Strawberry Park 2009 - Saturday

Saturday at Strawberry Park combined perfect weather with incredible musical experiences. The festival featured one of those absolutely special "ya' gotta be there" moments that can't be captured in words or pictures. At the end of their second set, The Kruger Brothers invited Michael Cleveland on stage with them for their encore. They settled on Sally Goodin as a piece to play and simply tore it up. The theme ran back and forth between Jens, Mike, and Uwe, each taking up the familiar song with intense variations and handing the lead back and forth, bringing the crowd screaming to its feet. By the end they were demanding an encore of the encore. As Jens and Mike stood together with the approbation washing over them, it was easy to understand why this music has such power to move and please its fans.



Each year, one of the features of Strawberry Park is the Kids Academy. Under the direction of Tim St. Jean and Vicky Baker, the Adademy provides children an opportunity to get together for instruction in picking bluegrass music beginning on Friday evening and culminating in a performance in the Amphitheater on Sunday. The kids work hard, have lots of fun, get solid instruction, and are well-supervised during this period.

Kids Academy

Tim St. Jean Getting Things Started

This year, Strawberry Park changed the location of the workshop sessions, extended the number of them, and provided a new and innovative venue with a different and welcome twist. The Upstairs Rec Room, formerly the location of workshops and occasionally used for indoor performances when the weather becomes truly impossible, was set aside on Saturday as a folk and dance venue. Performances and dance instruction were offered there. During the brief visit I made there, an small but enthusiastic group was getting dance instruction from Jim Christenson. There were performances by Girl Howdy, Red Molly, and others as well as instruction in clogging and dance. This is a great idea and should be publicized more and continued.

Workshops were offered on the first three days of the festival and drew enthusiastic support in the new venue. By moving the workshop area to home plate on the ball field, festival organizers have placed it right at the edge of the jamming center and in a good location for those who want to combine improving their own playing and understanding of their instruments with listening to great music in the amphitheater. From Danny Paisley's opening workshop on Thursday, through song writing with the Gibsons, guitar with either Kenny Smith or Josh Williams, to a band workshop with the Kruger Brothers, there was a wealth of experience and talent made available on a quite intimate basis for those who wished to avail themselves of the opportunity.

Josh Williams' Workshop

Red Molly - Vocal Arrangement

The Kruger Brothers

Since their arrival as permanent residents, and now citizens, from Switzerland, the Kruger Brothers have given a new meaning to acoustic music in general and the potential of the banjo in particular. Based in Wilkesboro, NC, a true hot bed of bluegrass and mountain music, where they have burrowed into the life and culture of the community, they bring to American folk, country, and mountain music a European sensibility grown from their home in Switzerland and enhanced by years of touring the continent. The result is a trio who astound with the beauty of their music as well as the virtuosity of their musicianship. Joel Landsburg, billed as the third Kruger brother but actually from Brooklyn, on electric bass sits quietly in the middle with a pixieish smile on his face providing not only a solid beat, but bass moves that capture an afficanado's attention without ever interfering with the main course. Uwe Kruger on guitar and lead vocals, is an exceptional flat picker with a deep baritone voice that complements and provides variety to the main attraction, which is this group's instrumental music. Jens Kruger, in my estimation the best banjo player in the world, uses every inch of the finger board along with rich glissandos and poignant moments of soulful solitude to create the most colorful moods available in this difficult and quirky instrument. "Beautiful Nothing" from their new CD Between the Notes captures the beauty of silence within the potential of the instruments. This new recording continues the group's exploration of their own and their instruments' potential.

Jens Kruger

Uwe Kruger

Joel Landsburg

About a minute into the encore, in which Michael Cleveland joined the Kruger Brothers for a screaming version of Sally Goodin', I remembered my camera could also take video, but I was too late. Later I mentioned this to Jens, who smiled and just pointed at his head. He's right, there was not capturing this moment, but those who were there will carry it with them forever as one of those special moments that only a bluegrass festival can provide.

The Kruger Brothers & Mike Cleveland

Jens & Mike

The Josh Williams Band

Josh Williams was recognized with the 2008 IBMA Guitar Player of the Year trophy fresh on his own after a stint with Rhonda Vincent as well as having toured with Special Consensus. This award presented him with a challenge that he and his band will now have to live up to by developing into an outstanding touring group. At present, filled with young and talented musicians, they show promise of being able to live up to these expectations. Williams is, of course, one of the premier flat pickers in the business. He also is blessed with a resonant and powerful baritone voice, especially in the low and mid ranges. He is joined by the broadly experienced Randy Barnes on bass, who brings solid underpinnings and fine harmonies to the group. Jason McKindry on banjo plays well and contributes substantially to the vocal trio. Chase Johnson on mandolin is first rate. Greg Blaylock on resophonic guitar adds instrumental versatility to the group. For their performance at Strawbery Park, Clayton Campbell of the Gibson Brothers (a childhood friend of Josh's) joined the band to excellent effect.

Josh Williams

Randy Barnes

Chase Johner

Jason McKendry

Greg Blaylock

Clayton Campbell

Josh Williams

Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper

Mike Cleveland is the six time IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year. He has surrounded himself with a strong and experienced band to create a dynamic group filled with talent to supplement and support his excellent fiddle. Cleveland has established himself as the supreme fiddler in bluegrass music. He is at his best in the rousing fiddle tunes best exemplified by his wonderful rendition of "Lee Highway Blues." The addition of Darrell Webb, recently having left Rhonda Vincent's band, has brought together the tightest and most dynamic band he's had and the responses from the fans are proof of his good choices. Webb's high bluegrass voice and driving style fit the band like a glove. Marshall Wilborn, a storied veteran of the Johnson Mountain Boys as well as The Lynn Morris Band, brings vast experience and maturity to his role on the bass. To balance this, the young and exciting Jesse Baker plays banjo. Jesse Brock, on mandolin, is, at age 29, now approaching middle age in terms of the world of mandolin players with so many great young pickers coming on behind him. His energy, strong chop, and wonderful mandolin breaks provide additional leadership. This band is filled with leadership and ability, but there is no evidence of competition, as they lay down great sets. Their performances are thoroughly enjoyable.

Michael Cleveland

Darrell Webb

Jesse Brock

Marshall Wilborn

Jesse Baker

Brock, Wilborn, Webb, Baker

Mike Cleveland

Dry Branch Fire Squad

Ron Thomason was at Carleton Haney's first bleugrass festival in 1965 and his band, Dry Branch Fire Squad, has had a storied career. For over thirty years they have entertained with their unique combination of traditional, raw mountain gospel music, fast paced songs, and Thomason's satirical patter. The band has been a staple at Strawberry Park for many years with a Saturday performance and their Sunday morning gospel show. Their new CD Echoes of the Mountains contains some new material and some new recordings of older work of theirs. Thomason's voice on "Echo Mountain" presents this heartbreaking story as a clear alternative to the better known James King version. Ron has long voiced his support for the superiority of animal life in his songs about horses and other animals. The complex relationship between dogs and humans in explored in this one. The satirical pseudo-gospel song "(You Got to Pray to the Lord) When You See Those Flying Saucers" is a gem.

Ron Thomason

Brian Aldridge

Tom Boyd

Dan Russell

Ron Thomason and his Loar

The Boston Boys

This group of Berklee College of Music students may be hard to classify, but if a band is recognized by the other musicians who come out to hear them play, this group will attract notice. They describe their sound as "contemporary roots rock, blending reverence for the beatles and the energy of the Avett brothers with hints of Appalachian string band music." Their content is irreverent with a strong social message. They are high energy and represented an enjoyable change of pace on a Saturday afternoon filled with great, but more traditional, bluegrass music.

Jens Kruger & Philip Zanon watch The Boston Boys

Carol Young

Eric Robertson

Nick Falk

Nate Leath

Stash Wyslouch

Josh Harris

Sammy Shelor - The Lonesome River Band

Some bands are known simply by their initials. LRB has achieved such a distinction. Having run through a number of iterations through its nineteen year history, The Lonesome River Band is currently enjoying two months at the top of the Bluegrass Unlimted charts with their newest CD No Turning Back. This new CD was completely recorded with the current and excellent touring band. More about them in my Sunday report and final assessment. Meanwhile, here's some pictures from Saturday.

Brandon Rickman

Andy Ball

Mike Anglin

Mike Hartgrove

The Greencards - Carol Young

Eamon McLaughlin, Kym Warner, Jake Stargell

Eamon McLaughlin

Kym Warner

Jake Stargel

Carol

Kim Cyr - Emcee

Strawberry Park 2009 - Friday

As dawn broke at Stawberry Park on Friday morning it was raining...hard. A stream of water cascaded off the end or our awning. By noon, just in time for Kenny & Amanda Smith to take the stage, the rain had stopped and an audience was assembling to take the tarps of their chairs and settle in for a day of great music. They weren't disappointed.

