More welcome notes from Tony Thomas

BIB editor's note: Thanks again to banjo historian Tony Thomas for his additional notes below on the 2020 BIB post 'Alan Lomax, the banjo, and bluegrass (CORRECTION):'

Just want to underline my comments about Stu are based on not only my extensive research, but on the last years of Stu's life in the 2000s. I knew Stu when he moved to Florida. He was increasingly restricted by his final illness for years, but I had hours and hours of telephone conversations with Stu over the last several years of his life about banjo issues, especially about Gribble, Lusk and York, and more recently I have been working with the Gribble Lusk and York website. I just returned from the US old-time festival Fiddle Hell, where I played banjo representing Murph Gribble's style in two workshops, one on Gribble Lusk and York tunes to be played in G tuning and on tunes that can be played in D.

A posthumous honour for the BIB

The BIB editor writes:

Exactly a year after my retirement as editor, the BIB reopens in order to make public a welcome and important contribution from Tony Thomas, a leading scholar of banjo history; one of his works is cited below.

The contribution arrived in the form of a series of comments on the BIB post Alan Lomax, the banjo, and bluegrass (CORRECTION) of 14/18 Aug. 2020, which mentioned the Black banjo-player Murphy Gribble and the white folklorist and banjo-player Stu Jamieson. Mr Thomas's contribution follows:

First, Stu's views should be primary since Stu is the one who found Murph Gribble by asking his grand aunt in Champion Tennessee who had the best string band in their area in 1946. It is Stu along with Margret Mayo who recorded the band in 1946 and who returned several years later to record the band, and to record Gribble playing not only as a band, but to record Gribble playing solo, using Stu's Fairbanks banjo. Stu was familiar with the style of playing because his grandfather, a person Stu idolized in all things had played the banjo in this style. In the last years of his life I spent hours talking with Stu about this. What Stu noted was the similarities in the propulsive attack of the whole band of which Gribble was the leader.

At the same time all the other sourcing especially my friend Bob Carlin's work is important on this subject. Others I know who have discussed influences with Earl found that Earl said early, being someone born in 24 and a teenager in the 1930s and early 40s talked about doing on the banjo things he heard Charlie Christian do on Benny Goodman records, and also very strong influence like everyone with ears in North Carolina in the late 30s and 1940s, to try to do things that Blind Boy Fuller was doing on guitar on the banjo, and a bunch of other influences. To be sure the Gribble Lusk band had a drive and was banjo-driven with Gribble as the leader deciding to lead the band from banjo (he was reputed to be a great fiddler fron an early age and had become more or less of a professional musician due to limitations in his physical capacities due to being injured in the Great War).

Looking at this band and Gribble's banjo only in a narrow and uninformed view of its similarities to bluegrass reflects not looking at it in relation to Black music which surrounded it, or its crucial role as essentially the only viable Black string band ever recorded while it was still a vernacular band performing for audiences and money, Stu told me that a big problem was when he received permission to use the town general store to record them the first time, the store was packed with with white people who wanted to hear the band under Jim Crow even the band was afraid to go there and perform and Stu's aunt or grand aunt who suggested the place and lived locally received disrespect from local white folk for years for Stu and Margret's treatment of the band members with equality calling them Mr. Gribble and Mr. Lusk and that Stu gave them a ride home about 10 miles in his car rather than letting them walk in the night.

These recordings are really more important than their limited relationship to bluegrass, but of the survival of a significant Black string band tradition. Also quite meaningful is Gribble's three or possible four-finger banjo style, rather than frailing and two-finger picking. We have found that this banjo style was widely used by African American musicians, most notably Gus Cannon all whose 1930s recordings were in this style and who taught anyone who approached him for banjo lessons this style correctly called the guitar style of banjo, Cannon teaching and using all 4 finger as SS Stewart would have taught. There are many other examples of Black guitar-style banjoists, some of international repute, and at least one still getting still able to get encores at the Apollo Theater in NYC in the 1940s. Again this was the preferred popular and parlor approach to the banjo played across the English speaking world, played by Edward VII and his successor as his mother, well known as a banjo fan since the days of Sweeney, had sent both future monarchs and their sister [See comment below - BIB editor] to take banjo lessons with the Bohees. A colleague from Sweden decades ago found the receipts for the lessons in Palace records.

The limits of this interchange reflect the limitations and stereotypes of knowledge about African American and world banjo playing as well as what would have been in the air both for Earl Scruggs and Murph Gribble (he preferred "Murph" to Murphy) in their times in music. Consult my essay "The colored champion banjo pugilist of the world and the big world of the banjo", a chapter in University of Illinois Press’s prize-winning anthology Banjo roots and branches, published in 2018.

It is a bit bizarre that Stu's views and reporting is not put at the center. Stu found the band by asking his grand aunt what was the main local band where she lived. Stu recorded the band and witnessed their playing. Stu returned in 1948 or 49 to the area and was able to invite the band members to his grand aunt's house to record them again under better circumstances with Gribble actually playing Stu's very high quality banjo. Stu was a banjoist, and immediately identified the banjo approach Gribble used as his grandfather played banjo in the guitar-style like Gribble. Stu was prone to some exaggeration, but he was right on the beam on what Gribble was doing as well as some of the similarity to the Scruggs style which had become popular by time Stu wrote his invaluable field notes. Our knowledge of the banjo playing really starts with what Stu left us.

And finally...

