plays with White Mountain Bluegrass.

Roger Williams

Roger Williams is a small, shy,  near-sighted man with a pixie grin on his face as he peers into your face.  It's when he puts his resonator guitar around his neck on stage that he becomes supremely articulate, a master of the rather strange, and somewhat quirky Dobro.  Williams has played and recorded with the best, and has made nine trips to Europe as a performer.  These days, his regular gig is with the very good country, bluegrass band Amy Gallitin and Stillwaters.  Roger's inventiveness and power on the Dobro is second to none, and he is well recognized among other musicians.  He deserves much broader appreciation from bluegrass and acoustic music fans.

MainLiner Express in performance shows itself to have the mysterious IT.  What qualities distinguish a band that has IT from one that doesn't?  This question devils many a band out on tour.  This band stands out because of its drive, energy, and musicianship.  Their performance on stage does not have the polish and finish you might find in some much showier and better known bands.  It exudes, however, the sheer joy of making music together...listening carefully, responding in kind, and underneath the friendly competitiveness that often pervades a first rate jam.  I don't know whether this band will be available for further performances once the winter hiatus ends, but all of us can only hope so.

LimeLighter Express will be appearing at Nippo Lake Gold Course and Restaurant in Barrington, NH on Saturday and Sunday, November 28-29. 

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People wishing to hear very fine traditional bluegrass covers by a first rate pick-up band as well as enjoy a meal out after over-indulging in eating and shopping for the past few days will find the trip to Barrington, NH to be very worthwhile.  Barrington is about 28 miles east of Concord and 31 miles northeast of Manchester, and 20 miles west of Portsmouth.  Call ahead (603.664.7616) for more information and reservations.

Brock

Williams 

Filgate

Pomerleau

Dayton