Waltz of the Chickadee (CD review)

Cool CD Cover

My friends, Jessica and Robert, sent me the lastest CD by Mike and Ruthy as a get well gift. They even got it signed.

I cannot imagine a better way of recuperating than listening to Mike and Ruthy’s great mix of music.  There are songs and instrumental numbers.  Some of the songs are great political commentaries, and the instrumental numbers include fast folk dance tunes, including a great mandolin solo by Jay Ungar on Dust Bowl Blues.  It was this mix that caused me to fall in love with The Mammals in the first place.    If nothing else, I am inspired to start playing my mandolin again.

My Mum even approved, which is high praise indeed as both my parents are committed classical music listeners.  They scorn other kinds of music, but Mum commented on this CD without me saying who it was.  She even asked who was playing the fiddle and said she could see why I liked them.

Hopefully, I’ll get to see them in concert before the year is out.

Music Monday: Mandolin

8 strings

I just bought myself a new instrument.  I have been wanting one since Ashoken Camp.  Isn’t beautiful?

Peg Board

Now I have to find out if I can really play it.  At the moment I need to build up calluses on my left fingers so that I can hold those steel strings down.  I also need to build up strength in my left little finger so it can hold strings down.

I found a few websites for mandolin players. Folk in the Woods has lessons.  They are on everything from how to hold a mandolin right to how to play more complicated melodies.  I might just have to buy his DVD.

Mandolin Cafe seems to be the place for mandolin players but I haven’t had much time to explore it yet.  I would rather be playing than reading the internet.

Having the mandolin has already achieved my first objective – more music making.  As I cannot play for long without getting blisters, I found that I would sing once my fingers started complaining.  The mandolin got me started and then my desire for music making took over.

Here is a picture of the whole thing:

Mandolin

It is a Rover and I purchased it from Elderly Instruments. I love it!  Expect to hear more about this new music adventure of mine in the future.

Music Mondays: Pete at 89

I missed the David Letterman show last Monday but it is finally up on YouTube:

I have also added his new CD (AT 89) to my CD wishlist, if any one is interested. Perhaps Mum will probably be persuaded to buy it me for Christmas!

Music Monday: Tom Russell

Tom Russell

On Friday Aug 29th Tom Russell was in concert at the World Cafe in Philadelphia. He is a singer-songwriter from Texas who writes topical songs that are quasi-political.  Yesterday (Sunday Sept 7) he was on NPR’s Weekend Edition talking about the impetus behind the song “Whose gonna build your wall?” which was the first song of his that I heard over a year ago (?). I was impressed enough to purchase the EP which lead me to hear some of his other songs and and I finally attended his concert.

Naturally as I am very selective about who I go to see, the concert was excellent.  One exciting moment was when feedback from the microphone somehow caused his guitar to bust a string or two.  He did, thankfully, sing Whose Gonna Build Your Wall as I would not have forgiven him otherwise, but otherwise he said his show was mostly new songs, which were great.  He has an anthology coming out in Oct so I intend to buy that to catch up with my Tom Russell history.  Unsurprisingly, he seems to have performed or co-written songs with every one – that is the folk music world is small.

Michael Martin on mandolin with Tom Russell

Michael Martin accompanied Tom Russell on lead guitar, mandolin and high harmonies. He was an amazing performer increasing my mandolin desires exponentially.  I want a mandolin NOW!  I am surprised that I did not phone up a music store and buy a mandolin the next day.  Probably doing my accounts before I made the call was a good move.

More photos.

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As always photos copyright © 2008 cdavies.  Please ask for permission before using.

Music Monday: Ashokan Southern Week

Instruments at Ashokan

I was thinking that I didn’t have any pictures for Music Monday, but if you click on the photograph it will take you to the set of almost 100 pictures I selected from the over 400 that I took two weeks ago at Ashokan Fiddle and Dance camp: Southern Week.

It was an amazing week. Due to the exhaustion I suffered working and playing hard at Ashokan, I rarely went to bed before 1 am and regularly got up by 8 am the next morning, I was unable to do any posts early last week! Next time I will have two weeks of posts lined up so I do not have to worry about neglecting my blog readers.

I should write any essay about the week, but it was very aural – even the pictures don’t satisfy the senses. You would have to put at least three CD players on all playing different music:

Cajun

Courtney playing fiddle

Appalachian Old Timey Music:

Radio Hour Initial Jam

Playing alone on a guitar or fiddle

Fiddler

and don’t forget singing

Singing Group and Campers' Night

and dancing:

Dancing

Conclusion for me:

• As I suspected, the singing style results being very low in my voice so I do not find it as enjoyable as classical choir, but I can do it and it is good to use that part of my voice.
• I cannot find rhythms easily under pressure and, while it looks fairly straight forward, flatfoot dancing is hard. As shown in this video:

• I tried both mandolin and accordion and decided that a mandolin would be more fun and I could sing at the same time as playing. I have every intention of getting one in the next month or so.

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As you expected all photos  copyright ©2008 cdavies. Can be used with permission.

Music Monday: Mike and Ruthy Videos and Pete & Tao Concerts

Ammuse has a review of Mike and Ruthy’s June 25th concert at the Colony Cafe, Woodstock and has posted some videos from the concert:

I also found out that Pete Seeger, Tao Rodriguez Seeger and Guy Davis are performing at Sellersville on August 6th.  What a night that will be.  Pete et al., are currently touring bits of Canada, one of their concerts was reviewed by Moose Wanderings.

M is for…

I initially thought of doing a music mosaic of my collection of music photos, similar to K is for…Knitting. However, these are pictures of other people performing – I wanted to represent my involvement with music. The photo represents some of my favorite pieces or composers/groups to sing. Unfortunately, currently I am having a rough time mentally with singing; it is not as clear cut as shown in the top photo:

As I went to delete this picture I stopped as it represents my current relationship with singing and making music.  What is up with me?  Why have I stopped singing?  I’ll get it sorted out before I go to Southern Week at Ashokan.

I’m Back

I’m too tired to think of words, so this picture will have to do until I get my thoughts together.  This was taken Friday night when only the volunteers and site crew were present. It was a good omen for the festival, which paid off for Saturday.

Unfortunately on Sunday severe thunderstorms, both current and threatening, caused the festival to be canceled.  At around 2 pm they started sending home the festival attendees.  Of course, two hours later it was gorgeous and sunny and the threatened storms missed us completely.

I’ll try and write more about my experiences when I am firing on more than one brain cell.  If you cannot wait that long, my pictures are here, and yes, there are lots of Mike and Ruthy.

I’m off for a few days

So where did last week go?

I had lots of plans for posts and other things to get me going a bit more and whiz, it is now Friday and I am about to depart to go to this festival.  If you are also attending; stop by the shop, where I am volunteering, to say “hi”.  And do not forget to catch Mike and Ruthy who are performing on Sat pm and Sun am.

I am off to pray to Thor, Zeus, Chaac and any other appropriate dieties to keep the rain and storms away from Croton Point, NY.

In the meantime, here is some lavender to wish you well:

Music Monday: Old School Freight Train

Last month when Lisa and I went to Longwood Gardens we mostly went to see OSFT, one of my favorite folk bands. I had seen them the month before at the Baby Grand, but the concert at Longwood Gardens was much better; not only because I could take photos.