The BIB editor (retired) writes:

My warmest thanks to Tony O'Brien and Uri Kohen for the way in which they have marked my retirement on their respective Facebooks, and to all members of our community, in Ireland and the wider bluegrass world, who have added their own comments. All your words are greatly appreciated, and I feel fully repaid for any effort that may have gone into the BIB over the past eighteen years.

Finally, it seems appropriate to repeat the thanks I gave when the BIB was launched on 21 Nov. 2005 - to Alice Toner who built the BIB for me and set it in working order, and to Eamonn Quigley for his cordial assistance.

© Richard Hawkins

Late delivery

The BIB editor (retired) writes:

On 31 Aug. it was announced that news that came in during my absence (14-19 Sept.) would be dealt with on my return. Here it is:

Dark Shadow Recording announce that Chicago's Henhouse Prowlers, Bluegrass Ambassadors to the world, and headliners of the bluegrass section of the 2022 Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival, released on Friday 15 Sept. their latest album, Lead and iron, comprising eleven tracks, all written or co-written by Prowler members. Full details are on the Dark Shadow press release.

*

South London's The Vanguards (Jack Baker, mandolin; Alex Clarke, guitar; Chris Lord, banjo; Laura Nailor, fiddle; and Pete Thomas, bass) are interviewed by Lee Zimmerman in 'England’s Vanguards take their name seriously', the latest in his 'Bluegrass beyond borders' series on Bluegrass Today. The feature includes two videos and an audio track. The Vanguards played at the 2017 Westport festival, and followed this with a 2019 tour of Ireland centred on the festival's launch party. Chris Lord is also editor of British Bluegrass News, to which Jack Baker contributes the regular 'Tab corner', which always includes solid helpings of bluegrass history.

*

More bluegrass history: the good things in the Bluegrass Unlimited weekly newsletter no. 149 include an invaluable article from BU archives on Ola Belle Reed by Rhonda Strickland, published in the June 1983 issue under the title 'Preserving traditional music without killing it'.

*

Rick Faris, singer, songwriter, recording artist, and luthier, who toured Ireland several times during his eleven years on mandolin and guitar with the Special Consensus, will be moving his Faris Guitar Co. to an 1800-sq.-ft workshop at the Kentucky Guitar Works in Owensboro, Ky, More details and a statement from Rick are in John Lawless's feature on Bluegrass Today.

*

East Nash Grass (USA; see the BIB for 7 Apr.), who have not yet visited Ireland, are young musicians who embody well-established bluegrass practices: individually they've all played in different bands, and as a band they've held down a long residency at a particular venue - in their case, weekly at Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge in Madison, TN. On the Bluegrass Situation (BGS) Thomas Cassell interviews the ENG's James Kee (mandolin) and Cory Walker (banjo) about the experience of their residency, their rapport with audiences, their new album, and more. The interview includes three videos - one of them a two-hour live performance at Dee's.

© Richard Hawkins

Quote of the month

My mother was classically trained, but she could play anything on piano by ear, and my father sang with her. But for them music was not about formal classical music. It was about gathering with friends in your own home and sharing music until the early morning hours. Music was about improvisation, laughter, and friends. I learned early on that you could do it yourself, and that it’s natural for music to be created and shared right in your own home.

Alice Gerrard, quoted by Louisa Branscomb on Bluegrass Today, 11 Sept. 2013

Sounding the Well of Souls (4)

The BIB editor writes:

A substantial part of Well of souls is dedicated to showing the development of the cultures of black enslaved people in the New World. It is a task for which Gaddy feels her being white may disqualify her, but which she sees as a necessary reparation for the ways in which those cultures have been ignored or misrepresented in the past.

In this overall cultural survey, the banjo at times falls out of sight and hearing. As regards sight, the publishers could have partly remedied this. They chose, however, to print illustrations on the same paper as the text; this works well enough with line drawings and diagrams, but much less so with monochrome reproductions of paintings, where clarity is easily lost. As regards hearing, it does appear that though the banjo was a recognised part of ritual and sacred activity, it was not indispensable. But for those who want to hear music of a kind that was played on the banjo long before white musicians took it up, some of the earliest documenation of the instrument includes transcriptions of music played in Jamaica in the 1680s, and these pieces can be heard on the Musical Passage website, which presents them in their historical background.

© Richard Hawkins

Inaugural International Pavilion at IBMA WOB 2023

The International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) announce that this year's IBMA World Of Bluegrass in Raleigh, NC, will present for the first time an International Pavilion, featuring bands from South Korea, Slovakia, Canada, Australia, Norway, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, and the USA. The sponsoring bodies are Bluegrass in La Roche, Dark Shadow Recording, Bluegrass Ambassadors, and Ear Trumpet Labs. The full lineup (which includes several names familiar to bluegrassers in Ireland) can be read here.

© Richard Hawkins

One for the audience

Playing in bars is traditionally part of the bluegrass life. Doing it in this country can carry the additional burden that - even more than in the USA - a solidly bluegrass repertoire is likely to be unfamiliar to the audience, and making the connection between band and audience is consequently that much harder. One possible way round the problem is shown by the recent single release from Pinecastle Records by Robert Hale - a remake of the Stonewall Jackson hit 'I washed my hands in muddy water', which (like many country songs) works perfectly well as bluegrass and will be familiar to country music fans. The recording can be heard on John Lawless's feature on Bluegrass Today.

© Richard Hawkins

Nickel Creek (and more) at Bristol Rhythm & Roots

For those who saw Nickel Creek at the National Concert Hall, Dublin, on 30 August - and also for those who didn't but wish they had - Bluegrass Today has many dramatic and evocative photos of them, taken by Bryce LaFoon at the Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion in Bristol, TN/VA, last weekend. Other artists in the photo gallery include Sierra Hull, Marty Stuart, and their bands.

