Fred Robbins- Preserving Bluegrass History

Posted on March 26, 2015 by Bud Bennett

Musicians play music. Once a note is played it can not be reclaimed.  If a listener or would-be listener misses that note, too bad.  Nothing to be done about it.

Photographers take pictures and make films.  When a photograph is taken, that is a frozen moment in time.  A moment that can not be reclaimed, but once captured on film, it can be seen again and again.

I have always been fascinated by both of these art forms and the hugely different ways they seem to be about fleeting moments in time.  I love to see photographs, doesn’t really matter what they are, I love them all.  Photographs and film of musicians being musicians though I feel are very important, not only because they capture that un-reclaimable note or moment, but because they preserve that note or moment for those who were not there.  They give us all a chance to participate and appreciate and enjoy that moment in time, even though most of us were not there.  I think they help to hold us together as a community also because we can all form common bonds through these shared moments.

In the bluegrass world, we are very lucky to have several people helping to preserve these fleeting moments.  The one I would like to mention today is Fred Robbins.

Fred has photographed, filmed and recorded a lot of very important events in the bluegrass world.  Judging from his photographs, I think he had a lot of personal dealings with a lot of the people whose music we all love.  For example, he attended the Fincastle Bluegrass Festival in 1966, Union Grove 1966-68, saw Flatt and Scruggs at the Miami Pop Festival in 1968, knew Doug Dillard, and experienced music and festivals that we have all heard of for years from the 1960s to the present day.  He was there.  And he had his cameras.

Fred’s website is truly an amazing resource.  It is a treasure trove of video, audio and photography that preserves so much bluegrass history that it should not be missed by anyone.    There are amazing slide shows of bands, festivals, and people.  There is a huge collection of live recordings and video stretching from 1969 to the present.  There is a fantastic collection of video from the Grey Fox festival-even one of Bill Keith watching Ryan Cavanaugh practice and includes a priceless Bill Keith workshop that should be watched by every banjo player.

There is more too, articles that Fred wrote for Bluegrass Unlimited, and a lot of non-bluegrass things too.  It is a rich site and when you look at it, I am sure you will agree.

I applaud Fred for preserving so much of our musical history and sharing it with us.  These moments that happened in time are not lost thanks to Fred Robbins.

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Sammy Shelor Talks about Life, Music, and Banjos.

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Bud Bennett

On my frequent trips to Meadows of Dan a few years ago, I would often see Sammy Shelor around.  It is a very small town after all, and Sammy and his family have lived there for a very long time.  I always admired his humble nature and how he never hesitated to stop and chat with folks who wanted to say hello to him.  He seemed to be a shy person though and I got the feeling that he was not the kind of person to waste a lot of words.

With that in mind, I approached him in January 2014 and asked if I could interview him as part of a collection of living history type films I wanted to make that would help to educate and entertain people about Appalachia and the rich music and culture we have here.  Much to my surprise, after I explained my idea and why I wanted to do it, instead of stalling me or saying he would get back to me, he immediately pulled out his calendar and told me when he was available and we set it all up right then and there.

So in February 2014, John Hildreth, Tom Snediker and I interviewed and filmed Sammy Shelor in a lovely house in Floyd Virginia.  The interview was relaxed and candid and Sammy talked about his various banjos, his family’s musical history, his thoughts on the future of the banjo, winning the Steve Martin Award, the Lonesome River Band, and many other things.  His unique perspective on the music, the music industry and growing up in the mountains of Virginia is a real joy to listen to.

Part 1– In the first half of the interview, among other things, Sammy talks about his family’s rich musical history, how he started playing banjo, his Huber banjo, Sammy Shelor fingerpicks and the Lonesome River  Band and he treats us to a little bit of live playing.

Part 2– In the second half of the interview, he speaks more about Lonesome River Band, his thoughts about the future of the banjo, the Steve Martin Award and many other things including another taste of live banjo playing.

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Butch Robins Presents-Blue Grass Music, its Origin and Development as a Unique and Creative Art Form.

