Old time musician and Columbia recording artist from the 1920s, Clarence “Tom” Ashley, was recorded during a folk festival symposium in 1963. [CLICK HERE] to listen to his rememberances of what he calls “Lassie-makin’”.
Tom Ashley and Doc Watson
Archive for April, 2007
Tom Ashley on Lassie-makin’
Sunday, April 29th, 2007Wade Mainer
Tuesday, April 24th, 2007Wade Mainer turned 100 last Saturday, and 500 friends attended a party near his home in Flint, Michigan.
For those who may not know, Wade is a wonderful singer and banjo player from the Carolinas, who, along with his fiddle playing brother J.E. had a string band active in radio and recordings in the 1930s, “The Crazy Mountaineers”. In a way, they could be considered the New Lost City Ramblers of the 1930s, since they recreated some of the great string band songs from the previous two decades. It would be well worth your while to look up some of their recordings. My favorite is “Ridin’ On That Train 45″, with guitarist Daddy John Love and Fiddlin’ Steve Ledford on the Victor lable.
(?) spoons, Zeke Morris (?) guitar, JE Mainer fiddle, Wade Mainer banjo, John Love (?) guitar
I first met Wade while he was performing at one of the old UCLA Folk Festivals – I believe in 1965 – and was very impressed at how well he played and at the amazing continuity of his sound from the 1930s to the 60s. Twenty years later, I was staying with a friend in Tucson when Wade and his wife Julia drove up in their pickup camper and camped out with us for the next three days. I tried my best to play some Ledford long-bow fiddle for him and watched his banjo pickin’ closely. He plays a two-finger lead style using his thumb and index finger. Among other things, Wade told me he had been approached by Bill Monroe when he was first forming his Blue Grass Boys. Bill was looking for a banjo player and asked Wade to play. Wade (who was the older man) told Bill he alrerady had his own band and wasn’t interested in becoming a sideman! Bill wound up hiring David Akeman (AKA “String Bean”), but that’s another story.
Wade is still performing, by the way, along with his wife Julia who really doesn’t need a mic in most concert halls – she’s a powerful singer and guitar player. Any help in positively identifying the (?) players appreciated.
-Peter
An adventure in “Reverse Busking”
Thursday, April 19th, 2007[As reported on 4/9, "Fiddling in the DC Metro", the Washington Post ran an article on violinist Joshua Bell busking in Washington DC. The following is a comment on posts made to Fiddle List a few days later.]
I have greatly enjoyed all the posts stemming from the WP article on J. Bell’s DC busking experience. As I thought, the amifications go wide and deep and several of you have pointed out very interesting ways of looking at this situation, so ingrained in folk fiddle musics.
While I haven’t done much busking myself, I’d like to share one experience from a few years ago that has stayed with me.
Fiddler Byron Berline lived in the Los Angeles area (Van Nuys) many years, and returned to his youthful stomping grounds around the turn of the Millenium. Before he went, we did a number of shows together. We were hired to play the Santa Monica Pier on a Sunday afternoon (it happened to be Super Bowl Sunday, so Byron had Bette tape the event to watch later – they’re both sports nuts).
Anyways, we played as a duo; Byron on fiddle and myself on guitar – a program lasting about 2 1/2 hours with a midway break. It was on an outdoor stage on the pier, and we got a pretty good audience – they applauded at the right places, etc. At the end of the performance, I believe Byron finished up with his “Sally Goodin”, and the crowd loved it. Many came up to say hi, perhaps buy a CD, etc. One person, obviously a man of the streets in a ragged jacket and pants and baseball cap, came up to the stage front and said nothing at all, just stood there, beaming. He emptied his pockets of all the small change and bills he’d collected that day – leaving us with a pile of cash, turned around, and strolled off, as if he were a millionaire returning to his limo.
I don’t think either one of us will ever forget him.
-Peter
A conversation about bluegrass history
Wednesday, April 18th, 2007A couple of weeks ago, Peter was invited by radio host Andy Doerr to visit with him at KCSB to talk about bluegrass history and related topics. Some excerpts from this conversation, and samples of songs presented that morning are available HERE.
Our Presidio Chapel Show 4/7 is reviewed
Thursday, April 12th, 2007DJ Palladino of the Santa Barbara Independent has given us a review of our show last Saturday at Santa Barbara’s Presidio Chapel. Looks like fiddler Tommy Marton came though with the goods… It was basically a sellout, so we’ll try it agin later this year.
Fiddling in the DC Metro
Monday, April 9th, 2007This past weekend, The Washington Post printed a column in their weekly magazine (click here for article) on a social experiment involving star violinist Joshua Bell. On a workday morning, Joshua brought his $3.5 million Stradivarius down into the Washington DC subway and stayed for most of an hour, performing against a wall at the top of the escalator leading down to the trains.
The article covers the reactions he received in some detail, and it’s a worthy read.
-Peter
Peter to do radio interview Tuesday AM
Sunday, April 1st, 2007Radio DJ Andy Doerr has invited me to make a guest appearance on his KCSB-FM show (91.9) this Tuesday morning, April 3rd around 10:00 AM. I’ll talk a little about our upcoming show at the Presidio Chapel April 7th, as well as offering a few thoughts on bluegrass history. Tune in if you can.
-Peter