© Richard Hawkins

Michael J. Miles - finding banjo chords all over the neck

The Deering Banjo Company announce episode 4 of Michael J. Miles's online clawhammer banjo workshop. In this 36-minute episode Michael, together with Deering's David Bandrowski, shows thirty-seven ways to play G, C, and D triad chords. The episode can now be seen on YouTube.

Deering also draw attention to an instruction book by Joseph Weidlich, Round Peak clawhammer banjo: traditional Appalachian fiddle tunes from Surry Count, NC, available from Deering for $19.99; and to their Vega Vintage Star banjo, at $2,599.

© Richard Hawkins

'Get lost' instrumental from Wyatt Ellis

The Morris Public Relations press release explains how the title was chosen for 'Get lost', the instrumental composed and recorded by the phenomenal 14-year-old Wyatt Ellis (above, centre) of east Tennessee. The official music video can be heard on John Lawless's feature on Bluegrass Today and on YouTube.

The musicians on the recording, shown in the image above, include two visitors to Ireland: Michael Cleveland (second from right) and Mike Bub (extreme right), whom you may have seen when he was in Galway in 1994 with Del McCoury; or more recently, playing bass in the Caleb Klauder & Reeb Willms Country Band or in the Dublin bluegrass jam session of 29 Aug.

© Richard Hawkins

Westport Folk & Bluegrass Festival needs your help!

Dear friends and fans,

Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival has been running for the past 17 years and it has played an integral part in preserving and promoting folk, bluegrass, and American old-time music in Ireland.

Over the years we have been able to gradually increase the calibre of our acts, present new acts for the Irish audience, and grow the festival’s offering, while maintaining the original format and ticket prices.

We have proven to be a large contributor to the local economy and have offered platforms to local, national, and international acts.

The growing cost of running the festival has proven to be challenging, and for the first time ever, we are looking for your help and support to ensure the future and continuous growth of the quality of the festival.

We would really appreciate anything you can afford to donate, so we can continue to showcase the best of folk, bluegrass, and old-time music, and of course, so we can welcome you all back to our beautiful little town on the west coast of Ireland!

Thanks in advance,

Uri and team

To donate, click the link below:
CanYouHelpWestportFolk&BluegrassFestival?

or scan the QR code:

Two Time Polka: September-October gigs

Ray Barron of Two Time Polka sends news of the band's forthcoming gigs:

Sun. 17th Sept.: Crane Lane Theatre, Cork city, midnight-2.00 a.m., adm. free

Fri. 22nd: Culture Night, Old Market Bar, Bandon, Co. Cork, 9.45-11.15 p/m., adm. free (but a ticket is required for entry. Booking link - FREE tickets)

Sat. 23rd: Blue Haven, Kinsale, Co. Cork, 10 p.m.-midnight, adm. free

Sun. 1st Oct.: Crane Lane Theatre, Cork city, midnight-2.00 a.m., adm. free (part of Cork Folk Festival)

Sun. 8th: ZydecoSwamp, Molenstraat 58a, Raamsdonk, the Netherlands, 7.00-8.30 p.m. Doors 2.30 p.m.. adm. €7.50

Our next mail will include details of our gigs at the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival. Check our website for all gig details.

Regards & thanks,

Ray & TTP

© Richard Hawkins

Watery Hill Boys at The Moorings, Bellanaleck, 16 Sept. 2023

Thanks to JIm MacArdle of the Watery Hill Boys of Drogheda, Co. Louth, for the news that the band will be playing at The Moorings (also on Facebook), 156 Derrylin Rd, Bellanaleck, Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh BT92 2BA, from 8.00 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. this coming Saturday, 16 September.

The Moorings is an award-winning restaurant on the shores of Lough Erne, where the Watery Hill Boys played earlier this year (see the BIB for 24 Apr. 2023) in memory of John Watson.

© Richard Hawkins

Sounding the Well of Souls (3)

The BIB editor writes:

Two of the main themes of Well of souls are: (1) the banjo is essentially a 'spiritual device', an expression of the fundamental presence of religion in all aspects of traditional African cultures; (2) however, it would not have come into being without the transatlantic slave trade and the circumstances of slavery in the Americas.

At the risk of over-simplifying, one can say that the banjo functioned as a spiritual device by summoning or evoking spirits through the medium of rhythm. Decoration on some of the earliest instruments suggest that they were marked as 'sacred' objects; but quite apart from external markings, the whole instrument can be seen as a 'cosmogram', the intersection of the earthly and spiritual planes.

On point (2) Gaddy states clearly in her preface: 'The banjo did not exist before it was created by the hands of enslaved people in the New World. [...] "The banjo is African" is often repeated [...] But it is not true: the banjo is a uniquely American instrument, crafted by people of African descent. It is structurally different from any African instrument.' (BIB editor's note: That last sentence does not refer to the many structural changes that have been made since the instrument got into white hands, and which can be said to make the modern banjo thoroughly 'colonised'.)

© Richard Hawkins

More photos, from the Earl Scruggs Music Festival via the BGS

The staff of the Bluegrass Situation (BGS) online magazine present, under the title 'See photos from the Earl Scruggs Music Festival at the Tryon International Equestrian Center', a load of excellent shots by several photographers, taken at last weekend's Earl Scruggs Music Festival in Mill Spring, NC. The many artists shown include Tony Trischka (right), supreme player, composer, teacher, and communicator on all things banjo and bluegrass, whom many here will remember from his performances and workshops at the Johnny Keenan Banjo Festivals in Longford. He organised for the festival an Earl Scruggs Revue Tribute Band. The photo above is by Greg Heisler. Next year's Earl Scruggs Music Festival is scheduled for 30 Aug.-1 Sept. 2024.

