americana gazette june - july 2012

MERICANA GAZETTEAJune / July 2012

FEATURE STORYKRISTI ROSE AND FATS KAPLIN

Peter CooperKate CampbellGirlymanChelle RoseBobby Bare, Sr.Steel Bridge FestivalThe BluefieldsJoanna SmithGlenn WorfEd Littlefield, Jr.Bill & Wendy SchmidtBig Bang String ThingAngela EasterlingCD Reviews

New this issue!Bluegrass PageBeat Goes On by Mauro Magellan

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PUBLISHERJoyce Ziehli • [email protected]

SENIOR EDITORAndy Ziehli • [email protected]

STAFF WRITERS/PHOTOSCelia Carr

Travis Cooper

Litt Dubay

Frye Gaillard

Mark Gerking

Rick Harris

Robert Hoffman

Mauro Magellan

Anne Miller

Jim Smith

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MERICANA GAZETTEA

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`Greetings:

This is our 4th Anniversary Issue for the AmericanaGazette! I can’t believe that four years have flown by.It’s hard to believe that just four years ago we werestruggling to find enough content to fill 20 pages, wherenow we are blessed with more content than space! Be-cause we are turning four years old we have decided toadd four more pages to the Americana Gazette. In-cluded in those pages are a page totally dedicated toBlue Grass Music and Happenings, an Artist/Band pagefor artists to list their contact info on (check the websitefor info on this), a New Music page that will feature newacts and their contact info, and a page for additionalstories.

Thank you to all of our staff who have made the Amer-icana Gazette what it is! You are the best! Thank youto all of the great folks and establishments that let usplace our magazines in their buildings for distribution,and to all the wonderful people/artists that have grantedus interviews, publicists that have set up interviews, in-dividuals that have sent us CD’s to review, to our greatfriends for helping out delivering papers and supportingthe Americana Gazette. And thanks most of all to you– our readers. We hope you will continue to read themagazine and enjoy it as much as we enjoy writing thestories! THANK YOU!!!

We are updating our website and Facebook pages (lookfor those changes over the summer), blogging abouteverything Americana, expanding the number of copieswe print for a wider distribution throughout Wisconsin,and bringing more great Americana acts to Wisconsinover the next 18 months for your listening pleasure.Also check out the new image below where you can justlay your smart phone over the drawing and with yourQR reader, it will take you directly to our website whereyou can check out the latest issue and our past issues aswell.

Here’s to another year for the Americana Gazette!

Till next time,Joyce M. ZiehliPublisher

Anne Sullivan

Bobby Westfall

Rosemary Ziehli

CREATIVE DIRECTORRic Genthe • [email protected]

GUEST WRITERSPeter CooperRebecca Thompson


Welcome toAmericanaGazette

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The Americana Gazette is printed by:The Print Center • Brodhead, Wi. 53520

AMERICANA GAZETTE% Andy & Joyce ZiehliP.O. BOX 208 • Belleville, WI. 53508

OFFICE: 608-424-6300Andy Cell: 608-558-8131Joyce Cell: 608-558-8132

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TABLE OF CONTENTSWHERE TO LOOK4 Kate Campbell6 Girlyman8 Kristi Rose & Fats Kaplin9 Chelle Rose10 Litt DuBay11 Brief History of the Outhouse

Rosemary Ziehli11 B-Side - Celia Carr12 Bobby Bare, Sr.14 Steel Bridge Songfest15 The Bluefield’s16 Bucket List by Bob Hoffman17 Joanna Smith18 GlennWorf19 New Music19 Bob’s Guitar Corner20 Robert’s Ramblings21 Bluegrass Music22 Pet Note - Daisy23 Ed Littlefield, Jr.24 AndThe Beat Goes On by

Mauro Magellan24 OnThe RoadWith Peter Cooper25 50 by Jim Smith26 Angela Easterling27 Complacency27 Rick Recalls28 Sugar River Shoppe with

Bill &Wendy Schmidt30 Big Bang StringThing32 - 35 CD Review

www.amer i canagaze t t e .ne t4

In the musty little theater at Auburn University, the place she had earned her mastersdegree, Kate Campbell gazed out across the faces, many of them old friends, and in-troduced the songs on “1000 Pound Machine,” her latest CD.When she came to theballad,“Red Clay After Rain,” she quoted the Langston Hughes poem that inspired it:

When I get to be a composerI'm gonna write me some music aboutDaybreak in AlabamaAnd I'm gonna put the purtiest songs in itRising out of the ground like a swamp mistAnd falling out of heaven like soft dew.I'm gonna put some tall tall trees in itAnd the scent of pine needlesAnd the smell of red clay after rain

Kate Campbell

A Voice from the South

With imagery borrowed only partly from Hughes, Campbell delivered a song aboutleaving the South: I got on that train and I never looked back.Rode it up north ‘til I ranout of track. She was lamenting, she knew, a sad migration common through much ofthe twentieth century, particularly amongAfrican-Americans who were tired of racialdiscrimination in the South,and lured by the promise of northern jobs.Still, they wereleaving something precious behind,family perhaps,or maybe even some piece of them-selves, embodied in memories of the land. So Campbell wrote and sang these words:

I miss red clay after the rainDying the rivers with that crimson stainI miss cotton, camellias, curtains of caneAnd red clay after the rain

I’ve always thought that nobody among the ranks of Nashville songwriters understands

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the South any better than Kate Campbell.Born in 1961, she spent herearly years in Sledge,Mississippi, hometown of Charley Pride and sheremembers hearing“Kiss anAngel Good-Morning”on the radio, lovingthat earthy,sunburned voice.Later,her father,a white Baptist preacherwho had taken a stand for racial equality,moved the family to Nashvillewhere some of Kate’s early musical heroes were Dolly Parton and Em-mylou Harris.

But from the beginning, there was also Elvis.To Kate, it was hard toimagine a performer more southern.Presley came from a town not farfrom Sledge, and he seemed in his very DNA to have absorbed themusic of Tupelo and the rich, flat delta country around it.There was,first of all, the music of the churches. Whatever his demons later in life,Elvis felt that music deep in his bones and even near the end of his ca-reer, one of his favorite songs was a hymn,“How GreatThouArt.”Whenhe sang it in his shows,his voice would soar to a different dimension,and the crowds were reminded once again why people often calledhim the King. In the end, however, the pressure of that adulationmay have killed him,and Campbell wrote a song about that tragedy aswell,a ballad called“Tupelo’sToo Far,”which recounted the undersideof Presley’s fame.

I never dreamed I would be a king,much less a starI never knew that what I loved could also break my heartI always thought if I just sang, everything would be all rightI don’t know what went wrong, but I’m lonesome tonight

As Campbell understood, the sadness did nothing to diminish thelegacy of a Mississippi singer who had ushered in the era of rock‘n’roll– and had done it in the early 1950s by deliberately crossing the oldbarriers of race. The A-side of Presley’s first 45, recorded for SunRecords of Memphis, featured the Arthur Crudup delta-blues song,“ThatAll Right,Mama,”and the flip side,“Blue Moon of Kentucky,”wasa bluegrass standard from Bill Monroe.

In her formative years,Campbell thought a lot about such things,par-ticularly during her time at Auburn University, when she studied his-tory under ProfessorWayne Flynt.A native Alabamian from a workingclass family,Flynt was an expert on the race and class in the South,andCampbell was so inspired by his teaching that she thought for awhileof pursuing a career in academia.After earning her Masters degree atAuburn,she began work on a Ph.D.atVanderbilt,but the lure of musicwas simply too strong.With the support of her husband,Ira Campbell, she leftVanderbilt andpursued a full-time career as a songwriter. In 1998, she released analbum called“Visions of Plenty”and many of us encountered her musicfor the first time. I remember hearing the title cut on a trip throughwestern North Carolina, but the lyrics transported me back home –back to the Alabama-Mississippi world of painted sunsets and cottonfields blooming in the rich delta soil.Campbell captured the beauty of this part of theSouth, and she did it with a helping of irony and sadness.

She began writing the song on a trip back to Sledge, the Mississippi town where shehad lived as a girl, and at first the images on Highway 61 were fully as beautiful as shehad remembered, the cotton turning gold in the October sun. But then she began tonotice the billboards, the garish, intrusive advertisements for casinos,and the false andcruel allure of easy money.

A sign went up for Harrah’s on Highway 61Promising we’d all be winners soonSo every Friday evening I go and spin the wheelSometimes I win,most times I lose

In Campbell’s hands,“Visions of Plenty”became a poignant story of innocence lost,ofrural people losing faith in the system and pursuing the newAmerican Dream – not ofsuccess on the other side of hard work,but rather the hope of getting rich quick,whichall too often only made things worse. Listening to the lyrics delivered in Campbell’ssilky soprano, with only the barest hint of a twang, I thought of the words of her fa-vorite southern author, the great Mississippian, EudoraWelty.

“One place understood well,”Ms.Welty once declared,“helps us understand all placesbetter.” That has certainly been Campbell’s hope, and thus she has chosen to writewhat she knows.Over the course of her fourteen albums,none of them hits,but all ofthem consistently praised by the critics, she has written about faith and family andcivil rights, about the land and the people who struggle to make a living from it, andabout southern literature and music.One of her best-known songs,“Crazy inAlabama,”took its title from a Mark Childress novel.Appearing first on her“Visions of Plenty”CD,with harmony vocals from Emmylou Harris, the song looks back on the turbulent civilrights years from the vantage point of a child.But over the course of Campbell’s bodyof work,with its occasional dives into the South’s murky waters, it is also clear that hersis a region she still loves. Her song,“LookAway,” inspired by a EudoraWelty interviewon public television,makes the case,asWelty did, that even the antebellum South withits terrible, indefensible stain of slavery,was a place that yearned for culture and beauty.And thus the tainted history is double-edged.

It’s a long and slow surrender, retreating from the pastIt’s important to remember to fly the flag half-mast

Campbell’s most recent album,released earlier this year,continues to build on familiar

themes, though there are some musical changes, subtle enough at first listen. For onething, Campbell is playing the piano and not the guitar as she usually does, and thetitle cut,“1000 Pound Machine,”which she wrote with her producer,Will Kimbrough,is itself an ode to the grand piano.Together, they researched the inner workings of theinstrument and wrote a quirky,melodious anthem about keys being pressed and thehammer falling on the strings,sending vibrations across the soundboard until suddenly,miraculously there is music. Of all the songs on the new record“Red ClayAfter Rain,”inspired by one of America’s great poets, may be the strongest, but there are othersthat I found equally as memorable.“Wait for Another Day” is a love song filled withsouthern imagery.“Montgomery to Mobile” recounts an imaginary bus trip made byGeorgeWallace and Rosa Parks, and“Spoonerville” extols the music of Muscle Shoals,particularly the keyboard work of Spooner Oldham, who, among his other credits,played organ on the Percy Sledge hit,“When a Man Loves aWoman.”

“There’s a lot of ‘Alabama’ in this record,” says Campbell,“a lot of things southern. ButI have spent my whole life in the fertile crescent of the South. I was born in New Or-leans. My earliest memories are of the Mississippi Delta, and I’ve spent the majority ofmy life in Nashville. I also went to college in Alabama and as a songwriter all thesethings are a part of who I am.”They are also a part of “1000Pound Machine,” an albumrecorded in Nashville and MuscleShoals, in which Campbell hasfound a way to be – once again –simply and elegantly herself.

Written by: Frye GaillardPhotos supplied.

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Every generation has its seminal events, those that inhabit itscollective psyche and define its dreams. For mine, they in-cluded Apollo 11 and Neil Armstrong’s first steps across themoon;I collected every NASA mission patch and dreamed ofbecoming an astronaut. For Doris Muramatsu,Ty Greensteinand Nate Borofsky,September 11th,2001 was such an event.The three friends were rehearsing in NewYork together forthe first time as Girlyman, when the planes flew into theiconic towers of Manhattan.That day they made severalcommitments--to making music their vocation, to trulybeing themselves, and to not take themselves too seriously.“We realized that life is too short not to do what you love,what brings you joy,”Nate says, looking at Doris,who nodsfrom her seat in the corner of the High Noon Saloon’sgreen room in Madison,Wisconsin. Since then, Girlymanhas grown into one of the most innovative independentacts on the American music scene, garnering a diverse au-dience so passionate about the band that it’s as if they havea small army,a base that they can mobilize—and indeed have--when needed.

It’s not hard to see why: these prolific songwriters produce in-telligent music, both vibrant and rueful (Nothing Left),provocative and poignant (Somewhere Different Now) andunabashedly celebratory (Young James Dean)—with senti-ments salient to our times. I’m grateful to have the opportu-nity to interview these creative musicians, particularly as Dorishas recently recovered from leukemia—a diagnosis as crushing as itwas unexpected. Doris’ struggle to grapple with a life-threatening dis-ease and all it evokes—from depression to spiritual rebirth—haunts themusic on Girlyman’s most recent album, Supernova.

Girlyman’s self-titled “leading-edge, three-part harmony folk pop” is an ap-propriately genre-defying label;their largely acoustic music ranges from jazz to do-wop to engine-throbbing rock.Clear-eyed observers of human nature,Girlymaninfuses their songs with complex three part harmonies that mark the band’ssound.Their beautiful, intertwining voices and distinctive arrangements are ac-companied by spare,thoughtful contributions from the keyboard,cello and otherinstruments.They deliver a bright banjo and mandolin in their self-styled“Girly-grass,” bringing audiences to their feet with full-tilt hill songs like KitteryTide.And they show uncanny skill at fashioning the most elegant of contem-porary waltzes: the contrapuntal harmonies behind Everything’s Easy areexhilarating, the lilting nostalgia of Easy Bake Ovens,evocative. The influences of folk-revival icons like Peter, Paul and Mary and Bob Dylan, as well as Simon and Garfunkeland the Beatles are apparent in Girlyman’s work. Yet the risks the group has takenwith harmony are unlike any of their predecessors, and have yielded a considerablymore sophisticated repertoire. Their gift for turning a poetic truth broaches that of PaulSimon and equals that of their closest contemporary influence, the Indigo Girls.

Childhood friends from New Jersey,Doris andTy have performed together since theiryouth, inspired by hearing Paul Simon’s,The Boxer at the age of eight. Both classicallytrained musicians, they played through college at Sarah Lawrence, where they metNate, an award-winning singer-songwriter in his own right.The three soon were ex-perimenting with increasingly complex vocal arrangements and collaborating on orig-inal work.They rapidly realized that “the whole is more than the sum of its parts”andthat their destinies were bound together by the intricate harmonies that have becomethe band’s signature, as well as by witness of the fall of theTwinTowers.The bond be-

Far from Speechless:Girlyman’s grassrootsmusicspeaksvolumes

tween band members isstrong; it’s apparent theirfriendships run deep.They share a remarkable level of trust, something audiences quickly perceive and towhich they respond.The scrutiny the musicians give themselves and how they expe-rience life is one of the most compelling features of their work. From the rueful com-plicity in one’s own self-destruction to the resistance to faith we harbor after yetanother loss, they courageously go where few will tread. Taking on the risk of sharingsuch deeply personal exploration,Girlyman offers to their audience the most intimateof musical gifts: vehicles for catharsis and healing.

Another Girlyman talent is being able to articulate the issues we all struggle to voice.Through the din of cultural norms and musical convention, Girlyman makes these


truths accessible through structural and melodic metaphors that are irresistible to ourears. We experience the hesitant hopefulness in St.Augustine,reluctantly emerge fromthe company of loneliness in Speechless because the emotions they capture, whileelusive, are familiar to us. Like the poetry of Leonard Cohen, Girlyman uses imageryjust recognizable enough for a listener to see themselves in their songs, leaving enoughambiguity to allow us to make it our own. I also enjoy Girlyman’s irreverent edge, vis-ible in their casual, comfortable playfulness with gender identity onstage as well as intheir music They adeptly walk the line between using self-deprecating humor to so-cial purpose,while paying respectful tribute to the oft-unrecognized expanse of humanexperience.

In 2003,Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls picked up one of the band’s independently-pro-duced albums and released it under her record label as RememberWho IAm,followedby a second,Little Star. Girlyman’s capacity for producing a wider range of sound andmusical contrast increased significantly with the addition in 2010 of JJ Jones, a largelyself-taught drummer, who performed with the Canadian band Po’Girl when theyopened for Girlyman on tour. JJ’s addition has contributed nuance and panache toGirlyman’s music. She’s simply one of the best drummers I’ve ever seen,one of the fewwho uses every percussive surface to maximum advantage.

When I ask whether each takes on specific roles in creating their music,Nate and Dorisacknowledge they tend to have different strengths. “I’m the melody person,”he says,“Ty’s more about lyrics;Doris is the one who comes up with arrangements.” Each mu-sician takes the lead on developing their own songs,bringing them to the others,whoprovide a lyric here or melodic line there as they work through them,the songs emerg-ing organically from the process. JJ, largely a performer until recently, finds this ap-proach to songwriting gratifying. “When one person is out of ideas, someone elsealmost always has another to offer. It keeps the process moving, and that much inputadds a lot of richness.” Still, anyone who has collaborated on songwriting knows theprocess can be trying. “The single biggest challenge is to let go of any attachment tothe ideas you come up with,”Nate shares.“It can be scary to suggest a lyric or a melodyand have the other person not like it.“ Give yourself permission to write bad songs,Nate advises. “If I give myself permission to write bad songs and just write them, itkeeps the energy moving. It might take ten or twenty‘bad’songs to get to a‘good’onethat I use, but at least it's moving forward.”

The talent each of these individuals possesses in their own right fuels Girlyman’s suc-cess as an ensemble. Nate’s light tenor moves easily from plaintive ballads to laconicobservations of love lost reminiscent of Aimee Mann. In its higher range, His voicelends a gentle, ethereal quality to songs like Everything’s Easy. Doris’ clear sopranomoves incandescently across the scale;her pure, fully dimensional phrasing would de-light the most demanding of librettists. In the stillest moments of songs like Speech-less, you feel your heart slow with her breath.As a lyricist,Ty’s practice of extendingmetaphors out toward a precipice keeps an unpredictable edge to Girlyman’s songs.Most writers would stop at the easy close. Ty jumps, leaving much to imagination andpowerful effect (Soul of You). Ty’s expressive alto brings quiet energy to her intro-spective ballads, nursing a negotiation of life from pain to acceptance, if not peace, insongs like Break Me Slow.Together, these musicians create a remarkable movementand moment, from songcraft to performance. They share dead-on pitch, a willingnessto be vulnerable before an audience, and an extraordinary capacity for creating inti-macy with that audience. Undoubtedly a challenge to execute flawlessly in live per-formance, Girlyman’s music is at their best nothing short of jaw dropping,able to moveaudiences like few others this generation.

Another characteristic this troupe shares is a powerful blue streak of courage: theyconsistently put their ideas—crazy,weird, subversive,and silly—out there for us to ex-

perience. “Life is too short not tohave fun,we decided,”smiles Doris.And they do—in their occasionaloddball lyric, unexpected ending,and exotic harmony—as well as intheir stage performances. Creativ-ity in the world of acoustic musicmeans multiple tunings and swap-ping of instruments betweensongs, challenging one’s partnerson stage to compensate for timespent twisting knobs. Nate’s vocalimprovisations, punctuated by JJ’ssaucy percussion,more than allevi-ate the tedium of tuning. Thisevening it was Madison’s singledigit temperatures that fueledNate’s impresario flight (he canpull off an elegant falsetto whenneeded). Audiences love it—the in-terplay between JJ’s anthropomor-phic drumsticks and thenot-so-patiently waiting band mem-bers goes beyond the conventional nod to the local to become a neat bit of jazzy vaude-ville. So far I’ve never seen Nate get in so deep that he couldn’t get out of trouble.

Girlyman has attracted a diversity of admirers, from families, teens and kids, to the thir-tysomethings and sliver-haired boomers that populated the High Noon Saloon thatFebruary night,which they’ve translated into a strong supportive fan base. Their liveperformances have wide appeal; the connection between band members and the rap-port they build with the audience generates energy--as does JJ’s performance on thedrums. It’s a total body experience for JJ; she mesmerized my husband,our guests andI that night as she flew deftly across the spectrum of bass, snare and cymbals with im-peccable skill.

A large part of Girlyman’s appeal is just who these four remarkable people are. As un-pretentious as they are gracious, they unhesitatingly welcomed me into the privacy oftheir green room for an interview. They write themselves into their music and pourtheir passion into their performances.“There's something very deep about singing inharmony,”Nate maintains. “It's like a metaphor we all interpret on a deep biologicallevel - that we can coexist beautifully with each other, even though the parts we'resinging are all different.” Together,these qualities imbue a spirituality into the Girlymanexperience. Some part of each song, whether lyric, harmony or melody, will touchevery listener.

With the release of Supernova, Girlyman’s aspirations are to reach out to and inspiretheir fans, as well as to continue to grow as musicians. In getting closer to their owntruths,Girlyman gets closer to the universal—and so to new heights and acclaim withtheir music. Girlyman has an important role to play not just in music,but popular cul-ture. In their grassroots ascension from backyard venues to national recognition,welearn that music can be a safe,playful,place where you can put yourself out there andfind kinship with an unexpected many.

Peoples’ affinity for Girlyman’smusic reminds us that the expres-sion of emotion, highly refractedthrough gender in the U.S., is notalways well-tolerated in someAmerican subcultures. Girlymandeliberately plays with gender as asocial construct;they challenge ourexpectations by highlighting ordownplaying conventionally femi-nine and masculine traits. In a so-ciety tiring of illusions,Disney-spun love, and of puttingup defenses against daily bullyingand its adult kin,the music of Girly-man offers us a vehicle for under-standing and expressing ourselvesthat also asks something of us: tobe courageous.

Girlyman celebrates the humanvoice in every sense of the word.They inspire us to accept our-selves, each other, and aspire to greater faith and heights—all in their humblest of an-thems. In a society where we have few means to help us make sense of our emotionsand to find our personal truths—much less with which to share them—Girlyman’s in-terlacing of word, sound and soul offers us the gift of many renewals.And so perhaps,outfitted with my iPod and Supernova, I will myself find a new route toward my child-hood dream and Girlyman’s music will fill my observatory, if not my spacecraft, withiridescent harmony.

Story and photos supplied by:Anne Gravel Sullivan

Check them out at:www.girlyman.com


As I have said before in the pages of theAmericana Gazette it is an honor tomeet and write about your musical heroes. Fats Kaplin is one of mine! I had in-terviewed Fats for our first anniversary issue back in 2009, and since then heand his lovely and talented wife Kristi Rose have become wonderfully closefriends of Joyce and mine. Both Kristi and Fats are multi-talented artists, besidesbeing two of the nicest people you will ever meet! Kristi is a wonderful singerwith pipes that will blow you away with her many different singing styles andher vocal range. Fats plays more instruments than you can count on two hands,and he plays them all better than anyone I can think of!