Posted on January 22, 2015 by Bud Bennett

Butch Robins presents- Blue Grass Music, its Origin and Development as a Unique and Creative Art Form.

In this 5 part video series, Butch Robins explains the fascinating history of Blue Grass music. He uses both recorded and live music to set and illustrate the timeline, relates real life anecdotes of the musicians involved and tells personal stories of his life and relationship with Bill Monroe. Having had a working and friendly relationship with Monroe and many of the other musicians in this story, his insight and knowledge come together to form a unique perspective of this part of history.

An Introduction to Butch Robins – Butch summarizes his life for us and sets the scene for the talk he is about to give.

In Part 1 of the series, Butch tells about the state and style of music and music venues, the early life of Bill Monroe, the Monroe Brothers and the musical life of Bill Monroe up to the magical year of 1945.

In Part 2, Butch covers 1945-1959 and tells stories he heard from Monroe about the Blue Grass supergroup that changed the musical landscape forever and the years that followed.

Part 3 covers the years 1959- 1977 and some of the ups and downs Monroe went through in this period.  Butch talks about Bill Keith and how his style of playing changed banjo playing again forever (and gives us a live demonstration of that!).  We hear about Butch’s  experiences touring and traveling with Monroe in the 1960s and more about who Butch was playing with in these years.

Part 4 covers 1977- 21st Century and in it, among other things, Butch explains timing in and does it in a way that is quite unique and memorable!  He also speaks frankly about leaving Bill Monroe’s band, his personal mental health issues, fronting his own band, his apology to Bill Monroe, the rekindling of their relationship and his experiences bringing Monroe into the recording studio to work on the Butch Robins “Grounded, Centered, Focused” recording.

Extras!– Butch talks about how the music spread to other countries and discusses playing in musical jam sessions.

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Butch Robins presents the history of Blue Grass Music- Preview

Posted on January 22, 2015 by Bud Bennett

I have known Butch Robins for several years now and never tire of hearing him talk about music, life, or whatever he wants to talk about.  At times I would visit him and as soon as he got on a roll with something I would just sit back and listen and soak it all in.  Butch doesn’t pull any punches when he talks- he tells a story “warts and all” but it’s honest and real.  He’s not out to glorify himself or run anyone else down, he tells it like he sees it and that is something I have always loved about him.  When he tells a story he has an amazing ability to remember names and dates and is able to keep them all organized in his telling, all the while keeping the narrative entertaining, personable and honest.  I thought it would be interesting to film him talking about things and approached him in October 2012 to see how he felt about it.  Much to my delight, after a few false starts,  he told me he would like to give a talk on the history of Blue Grass music and agreed to let me film it.

Over the next several weeks, I talked in great detail to him about what he wanted to do and how he wanted to do it,  at the same time I talked to my colleagues at Radford University and investigated what exactly I could do in terms of camera equipment, people and editing.  I did a lot of personal research on his topics so that I could be an effective part of the process too.  When all of that fell into place and all of the details had been seen to at the University, I went back to Butch and finalized everything and made a plan to film his talk early in the new year.

What I did not ever exactly decide on though is what we would call this.  Is it a film?  That sounded too much like it was acting and it was not that at all.  Is it an interview?  I didn’t actually ask any questions so that didn’t sound right.  Is it a lecture?  That seemed about right but not quite.  I decided it was a film of a series of talks about the History of Blue Grass music.  It’s not a catchy name but I think it’s an accurate description.  But let me get back to what I came here to tell you about-

Early in 2013 two of my colleagues from Radford University John Hildreth (from the Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning), Mike May (from McConnell Library) and I  (McConnell Library Archives and Special Collections)traveled to a lovely old log cabin nearby and set up our cameras and lights, struck a set and over the next several Wednesdays, sat down to the most fascinating and entertaining series of talks I can remember.  Butch sat on a bench between his beloved banjos and gave us an amazingly detailed history of Bill Monroe, his music, and true stories of life on the road with Monroe.  After a good bit of prodding, I convinced him to also give us the Butch Robins story- his life, music and to play banjo for us on the film.  He gave us a lot those days and we captured it all on film.