© Richard Hawkins

'We'll all drink money' from Balsam Range

Events on the scene in the Mother Country are amply covered by the US bluegrass media, so the BIB doesn't usually draw attention to them if there is no clear connection with this island. However, Balsam Range are an outstanding band by any standards, and their latest single. 'We'll all drink money', happens to be about unscrupulous property development, which may strike a chord or two with pickers and audiences over here.

More details are on the Mountain Home Music Company press release, and the song can be heard on SoundCloud and on John Lawless's feature on Bluegrass Today.

© Richard Hawkins

Views and news of past visitors to Ireland

First, the views. In photo features from US festivals that have appeared on Bluegrass Today over the past week, you can see numerous excellent pictures of (among other leading figures in bluegrass) the Del McCoury Band (or the Travelin' McCourys plus Del), and the Henhouse Prowlers; the Lonesome River Band, Dailey & Vincent, and A.J. Lee & Blue Summi; Kenny & Amanda Smith; and Michael Cleveland and Brooke & Darin Aldridget.

North Carolina's Steep Canyon Rangers (right) announce the release of their latest album, Morning shift. Their press release states: 'So much about our music has been about staying focused and under control, but what stands out on this recording are the moments where there was no choice but to get outside of yourself and go on instinct.' They are releasing it this weekend at the 17th Annual Mountain Song Festival in Brevard, NC.

Update: Nancy Posey reviews Morning shift favourably on No Depression, including three videos of songs from the album in the review.

© Richard Hawkins

Special C. to kick off IBMA WOB 2023

The International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) announce that this year's IBMA World Of Bluegrass in Raleigh, NC, will open on Tuesday 26 September ('Sept 27' in the image above is a typo) with a Kickoff Party hosted by our old friends the Special Consensus, who have since 1995 visited Ireland more than any other bluegrass band in the world. The IBMA press release states:

Join Special Consensus, along with some special guests, for a special kickoff event at IBMA World of Bluegrass on Tuesday, September 26th at the Lincoln Theatre. Special Consensus has received six IBMA awards, as well as two GRAMMY nominations. We all know Special C likes to make things fun, so don’t miss this party as a great start to the week of music. And who knows, it might even be someone’s birthday!

© Richard Hawkins

'Mother Jones in Heaven' goes on the road again

US singer, songwriter, activist, and organiser Si Kahn announces in his latest e-newsletter that his one-woman musical play 'Mother Jones in Heaven' will be taking to the road next week, beginning in West Virginia, with Vivian Nesbitt in the title role and music by John Dillon on guitar. Full details, together with news of Si's other campaigns, are in the e-newsletter.

As the BIB noted on 24 July 2014, Mary Harris 'Mother' Jones (1837-1930), born in Cork city, emigrated to North America with her family as a teenager, married there, and (after major personal misfortunes) devoted herself to labour organisation and agitation, being very active in the Industrial Workers of the World, the United Mine Workers, and the Socialist Party of America. In 1902 an opposing lawyer labelled her 'the most dangerous woman in America'. Much of her work was done in the mining districts of Appalachia. She has been commemorated in many songs, including one by Andy Irvine.

© Richard Hawkins

Michael J. Miles newsletter

Michael J. Miles (USA) announces in his latest e-newsletter that the concert for the release of his new album American Bach revisited will be on 17 Sept., after which he will be travelling

to Prague and Berlin and Kothen, Germany - the town where Bach lived when at age 35, as the newly widowed single father of four, he wrote the cello suites and the violin partitas! I just have to drink some of the water there!

Two videos are on the newsletter, together with a link to the new album and full details of Michael's workshop schedules for clawhammer banjo and fingerstyle guitar.

© Richard Hawkins

'Charlotte' - new single from Cedar Hill (update)

Mountain Fever Records announce a new single from Cedar Hill, the fine traditional-oriented band from the Ozark region who have made many friends and fans in Ireland from past appearances at Omagh and other venues. The song, 'Charlotte', features Frank Ray (mandolin, harmony vocal), Patti LaFleur (upright bass), Pete Brown (fiddle, harmony vocal), D.J. Shumate (banjo), and Dalton Harper guitar, lead vocal). Mountain Fever remark:

Cedar Hill’s long-time success is no doubt due to the talents of Frank Ray. His impressive career includes his induction into the SPBGMA Hall of Greats in 2019, the MerleFest Bluegrass Songwriter Award in 2018, the National Traditional Country Music Association’s (NTCMA) Lifetime Achievement Award in September 2018, and his induction into the NTCMA Hall of Fame in 2008.

Update: The song can now be heard in John Lawless's feature on Bluegrass Today.

© Richard Hawkins

Martha Spencer and Archer Broughton in UK

The FOAOTMAD news blog, organ of the UK's old-time music and dance association, carries news of a show on 21 Sept. in Narberth, Wales, by the duo of Martha Spencer (right) and Archer Broughton. As appears from Martha's online tour schedule, this show will be part of a tour of the UK starting on 14 Sept. at the Green Note in London and culminating on 23 Sept. at the Moniaive Michaelmas Bluegrass Festival in Scotland.

Martha toured Ireland nine years ago as a teenage singer, dancer, and musician with the Whitetop Mountain Band of Virginia, and is now forging an active career as a solo performer and in other combinations.