Kenny & Amanda Smith Band

The Kenny & Amanda Smith Band brings a great deal of musical talent to the table. As they tell the story, they picked together on their first date, and that was it. They've been together ever since, making beautiful music with a strong leaning toward affirmation of their deep faith through gospel music. Kenny has twice been named IBMA guitar player of the year, and the band was Emerging Artist of the Year in 2003. He is one of the top flat picking stylists in bluegrass music. He began his career with a six year stint with the Lonesome River Band, who will appear at Strawberry Park on Saturday and Sunday. Amanda's voice has a lovely melodic tone with a deep timbre that's immediately arresting. Other members of the band are young, hot pickers who show the two leaders off very well in addition to contributing their own style and licks. Sixteen year old Aaron Williams was one of the youngest winners of the Merlefest mandolin contest a couple of years ago, and has continued to grow. Zach McLamb, on bass, is solid and strong. Trent Callicutt is the newest member of the band on banjo. He fits in well and provides support for the core, which is Kenny's guitar and the duo's singing. It's always a treat to hear this band. Kenny also did a successful guitar workshop in the newly re-located Workshop tent.

Kenny Smith

Amanda Smith

Aaron Williams

Trent Callicut

Kenny's Workshop

Amanda & Kenny Smith

Strawberry Grill & Creamery

Vendor's Row

The Gibson Brothers

The relationship between The Gibson Brothers and the crowd at Strawberry Park is close and unique. Never before in the memory of emcees Jim Beaver or Glen Huffer has a band received such a strong response from an audience that it required two encores. In their second set early Friday evening, the Gibson's brought down the house. In fact, Eric and Leigh's close harmony and delightful brotherly banter have created a close and lasting bond with audiences throughout New England and New York that is now rapidly spreading across the country. Their new CD "Ring the Bell" looks like a rising hit with their new label Compass Records to follow their four previous number one recordings. They do have a problem, though. Audiences are so familiar with their large catalog that it's difficult for them to get in songs from their latest work, considering the time available in two regular sets, because fan requests for long-time favorites are so strong and heartfelt. The band has become increasingly tight and disciplined without ever losing the sense of sponteneity that playing without a full set list gives them. Joe Walsh on mandolin has now become fully integrated into the band, and his contribution is significant. Mike Barber, an original member of the Gibson Brothers to the extent that they call him the third brother, has become stronger and increasingly inventive on bass. His work on new song "I Know Whose Tears" by Joe Newberry was particularly strong, but he's always solid throughout. Clayton Campbell on fiddle is another mainstay, but the band is so together it's truly difficult to break out any individual's contributions.

Leigh Gibson

Eric Gibson

Mike Barber

Clayton Campbell

Joe Walsh

You can tell a lot about a band by who chooses to watch them perform. In the picture below, Kym Warner and Carol Young of the Greencards sit with Roger Moss, promoter of Podunk (coming up in late July) to enjoy the Gibson Brothers' set.

Eric, Leigh, & Mike

Rhonda Vincent & the Rage

Rhonda Vincent & the Rage remain one of the hardest working and most popular bands on the bluegrass circuit. Recent changes in her band elicited a good deal of comment earlier in the year. The band has weathered the questions and emerged with a somewhat new sound without losing any of their energy or giving up their tried and true entertaining approach. The addition of Aaron McDaris on banjo and Ben Helson on guitar have moved the band toward a younger look, while Mickey Harris on bass and Hunter Berry on fiddle maintain the solid anchor. The centerpiece, of course, is Vincent herself. Still attractive and always vivacious and welcoming, Rhonda Vincent is the show. Somehow, she manages to be sexy without being sexual, friendly, and outgoing, making herself attractive to fans of every gender and age. Young girls idolize her, wives enjoy her, and husbands want to have their picture taken with her. No one spends as much time meeting and greeting fans as she does. Used to having her picture taken, she smiles with ease and poses with seemingly endless patience. This weekend she even had a few minutes to sit in the audience with her new camera and lens to point the camera in the other direction.

Hunter Berry

Mickey Harris

Aaron McDaris

Ben Helson

Hunter & Ben

Rhonda

Amy Gallatin & Stillwaters, Danny Paisley & Southern Grass, and The Farewell Drifters all had a chance to reprise their very good sets from Thursday evening, giving them an opportunity to perform before the larger Friday audience. A couple of notable points: Bob Lundy, of the Danny Paisley Band, looked much more comfortable playing from a seated position to rest his back. The Farewell Drifters offered a song, by request, called "Dark Charlie" by Joshua Britt that adds a wonderful twist to bluegrass songs. Look for it. This band is ready to be picked up by a major label and get the broader distribution and the support that comes from having a recording contract. Amy Gallatin continued her run of strong performances. Her band deserves more recognition.

Danny Paisley & Southern Grass

Bob Lundy

Amy Gallatin

Jesse Brock

Irene Lehmann & Amy Gallatin

Glenn Huffer & Jim Beaver (emcees)

The Farewell Drifters

Joshua Britt & Dean Marold

Clayton Britt

Zach Bevill

Trevor Brandt

The Greencards

The Greencards elicit strong and positive responses from audiences in a variety of venue. Not a bluegrass band any longer, their roots run deep in bluegrass music. In fact, they came to America as a bluegrass band with two Australian members and a British one. Not exactly an Americana band, they're all immigrants. Not pop or jazz either, they take from all these genres and present a unique and pleasing musical sound supported by excellent musicianship and Carol Young's seductive yet wholesome voice. They're the whole package. Young, on bass and lead vocals, caresses her large electric bass and belts or croons the lyrics. Eamon McClaughlin on fiddle and viola is a versatile virtuoso. Kym Warner plays a variety of mandolin type instruments (mandolin, mandola, bouzouki) and moves like a sprite across the stage. Jake Stargell, from Georgia (the one in the southern U.S.) although still less than twenty years old, continues to develop as a powerful and true flat picker. The band's new CD, Fascination, their first release with Sugar Hill Records, is a dynamite addition to their growing catalog. In the next-to-closing spot on Friday night, they drew cheers and an enthusiastic encore.

Carol Young

Eamon McLaughlin

Kym Warner

Jake Stargell

Carol & Jake

It's Saturday morning and the sun is bright and clear. Today's lineup includes The Kruger Brothers, Josh Williams, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, Dry Branch Fire Squad, and The Lonesome River Band as well as the Boston Boys. Looks like a great day!

Strawberry Park - Thursday

An air of anticipation dominates a festival site as the pace begins to accelerate towards the opening. Despite threatening weather and a slight chill in the air, Strawberry Park was no different as Thursday went along. Around noon we headed up to the entrance booth to pick up our wrist bands and photo/blog passes. The folks here have been quite kind to us, making it easier to report and to take pictures. As we walked back to our campsite, we detoured through the rough camping area, seeing people who, over the years have become our friends. We stopped for a few minutes to chat with Phil and Marcia Zimmerman. Phil's very fine book "Bluegrass Time" evokes in stunning black and white photographs the festival scene of the late 70's and early 80's.

Rough Camping Setup

Phil Zimmerman with New Acquisition

We took the afternoon easy, rested, and tried to get ourselves ready for a chilly evening. Somehow, the trailer seemed chill and dark, and we layered up enough so Amy Gallatin said, from the stage, I looked like a snowman. By six people were gathering and emcee Glenn Hall introduced the first band, Amy Gallatin and Stillwaters. Despite the absence of Dobro master Roger Williams, the band Amy brought to Strawberry Park, where she is a regular performer, was one of the strongest I've seen her with. Jesse Brock (regularly playing with Mike Cleveland, who will appear here on Saturday) filled in on mandolin. Mike Barnett, who tourged with Tony Trischka when he had not yet graduated from high school, provided perfect fiddle support, light but authoratative. Dave Shaw on banjo provided his clear tenor voice and solid banjo back-up. His harmonies fit perfectly with Amy's bright and resonant voice. John Urbanek on bass brought his unobtrusive, solid bass beat to the band's efforts. Amy Gallatin is a much under-rated singer and performer. Her voice is strong. She's always in tune and well-grounded. Her song selections include classic country, bluegrass, swing, and pop in a pleasing mix. Songs like "I Heard a Bluebird Sing," "Baby We're Really in Love," and the Louvin Brothers' What a Change One Day Can Make," blend together into a fine, well-designed program. Archie Warnock, a well regarded reviewer for Bluegrass Unlimited recently wrote, "In the mountain of sound-alike CDs from indistinguishable, look-alike bands that Pris got at IBMA last fall, we got two from Amy Gallatin - including the one with Roger - that were absolutely outstanding and memorable. Fabulous stuff. "