Over the last year or so, Mike and I , and later John and I have been editing this film and gathering photos and music to help illustrate the story.  It has been a very big project and although we are not finished with it, we are nearing completion.  In celebration of that, John and I would like to show this short preview of the series of talks.  We will make an announcement when it is all complete but in the meantime, please enjoy this glimpse.

 7154358167_193e16c4e9_b Butch Robins History of Blue Grass Trailer
http://vimeo.com/75499136 About this video:
“A teaser for the upcoming multi-part series of banjo master Butch Robin’s narrated history of Blue Grass music.”
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Highlights of the McConnell Library Appalachian Music Collection- Bela Fleck

Posted on July 7, 2014 by Bud Bennett

Does anyone not recognize the name Bela Fleck? A show of hands? No one? OK good.  Bela Fleck has touched so many types of music and musicians in his 55 years of life that he is probably known throughout them all.  He has played bluegrass, newgrass (New Grass Revival), classical, jazz (Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Chic Corea, Marcus Roberts Trio), rock (Dave Matthews Band and Phish), I have seen him play with an Paddy Keenan (ilean piper), a tabla player, throat singer, I have even heard him playing with a rapper.  More than anyone else, Bela has shown the world that the banjo is a real instrument.  Banjo players already knew this of course but the general public maybe did not know it so much. There have been others before him blazing a path for the banjo in non-Appalachian musical styles.  Obviously, Earl Scruggs lit the world on fire with his playing (thanks to Bill Monroe’s constant touring schedule in the 1940s); Don Reno showed that single string playing was possible on banjo much like it is on guitar and that opened banjo to a variety of jazzy outlets; Bill Keith figured out and showed us all that melodic playing allowed literal playing of fiddle tunes and that led to him and many others exploring jazz and ragtime on the banjo; Courtney Johnson and Bobby Thompson excited the public with their chromatic playing that helped push the banjo into southern rock; Butch Robins seamlessly incorporated all of these things into his own style and made a successful career from playing with one foot in the traditional camp and one in the new/daring/envelope pushing camp; Tony Trischka did this as well but also took on the responsibility of teaching the world exactly how to play all of these banjo styles and songs through the writing of a myriad of instructional books and videos (and an innovative online school for banjo players). Bela Anton Leos Fleck was born in New York in 1958 to a music loving family.  He was named after Bela Bartok, Anton Webern, and Leos Janacek, all European composers.  He attended New York City’s High School of Music and Art and studied french horn while there.  At some point he also heard the music of Flatt and Scruggs on the television show Beverly Hillbillies.  (Flatt and Scruggs played the shows theme song, The Ballad of Jed Clampett.)  While it may seem counter to his background, it was the sound of the banjo on that show that seemed to excite him mu]ch more than the french horn he was learning at the time.  Lucky for us all, he was born into a family that loved and supported music and so he eventually found himself in possession of a banjo and sitting in front of Tony Trischka.  Personally, I hear a lot of Trishcka influences in Bela’s playing and musical journeys, especially on his days in the Flecktones. Bela studied banjo and became a very good player and soon moved to Boston to join the bluegrass group Tasty Licks, which was made up of Mark Schatz, Pat Enright and Jack Tottle.  The band recorded two albums, Tasty Licks and Anchored to the Shore.  Around this time he recorded his first solo album as well- Crossing the Tracks.  In 1981 he moved on from Tasty Licks and along with Schatz, Glen Lawson and Jimmy Gaudreau, helped form Spectrum.  A series of albums were recorded with various bands and as solo projects quickly came about and around this time he was asked to join the super group New Grass Revival. I think his years with New Grass Revival really made him a household name.  In my experience at least, when he joined that group people started talking about him.  A lot.  The first time I saw him play live was in a tiny little establishment in Roanoke, Virginia named Howard’s Soup Kitchen.  The place was a combination bar/restaurant and was so small that while sitting in my chair near the stage, I could hear and understand the words that new members Bela Fleck and Pat Flynn were exchanging while playing the songs.  The two were brand new to the band and it was a pleasure to watch them listening to the songs and responding to them.  I don’t exactly know that they were learning the songs on the fly but they were definitely exploring ideas about what to play and it was exciting! After several years in NGR, Bela left the group and started a new group called Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.  This is another reason that his name is known in most households.  That band was new and exciting and really pushed the envelope for a lot of people.  The band combined banjo with piano, drums, harmonica and jazzy ideas and melodies.  They recorded a lot of albums and played to millions of fans.  Volumes could be written about the Flecktones so I will leave that to you to explore.  I saw them many times. As the Flecktones were coming to a close, Bela seems to have become interested in classical music once again and recorded and composed several pieces- including a banjo concerto.  His interest in the roots of the banjo took him on a trip to Africa (which was filmed and released in a film called Throw Down Your Heart).   Bela has given us much to listen to and learn from.  Today I am recommending:   drive   Now the banjo player in me has to ask this question- Why is the album called Drive?  Obviously, the cover art shows Bela in the drivers seat of a car.  Is that a subliminal reference to Bela being in the drivers seat in terms of being band leader?  Is the title in reference to a song on the album, perhaps Open Road?  (Although it might be a stretch, there is also See Rock City, which you would need to drive to as Rock City is on top of a very high mountain which not a lot of people live on.  And by the way, you should definitely see Rock City, it is quite something to behold!)  Or is Drive in reference to that nearly inexplicable thing that musicians talk about.  Drive, as in a feeling of forward movement in one’s playing.  I don’t actually know the answer but I do think about it every time I see the album, which is often because I listen to it a lot. The musicians on Drive are an amazing collection of top-notch acoustic musicians.  Sam Bush on mandolin, Jerry Douglas on dobro, Stuart Duncan on fiddle, Mark O’Connor on fiddle, Tony Rice on guitar and Mark Schatz on bass all accompany Bela Fleck and the result is exactly as you would expect.  First rate musicianship, and an inspirational listening experience all around. Give the album a listen, it has a lot to offer.  My personal favorites are Whtewater, See Rock City and The Legend.