They are performers who have created a highly eclectic musical genre, (and away of life) known as Pulp Country. It is a world of cinematic proportion whererural and urban collide.Their very particular slant on the world is shaped bytheir individual backgrounds. She is from a farm in far Southern Illinois, an areahistorically known as“Little Egypt” that has a dark, hard scrabble past.Their nu-merous critically acclaimed albums include the classic“This Is Pulp Country!” ---“Kristi Rose- Live In Holland”, ---- Fats’“The Fatman Cometh” ---“World ofWonder-Downunder”---numerous EPs and their most recent, an album for theChristmas Season in 2010,“IWonder As IWander”.

As a duo,Kristi Rose & Fats have played venues ranging from major festivals andclubs in the U.S., Canada and Europe to intimate House Concerts and ListeningRooms.

Fats grew up in Manhattan. His beginnings started out in the Folk scene thatwas going on in NewYork/GreenwichVillage in the early 60’s. He starting play-ing at age 11, and within a year of learning the banjo he started watching PeteSeeger on PublicTV and his show Rainbow Quest. Seeger would bring on dif-ferent Folk artists every week. Well one week he brought on his brothers bandThe New Lost City Ramblers. They were young men at the time, and they worewhite shirts with sleeve garters and played old time string band music. Fats justflipped out and thought it was the greatest music he had ever heard. They wereso authentic, just like the records he had heard of that old style of music withfiddle, guitar, and banjo. Fats went and got himself a cheap fiddle and taught

KristiRose& FatsKaplin,My kindofPeople!

continued on page 29


Joyce: Hi Chelle. What’s the weather like today there inNashville?

Chelle: It’s a beautiful 77 degrees today. Probablywarmer than there inWisconsin?

Joyce: Yea, we aren’t quite there yet. Let’s start out bytelling me about your youth and how you got into musicas a career?

Chelle: When I was a little girl I played piano by ear. Thiswas fun to me. I was never very serious and I was cer-tainly not my piano teacher’s favorite student. Mygrannymom raised me and on the day that she wouldleave to go get groceries, I was home alone and I’d justplay my music. Music was always there. I never thoughtI’d grow up to be a performer/songwriter. Well, I didhave to get a real job. I did accounting for a number ofyears, guess I was pretty good at it. It was very stressfuland I was very unhappy at that. I got my first guitararound age 25 and started writing every day. I loved it.I also started listening to good music about this time too.I had to listen to what was on the radio as I didn’t havea big record collection. I started listening to songwriterslike LucindaWilliams,Steve Earle,andTownesVan Zandt.

When I moved to Nashville in 1996 I started paying at-tention to what was going on around town, especiallywith LucindaWilliams,Steve Earle,Buddy Miller,MalcolmHolcombe,R.B.Morris,David Olney and Marshall Chap-man. Many of these are now my friends, but I never gotto meet Townes Van Zandt. I was devastated to hear ofhis passing in January 1997. I did however sit on a backchurch pew at his service, he played a huge part in myjourney to become a songwriter.

I just kind of jumped in the fry pan and just started play-ing around. My last record came out in 2000,so it’s beenawhile. It has been a slow progression. I guess thingshappen the way they are supposed to!

Joyce: Tell me about the songwriting.

Chelle: Mostly from life experiences. I do make somestuff up for the benefit of the song, but the core is usu-ally close to me or a friend.

Joyce: Will you be touring to promote this new CD?

Chelle: I haven’t toured outside of the Southeast since2002, when we had a three week run in the UK. I’vebeen on the local scene. I am getting ready to tour withRayWylie Hubbard,a wonderful character,and I’m reallylooking forward to it.

Joyce: You have a CD release party coming up real soon.Where is that at?

Howmany of you have heard of Chelle Rose? Well if youhaven’t heard of her and her music, you definitely needto check her out. She is one amazingly talented lady! Ijust received a copy of her new CD,“Ghost of BrowderHoller” and I absolutely loved it! Chelle Rose is fromNashville and I had the sweet opportunity of talkingwith her and found out that we have many mutualfriends. Paul Griffith is the drummer in her band,BonesHillman is her bass player and she is dear friends withWarner,Deb and Blanche Hodges. A small world it is in-deed!

Chelle’s new CD,“Ghost of Browder Holler”,her secondCD, was released on May 8, 2012. The album was pro-duced by RayWylie Hubbard. The album features Eliza-beth Cook, Ian McLagan and the McCrary Sisters.

The album’s opening track,“Browder Holler Boy,” startsthe set with a haunting slide guitar invocation and thenspins a true tale of Rose’s first love,TimothyAndrew Hel-ton, who died young in a canoeing accident, but re-turned to visit her as a noisy spirit.The tune also featuresHubbard’s gritty supporting vocals and laid back har-monica. “Alimony,” is a playful but dead-serious accountof the marriage she ended in order to attain her dreamof becoming a songwriter and performer.There’s morethan a hint of Exile on Main Street to “Rufus Morgan(Preacher Man),” which features legendary Faces key-boardist Ian“Mac”McLagan and Nashville’s leading spir-itual singing family the McCrary Sisters. Rose wrote thesong as a tribute to a rural holy man from her family tree,and its lyrics are a virtual tour of Western North Car-olina’s richly forested land, where her “grannymom”often took her to visit other family members duringchildhood summers.

“When I get homesick,I pine forWestern North Carolinasometimes even more so than EastTennessee,”says Rose,who moved to Nashville in 1996.“My maternal familylives on both sides of the Smoky Mountains. I grew upthere among the people I still know and love.I've alwaysfelt connected and consoled by the mountains and mypeople there, so writing about them comes very naturalto me.There are many settings and characters rich forthe mining.”“Leona Barnett,”written by her fellow EastTennesseanAdam Hill, is the story of a woman driven towork in the mines after her husband is killed in a miningaccident. And “Wild Violets Pretty,” which featuresGrammy-nominated Americana star Elizabeth Cook asguest vocalist, is about losing an unborn child.“Sometimes I can’t perform a song live until I’ve hadtime to heal from a deep wound, and often the healingbegins with the song,” explains Rose.“I write a lot anddon’t really look for material, so you know if I'm cover-ing someone else’s song I am feeling it with every ounceof my soul.”

Chelle: Yea, it will be on June 7th at the Station Inn inNashville. My best friend, Elizabeth Cook and the Mc-Crary Sisters will be making special guests appearances.It will be fun! Come on down.

We’re at The Shed in Maryville on August 17 and backagain with Ray Wylie Hubbard on September 8. Stillbooking summer dates as well as looking at some falldates with RayWylie.

Joyce: I wish I could, but I have already been toNashville 3 times this year and am going again nextweek. I do have to work at my other job sometimes.(welaugh) Any hobbies?

Chelle: I have 2 young children that I like to spend asmuch time as I can with. We go to the river,have picnicsgo swimming, etc. My son is in Tae Kwon Do. In addi-tion to spending quality time with my kids, I am alwaysinvolved with some type of project or tinkering withphotography. (We chatted awhile about hisTKD,Chelledoing a kick boxing class with Nanci Griffith, and mebeing a First Degree Black Belt inTKD,and Chelle beinga certified life guard.)

Joyce: Any other words of wisdom to pass along beforeI let you get out and enjoy your beautiful day? I thinkI’ve already talked your ear off this morning.

Chelle: Surround yourself with the best musicians youcan. They will inspire and push you,and make you workharder and in the end you will be stronger as a musicianand as a person.

Joyce: Good advice! Thank you for taking the time totalk with me. I really enjoyed visiting with you and lookforward to meeting you in person on one of my trips toNashville. Good luck with the new CD and have a greattime at the CD Release party on the 7th!

Chelle: Thank you Joyce. It was great talking with youtoo. Say hello toWarner,Deb and Blanche next time yousee them.

For more information on Chelle Rose go to:www.chellerose.com where you can connect to her FB,Twitter,YouTube. www.myspace.com/chellerosemusic

Ghost of Browder Holler is available through all onlineoutlets including iTunes as well as chellerose.com

Story by: Joyce ZiehliInformation and photos supplied from Cary Baker ofConqueroo.

CHELLE ROSE –RELEASES 2ND CD

GHOST OFBROWDER HOLLER


Hi folks Ole Litt Dubay here. I can’tbelieve that it has been four yearssince I have been able to brightenyour mundane lives up with mywords of wisdom! I can’t believe iteither that Ziehli has not been ableto fire me. Some folks over that lastfour years have written in and won-dered about just who Ole Litt is.They want to know how I gotstarted in journalism. Well here’sthe skinny on it.

I was born in the 50’s. Not theyear, the temperature so I’ve al-ways been kind of warmblooded versus my brother whowas born in the 30’s and has se-

rial killer tendencies but that’s an-other column. Anyway I’m not as old as my

parent’s wish I would act but younger than my girlfriendswishes I was. I got started writing in the first grade,you know the basic

letters, numbers and such. For awhile I was into Yellow Journalism in High School,but then my folks bought me some white papered tablets instead of those yellow legalpads. Anyway I digress. After I went to College at the UW Flipside I graduated with de-grees in Pre Law and Pre Med (cause I couldn’t get into those type of classes because ofmy low testosterone levels) I took a job as a truck driver for the U.S.Border Patrol (at leastthat’s what they told me they were) hauling people from one side of the border to an-other. That worked out pretty good until I got busted in Laredo and spent the next 10 yearsdoing hard time as a backup dancer for Madonna. During this time which I like to call mylow spot I took up writing again to make a few bucks. After getting a couple of my sto-ries printed in Penthouse Forums I decide that I wanted to pursue writing as my career.So I moved back to Wisconsin and started writing for some loco newspapers about thedrug problems inAmerica and their respective towns. That worked out pretty good untilI got busted for drugs and indecent exposure. I took a picture of myself in a bathing suitand using petroleum jelly illegally as an afro you know those drugs that make you Horney,and posted it on MySpace. They said the suit did not cover up enough skin. I told the JudgeI was handicapped cause I had more skin than suit. He said that being a smart ass was nota handicap. I told him that I agreed,but it was better to be a smart ass and playing the fieldthan to be a bench warmer like him. He did not see the humor in my story so hence I re-turned to jail where Ziehli found me (that’s another story in itself involving Goat dancingand other Hootchie Koo weird stuff) and promised the judge he would rehabilitate me,andgave me a job! So that’s how I came to write at the Americana Gazette! Hope that satis-fies your curiosity.

Well Ziehli got in trouble with the Face book Cops. It seems he wasfriending too many people he did not know and they threatened to banhim from Face book for life! I ain’t kidding on this. First of all isn’t thatthe purpose of Face book to make friends on line? I bet all those big music stars like MarcBarnaby and John Miller don’t know everyone who is there friend on Face book. Espe-cially Miller cause God knows he isn’t any good at making friends anyway!

Ziehli’s just back from hobgoblin with all those big stars inNashville again. Going out to fancy dining joints like theWaffleHouse and Wendell Smith’s with Phil Lee. They even got a giftfrom Phil. A Genuine authentic Gretsch Statue of a guy playingthe accordion. It was in Richard Bennett’s house and Marty Stu-art’s house too. Their wives made them get rid of it so it endedup at Phil’s house. Maggie made him get rid of it so Ziehli hasit now in the Studio. It will rest there for a year than return toNashville, where Warner Hodges will take ownership in 2013,

unless the Mayans take over the world!

It seems that there is a rumor circulating that I have been asked to be Mitt Romney’s run-ning mate for the presidential election this November. I want to clear this up immedi-ately! This is clearly a Republican smear campaign on my good name and character. Theyheard I was running for office in 2013 which is not true. I was running from office 213because the burrito I had for lunch was making an early exit, hence my smear campaign!Enough said!

Now for my rant. Hopefully our long nightmare will soon be over inWis-consin,Walker and the short Fitzwhatits brother will be voted out of of-fice, and we’ll have a new Governor and speaker of the Senate. Can’tcome too quick for me! Those two yahoo’s with the other Fitzwhatitsbrother have done more damage to Wisconsin than a squirrel loose inyour underwear looking for nuts right after you’ve had a vasectomy!Walker has to rely and go out of state to raise money. If those other stateslove him so much we’ll trade them him, the two brothers, and a futuredraft pick for a chance at a better future here in the dairy state. His only footnote in his-tory will be that he was the only Governor booted from office in less than 18 months ofservice. I cannot think of anything worse than the thought of Scott Walker wining re-election for the state ofWisconsin. Enough said!

Finally thanks to everyone who reads my column and comments onit. I don’t really care what you think,but I am glad you take the timeout of your busy lives to be enlightened by me! As a wise friend ofmine once told me “Always strive to be yourself, unless you can beBatman. Always be Batman!

By: Litt Dubay

LittDuBay’sRant!

by Litt DuBay

Phil Lee and Joyce Ziehli

Warner E. Hodges

www.amer i canagaze t t e .ne t 11

B-SideOh my goodness it’s getting warm! And don’t getme wrong, I’m as thrilled about this as the nextperson (maybe even more so), but it also scaresthe heck out of me.It’s not s’posed to be this warm in March,and I sure hope this isn’tan indicator that we’ll have another scary hot summer. Still, I’m incredibly excited tostart seeing tulips and daffodils and having actual rain (although I’m probably ratherunique in that last bit). I’m pretty sure it’s impossible for it to get green too quickly.

Why is it that the chords to really good songs refuse to be found? I swear I’ve spendabout an hour combing the internet for Music to Me by Bill Stains, and it’s not onYouTube, nor do the chords appear to want to sneak out from under their invisibilitycloak (Harry Potter! I warned you…). I found the lyrics in maybe two places, but thechords are nowhere to be found. Still, I know they exist, because I know somebodywho has them… *begins formulating robbery plans*.

Brief sidetracked moment: I keep seeing these adds on the internet that say ‘I’m BobDylan (for want of a better random name),and I’m a Mormon,’which frankly make melaugh. I’ve got nothing against Mormons; I just find it a little funny that they advertise.Who knows; it’s one way to increase personage.Gigity (anybody?).

Let’s talk about Ukuleles.Everybody plays them now. I kid you not. I know at least fivepeople,and I’ve heard other people talking about people who I don’t know.It used tobe kind of a hipster-ish thing – Joseph Birdsong of the Bedazzled Ukulele fame andvarious others – but now it’s becoming a thing.There are kids who bring them toschool. I dunno… I just find it strange and sudden and strange….Also, ukulele is in-credibly difficult to spell.

I’ll leave you with something I find absolutely wonderful: a lot of male harmony.Schooner Fare and Stan Rodgers-esque stuff, you know what I’m talking about. Some-times on Simply Folk they’ll play a song that’s got maybe five voices layered, mostlymen,with maybe one woman, and it sounds amazing.This tends to happen a lot witholder songs, or songs of the sea, and sometimes I get goosebumps.

Fare the well for I must leave thee,do not let this parting grieve the,for remember thatthe best of friends must part;must part! I’ll hang my harp on a weeping willow tree,and may the world go well with thee! (There is aTavern in theTown, in case you werewondering.)

Written by: Celia Carr

in our area.He thereafter used the house facilities.

Old outhouses that were once routinely burned or torn down are now sold to thehighest bidder. If the building cannot be saved, the alert salvagers know that the seatboard alone will bring $25.00.Often someone digging in a particular spot where longago sat an outhouse will find all kinds of odd things. People used to throw all mannerof things down the hole of the outhouse,using it as a garbage dump.Such things as jew-elry, old money, coins, old spectacles, silverware and glass ware.

Between the years 1933-1945 TheWPA, under Franklin D Roosevelt’s administration,built 2,309,239 sanitary outhouses.Federally trained and funded specialists built these

outhouses the government had crews going all over thecountryside rebuilding any outhouse that was worth savingand building ones where existing models did not meet gov-ernment standards.The new and improved models had con-crete bases, airtight seat lids, and screened ventilation.

The outhouse has been referred to by many names, Theword privy comes from the Latin word “Privus” or privateplace, It has been called the back house, the pokey, the loo,the closet, the federal building, and the white house.This isjust to name a few.So if you had a friend who said they hadspent a lot of time at the white house, it doesn’t necessarilymean the Government employed them.

Thomas Crapper has been believed to be the inventor of thefirst flush toilet orWater Closet.Other sources I have come

upon say that he has been given credit for it.He was a master plumber and held manypatents for plumbing products.However,Alexander Cumming was the first person topatent the siphonic flush and his invention was further developed years later byplumbers by the name of Joseph Bramah andThomasTwyford.No matter who did it,it changed the way we live and the landscape of America.

Story by:Rosemary Ziehli

A Brief HistoryOf The Outhouse

I used to write an article a month for a newsletter for the Senior citizens of our town.The paper came out once a month and for most of the time I wrote about my familyand some misadventures I had with them growing up.On occasion a particular subjectwould get my attention and I would explore writing about it.That is how I became in-terested in the history of the outhouse and its place in America. It is a bit of Ameri-cana.

I found a most interesting book on the subject in our local library.The title was THEVANISHINGAMERICAN OUTHOUSE by Ronald S.Barlow.It was a tall book with a softcover. It was very easy to handle. The book contains nearly 200 photographs and plandrawings of privies constructed between 1820 and 1940.Who would ever believe allthe interesting facts on the subject? I once again reviewed the book for this article andthen went on the web. It was amazing all the websites on this particular structure.

The outhouse was invented about 500 years ago.They first came into existence in Eu-rope in the fifteenth century.There is a reason why a crescent and sun are carved intothe door of the outhouse.They served to identify which was to be used by the womenand which was to be used by the men.The moon was to signify Luna the ancient cres-cent shaped figure who was the universal symbol for womanhood.Sol,a sunburst pat-tern, was to signify the men’s outhouse.The cutouts also served as vents for fresh airand also to let in light, as they had no windows.These signs were necessary for iden-tification because in early times only a fraction of the population could read or write.As time went by Innkeepers thought maintaining a man’s outhouse was unnecessary.They could go out in the woods and relieve themselves.That left only the outhousemarked with a crescent moon.

Two –holer outhouses were not built so that two people could use them at the sametime.One hole was made smaller to enable children to use them without being afraidof falling into the pit below. The largest outhouse contained twelve holes and wasbuilt by a hotel in Montana. The average size of an outhouse was about 4 ft square by7ft high.The pit where the waste fell was sometimes as much as 20 feet deep.This pre-vented the outhouse from being moved frequently and to save work.

There were two story outhouses that were built as free standing units.They were builtto provide access for snowed in miners, loggers,and hunters. If there were drifts up to10 to 12 feet high the bottom unit was pretty much unavailable in other units doublevaulted shafts protected lower story occupants against unpleasant surprises.The upperfloor’s waste dropped down behind the wall of the lower floor’s outhouse.Most folkswere leery of using ground floor seats when anyone was busy upstairs.There was al-ways the possibility of a leaky floor or a“peeping tom.”

Victorian ladies liked their outhouses to be charming as well as functional.They some-times painted or wallpapered the insides to make it a more pleasant place to be.Atone point in my life we lived in a home without indoor plumbing. Not for very longthough. My parents purchased the home in late fall and the bathroom and indoorplumbing could not be installed until spring.To the back wall of the outhouse was anoil painting by a local artist. It featured a small child sitting on a rug with a large redball in her hands.The artist’s signature was written in the right hand corner of thepainting. I do not remember what became of the painting when the house was torndown.

Next door to us lived a retired schoolteacher and the janitor of the local school district.The house was owned by the woman’s father who also lived with them.On their backlot sat an old outhouse.This was the domain of the old man.He did not like the facili-ties in the house and always used the outhouse.One day a tornado went through ourtown and demolished the building right to the ground.That was the end of outhouses

Phil Lee


Bobby Bare is one of the all-time greatest country singers to ever call Nashville home!Bobby Bare deserves to be and should be in the Country Music Hall of Fame! BobbyBare is my hero!

Bobby Bare stands tall and is easy going as Joyce and I met him at the RFDTelevisionStudios in Nashville in April 2012. He is there to tape a segment of Larry’s CountryDiner. The television station is awe-inspiring and a little intimidating to those of us notused to the bright lights and constant action going on behind the scenes. Bare as heis known in Nashville circles, is calm and not at all affected by the whirl wind of ac-tivity going on all around him. He takes the sound stage and makes it his own. He jokeswith the audience and the cast like they are all his old friends. Bare sings four songsincludingThat’s how I got to Memphis and Marge is at the Lincoln Park Inn,both writ-ten by his old friendTomT.Hall,Streets of Baltimore (one of my favorite all-time songs),and the Mermaid Song. I am awe struck by the way Bare delivers these songs and howhe has the audience in the palm of his hand. After the show taping I finally get my in-terview with Bobby Bare!

AG: Bobby it is a wonderful opportunity to get to finally sit-down and talk to you!

Bare: Better late than never! (laughs). I owe you an interview!

AG: So how’s fishing been lately?

Bare: Well I got this rich friend down aroundWaverly who builds his own boats andhas his own lake there. I was catching 10 pounders. It’s not real fishing though. In aweek or so I’m going bass fishing at Dell Hollow,now that’s real fishing!

AG: You have had a long and varied career singing great songs. How do you go aboutpicking songs to sing?

Bare: I just listen to songs that hit me. I get them from many places. Most of the timea friend will tell me about a great song that they have heard and I get a copy of it andtake a listen for myself. That’how I usually find the really great songs. Sometimes I goto great writers and ask what they have. Sometimes a publisher will call me and say“you’ve got to listen to this song.” That’s what happened withTomT.Hall’s,Lincoln ParkInn. His publisher called me on Thanksgiving and said you’ve got to come hear thissong right away. So I got in the car and drove downtown and gave it a listen. It was afantastic song! I said“yea you’re right”and I recorded it. Of course I was a big fan ofTomT.’s anyway and to get to record one of his songs just made it better.

AG: You have cut a lot of TomT’s, Shel Silverstein, and Bob McDill’s songs. In fact my

Bobby Bare, Sr.

Still doing it his way!


favorite Bobby Bare song is McDill’s Put a little lovin on me. How did you go aboutpicking that song?

Bare: I did a whole album of McDill’s songs called Me &McDill. We went down to Mus-cle Shoals and cut that record. I just love McDill’s writing.

AG: Did you use the Muscle Shoals’musicians to cut the record?

Bare: Sure did. We used all those hot pickers down there. They are all so great.

AG:One of my favorite albums of yours is the one Rodney Crowell produced. You hadso many great cuts on that record. New Cut Road,White Freightliner Blues,Call Me theBreeze,etc. I love the way you cut Call Me the Breeze. My band plays it the funky wayyou cut that record. The groove you had is incredible.

Bare: On that album Rodney brought in most of Emmylou Harris’s Hot band to playon it. Tony Brown, Emory Gordy, a great bass player,Albert Lee, and Ricky Skaggs. Wecut a couple Townes Van Zandt songs. I had met Townes back in the late 60’s. I hadan A Frame cabin on Centerville Lake. Mickey Newberry had the place next to mine.I was standing out on the porch and Mickey came over and said“Bobby there’s some-one you need to meet”, and it wasTownes. He sangTecumsehValley and I loved thatsong and never forgot about it. When I went to record with Rodney one of us broughtthe song up and we both loved it so we cut it. I still think I cut a great track with thatone. I had also cut Four StrongWinds byTownes way back in the 60’s. He had a songI had always loved called SummerWages and I recorded that too!