Amy Gallatin & Stillwaters

Amy Gallatin

Jesse Brock

Mike Barnett

Dave Shaw

John Urbanek

Amy

The Farewell Drifters

The Farewell Drifters are a hot young group making their Strawberry Park debut this weekend. They came together a few years ago at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, KY and moved to Nashville after college. Band front man Joshua Britt has amusing tales to tell about how they came together and the hard early days. They've released one very good CD called "Sweet Summer Breeze" and have been causing quite a stir. Their sound is distinctly eclectic, although still pretty thoroughly bluegrass. Like many young bands today, their backgrounds and interests come from a variety of musical influences that come together to create an interesting and compelling blend of musical styles while staying well within the bluegrass genre. Citing influences including Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, J.D. Crowe, John Fogarty, Jerry Garcia, and many more, the band has developed outside the close confines of traditional bluegrass. Nevertheless, their music runs from hard driving bluegrass to mellow Americana. Their bluegrass version of the Beatles "Ticket to Ride" is a hard driving bluegrass song that sits comfortably beside John Hartford's reflective "Tall Buildings." "The Death of Jesse McVille" is a first rate murder song. Their performance is often mellow and very easy to listen to while exhibiting fine musicianship and song writing. Joshua Britt is an amusing story teller in his role as emcee, despite his tentative manner and nervous giggle. His mandolin playing and harmony vocals are absolutely first rate. Zach Bevill is a fine lead singer whose pleasant personality and leadership are right there. Clayton Britt, Joshua's brother, has developed as a fine bluegrass flat picker with a background that goes back into his days playing rock and roll. Trevor Brandt is a fine banjo picker. His seemingly throwaway arpeggio runs used in backup show the depth of his picking. Dean Marold, on bass, brings a similarly eclectic musical background from Colorado to this band. He provides a strong beat along with solid bowing and first rate solos, adding an important dimension to the band's peformance. The Farewell Drifters finished their long Friday night set with a delightful version of "Freeborn Man," taking the risk of playing this Jimmy Martin chestnut and pulling off an original and thoughtful version that added new meaning to the song. Their vocal harmony at one point in the song was simply stunning. Keep your eyes on this band.

Joshua Britt

Zach Bevill

Clayton Britt

Trevor Brandt

Dean Marold

Joshua Britt, Dean Marold, Zach Bevill

Dan Paisley & Southern Grass

Last year Danny Paisley & Southern Grass had a breakthrough CD with their hit "The Room Over Mine." It seems strange to talk about a breakthrough for a band that's been touring for more than thirty years, but coming to Rounder Records and finding its own sound and footing after the death of Bob Paisley has taken a while. It's been worth the wait. While not taking home any awards at IBMA last year, the band was nominated for several and its touring schedule has become national in scope. The band, composed of two pairs of brothers who've played together for years, has recently added Travers Chandler on mandolin. We saw them in late March, when Travers was still new to the mix. After a couple of months of hard touring, he has found his place in the band. Musically, his lively, hard driving mandolin play is first rate. The playful bickering between him and Danny Paisley works well, too. Travers makes the smart-ass remarks, and Danny responds like the weary and wise old hand he is. It's funny and true to form. Paisley's high lonesome, plaintive voice with its characteristic Jimmy Martin style whoops, can be grating, but with high quality sound, like that provided here, it works very well. His brother, Michael, on bass is one of the most energetic players around, giving his instrument a solid pounding every time out while always being as steady as a metronome. T.J. Lundy on fiddle is one of the best, elegant and seemingly somewhat removed, his tone is wonderful. Bob Lundy, on banjo, was in obvious pain from a herniated disk. One can only watch and hope he can figure out some way to get relief...soon. When called on to do so, he was able to step up to the mic to play and sing his parts. He provides a great example of "the show must go on" professionalism, while in obvious agony. Nevertheless, Danny Paisley & Southern Grass put on a first rate performance to close the chilly evening.

Danny Paisley

T.J. Lundy

Michael Paisley
Bob Lundy
Travers Chandler

Today, Kenny & Amanda Smith, The Gibson Brothers, Rhonda Vincent & the Rage, Amy Gallatin & Stillwaters, Danny Paisley & Southern Grass, and The Fairwell Drifters. Weather permitting, it promises to be a great day.

Danny Paisley

Zach Bevill

Tourist Season by Carl Hiaasen - Review

Several years ago on a trip to Nova Scotia we saw a bumper sticker on a pickup truck. It read, “If this is tourist season, why can’t we shoot one?” This one liner is, perhaps, the source for Carl Hiaasen’s first novel, Tourist Season, published in 1986 and containing all the germs of his series of novels set in south Florida. Perhaps the greatest flaw in this book is that since 9/11 it simply isn’t as funny as it once was. Even a gang of terrorists who can’t get anything right is still a gang of terrorists and today carries more than a small chill or recognition as the reader follows their plot to use the Orange Bowl parade as a stage to frighten all the tourists out of Florida and return it to its once pristine, and mythological, beauty. Nevertheless, this book is worth a read.

Tourist Season is most interesting to a fan of Carl Hiaasen’s novels as an historical piece, the first novel from this engaging, thought provoking, and humorous writer. In it, he introduces all the prototype characters who have become his trademark in the eleven or twelve that have followed. Almost all his books feature a somewhat depressed former or present newspaper writer who’s become disengaged from his job, but who finds his life taking on new meaning in the face of the criminal depredations visited on the Florida, the state Hiaasen reveres, by developers, tourists, and the cynical moneymakers who have destroyed Florida’s natural beauty and pristine wilderness. The hero triumphs at least partly because he’s animated by the issue involved and partly because he meets and falls in love with an engaging young woman whose life has become enmeshed in the plot. The bad guys usually are a combination of cynical users whose only motivation is making money and who don’t mind destroying the beauty of Florida to do so, corrupt politicians willing to be bought or used, and a series of grotesque red-necks who generally can’t get anything right. Hiaasen’s plots are convoluted, laugh out loud funny, and impossibly derived from the waste being laid to the environment. His situations are real and worth ridiculing, and some hope may remain that Hiaasen can exert some influence on development patterns in south Florida using humor as his main weapon.

Tourist Season involves a plot hatched by Skip Wiley who, until recently, has been a successful columnist for a Miami newspaper. Finally, driven to distraction by the tourists and the destruction of the environment they bring with them, he joins forces with fellow wannabe revolutionaries Jesus Bernal, a Yale graduate and failed bomb maker, Viceroy Wilson, a retired professional football player, and Tommy Tigertail, a Seminole Indian made rich by reservation bingo, join forces to disrupt the annual Orange Bowl festival. Brian Keyes, a former newspaper reporter too nice to do the searing interviews of those experiencing tragedy, is hired to investigate the death of one of the victims and discovers the efforts of the plotters despite the city father’s efforts to avoid bad publicity through a cover up. He is also hired to protect the beautiful Kyra, Orange Bowl queen, from the mysterious terrorists. The plot quickly picks up speed and is filled with hilarious twists and turns while never losing sight of Hiaasen’s essentially serious critique of the depredations visited upon his beloved south Florida.

Tourist Season is available from your local independent book store, the chains, or on line. Carl Hiaasen’s early work signals the directions his later work will take, but his humor works and readers will recognize his characters as simulacrums of those who have ruined the beauty of America in many places. The current recession won’t, unfortunately, lead to the restoration of our beaches, streams, or air.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen - Review

Before reading Sara Gruen’s wonderful Water for Elephants, I can remember two other circus books. The first was a sunny and optimistic picture of the world of a circus veterinarian at Ringling Brothers Circus by J.Y. Henderson. Written in 1951 and called Circus Doctor, it told the true story of a young veterinarian coming to work for the circus and having to invent techniques for treating wild animals, because there were no precedents for a position such as his. I must have bought my copy from Scholastic Books for a quarter in my fifth grade class. Spangle by Gary Jennings presented a much different picture. What I most remember, as I remember from a couple of other Jennings books, is his grotesque, and sometimes perverted, characters whose warpage provides too much diversion from the story. On the other hand, Water for Elephants tells a fascinating circus story filled with a range of believable characters, a deep love for animals, and thorough pictures of circus life during the Great Depression.

