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Posts tagged ‘Old Time Music’

Austin Steamers ~ Austin, Texas


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A little more than a year ago we listened to Ben Hodges and Jenn Miori as Hem and Haw present one of the tighter sets on the stage of the Austin Friends of  Traditional Music’s Mid-Winter Festival. We have been following their musical exploits and accomplishments from the northern New Hampshire since. We are eagerly waiting for the Carper Family‘s appearance at the Ossipee Valley Music Festival this summer.

We were blessed with the opportunity to hear the Austin Steamers comprised of Ben Hodges on mandolin and vocals, Joe Sundell on banjo and vocals, and Sean Tracey on guitar and vocals.

Good stuff!

Expanded Gallery To Follow

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4 Mar 2013

The Boat House Session ~ Fiddle Circle


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Bars and cafes may come and go in Terlingua but it seems like fiddle circles and open mic nights stay the course.

Mark Lewis’ ably organized and directed fiddle circle currently resides Tuesday nights 6 to 8 PM (maybe 9 PM if folks have some staying power) at the Boat House Bar in the Ghost Town section of Terlingua, Texas.

When not in Nome tending the rooming house, George ably tends the bar at the Boast House. George: Thank you for making me feel welcome.

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Lots of fiddlers this year, some new faces and some that we remembered from the last time through.

It was nice to have our efforts remembered and welcomed.

12/27 2011 Post : Old Time Music Community ~ Ghost Town Cafe & Saloon ~ Terlingua, Texas

01/03 2012 Post : Viva Terlingua ~ Terlingua, Texas

Give and take, question and answer, show and tell, teachin’ and learnin’ going on: even an up out of one’s seat ‘Eureka’ moment.

And again the thread of photographers as musicians, musicians as photographers. It is good to stretch oneself.

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Some things don’t change they just move across the street.

Do all drinking establishments in Terlingua house one or more motorcycles among their patrons?

Good energy, fellowship and community here.

Expanded Gallery : The Boat House Session

30 Jan 2013

Saturday Morning Jam ~ Savoy Music Center


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Its 9 AM the Saturday morning of Mardi Gras weekend at Savoy’s Music Center outside of Eunice in St Landry Parish Louisiana.

And its raining: pouring buckets, coming and going in sheets and waves, never truly letting up.

Tornado and flood warnings are being broadcast and still they come: Cajun musicians, young and old alike, multiple generations and an audience that appreciates the music and musicians of Acadiana.

The front room of Marc Savoy’s Music Center quickly fills up with damp musicians and a damp but eager audience

Good warm boudin, fresh beignets and hot coffee are on hand but they are not the real attraction.

Miss Esther Lejeune

Milton Vanicur ~ 94 Years Young

An accordion player (never more than one center stage), folks that can both sing and recollect the words, fiddle players, guitar players, the youthful and gifted piano player, a pedal steel player, a triangle player or two (nobody was enforcing the rule of no more than one); all up front.

No amplification; no amplification needed!

The audience came and went very little and swelled quickly to fill the chairs and space in the room. Locals and folks from away. Musicians got seating preference. There seemed to be an unstated recognition among the musicians of one’s talent and skill by whether one was accorded up front facing the audience seating in the music circle. You earned your seat and access to it. Deference was paid in kind and subtle ways to those musicians that had put in their time, so to speak, and knew the old French Acadian tunes, and, most importantly, knew the words: a culture being cultivated, celebrated and kept alive through its music.

Later: a harmonica player floated around on the fringes of the crowd, an out of place trombonist stood in briefly, a stand-up bass player, a banjo picker, a couple of concertinas.

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Milton Vanicur’s grandson

Freddie Hanks ~ 84 Years Young

Last year’s Savoy Jam images, a different weekend.

19 Feb 2012

Austin Friends of Traditional Music ~ 2012 Mid-Winter Festival


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Corpus Cristi to Austin, a full days drive for us anymore, had us up early, stopping to get breakfast along the way and arriving to an unscheduled unreserved camping spot at McKinney Falls State Park in Austin. This is one of our favorite State Parks probably due to its proximity to live music.

Sometime recently the heavens opened up on this area and ended the drought with an exclamation mark: 4 inches of rain! Everything is green.

The drive left us tired and beat but we persevered and got ourselves into town to the Austin Friends of Traditional Music Mid-Winter Festival. Got there a touch late and left early but the acts that we saw and heard were great: klezmer fiddle to Chinese zither music, old time music bands to tight bluegrass duos, West African drummers to 16 and 17 year old Texas state mandolin and banjo champs, and a hurdy-gurdy man to boot.

Blue Buckskin Winchers

Sometimes you just have to embrace the mic stands and mics as part of the composition!

Yuan Li Chang

This acoustic duo playing and singing off that single mic hit a home run with me. Very tight. Excellent presentation and musical repertoire.

Hem and Haw

There are gun-slingers and then there are banjo-slingers!

Hurdy Gurdy Man

Judging from the presence and participation of her students this fiddler (FiddLisa ~ Lisa Schneider) must be one hell of a teacher!

Third Rail

Youthful Bluegrass A Capella

Good stuff, all of it!

Kudos to AFTM!

AFTM Blog


Austin on Dwellable
30 Jan 2012

Viva Terlingua ~ Terlingua, Texas


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Two for one burger night at the Starlight, then off to the Fiddle Circle at the Ghost Town Saloon.

Heard Jobuk Johnson (Doug S …) at the Starlight ~ good cowboy singer. The Fiddle Circle offered the same from last Monday night and more, once again a free community feed in Terlingua. Many more stringed instruments and many more musicians, twice as many as this past Monday.

One of Brewster County’s Peace Officers.

Moses pickin’ banjo!

Good people all.

Viva Terlingua!

As it was we missed seeing our new friends Pat and Larry and Terlingua almost didn’t let us go.

Stayed tuned for “Big Bend Spits Us Out” or  “Marooned in Marathon”!

3 Jan 2012

Old Time Music Community ~ Ghost Town Cafe & Saloon ~ Terlingua, Texas


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A day of driving and short hikes into Big Bend National Park on the Castolon Road resulted in our first roadrunner sighting and much marvelous mountain and desert scenery. The visual scale  here is so very different from the east coast mountains. The mountains here are younger relatively and the geology feels like it is still happening: Hearing rocks fall off the face of a butte and clatter down the detritus pile. Our first time in the southwest desert and would like to return when there has been some moisture in the system. Very brown, very dry: the rare pocket of oasis green where a spring or water source supports life.

The end of the day found us in Terlingus’s Ghost Town Cafe and Saloon listening to an old time music circle: very friendly people, very inclusive, all ages all stripes.

A spaghetti and fresh green salad dinner was served up for all: very nice!

Lots of musicians in Terlingua: pupil and teacher, protege and master, aficionados and hangers-on, fiddle, guitar, banjo, mandolin players.

The locals gracing the Ghost Town Cafe and Bar with their music were Mark Lewis, organizer of the Monday night gatherings, Jeff Brady, Sunny, Taylor, and Tim Callahan, with Austin from Florida wishing he had his fiddle along.

Taylor, the 12 year-old held his own, with the ol’  boys calling out the next tune whenever asked.

Jeff Brady played a classic 1926 vintage banjo ( wish I had written down the name).

He also brandished a custom built cherry red amplified acoustic guitar.

This man, and rightly so, was proud of his musical instruments!

There was a story with each.

 

27 Dec 2011