New Home for Jenny Brook

The producers of the popular Jenny Brook Family Bluegrass Festival have announced that due to circumstances beyond their control they have to move the festival from Weston VT. to the Tunbridge Fairgrounds in Tunbridge, VT. for the 2009 festival season. The new home will be an improvement, I think, because it will have free showers and flush toilets and a building to house the music should the weather turn sour as it sometimes does at most festivals. At any rate I'm happy to see it continue as it's one of our favorites. The Jenny Brook website has photos of the grounds and buildings. Click here to visit their website

The Food and Vendor area

Waiting for the Music

Gibson Brothers

With their album "Irons And Diamonds" sitting atop the Bluegrass Unlimited's Top 15 Albums chart and three of their songs on the Top 30 Songs List The Gibson Brothers are riding high. They've had a busy schedule this year with bookings all over the country and happily they'll be stopping by the Finnish Hall in Canterbury CT on Sunday the 12th of October. The "Bear Minimum Band," Dave Shaw and Dave Orlomoski, will open at 2:30 p.m. and the Gibsons will take the stage at 3:30 in the afternoon. I'm told the tickets are going fast, they can be purchased at the door. For more information click here

The Gibson Brothers

Tallgrass

The TallGrass Bluegrass Band performed recently at the Grassroots Coffee House, which is located in the Rockdale Congregational Church in Northbridge MA. The group played to a good crowd of folks who may not have been bluegrass fans when they entered the coffee house but after a couple of fast instrumentals and heartfelt vocals they were all tapping their feet and smiling from ear to ear. Nick Anderson who provided most of the lead vocals sang a particularly good rendition of Pete Wernicks, "Just Like You," a tune about the lonely lives many people endure and how loneliness can come to those who least expect it. Nick heads up the Connecticut based Shady Creek Band when not performing with TallGrass. Harmony and "Hot" instrumental breaks provided by members of the "Blackstone Valley Bluegrass Band", Bob Dick on bass, brother Dave Dick on banjo, and the very lively Dan Nowlan on mandolin, made it a special evening of music. The sets were predominately traditional and gospel and during all of the gospel songs the audience sang the chorus parts along with the band without being prompted to do so, that was very moving. Meg and I enjoyed a "first", sitting through an entire bluegrass show in the most comfortable rocking chairs you could imagine while woofing down "whoopie pies" and bottomless cups of coffee. Everyone enjoyed the performance as evidenced by the fellowship afterwards.

TallGrass

Nick Anderson

Dave Dick

Dan Nowlan

Bob Dick on bass

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