Narrated by the ninety year old (or is it ninety-three) retired veterinarian Jacob Jankowski living in an assisted living facility and visited only rarely by his now elderly children, the story is told in flashback to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Jacob arrives at the circus when he is unable to complete his veterinary final exams at Cornell after the traumatic deaths of his parents in an automobile accident. He walks out of the exam hall, down the railroad tracks, and into a new world peopled with the wonderful characters Sara Gruen has concocted. Gruen has clearly done her research on the world of the circus. Travelling from town to town in the midst of the Great Depression, the circus picks up pieces of other itinerant shows down on their luck. The owner, Uncle Al, is a lying and conniving character willing to cheat his employees and, if necessary red light them along the way when their presence becomes inconvenient for him. Uncle Al’s chief lieutenant is August Rosenbluth, the manager of all the animal acts, who’s married to the lovely equestrienne Marlena. When Uncle Al and August discover the skills Jacob has, he quickly becomes an important cog in the operation, always without losing his values.

Gruen is perhaps at her best in communicating the qualities of the animals without ever condescending to them or anthropomorphizing them. Bobo the chimpanzee, the Orangutan, and, most plausibly, Rosie the elephant take on character and personality without ever being confused for humans. Yet the readers’ care and compassion for these animals is strong and real. Our anger at those who hurt them rather than trying to understand them is deep. Gruen has written other books about our relationships with animals, and I want to read them.

The story develops around Jacop’s deepening relationship with the dwarf Walter and the alcoholic old circus tramp Camel as well as the complex triangle involving August and Marlenam August’s lovely wife. It is complicated by August’s insane rages alternating with his engaging charm. At his best, August is dangerous; at his worst – deranged. Jacob’s compassion for Marlena turns into repressed love as August becomes increasingly suspicious of a relationship not yet developed. All this is placed within the context of a down at the hills travelling circus and the towns where it stops. Meanwhile, the elderly Jacob, living in an assisted living facility where his children seldom visit him and he has nothing in common with the other residents, learns that a circus is coming to town. His awareness of the circus triggers memories of his pass that vividly fill his imagination and dreams. The story moves backwards and forwards in time as Jacob relives a hard but fulfilling past in a bland and empty present. His excitement increases as the time approaches for the circus to come to town.

Sara Gruen has written an arresting and intriguing novel with broad appeal. It is available in trade paperback from Algonquin Books, or at your independent bookstore as well as chains and on-line.

"Don't Turn Your Back" by Dale Ann Bradley - Review

In his Jam Camps, Pete Wernick teaches novice and intermediate bluegrass jammers about the music, always emphasizing the song, the song, the song. The music is designed to highlight the performers in their instrumental breaks while they do everything to support the singer and the lyric. No singer in bluegrass sells the song better than Dale Ann Bradley, whose receipt of the IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year award in the past two years attests to her recognition within the music. Fellow performers attest to her perfect ear and pitch. Steve Gulley, no mean singer himself and a longtime friend who appears on her current album, tells a story about a studio incident where, as a joke, the band lowered the pitch of a song by a quarter tone. As soon as they struck the first note, Dale Ann stopped the music and pointed out they were off key. Louisa Branscomb, who contributed four songs to the current project, attests to the authenticity, emotional immediacy, and professional mastery of Dale Ann’s genre found in this current project. Dale Ann Bradley’s latest album, “Don’t Turn Your Back” will be released on May 19th and it’s worth the wait.

Some of the songs in this collection may be familiar to festival goers or people who were lucky enough to attend Louisa Branscomb’s songwriter showcase at IBMA in 2008 during which she and Dale Ann sang. Some songs are covers from other genres or performers - old-time to country to rock. In the hands of singer Dale Ann Bradley and producer Alison Brown, they sound fresh and new, filled with melody and life. There are four Branscomb songs in this collection, and she was integral to the collaboration that Dale Ann drew together. Her excitement about her friend’s achievement on this CD is attested to by the several calls I received in which Louisa expanded upon the important themes she saw in the work.

Dale Ann at Podunk Bluegrass Festival
East Hartford, CT

Talking from her car on the way to the Doyle Lawson Bluegrass Festival in Denton, NC, Dale Ann said it was most interesting how the concept of “Don’t Turn Your Back” had emerged. A few years ago she had relocated from her home in Kentucky to Nashville, a highly competitive music scene dominated by younger, up-and-coming musicians. She had been through a rough patch in her life and then experienced the culture shock of moving to the big city. Her longtime friend, Louisa Branscomb, wrote “Don’t Turn Your Back” with Dale Ann in mind and presented her with the song in which she heard a kindred spirit saying “this is you” to her. As Dale Ann looked for additional songs to consider for the CD, she discovered an emerging theme of not turning back, of showing up, of staying in the game. Without hitting the listener too hard with “message,” this theme dominates in this terrific disk.

Don’t turn your back,
Put a penny on the track,
Let that train take your breath away
Give it one more day.

The song expresses the hopeful persistence that showing up rewards. Even though the city may be overwhelming, it’s important to keep showing up, to never turn your back. The song has such power to move Dale Ann that she commented to Louisa, “You know, you saved my career” with this song.

Dale Ann also commented on “Rusty Old Halo.” She noted she doesn’t usually sing protest songs, but she’s been struck by the greed dominating today’s society. The song is a tongue in cheek attempt to look at the world and the promise of a just reward. Alison Brown’s sprightly banjo and Tim Laughlin’s mandolin breaks complement the bouncy melody and hopeful lyric that avoids cynicism while taking a look at greed in our society. Harmony vocals by Steve Gulley and Roscoe Morgan, Jr. are so understated that they could easily be missed if not listened for. Morgan plays bass in Dale Ann’s current touring band. An upbeat and lively song.

Dale Ann and Louisa Branscomb
at IBMA
Songwriter Showcase

Christie McVie’s hit “Over My Head” with Fleetwood Mac from 1975 turns into a bluegrass classic in Dale Ann’s hands on this CD. To see her quality as a song stylist, take a look at McVie singing the original song on this video, and then listen several times to Bradley’s version. Her ability to capture all the meaning of the original in a completely bluegrass rendition shines with every note. Stuart Duncan’s fiddle work throughout the album serves the singer in every way. Steve Gulley commented that Dale Ann is “the most natural singer I’ve ever heard.” He hastened to add that her natural quality in no way diminishes the art in her work. He noted that her deep roots in Kentucky provide her with a base of values and genuineness giving depth to her singing. “She’s never changed. She’s seen a lot of the world…and when she’d seen it, she realized it wasn’t as important for her to change as it was for her to realize who she is and where she’s from.” He pointed out that despite an often difficult life, “where Dale Ann’s concerned, talent won out.”

Louisa Branscomb and Dale Ann collaborated on “Ghost Bound Train” which gains its haunting sound and mysterious drive from Alison Brown’s understated but emphatic rolling wheels and sharp whistles from her masterful banjo backup. Tim Laughlin on mandolin chimes in with strong breaks and the ever-present complement to Brown’s drive in his chop. Dale Ann says Louisa had written the lyrics and when the album called for a hard driving song, the two of them worked up the tune.

Your're ridin’ on a ghost bound train
I hear the whistle in the dark
And it’s the sound of a memory of mystery stalking.
The halls of a lonely heart.

The song captures the tendency to run from love when fear of commitment becomes too strong.

Will I Be Good Enough,” another Louisa Branscomb contribution to this disk, places a newborn baby in a mother’s arms in 1993 and causes her to ask:

Will I be good enough, to keep you, to keep you safe from harm?
Will I be good enough, to teach you right from wrong?
This world is full of wonder, but sometime it gets rough,
When you need me, will I be good enough.

Besides being a fine song about the joys and challenges of parenthood, the song stands in the album as an example of the producer making good placement choices and the versatility of Dale Ann Bradley’s voice, tone, timing, and taste. Terry Baucom, who recently has joined Dale Ann’s touring band, has been quoted as saying, “Dale Ann couldn’t sing off pitch if she tried.” While the statement is certainly true, it doesn’t go far enough. Bradley’s light voice in this song contrasts with her fuller and more dominating punch in others. Her diversity as a singer is superb. Furthermore, “Will I Be Good Enough” can teach a lesson to others who seek to put out good work. In every element of the song, it represents a change from the songs that bracket it, making each one sound even better. This album has a unitary structure that nearly turns it into a single composition with twelve movements.

Dale Ann
Accepting IBMA
Female Entertainer of the Year - 2008

Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” captures the difficulty of facing life’s difficulties and the importance of perseverance:

Hey, Baby, there ain’t no easy way out,
Hey, I will stand my ground.
And I won’t back down.

