There’s a funny thing happening around Chattanooga these days. There are hammered dulcimer players living on streets across from other dulcimer players, the sole dulcimer players’ magazine in the USA is published on Signal Mountain, dulcimer players can be found on the street and in churches all over town, at festivals, parties, art galleries… And now we even have a guy who’s building them. It’s been fun teaching dulcimer lessons to Ned Smith, because not only do I get to see his musical progress with the pieces, but every time he comes for a lesson, I get to try out a new dulcimer he’s just built. And they’re really nice!! Ned and I are highly critical of one another’s work (and we wouldn’t have it any other way, right Ned?), so I’ve been offering opinions and perspectives on his instruments all along. Today he walked in with the one I love the best so far, so I decided to record a quick piece of music on it and post it to the blog. Ned has his own website about his instruments: http://www.creekhilldulcimers.com/ and he’ll also be taking orders for new instruments at the Chattanooga Dulcimer Festival this summer. I almost didn’t let him take this dulcimer home with him today… It’s pretty, and it sounds great–and will sound even better once it’s broken in. This tune I recorded is “Flying to the Fleadh” by Patrick Davey, a tune I seem to have gotten a bit rusty on, and I really did not tune the B on the bass bridge as well as I should have… but still, I think the beauty of the instrument comes out.
Lou Wilson and her son Russ live in Speedwell, TN. I was fortunate to meet them both during my project in Campbell County, and made a special effort to visit with them a second time last week when Butch and I were up there for our New Harmonies gig. These are really special people who easily pass any amount of time by playing music in their kitchen. It’s a joy to be with them because they enjoy making music so much, and it’s wild to hear what a range of instruments and styles these two play. Russ is a fantastic fiddler, but also plays guitar, and sings, and whipped out the dobro on this last visit. Lou sings, plays guitar, a bit of fiddle, and who knows what else. She has a wealth of songs in her head, little treasures she’s collected over her life. I don’t know if she learned this one from Lynyrd Skynyrd or J.J. Cale or what, but she sings it like she owns it. The rest of us had a real fun time trying to keep up. Thanks to Jo Anne Myers for the photos!
“Call Me the Breeze”, sung by Lou Wilson, accompanied by Butch Ross, Christie Burns, and Russ Wilson, April 20, 2008:
Whoooooa cool tune alert! Butch and I were asked to come play at McCallie tonight, and Joseph DeCosimo was also on the bill. Lucky us! Joe taught us this tune outside before the show, and even though Butch is just finding his way around the chords in this video, we nailed it in the performance, and I thought it sounded great. I hope we get a chance to play with Joseph again soon! Chattanooga doesn’t know it yet, but this place is full of young talented musicians, some of whom, like Joe, are into keeping the old traditions alive and rockin’. This must be what it’s like to live in the same town as Bruce Molsky… Lucky lucky lucky….
Just ran across this video on Youtube…. Gotta love the way these Swedes interpret Poor Man’s Troubles, an American fiddle tune. Also, I think I recognize that percussionist from the Swedish band who crashed the festival in Gooik, Belgium, last summer. Incredible music.
Luxury of luxuries! I stepped out my front door the other evening and saw that my across-the-street neighbors, Rick and Brandy, had their front door open. So of course I peeked in to see what they were up to, and their dining room was full of Irish musicians! And they were all working at learning a tune together. And it just so happens that I bought a fiddle this week, so I ran back over to my place, grabbed my fiddle, and ran back to learn the tune with them. This is the tune they were learning, a hornpipe called “The Home Rulers” (which I assume is a handy tool used by homeschoolers). After that we did a slip jig, and I went home a happy bug. Yay for awesome neighbors!!