AG: That is a fantastic album.One of the all-time greatest ever cut in my opinion! I toldRodney that when I interviewed him. He told me that it was one of his favorite recordshe ever worked on.

Bare: Well thank you. I really loved making that record. It’s got great songs and sound.AG: You were one of the first people to stand up to Music Row and get to cut your ownrecords producing them and picking the pickers to play on them. How did that comeabout?

Bare: I’ll tell you how that all got started. Chet stopped producing in the late 60’s.Elvis came to town and Chet was producing him. He would come to town and messaround and not get started recording until two in the morning. Chet was producing20 plus others acts and he just got tired of it, so he quit producing. They stuck mewith a lot of other producers and it just did not work out.

I had always wanted to work with Jerry Kennedy and my contract was up with RCAso I went over to Mercury with Jerry. We had good success. We recordedThat’s howI got to Memphis,Come Sunday, I took a memory to lunch, another great TomT. Song.My contract ran out after two years at Mercury. Jack Clement was trying to get me tocome to JMI records and Chet was trying to get me to come back to RCA so I wentback. I told Chet you got too many producers over here and it’s too confusing to me.Chet said“why don’t you produce your own records? I’ve known you long enough thatI know you know what to do.” I did Ride me down easy and then I put out an albumof the same name. Then I started doing stuff completely out in left field for Nashvilleand RCA standards. I was working with Shel Silverstein and snuck in his stuff beforeanyone knew what I was doing. Jerry Bradley was running it by then, and he told me“If I had known what you were doing I would have stopped you right then!”

That was about the timeWaylon and I were real close friends. I told him what I wasdoing and he went to RCA and told them he wanted to produce his own records. Theywere not real happy about it, but they had to let him. That opened up a huge can ofworms! It was really not a big deal for me but whenWaylon did it the dam broke andthe rest is history.The was not really a big“Outlaw”thing like the press made it out tobe.

AG: Walt Houston played guitar for you for a long time.

Bare: I really miss him.

AG: Well the first time I ever got on stage to play Country Music waswithWalt Houston in Verona,WI. He was in a band playing with JimDawson. Dawson walked off stage to get a drink andWalt said overthe mic "is there a bass player in the house”. My friends pushed meout of my seat and Walt threw the bass over my neck and away wewent. I played three songs with him. Walt was the best picker intown at that time and it was quite an honor to be able to play a fewsongs with him.

Bare: Any train wrecks?

AG: No it went pretty well.Walt was great about telling me the chordsand changeups. He told me what to play. It was a blast.Bare: Walt was a good one!

AG: What’s upcoming and new for you?

Bare: I’ve got a new album coming out in Scandinavia in the latter part of May and atour in June. I wrote or co-wrote all the songs on this record. A song that I co-wroteand sang with Petter Oien got entered into the Euro song competition and became ahit there. It’s the same contest that launched ABBA, Julio Escalis, and EnglebertHumperdinck. It’s been around for over 50 years. It’s bigger than American Idol ishere.

I’ve got a lot of fishing trips coming up. I’ve got a two week trip in a week from now.

AG: Is your wife good with all this fishing?

Bare: She is now! (laughs) She wasn’t always good with it. We went through a periodof time when the word fishing was considered the“F”word (laughs)!

AG: How long have you been married?

Bare:Since 1964. It’s sneaking up on 50 years.Way too long for her to get mad anymoreabout fishing! There’s not a lot she can do about anyway!

AG: Joyce got that way about my guitar buying. She doesn’t say anything anymore.

Bare: How many guitars do you have?

AG:Oh about 45.

Bare: Heck if things get tough you can get on EBay and sell them and have enoughmoney to live on for 10 years or so (laughs)! Bobby Jr. does that all time. They justdid a movie about him. Followed him around for a year and filmed him.They were overat his house and he has his guitars hanging on the wall. He was showing them to thecamera and telling a little about them, and I stepped in the row of them. When hecame to me he said“next to my Les Paul is my dad,and this is the bassWaylon gave me”,and then moved on to the next one like I was part of his collection. (we laugh)

AG: So what’s after Scandinavia?

Bare: I got some fair dates coming up and some Casino’s. I usually book dates in thesummer where I can go fishing. Wisconsin,Minnesota,Michigan - places where thereare good lakes with a lot of fish.

AG: What advice would you give to an artist starting out today?

Bare: It’s something that you’ve got to love and have such a passionfor you’d do it for free. If you don’t have the passion for it, you willnever make it. I was eaten up by Country Music. That’s all I couldthink of when I was a teenager.

Today if you are good you can build up a following and maintain themthrough the internet. That’s a huge advantage over the way I and allthe others had back when we started. The bigger you can build thatthe better it is for you. If you can get 5,000 fans to follow you on theinternet you’ve got 5,000 fans already to buy your record. That ishuge! Plus you’ve got 5,000 people to come to your shows. If youcan get 10,000 hard core fans on the internet in your herd you arehome free. That’s like having a 1,000,000 record seller.

You’ve got to nurture that. If you do, the big money record peoplewill come and find you! They have no choice!

AG: Thank you so much for your time and this interview

Bare: You areWelcome!

Written by:Andy ZiehliPhotos by: Joyce Ziehli


STURGEON BAY,WI -The eighth annual Steel Bridge Songfest will once again rock theDoor County town of Sturgeon Bay fromThursday,June 7th through Sunday,June 10th,with a record number of songwriters and bands performing at twelve indoor and out-door venues.

Citizens for Our Bridge,a non-profit group dedicated to promoting and preserving thehistorical significance of Sturgeon Bay's Michigan Street Bridge, hosts the annual vol-unteer-run event.Central to the festivities is the "Construction Zone," a weeklong song-writing marathon hosted by the Holiday Music Motel that infuses the festival with aslew of new songs each year.The songs are written and recorded at the motel and per-formed on stage during the festival by the writers (the“Construction Crew”*), and arelater made available for sale at local businesses and through the Steel Bridge and Hol-iday websites. Fifty-five songwriters in every genreof music (from as far away as New Zealand) are tak-ing part this year.This year's festival will mark the re-lease of the latest edition of Steel Bridge Songs,Volume 7.

Steel Bridge Songfest 2012 Highlights:

Pub Crawl with Saferide Program June 7th, 8th, &9th, 9 p.m. – 2 a.m.: 12 indoor and outdoor venues,100+ bands, free trolley transportation! Thursday,June 7th is Door County Appreciation Night, and isfree to the public (no passes required).

Third Avenue Playhouse (TAP) June 8th & 9th, 7p.m. – 10 p.m.:Two evenings of music at SturgeonBay’s premier theater, featuring the ConstructionZone songwriters and the songs written at the Hol-iday Music Motel in the days preceding the festivalweekend. Friday’s show includes the Young Song-writer’s Showcase, hosted by 2012 Door CountyIdol winner Lena MacDonald.

2-Day Outdoor Festival at The Holiday Music MotelJune 9th & 10th, 12:30 – 5:30 p.m.Two outdoorstages (parking lot and rooftop), food and beer ven-dors, FREE to the public!

Steel Bridge Songfest ALL-ACCESS PASSES are JUST$20/$25 and can be purchased online throughTicket Star Online, by phone at (800) 895-0071, orin person at the Holiday Music Motel,Untitled Usedand Rare Books, and the Steel Bridge office locatedat 221 Louisiana St. in Sturgeon Bay.

NOTE:This is a preliminary schedule.Times,venuesand performers are all subject to change. Manymore artists’ names and specifics will be added inas the festival approaches. Check www.steel-bridgesongfest.org for the most up to date infor-mation.

Thursday June 7th “Door County AppreciationNight” (All venues are FREE,no passes required)6pm-10pm Glas Coffeehouse - Construction ZoneSongwriter Showcase hosted by Anna Sacks featur-ing Robin Bienemann, Delaney Davidson,Angelo De Augustine, Ruby James, Eric Mc-Fadden, James Hall, Rick Wood, Andrea Wittgens, Matthew Julian Walters, DanielleFrench,Elliot Goettelman,Tarl Knight,VictoriaVox,Mark Raddatz,Geri X,Chris Aaron,Aaron English 6pm-9pm Nautical Inn Patio Groove Session and Friends 6pm-10pmKitty O'Riley's (heated,covered patio)Various artistsTBA,hosted by Marybeth Mattsonand Seth Raddatz with special guest Jeanne Kuhns. 9pm-Midnight Kimz Galley Cafe(serving food until 12am!!) Open mic,hosted by Meaghan Owens with special guests.9pm-1am East Side Pub Crawl (Butch's, Red Room, Poh's, Cherry Lanes, Nautical Inn,Van’s) More than 40 bands and solos including Delta Routine, Southside Stranglers,Wisconsin Beef Commission, Little Cisco and the Rhythm Dogs, Boom 42,Dead Mod-ernVillains, Liv Meuller, and moreTBA.Cigar Box Guitar Madness with Purgatory Hill,John Lowe,Hymn For Her,Voodoo Highway, Stacey Puckett, and Guitar Hero Sheema.

Steel Bridge Songfest2012 PreliminarySchedule of Events

Rap/Hip-Hop Party hosted by DJ Nolan Scott, featuring Storitela, Chump Service,MCSwigz,Lumberjack Cash,Landon Capelle, and moreTBA.For a more detailed and com-plete schedule/listing, check http://steelbridgesongfest.org.

Friday June 8th 3pm-7pm Glas Coffeehouse Patio (indoors if raining) Various ArtistsTBA,hosted By Craig Greenberg andAndreaWittgens 6pm-9pm Nautical Beer Garden(indoors if raining) The Form, Favorite ShapeTriangle, Joseph Peterson and theTrans-parent Seas, and more TBA. 7pm-10pm Third Avenue Playhouse (TAP) 7pm-8:30pm:Young Songwriters Showcase, Hosted by Lena MacDonald (2012 Door County Idol)andTarl Knight, featuring Brittany Hallet (2012 Miss Door County),Caleb Navarro,LiamHall,Angelo DeAugustine,Anya Kopischke and more.8:30pm-10pm:Construction ZoneSongwriters“InThe Round”Hosted byVictoriaVox and Freedy Johnston, featuring the

2012 Construction Crew* 7pm-10pm Kitty O'Riley'sPub (heated, covered patio) Various Artists TBA,hosted by The Offseason with special guests. 9pm-12am Kimz Galley Cafe Open Mic, hosted by KoryMurphy with special guests. 9pm-2am Pub Crawl(Red Room, Butch’s, Poh's, Cherry Lanes, Nautical.Kitty O’Riley’s Pub,Beach Harbor) featuring Geri X,Favorite ShapeTriangle,The Legendary Sons of CrackDaniels, Delaney Davidson,The Form, Copper Box,Black Market Parts, The Sonnets, Ida Jo, Wamsley,Honey Get The Gun,Thy Dirty Deuce, Farm League,She Said, Copperbox, James Hall, Bear Suit SuckerPunch,Victims of the American Dream, BlackWaterLies, Candy Machine Guns, Bloody Crows, Jerry Du-ginski, Dead Horse,Mr.Tall Pants andThe Shorts,AlexWhite of Elf Lettuce, Little Damn Matthew, RightRongly,and more! For a more detailed and completeschedule/listing,check http://steelbridgesongfest.org.

Saturday June 9th 12:30pm-5:30pm Holiday MusicMotel,Two stages--parking lot and rooftop.(In case ofrain, music moves to Cherry Lanes.) VictoriaWilliams,Freedy Johnston,Thy Dirty Deuce,Darcade,Mike Mangione Band,The Raddatz’s (Mark,Seth,andAustin,playing together and with their own bands),The 2012 Construction Crew* and more TBA. 6pm-9pm Nautical Beer Garden (inside if raining) ) Fred-die Lee Band, Cody P and Sammy B, and more TBA.7pm-10pmTAP "2012 Steel BridgeAll-Star Revue" fea-turing the entire 2012 Construction Crew* and spe-cial guests, hosted by James Hall. 8pm-12am KimzGalley Cafe Open Mic, hosted by Tarl Knight withguest artists. 9pm-2am Pub Crawl (Butch's, RedRoom, Poh's, Cherry Lanes, Nautical. Kitty's, BeachHarbor) featuring ChrisAaron,Boheme 66,Steve Sul-livan andThe Factory,Freddy Lee Band,UndergroundDay 1, Elastik Waste Banned,A Minute Jack Forum,Kim Manning’s Jam Factory, Groove Session, LantzLazwell,The People Brothers Band,FunWithAtoms,West Adeline, The Whiskeybelles, Mike MangioneBand, Guitar Hero Sheema, Jacob Green and theRiverWaterTribe,Ruby James,VictoriaWilliams,Wal-ter Salas-Humara,Bruce and Jeremy Reaves,BrothersGun, Early Thomas &The Devil Inside, She Said andmoreTBA. For a more detailed and complete sched-

ule/listing, check http://steelbridgesongfest.org.

Sunday June 10th 12:30pm-5:30pm Holiday Music Motel, Two stages--parking lot androoftop (in case of rain,music moves to Cherry Lanes)TOIVO,Crude Humor,BenThereDanThat,The 2012 Construction Crew** and moreTBA.

Visit www.steelbridgesongfest.org for a full list of performers and the four-day per-formance schedule.


For most of us“lay”folks a CD release party is an opportunity to go hear some cool newmusic from our favorite artists in a big noisy club, and maybe, just maybe we can talkto the artists for a minute or so before they are overwhelmed by the other attendees.The Bluefield’s had one of those shows last Labor Day weekend and it was an event toremember! This time they did it a little differently. They stripped down their live rigs,set up shop in the middle of Grimey’s Record Store in Nashville and played a short setto a very enthusiastic crowd, some who came from England and Canada to attend! Itwas intimate, classy, and just plain ole fun to watch Dan Baird, Joe Blanton,WarnerHodges and Keith Brogdon run through a short eight song set of tunes from their newCD Pure and has the opportunity to really connect with the crowd!

The Bluefield’s played some of the best rock & roll I have heard in years. The songswere tight, well-constructed with pure rock & roll adrenalin flowing from the firstnote to the last chord! As a live act it is hard to beat Joe Blanton both as a vocalist andperformer. The man has it all, the look, talent, and the best rock voice going today!Baird switched to bass on this project and his take no prisoners approach to the bassis equal to his guitar playing. Dan Baird is fluent and graceful in his playing. He plucksjust the right notes at the right time to make the bottom end of these songs resonatefrom the basement to the attic! Warner Hodges is the guitar! A man with very fewpeers of equal status,Hodges fingers blazed new territory on his GoldTop Les Paul,Tele-caster, Gibson Double neck, and his father’s Gretsch Viking throughout the perform-ance. A star on any stage, the small performing area did not hold back his large stageenthusiasm throughout the show. Drummer Keith Brogdon is a fantastic drummer.This was the first time I had seen him play and he blew me away. He plays in thepocket and his style is reminiscent of CharlieWatts andAlWilson. He was so tight andfunky in his playing that you could set your watch to his timing.

The Bluefield’s are a band that holds nothing back when performing,or when talkingto fans. These guys love to perform and love to hang out with the folks that come tosee them. Pictures for any and everyone who wanted one taken, along with auto-graphing the CD’s and posters folks brought with them; these guys are tops in mybook for being true to their craft, and to their fans.

The Bluefield’sPureUnderground Treehouse RecordsRock & Roll

So let’s talk about the CD. “Pure” is acollection of 14 songs that run thegambit from pure 70’s style HardRock to 2012Americana. This CD hasit all! There are Ballads, Bar Rock,Southern Rock, Americana, IndieRock, and straight old Rock & Roll!Blanton engineered, mixed, and mas-tered the CD in his home studio (The UndergroundTreehouse). He also designed theCD Cover and played guitar and sang on Pure. His ability to juggle so many hats is atestament to his talent and skill both in front of and behind the board. Hodges guitarplaying is incredible on this record. His ultra-smooth rock tones and flying fingers givePure a unique sound and sets the bar high for other players trying to copy his licks!He also played mandolin onTrainwreck (my favorite song). Baird laid down the bassparts and really showed what a multi-talented player he really is. His licks and runsdominate these songs. The bass is a lead instrument in his hands. Playing drums onthe CD was Steve Gorman who did an excellent job of interpreting what the Blue-field’s needed and wanted for this record. MichaelWebb added some B3 organ. All thesongs were written by Blanton,Baird, and Hodges.

My favorite cuts on the CD are Bad Old Days, Belong, If not now when, Lay it on theline,Flat out gone,Train wreck,and 100 watt girl. These songs show the depth and ex-perience of the Bluefield’s as writers and performers. There is not a bad song on thisCD. They all are exceptionally well written and recorded. A five star CD if I ever heardone!

This CD is an excellent addition to any collection! It sets the mark high for other Rock& Roll bands to reach. The Bluefield’s are a seasoned group of professional musiciansmaking a very loud statement that“Rock & Roll is not dead!” It may have aged a littlelike fine wine, but it still kicks butt like 110 proofTennesseeWhiskey!You may purchase the CD at www.bluefields.com

Written by:Andy ZiehliPhotos by: Joyce Ziehli

The Bluefield’s Release CD “PURE” atGrimey’s New and Pre-LovedMusic

Warner E. Hodges, Keith Brogdon, Joe Blanton and Dan Baird

The Bluefields are putting together a residency at The HiwattClub (Mercy Lounge in Nashville).They will be performing everyTuesday at 7:00 PM starting July 31st for 4 straight weeks.Check them out.


What’s on your bucket list? A hike down the Grand Canyon? A walk down the red car-pet? Visiting all fifty states? A hot air balloon ride? An extended tour of Europe? At-tending a Super Bowl? Lunch with your favorite celebrity? A long walk in John Muirredwood forest? Has your bucket list changed throughout the years? I bet the one youhad at age fourteen is vastly different from one you made at twenty-four or forty-fouror whatever age you are at this moment.

There are a few items checked off my bucket list: toes in both theAtlantic and PacificOceans, attending aWisconsin victory in the Rose Bowl,being in the crowd watchingthe Rose Parade on NewYear’s Day, visit both Disneyland and Disneyworld, but thereis another one checked off, and it brings to mind the story around that accomplish-ment.

Back in the day a group of us unattached friends both male and female would oftengather for dinner on a Saturday night somewhere in Madison.We would meet around6:15 or so somewhere on State Street, and once we were gathered, a decision wouldbe reached as to the location of that week’s supper/dinner. In good weather we sim-ply met outside the old Civic Center, and in bad weather we met inside the Civic Cen-ter. I would sometimes go early for a matinee movie I wanted to see,and then I wouldgo to Mass at 5 PM at a church just off State Street. Thus it was on an April Saturdaysome years ago that I did just that: first a movie, then church, and then I would jointhe group for dinner. That particular Saturday the meeting time was 7 PM.

Mass was done before six,and I headed to the Civic Center to use the public restroomslocated there on the lower level. If you went into the Civic Center on a side street,youonly had to walk a few steps to stairs to the lower level, and the bath rooms were lo-cated at the bottom of those stairs.Thus it was that I made my way to that back dooror some people would say the side door. Without looking I grabbed the handle to pullthe door open. Nothing happened. I pulled again and again the door did not open. SoI reached over to the companion door and tugged at the handle. Nothing opened.Then it struck me the obvious fact the Civic Center was locked/closed for the day. Itwas one of those rare occasions that nothing was booked for that evening. Keepingan unused building open while it is not being used would be a big waste of money andutilities.

At that moment, too, I realized I was not alone at those doors. Two men and a woman,all very well dressed,were behind me. Before I could speak one man reached to openthe door. “That is strange,”he said. “I guess it is closed for tonight as apparently thereis nothing scheduled for it,”I replied. “That can’t be,”he said,“we are here for the horsefair. Our horses are being shown at the fair tonight. That’s why we are here from theTwin Cities.” By that time I had turned facing them,and I said,“No,the horse fair won’tbe here. There is no place to show horses in here. This is a place for concerts and playsand musical events.” “But I know this is where we were told to be,” the other man re-sponded. It was at that moment that the words “horse fair” struck a meaning to me.My good friends Ron and Pat often talked about the Horse Fair at the Dane CountyColiseum. So it was then I explained to the three that they needed to be there and nothere at the Civic Center.

“How do we get there?” one of the men asked. I thought a moment about how to givethem directions because of the many one-way streets in the area and how the lakesmake it difficult to give a straight route set of directions.

“I guess I need to know where you are parked before I attempt to show you a goodroute to the Coliseum.” The other man gestured,“Over there on a side street.” “Let mewalk with you to the vehicle, and then I can show you a quick way to get there," Iadded.

We walked a block,and at the corner they indicated a block off State Street as their lo-cation. As I looked all I could see was a big black limousine parked in the area theyhad pointed out. The woman spoke for the first time,

“Those are our drivers by the vehicle,” she said. Two young looking uniformed menwere actually polishing the limousine as it sat there. “Why don’t you come to the fairwith us? You can be our guest and you can guide our drivers to the place we need tobe.” Ride in a limousine! That was one of my bucket list items. It had been on all mylists no matter at what age I had made one. But what would my friends do when I did

What’son YourBucket List?

not show up? Would they look for me? Would they call the police? Would they callmy home wondering about my absence? There were no cell phones then as there aretoday wherein you can connect so easily to others. ‘Well, I have other plans,but if youwant, I can ride along to the Coliseum guiding the drivers there, and they can let youoff, bring me back here, and hopefully they will find their way to the Coliseum with-out me at that point.”

They agreed to the plan;one of the uniformed men opened a door for me,and he mo-tioned me inside. I slumped down into a very plush back seat, and the three of themsat across from me. I called out the directions to begin the trip, and one of the menopened a small refrigerator and brought out a bottle of champagne which he pro-ceeded to open. “Would you like to share a glass of champagne with us?” I don’t thinkI had ever tasted champagne before, but it seemed like the perfect thing to do in theback seat of a very plush limo. From somewhere glasses were produced and the drinkspoured. “To our hero,”he proposed and we toasted the event. I called out the neces-sary directions when needed. In my mind I wanted to plot the longest route possibleto delay the end of the ride, but I knew the route needed to be simple so the driverscould find their way on their own in just a short time. I pointed out points of intereston the route, and they explained their situation. The two men were lawyers in thesame firm, and the woman’s husband had also been a partner. He had died a year be-fore, and they had hired the woman as their executive secretary. The three of themowned show horses, and one horse was being shown for the first time at this HorseFair, and they all came down for the occasion. It was the first time she had traveledwith them. Previously it had been her husband.

In no time we were at the entrance to the Coliseum, and once again they invited meto join them for the show promising to delivery me to my car when it was over. But Ideclined,and then we headed to back to State Street. I asked the drivers if they thoughtthey could find the route we had just taken, and they said they could, so I directedthem back via Park Street thinking it would give me a longer ride. At each stop light,I would look out at the cars around me hoping that someone might be there seeing mealone in a limo with two uniformed attendants and holding a glass of champagne. Butno one that I knew saw me. People would stare into the car and I am sure wonder,“Who is that guy in that big plush limo?”