The final statement of “I won’t back down” contains the complete and utter conviction Dale Ann Bradley’s voice can communicate. Rocker Tom Petty’s work has been showing up more frequently in bluegrass songs. This rendition provides another example of how Bill Monroe’s conception of the music provides plenty of room for tunes from other genres to enter and find a home in bluegrass music without doing violence to the form of the music or the intention of the original.

Often, when a person says, “that’s the last thing on my mind,” they mean it. This lovely song makes a lie of the statement. It opens, “I don’t love him anymore,” and closes on the same refrain. The core of the lyric puts the lie to the bookends. Stuart Duncan’s lonely, soaring fiddle punctuates the lyric and Dale Ann’s voice perfectly.

Dale Ann & Carl Jackson
Back Stage at IBMA Fan Fest - 2008

Frankly, I’m not familiar with the Carter family’s rendition of “50 Miles of Elbow Room,” but the song has been one of my favorites ever since I heard Ron Thomason and Dry Branch Fire Squad sing its uplifting phrases filled with promise. Dale Ann presents the song in a new and different light, highlighting her ability to present a song in a fresh fashion. Perhaps as important, though, is her demonstration of bluegrass’s ability to allow performers huge latitude in interpretation of fine songs, old or new. In talking about Dale Ann in the studio, Louisa Branscomb said she enters working on the songs with a true humility, taking what each person in the studio can add and working to make it part of the whole. As producer, Alison Brown helped create this environment of true collaboration. Dale Ann Bradley manages to throw herself completely into a project, bringing everyone else involved along with her in her own quiet, gentle, yet compelling fashion. As a result of this close collaborative environment, the entire project was recorded in three days with very little need for electronic trickery. As Branscomb says, “Dale Ann doesn’t have to try to be anything, because she is the real thing.” This authenticity shouts out from each of her songs.

Performing at IBMA Fan Fest - 2008
Deanie Richerdson, Gina Britt, Mike Bub, Dale Ann,
Tim Laughlin, & Randall Conn

The CD contains two traditional songs digging into Dale Ann’s rural roots deep in the Kentucky hills. She comes from that little corner of eastern Kentucky joining western Virginia, Tennessee, and North Carolina where bluegrass music and its predecessors have been nurtured and developed in homes, on porches, and in small venues for generations, Bradley calls upon her roots while developing a larger and more comprehensive vision making the music universal in its appeal. Part of her genius lies in keeping so entirely in touch with her rural roots while functioning effectively in the high tech, highly competitive music environment of Nashville. In “Heaven,” Jamie Dailey joins Dale Ann on the lead while both Jamie and his partner Darin Vincent, join her on the refrains. In the liner notes, Dale Ann comments she’s been singing this song since she was a child. The interplay of the three voices brings new life to this old song. “Blue Eyed Boy” is another traditional song with roots in Appalachia. Stuart Duncan plays old time banjo on this one with Deanie Richardson on fiddle. Its haunting flavor also meets the need to include a good murder song in a bluegrass collection. Mike Bub is always so solid and unobtrusive with his bass play, and it sets the pace on this simple and moving song.

Dale Ann Bradley, Louisa Branscomb, & Tim Laughlin
IBMA - ASCAP Showcase - 2008

“Music City Queen” by Bradley and Branscomb celebrates Dale Ann’s move from Kentucky to Nashville and her triumph over the challenge and adversity of such a move. Dale Ann had had this song on her mind for quite some time. Branscomb helped her finish the lyrics and the tune on this collaboration.

With a sack full of songs and my last thirty dollars
As you’re holding everything I ever wanted.
Music City Queen, how much heartache have you seen?
How many souls have you broken?
For each star in you lights, a hundred cry at night,
On the corner of Broadway and Tomorrow? Oh the sorrow.

.
Tim Laughlin’s mandolin solo captures the sorrow and loneliness of the song. Somehow, though, this closing refrain can’t destroy the tone of hope and strength the song communicates in the face of the city’s power to hurt and destroy. And so has Dale Ann Bradley triumphed in this album of hope, perseverance, strength, truth and tunefulness.

Dale Ann Bradley’s new album “Don’t Turn Your Back” is a Compass Records release and can be purchased directly from the publisher, from the artist, or at local and national outlets. Samples can also be heard at the above address. If any album stands as a whole, this one does, and should be purchased for the totality of its concept as well as the quality of each individual song.

Dale Ann Bradley

Strawberry Park Bluegrass Festival - Preview

Main Stage from Rear

Dale Ann Bradley
on stage at
Strawberry Park

Strawberry Park Bluegrass Festival will open its 32^nd season on Thursday, May 28^th and run through Sunday, May 31^st at Strawberry Park Campground in Preston, CT. Strawberry Park annually offers one of the strongest lineups in New England at one of the very best venues anywhere. Strawberry Park is a large, all-purpose campground that annually hosts at least two music festivals and one of the most comprehensive campground activity schedules I’ve ever seen. The lineup for the bluegrass festival is stellar this year, filled with leading lights in bluegrass whose music ranges from traditional to progressive. Beginning with Thursday evening’s appetizer and ending with a rich dessert on Sunday, Strawberry Park provides enough music to sate anyone’s appetite, and this great festival serves as the first course in a summer season of wonderful New England bluegrass music.

Amy Gallatin & Roger Williams

Amy Gallatin
Ron Thomason (Dry Branch Fire Squad)
Brian Aldridge, Dan Russell, & Ron Thomason

Tom Boyd (Dry Branch Fire Squad)

Josh Williams (IBMA Guitar Player of the Year)

The lineup for Strawberry Park is, again, exceptional. Old favorites like the Gibson Brothers and Dry Branch Fire Squad will be returning. Hot national bands like Rhonda Vincent & the Rage and Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper are here. Bands I don’t remember seeing at Strawberry Park like Kenny & Amanda Smith and the Josh Williams Band will be there, too. There are too many good bands to write about them all. Many of them have very good new CDs out in time for the festival season. The tough economic times have affected the music industry for some time. Please give serious consideration to supporting these bands by purchasing their work directly from them at the festival. They earn a larger percentage when they sell directly to you, and you get the chance to interact with them. Many of these bands appear over two days, but often don’t have multiple sets on a single day. Check out the schedule carefully. There are too many good bands appearing at Strawberry Park for me to highlight each one separately. The schedule is designed to keep you entertained and engaged from Amy Gallatin’s opening set on Thursday evening to the Lonesome River Band’s powerful closing on Sunday. Enjoy all four days! Many of the featured bands have had major personnel changes during the past year. Keep an eye and ear out for how these new players affect the bands’ sounds. Look at Joe Walsh with the Gibson Brothers, Ben Helson with Rhonda Vincent, and Darrell Web with Mike Cleveland. Also, keep an eye out for two relatively new bands you probably haven't seen: The Farewell Drifters from Nashville and The Boston Boys from nearby.

Danny Paisley & Southern Grass

Danny Paisley

The Farewell Drifters

Carol Young (The Greencards)

Kym Warner (The Greencards)

Eamon McLaughlin (The Greencards)

Amanda Smith (Kenny & Amanda Smith Band)

Kenny Smith

Strawberry Park - Main Stage

Audience from Stage

This year, Strawberry Park has added a new stage to its program. A Folk Music and Dance Venue will run throughout the day on Saturday featuring dance instruction, a demonstration of clogging, and four different groups to provide live music for dancing. Bluegrass music itself was not designed as a music which emphasized audience participation, either in terms of singing or dancing. That’s more in the realm of folk and other forms of music. Many venues place dance platforms off to the side to allow dancers to express themselves, but free form dancing often interferes with those who wish to watch and listen to the intricate interplay that bluegrass music features. The addition of this venue will provide dancers with great opportunities and present an alternative for those tired of sitting. The Kids Academy is an annual feature of Strawberry Park's program. Staffed by highly professional volunteers, the program provides a solid introduction to playing bluegrass as well as an opportunity to appear on stage on Sunday. Further information about the Academy and the Connecticut Bluegrass Music Association can be found here.

Kids Academy Rehearsing

Kids Academy Performing

The Kruger Brothers

Jens Kruger

Uwe Kruger

Mike Cleveland (Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper)

Jesse Brock (Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper)

Marshall Willborn (Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper)

Rhonda Vincent

Hunter Berry (Rhonda Vincent & the Rage)

Strawberry Park makes excellent use of its resort campground facilities to support this fine festival. The full-service portions of the campground are expansive, yet convenient to the main stage, located in a lovely, shaded natural amphitheater. A large area is set aside for rough camping, free with a four day ticket, where there’s lots of enthusiastic jamming late into the night. Well, very long into the morning, too. There are plenty of opportunities for kids to swim in the two pools, jump on the inflated (and safe) bouncing thingy, and romp on a variety of playgrounds. A fully staffed snack bar, The Strawberry Grill & Creamery, offers food from hamburgers and hot dogs to full plates as well as excellent breakfast choices as well as hand-dipped and soft serve ice cream. These offerings are supplemented by several good food vendors near enough to the performance area to be convenient while far enough away so the alluring smells don’t reach the audience. If inclement weather dominates, there’s an indoor hall where the festival can continue, although management is properly reluctant to make this move.