© Richard Hawkins

September 2023 BU

The September 2023 issue of Bluegrass Unlimited magazine has Bobby Osborne on the cover, and much of the contents of the issue is devoted to aspects of Bobby's life and career. Bill Conger contributes a six-page biographical article; Nancy Posey writes on C.J. Lewandowski of the Po' Ramblin' Boys and the work of preserving Bobby's legacy; and Scott Napier recalls episodes in his thirty years' friendship with Bobby. The December issue of BU will have a similar focus on Jesse McReynolds.

Other articles in the September issue include Cathy Fink on the songwriting of Ola Belle Reed; the song 'Kentucky morning' written by Darrell Scott and recorded by Bobby Osborne; Sandy Hatley on the work of John Holder as a premier bluegrass soundman; Bill Conger again, with an article on Ashby Frank; and the tale of restoring a badly damaged 1922 Gibson A-2 mandolin. The review section includes Mike England's review of the album The UK & Ireland dobro celebration, which includes the work of Johnny Gleeson, Colin Henry, and Ted Ponsonby.

© Richard Hawkins

Distant brothers from Gary Ferguson and Colin Henry

Thanks to Gary Ferguson (USA), acclaimed songwriter and veteran of a dozen tours of Ireland, for news of the latest fruit of a close and long-lasting collaboration that began at the 2007 Athy bluegrass festival. The story of the musical partnership of Gary and Colin Henry of Belfast is told in detail in the liner notes by Bob Allen for their forthcoming album Distant brothers (scheduled for release on 25 September 2023), which can be read in full on Gary's website.

As Gary explains, 'Colin and I are the "distant brothers" [...] Personality-wise, we just hit it off from the beginning. And right then, I knew something was clicking between us musically.' Similarly, Colin found that when he began playing Gary's songs, 'I was hearing myself play what I wanted to hear myself play. That just doesn’t happen too often straight off the bat.'

Gary subsequently discovered, mainly through Colin, a pool of eminently talented Irish musicians, resulting in the 2021 album Ferguson’s farewell: the Irish connection. In their continuing contacts across the Atlantic, the 'brothers' built up a stock of shared music that went to form their first album. Full details of the distinguished personnel (US and Irish) on the eleven tracks are here; and a single from the album, 'Chasing a dream', composed by Gary, can be heard and bought on BandCamp.

© Richard Hawkins

A bluegrass journey: Woodbine 2002-2023

Woodbine's original lineup (l-r: Tony, Mel, Paddy, Liam)
Dunmore East, 2002

BIB editor's note: Woodbine played their final official gig a week ago at this year's Dunmore East Bluegrass Festival. Many thanks to Tony O'Brien for this chronicle of a band that has been at the heart of bluegrass in Ireland for twenty-one years.

The bluegrass journey of Woodbine began in 2002 when the lineup of Tony O'Brien, Liam Wright, Mel Corry, and Paddy Chanders played Athy, Dunmore East, amd Omagh bluegrass festivals. Mel was only ever in for the three fests and Paddy was in college, so by 2003 Nicola O'Brien was introduced on bass and vocals. The band recorded an album as a trio in ’04 and Paddy returned on mandolin.

Woodbine built up a very loyal fan base over the next four years. Their second album was recorded in 2007 and included a couple of original songs written by Tony. By 2008 Paddy was involved in different genres of music and it was decided to change the lineup with longtime friend Richard Hawkins coming in on banjo to replace Paddy. Richard retired from the band in 2017 and was replaced by Martin Cooney. After COVID, from 2021 the core of the band was back to Tony, Liam, and Nicola with various guests joining for gigs. The band recorded a third album in 2009 that included a banjo breakdown, ’Smokin’ Woodbine’, written by Richard.

Woodbine have played all the Irish bluegrass and bluegrass-related festivals, plus gigs in every corner of Ireland over the years. They were invited to play a special St Patrick’s day concert in Stormont in 2009, and played live on Ryan Tubridy’s RTE radio programme and Marty Whelan’s radio programme on Lyric FM.

The band have had the honour of many guests joining them on stage for some gigs:

• Various instruments: Clem O'Brien
• Mandolin: Gerry Madden, John Denby, Joe Meehan, Jan Michielsen, Darren Lawrence, Tom Corbett, Roger Green, Sean McKerr, Tom Mindte, Skip Gorman
• Banjo: Tom Hanway, John Brunschwyler, Evan Lyons, James Henry, Hugh McLean
• Dobro: Johnny Gleeson, P.J. Power, Colin Henry, Tom Poole
• Fiddle: Dessie Crerand, Charlie Arkins, George Kaye, Brian Thurber
• Bass: Beth Lawrence

It's been a great pleasure to share the stage with you all, thank you. Woodbine have had a wonderful journey and a big thank you goes to all our families, our many friends, festival and gig promoters for making it all possible.

From all in Woodbine, thanks for creating great memories.

The heart of Woodbine (l-r): Liam, Nicola, Tony

© Tony O'Brien

Songs sung to Sharp - from Martin Simpson and Thomm Jutz

Thanks to John Lawless on Bluegrass Today for news of a project that should be a classic for anyone interested in the links between the folk music of these islands and Appalachia. Topic Records, the venerable UK folk music record company, will release four weeks from today (29 Sept.) the album Nothing but Green Willow: the songs of Mary Sands and Jane Gentry.