The two young men told me during that trip back that they were high school seniors;one was the son of the woman and the other his best friend. They needed money forcollege, and they were hired to be the drivers of this limo. This was their first over-night and out-of-town trip, and they were so protective of the limo that they plannedto sleep in it to protect it all night long in the hotel parking lot.

My friends were waiting for me wondering why I was late for the meeting, and whenI told them my story, they laughed at it and refused to believe me. So from behind myback I produced my empty champagne class and the napkin with the law firm en-graving. The next day when I told my grandmother of the adventure, she stared at measking,“Weren’t you afraid they would kidnap you?” “No,” I laughed,“just look at me-Iam hardly kidnap material, and who could or would pay any ransom for me?”

And now for the most disappointing thing about this adventure. The champagne glasswas not glass! It was a cheap plastic glass you can buy by the gross at any party store.But I did get an item checked off my bucket list.

Written by: Bob Hoffman


I received an email with a picture of a pretty country gal and was asked if I’d like tointerview her. She had a new single coming out entitled, "We Can't Be Friends". Ichecked out her website – she is Joanna Smith of Nashville.

What I found when I started reading her bio was this cute little story of how it allbegan for Joanna -When she was five, her mother entered her in the Little Miss KingCotton Horse Show Pageant.“I did my little interview this judge asked,‘Now Joannawhat would you like to be when you grow up?’And I said,‘well I already am a countrymusic singer, a professional country music singer, I just don’t get to get up on stagemuch,”Smith recalls with a laugh.“That was the beginning. I had a gig the next week-end singing at the Little Miss Peanut Pageant.That was the definitely the beginning ofmy music career.” After reading this I just had to speak with her to see how the rest ofher life was going!

Below is a little background on Joanna from her website and then my chat with her,please read on.

Raised in a part of the country known for farming,Georgia red clay and family values,Joanna Smith had Music City aspirations at an early age.Growing up in Arlington,GA,a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it small-town in Southwest Georgia, Smith got the performancebug from an intoxicating combination childhood tape recorder and listening to strongwomen of country includingThe Judds,Reba McEntire, and Dolly Parton.

Encouraged by her family, Joanna Smith entered every performance opportunity avail-able and was committed to perfecting her live shows.Asked at an early age what shewanted to be when she grew up she replied,“I alreadyAM a professional country musicsinger but I just don’t get to get on the stage much!” Fixing that, Smith took to everystage in the Southeast!

She’d had years of practice performing for crowds when at 18 she was tapped to joinMustang Sally,an all girl country band.Smith then decided to head to Nashville and pur-sue her music full-time, leaving a full scholarship toAuburn University.Despite a shortrun with Mustang Sally, Joanna Smith had fallen in love withTennessee and decided toremain here permanently.With no connections and in a new city, she set out writingand singing demos, and in a little over a year signed her first publishing deal with BigBorassa Music. Since then, she has had two songs cut (“Flying By”on Billy Ray Cyrus’latest record,HOMEAT LAST), and has opened for Glen Campbell at the RymanAudi-torium.

Joanna spent her evenings playing on Broadway performing at the famedTootsie’s andher days networking around the row.After four years playing the honky tonk, shesigned a contract with Sony Music Nashville, a publishing deal with Sony/ATV-Monu-ment and has begun work recording her first full-length studio record.

“I want to sing country songs that hard-working, real people can relate to. Songs thatfolks can connect with through the ups and downs of life.” she says, and, after listen-ing to her songs you immediately know; Smith knows how to reach out and touch auniversal chord, a natural ability that makes her songs great.

Joyce: Joanna,I read you were discovered while performing atTootsie’s Orchid Loungeon Broadway in Nashville. Tell me about this.

Joanna: When I first started, I thought I just had to wait to be discovered. So I movedto Nashville after my freshman year in college and joined an all girl band. I was im-mediately fired from the band for no apparent reason, it just happened. I really hadnothing going on so I started writing songs and publishing them. I entered a contestat Tootsie’s and I won which allowed me to perform at the RymanAuditorium. I was

21 by now so I could get into the bars to play. I playedTootsie’s for four years and wasdiscovered and landed a record deal with Columbia.

“Borrowed Wedding Dress” is a song I wrote after a phone conversation with mymother about a lavish wedding in their small hometown.“You should have seen theshow they put on.The flowers must have cost more than my car’ and she was goingon [saying] ‘I wish the best for them and I hope they make it,but I’m going to tell yousomething,when me and your daddy were married, I got married in a borrowed wed-ding dress. I borrowed it and returned it the next day and we are just as married.’Whenshe said that, she was being sassy and had no hint of self pity but it really affected me.”I kept thinking about the title“BorrowedWedding Dress”and I sat down to write withmy friend Leslie Satcher.

We pitched several songs to Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood and then I wasasked if I would like to be an artist? I answered,“That’s why I am here”. I had beenpassed by twice so I was really trying to play it cool. That’s how I got to where I am.

Joyce: How did you start writing songs?

Joanna: My Dad was a writer. I started writing as well and then when I moved toNashville I started putting my writing and music together. It just kind of comes natu-rally.

Joyce:Where do you play out?

Joanna: I play a lot of big festivals in the summer and I played a Western Festival inFrance which was a lot of fun. With my new single coming out, I hope to acquiresome bigger gigs. I have released 2 EP’s with little samples of my music, but the CDshould be released hopefully this Fall. We just really play wherever we can get a gig.

Joyce: Ever played inWisconsin?

Joanna: Wisconsin is one state I have not played in yet. Been to Minnesota though.Would love to play inWisconsin sometime.

Joyce: What do you do for fun and relaxation?

Joanna: I love horses and going on trail rides. I have a horse that I’m training here inNashville,and that really takes up a lot of my time and is like therapy to me. I also loveto read and play golf and am training for a marathon.

Joyce: What are some future goals?

Joanna: Next year I hope to have zero time for my hobbies and that I will be sittingback stage waiting to perform and complaining about how busy I am and have notime!!!! (she laughs) I’m 26 years old and I love country music. I absolutely love whatI do. I have had some struggling but I am like a pioneer woman – I want it all!!!

Joyce: Well Joanna – good luck to you in your future endeavors. I will look you up onmy next trip to Nashville. Please check her out at www.joannasmithofficial.com andlisten for her new single –“We Can’t Be Friends”.

Joanna: Thank you Joyce. I look forward to meeting you in person.

Written by: Joyce ZiehliBackground information from Joanna’s websitePhotos furnished.

NASHVILLE’S JOANNA SMITH -Releases New Single

"We Can't Be Friends"


GlennWorf has been one of the top session bass players in Nashville for many yearsnow. Playing on hundreds of records through the years, he has been recording andtouring with Mark Knopfler ever since Mark’s first solo record‘Golden Heart’. I caughtup with Glenn in Nashville to talk about his journey from the Dairy State to the MusicCity and what’s been keeping him busy lately.

Travis- So, you were born in Ohio and raised inWisconsin.What’s your musical back-ground and what drew you to the bass?

Glenn-I’ve always said that my musical roots really begin in Madison because when Iwas a kid there was so much music being made there.And many great bands came toplay there.We had a piano in the house and my mom and dad played a little bit.Musicwas kind of a foreign subject in our house.

Travis- No great album collections?

Glenn- Not really.They would play some.It mainly came through my friends.And musiccame to me pretty early on.As far as how bass came to me, in 1968 my folks took meto San Antonio,Texas and we went to the HemisFair, and there was this, sort of poorman’s Herb Alpert and the Tiajana Brass thing going on.And as fate would have it, Itook a seat in front of the largest amp on the stage.And it turned out to be the bass amp,though I didn’t know that when I sat down.When the band came out and the bassplayer started playing,every note he hit played literally hit me in the gut.It was a prettyprofound moment.Years later I was telling one my buddies here in Nashville that storyand he said he was actually playing drums for that band on that day.A guy namedTommyWills.We couldn’t believe it!

Travis-So even though there were some things happening inWisconsin musically,therejust wasn’t enough to keep you there? Was that what eventually brought you toNashville?

Glenn- Indirectly. I played in bands from ’68 and was working with some great musi-cians there. But I still knew little about music. So I went to Eau Claire for 2 years andhad some great professors.They bent the rules,got me in and tried their best to get meup to speed.There was a healthy club scene but I realized I didn’t want to have totravel my entire life.And after playing bass for awhile and really starting to listen tomusic in a whole new way, I realized I wanted to be one of those guys who play onrecords.Nobody I knew had a clue on how you went about getting into that. I beganto work with some musicians from L.A. , Nevada and Nashville. I knew if I wanted tobe on a record I would have to go to one of those music centers and get somethinggoing. I made a visit here. It was closer to Madison.More economical than L.A.


GlennWorf -LayingDown theLow Groovein theMusic City

Travis- Did you have some connections here to get ya going?

Glenn-Not really. I had one keyboard friend here who was plugged into the sessionscene here.And he convinced me that I should forget about L.A.; you need to comehere because half of L.A. is going to be here in a couple of years. Some people sayNashville is a town of clicks, well it’s not as evil sounding as that. It is built on socialcontacts and knowing people. It ultimately led to some work offers.

Travis-That kind of answers my next question… I was wondering how hard it actuallywas to break into the session scene at that time.But did your name get around prettyquickly?

Glenn- No.Actually, it was heartbreakingly difficult to tell the truth. In the first year Iwas able to work with some, and got some road work for a couple of years. I savedsome money, got married in that time, and had our first child. So I was always behindthe eight ball financially.Rent is a serious commodity when you got a baby to feed. SoI stuck with the road thing,did a session when I could.Showcases. Just trying to meetcontacts.One thing that made it difficult was that there was a generation of guys whobuilt and created the music industry in this town. So there was no reason for them tocall a new kid who was fresh off the bus.Plus ,there was a huge influx of L.A.guys com-ing to town, including some brilliant bass players that already had a tremendous trackrecord.

Travis-Guys like Leland Sklar….?

Glenn- Well, he never moved here but was in town a lot. Guys like David Hungatemoved here. Joe Osborn moved here. WillieWeeks….all these guys came in about thesame time.These guys were brilliant players and everybody knew about them.Manytimes I was thinking…’Man,who am I kidding?’But,by and by the networks that I cul-tivated were enough to just keep our nostrils above the waterline.After about 4 or 5years of struggling, I began to make a living at it. But I also realized that if I want peo-ple to call me, I have to give them a reason to call me. If I was just going to emulate myheroes,why would anyone call me?What would they want ME to do?

song just for Putumayo) provided excellent new arrange-ments of classic cowboy tunes. This is music fromAmer-ica's heritage,and it'd be fine fare for summer,particularlythe Fourth of July.

Info supplied by: Beth Blenz-Cluca, Sugar mountain PR

"Little Big Sky" - Susan CattaneoSusan Cattaneo.Susan has opened forsuch artists as Rickie Lee Jones andBela Fleck. Her cd, "Brave and Wild"was selected as the 2009 “BostonArtist Debut of the Year” and one ofthe “Top 10” Records of the Year.www.susancattaneo.com

Info supplied by:Music City News Media & Marketing •38 Music Square East,2nd Floor • Nashville •TN • 37203

MARK BATES DELIVERS STUN-NING SOPHOMORE EFFORTYoung LosAngeles Based Singer/Song-writer Revives Music Career withNight Songs/Produced by Erik Liljes-trand

"Most of the songs on this record areabout holding on to something, even


Why NotCheck OutSome NewMusic?

THE DIRT DRIFTERS RELEASENEW SINGLE “THERE SHE GOES”OFF DEBUT ALBUM THIS IS MYBLOODNashville, TN – March 21, 2012; Ac-claimed newcomersThe Dirt Driftersrecently released their new single,“There She Goes,” off their well-re-

ceived debut albumThis Is My Blood.The multi-talentedNashville five-piece is made up of —Matt Fleener (leadvocals/guitar), Ryan Fleener (vocals/guitar), Jeff Middle-ton (vocals/ guitars), Jeremy Little (bass) and Nick Dia-mond (drums).“Finally, here’s a Nashville Combo thatgets the outlaw/alt-country aesthetic right,” said the SanFrancisco Examiner of This Is My Blood -- an album LosAngeles magazine called“full of honky-tonk attitude andtunes to stomp a boot to.” Produced by Justin Niebank(Vince Gill, Brad Paisley, Keith Urban),This Is My Bloodfeatures 11 tracks, 10 of which were either written/co-written by the band.The album also features a guest ap-pearance by musical legend Willie Nelson on thestandout track“I’ll Shut Up Now.”For further informationonThe Dirt Drifters and all upcoming tour dates, pleasevisit www.thedirtdrifters.com.

Info supplied by:WMN Publicity - Nikki Herceg 615214 1446 / [email protected]

ETTA BRITT – OUT OF THE SHAD-OWSSince she emerged on the musicscene in 1978, Etta Britt has devel-oped a solid reputation as a singer’ssinger.An in-demand session vocalistand performer,Britt has lent her voiceto backing better known artists —Delbert McClinton, Kenny Rogers,Al

Kooper, among them. But on her debut for WrinkledRecords,Out of the Shadows,(Release DateApril 24) Brittis finally stepping into the spotlight. "Singing with Ettamakes me feel like I'm fifty again.She sings her ass off! " — DelbertMcClinton

“Etta Britt - big voice.Will throw that thang down hard!But she might have impressed me the most on one ofthose ‘oh Hell, the-audience-forgot-to-show-up-to-the-gig’nights we all have.Most singers/players just mail it in. Fif-teen folks out there (that includes a bartender and a wait-ress), and half way through the opening of the first songEtta and I make eye contact.We both grin. I was sayin' "__ _ _ it, let's rock".She was sayin' the same thing,maybejust a little nicer.Maybe not.I kinda think "not".So we did— rock that is.And we did not let up on that gas pedal tillthe set was over. I'm damn proud of that gig, and her.That's me some Etta Britt.” — Dan Baird

Info by: Lance Cowan LCMedia

COWBOY PLAYGROUNDPlease note that this gallopingly goodcollection of tunes features topWest-ern artists like Riders in the Sky,Wylie& the Wild West and Ian Tyson, plusthe feel-good cowgirl band CowboyEnvy. Kindie artists, includingGrammywinner Buck Howdy,Johnny

Bregar and Victor Johnson (it's his fourth time on a Pu-tumayo Kids CD, and he recorded this never released

Bob’s GuitarCorner # 4

if it means being left behind," Bates says. "I've felt thatway a lot in my life.Stubbornly grasping onto those mem-ories and dreams can fill you with hope or fill you withmadness. I think this album has equal parts of both and Ithink most of us fight that battle at one point or anotherin our lives."

Night Songs was produced by the multitalented Eric Lil-jestrand, who first heard Bates' demos in the summer of2011. "I was immediately struck by two things: his hon-esty and his economy," says Liljestrand, who has won aGrammyAward as engineer / mixer,and was co-producerof the LucindaWilliams albums,Blessed and Little Honey.About Bates, he says: "He can convey an enormousamount with very few words." Liljestrand cites as an ex-ample the opening line from Bates' song "Rosie": "Char-lene became afraid, so she left, and I just stayed."Liljestrand says, "I'm immediately hooked: What's thestory?What happened?"

Information provided by: Mike Farley Michael J.MediaGroup


They arrived almost on cue the first week of May. We finally hadtwo fairly warm days with high humidity. I knew they would beback, so I cleaned the feeders, mixed the food, filled the feeders,hung them up on the lower deck, and then I waited. Within anhour, I saw the first one flying into the space,eye the feeder,and fi-nally land on a perch and took the first sips. My summer friends,thehummingbirds,are back visiting almost on a constant basis. We ap-parently have a healthy environment for them,and from now untillate September you will be able to spot a hummingbird almost con-stantly at one of my feeders. They are not very sociable with eachother, and they tend to drive the second visitor away before thefirst visitor will land on the perch and eat. Occasionally two will beat the feeder at the same time but always on opposite sides whileeating. But most of the time they will eat solo. I have seen somefierce battles in the air around the feeder with one dive bombingthe other and driving them off into the nearby grassy or woodedareas around the house. Some times one will perch somewhere onthe deck for minutes resting there for a spell. Those are good timesto get a close up look at those small but marvelous creatures. Onrainy days the attendance is up at my feeders, and a most popularvisiting time at the feeders is the time just before sunset as all ofthem in my area come for their bedtime snack. If you sit still under

the feeder, a hummingbird will hover right before your face or fly close to check outyour brightly colored shirt. Welcome back!

Our time in Florida was perfect. We had 13 out of 14perfect weather days, and on our first two weekshome this March we had two more perfect weeks ofweather as we experienced some summer weatherin early March. The beach was as wonderful as ever,the sound of the waves so inviting, the sand was sosmooth, the morning dolphin visits an early morninghighlight, and we had hours of sunshine to enjoy sit-ting under or near our favorite palm trees. The beachwas less crowded this year, and it was an easy taskclaiming your beach chairs for the daily sunning, reading, and people watching.

Congratulations to the birth mother of this publication, Joyce! She ran for the localschool board and was elected to it with the most votes of any candidate. This was her

first effort in running for office.

Using the facilities of one of those DVD rentalservices has brought me much enjoyment ofsome television series. I started with BOARD-WALK EMPIRE. I had noticed howmany awardsthe show was winning the past two years, andI wondered how good it could really be. Well, inmy opinion it is good. It deserves its awards.The cast is big, but it is easy to figure out theirdynamics and the telling of this show dealingwith the action of the Mob in Atlantic City(hence Boardwalk). The acting is strong,and to

be honest some of you might be turned off by the violence and sexual aspects of theplot. I have seen and enjoyed all the shows from the first two seasons, and I am anx-ious to see more.Another series that caught my attention was calledTHE HOUR. It isa British show telling the behind the scenes story of a television news show similar toAmerica’s Sixty Minutes. It was a mini series,and in addition to learning what the hap-penings are surrounding a television news program, the series contains a mystery fullof intrigue.

The third series that caught my attention during the past winter is another award win-

Robe

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Ramb

lings

ning show DOWNTONABBEY. It is anotherBritish show and patterned after UPSTAIRS,DOWNSTAIRS. It is set in the era before andduringWorldWar I. I suppose you could sug-gest the show features all the typical Britishstereotype characters imaginable, but thatmakes for great viewing. Maggie Smith playsthe grandmother to love, to hate,and to fear.

She is in a time warp which makes her char-acter distrust anything out of her timewarped comfort zone. As a viewer you lookforward to the antics of both the Britishupper crust and their many servants. Andthe world of servants is full of layers with an “acceptable” pecking order. I think myfavorite characters in this series are found among the servants. I have enjoyed twoseasons of this series, and I am anxious for the next one.

If you want a movie recommendation among the current movies, then I would suggestSALMON FISHING ONTHEYEMEN. It is a very enjoyable time at the movies. Whilethe basic plot is original, it follows a typical format in movie making, but the charac-ters are likeable, and it attempts to show theWesternWorld a human side of the Mid-dle East what we usually get on the evening news. The recent home viewing of themovies THE IDES OF MARCH, 50/50, and MONEYBALL made for some good moviegoing, too. All three are worth the effort to rent or borrow from the library. Each ofthe three is better than the average movie.

You keeping score? A rabbit has now joined the squirrels for eating under the bird feed-ers. At least a rabbit doesn’t try to climb onto the feeders and chew his (or her) wayinto the feeder tube or to knock the cover off and dump all the feed out. If I am lucky,that rabbit isn’t interested in doing that. I think he (or she) is happy enough on theground eating the spilled seeds. Now it has crossed my mind that the rabbit is in ca-hoots with the Skyline squirrel population. Perhaps the rabbit has done some gooddeed for the squirrels some time in the past, and now thesquirrels are paying back that deed by knocking the seedsto the ground for that rather fat rabbit. Anyhow at anygiven time most mornings you will find layers of animalsin the feeding zone: rabbit and ground-eating birds onthe ground,squirrel and brave birds around the feedersin the lower branches, and shy birds waiting in thetree top for the hungry critters down below to leave.If you search the sky above the trees, you might spota hawk eyeing everybody in that feeding zone, and inthe nearby field a neighbor’s cat may be lurking wait-ing for the opportunity to leap into the zone for its meal.Let’s call this nature’s soap opera.

Written by: Bob Hoffman

They are back!

AMERICANA GAZETTESUBSCRIPTIONTheAmericana Gazette is a free bimonthly publication and may bepicked up at area locations. However if you would like a copymailed to you,please fill out the following information and submita check for $15.00 to:Americana Gazette, P.O.Box 208,Belleville,Wi. 53508.

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1Year Subscription - $15.002Year Subscription - $25.00

Date:______________________________________


DAISY –THE PRINCESS!

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TNO

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I have known Ms. Daisy for a number of years as on my nightly walk with my twoSpringer Spaniels,we walk by Daisy’s house where she is usually outside in their beau-tiful flower garden with my family, Kaethe, Chris and “T”. Andy and I stop to talk toMs.Daisy. And as we do so, our “boys”, Duncan andWylie are trying to kiss Ms.Daisythrough the fence. On one of these walks, I interviewed Ms.Daisy for this issue. Shewas really excited as she has been waiting for this interview for awhile now. Here iswhat the Princess had to say:

My name is Daisy, aka diddle dumpling, precious puddin’ pie, lil' lunker or the littlestgiant. I am a Great Pyrenees and was rescued, then adopted from the Great PyreneesSociety in Champagne-Urbana Illinois when I was 7 months old. I had a rough life, liv-ing on the streets until someone turned me into the Humane Society. I was turned inthree times before I was sent off to the rescue agency. I still get all scared when I seepeople in baseball hats and motorcycles!! I am eight years old and since my Mom hassuch a green thumb,she named me Daisy because I am white in color and always freshlooking and I absolutely love flowers, especially daisies.

Nowmy days are pretty quiet. After all, I am eight years old and all that running aroundis for the young pups. However I do serve as a constant companion and keep watchover our home by barking at all passerby’s from the window. When the little childrenride their bicycles on the sidewalk by the fence, I try to race along with them. I’m re-ally pretty fast for my age. My family tries to toss me a stick or have me fetch a ballevery once in awhile. This is really undignified, but I do it just to humor them. Threetimes only, three is the limit. Then I’m done with this silly tedious game.

I absolutely love a plain Culver’s hamburger after one of my hikes at the New GlarusState Park or the Prairie Moraine Dog Park. Who wouldn’t? No need for me to watchmy girlish figure anymore. This is a real treat for me. No cheese,though. I will spit that

right out. I do not like cheese,any flavor. Maybe I don’t like cheese because I am orig-inally from Illinois, notWisconsin.

Rocky also lives in our house. Rocky is our cat and when it is cold in theWinter, I letRocky sleep in my bed. We get along and are really great friends. I also have manyneighborhood four legged friends and share our beautiful flower garden with somesquirrels, rabbits and birds.