Strawberry Park Pools

Jumping Area

Eric Gibson

Leigh Gibson

Joe Walsh (The Gibson Brothers)

Dale Ann Bradley

I’ll be blogging daily from Strawberry Park during the festival with lots of pictures and some text. Consider this preview to be an appetizer and look for more on each of the bands during the festival.

Lonesome River Band
Sammy Shelor

Brandon Rickman changing strings on the fly

Mike Anglin

Andy Ball

Mike Hartgrove

Bluegrass on the Waccamaw - Review

Becoming a part of a bluegrass festival from the inside offers quite a different, and in many ways more interesting, insight into the joys of being associated with bluegrass music and the difficulty of putting on a first class bluegrass event. Jennings Chestnut, who owns a small mandolin shop at 304 Main Street in Conway, SC has been associated with bluegrass music for more than forty years. This was the thirteenth edition of Bluegrass on the Waccamaw, a "free to the public" day-long bluegrass festival held in the Old Peanut Warehouse along the Waccamaw River in downtown Conway. The festival, always held on the second Saturday in May, features a strong lineup of national bands along with local and regional ones. Just as important as the quality of the music, however, is the family-like environment and informal come-and-go feeling.

Jennings Chestnut - Promoter

While the work for us, as volunteers, begins on Wednesday, Jennings begins work on next year's festival a few days after this year's ends. Several years ago, Bluegrass on the Waccamaw became a 501 (c)3 non-profit organization because of its contributions to the bluegrass community of low country South Carolina and the folk culture of Horry County and Conway. In order to continue making bluegrass music available to those who otherwise might not be able to attend a bluegrass festival, Jennings must raise money all year round in the form of grants and contributions.

Warehouse Ready for Decoration and Furnishing

The Old Peanut Warehouse, built sometime in the nineteenth century, is a wonderful old wood frame building with a spacious interior and a porch, ideal for bluegrass performance, from which the late South Carolina senator Strom Thurmond once gave a speech. The inside of the building is used for a benefit supper and musical showcase on Friday night before the festival and on Saturday serves as the staging area for the bands ans well as the home of a justly famed buffet table for bands, their families, and staff members.

Volunteers Set up Vending Tent

Bunting's a Necessity

Volunteers put in two solid days of preparation for the opening dinner. Meanwhile, outdoors, tents are delivered and erected, porta-johns set on the site, grounds mowed and cleaned, traffic patterns adjusted, and all the small details that must come together to put on a festival of any size move forward under Jennings' direction. There's only one person who has the overall vision and is responsible for seeing that all the myriad activities come together on Friday evening and again on Saturday.

The Faces of Volunteers
Steve Hinman

Lynn Butler

Board Member - Donald Smith

As dinner time approaches on Friday evening, the band arrives, the caterer delivers the food, and a sense of excitement begins to grow. This evening's showcase band will be the Darin & Brooke Aldridge Quintet. Darin is familiar to many in this audience through his previous association with Charlie Waller and The Country Gentlemen as well as its successor band, The Circuit Riders, who have appeared previously at Bluegrass on the Waccamaw. This is his first appearance here with his wife and their new gospel band. Meanwhile, Larry Dickerson, who owns a couple of local restaurants, has delivered the Chicken Bog dinner, and people are beginning to arrive.

Larry Dickerson - Caterer

Buffet Line - Willie Chestnut Serving

Brooke Justice Aldridge at Sound Check

Brooke & Darin Aldridge Quintet

Darin & Brooke

The Quintet offers stirring gospel music along with polished bluegrass singing and picking. The band has been designed to support Brooke's wonderful voice while offering plenty of changes of pace with the singing of Darin and Eddie Biggertaff as well as solo work by Darin on mandolin, Perry Woddie on Dobro, and Chris Bryant on banjo. This year should be a breakout one for this fine band. As the evening ends, the volunteers re-arrange the tables and chairs to prepare for the arrival of the bands the next morning.

Saturday dawns clear and warm with the promise of a very hot day to come. A slight breeze offers relief from the heat, but it's going to be a hot one with plenty of good music to keep things warm.

The Riverwalk on the Waccamaw

Emcee Dale Morris Interviews Jimmie Stone - First Band

Brenda Butler Constructs Cake in a Bowl

Jimmie Stone & the Southland Boys

Finding Shade
Under the Tent

Beneath the Highway Bridge

Flatt City

One of the important features of Bluegrass on the Waccamaw is its educational mission of spreading bluegrass music to young people. Local string teacher and musician at the Alabama Theater in Myrtle Beach Rober Napier appears this year with some of his string string students. From quite young to middle aged, his students learn the universal language of music with a particular emphasis on the classic fiddle songs and playing together by ear.

Robert Napier and His Students

Nothing every happens by coincidence at Bluegrass on the Waccamaw, so it makes a lot of sense that the Snyder Family Band follows the student musicians. Zeb and Samantha Snyder (13 and 10) are young in age but seasoned in experience and way beyond counting in skill. They have won contests and performed for several years. As Zeb moves into adolescence, his picking has the maturity of a man twice his age. Samantha's fiddling is already maturing, and her voice will come along with age. Professional musicians come out from back stage to hear them play and adults want to be in pictures with them. Impressive!

Samantha Snyder

Zeb Snyder with his Father Bud

Alan Bibey Conducts Mandolin Workshop

As the afternoon continues, the pace picks up. Out front, bands are playing. Other bands arrive by tour bus or in cars driven by individual band members, some coming from as far away as Nashville. Musicians go down to meet pickers at the workshop tent to present instrumental and song writing workshops. Back stage, the buffet is busy as hungry musicians, security police, families, and guests eat and visit. There's an air of anticipation as well as happy greetings as musicians who often don't have time to visit at other venues spend time together chatting. It's a lively and enjoyable scene.

Lizzy & Rebekah Long with Phil Leadbetter

Larry Dickerson and His Crew at the Food Tent

Sometimes a Little Nap Helps

For some time it's been obvious that Little Roy Lewis' sisters would not be able to continue to perform for much longer. That time has, sadly, arrived, and Polly, suffering from severe deterioration, her elder sister Miggie, and Janice have retired from the road. Meanwhile, Lizzy Long, has recorded with Little Roy and Earl Scruggs, and is now beginning to tour with her own band, now featuring Little Roy Lewis. Lizzy plays a variety of instruments and has added her twin sister Rebekah on bass, as well as Ricky Rakestraw on guitar and Doug Flowers on mandolin and harmony vocals. The band is solid and the addition of Little Roy makes them entertaining. They're off to a good start and have picked up many of the dates the Lewis Family was forced to abandon.

Lizzy Long on Resophonic Slide Banjo

Little Roy Lewis

Little Roy & Rebekah Long

Kenny Ingram - Banjo Great

Steve Gulley - Songwriting Workshop

Grasstowne has now been on the scene for a little over two years. They've established a reputation for impeccable musicianship and excited audiences with their skill and soul. Alan Bibey may be one of the best mandolin players in the world, not just in bluegrass, but in a range of genres. Phil Leadbetter has won awards as Dobro player of the year from both IBMA and SPBGMA. Steve Gulley is recognized as one of the top singers in the music, as well as a talented producer, and IBMA award winning song writer. Along with the extremely talented young Jason Davis on banjo and the recently added Travis Greer on bass, they're a force to be reckoned with. Their new CD is in final production, and should hit the streets sometime this summer or early fall.

Alan Bibey

Steve Gulley

Phil Leadbetter

Jason Davis

Travis Greer

Rocky Springs has been a fixture of the bluegrass community in eastern South Carolina for years. He was scheduled to act as emcee and to perform at Bluegrass on the Waccamaw this year. Very sadly, he collapsed and died at Reno Fest in Hartsdale, SC a few weeks ago. Jennings Chestnut presented his wife Phyllis with a posthumous Lifetime Commitment Award givent annually at Bluegrass on the Waccamaw.