English folk singer Martin Simpson and German-born, Nashville-based singer/songwriter Thomm Jutz combine in their settings of some of the songs that Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles collected in the Appalachians in 1916-18, the first instalment being published as English folk songs from the Southern Appalachians (1917). A video of a song from the album, 'Edwin in the lowlands low', sung by Tim O'Brien, is on Bluegrass Today and on YouTube. The first single released by Topic, however, is of Cara Dillon singing 'Come all you fair and tender ladies', which can be heard on the Topic website and on YouTube. In another Topic video from YouTube, Simpson and Jutz talk about the origins of the project.

It should be recognised that Sharp and Karpeles went to Appalachia because Olive Dame Campbell, who had already been collecting songs there, was able to show Sharp evidence that the mountain people had the old songs that he was looking for. Her name is on the title page of the 1917 collection, as it includes songs she had collected. The BIB has published several posts concerning Cecil Sharp, which can be found by clicking on the label 'Cecil Sharp' at the foot of this post.

© Richard Hawkins

Editorial hiatus, 14-19 Sept. 2023

The BIB editor reports:

Please note that though my impending retirement as editor will take effect from 18 Sept., family matters will cause me to be away from the editorial chair from 14 to 19 Sept. inclusive. Any news of importance sent to me during that period will be dealt with on my return.

© Richard Hawkins

Yonder Boys (USA/AUS/CHL) back in Ireland, 8-24 Sept. 2023

The Yonder Boys (USA/AUS/CHL), who were part of the 2022 Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival and toured for a week in Ireland in January this year, will be back at the end of next week to play at the Séamus Ennis Arts Centre, Naul. Co. Dublin, on Friday 8 Sept. as the first show in a tour lasting to 24 Sept. The full schedule, as it appears on their website, is as follows:

• Fri. 8th Sept.: Séamus Ennis Arts Centre, Naul, Co. Dublin
• Sat. 9th: Monroe's, Galway city
• Sun. 10th: Mullarkey's, Clifden, Co. Galway
• Wed. 13th: The Sunflower, Belfast
• Fri. 15th: Bennigan's, Derry city
• Sat. 16th: Balor Arts Centre, Ballybofey, Co. Donegal
• Sun. 17th: The Red Room, Cookstown, Co. Tyrone
• Thurs. 21st-Sun. 24th: Clonakilty Guitar Festival, Clonakilty, Co. Cork

© Richard Hawkins

Dr Banjo on learning to hear chord changes

The Deering Banjo Company announces the second episode of their new 'Pete's Place' feature, in which Pete 'Dr Banjo' Wernick shows "how to hear the chords to a new tune when you are at a jam. This is an essential skill to learn so you can enter any jam and play along whether you know the tunes or not." This substantial body of advice, like last week's, originally appeared in Banjo News Letter.

Deering also include a link to the BandCamp page for Michael J. Miles's new album American Bach revisited, and another for buying copies of Pete Wernick's classis Bluegrass songbook, with words and melody lines for over 130 songs, together with much good advice from many of the creators of bluegrass singing.

© Richard Hawkins

Distinguished visitors AGAIN at Dublin's Bluegrass Tuesday

Many thanks to Patrick Simpson for news of another great night at one of the weekly Dublin bluegrass jam sessions. Patrick writes:

Just thought I would let you know we had some very special guests join the bluegrass jam session at The Oarsman, Ringsend, this past Tuesday. Caleb Klauder, Russ Blake, and the great Michael Bub surprised us with a visit to Bluegrass Tuesdays and joined us for a few tunes and a few pints. The energy was fantastic and we thoroughly enjoyed the music.

Special thanks to Anto Griffan for delivering what was an epic night for Dublin Bluegrass Collective. Also thank you to The Oarsman and the Bluestack Mountain Boys for hosting such a fine night of classic 'Bluegrass & Beyond'! We hope they have a successful tour and we hope to catch the Caleb & Reeb Country Band later on next Wednesday (6 Sept.) at the Cobblestone. Thanks to all who support us, and we look forward to more great jams with more big names.

We welcome any touring musicians to join us at Mother Reilly's Bar & Restaurant for Bluegrass Sundays 7.00-11.00 p.m. or at The Oarsman, Ringsend, for Bluegrass Tuesdays 8.00-11.00 p.m.

The BIB congratulates Patrick and the Dublin Bluegrass Collective for building up a welcoming environment for visiting pickers from the Mother Country and the rest of the bluegrass world.

The view into The Oarsman from Bridge St.

L-r: T.J. Screene, Mike Bub, Patrick Simpson

© Richard Hawkins

'Take me high' - new single coming from JigJam

JigJam announce that their new single, 'Take me high', will be released on Friday 8 Sept.:

We are so excited to share the first of many new original songs with you all. This one is called 'Take me high' and was written by our banjo maestro Daithi Melia [below]. We've been enjoying playing this one live all summer and cannot wait to have it out into the world.

A brief promotional video for 'Take me high' is on YouTube; if you like it, you can help JigJam by pre-saving the single at this link.

© Richard Hawkins

Alison Brown plays 'Time after time' on a Goodtime Two Deco

The Deering Bajo Company present a video (also on YouTube) of Alison Brown playing the Cyndi Lauper hit 'Time after time' on a Deering Goodtime Two Deco 5-string from their new special-edition Deco range. The banjo, and the song, naturally sound beautiful. As Conor Daly has already shown on the scene here, a Deering Goodtime should not be underrated.

© Richard Hawkins

Shane Hennessy - touring in the USA, and more

Carlow guitar maestro Shane Hennessy sends his Aug.-Sept. 2023 newsletter from Peoria, IL, where he has just played the Peoria Irish Fest. On Wednesday this week he will play his first show in California; of his following five dates (up to mid September) three are in the MidWest, one at the Station Inn in Nashville, TN, and one in Syracuse, NY. Two further North America dates are confirmed for March 2024, following his work at Guitar Workshop Spain in February.

New items are in Shane's merchandise store, and the physical CD of his 2017 album Marrakesh is back in stock. All this and more is in the newsletter, together with Shane's thanks to Culture Ireland for the agency's support; he writes: 'I don't know how many of us would be able to tour without the help of Culture Ireland.'

© Richard Hawkins

Edd Mayfield remembered

The 146th Bluegrass Unlimited weekly newsletter includes a link to the BU archives for a forty-year-old article by Doug Hutchens, bluegrass historian and former Blue Grass Boy. Published originally in the August 1983 issue of BU, it chronicles the tragically brief career of Edd Mayfield from Texas, who played three stretches as a Blue Grass Boy before his death from leukemia in 1958, aged 32. Bill Monroe considered him 'a wonderful guitar player and a wonderful singer' and had a high personal regard for him, which can be heard in his voice in 'Bill Monroe speaks about Edd Mayfield - 1965 Ralph Rinzler interview'. So anyone who might say that Monroe thought only Kentuckians could play bluegrass, can be answered with two words: 'Edd Mayfield'.

© Richard Hawkins

Sounding the Well of Souls (2)

The BIB editor writes:

Kristina R. Gaddy's book Well of souls: uncovering the banjo's hidden history can be seen as a companion to the collaborative volume Banjo roots and branches, ed. Robert B. Winans (2018), in which ten scholars meticulously examined the source material by which the stages in the early development of the banjo, from the seventeenth century, can be plotted. Gaddy presents much of the same material in the form of reconstructions of the lived experience of the people involved in each of those stages.

This understandably involves frequent use of phrases such as 'perhaps', 'surely', 'may have been', 'may have used', 'may have come from', and (200) 'How they actually felt is impossible to know'. The book is meant to be a work of reparation, so where different interpretations of an event are possible, Gaddy takes care to put forward one that white readers may find less comfortable. She acknowledges (p. 177):

These experiences I've told you about, reader, may not be as connected as I think they are. I might be seeing deep references to Black history and culture where there are none. [...] But what I realized [...] was that I had to open my eyes to the reality that Black history and culture have been so suppressed and misunderstood by white culture that I wouldn't see connections unless I looked hard. But why had they been suppressed? How had we lost all this information? Why was it that an instrument constantly described as 'Black' and 'African' came to be thought of as a white instrument? The story can't stop here.

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One answer to the last question may occur to anyone who was in the UK in the mid twentieth century. At that time the minstrel show - decadent, fading, but not completely dead - preserved an idea of a link between banjos and African-Americans; the revival of 'traditional' jazz, in which the plectrum banjo was a distinguishing feature, brought black New Orleans jazz veterans back into prominence; and the 'Banjo' chocolate wafer bar, on the market till 1954 and briefly reintroduced in the 1970s, carried on its wrapper a stylised logo of a chocolate-brown singing face. Moreover, Pete Seeger's How to play the 5-string banjo clearly informed the many thousands of 'folk' enthusiasts who learned from it that the banjo had African and African-American roots (a point also made in one of the comments on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiP8Tfa8bB8)

In the sixty years since then, however, all the people and all the cultural events prominently associated with the banjo have been white - the Seegers, the Kingston Trio, Earl Scruggs, Bill Keith, Bela Fleck, 'The Beverly Hillbillies', 'Bonnie & Clyde', 'Deliverance', 'O brother' - and in that context a musician of the stature of Taj Mahal could be seen as one more offshoot of the folk revival.

© Richard Hawkins

Jubilee from Old Crow Medicine Show

On No Depression Noah Berlatsky reviews Jubilee, the latest album from Old Crow Medicine Show, who were 'discovered' by Doc Watson in 2000, gave the world 'Wagon wheel', were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 2013, and won a Grammy Folk Album award in 2014. Three official videos of tracks from the new album are on their website, and two of them are imbedded in the review. Ketch Secor, founder member of the Medicine Show, together with Molly Tuttle, will host this year's IBMA Awards Show.

© Richard Hawkins

Promised land from Danny Burns

Danny Burns, born and raised in the north-west of this island, released yesterday (Fri. 25 Aug.) his new album Promised land, with guest artists Sam Bush, Tim O’Brien, Bryan Simpson, and Aine Burns. The Bonfire Music Group press release gives more details, including a list of all ten tracks with the songwriters' names. The official video for his 'Come to Jesus', featuring Sam Bush, can be seen on YouTube.

Danny Burns has been opening shows for Steve Earle in the last month, and will be playing several shows to mark the release of the new album.

© Richard Hawkins

Kody Norris Show (USA) on the air this weekend

Thanks to Jeremy Westby of 2911 Media for the news that the Kody Norris Show (whose headlining the bluegrass section of this year's Westport Folk and Bluegrass Festival is just one part of the roll they're on) can be heard for four successive days this weekend, beginning today (Fri. 25 Aug.) on SiriusXM Bluegrass Junction Channel 77 radio, with emphasis on their latest album Rhinestone revival.

For many more details, including the band's tour schedule till the beginning of December, photos, and a video, conxult the 2911 Media press release, In early November the Kody Norris Show is scheduled to play on three days at the Mountaingrass festival in Australia.