So when any of you Belleville people are walking by my house, give me a wave or sayhello, and check out our beautiful garden. I’m a celebrity now, I made the AmericanaGazette. I hope all this fame doesn’t go to my pretty little head!!! I may have to askMom about getting a statue of me made for the flower garden though.

Story by: Joyce ZiehliInformation and photos supplied by: Kaethe Paynter


My good friend,Lance Cowan from LC Media sent me a CD from Ed Littlefield, Jr.,“MyWestern Home”.Later on I received the newly released CD,“Marley’s Ghost”,which alsofeatures Ed Littlefield, Jr. “Marley’s Ghost” was produced by Cowboy Jack Clement.Cowboy Jack stated that he considers Ed to be one of the best pedal steel players inAmerica. So on that note, I thought I best check this guy out. Soon after that MichaelNash called me and helped me set up an interview.

Ed Littlefield, Jr. is a multi talented artist/ instrumentalist, vocals, pedal Steele guitar,Highland bagpipes,keyboards,mandolin,Dobro,fiddle,bass and lead guitar just to men-tion a few. “MyWestern Home”is his second solo album and features cowboy classicssuch as “Get Along Little Doggies”,“Red River Valley” and “Darcy Farrow” and “FourStrongWinds”. When listening to the CD, I was imagining sitting around a campfire inan old western movie.Ed is one of a kind pedal Steele guitarists; among his influencesare Ian & Sylvia, Bob Dylan, Flatt & Scruggs, HankWilliams, DocWatson, Ernest Tubb,The Grateful Dead,The Band, andThe Rolling Stones.

Ed was born into a family which became one of the largest holders of ranch land in thewest. That family business,Utah Construction Company,was responsible for buildinghalf the tunnels and railroad trestles west of the Mississippi. In the mid‘70’s Ed playedwith a six piece country western band all over the Pacific Northwest. They played uptempo truck driving hillbilly barroommusic for working class folks,mostly loggers andcowboys. Ed told me they are pretty much the same, cowboys and loggers,with dif-ferent hats and boots, but one ropes cows, the other logs!

In 1986 Ed became a member of Marley’s Ghost, an eclectic roots band possessed ofmulti-instrumentalist chops, harmonies and a music vocabulary that runs deep andwide. Still playing 25 years later, recent albums have been produced by Nick Forster,Van Dyke Parks and Cowboy Jack Clement, the latter of whose worked with Jerry LeeLewis, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash,Waylon Jennings and many others. The new releaseof“Marley’s Ghost”features Emmylou Harris, John Prine,Old Crow Medicine Show andMarty Stuart. Cowboy Jack wanted to include Charley Pride in this project, but it justdidn’t work out.

Now on to our interview---

Joyce: Good afternoon Ed. Let’s talk about your background a little bit.

Ed: I was born in 1948 in San Francisco and grew up in a suburban environment,witha ranching background. My brother and I figured that living too close to a city suckedthe life out of us, and we wanted to be rural and have horses. Our sister had no inter-est and was quite happy living in Manhattan. When I was 10 years old, I played guitar,banjo and mandolin. When I was at Stanford,I started stabbing at playing the Steele gui-tar. I got my first pedal Steele guitar when I was 20 years old. Then I started being aSteele guitar player and I had some sort of affinity for it. The first time I touched it, Icould make pretty music with it instantly – go figure that!

Joyce: Ed did you ever have any Steele guitar lessons?

Ed: When I was 21, one of my favorite Steele players, Bobby Black came over and wehung out. He showed me a few things, how to play harmonics using the palm of myhand instead of finger tips/thumbs. My friend and I watched Bobby play and we won-dered a couple of things. 1)Would we ever be that old and 2) whether we would everplay that good? (we laugh) Yes, to both of those questions. About 4 years ago,Bobby

Black and I both taught some workshops together. That was fun. We have been greatfriends ever since.

Joyce: Cowboy Jack Clement has been quoted saying that you are one of the bestSteele pedal guitar players around. How did you meet up with the Cowboy?

Ed: I try to live up to that quote! It actually makes me practice a lot more. If Jack thinksI’m that good, I better practice. (he laughs.) This is truly a great honor, as Jack knowsa lot more national Steele players than I do!

Well, a friend of mine,Walter Forbes,early 70’s has known Jack for about 30 years. Hewas on the Grand Ole Opry,played guitar and banjo and sang. They were buddies. Mebeing aWest coast guy, I never lived in Nashville;had played there a few times though.I didn’t really know who Cowboy Jack Clement was. I was clueless. Well, Marley'sGhost played out at the Station Inn, I believe, and Walter came to see us play andbrought this old gray haired feller with him. He introduced him to me and I thoughtit was just one ofWalter’s golfing buddies. As time went by,Cowboy Jack really seemedinterested in making a record with the band. He thought that would be great and sodid I. I found some stuff out about Cowboy that I obviously should have googled himearlier. Stuff like he was Johnny Cash’s best friend. I was working in his house a cou-ple of days before I realized this man was the author of “Just A Girl I UsedTo Know”.Then I realized I was working in God’s house!!! This is the one song alone that shouldqualify Cowboy Jack for the CountryWestern Music Hall of Fame. I googled him thenand thought“Oh Jesus – look who I am working with!”

Joyce: Wow, Cowboy Jack is a very dear friend of mine. It is such an honor to talkwith him. I get all tingly inside when he hugs and kisses me.

Ed: Yea, he will do that to you.

Joyce: Do you go out touring now to promote your CD’s?

Ed: Yea, we will start again around the middle of June. We usually play all over theUnited States. Even trying to get up toWisconsin. Just took the plunge and bought my-self a tour bus.

Joyce: Wow, that must be exciting. Traveling in style?

Ed: Yes, it is really much cheaper and more efficient than traveling by plane.

(Ed and I went on to talk about some other interesting stuff such as growing up on thefarm, horses, travel by sea, etc. We had quite the chat. Ed is a very interesting and in-telligent gentleman. But I will save all that for another time.)

Please check Ed Littlefield out at; www.sagearts.com/htrec/edli.html

His CD,“MyWestern Home” is absolutely amazing. You will be in for a real treat. Alsocheck out our review of the new Marley’s Ghost CD in this issue as well.

Story by: Joyce Ziehli

Photo supplied.

Musician,Rancher,SouthernGentleman…Explore a little bit of theWest with Ed Littlefield, Jr.

“One of the Best Pedal Steele Players Around”says Cowboy Jack Clement!!!


Anthropologists and historians have long speculated percussion instruments were thefirst musical tools.Others have argued, the human voice was the first, and percussiontools such as,hands, sticks and logs came in second to the evolution of music.OK, forthe sake of argument let’s just say who cares, apart from anthropologists, historiansand those other people whoever they are.

Percussion is an ancient art.The Drum set, however is a modern instrument relativelyspeaking.Creeping into existence in the Late 1800s (I know that’s a long time ago butI did say relatively) its evolution brought the American music scene into its own.Rag,Jazz,Blues....Rock & Roll,need I say more? Drums;still crazy after all these years.Therewas,however,a dark period in the 1980s.People in the industry got caught up in tech-nology and producers and drummers alike forgot who they were.There was actuallya time a drummer couldn’t do high end studio work without a floppy disk—just thatin itself,“floppy ” should have raised a red flag! I blame in part the German bandKraftwerk.Autobahn was a cool album but come on folks, it was a novelty not realmusic;music is supposed to be played by people.OK,I am a bit of a Luddite.A Ludditewas person in a social movement of 19th-century English textile artisans who protested– often by destroying mechanized looms against the changes produced by the Indus-trial Revolution, that replaced them with less skilled, low wage labor.Today they areknown as DJs.(Not the radio kind) For years this thing went on and still survives todayin Hip Hop,techno-pop and disco.Appropriate for those styles but it doesn’t dominatethe art of hitting things.Nowadays at least we have a choice and the kids seem to bemaking that choice. Ironically, electronic drums have been getting better, too. Realdrums still outsell the electronic apparatus.They don’t come close to what a real drumcan do.The snare alone can produce a myriad of sounds just by slight changes in tech-nique, position and pressure.What they do is well is play quietly; politely.You can’tstick it to the man if he (or she) can’t hear you!Today the“traps”are back and here tostay or until we get another set of dumb ideas introduced to us that’s new andmediocre. But time has proven the real thing always outlasts the other.

Much of today’s music, however still uses sampled drums and even concerts are par-tially digitized. Not my idea of a real performance but who can argue with success?Lady Gaga made it work for her along with countless others so called “artists”. OK,cheap shot they are artists, performance artists.Now back to real drums; a cool thingabout them is you get two different drummers on one kit and the sound changes witheach player. I always say there are no shitty drums just shitty drummers.Playing an in-strument, any instrument produces the same result.The sound is sensitive to the play-ers touch.That’s why a real good drummer can make a bad drum kit sound really good.The dynamic range is infinite unlike those fake drums.Try doing a simple squeeze andyou’ll get something other than a steady crescendo. I can best describe what I’m talk-ing about by example. In Dan Baird & Homemade Sin we do a song off our albumcalled “Two for Tuesday.”The live version starts out with a Rhythm and Blues feel.Myright hand rides the floor tom in such a way that the sound is on top of the beat anda little punchy.My snare I play off to the side of the drum and back of the shoulder ofmy stick.That gets me a thinner higher pitch tone.I keep it on top of the beat (snappy)and the song has an entire different feel as a result. Then when Dan starts singing theline like the album I move my snare hand to the middle of the drum and to a meatierpart of the stick, the shoulder. I put the strikes to just behind the beat.That makes itsound bigger and more rock like. John Bonham played behind the beat. But there’smore!When going to the pre-chorus I tighten up the hi hat and use the shoulder of mystick then when it’s time to go to the chorus and all hell breaks loose and I slosh myhi hat making it sound like a drunken sailor but switching to the upper part of theshoulder.I do that because if I stay on the shoulder of the stick all hell really does breakloose which for certain shows why the hell not? With the Jimmys dynamic range iseven more important due to the nature of our jump/swing blues. Playing blues on afake drum set would just totally suck.Don’t know how else to put it.

In short it’s much more interesting not to mention challenging to play an instrumentthat reacts to you not you to it.With that privilege comes a lot of hard work sacrificeand heartbreak but the rewards are golden. So, if you play drums, play them like youmean it and find out why it’s survived thousands of years.

Written by: Mauro Magellan

AndThe BeatGoesOn!

People sometimes ask what I’ve been up to.

That’s really kind of an essay question,but I don’t mind essays,and,anyway,the answersare entertaining enough for me.For the most part,I’ve been home weekdays,and on theroad on weekends, performing in my duo with Eric Brace.When we’re on the road,things go kind of like this:

•We get in a car or an airplane on aThursday or a Friday.We either drive along, talk andlisten to music (recent favorites include Kevin Gordon’s “Gloryland,” Chris Smither’s“Hundred DollarValentine”and Jon Byrd’s“DownAtTheWell ofWishes”),or we fly andread magazines, then rent a car and get back into driving, chatting and listening mode.

•We arrive somewhere. In January, it was Florida. February was Southern California.March was the Carolinas,April the Midwest and the southwest, and May took us backto California, down toAlabama and up toVirginia.

•We get to a venue and check the sound, then we grab some really good food, some-times with friends.

•We sing our songs,and people clap for us and tell us they’re happy to see and hear us.

•Lather,rinse,repeat,and get back home to East Nashville by sometime on a Monday af-ternoon.

Yes, folks, this is the much-maligned, ever-so-wearying“life on the road.”Go places, seethings,meet people, sing songs, shake hands, talk and smile. Sometimes we manage tocatch a baseball game,too.Sound hard? Right,it’s not.Somemusicians say,“I play for free.They pay me for the travel.”Me, I enjoy the travel nearly as much as the playing. I don’tenjoy the separation from family, but most everything is a piece of cake. Someone re-cently wrote to me,wanting to know if I could contribute something for a book she wasputting together about“horror stories from the road.”But I got nothin’.Nothin’but grat-itude, anyway.Thus far, gratitude abounds in my 2012.Eric and I were nominated for aGrammy award for the I Love:TomT.Hall’s Songs of Fox Hollow albumwe co-produced.We lost the Grammy,but we were able get some recognition for an album that featuredTom T., Bobby Bare, Buddy Miller, Patty Griffin, Duane Eddy, Jim Lauderdale, Jon Byrd,Mark Horn and so many people we respect, like and admire.

Our travels have been breezy, highlighted by many kindnesses all along the way.Wewere thrilled that the great John Prine asked us to open some shows for him in Indianaand Illinois, and even happier to stand with him on grand stages and sing his classicsong,“Paradise,”with him.

At home inTennessee this year,we’ve played at the famed Bluebird Cafe with EricTay-lor and Nanci Griffith,we’ve been hosting radio shows for the greatest country stationin the world,WSM, and we’ve been playing live Internet shows via www.stageit.com,where we talk with friends and fans across the miles.Oh,and I’m about halfway througha new album that’ll likely come out in 2013.The first two songs from that album -“Open-ing Day” and “Grandma’s Tattoo” - are available for free download at www.redbee-trecords.com.The record company tells me I’m getting rich from these free downloads,and I’ll take‘em at their word.I’m looking forward to getting back toWisconsin this fall,hopefully in conjunction with the should-be defending Super Bowl champ Packers.Ah,you can’t win ‘em all. See you on the road, I hope. I’ll be the one with the dumb smileon his face.

Peter CooperEast Nashville,TN

OnThe RoadWith

East Nashville’s

PETER COOPER!

Mauro Magellan

Peter Cooper


50. What a great number! 50% off something means HALF off! (I know, rocket scientist!) That’s alot! If I get 50% of a pizza, I get HALF the thing. I like that! And according to the great Paul Simonthere are no less than 50 ways to leave your lover. 50,pretty darn nifty.

Maybe the coolest 50 ever is that this year, the Beach Boy’s turn 50. This summer the 5 remaining Beach Boy’s: Brian,Mike,Al,Bruce and David are hitting the road in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the band. Sadly Dennis and Carlwill not join them on stage (both having passed) but they will be there in spirit. I bet as the harmony lines are sungtheir parts will just be heard in our hearts by all of us who love this band so much. Never did I think I would be ableto attend a show with the actual surviving members on stage at the same time and not just one or two touring underthe nameThe Beach Boys.

Bob recorded a segment from the CBS Sunday Morning show recently, and the Beach Boys werefeatured. After the segment I looked at Bob and said,“Why,oh,why,does every interview with theband always focus on the same subjects?” They don’t get along. Brian has endured some personalstruggles. Mike did not like the SMiLE record. There was not one comment about the joy so manyfeel listening to Beach Boys music. Not one question about how making music,both together andseparately,has shaped their lives. Not one word spoken about the groundbreaking music that thisband created. This 50th anniversary is one to be celebrated! Not many bands can look back on abody of work that has had so many special moments.

If you are a casual Beach Boys fan,with perhaps “Endless Summer” in your music collection and having that as youronly exposure to their music, I hereby invite you to explore some of their release that you have never heard of.

Most of us know of“Pet Sounds”. Enough has been said of that record already. Just after the surf and car songs, camethe beautiful music. “All Summer Long”,“The Beach Boys Today!” and “Summer Days and Summer Nights!” are theworks right before“Pet Sounds”. Brian,while thrilled with the success of the early records,was eager to expand. Givethem a spin if you want to hear some amazing harmonies and ground breaking arrangements. Just after “Pet Sounds”and abandoned“SMiLE”efforts come my favorite period of the Beach Boys. The band was evolving with Brian playingless a role in both songwriting and production. Albums like“Wild Honey”,“Friends”,“Sunflower”,“Surfs Up”(my twopersonal favorites) and“Holland”round out the releases that I think are simply amazing. The band stepped up as writ-ers and producers proving that Brian was not the only Beach Boy who could make the hair on the back of your neckstand up.

On a production note, if you listen to these albums on a quality sound system you will hear some truly state of the artproduction. The Beach Boys were very aware of quality. The“sound”of these records still amazes me. Nowhere willyou find, in pop music, the depth of tone as you do on Beach Boy records. So many have only heard their songs onthe radio. If that is you, pick up a re-mastered CD or better yet, a quality vinyl LP (just make sure you have a greatturntable!) and settle in and LISTEN. The difference you will hear will be kind of like looking at a quality automobilewith admiration, then getting in and driving it. It is a whole different experience.I wish I could sit down with the band for an hour and interview them. I would ask them how the music they havecreated has shaped their lives. What is it like to put something like“Sunflower”on their turntable and to realize, I didthat! How does it feel to know that the thing they made their life’s work had reached out and uplifted so many peo-ple!

I so appreciate all the sacrifice and raw rehearsal time given by these men for so many years. With the release of“TheSMiLE Sessions”we get a glimpse into what creating these amazing records was like. For example the precise phrase-by-phrase construction of the song melodies. The“once again please”from Brian to the musicians gathered as he mas-saged them into expressing the sounds he heard in his head, and the amazing patience from the guys as they tookdirection from Brian. Like with all masters, the Beach Boys make it look and sound easy.The songs we all sing alongwith are truly amazing pieces of vibrational art.

I know you must be tired of hearing about the Beach Boys from me here in the Gazette. I know they are not consid-ered “Americana”. It is pretty simple for me: It is like your favorite food, you just can’t wait to tell someone about itbecause it brings you such joy, and you hope it will do the same for them.

Play some Beach Boys music this summer. Listen to an album of theirs that you have never heardbefore. See if you don’t agree that this band truly is a treasure worth celebrating!

Oh, yes, another nifty 50 this year. Me!

When I was in my teens I thought turning 50 would be great. Some of my favorite people backthen were 50ish and I so admired them. There was something about that number that had myattention 36 years ago.

What I have come to realize is, by this time in one’s life there is a lot of experience explored. Ihave self knowledge that only time and experience can reveal. I also feel very fortunate to be very excited about whatis ahead for me. It is almost like the personal “work” years are coming to a close. I have worked hard and diligentlyon self awareness. I have tested and explored and have a pretty good idea about what is joyful for me. I also now havethe courage to simply pursue what feels authentic to me above all else. Saying no to something that a few years agoI would have done because I believed it created character for me. That is a good feeling. Nope, sorry, it just does notfeel good to me, I appreciate the offer however!

Do I have everything I dreamed of having? No. Have I done everything I dreamed of doing? No. I will never get it alldone. That is okay with me. My thoughts are powerful. My feelings are powerful too. My thoughts and feelings areall the raw material I need to create any experience in my life.

I am so appreciative to be at my 50 year mark,and so happy. I truly believe the years to come will be filled to the brimwith all the things I love. Life really is good!

Written by: Jim Smith

Fifty!


I had the pleasure of visiting with Angela Easterling. What a very talented young lady.I can’t give you a better background about her, than what she sent me herself, so readthis about her and then dive into our conversation.

Angela Easterling was raised in the South Carolina foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.Much of her childhood was spent on the Greer, SC farm that has been in her familysince 1791, seven generations. She embraced her heritage in a big way as a writer andan artist on her debut album, "Earning HerWings", chosen as "Americana Pick of theYear" by Smart Choice Music. Her second album,“BlackTop Road”, produced byWillKimbrough, was released in July ’09, landing in the top 5 for adds to the Americanaradio charts and debuting on the Americana top 40 chart in September, where it re-mained for 7 weeks. It has been highly praised in the press and was chosen as a toppick in both Oxford American and CountryWeekly.The title song tells of her family'sstruggle to hold onto their farmland in the face of widespread development and rep-resents a bold new step in her singing and songwriting. She was selected for an offi-cial Americana Convention Showcase and also named a 2009 & 2010 Kerrville NewFolk Finalist and a 2011TellurideTroubadour.The Boston Herald named her song“ThePicture” “Best Political Country Song” in their 2009Year’s best music.WNCW Listen-ers chose the album as one of the top CD’s of the year and one of the Top 20 by re-gional artists.Angela's music was featured in commercials (Southwestern Bell) andseveral of her songs were used in the series "Horsepower"on Animal Planet. She appeared alongside music legendCharlie Louvin onWSM radio’s“Music City Roots Live fromthe Loveless”show and was invited to appear on theWSM-hosted stage at the 2010 CMA Music Festival/Fan Fair,where her entire set was broadcast live. Angela has ap-peared on the nationally broadcast public radio program“Michael Feldman’sWhad’Ya Know”and was also recentlyinterviewed by noted NPR journalist Bob Edwards.She hasreceived much airplay on Sirius/XM “Outlaw Country”channel and was invited to perform at the Smithsonian In-stitution’s exhibit New Harmonies: Celebrating AmericanRoot’s Music.

Angela constantly tours the east coast, both solo and duoand has appeared with her crowd-pleasing band The Be-guilers at numerous town fairs and music festivals through-out the Southeast. She has opened for, among others,TheCarolina Chocolate Drops,Sarah Jarosz, Robbie Fulks,MaryGauthier, Ray Price (at the Birchmere), Suzy Bogguss, EllisPaul,Radney Foster,The Oak Ridge Boys,and Lori McKenna.Angela’s last album “Beguiler”, produced by Will Kim-brough and recorded with her band plus special guestsByron House (Band of Joy), Fats Kaplin & more was re-leased July 19, 2011. She released a new album“Mon secret” (My Secret) on February14, 2012.This album is notable as it is her first to be entirely in French,with originalsongs byAngela and her co-writer,Marianne Bessy.

Angela and I had a great chat. She is very easy to talk with and we could have talkedfor hours, but here are some of the topics we touched on.

Joyce:Angela, you already have quite a career going. Why hasn’t Peter Cooper or EricBrace introduced you to me before? You are a well kept secret to our parts. Tell mehow this all came about.

Angela: I grew up performing, singing and playing clarinet in school, singing in cho-rus. When I was 11 or 12 I really got into doing theatre. During my high school years,I was singing, dancing and mostly doing musicals. I sort of thought this was the pathmy life would be taking. I have a Music Theatre Major from College. I was planningon going to NewYork to be on Broadway. Then in my freshman year in College I startedsinging and song writing and felt strongly that I wanted to play guitar and write songs.I got a guitar and learned a few chords in a week and started writing. The whole ideaof going to NewYork kind of faded away after that. I decided to not sing other peo-ple’s songs, but pursue my own music.

I did not grow up listening to Country Music. We listened to Grandma’s Opera records.I wasn’t really exposed to it,even though I grew up here in South Carolina. It was likea dormant gene in me and finally came out. Johnny Cash was the first Country artist Ifell in love with. I also started listening to Emmy Lou Harris and she is my #1 influence.I finished up school in Los Angeles and stayed out there for awhile. It has a real cool

country music scene with DwightYoakum, LucindaWilliams,Anne McCue and so on.It was a great nurturing space for me to write, but after 2 years, I released my CD in2007, and I wanted to tour. The cost of living was high and I was working just to paythe rent and that’s what led me to move back to the East Coast. That’s my long story– short!

Joyce: You just released your new CD in February. Did you write all the songs?

