The following article is reprinted with permission fromDeering Banjos.
When I give tours here at the factory, I ask our visitors to think of the banjo as a “giant lollipop” because many of them are not banjo players…but we have all eaten our fair share of lollipops.
The neck of the banjo is the “stick” of a lollipop and the pot assembly is the “round, candy portion.” This is not meant to explain FUNCTION, just help with orientation. And like a lollipop, fun with a banjo will last all the way down to the last “lick.” This week’s article is meant to help orient and identify, not explain the function, of the parts of the banjo to make past and future articles more easily understood.
The music at Bethel Woods was magnificent! Dubiously advertised as a festival, it was strange attending a festival without anybody bringing instruments and jamming.
Sort of a sophisticated venue to listen to bluegrass with a "pinky out when you sip your beer" environment, Bethel Woods is a truly beautiful venue that was worthy of the stellar bands that presented their absolute best. The performances were further enhanced and compounded with a sound and light system, and the people running it, that made everyone sparkle. The strange thing was that there was no MC at all! No MC to rattle off patter between sets, promote the bands, their venue's upcoming events, local clubs and organizations--not even a plug for the local vendors who, like the audience, braved copious amounts of rain drops during this event. Those rain drops looked innocent enough alone and singular, but they ganged up on everybody at around 3:00pm when the event was starting.
Junior Sisk and Ramblers Choice Tickets on Sale NOW
Written by Administrator
Monday, 09 August 2010 13:59
Where: Sugar & Spice Café in the Poughkeepsie Plaza Mall (Rte. 9 North)
When: Saturday, September 4, 2010
Tickets: $10/Members - $15/Non-Members - Children Under 12/Free
Eric Gibson (The Gibson Brothers)
Junior Sisk is easily one of the most soulful and distinctive singers in bluegrass. His voice was built for bluegrass. You can hear the mountains in his tone and in his phrasing. He can deliver a hard-driving number or a tender Gospel song with equal ease. Our introduction to Junior was on "He Died a Rounder at 21" on a Wyatt Rice album back in the 90s. His voice hooked us then, made us believe, and never let go.
From Greg Cahill (Special Consensus), President of the IBMA:
One of our favorite bands to see and hear out on the festival circuit is Junior Sisk and Ramblers Choice. Junior has the quintessential bluegrass voice, writes great songs and has a most pleasant stage presence. The other band members add stellar harmony vocals and superb picking to make for a great show. I believe this band will appeal to both the more traditional bluegrass enthusiasts and the more "modern" bluegrass followers, primarily because this is just great music. I hope everyone comes out to support Junior Sisk and Ramblers Choice!
We are SO proud to announce the appearance of this excellent, authentic bluegrass band in Poughkeepsie. Save this date. This is a very limited venue, so you will want to buy your tickets now.
Junior Sisk has lived most of his life in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia where he listened to and played the music that was born there. His songwriting helped The Lonesome River Band in its ascent to bluegrass stardom in the early 1990's, but it was his lonesome, haunting singing that earned him the devotion of traditional bluegrass fans a few years later as a member of Wyatt Rice and Santa Cruz. Subsequently, he assembled Ramblers Choice, which released the acclaimed "Sounds of the Mountains" in 1998, and contributed to the IBMA award winning "The Stanley Gospel Tradition". A brief stint with The Lost and Found followed before Junior took over the lead vocal role for BlueRidge. Junior has been nominated many times for Songwriter and Male Vocalist of the year.
One of bluegrass music's legendary fiddlers, Byron Berline, entertained an eager HVBA crowd at Christ Church in Poughkeepsie on Saturday night. He made his Poughkeepsie debut by the grace of an old army connection with member Fred Robbins who, in his introduction, related the story of how while driving on an Army base he heard fiddle music and u-turned his car to create a lifelong friendship with one of the world's greatest fiddlers.
Of the Oklahoma-style fiddling tradition, Berline has been sawing on the strings since age five and it shows. If playing two hour-long sets of traditional bluegrass music and fiddle tunes occasionally punctuated by a Western swing chestnut weren't enough, Berline put the audience in the right frame of mind with his easy-going manner, stories about music legends like Bill Monroe, and the occasional joke.
My Favorite Recordings: "Sweetheart Of The Rodeo" by The Byrds
Written by Steve Lipton
Friday, 25 June 2010 16:29
Lately I have had lots of time to lie around and really listen to music at a pretty loud volume whenever I have the house to myself. Whenever Lynn, my wife, comes home, there I am on the couch listening to a recording. She would say, "It’s been over 40 years and you’re still listening to the same album!”
What’s really interesting is that when you really concentrate on listening, you can hear stuff that was always there, but that you never heard before. Lately, I’ve been listening for the bass lines, sometimes with the help of the loudness switch for emphasis. Sometimes I just try to concentrate on the fiddle or mandolin. Sometimes I start out saying I will just listen to the drums, but then get lost in the whole gestalt and forget what I was trying to concentrate on!
The music at Bethel Woods was magnificent! Dubiously advertised as a festival, it was strange attending a festival without anybody bringing instruments and jamming.