© Richard Hawkins

Sounding the Well of Souls (1)

The BIB editor writes:

There is one week left for BIB readers to take advantage of the discount offered to them (see the BIB's sidebar) on purchase of Kristina R. Gaddy's book Well of souls: uncovering the banjo's hidden history, published by W.W. Norton & Company. The book sets out to be thought-provoking and succeeds. Some of my own thoughts will appear on the BIB in the next few days; but in short, anyone interested in how the banjo evolved and its history up to the mid nineteenth century should read it.

Note: the tenor banjo, as used in Irish music, does not appear in this story, and does not belong there. The tenor has no historic connection with the banjo's African ancestors. It dates from about 1900 (give or take a few years) and in tuning and playing style it is essentially a member of the mandolin family which has been given - for the sake of volume and tone - a sound chamber that was developed for the banjo over fifty years earlier by European-American instrument-makers, making use of European drum-tightening methods.

© Richard Hawkins

Playing and improvising the blues on clawhammer banjo

The Deering Banjo Company announce episode 3 of Michael J. Miles's online clawhammer banjo workshop. In this 37-minute episode Michael, together with Deering's David Bandrowski, deals with playing blues and improvising in the blues style using clawhammer technique. The episode was transmitted live last night (23 Aug.) but can now be seen on YouTube.

Deering also draw attention to two instruction books by Michael (Bob Dylan for clawhammer banjo and Country classics for banjo) and to the Goodtime Americana Deco banjo, one of their new range of four Goodtime Deco 5-strings.

© Richard Hawkins

Caleb & Reeb Country Band at TSEAC, 2 Sept. 2023

Following the BIB posts of 7 and 8 August, thanks to Colette Lawless for this reminder that the Caleb & Reeb Country Band will be playing for the Séamus Ennis Arts Centre (TSEAC) at Naul, Co. Dublin, on Saturday 2 September in a special Barn Dance Extravaganza:

Date: Saturday 2nd September.
Venue: The Séamus Ennis Arts Centre, Naul, Co. Dublin. www.tseac.ie (01) 8020898.
Event: Caleb Klauder & Reeb Willms Country Band

An all-star cast of master musicians, Joel Savoy, Russ Blake, Mike Bub, and Michael Carroll, backs these two soul singers of American country music. Charismatic performers, they bring their unique set of talents to the stage with an eye towards good times and an ear towards the deepest songs and tunes.

Caleb Klauder and Reeb Willms are known to roots music fans across the globe for their soulful harmonies, driving dance tunes, classic original songs, and commitment to the raw truth of rural American music. They live in the San Juan Islands of Washington State, recently, home was Portland. They are foundational to the exceptional old-time and country music scene in the Pacific NW with the Caleb Klauder Reeb Willms Country Band and their membership in the Foghorn Stringband, of which Caleb was a founding member. For more information/to book tickets visit www.tseac.ie or phone us on (01) 8020898.

Doors Open: 8.00 p.m. Performance commences: 8.30 p.m.
Adm: €20.00

Tickets can also be booked through a link on the Caleb & Reeb online tour schedule, which includes a location map.

© Richard Hawkins

More detached notes (updated)

Dark Shadow Recording announce that Chicago's Henhouse Prowlers released on Friday last (18 Aug.) 'My last run', the fourth single from their new album Lead and iron, which is scheduled for release on 15 Sept. The song can now be heard on Bluegrass Today.

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New Zealand-born fiddle maestro George Jackson, now resident in Nashville, TN, has just released an album of orginal compositions for fiddle, George Jackson's Local Trio. In an article on No Depression he asks the question Why make a fiddle album? and gives his own reasons for doing so, concluding: 'at its core it’s art for the artist, music for the musician, deep cuts for the appreciator. And that’s music at its most thrilling and risky and rewarding.'

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Alan Munde, one of the finest performers and most prolific composers for banjo in the history of bluegrass music, has a new album out, Excelsior, on Tom Mindte's Patuxent Records label. The album is reviewed by Braeden Paul on Bluegrass Today, with a playlist sampling all the tracks.

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Recent Bluegrass Unlimited podcasts include interviews with past visitors such as Molly Tuttle, Raymond McLain, and Jeff White. The 144th Bluegrass Unlimited weekly newsletter also includes a Spotify playlist of the recordings of Lorraine Jordan & Carolina Road, and (from the BU archives) a July 2010 article by Nancy Cardwell on Jesse McReynolds at eighty years of age.

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On 4 August Steve Hochman published on the Bluegrass Situation (BGS) a history of the Kentucky Colonels, one of the most enduringly influential West Coast bands. The figures in the cartoon at the head of the article look nothing like any of the members of the band, but don't let that worry you. The article includes seven videos illustrating stages in the career of the Colonels and of Clarence White, their epoch-making lead guitar player.

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Pete 'Dr Banjo' Wernick, founder of the Wernick System and apostle of the art of jamming, has contributed to the Deering Banjo Company blog a valuable article on how to recognise chord changes, and why they matter. This article was originally published in the late lamented Banjo News Letter.

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Taylor Hagood, author of Stringbean: the life and murder of a country music legend (published earlier this year), will give a talk at the American Banjo Museum on 9 Sept. 2023. More details are in John Lawless's feature on Bluegrass Today.

© Richard Hawkins

Topical new single from the Lonesome Ace Stringband

Canada's Lonesome Ace Stringband (above, l-r: John Showman, Max Heineman, Chris Coole) have released a video of a new single, 'Praying for rain'. The song - written by Heineman, directly inspired by experience of the wildfires in Canada - can be heard on Bluegrass Today and on YouTube.

© Richard Hawkins