Bristol Boys

The outdoor bluegrass festival season has ended here in the Northeast but if you really need a BG fix you can find a concert here and there, just check the online event listings at the CT.Bluegrass Music Assoc. or the Boston Bluegrass Union and you're sure to find a show somewhere in New England. That's what brought us to the Canterbury CT Old Home Day celebration last weekend. The day was perfect, one of the ten best days of the year, low humidity, clear blue sky and moderate temperatures. The event took place on the town green, surrounded by a dazzling white church with a very tall steeple and colonial period houses on two sides and a one room, 1850 schoolhouse at the top of the green. A stage, set up in front of the schoolhouse was where the Bluegrass band " The Bristol Boys " were performing when we arrived, luckily they did another two sets so we got our fill of the music. Lead vocalists, Dave Orlomoski and Dave Shaw, both wonderful singers, sang traditional tunes such as "Dark Hollow", "Shackles and Chains" and plenty of train songs like "Wreck of the Old 97" and "Wabash Cannonball" and some gospel as well. Dave Aston on bass provided perfect timing to the mix. Vendors of the usual hamburgers and hot dogs, bakery items and homemade chocolates were available and there were colonial craftsmen about the perimeter of the Green. The turnout of local folks and tourists made it an enjoyable day and hopefully raised some funds for the non profits of the town. Note: to view a photo full screen, click on the photo

The Bristol Boys

Dave Shaw,Dave Orlomoski and Dave Aston

The money raised will be used to continue the rehabilitation of the schoolhouse
Notice the small size of the woodstove and the length of the stovepipe, I have to guess it was rather cool during the long New England winter
The inside of the schoolhouse was furnished with the actual desks of the period, worn by many hands and showing the names of long ago students carved into the surface
The pottery maker was quite busy explaining his craft to the steady parade of visitors

Whittling Spokes for Chair Back

A perfectly clear sky framed this church, similar to those built in colonial times

Early Machine

The End of a Long Day

MassBluegrass Jamboree

Billed as the last outdoor festival of the season in the Northeast the MassBluegrass Jamboree takes place the weekend of Sept 12, 13 and 14, 2008 at the Jellystone Park Campground located in East Wareham, Mass. That's before the Cape Cod traffic gets serious. The campground features many swimming and fishing ponds as well as cranberry bogs on 600 beautiful acres. The promoters have put together a strong lineup of National and Regional bands. Headliners are The Chapmans, Nothin Fancy and Buddy Merriam and Back Roads. The lineup is complimented by some wonderfully talented Regional bands: Southern Rail, Blackstone Valley Bluegrass, Back Eddy Bluegrass, The Falmouth Fiddlers, Monadnock, Stillhouse Jammers, CrabGrass, The Hemingway Brothers, NewFound Grass, Dan Helman and Marking Time, The Crossfire Bluegrass Band, and No Spare Parts. Looks like lots of old time traditional music by some really good veteran bands. For a flyer click here

Nothin Fancy

SPBGMA's 2008 "Entertaining Group of the Year" award, the Nothin Fancy Band plays lots of original material written by Mike Andes, lead singer and mandolinist. Fine musicians and entertainers, this band is very confident on stage and loves to clown around and kibbitz with the audience. It's not unusual for Mike Andes to come down into the audience for some shake and howdy at the close of the set.

Blackstone Valley

The Blackstone Valley Bluegrass Band offers two, three and four part harmony, supergood picking and original as well as covers of early country and traditional bluegrass. Ten years with the same band roster has made for tight instrumentals and close harmony.

Crabgrass

Crabgrass is a group of musicians who trade off lead vocals easily and do some fine picking to boot. They do early traditional bluegrass and newer material as well.

Dan Helman and Marking Time

Dan Helman and Marking time sing and play early country, gospel and traditional bluegrass. This is a high energy band that does everything with great enthusiasm and they sound really good.

Heritage String Band

Heritage String Band

Sunday was a sunny, warm and pleasant day and the last day of the 159th edition of the Brooklyn CT. Agricultural Fair, the oldest continuously running fair in the U.S. Fans crowded into their seats under the tent, while others chose to sit on the hillside or stand on the lawn to hear the Heritage String Band play tunes from the 1840's up to late 1890's. Appropriately surrounded by antique farm tractors and clad in period costumes the band played tunes such as: Darling Nelly Gray; Wait for The Wagon; Long, Long Ago and others that are familiar to Bluegrassers, Cripple Creek; Arkansas Traveler; Soldiers Joy and tunes that I haven’t heard before: Irish Soldier Boy and Ring, Ring Da Banjo. Each tune brought forth a short history lesson from band leader, Ed Quigley who explained the sentiments and events of the time, that shaped the thoughts of the writer. This made the songs even more enjoyable.
The band was able to hold its audience through an hour of music, which is unusual at a Fair, it’s more common for this type of audience to stay for one or two tunes and then move on, there’s just so much to see and do at a fair of this size, moreover, many of the same folks came back an hour later for the second set.
The bouncy, energetic repertoire, had everybody tapping their feet and many singing the lyrics to the songs, which surprised me, after all, these tunes were from the 1800's. The band provided extraordinary entertainment and it’s easy to see why they’re invited back year after year.