Phyllis Springs & Jennings Chestnut

Jennings Presents a Photograph and Commemorative T-Shirts
to
Phyllis Springs, Her Daughter, and Rocky's Sisters

The Larry Stephenson Band has established a record of high quality and good entertainment over the years. Larry's pure tenor voice is one of the very best. He's recently been joined by veteran banjo great Kenny Ingram and young Kevin Richardson, a hot picking guitarist. Micheal Faegan, formerly of the Larry Sparks Band, has joined Stephenson on fiddle and Kyle Perkins remains steady as a rock on bass. This excellent band closed Bluegrass on the Waccamaw for the year.

Larry Stephenson

Kenny Ingram

Kevin Richardson

Washburn Guitar Winner

Officer Joe Hudson with the Snyder Kids

Very close to the ten o'clock deadline, the music ended, the crowd went home, and the volunteers completed the cleanup. Another Bluegrass on the Waccamaw was successfully completed.

Ring the Bell by The Gibson Brothers - CD

“Ring the Bell” is the first Gibson Brothers album being released today by Compass Records, and it’s a great new contribution to their ever growing record of accomplishment and musical creativity. The twelve new songs, including five by Eric and Leigh Gibson, present them doing what they do perhaps better than any other band around today. The honesty and truthfulness of their lyrics perfectly complement the sincerity of their close knit brother harmonies. This new album should take its place beside their four previous number one disks at the top of the charts.

“I Know Whose Tears” by Joe Newberry leads off the Gibson Brothers new CD “Ring the Bell” with an uplifting song about the power of:

Mother, my first companion,
Mother my truest friend,
Mother way up in Heaven,
Mother, we’ll meet again.

Opening with an almost dirge like fiddle solo from Clayton Campbell, the song leaps into a meditation of the calamities that can befall a loving son (hanging, death in a foreign land, drowning, death in a right cause, or damnation) and affirm the power of a mother’s love to salve the soul and bring peace. Eric Gibson’s clear tenor and haunting banjo dominate this song with Leigh Gibson’s close, high harmony providing the fill. As is usual in a Gibson Brothers interpretation of a song, sincerity and honesty dominate this song that in lesser hands and voices could reek of sentimentality. Clayton’s fiddle, echoing the word “mother” each time it reaches out provides the perfect punctuation. Joe Newberry has written a lyric that could easily fall into maudlin sentimentality into a song of faith and belief without the usual "yuck" factor that can accompany mother songs.

The Gibson Brothers on the Hillside Stage
at
Merlefest

This album was recorded using the current Gibson Brothers touring band of Leigh and Eric Gibson, Mike Barber on bass, Clayton Campbell on fiddle, and new addition Joe Walsh on mandolin with an occasional hand from MikeWitcher on Dobro. In “I Can’t Like Myself,” Leigh, Eric, Mike, and Joe have collaborated on writing a lilting song that captures the problems of abject love in which the singer must choose between liking himself and loving the object of his affection:

Gonna run, gonna run to the mountain high,
And be alone with the big blue sky,
Gonna cry, gonna cry ‘til the sky ain’t blue,
Or I like myself, and I don’t love you.

Walsh’s bouncy mandolin breaks and fills add a new, fluid style and sound to the Gibson Brothers sound without changing their essential vibe. In this song, Leigh’s voice takes the lead with a sense of self-discovery. Eric’s banjo triplets emphasize the positive nature of the song and the singers.

Joe Walsh

Many Gibson Brothers love songs describe relationships that are falling or missing something without one or the other partner being to blame. Somehow, lost love and missed communications are what happens in life. In the Shawn Camp and Paul Kennerly song “The Wishing Well,” Leigh sings:

No, the wishing well ain’t working,
There must be something wrong,
It’s taken my last dollar,
And I’m sinking like a stone.

Mike Witcher contributes an understated, but perfect, Dobro sound in this song as well as several others. The interplay of fiddle and mandolin here is delightful as the song dances through the sense of lost love without lost hope. Perhaps this is characteristic of the typical Gibson Brother’s song, that even as life looks dark, the genuine sound of hope for the future stands out. Despite the singer’s assertion that he’s sinking like a stone, I can’t help feeling things will work out, perhaps because he may have learned that wishing won’t do the trick.

Eric Gibson

When I heard “Ring the Bell” on the Hillside Stage at Merlefest in April, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. This is a gospel song so filled with hope and the spirit of community that it’s truly irresistible. The song of the bell, perhaps a church bell, perhaps from some other source calls:

Now the farmer and the teacher,
And the barber and the preacher,
All held hands and moved as one.

This captures the spirit in the Chet O’Keefe song. As so often happens in Eric and Leigh’s work, the sounds echo across the mountain and valleys that capture the sense of the Adirondack Mountains dominating the region just to the south of their northern New York home. Eric’s understated yet powerful banjo shows itself wonderfully in this song. His banjo work has yet to receive the recognition it deserves. While not a dominating virtuoso, everything he does is designed to serve the lyric, which always comes first in Gibson Brothers work. The power of the Spirit to touch a person at the core comes through this song in every note.

Leigh Gibson

Having produced a hit using Tom Petty’s song “Cabin Down Below” in their previous disk, the Gibsons have chosen another Petty piece, “Angel Dream” for this album. Wikipedia describes Petty’s work as fitting into the adult contemporary and classic rock genres. The genius of the Gibson Brothers is to be able to incorporate the works of a classic rocker into a bluegrass song without seeming to bend the bluegrass genre beyond anyone but the most hide bound traditionalist’s limits. This song

I dreamed you, I saw your face
Found my lifeline, when drifting through space,
I saw an angel, I saw my face,
I can only thank God it was not too late

captures the relief and joy of finding the end of loneliness. The tempo and drive of the song modulate in support of the words as the dream may or may not become reality.

Mike Barber

In “What Can I Do?” by Bob diPiero, Eric and Leigh Gibson capture the sense of powerlessness of a lover seeking to show what he knows within himself to be true. Again, lack of communication and longing for oneness dominate the song as the Dobro solos haunt the background while allowing Leigh’s voice to set the tone. “Jericho” is another Joe Newberry song with jump and liveliness to it, in marked contrast to his other contribution to this album, “I Know Whose Tears.” It shows his versatility. The song is up tempo and upbeat, with Leigh’s voice in the lead.

Clayton Campbell

“Farm of Yesterday” and “Bottomland” continue a theme found in previous Gibson Brothers’ songs like “The Next One is Mine” and “The Barn Song.” In many ways, the borderland of northern New York, hard on the Canadian border is an agricultural wasteland. The difficult winters and changing economic climate forced Eric and Leigh’s family to abandon farming after several generations of dairy farming. The loss of the farm life and the decline of rural America are typical material for bluegrass music. The Gibsons bring their own lives and experiences to this world. In “Bottomland,” written by Leigh, the singer has achieved wealth and success, but finds his life empty without the joys of living close to the land as the music trails off into silence, an unusual ending for a bluegrass song. Eric wrote “Farm of Yesterday” which comes at the same theme from a different focus. The two complement each other in much the same way the two brothers’ voices do. In addition to his fine singing, Leigh Gibson plays very solid rhythm guitar and is a respectable flat picker. The Gibson package is as complete as you can expect from a five piece band, creating a strong wall of sound that comes together as great music.

Eric & Leigh with Pete Wernick
on
The Cabin Stage at Merlefest

“Just an Old Rounder” by Marshall Warwick is a song of salvation from a dissolute life through God’s salvation. Its upbeat sounds of hope and future contrasts remarkably well with the sadness of the two farm songs as well as the ones of lost love. Walsh’s strong, yet understated chop works well with Eric’s banjo solos. Gospel songs, in the hands of the Gibsons, always emphasize redemption and hope rather than pain and suffering, a welcome touch. The idea of the lost sheep being found dominates. Mike Barber’s bass frames the tone and beat of all Gibson Brothers work. His unobtrusive work contributes in each and every song, and it’s too easy to underestimate the consistently strong work he has contributed since the genesis of this band.

Eric

Eric’s song “Forever Has No End” opens the theme of rekindling dying love.

Feel the ocean, feel the wind,
Feel the sunshine on your skin,
Our golden days will never fade,
Forever has no end, forever has no end.

It celebrates the value of commitment to marriage and to seeking to maintain the good things in relationships through eternity. “That’s What I Get for Lovin’ You” by Eric and Leigh shows the other side of the coin: the pain of loss and the emptiness of a relationship gone bad. As so often happens in good bluegrass songs the upbeat message communicated by the music contrasts markedly with the content of the lyric.