I’m glad this blog is about all kinds of music I encounter on a daily/weekly basis, so I’m free to post a clip of someone else playing the hammered dulcimer. Lisa Ferguson and I got lucky with two last-minute gigs this weekend. The first one, Saturday night, was at CreateHere on Main Street. Then we went to Ken Pritchard’s new building (formerly the OCI warehouse on Main St) and playing for an open house he was having there. We spent two hours playing out on the sidewalk to try to attract some passers by, and then rewarded ourselves by going inside to a big open wooden room, all frosty-lit with big walls o’ windows…
I asked Lisa to play her newly composed tune for me, because I felt myself just falling more and more in love with it (and today, still falling). I recorded it with my iPod, which I still haven’t quite figured out, so the sound is a bit rough. The levels were too low, so I boosted them a bit for the sake of this blog, but it all ends up a bit noisy, sounding like it was recorded on a cassette recorder. The other noise you hear in there is me and Adelle dancing behind Lisa, loving every second of the music. When we finished dancing, I sat down at my dulcimer and joined in with a few notes towards the end of her piece.
The piece is still a work-in-progress for Lisa, but she said I could post it anyway. This is currently the most beautiful piece of music in my world.
I just was experimenting with the new recording function of my iPod, and decided to play a bit with one of my favorite old time tunes. I first heard this tune in Cork at Monday night sessions with Mick Daly and the Lee Valley Boys, and fell in love with it all over again when I heard Dwight Diller’s recording of it. It’s one of those tunes that sounds nice when it’s played slow.
The dulcimer is in perfect “house tuning,” meaning that it’s been sitting in the house, not being tuned. It’ll get whipped into shape this weekend, though, for two gigs on Main Street. Gotta love gigs three blocks from your house!
We just received word that the video of our first concert in Budapest has been posted! Once you’re on the page, use the small black scrollbar to scroll down, and click on the line that has my name on it… and then wait a while… It took quite a long time for the video to load for me, but it’s some mighty fine video work, so it’s worth it in my opinion.
We could call this my St. Paddy’s Day special. And this time I’m reaching even further back in time to Spring, 2002, when five non-Irish people formed an Irish traditional band, and called themselves, “Raar,” meaning “strange” in Dutch… of course.
The band was a palindrome. Same backwards and forwards. Tom Spackman (USA) played mandolin, guitar, and bodhran, and opposite him was Robin Turk (UK) with the same arsenal. Move in one place and you have Stella Rodrigues (Holland) on fiddle, and opposite her was Emma Small (South Africa) also on fiddle. I landed in the middle of the group with my freak instrument. All of us sang, all of us played with all of our heart. We had two phenomenal gigs, and that’s all. By the summer, we all kind of scattered and went back to our other pursuits. I still listen to these recordings and think, “Dang, we were really good.” And we sure did put a ton of time into items like arrangement. What if we’d had more time together? What if Cork really was home to all of us?
The following are all of the sets we performed at the UCC Traditional Music Society student concert at An Spailpin Fanach, Cork, Ireland, May 2002. Introduction by Mel Mercier. Special guest, Elin Skoglund (Sweden), on nyckelharpa.
This is another one I had to fetch with my time machine. I did spend a lovely Sunday afternoon today playing music with my new friend Bryan, but unfortunately, all the tunes I’d recorded came out as duds, because silly me, I haven’t learned how to use the recording function on my iPod yet. Grrrr.
Anyway, feeling like it’s way past time to post something on the blog, I decided to dig into the magic box o’ minidiscs and pull out something from an equally lovely Sunday afternoon. As I recall, this was a day when Fintan Lucy and I were hell-bent to play music in public. We set off from my house at the Red Abbey and headed to—Fintan, what was the name of that place that slammed the door in our faces when we showed them the instrument cases? Jeepers, I’ve never been less wanted in my life. Well we ended up at the Phoenix, next to the former musical landmark and all around groovy place, the Lobby. Man, I had it real good then. A whole host of pubs within walking distance from my house, days and days full of music, and more than my fair share of friends to share it all with.
I’m glad I happened to bring the minidisc recorder along on this little jaunt. Fintan is one of the most amazing singers I know; even a casual recording like this, with all the pub background noise, gives me the chills. The song is “John Barleycorn,” an example of Fintan taking a song that isn’t his own, but owning it like nobody’s business. I love this image of the two musicians creating their own little atmosphere in the corner of a pub, while the rest of the drinkers and socializers do their thing. I’ve purposely included the before and after chatter on this track. Fintan and I were cracking ourselves up, and enjoying every bit of the afternoon we stole for the sake of music.
Me and Fintan Lucy, improvising a few songs at the Phoenix pub, Cork City, Ireland, April 2004:
