50 Years In the Bluegrass - November 2, 2012


HOME * SEARCH * BOOKINGS * CONTACT * NEWS * MUSIC * SHOWS * PRESS * PETE'S PLACE

Press representation:
McFadden & McFadden PR
(805) 689-5053
momcfadden@aol.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

What: Peter Feldmann - 50 Years In The Bluegrass
Where: Lobero Theater, 33 East Canon Perdido Street, Santa Barbara CA
When: Friday, November 2nd, 2012, 8:00 PM
Visit: The Lobero Theater Box Office for advance Tickets (805) 963-0761

Blue Dalmatian Productions is pleased to announce a special musical event to be held at Santa Barbara's Lobero Theater On Friday, November 2nd. 1965 2006
50 Years In the Bluegrass, held at Santa Barbara's Lobvero Theatre, Friday, November 2nd at 8:00 PM, celebrates Peter Feldmann's long career as a performer, collector, and presenter of bluegrass, old-time, folk, and blues music in Southern California. The concert will recreate some of Santa Barbara's folk music history, featuring many of Peter's musical friends and associates, including violinist Jim Wimmer, bluesmen Tom Ball and Kenny Sultan with Alastair Greene, Rick Cunha, and David Jackson (Mother's Boys), Tom Lee, David West, and Blaine Sprouse (The Very Lonesome Boys), Francine Feldmann, and 3-time National Fiddle Champion Byron Berline, a Lifetime Achievement Award winner this year at IBMA.. Sections of the performance will reflect Peter's wide-ranging interests, including the folk tradition, Appalachian string band music, country blues, hillbilly music, and bluegrass. "I'll have a great bunch of fiddlers, and I'm planning to keep them busy!" notes Peter, "... we'll have lots of other instruments and some fine singers up there as well. I greatly enjoy putting musicians in different genres together, just to see what happens next. We often achieve a unique musical synergy with truly delightful results!" The program will include guest appearances, a few stories, and even a country comedy routine or two. "If we don't see you in the future", Peter says, "we'll see you in the pasture!" Tickets are on sale at the Lobero Theater Box Office, 33 East Canon Perdido Street in downtown Santa Barbara, CA (805) 963-0761.	Click on images for hi-res photos. Peter Feldmann w/ Bill Monroe 1980
"The pre-eminent bluegrass artist in the area!" - John Robinson, former Executive Director, The Santa Barbara Symphony. "Deft musicianship ... refreshing ... he let the songs speak for themselves . . . something special indeed!" - A. Bennett, Santa Barbara News-Press.
Returning to Santa Barbara in 1962 after a two-year stay in Chicago, Peter began by organizing Santa Barbara's first "Hootenanny", a collective gathering of folk singers, in Santa Barbara's Orpet Park. This event, with its emphasis on sharing and educating fellow citizens about the music, became a common thread in Peter's musical enterprises. Back in 1960, Peter encountered the new Old Town School Of Folk Music on Chicago's North Side, where he first met performers such as banjoist Frank Proffitt and balladeer Horton Barker. He was soon hosting a radio show on WNUR, interviewing, photographing, and writing about folk musicians, and building his record and tape library of traditional folk recordings. Resuming his studies at UCSB, Peter soon formed the "Old Time Music Front", a student organization dedicated to "Subverting the student body to appreciate traditional folk music, bluegrass, and blues" as Peter put it. His first concert at UCSB featured Mance Lipscomb, a 70 year-old bluesman and songster from Navasota Texas. Shortly thereafter, Peter presented his new friends Mike Seeger, Tracy Schwarz, and John Cohen, "The New Lost City Ramblers" at the Lobero. He began a 21 year-long stint at producing regular radio shows for half a dozen stations in Santa Barbara, including its first FM station, KRCW, located in the El Paseo. Along with Kajsa Ohman and Gene McGeorge, Peter formed one of the most definitive string bands on the West Coast, "The Scragg Family", who traveled and performed across California for ten years beginning in 1962. In 1971, Peter founded the Bluebird Cafe on Anapamu Street, a venue that quickly attained national recognition as a music club, featuring folk, country, jazz, blues, and bluegrass greats along with world music from Scotland, Ireland, Japan, Turkey, and India. In the following year, Peter was asked by UCSB to create the Santa Barbara old Time Fiddlers' Convention, an event that continues to this day. For a dozen years, Peter taught banjo, guitar, and fiddle for Santa Barbara's Continuing Education department, as well as country music history classes for UCSB Extension. Founding his own record label in 1973, Peter began issuing original recordings of string band music, as well as reissue material from his 78 collection, and a series of instructional records for fiddle, banjo, and guitar. Peter continues his music enterprises to this day, with trios based in Albuquerque and Los Angeles, as well as his four and five-piece bluegrass band, "Peter Feldmann & The Very Lonesome Boys". His website, BlueGrassWest.com, is a central point of information regarding acoustic music in Southern California. A monthly newsletter is available for free subscription.

Peter will be joined November 2nd by the following featured performers: Francine Feldmann - Francine has been Peter's wife and partner for almost 20 years. She has a wonderful singing voice, and an innate talent for musicality and taste. Her own compositions range from the world of pop and rock to broadway-styled musical fantasies. Her latest project LeClub Metropole, a CD featuring 12 American standards, is receiving acclaim around the world.
Peter Feldmann and the Very Lonesome Boys perform a wide variety of music, primarily in "traditional" bluegrass style, heavily influenced by old time Appalachian string music. Their repertoire ranges from Elizabethan-era ballads to Appalachian songs and breakdowns; from country blues to modern bluegrass and beyond. The band, widely recognized as one of the best in California, plays straight, unadulterated bluegrass, including high energy instrumentals and heartfelt singing. Peter is joined by master-fiddler Blaine Sprouse, a first-rank performer in toplevel bluegrass bands. David West and Tom Lee, both founding members of the Cache Valley Drifters and consumate, nationally-known players, round out the group, with David doubling on banjo and guitar and Tom handling the stand-up bass. For this evening we'll add Byron Berline for some of the most exciting twin fiddling this side of the Mississippi!
Tom Ball and Kenny Sultan - Have been bringing their unique blend of guitar and harmonica blues, rags and good time music to widely diverse audiences for over 30 years. Together and separately they have worked on countless film scores, TV soundtracks and commercials, and their eight duo albums, six solo albums and twelve instructional books (and videos) have all garnered much critical acclaim. Tom has also appeared as a sideman on over 225 CDs, and Martin Guitars recently honored Kenny with his own signature model.
Alastair Greene - Guitarist, Singer, and Songwriter Alastair Greene has been a mainstay of the Southern California music scene for over 2 decades. Alastair has put out 5 of his own CDs and has also appeared on countless independent CD releases ranging from Blues to Southern Rock. Alastair’s song ‘The Long Way Home’ appeared in a 2007 episode of the TNT hit TV series ‘Saving Grace’.
James Wimmer - Peter and Jim go way back as musical buddies, forming half of the Gap Tooth Mountain Ramblers and participating in many projects, including the well-received CD Good Fellow. Jim's musicality extends to Swedish, Irish, and Scottish fiddling, as well as the Carnatic music of India. He is also recognized as one of the foremost luthiers on the West Coast, providing instruments to stars around the world. His recent accomplishments in this field include the completion of a string quartet of matched instruments for Westmont College.
Byron Berline - Is a three-time National Fiddle Champion who turned to a musical career after earning a B. A. in Physical Education at the University of Oklahoma. Originally from Oklahoma where he began playing the fiddle at age 5, Byron lived and worked in Los Angeles for 26 years before returning to his home state in 1995. Byron's professional career reads like Who's Who in the music business as he has performed with or recorded with so many notables. He has led or been a member of the following bands : Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, 1966 - 67; Dillard & Clark, 1969-1970; Dillard Expedition, 1970-71; Country Gazette, 1971-75; Sundance, 1975-85; Berline, Crary & Hickman, 1978-90; L. A. Fiddle Band, 1978-93; California, 1990-96; Byron Berline Band, 1996- Present.
David Jackson - Being in the right place at the right time /and /lucky, David Jackson's career began with 3 years on The Andy Williams show as a comedian and bassist and little has changed in the intervening years, if hair loss doesn't count. Writing "Joy To The World" (with Hoyt Axton for 3 Dog Night) and "The No, No Song" (Again, with Hoyt, for Ringo Starr) and playing with Jackson Brown, Glenn Campbell, Roger Miller and John Denver still left time to sandwich in a wide variety of musics over the years. Still, there is so much more playing to do.
Rick Cunha - May truly be described as a guitar players' guitar player. He is also one of America's finest songwriters. Rick has performed in concert with Mason Williams (for whom he also produces), Emmy Lou Harris, John Stewart, Anne Murray, Jennifer Warnes, Buck Owens, and The Smothers Brothers, to name a few. His songs have been recorded by Ms. Warnes, Ian Matthews, The Smothers Brothers, Michael Johnson and many other artists. Mr. Cunha's solo recording career began in 1974 with an album for the GRC label, that included his song "Yo-Yo-Man" which has since been immortalized on television and in concert by Tom Smothers. Other solo albums include: "Cunha Tunes" and "Moving Pictures".