Leigh

As is so often the case with well thought out collections of songs, this CD deserves to be purchased and listened to in toto. The songs in this collection represent a thoughtful bringing together of themes and sounds familiar to Gibson Brothers fans while adding fresh energy and content. Those not yet familiar with their work or having heard only cuts on the radio should seek to immerse themselves in the joyful world of sound, tone, and lyric they create. Samples from the songs can be heard at Compass Records and the CD can also be purchased there. We like to buy artist’s CDs directly from them at festivals. The Gibson Brothers have a busy, and expanding, touring schedule for the rest of this year. If you’re going to be seeing them soon, why not purchase the CD directly from the band? It’s a good thing CDs don’t wear out. This one will inhabit the player in your car and be featured on your iPod for months to come.

Bluegrass on the Waccamaw, Conway, SC - Preview

The Old Peanut Warehouse, Conway, SC

Audience under the Tent

Bluegrass on the Waccamaw will be held at the Old Peanut Warehouse in Conway, SC (fifteen miles west of Myrtle Beach) on Saturday, May 9 from noon until 10:00 PM. This “Free to the Public” festival offers world class bluegrass in a format and at a price (FREE) that should attract bluegrass fans from Charleston to Wilmington to points west for the music and the fun. Promoter Jennings Chestnut, owner of the Chestnut Mandolin Shop in Conway and builder of the well-liked Chestnut mandolin, will be presenting the thirteenth annual festival. Featured national touring bands on Saturday will be Grasstowne, The Larry Stephenson Band, and Lizzy Long & Legacy. A selection of well-regarded local and regional bands will also be featured in this high quality lineup.

Barbecue Supper Friday Night

Jeanette Williams Band Performing Last Year

A delightful feature of Bluegrass on the Waccamaw is the annual Friday night showcase and barbecue dinner catered by local restaurant owner and chef Larry Dickerson. This year’s featured band will be The Darin Aldridge & Brook Justice Aldridge Quintet from Cherryville, NC. Darin and Brooke have recently released a very highly regarded CD called “I’ll Go with You” from Pinecastle Records has been exciting bluegrass gospel fans for about a year and was nominated for a Dove Award. Not limited to gospel music, this band also offers a fine mixture of traditional bluegrass and gospel music highlighted by Darin’s great mandolin and guitar work as well as his fine tenor voice. Brooke (Justice) Aldridge is a new voice on the bluegrass scene and will be making waves soon. Her powerful voice sells a song as well as anyone ever has. Supported by Chris Bryant on banjo, Eddie Biggerstaff on bass, and Perry Woddie on Dobro, this band’s music and song is always fully satisfying. They made their Merlefest debut in April, and were very warmly received. The showcase music is served up with a tasty and varied barbecue dinner. Tickets sell for $25.00 and can be obtained by calling Jennings Chestnut at 843.248.6399. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear great music, enjoy good fellowship, and share a fine meal inside this historic Conway building.

Darin & Brooke Justice Aldridge Quintet

Darin & Brooke Aldridge

Eddie Biggerstaff

Chris Bryant

Perry Woddie

Bluegrass on the Waccamaw on Saturday is a special event located in a special venue. The Old Peanut Warehouse in Conway is a very large unpainted building built along the Waccamaw River. A bridge carrying Highway 501 soars over the building and the nearby river walk where jammers congregate, boats stop by, and swimmers loll around and bathe on hot May days. The Warehouse is located in downtown Conway near a variety of local restaurants. Vendors provide food and drink. The bands are located on a raised porch named after South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond, who once gave a speech from it. Musicians merchandise tables are set along one side. Shade is provided by a good sized tent and the shadow of the highway. The festival grounds are one of the few “Town” locations we visit, and provide a very pleasant location for enjoying bluegrass.

Jamming on the Riverwalk

Waccamaw Riverwalk

This year’s lineup is headed by two very fine and well-known national touring bands. Grasstowne is returning for its third consecutive year. This band, newly formed in 2007, features three of the finest musicians in bluegrass music at its core. Alan Bibey, Steve Gulley, and Phil Leadbetter are at the top of their field as musicians. Bibey is such a fine mandolin player and stylist that Bibey Style mandolin is recognized as a way to play the instrument. He has served with top bands and has always been a top notch player. Steve Gulley, from Cumberland Gap, TN, is, as Dennis Jones says, “A graduate of the Doyle Lawson school of bluegrass,” and has established himself as one of the very finest singers in the business. He was a founding member of Mountain Heart. Phil Leadbetter has been recognized by IBMA as Dobro player of the year in 2005 as well as by SPBGMA in 2009. Together, this trio has been nominated for and given more awards than space permits me to catalog. They are joined by Jason Davis on banjo, one of the very best young traditional banjo players in the business. They have recently been joined by Travis Greer on bass. This band’s second album is about to be released, and they are always a treat to hear. People who know bluegrass music recognize them as one of the very top bands around.

Grasstowne on the Strom Thurmond Porch

Alan Bibey

Steve Gulley

Phil Leadbetter

Jason Davis

The Larry Stephenson Band features one of the purest tenor singers in bluegrass. In songs like “Knoxville Girl,” “For Sale, Baby Shoes Never Used” and “The Sound that Set My Soul on Fire,” his voices touch the heart and the mind of the listener. He’s also a fine Monroe style mandolin player. Recently his band has been joined by Kenny Ingram on banjo. Kenny has just come off a number of years with Rhonda Vincent & the Rage. With Stephenson’s band he has been moved to a central place in the band, where his great banjo play re-creates the kind of sound he once made with Lester Flatt. Michael Feagan, long time member of Larry Sparks’ band, has joined Stephenson recently. I’ll be interested to hear his sound with a different kind of band. Kyle Perkins is the senior member of the group on bass. His solid beat and great tone always contribute to the band. Kevin Richardson on guitar is young, widely experienced, having spent several years with Lou Reid and Carolina, and very effective. Altogether, with Stephenson remaining the center of this fine band, it has improved itself and its sound despite changes in personnel. The Larry Stephenson Band can always be counted on for a good show.

Larry Stephenson

Kenny Ingram

Kyle Perkins

Michael Feagan

Kevin Richardson

Larry & Dreema Stephenson
Proud Parents
of
Faylon Whysper Sydney Stephenson
Born April 25, 2009

Lizzy Long & Legacy is a Nashville based band that has recently hit the festival trail. Lizzy is a protégé of Little Roy Lewis and Earl Scruggs who have schooled her well in a number of instruments that complement her fine voice. Little Roy will be appearing at Bluegrass on the Waccamaw with Lizzy. Her twin sister, Rebekah, plays bass in her band. Other members of the band are Doug Flowers and Rickey Rakestraw. She recently released a recording featuring herself on several instruments as well as Little Roy and Earl Scruggs. That’s pretty high cotton. It’s a new and young band that deserves attention and may make its mark in the next few years.

Lizzie Long

Little Roy

Lizzy with Mentor Little Roy Lewis

The Snyder Family Band is a vehicle to showcase two truly remarkable youngsters. Both thirteen year old Zeb Snyder on guitar and his lovely ten year old sister Samantha on vocals and fiddle are prodigies. Their father, Bud, provides the beat on bass. Both are regulars in contests in North Carolina where they are regular winners, too. I’ve seen Zeb sit on a stage with Steve Kilby, Kilby’s wife, Ron Block, and Uwe Kruger holding his own in a guitar jam. He plays a Wayne Henderson guitar he won in a guitar competition. His work should be allowed to stand for itself. After hearing him play, you won’t be saying, “He plays really well for a thirteen year old.” Rather, you’ll just say, “He’s a hoss!” Samantha plays the fiddle really well. She’s increasingly comfortable in the jam of a bluegrass band and will only get better. While her voice is still young, she carries the tune with a maturity beyond her years. I’m eager to hear her voice develop. I know where her fiddling’s going and it will be a joy to watch. Oh, did I say these kids and their parents are really nice people, too?

Zeb & Samantha Snyder

Zeb Snyder

Bobby Hicks & Samantha Snyder

Flatt City is a very solid regional band from Charlotte. Their music relies on traditional sources while bringing newer influences to bear. We’ve seen them before and look forward to hearing how their sound has developed in the past eighteen months. Jimmy Stone & The Southland Boys is a local group who know their stuff and are entertaining. The Bluegrass Strangers will be playing at least one set as well as providing the sound. Fiddler and teacher Robert Napier will bring some of his fiddle students to show their progress.

Jimmie Stone

A series of instrumental workshops will be provided by Alan Bibey, Steve Gulley, Robert Napier, and Phil Leadbetter. It’s not often that folks get a chance to attend workshops by musicians of this very high quality. Last year the workshop tent was enthusiastically filled by devoted fans seeking help or insight into their instruments.

Jennings Chestnut and Family

Dylan, Willie, Amanda Lynn & Ginger