Angela: Yea,I wrote all the songs and music,with help from my friend,Marianne Bessy.The new CD is in French and I think it turned out pretty good. I decided to release itonValentine’s Day, it was aTuesday which is record release day. People have been realcurious about it. Once they listen, they tend to love it. I have all the songs translatedin English on my website so you can see what I am saying. It is very unusual to do an

Americana album in French. It was a challenge. I had tocome up with rhymes, and make it flow as well as sing in adifferent language. I took the challenge to see if I could doit.

Joyce: Where do you tour?

Angela: I do most of my touring up and down the East Coast.I go to California andTexas every year. I have been to Ohio,but never to Wisconsin. I would like to reach out and toursome more mid-western states.

Joyce: Let’s talk about future goals?

Angela: I want to keep touring and play some better placesand make more albums. Now that I have done the FrenchCD, I feel that my slate is clean, projects finished and I canstart fresh on a new album. I love playing and touring. I getto meet lots of wonderful people and visit small towns allover the US. I want to grow as a writer.

Joyce: You worked with some fabulous musicians,Fats KaplinandWill Kimbrough? What was that like?

Angela: Yes, they have played on my CD. Fats played on 3 of my albums. (We talkedabout Fats for awhile and his performance on SNL (Saturday Night Live. Also what atalented musician and basically nice fellow he is.) Will is an amazingly talented manand it was great to be in the studio with both him and Fats. You just can’t beat thesefolks.

Joyce: Any hobbies?

Angela: My favorite past time is baseball. I love to go to baseball games. We have aminor league, the Red SoxTeam and I am over the moon with that.

Joyce: Well, thank youAngela for your time. I think I have taken up more of your timethan I meant to. I wish you the best in your music career.

Angela: Thank you so much Joyce. It was a pleasure talking with you.

For more information onAngela Easterling, check out:

http://www.reverbnation.com/angelaeasterlingwww.angelaeasterling.comhttp://www.youtube.com/user/wingsstarswww.facebook.com/AngelaEasterlingMusic

Story by: Joyce ZiehliInformation and photos provided byAngela Easterling.

What You Need toKnow AboutSongwriter/Performer

ANGELAEASTERLING!

Angela Easterling and Brandon Turner


COMPLACENCYTheMusiciansWorst EnemyEveryone I know as fallen under the spell of complacency at least oncein their musical careers,most of us more times than we would like toadmit! You know the feeling, things are great, we have gigs, peopleare hanging out through the whole show,they like all our songs, it’s aseasy as turning on the radio and lip sinking to it like the big stars do,and that’s when it hits you! I’m not making music,‘I’m just whoringfor the money and I’ve become a walking talking jukebox! Now forsome that’s just what they wanted to be,on auto pilot like the band atthe local Holiday Inn. For most of us though that got into music to bea performer, songwriter, and/or working musicians nothing could beworse. Like the words from a Fogerty’s Lodi“If I only had a dollar,Forevery song I’ve sung,And every time I had to play,While people satthere drunk” becoming the uninspiring musician is most musician’shell!

When this happens it is usually one of the following that has causedit:• Band mates don’t want to change or rock the boat.•The monies too good to quit.• I just got lazy.• No one cares about what I play or say anyway.

Let’s look at these four and see what can be done to correct it andbring back the fire and creativity that made you want to be a musicianin the first place.

Band mates don’t want to change or rock the boat. This usually can berelated to the fact that you have outgrown the band you are in. Theother guys just want to make money and don’t want to put in the ef-fort to learn new material because they are getting paid just fine fordoing what they have been doing for the past 10 years. When thishappens it’s time to move on. They will never change and you will bemiserable. Look for others who have the desire and work ethic youneed to get better and move up the food chain.

The monies too good to quit. Money is the root of all evil when itcomes to making music. Bad bands get paid big money to copy oth-ers and you get paid crap to write your own material. Americans loveto copy whatever someone else is doing if it is successful, that’s justthe way we are. Being innovative is hard work and the rewards don’talways appear on schedule for the work you put in. Don’t take a jobjust for the money. Take a job if it will raise your stock in your musiccommunity. The money will come if you are good,different, and orig-inal. It always has and always will.

I just got lazy. Mostly this means I have no follow through. Work hard,network,and be viable. That makes it exciting and the laziness will goaway. All laziness is, is the lack of commitment and effort. Don’t losethese or you are sunk!

No one cares about what I play or say anyway. If you believe that,youdon’t need to be a musician. Find a new venue or club to play. Writeand perform songs that catch people’s ears and hearts. Musicians havethe most power to influence change, calls to action, and social re-sponsibility by their words and deeds. Sure we all have those bummergigs where no one is paying attention, change the mood by makingthem pay attention. Put some life into your show. You are in controlwhen you are on stage,not the crowd. Silence works wonders for get-ting someone’s attention. Try it and see! If you are honest and openwith your audience they will connect with you.

So don’t become complacent and stop giving a shit what you aredoing. Standup take control of the room and make them hear yourmessage and songs. You may surprise yourself!

Written by:Andy Ziehli

PAY- DIRTIn 1961 my older brother gave me a record player that he had cobbled together and mounted in a smallwooden box.It had one tiny speaker and played only 45rpm records.He also gave me his entire recordcollection. I still hear the world in mono.Within a year I had gotten an old 1930’s drum set and wasmaking money playing in a band.Thanks for the jump start bro.my brother’s gift of music set a wholeuniverse in motion for me,one that certainly no-one could have predicted.

My reason for relating this little story is this: I’ve spent fifty years prospecting through mountains of78’s,45’s, lp’s,cd’s, tv and movie scores,and now the internet and I know I’ve found gold, real pay-dirt.In this and upcoming issues of Americana Gazette I’ll be suggesting specific tunes for study and yourlistening pleasure. Some you may already have heard, but others are rather obscure. I’ll tell you why Ithink the suggested tune is notable and sometimes give a little background on the writer or performer.Amazingly, you should be able to find most of these tunes onYouTube. I’ll try to cover all genres anderas ofAmerican music. It’s my hope that I can pass on the gift of music that my brother gave to me,and who knows, someone might even find a little sweet inspiration. I certainly did. Let’s begin.

“SOMETHING HEAVY”by Eddie HintonA troubled song by a troubled guy.Often called the white Otis Redding.Part of theMuscle Shoals rhythm section. Played with everyone fromAretha to Elvis. It’s oneguitar and one voice.You can actually hear his breathing becoming more difficultwith each verse. Mental illness and addiction were his undoing.Who knew blue-eyed soul could hurt so good.

“FEEL SO GOOD”by Dr. Isaiah RossLiterally a one-man-band as he drives this one and a-half chord guitar boogie withbass drum and high hat.Check out the tone on his harp! Magic.

“FU MANCHU”by Desmond DekkerI get a chill every time I play this tune by one of Jamaica’s finest writers and per-formers. His voice is both beautiful and scary.Great organ sound against that slash-ing guitar. Listen to the tone on the kick drum.The whole thing has monstertension.Great over-all record.

“THE CRAVE“ (original version) by Jelly Roll MortonHe called the feeling he gave his tunes the (Spanish tinge). I call it one snaky tango.

“WATUSI ZOMBIE”by Jan DavisA popular California session guitar player.Worked with Dick Dale.Don’t even knowwhat to say except“crank this tune up”!

By: Rick Harris

RICKRECALLS


From the moment you walk into the Sugar RiverShoppe, there’s a bit of mystery in the air. Thepolished hardwood floors glow in the low light.A sculpture of a horse’s head casts its coppermane across a wall.Turquoise and silver neck-laces gleam like smiles from a glass case. JohnnyCash’s deep baritone accompanies customers asthey stroll around the Shoppe. Not many peo-ple can say they’ve lived out their dreams dur-ing their lifetimes—even once, much less twoor three times. Yet that’s exactly what Billy andWendy Schmidt have done. Each an artist intheir own right, they successfully fielded thechallenges of making professional careers oftheir art—and, at the close of those careers,started a new one when they opened theShoppe in 2003.

Billy andWendy met at Joe’sWhite Elephant (nowSir Buck’s), a Monroe bar and music hotspot in the 1970s. Wendy was a fan of Billy’srock band, Birth,which he and his friends started in LaCrosse before moving to Mon-roe. Originally the band’s lead singer,Billy played with Birth for nearly eight years, tak-ing up guitar and diversifying his skills as the band sought a recording contract.AfterBirth broke up, they reformed asYancy Derringer. Billy later rejoinedYancy for a yearas their drummer,but at the same time invested in a recording system and began to ex-periment. Recognizing his gifts lay less in performing and more in writing and pro-ducing, Billy opened a recording studio first in Chicago,then later inTuscon,where heandWendy raised their three children over 11 years. In Chicago, Billy worked with avariety of musicians,many pursuing solo careers after having established themselvesin such well-known bands as the Commodores andAlice Cooper.Billy’s neighbor,BarryMraz, a world-renowned producer who worked with Styx and other bands during the70's and 80's,mentored him in the recording process.

During this time,Wendy, a native of Freeport, Illinois, had unknowingly begun her ca-reer as a visual artist by sketching portraits in her college cafeteria. “Anyone whowanted their portrait done, I would sketch,” she smiles.An art teacher recognized hertalent and encouraged her go into professional portraiture. Wendy began taking herskills on the road. She traveled to a lot of festivals,working art shows that garnered alot of attention for her pastels. After she and Billy married,Wendy went into portrai-ture full-time,working first for Portraits Chicago, then as a freelance artist, cultivatinga clientele on Chicago’s North Shore. While there was a lot of pressure—painting im-ages that meet a client’s expectations can be a challenge--Wendy’s people skills as wellas her painting were more than up to the job.One of her favorite memories is of paint-ing the Marshall Field family, including their three children.

Moving to Tuscon was an adventure for the Schmidts. Billy set up a new studio andWendy became manager of a shop she admired. Tuscon proved a great place to raisetheir children, Leah Renee, Brandon, and Derek. Billy continued to write songs, occa-sionally doing jingles, and added audio production to his repertoire, working withclients that ranged from rappers to lawyers. It was like working with a diverse clien-tele, Billy grins. “Running a studio is a lot of work,” he confirms.“It’s as much psy-chology as it is music.”

Wendy dreamed of opening her own shop,however, and after eleven years longed forthe more temperate climate of Wisconsin. But with such a move came a lot of un-knowns and little guarantee of success. Wendy had done her research, however, andwith faith and the help of a good friend who ran her own shop inTuscon,she took theplunge.New Glarus,with its welcoming,friendly people and artistic community,Wendysays, was the ideal choice of location. They sold their house, found a storefront, andopened the Sugar River Shoppe. It began as something of a cooperative, where local

artists such as Helen Endres and Stephanie Elkins rented rooms to showtheir work. Eventually,Wendy added her own artwork and expanded thepieces she sold to include Bill’s photography. These days,Billy is intoAmer-icana music: Johnny Cash, Keb Mo’ and Bonnie Raitt—though DavidGilmour is still his favorite guitarist. He’s opened a semi-private recordingstudio in order to pursue his own music. Billy’s expert ear and dispositionfor collaboration,however,has led to what has become a common role forhim—working with aspiring musicians and coaching those with promiseinto careers. He speaks highly of one young Tuscon musician, Corey Bat-ten, who has an exceptional voice and skill for writing country songs. “Hewas just a kid,”Billy extols,“he started out as a shower singer—but he wasamazing. And as nice a human being as you’ll ever meet.” Billy took Corey

to Nashville, where he introduced him to the contacts he’d made over the years, in-cluding aVP at Atlantic Records. Doors began opening for Corey,who now has threesongs that have been number one on the country charts, including Blake Shelton’s“SheWouldn’t Be Gone.” Today,Billy continues to write his own songs and is workingon several recording projects, including one with another blossoming artist, CherieNorquay. She has been chosen to perform atWisconsin’s largest Christian music gath-ering, “Lifefest.”

Meanwhile, at the Shoppe,Wendy plans her next trip to the southwest, where she’llspend three weeks of the winter visiting art shows and reviewing vendors’ wares.When I askWendy how she selects her pieces,she replies“God has a lot to do with that;I say a prayer before I go in and ask for guidance.”Wendy also gives credit for lessonslearned in running a shop to the women for whom she worked inTuscon. “I watchedthem operate their shop, watched the mistakes they made and learned from them,”she says.Vintage, Latin and other colorfully-embroidered clothing, as well as NativeAmerican art,areWendy’s passion;her eye for vivid colors and intricate detail brightenthe Shoppe. It’s a delight to walk around the rooms,each as carefully laid out as an artmuseum, feeling like you’re traveling back in time—sometimes a couple of centuries(she buys pueblo art from the Zuni and Navajo), sometimes to the Bohemian sixties.

Asked what he believes is his greatest accomplishment,Billy says“raising my three chil-dren.They’re almost perfect,”he jokes. The pride he andWendy feel is evident;unsur-prisingly, two of them have chosen artistic paths themselves. Nonetheless, some ofBilly’s fondest memories are of performing Led Zepplin, Grand Funk and the Stoneswith the band on the road. Wendy articulates how blessed the two feel: “We’ve doneeverything we wanted to prove to ourselves we could do.” She’s clearly found herhome here in the Shoppe,amid its bright colors,evocative art, and warm,comfortableatmosphere.Not that these two don’t have their hands full—but they’re used to doingthe hard work needed to fulfill their visions. Billy is pulling a band together for Cherieso she can perform this summer in Oshkosh. Wendy anticipates another busy sum-mer season for the Shoppe and hopes the new merchandise she selected will prove aspopular as past years. Wendy and Billy will always remain busy,building on their lega-cies. I’ve no doubt but to expect new creative enterprises from them in years to come.

Check out their website at: www.sugarrivergallery.com or visit them at 108 5th Av-enue, New Glarus,WI. 53574608-527-4290

Story and photos supplied by:Anne Gravel Sullivan

Building on Legacies:Behind theScenes at theSugar RiverShoppe

The Children Are Hope

Bill and Wendy Schmidt



himself to play. He went and found a couple of their records at the NewYork City li-brary and then discovered all the great folk recordings that were also there. Thesewere mostly all 78’s. That’s how he taught himself to play. He stayed away fromBluegrass because it was too modern for him. Fats said that “I was just trying to getback to my roots. My mother’s parents came from South Carolina. They were notmusicians, but this style of music came from this area. I never played Rock & Rollmusic growing up. I just played String Band, Early Jazz, and Blues.”

Kristi grew up in Southern Illinois on a farm near Carbondale. She went to Mar-quette University in Milwaukee for a while then moved to NewYork City. In NewYork she played in a Rock & Roll Band and studied acting. Kristi Rose as a singer hasbeen compared to artists ranging fromWanda Jackson to Patti Smith. According tothe Nashville Scene“As a singer Kristi Rose is someone whose eyes and ears are for-ever open to the world of the hyper-kitsch, the intense“Trucolor”of American pop-ular culture.” She can still recall the childhood thrill of hearing Bobbie Gentry’s “Odeto Billie Joe” for the first time,which helped to influence her to be a singer. KristiRose was working the hillbilly underground years before it was working in down-town Nashville. Kristi arrived in Nashville in 1992, bringing with her a decade’sworth of touring experience and a strong following in Europe. She has appeared inmusic videos, on stage, and has sung in many venues throughout Nashville, the U.S.,and Europe. She is an excellent songwriter.

Both Fats and Kristi compliment each other’s talents wonderfully. Never over shad-owing the other, a performance by this fantastic duo is always a musical treat! For-ever busy, Fats is currently on tour with JackWhite, keeping up a studio musiciancareer, and writing and recording a new CD with Kristi. He is also playing a fewdates this year in Canada with Kane,Welch,Kaplin,playing some dates with Eric Brace & Peter Cooper,Paul Burch and others .Kristi and Fats have dates oftheir own throughout the rest of 2012. Fats is play-ing in New Glarus,Wisconsin on December 1st atPuempel’s withTom Mason and the Blue Bucca-neers. Kristi is also busy recording, both inNashville and in Los Angeles,where she works withher longtime friend,producer/composer Peitor An-gell.

This interview took place over a couple of break-fast meetings at Athens in Nashville (my favoriteplace to eat breakfast) and a dinner eating Kabobswith green rice and finally through an email. As Isaid before Fats and Kristi are two of our favoritepeople. Here’s what they have been up to lately.AG:How long have you each been musicians?

Kristi Rose: Pretty much our whole lives. Our adultlives. Fats first went on the road professionally at17. And except for a stint as a craps dealer for acouple of years in Las Vegas,when he was 21, that’sall he’s done.

AG:Who influenced you to become musicians?

Fats: My UncleTom,who was my mother’s brother,was a personal influence. He played banjo and gotme started when I was about 11. From there Iquickly picked up the fiddle, and then....so on. Ibecame aware of the New Lost City Ramblers andthey had a huge effect on me. The whole folk scene in the 1960’s was happening inNYC and I was very drawn to it, even as a kid.

Kristi Rose: Though I was raised on the farm,my family was musical and were al-ways very appreciative of musical talent. Lots of choral singing, lots of folks with re-ally good voices and good natural musical instincts in my extended family. Mymother was from Canada, growing up she had some sort of regular role on a nation-ally broadcast radio sitcom. Before she married my Dad she had a brief career as adisc jockey. So she certainly knew about performing, and there was a lot of that inmy house growing up.

AG:When was the first time you were on stage to perform?

Fats: The first time I was onstage was as a kid magician, vanishing handkerchiefs,multiplying billiard balls, that sort of thing. Also influenced by my UncleTom. Hewas a pretty interesting guy.

Kristi Rose: The earliest times that I remember singing would be for family andfriends. I had a great aunt who sang opera and classical music, and was somewhatknown in Canada. As a very little girl, I used to try to mimic my aunt singing Italianarias....which meant I was standing by the piano wailing gibberish. I would be stoodup in front of everyone wearing a boa, doing things like, belting out“Hello Dolly”complete with Louis Armstrong imitations. It all felt completely natural to me. Inour house that was just normal.

AG:When did you decide to become professional musicians?

Both: Neither of us really has a distinct memory of deciding that this is what wewere going to do professionally...It’s just what we did.

AG: Is it hard when both of you are full time musicians to find time as a couple?

Both: Not really,we’re always a couple. Whether we’re on the road together orwe’re at home, even when we are separated,we’re connected.AG:How often do you tour as a couple?

Both: It can vary from year to year. There are chunks of time when we’ll be outdoing shows quite a bit, or out for a stretch of time. Then there are times where Fatsis out on the road with someone else, or one of us is working on a different project.

AG:Kristi what is your favorite type of venue or show to play?

Kristi Rose: One with people in it! Joking aside,whether it’s a big, beautiful theateror a house concert, it’s the vibe of the place that makes it work. The people, the re-sponse of the audience.

AG: Fats the same question for you.

Fats:Ditto.

AG: Fats you have quite a resume as a studio musician. Who are some of the folksyou have recorded with?

Fats:Well, since I have recorded with a lot of people over the years, let’s just look atthe past year. I’ve been doing a lot of sessions atThird Man,which is always greatcause it is so wildly diverse. I’ve gotten to record with Beck; I’ve been working onKaren Elson’s new album. I did JackWhite’s new album“Blunderbuss”. In the past 6

months or so, I’ve done sessions with KellyWillisand Bruce Robeson,Caroline Herring, of courseKevinWelch and Kieran Kane. I do a lot of workwith Paul Burch. I’ve gone out toTulsa to recordwith Steve Ripley. I’ve been doing some music forfilm projects, particularly with Stacy Dean Camp-bell, and others.Of course I’m always recording inour studio in Southern Illinois. This is where KristiRose is from and we have a small studio there. Sheand I can just sort of hole up and write and record.

AG: Fats how many different instruments do youplay and how did you become so proficient onthem?

Fats: I play most any stringed instrument, fiddle,mandolin, guitar, and steel, so on. Oh, and 3 rowbutton accordion,which is its own thing. I have agreat interest inTurkish/Greek/Middle Easternmusic, so I also play oud and saz. Kristi Rose’s sis-ter lives inTurkey and she’s bringing me a cumbusthis summer. A new instrument can become veryobsessive for me and I can spend a lot of time withit...researching tunings, history. I’ve done this sinceI was a kid.

AG: Kristi I saw you in a video with the Old CrowMedicine show. Can you tell us how that cameabout?

Kristi Rose:That was for the song“WagonWheel”That was one of those lucky things; it was during a

period of time where I was gone a lot. I was in town (Nashville) for only one day be-tween trips andTHAT was the day they were shooting the video. I believe I wascalled for it because Norm Parenteau of Acony, suggested me. The directors gave itan old, small time carny vibe. Very cool! I was sort of a madam character to theHootchie Cootchie gals...played by the girls in the neo-burlesque troupe“PantyRaid”. That video has been out there for years now and people will still come up tome and comment on it.

AG: Fats you are currently working with JackWhite. You played on his new albumand you are touring with him. What’s that like?

Fats:Working with Jack is always great,whether in the studio or touring. He’s a bril-liant musician and has a fearless approach to everything he does. The musicians,crew and other people that he surrounds himself with are a fascinating and diversebunch. I’ve really been enjoying it a lot. It's very rejuvenating.

AG:Tell us about the shows you two play around Nashville as a couple.

Both: We do play in Nashville occasionally, and we do have our favorite places.Music City Roots at the Loveless Barn is outstanding, and also locallyThe FamilyWash in East Nashville is a favorite place to play and try out new material. It’s agreat musicians’ hang. You know there really are a lot of very cool places to play inNashville. They don’t call it Music City for nuthin’.

AG:Kristi you come from a more rock and roll background than Fats, can you tell usabout that.

Kristi Rose: In the 1980’s,when Fats was playing on a more country circuit of festi-vals and clubs, I was in a band called the MidnightWalkers. Based out of NYC.

kristi and fats... continued from page 8


Bluegrass, Jazz grass, New grass, and these folks can really play! I sat down with themembers Bob Westfall, Chris Wagoner, Mary Gaines, and Micah Olsan to talk aboutstrings and things.

AG:What’s the instrumentation?

MO:Mandolin, Fiddle,Guitar, and Bass.

AG:How long have you been playing together?

BW:It’s been half our lives for Chris,Mary and I.And it’s been really great with a wholelot of cooking, laughter and great music.Micah’s been with us for 5 years.

CW:Mary,Bob and I have been playing together in one form or another since we metat the Mifflin Street Block Party in 1987 when it featured all classical music and onelemonade stand.

AG:Who are you influences?

BW:For myself I’ve always felt influence by everything I’ve heard. I think that we areall a little like that,whether you like it or not.

MO:Radiohead,Talking Heads, Paul Simon, Ben Harper,Michael Hedges, Punch Broth-ers andAndrew Bird.

CW:The interesting thing about bands is that everyone brings in different influencesand the combination tends to make it unique. Some of us have had classical trainingbut also a diverse jazz and folk background, even stints in roots-rock groups.The topalternative string players such as Darol Anger,Mike Marshall,David Grisman andTonyRice have certainly influenced the sound of this band.

AG:How would you describe you music?