Blaine Sprouse - Born and raised in the mountains of West Virginia, fiddler Blaine Sprouse moved to Nashville, TN before turning eighteen, fast-tracking his professional career by joining Jimmy Martin as a Sunny Mountain Boy, with whom he toured the United States and Japan. Over the next 25 years Blaine toured nationally and internationally and recorded with a stunning array of legendary bluegrass and country artists, among them, Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, Jim and Jesse and the Virginia Boys, Charlie Louvin, Alabama, Randy Travis, Glen Campbell, and the Osborne Brothers. Much in demand as a performer and session player, Blaine performed on the Grand Ole Opry for over 15 years. His solo recordings are available on the Rounder, Cumberland Records, and Hen Cackle labels.
Tom Lee - A veteran of the Cache Valley Drifters and The Bluegrass Cardinals, Tom's music ranges far and wide, from traditional jazz to country, Hawaiian, and bluegrass standards. As a skilled bassist, Tom has toured with the Drifters, the Bluegrass Cardinals, and many other musical groups. His vocal harmonies add richness to the group's duo and trio arrangements. He is also the director of the Song Tree Music Series, a popular concert forum in Goleta, bringing lots of great music to the area. David West - David West has produced over sixty albums as a staff producer for CMH Records in Los Angeles, and many more as a freelance producer through his Play Ball! Musical Services and Studio "Z" based in Santa Barbara, CA. A multi-instrumentalist, his playing has appeared on hundreds of albums, TV shows and commercials, plus many film sound tracks. His early career was spent on the road with the Cache Valley Drifters (founding member) and as an accompanist to songwriter Kate Wolf. The last fifteen years have been devoted primarily to being a studio musician. He still occasionally tours, backing up some of his favorite musicians, including Peter Lewis (Moby Grape), Chris Hillman (Byrds), California musician/musicologist Peter Feldmann and Nashville/California songwriter Kate Wallace.	Peter, with Tom Lee and David West
The Gap Tooth Mountain Ramblers - From the Land of hog and hominy, possum and taters, where the whiskey’s made out of corn and the women don’t smell like talcum powder…come the GTMR, a string band with the hairy side out - featuring (in photo order:) Peter Feldmann, Jim Wimmer, Michael Mendelson, and Tom Wolverton. "Stretching the boundaries of Old Time Music!"
Mayne Smith is a singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist (guitar, dobro, pedal steel), known for many years in bluegrass, country, and roots-music circles. As a performer he started in the folk music revival and expanded to bluegrass and electric country music; but his songwriting also encompasses blues, R&B, rock 'n' roll, Tex-Mex, jazz, and pop. Besides performing at folk festivals and clubs all over North America as well as in Europe and Japan, Mayne has written songs recorded by Linda Ronstadt, David Lindley, Rosalie Sorrels, and others. He has recorded and/or performed with well-known artists including David Lindley, Geoff Muldaur, Doc Watson, Jim Kweskin, Laurie Lewis, and John Fahey.
After many years as a bluegrass guitarist and singer, Michael Mendelson switched to the fiddle because it was louder and easier to carry around. Over the years he has played a variety of styles, from old-timey and bluegrass to Texas-style and swing to New England and Cape Breton, to whatever catches his ear. He has had the distinct honor to work with, and write about such great fiddlers as Benny Thomasson, Hugh Farr,and Tiny Moore. Michael has composed many fine new fiddle tunes, and works with several contra dance bands.
Tom Wolverton has been playing old-time 5-string banjo for over 35 years. He lived and played music in the Santa Barbara area for 25 years, but recently relocated to San Diego to continue working in aerospace engineering. In addition to clawhammer banjo, he also plays dobro and various steel guitars. His skills have been used in various central coast string bands including the Gap Tooth Mountain Ramblers and the Rattlesnake Creek String Band.