The rest of the band

Ed, known as the "Commander" formed the band in 2000 so that this music that he loves will be carried on. Ed does most of the narration before the songs are performed and also plays percussion

Ed Quigley

Jim is adroit at singing irish tunes from over three decades of performing at an Irish Pub, he also plays banjo, accordion and tin whistle

Jim McCrohon

Bud Savoie plays fiddle, banjo, mandolin and does some of the vocals as well, he also arranges many of the tunes

Bud Savoie

Leo plays a hot harmonica and adds some humor to the group

Leo Normandin

Dan Donovan sings lead and plays banjo, guitar and washboard and sings darn well too

Dan Donovan

Smiling Ken Taylor plays guitar in this band and sings some of the lead but he's also known for his fine bass playing with the Blackstone Valley Bluegrass Band

Ken Taylor

Cherrie, nicknamed "Minnie Pearl" for her straw hat and long dress, keeps the band on track with her steady bass rhythm and energetic presence

Cherrie Westcott

Blackstone Valley Bluegrass

The Blackstone Valley Bluegrass Band celebrated its tenth year together the other night at the place of its birth, Whitinsville, Mass. by doing what it does best, playing first rate bluegrass to a crowd of appreciative fans. The band brings together four veteran performers, individually, members of several New England bands, they joined together ten years ago to form the Blackstone Valley Bluegrass Band but really didn't perform often as the BVBGB due to commitments to their other bands. Thats all changed now. The band has decided to increase the number of concerts and festivals they will play this year and travel farther afield in order to get their music heard by a broader audience. Brothers Bob and Dave Dick and bandmates Dan Nowlan and Ken Taylor are a tight knit group musically and also long time friends. They play a lot of their own material and covers that are early country and traditional bluegrass and gospel. Their playing is clean and energetic as is their stage personality, lots of picking on each other and humorous banter that delights the audience. The brother harmony is certainly in play but the three and four part harmony is a real treat. Each member can contribute lead vocals and instumental breaks that can stand on their own. They've just released their debut album titled "Debut," yes, Debut. This band, in my opinion, is on a level with national touring bands. If you get to hear them I think you'll agree. You can check their schedule here.

Bob Dick

Dave Dick

Bob,Dan and Dave

Dan Nowlan and Dave Dick

Ken Taylor

The Understudy

Podunk Bluegrass Festival Weekend

All good things come to an end, so the saying goes, and although Podunk came to an end last Sunday the memories linger. It was wonderful. The festival was so organized and well run I don't think you could ask for more either from the fans view or that of the performers, everything was done right, the campground was clean and well groomed, the vendors were friendly, the food was good and diverse and of course the music was the best. All the bands it seems cranked it up a notch and all received robust applause and there were many encores. The Tony Trischka Band performed for two hours Saturday night and folks were still clamoring for more, that set, with banjo superstars: Marc Johnson, Bill Keith, Joe Mullins, Alan Munde, Ron Block, Pete Wernick and Ned Luberecki showing off their talent was just superlunary. Danny Paisley gave us his usual outstanding lead vocals and the band, Southern Grass was on the mark.

Danny Paisley

Donnie Eldreth Dan and Bobby Lundy

Blue Moon Rising, a young band of talented singers and songwriters pleased the crowd with their original material and fine pickin. Bandmembers are: Keith Garrett, mandolin; Chris West, guitar; Justin Jenks, banjo and Harold Nixon on bass.

Keith Garrett

Chris West and Justin Jenks on banjo

Michael Daves handled the vocals for the Trischka band and he did it well and he also played blistering guitar solos.

Tony Trischka Band

Ned Luberecki

Joe Mullins

Pete Wernick

Jon Weisberger

Ron Block

Bill Keith

A super picker, Michael sings like a mountain man

Michael Daves

Marc Johnson

Carl Jackson, Larry Cordle and Jerry Salley, singer, songwriters with more hits than you can shake a stick at thrilled the crowd with a bonanza of wonderful songs they have written over the years.

Jackson,Cordle and Salley

Larry Cordle and Jerry Salley

Carl Jackson

The Larry Stephenson Band

Jason Barie Kristin Benson Kyle Perkins

Four time winner of SPBGMA's "Male Vocalist of the Year", Larry Stephenson's fine tenor voice was a treat for the senses. Backed up by the talented band of : Dustin Benson, Klye Perkins, Kristin Scott Benson and Jason Brie.

Larry and Dustin Benson

The Steeldrivers rocked the crowd with their blend of edgy bluegrass and bluesy country. Each member of the band has played with the best of both country and bluegrass bands. They know how to entertain and did.

Tammy Rogers,Mike Fleming and Chris Stapleton

Mike,Tammy and Chris

The Muellers are another young band (except for Mom Karen, on bass, and Pop, Curt, on banjo)that display talent beyond their years. They feature twin and triple fiddling good vocals and musicianship.

Laurah Mueller

Laurah and Sarah Mueller

A very popular event at the Podunk Festival is the Kids Academy that brings together young folks who have never played together and in fact are at different skill levels and melds them into a functioning band in only two days. The Director, Tim St.Jean is assisted by talented musicians: Vicki Baker, Gail Wade, Cathy Day, Peggy Harvey, and Dave Dick.

Kids Academy

Tim St.Jean

The always entertaining Karl Shiflett and Big Country gave us their blend of early Country and Bluegrass, fans love em

Karl Shiflett and Big Country

Claire Lynch can't be beat, with that mesmerizing, smooth, clear voice that you just can't get enough of and she's surrounded herself with top shelf musicians: Jim Hurst with his rapid solos up and down the neck of his guitar that are not just fast but they sound good too, Jason Thomas, also a virtuoso playing fiddle, and Mark Schatz who is a master of the base and can hambone with the best of them, and did I mention, he clogs as well.

Jason Thomas

Claire and Mark Schatz

Jim Hurst

Claire Lynch