BW:That’s the hitch business wise, none of us has ever fit into a specific“category” inthe record stores.We do a lot of original things that I have written, as well as someother choice material. Its bluegrass, jazz, swing but it’s got this infusion of Latin, swing,pop and classical as well. By that I mean the arrangements are intentional yet there’san improvisational aspect that leaves room for fun and adventure in the music.

MO:Awesome!

CW:A fun mix of bluegrass, Latin, jazz and a few arrangements of great Beatles tunesas well as originals.

AG:Who does your music appeal to?

BW:I think folks who just like good music love what we do.We seem to be able to crossthe age barrier and people of all ages enjoy our diversity of styles.

MO:Yuppies, hippies, college kinds and NPR listeners.

CW:A surprisingly wide range of people – from the younger jam – band crowd to moretraditional folks and bluegrass loves and some jazz lovers.To watch them all interact atshows in entertaining to us.

AG: Is it harder today to make a living as a performer than it was 10 years ago?

MO:Not for me.

MG:Harder to make a living,YES!The recession combined with rising insurance costshave driven local and regional venues to be unable to compensate us in the way theyused to and going on the road is more difficult as well when you combine high gas

prices with lower pay.

CW: It seems that fewer folks in general are going out to see live music, compoundedby the economy which has forced most music venues to pay less than ever.On the pos-itive side, the economy seems to be perking up a bit and new music venues have beenpopping up, ran by young arts and culture scene.

AG:Who are some of the folks you have played with?

MG:We’ve (collectively) shared the stage with some great artist’s, Darol Anger, MikeMarshall,Alex DeGrassi, Leo Kottke, John Harford,David Grisman,Asleep at theWheel,DocWatson,Taj Majhal,The Carolina Chocolate Drops,Lyle Lovett,David Bromberg,TajMajhal, and more.

AG:What do you like about playing in this group?

BW:We all get along really well and enjoy playing together and laughing which makesfor better music, I think.

MO:The challenge and the strings.

MG:It’s challenging and exciting.There are complex arrangements and varying time sig-natures and humorous sections that you have to keep it together while playing them.Its fun!

CW:The coffee and baked goods at rehearsals… and of course when we’re reallyclickin’ on stage and the tempo’s really up there and we’re totally in the pocket.

AG:Can you give any advice to folks who want to work in the music business as per-formers?

MO:Become a DJ – more money.

CW:Start with a really good“product”– your music.Be sure you’re excited about whatyou’re doing and can get behind it business wise.

AG:What is the biggest thrill you have had performing?

BW:Honestly for me it’s every time we play.

CW:Every so often the stars align and everyone is playing“out of their heads” - totallyconnected and not getting in our own way,when that happens it feel like you can playabsolutely anything.

AG:Why do you do it?

MG:Not only is it our chosen profession, but playing music is also a life long passion,and a calling.We do it because this is how we want to spend our lives,making music.

BW: It’s what makes us tick!

AG:Where are you playing soon?

6/1Tyranena Brewing Co. in Lake Mills6/7 & 6/21 atThe Merchant in downtown Madison6/12 – UrbanTheatre/ LiveTV taping Madison6/15 –Café Carpe in Fort Atkinson7/3 –Hydro Street Brewing Co in Columbus,WI7/28 – Current Music Fest, Sun Prairie Music Fest.

AG:Thanks for talking with me.

Story and photo’s by:RebeccaThompson

Big Bang String Thing


worf... continued from page 18

Travis- Did you come through the ranks with guys like Brent Mason and MichaelRhodes?

Glenn- Very much so. In fact Michael was already here and doing really well. He wassomeone I wasn’t aware of until I moved here but I remember the first few times Iheard him and thought ‘oh man, this is a truckload of bass right here!’ (Laughs) But hewas one of my friends and I still regard him as one of my brothers in this town.And so,you do compete in this town,but it’s a very friendly competition.He and I have workedfor a lot of the same producers, split records throughout the years. But there is a realsincere support system here.And if I can’t get to something,IALWAYS tell people aboutRhodes…or David Hungate and on and on.

Travis- And considering the vast amount of records being made here in the 90’s, I'msure there was a lot of work to go around…

Glenn- Oh yeah.All kinds of things lined up then for this town to be buried in work.People used to book you months and months in advance because they wanted thisspecific band and the only way to get you was by doing that.But that sort of was a shortlived era there. Prior to that, the work was getting done by just a handful of people.Back then the record would be done in about a day.Everything went down at once. Itwas a ‘single based’ way of doing rather than an album based way.Then when CD’scame out, there was re-releases so the record companies got more money from that.People were discovering a‘new’kind of country, though I’m not really sure that it was.Younger writers and producers….

Travis- Sort of the Garth Brooks effect. I’m sure things were changing before that, butit seemed like when he hit, everything changed…

Glenn-Yeah…he was sort of the pinnacle of it.But now the town reminds me so muchof when I first came here.The budgets are not there like they were in the 90’s heyday.People are not quite as busy.Things are done more quickly again.And there’s no book-ing way far in advance.

Travis- And unfortunately many of the studios didn’t survive that change either…

Glenn-Yeah, that’s the unfortunate reality in the music business in general, but in par-ticular the recording side of it. It was a failure of excess and a failure to foresee the buy-ing habits of the people were changing. It’s a very different day and part of that is thatsome can’t do what they used to.The studios were not one time investments, the up-keep of gear,updating the gear.The upkeep of the buildings themselves.Plus having tocompete with home studios.Maybe they don’t sound as good, but I’m not sure whatkind of priority that is for the average listener anymore.

Travis- So sadly…..it’s not.

Glenn-Yeah and I think it will be a real travesty if we lose all the studios.

Travis-With all the artists that you’ve had a chance to work with, are there any stand-out ones that you were really excited about working with? Maybe ones that you grewup listening to…

Glenn-There’s certainly quite a few. I did a track just yesterday withAllan Jackson andJohn Fogerty.We cut that old CCR song,‘HaveYou Ever Seen the Rain?’ I’ve been luckyto work withAllan over the years,but it was a kick and a half to hear John’s voice overthe headphones. Everyone in the room turned and lit up! I’ve been lucky enough towork with so many of my heroes,George Jones,TammyWynette,George Strait,& Em-mylou Harris.

Travis- And you played with George and Merle on the ‘Kicking Out the Footlights’record. Fun session?

Glenn- Yeah! One of the few times I ever worked with Haggard. Since my instrumentisn’t that loud, as fate would have it, they had me in the studio room with them. Butwhen they walked in and started singin’…the hair stood up on the back of my neck!There’s something about some of those iconic voices,you hear them,you grow up lis-tening to them,hear them on the radio orTV…but it’s totally something else when youhear those voices over the headphones and being there. Just a thrill and a half just tobe sharing oxygen with them! (Laughs) It’s those things that keep you from ever tak-ing it for granted.

Travis-Well, I’m just going to come and say it…the records that you,ChuckAinlay andMark Knopfler make just don’t get any better sounding in my opinion!

Glenn-Well thanks! Chuck is truly world class. So working with him has been one ofthe high water marks for me.And getting to play with Mark Knopfler…if I had to pickone thing that I’m most proud of…my association and friendship with him.I’ve learnedso much.He is such an astonishing musician,writer,producer, all those things.He’s al-ways expanding the horizons for us.And we’ve been invited so deeply into his music.Not just a sideman/leader thing. Everybody who is there, is there because they havesomething he wants to hear from them.Not just the note they play,but their instincts.

Travis- Can you tell us how that relationship started?

Glenn- Its funny, I was busy in the studio and I was in a couple of local bands here andwas playing in clubs 4 or 5 nights a week. I remember telling my wife that I know thisis really rough,but I keep thinking that if I play with all these local bands,people will

actually get to hear what I do that I’m not allowed to do in the studio. So, I was play-ing at the Bluebird Café when they had bands,and I didn’t know it,but Mark had comein and was sitting at the bar listening to the first set.And I walked by and he stuck hishand out and he introduced himself. It blew me away that he was there so I talked tohim for a minute.Told him I was a fan and big admirer of his music.And I left it at thatand didn’t want to take too much of his time.The phone rang about 3 or 4 months laterto see if I wanted to play on the Golden Heart record.Which was actually a track called‘Speedway at Nazareth’…

Travis-Wow!Which appeared later on ‘Sailing to Philadelphia’….

Glenn- Yeah.We actually cut it then.When we re-cut it years later, it became a com-pletely different version.But it was an instance that being on that stage at that time ledto meeting Mark.

Travis- So were Chuck and Mark wanting to make their records here in Nashville?

Glenn-Well,we made the Shangri-La album out in Malibu.But most of the others weremade in various studios in town.

Travis- So Chuck is not a guy who has to have a certain studio to get his sound?

Glenn- No. I‘ve literally seen Chuck go into studios that couldn’t even pass electricityfrom one side of the console to the other. It’s kind of how Shangri La was.Chuck spentthe first 2 days like a miner under the console soldering and trying to get things towork; to the point where we thought we were going to have to abort and move else-where. So it was driven by what Chuck is able to do anywhere,and what Mark wantedsonically.Mark,after working a few albums here and because of the body of the songs,he had a mental image that the Shangri La album should be recorded out there. Hewanted it all recorded at one studio. He even told me at the beginning of the recordhe wanted me to pick one bass to use for the whole record. He told Chad Cromwelljust one drum kit. And then after that,Mark and Chuck designed Mark’s studio in Lon-don. And for me, it’s the greatest studio I’ve ever seen or been in.Any sound you canthink of.You just can’t find those rooms anymore.And with Mark,at an age when mostguys are going to the golf course or a yacht, and he has other interests, but the mainthrust of his being is still being a creative musician.A songwriter first and foremostand being an artist.

Travis- And that’s one thing that just can’t be overlooked.Of course there is the guitaraspect of what he does,what he is writing lyrically is as good as any of the greats.

Glenn- I don’t want to put words in his mouth, but he would tell you that he’s a folkmusician.Which he is…he heavily discounts his own guitar playing. I always houndedhim about it, you play one note and it means more than 6,000 wanna-bes. It’s such anevocative style. It’s just as much a part of him as his lyrics,melodies…the whole pack-age.

Travis-With you and the rhythm section,Richard Bennett…you guys must’ve had a his-tory of working together prior.Was the transition to become a band fairly easy?

Glenn- It was not at first only because Mark had worked with Dire Straits, then a lot ofother session musicians.When he first became a solo artist, I’m not sure he knew ex-actly who he wanted to be.Which is why ‘Golden Heart’ is kind of all over the placemusically. It was cut with a lot of different musicians.Different music styles were rep-resented. It was his first step into being a solo artist.What made it tricky for us is thatwe didn’t know him yet.We would all offer up our suggestions.Sometimes they wouldwork and sometimes they wouldn’t.As the years have gone by, it’s become more of aband.Nobody in the band is just going to say, ’oh I knowMark,and whatever I play willbe cool.’ We’d rather do something that would miss it by a mile just to see if it will leadto something cooler.

Travis- Does it look like you’ll make more records with Mark? More tours planned?Glenn-We always say at the end of a tour,‘we hope there’s another one!’ I think he’llcreate until he tips over. It’s who he is. I hope to be a part of that as long as he’ll haveme.As far as tours, we’re finding ways to keep doing it.We have a short tour bookedthis fall opening for Bob Dylan.We’re scheduled to do a full tour with Mark next year.Not sure if that will be in the U.S. or not.

Travis- Are you starting to get into the producer role as well?

Glenn-Yeah. I’ve had people say ‘when are you going to put down the bass and go bea producer?’ I’ve never wanted to do that.To this day, I love playing the bass. I play itevery day,whether I’m working or not. I’m at the house practicing and trying to learn.But I’ll be doing more work with ChuckAinlay and Frank Lidell.

Travis- I have to ask, are you planning any trips back home toWisconsin this summer?(Laughs)

Glenn- (laughs) Oh yeah.My wife and I bought a little farmhouse in Door County.Wetry to get up there a few times a year.Our kids still think ofWisconsin as vacation time.We have family still back in that state.We’ve been here a long time,but that’s still home.Always has been and always will be.

Written by:By:Travis CooperPicture furnished.

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Rev. John DeLore ♪♪♪♪♪“Little John the Conqueror” • Americana

What transpires when aWisconsinite transports himself to Brook-lyn, NY, and then sets out to make his own brand of Americanamusic?After giving“Little John the Conqueror”a few listens we see,in this case,where it has taken the Reverend John DeLore.

Don't let the Rev.Moniker scare you off,(an online ordainment,after a night of whiskeyin his case) for awhile there is occasional salvation to his tales, but they are neitherpreachy nor narrow in scope.

“Little John the Conqueror”is a travelogue of sorts. A song-cycle in which DeLore takesus on his journey: love, life, death, they are all represented in a literate sort of semi-(Southern) gothic way.You become entrapped by his tale, and engrained in his storyline, awaiting the outcome of what transpires for the narrator.

Musically “Little John the Conqueror” is well crafted country tinged pop,with a mix-ture of folk and blues.Acoustic based fleshed out with full band sound and occasion-ally orchestration. A hot pedal steel guitar is an added treat! It’s not so much a‘laid-back’approach as simply a (sometimes) mid-tempo gape, reminding me of Byrds-era ‘Ballad of Easy Rider’ in both song structure and pacing. In fact DeLore’s vocalshave that same subtle nuance that McGuinn offers.A weathered pitch which pulls youinto the story line of a song.While nothing bolts out immediately at you the songs andmelodies tend to stay with you, long after you have listened; a chorus here, a hookthere,wanting another listen.

The Reverend John DeLore has been making albums for some time now.Each is worthchecking out, and ‘Little John the Conqueror’may be the best of them all.Well worthyour listening investment.

Review by: Mark Gerking

Paul Thorn ♪♪♪♪♪“What The Hell Is Goin’ On?” • Blues/rock

“What The Hell...”, is a 13 song covers collection, Paul Thorn’s firstrelease since 2010’s “Pimps and Preachers”. I am usually a tad re-served when confronted with such releases.On the one hand yourealize it is a stop-gap,a release made for ‘already’ fans, awaiting therelease of a new original work.Yet on the other you want to dig in

and find out about influences and the possible surprises an artist will give you.

Thorn covers all the bases that we have come to expect from a P.T. album:The roughand tumble pop/rock,“Don't Let Me Down Again” (Lindsey Buckingham); down anddirty,snakey blues,“Snake Blues”(RayWylie Hubbard);and the Southern gospel groovesthat he loves,“Shelter Me Lord” (Buddy Miller).And that is just the first three songs!

Given the range of songwriters from BigAlAnderson to Elvin Bishop-who even makesan appearance on the Bishop penned title cut, the proceedings could have easilyturned into a mess.But,throughout the discThorn and his band mates whip up a steadystorm, giving each song the needed vibe it needs/deserves.They revel in these tunesand it shows in the performances. A very eclectic choice of material all given the south-ern blues/rock and gruff/soul vocals thatThorn is known for.

A pair of highlights for me and more for the surprise factor than anything else: Buck-ingham’s afore mentioned“Don’t Let Me downAgain”,a pre-Fleetwood Mac song orig-inally found on Buckingham Nicks.A guttural pop slice!, and the Crescent City popmasterpiece“SmallTownTalk”originally done by the late Bobby Charles (and co-writ-ten by Charles and Rick Danko).As with the original this one has me humming alonglong after having played it.Amazing vocals (reminiscent of Charles himself) and theorgan hook, damn!

So forget my earlier apprehensions.If this is the album that is going to break PaulThornso be it. So sit back and enjoy a truly wonderful listen. Please check out Thorns web-site; you can order ‘WhatThe Hell...’ along with a Live Bootleg, and even a Paul Thornlunchbox!!??

Review by:Mark Gerking

Lynn Taylor ♪♪♪♪♪“Barfly” • Good Dirt Records • Americana/Blues

Lynn Taylor is another fine example of why East Nashville is thecoolest place on Earth to hear and see music. Taylor and the Barflieshave put out a killer CD that keeps you interested from the firstnote until the last. The Barflies themselves are quite the backingband (Jim Gray Bass,Paul Burch Drums,SergioWebb Guitar,ThommJutz Guitar, Jen Gunderman Piano, Organ, and Accordion, and Gra-

ham Gray backing vocals). They alone could hold your attention with their musical abil-ity. With the added bonus of fine lyrics and well-structured songs byTaylor, this CD isa winner all around.

The CD starts out with a funky little tune called“It’s alright”that gets your foot tappingand you hear racing.“Decatur Street” reminds me of the kind of songs Jonathon Ed-wards was writing in the 70’s. That’s a good thing! Those type of out of sorts songsare not quite on the meter that musicians appreciate. “OnceAgain” is a fantastic songthat most of us have lived at least twice in our lives. It proves that guys just don’t getit when it comes to behaving! The Scotty Moore guitar licks really add to the song. “GoBack” is a very cool bluesy song recorded very cool.

Being a studio owner and producer I always look for unique sounds when I listen toCD’s and this song in particular really caught my ears. Sonically it is very cool, veryretro and stark. Hats off to Burch and Taylor for KISS (Keep it simple stupid) record-ing on this song and the whole CD. Many times when people record they pile on allthe studio tricks they can to “enhance” tracks and end up ruining them. Taylor andBurch let the songs dictate the recoding not the other way around and my hat’s off toyou guys for that!

This is one hell of a record and deserves as much press and airtime it can gather! I lovethis CD! There I said it. I have yet to be disappointed by anything coming out of EastNashville these past four years, and this CD is no exception. Taylor is an okay in mybook! This CD speaks volumes of his talent and the talented folks that played on it.Rock on LynnTaylor!!!

Review by:Andy Ziehli

CDReviewMarley’s Ghost ♪♪♪♪♪Jubilee • Sage Arts Records • Americana

Marley’s Ghost is one of the all-time American Bands in America!Hell they wereAmericana before it wasAmericana! Jubilee is a cel-ebration of their 25 years of playing together. Quite a milestone forany band!

This album like their last two albums were produced by legendary producer extraor-dinaire Cowboy Jack Clement. For those of you who are not audiophile’s like the restof us,Cowboy Jack Clement wrote the book on recording and producing hit records.Starting in the 1950’s through today, Jack Clement is the man!!! His production of thisCD reflects his total understanding of letting the songs stand on their own and keep-ing the gimmicks out of recording.

On Jubilee, Marley’s Ghost recruited some special friends to help celebrate their 25years including Emmylou Harris, John Prine, Marty Stuart, Larry Campbell, and OldCrow Medicine Show. Campbell’s fret work is worth the album on its own, let alonethe fantastic musicianship of the players of Marley’s Ghost. These guys are seasonedpros who know how to write and play great music!

This album is filled with great songs that lift and take you to a new musical plain. DanWheetman wrote five of the thirteen songs here. The others came from great song-writers like Kris Kristofferson, BobbyWomack, John Prine, Levon Helm, Larry Camp-bell, Butch Hancock, and Katy Moffat. My favorites are “Wake up Mama”, a rollicking50’s rock a billy song that could have come straight out of Sun Studios. Larry Camp-bell plays a hell of a mean lead guitar on this number. A very cool version of BobbyWomack’s“It’s all over now”with Cowboy and Old Crow Medicine Show playing andsinging on it. “Unwed Fathers”with Emmylou Harris on vocals is a fantastic John Prineand Bobby Braddock song.“Hank &Audrey”is another fantastic country song you don’thear on the radio today which is a crime. “Lonely Night” is a hand clapping song writ-ten by Mike Phelan. The last song“She made me lose my Blues”is a fitting close to onefantastic album. It fits perfectly in this collection and leaves the listener with a smileand great memories of Jubilee.Marley’s Ghost is a wonderful band that knows how to play and make great records!Do whatever you have to do to find this CD and buy it! I’m sure you’ll agree with methat this is Americana Music at its best!



33

Hobart Brothers & Lil’ Sis Hobart ♪♪♪♪♪At Least we have each otherFreedom RecordsRoots Rock/Americana

Holy Cow! Does this CD Rock!!! I am blown away by this release!Please sign me up for the family reunion of the Hobart’s! This albumis filled with quality music to the 100th degree! Can you tell I love

it! I don’t think I’ve run across a better written album this year! Not one bad songon this album. If you like Rock, Pop, andAmericana music you will love this album!

Jon Dee Graham,Freedy Johnston and Susan Cowsill are“The Hobart Brothers featur-ing Lil’ Sis Hobart”. Helping out the family on this CD are Andrew DuPlantis on BassGuitar and Russ Broussard on drums. “At LeastWe Have Each Other”features 10 songsco-written by the three singer-songwriters in the studio. It was recorded in late 2010by John and Mary Podio atTop Hat Recording in Austin,Texas.

I don’t even know where to start naming my favorite tracks here. They are all my fa-vorites! First Susan Cowsill is one of my favorite writers today. I loved her when sherecorded with the Continental Drifters and her solo work is out of this world! Shewrites a mean song and her voice is true to every note she sings. Freedy Johntson isanother fantastic songwriter that blows me away. Jon Dee Graham is new to me, butif all his work is like this I’m a fan! Anyway back to the songs. I can’t pick a favoritehere. They are all that good! The one’s that really caught my ear and had me by thecollar are:Ballad of little sis (Didn’t I love her) a toe tapping smile grooving song fromthe first bar, Why don’t I hunt a bluesy rock tune that gets you grooving from the firstguitar chord, I never knew there would be you a very classy 60’s Pop style song, Allthings being equal is anAmericana style song done to perfection, and I am sorry, a sadtale that really gets you in the heart.

As you can tell I love this CD! I hope that the Hobart Brothers and Lil’ Sis Hobart hitthe road and come toWisconsin and rock us all night long with their fantastic music.This CD is a MUST for your collection! Go buy it!

Review by: Andy Ziehli

Tab Benoit ♪♪♪♪♪Legacy: The Best Of Concord Music GroupBlues/Americana

Tab Benoit may not be a household name to most people in theGreat White North we call home, but to guitar pickers Benoit is ahero. My friend and super guitar picker Marc Barnaby has been rav-ing about Benoit to me for years. Tab Benoit is Louisiana’s No. 1

roots export. More than just an acclaimed bluesman, he is an indefatigable conserva-tion advocate. Benoit is a driving force behind Voice of theWetlands, an organizationworking to save Louisiana’s wetlands. In 2010, he received the Governor’s Award forConservationist of theYear from the LouisianaWildlife Federation.Benoit also starredin the IMAX motion picture Hurricane on the Bayou, a documentary of Hurricane Ka-trina’s effects and a call to restore the wetlands.

This CD is a collection of songs that is both impressive and balls to the walls in qual-ity and substance. They range from bluesy swaying tunes to all out rockers! Benoit’ssoulful voice is as good as his fine guitar playing. The songs are both original and cov-ers done in a style that only Benoit can pull off (just check out track three ScreamingJay Hawkins“I put a spell on you”) to make others songs his! His guitar tone is uniqueas is his playing style. His funky side is quite evident on Stephen Stills “For what it’sworth”, a real tribute to Stills. Benoit’s Muddy Bottom Blues is a real ass kicking songwith some of the coolest guitar work I’ve heard in a while. Not complicated at all butrelevant in both tone and simplicity. “Coming on Strong” is a wonderful Cajun Coun-try song that Benoit gets help from Billy Joe Shaver andWaylonThibodeaux. Benoit’scover of Otis Redding’s “These arms of mine” is a superlative rendition that Reddingwould be proud of. The grittiest tune on the CD is Mike Henderson’s and GlenWorf’sWhiskey Store. On this tune Benoit really shoes his swampy bluesy guitar and vocals

Grant Peeples ♪♪♪♪♪Prior Convictions • Independent ReleaseRoots/Americana

Patriots,priests,pole-dancing for god,and the politics of belief.ThisCD isn’t easy,but it’s real as hell,and beautiful t’boot.To quote GrantPeeples;“when you’re diggin’ for the truth you’re messin’with somedangerous stuff.” Believe me this guy is opening every door, peek-

ing behind every curtain, and turning over every rock, looking for all the dangerousstuff he can find.

His lyrics are powerful and direct.His voice is simple and true.His vision is clear andhis politics are honest. The instrumental performances on this CD are sublime andthe production values are through the roof. This recording has its own atmosphere.Vibrato drips from the guitar, the drums hypnotize, and (Joel Guzman,s) accordionwraps its warm arms around you like a lover. Listen to it,my favorite tune (Last Nite IDreamed In Spanish); like I said,“real as hell, and beautiful t’boot.” Love this CD.

Review by: Rick Harris

David Olney ♪♪♪♪♪The Stone • Americana/Folk

Only Olney! Leave it to David to put out a 6-song mini album. (Hissecond in a series of thematic minis)This one is based on the“Great-est Story Ever Told”, the Easter story.A gutsy move, a pretty heavytopic and one that in anyone else’s hands might come off as a merere-treaded tale/pompous propaganda or simply preachy.These are

not spirituals of morality and higher powers,but lay witness to a familiar to many timesstory given a fresh and new interpretation.Not that the story has changed,but throughthe crafting of Olney the perspective certainly has.Set to music both beautiful and rau-cous as needed, it is the perspective of the narrative in these songs which sets this ren-dering of the story apart from how others have told it.

This is a conceptualization that Olney has wanted to piece together for a long time.Three of the songs have been previously released, (although all are given new inter-pretations to fit into a thematic whole. and it is the perspective from which Olneywrites/performs these songs that lures in the listener:“JerusalemTomorrow”- the storyof a mystified and down-on-his-luck“healer,”“Brays-a beautiful song of mystery and pride,(as told through the eyes of a donkey) “Barabbas”- a tale of luck, relief and bewilder-ment,“Brains”, an out-and-out rocker complete with muddy guitars and skonking harpin which Judas' inquisitors demand to know "who the brains of the operation are", “ASoldiers Report” in which the Roman guard of the tomb of Jesus tells what happenedon his watch. These are all tales that while familiar bring a new light onto the subjectsat hand.

Brilliantly assisted in the recording studio by long time Olney cohort’s producer &multi-instrumentalist/percussionist Jack Irwin, guitarist Sergio Webb, and bassist Dave Roe,Olney gives the songs for the most part a blues/folk feel that is understated, yet highlyappropriate. Indeed, the use of various percussion devices and the subtle beauty ofWebb’s classical guitar flesh out the songs giving each their proper due. It is in Olney’svoice-a powerful poetic instrument unto itself-that pulls everything together.

With“The Stone”Olney has once again proven himself a unique poet, singer, and song-smith.“The Stone”continues his own brand of hard-bitten tales,from a man who has theability to breathe life into them, as only he can conjure. It shouldn’t come as a revela-tion.

Review by: Mark Gerking


style. The last song and fittingly is Benoit’s own Bayou Boogie where he pulls out allthe stops both vocally and especially guitar picking wise.

This CD is an excellent collection to start with if you are not familiar with Benoit andhis fantastic guitar style. It’s a great addition to your collection. Some of the cuts arenew renditions of older cuts. I loved this CD! It made me think of hot humid nightsin a smoky roadhouse where you don’t break the house rules,or you might end up asgator bait! Rock onTab Benoit! You are the king!


Josh Harty ♪♪♪♪♪NowhereMagnolia Recording CompanyRecorded and Mixed by Chris Cunnningham, BasecampRecording

Josh Harty's Nowhere leaves me feeling touched.His haunting voiceis a gift for telling woes, but Harty hones that gift with talent as he

layers on more haunting with a little fiddle here and a mandolin there from TrevorKrieger. Josh an artful tour guide through only seven songs on the album. The song-writer's stories are brutal truths sugar-coated with the strings of his simple guitar. You'lllisten over and over and be left with something new each time.

"Whiskey and Morphine" and "Sweet Solution" are both tunes that dare to say out loudwhat we all could have at one time or another. "Nowhere" intensely cautions us wherewe're in such a hurry to get. There seems to be such a disciplined reserve from thisson-of-a-preacher-man. The rest of us might have just blurted out too much more tokeep it interesting. "Brave and alarming" came the reviews of these songs from theirfirst release in the UK- well put. Keep this short list from Josh Harty on your short list.

Review by: Anne Miller

Audrey Auld ♪♪♪♪Resurrection Moon • Reckless Records

Resurrection Moon is something of a 'greatest hits' collection fromAudrey Auld's storied 15 year career with a couple of new worksthrown in. Fellow songwriter Terry McArthur (co-writer of "Resur-rection Moon") labels these songsAuld's "scars and moments of rev-elation". This chronicle of a woman's growth, pain and favorites

lays a clean foundation of brisk and unexpected melodies topped off with Audrey'scrisp clear voice and crisp clear stories. Songs taken from The Fallen (2000); LosingFaith (2003);Texas (2005) and Lost Men &Angry Girls (2007) all make up this playlist.

This compilation of originals spans from fresh folksy to classic country (sans twang),but mostly lands squarely on the genre of great-live-set. Hats off toAudrey making metap my toe first and unravel her stories second. The crispness of these tunes is almostindigo-girls-esque,but only takes one strong voice to tell the song-stories.Great album,keep it near.

Review by:Anne Miller

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THE dB’s • Falling Off The Sky • Bar/NonePop/Alt Rock

I’m telling you right out of the gate, I love these guys.This NorthCarolina band has been at this for decades yet, this CD sounds freshas a daisy.They lean to the retro side but never try to pull you back.They’re not trying to make now sound like then.They’ve found away to make then sound like now.And that’s pretty impressive. Ifyou think you know where the next Beatlesque chord is going you

just might be wrong.These tunes are very melodically driven and can take some in-teresting twists and turns.They can both fool and surprise.The lyrics are pop in stylebut reflect lives in change. It’s solid songwriting throughout. My favorite tune is theCD opener “That Time Is Gone”. From its scratchy rhythm- guitar beginning, killerdrums, and pulsing organ, to its hooky guitar riff that won’t stop poking you in theside, it does not disappoint.Add a fine vocal performance and a line like “greasy greygreen glass” and you’ve got one cool song.This CD is terrific and I would encourageyou to buy it.What the hell, it’s only money.The dB’s are rock and roll!


Stephen David Austin ♪♪♪♪A Bakersfield Dozen • Independent releaseCountry/Country Rock

I can tell you two things about Stephen David Austin; first, he’s afine story teller. His lyrics are strong, clear, clean, and cohesive. Noconfusion or beating-around the-bush.Second,he sure knows howto pick his fellow musicians. His crew is top notch in every way.

From the first Tele twang to the last and everything in between these L.A. musiciansare great and provide an excellent vehicle to carry each song.The tunes weave a nicepattern between humor (Best Ex I Ever Had) to the dark side of life (Heroes AndHeroin) then back again.Many artists have used this template through the years and italmost always works. It certainly does here.He can use humor very effectively but hasno trouble changing gears when the dirty deed needs tellin’.The stand-out track as faras I’m concerned is (KansasAin’t In KansasAnymore).It really shines with strong lyrics,lots of edgy layered guitars,and a killer back-round vocal by (Teresa James). She reallyput the kiss on the rose for me.Stephen DavidAustin has blended the right ingredientsand cooked himself upA Bakersfield Dozen.Nice Job.


The Steep Canyon Rangers ♪♪♪♪♪Know body knows you • Rounder RecordsBluegrass/Country

I’ve got to come clean about something right from the start. In allhonesty (hold on to your chairs) I’m just not that crazy about Blue-grass.There, I’ve said it.Yeah,Yeah I know. I’m sure my name has al-ready been given to the House Un-American Activities Committee

for further review, but think about the spot I’m in.My boss Andy Ziehli, a real tyrant Imight add calls me up to his plush (looks like Elvis’s bedroom) 13th floor office andsays to me,“look Harris you uncultured heathen, everyone around here knows youropinion of bluegrass and you’re dead wrong.Don’t you realize that bluegrass is one ofthe jewels in the crown of American- music? Now I’m going to give you a chance toredeem yourself you knuckle-headed snob.The Steep Canyon Rangers have a new CDand I want you to review it.Give ‘em a fair shake, and don’t screw up.” I scurried outof his office like a lemming looking for the seashore.

Back in my car I take a minute to read their press release.Hmmm….worked with SteveMartin, that’s wild and crazy. Hmmm….Grammy nominated. Entertainers of theyear….ok.This is their 5th album….alright. I start my car,pop in their CD,and off I go.1st song…bam! Great vocals, great songwriting, great musicianship. 2nd song…bam!The same.3rd song…bam!The same.4th song….“Between Midnight and Dawn”(nowmy personal favorite).Bam! Ok,what’s going on here? I’m a quarter of the way throughthis thing and all I can say isAmazing,and you know what?The other eight tunes werejust as good.

Unlike so many bluegrass records every single song was completely unique.There’s alot of country in this band. I thought I could hear just a whisper of Gram Parsons.Thesinging (all 5 members sing) was terrific.Their musician-ship is second to none. I wasespecially struck with Mike Guggino’s mandolin playing.It’s melodic,perfectly phrased,and unhurried,and maybe that’s the best way to describe this CD unhurried.The songscome first, the bluegrass comes second.Highly recommended!This is the best bluegrassI’ve ever heard. I guess sometimes the boss is right.


Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem ♪♪♪♪♪Some Bright MorningProduced by: Chris Rival with Rani Arbo andDaisy Mayhem • Mayhem Music

Some Bright Morning could be the new slang for that genre of youriPod play list that serves as your go-to, your anytime, any company,shuffle in the shuffle that propels the gathering's conversation for-

ward then wanes some letting the reconnection of treasured ones take over. In ourhouse that meansThe Mavericks or any Nick Lowe.This collection of covers and orig-inals is loaded with character and uncontrived.How refreshing.

RaniArbo's fiddle serves as both lead and best supporting along withAndrew Kinsey'suke and banjo cleverly bandied here and there. The liner notes claim this work leftthem all calling it beautiful and alive: "music" Chris Rival would say they said with ashrug.They nailed it- layers of vocals take courteous turns with smart and crisp guitar.This CD is a mouthful of rich flavors and you can taste every nuance. Guest help fromRay Bonneville (harmonica) onTravelin' Shoes and from Mark Erelli (steel guitar) on ahandful of tunes round out the effort. Great album, makes you feel like you saw theshow.

Review by: Anne Miller


Bruce Springsteen ♪♪♪♪♪Wrecking Ball • Style: Rock-AmericanaColumbia Records

This is without any question one of the finest CDs I’ve ever heard.As Springsteen made clear in a Rolling Stone interview with JonStewart, every cut on the album was written initially as a folk song,just Springsteen on acoustic guitar. No surprise there. Springsteen,

after all,won a folk Grammy for his 1996 album“The Ghost ofTom Joad,”and more thanmost rock ‘n’ rollers – really, more than most performers in any genre – he has longbeen committed to lyrics that matter.There are plenty of those on this CD,and for themost part they come through loud and clear, even as the arrangements morph andgrow from folk to full-bodied rock‘n’roll.The music itself is nearly symphonic in its wallof sound, joyful, redemptive,while the lyrics explore the sad,dark corners ofAmericanlife.As always, Springsteen’s focus is the underdog – in this case, the people left out ofthe American dream.

One of my favorite cuts (and Springsteen’s too, based on things he has said about it)is a working class ballad called“Jack ofAllTrades.”The character in the song yearns fora time when“we’ll start caring for each other like Jesus said that we might.”But he be-lieves instead that we live in an age when “the banker man grows fat, working mangrows thin,”and thus he is driven to fantasies as harsh as the times:“If I had me a gun,I’d find the bastards and shoot‘em on sight.”In the end Springsteen’s character can onlypromise his wife,“I’m a jack of all trades, darling we’ll be all right.” Such are the sensi-bilities of the album,hard and tender all at one time. In the opening cut,“WeTake Careof Our Own,” the chorus affirms that taking care of each other is what Americans do,or should,“wherever this flag is flown.”But the verses remember the times when wedon’t,with allusions, for example, to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina when helpwas far too long in coming.

From the shotgun shack to the Super DomeThere ain’t no help, the cavalry stayed home

Springsteen,however, is not a mournful performer.He clearly believes – much like theblues performers of the past, whose chord progressions are frequently hinted at onthis record – that one of the primary roles of music is to transform sadness into beauty.And that is what Springsteen does. For me the most stirring song on the album hassomething of the feel of a rock ‘n’ roll psalm – an anthem of people coming togetherand moving toward a “Land of Hope and Dreams.”There are “saints and sinners …whores and gamblers … fools and kings”and in the end they all just “thank the Lord.”After a little while of listening to Bruce Springsteen, that is exactly how you are likelyto feel.

Review by: Frye Gaillard

Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer ♪♪♪♪♪ • Rocking the UkeCommunity Music, Inc. • Folk, Swing, Blues on the Uke

This is a very interesting CD! It’s all Ukulele music and fantasticvocals. It’s mostly standards and a few originals thrown in and it’sgood! I have to tell you that I was not that thrilled to listen toUkulele music but this CD changed my mind! These Ladies can playand sing!

They are very competent pickers in their own rights. They play flawlessly and picksome pretty hard songs on the four strings they have. Dark Eyes is a wonderful in-strumental that shows their skills on the Uke. Blues Stay away fromme,an old DelmoreBrothers tune (a favorite of mine) is done with style and grace. Comes Love is anotherfantastic song that really catches your ear. Cathy Fink’s arrangement of Snowdrop isvery, very good! She can really play. I’ve heard this song played on the mandolin andit’s a tough tune to pick. Fink does a great job on it here. The final songThe HukilauSong by Jake Owen says it all! Take me away now!

This is a fantastic CD to put you in a good mood no matter how down you are. It’s filledwith happy go lucky songs and old standards that will put a smile on your face. If youare looking for a CD that your under eight year old kids will love just as much as yourgrandparents, this CD is the one. It’s a true family listening experience created andrecorded by two fine musicians! It’s a sun shinny day every time you put it on.


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Though we definitely had a whole roots thing going, it was a total stripped down 3piece punk rock band. I guess the term“Cowpunk”was coined because of bandslike ours, because we did some great country songs in our shows like HankWilliams,Patsy Cline, and LeonaWilliams. We played places like the Pyramid,Danceteria, Pep-permint Lounge, Irving Plaza,The Rat in Boston, 9:30 in D.C. Those kinds of places.In Europe we played rock clubs and festivals. EvenWorld Music festivals. Fats and Iwere both touring in Europe a lot in the 1980’s, but our paths never crossed...totallydifferent worlds it seems country and rock. That period of time in NYC was so ener-gizing. You could do anything!

AG:How did you meet?

Fats: We were aware of each other before we both lived in Nashville. We actuallywere both in bands that were on Rounder Records during the same period of time.We really connected once we got to Music City. Cliché though it may sound we metat the Bluebird. I was playing with the Mavericks there. This was right after they’dsigned with MCA. Kristi Rose came to the show, and I spied her in the audience.The rest, as they say.....

AG:Tell us about your new CD you are working on and when do you plan to releaseit?

Fats: Our new CD was recorded entirely up at the farm in Southern Illinois, an areaknown as“Little Egypt”. This is where Kristi Rose was born and raised. We alsorecorded our Christmas album there. We take a lot of inspiration from the area. Therivers, the history and legends, the family legacy. We do a lot of recording there. Thenew album is entirely Kristi Rose and I except for our good friend and great drum-mer Mickey Grimm,who came across theWabash to play some drums. Otherwiseit’s all just us. Almost all songs we wrote together. We hope to have it out by end ofsummer, but certainly this year.

Kristi Rose: I want to add, that when Fats says“it’s just us”, that he plays all sort of in-struments on this album. He did the arrangements and plays guitar, steel,mandolin,accordion, viola, clarinet and who knows what else. There’s a lot of texture here,some very lush tracks.

AG:Can you give any advice to couples who want to work in the music business asperformers?

Both:Uhhh....No. (We all laugh)

AG:What is the biggest thrill you two have had performing together?

Both: It’s difficult to answer what has been the biggest “thrill”. The things that reallystick with you, the things you remember aren’t necessarily “thrills”. It’s those mo-ments when you feel really connected onstage. It’s the times when you realizesomeone has been really affected by your music...by what it is you are doing. It’s theexperiences that you share some good, some bad together. We get to go to all sortsof places. We’ve found ourselves sharing experiences with people in different coun-tries and situations around the world. These are the things you take with you andremember.

AG:The music business has changed since you two came to Nashville. What wouldyou tell folks today thinking about moving there to become artists?

Both: Look,Nashville has been very good to us. So we think it’s great. We like it.Advice? Be diverse. Roll with it. Don’t get stuck in the mud of yesterday’s ideas.But I guess that could be advice for anyplace on the planet. The world turns on itsaxis so you might as well too.

Written by:Andy ZiehliCover Photo by: Deone JahnkePicture of Fats by:Kelly KerrPicture of Fats & Kristi on stage by: Mary SackPicture of Kristi by Joyce ZiehliFind Kristi Rose and Fats' at: www.pulpcountry.comFind them on Facebook at: Facebook/Kristi Rose and Fats Kaplin

Nanci Griffith ♪♪♪♪ • Intersection • Style: AmericanaHell No! Records

This new album by Nanci Griffith is,well, pure Nanci Griffith.Hav-ing already won a Grammy and anAmericana LifetimeAchievementAward,Griffith may well be in line for more accolades with this CD.Recorded at her Nashville home,“Intersection”offers a serious nodto politics with the song“Hell No”– an ode of sorts to the Occupy

Wall Street movement.But Griffith writes from her heart as well as her head,and manyof these songs are deeply personal, coming, she explains, after a particularly turbulenttime in her life.

Her writing throughout the CD is strong, with songs such as “Bethlehem Steel,”“BadSeed,”and the title cut,“Intersection,”but some of my favorite cuts are the covers.“Wait-ing on a Dark-Eyed Gal,”written by RonnyWayne Davis,has been recorded in the pastby artists ranging from Kevin Welch to the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, but Griffith, withwhat some have called her“folkabilly”arrangement,does it as well as anybody.And hermusical admiration is clear in her rendition of Loretta Lynn’s“High on a MountainTop,”a reaffirmation of the deep country roots of Griffith’s music.

Earlier in her career, people began to recognize her name when artists such as KathyMattea (“Love at the Five and Dime”) and Suzy Bogguss (“Outbound Plane”) had majorhits with her compositions.For some listeners,especially more traditional fans of coun-try music,there was something a little quirky about Griffith’s voice,something a bit toofolky perhaps in her arrangements. But with the emergent popularity of Americanamusic,Griffith has long since found a home as a recording artist in her own right.Mu-sically, I think,“Intersection” is Griffith at her best. She is ably backed by many of herfriends, including Eric Brace and Peter Cooper,Pete and Maura Kennedy,and Pat McIn-erney and Richard Bailey. In addition,her voice is strong and sure and convincing,andshe is clearly,on every cut, an artist at home with her craft. If you’re Nanci Griffith fanyou’ll like this record, and if you’re not already a fan, you may become one.

Review by: Frye Gaillard


kristi and fats... continued from page 29

Rachel Harlow—Feathers and Twine

Nashville-based songwriter and vocalist Rachel Harlow’s debutalbum, Feathers and Twine, is an elegant entrée into the world ofindie music. Harlow’s classically trained soprano,well suited to jazzrhythms and vocalizations, synthesizes rather than spans a range ofmusical genres on this album. The solid, spiritually-themed ballad“ATree”incorporates a languid pedal steel yet has a jazz/waltz beat

underlying it. “Holes” features a bustling, contemporary melody accompanied by apleasantly appropriate banjo, lending it a light but worldly-wise feel. The spritely“Whenthe Circus LeavesTown”reminds me a bit of Paul Simon’s“Feeling Groovy,”but feels likeit would fit well in one of Stephen Sondheim’s less cynical Broadway musicals.

The result of collaboration between Bryan Clark, one of Harlow’s professors in theMusic Department at Belmont University,Feathers andTwine showcases Harlow’s song-writing talents within the instrumental frameworks created by Clark, also an inde-pendent producer. Many of Harlow’s songs have a gypsy feel to them; their rhythmssupport what appears to be her vocal signature, a swirling soprano that lifts and tum-bles, sweeping in an arc across the scale.She has a nice vocal as well as melodic range,with an ability to achieve the soothing,simple jazz characteristic of Nora Jones and themore improvisational style of Joni Mitchell. Harlow’s creative use of rhythm in thesongs’ vocal track and her earnest and insightful lyrics remind me a little of Lisa Loeb,capable of rapid and precise jazz deliveries, she applies them to pop melodies and de-livers them as if she were the breeze blowing bubbles out of a child’s wand.

While her sound is alternately light jazz and pop,Harlow’s music has strong overtonesof Christian rock. Her songs feature a great many allusions to biblical and classical sto-ries, metaphors and themes. She has a gift for using words to vividly depict the char-acters in her songs and to bring their stories to life. “Nehemy”for example,tells the taleof a destitute Latina girl unable to work hard enough to either escape her solitary lifeor realize the dream of living as the white girls do, as they safely “button their white-collar lives.” Many of Harlow’s songs raise issues of social justice,as with“Widowbird,”a poor woman’s (or man’s) anthem both dark and inspirational. Some of these themesare borne in part out of the mission work in which Harlow was engaged between 2007and 2008 in South Africa. The song“Cain,” she writes on her website,was directly in-spired by her experiences there.

In a few songs, the words occasionally seem to overwhelm the music, interlacing themelody and instrumental arrangements in a kind of stream-of consciousness motif.Harlow acknowledges this characteristic of herself in the amusing “Words,” the sixthtrack on the album. Listeners will appreciate the innovative percussion in many ofthe tracks; they were a little heavy on a couple of tracks and impinged just slightly onHarlow’s vocals, as if trying to keep up with her. Overall,Harlow and Clark have pro-duced a beautiful and artistically engaging album,one that will keep many looking for-ward to more from this promising new artist.

Review by: Anne Gravel Sullivan

americana gazette june - july 2012

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