Drive [sound recording] / Bela Fleck
Fleck, Béla, 1958- Performer.
COMPACT DISC COMPACT DISC | Rounder Records | p1998
Available at Recordings-CDs – Level 4 (M1630.18.F543 D75 1998)

Items

Location Call No. Status
Recordings-CDs – Level 4 M1630.18.F543 D75 1998 AVAILABLE
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Highlights of the McConnell Library Appalachian Music Collection- In the Pines

Posted on May 29, 2014 by Bud Bennett

One of my favorite pseudo-bluegrass songs is “In the Pines”.  As is the case with many songs like this, it isn’t a bluegrass song at all though, it is one of those songs of “indeterminate origin”.  Over the years it has been a blues song, a folk song, a country song, a bluegrass song and a rock song.  Rumor has it the song dates back to the mid-to-late 1800s.

Blues artist Lead Belly recorded the song under the titles “Black Girl” and “Where did you Sleep Last Night” various times in the 1940s.

Bill Monroe recorded it at least two times, once in 1941 and once in 1952.

Jimmy Martin recorded it in 1965.

Nirvana even recorded it in a live album in 1993 under the title “Where Did you Sleep Last Night”.  They interpreted the song more as a blues number and certainly inject passion into the vocal!  The song clearly speaks to a lot of people.

My favorite version of the song isn’t on any record or CD, I heard it late one night standing in the dark around a campfire.  It was at Ed Allen’s Campground in Chickahominy, Virginia in either the late 1970s or very early 1980s.  A friend and I had been to a Bluegrass Festival there and it was late, it had rained that day on us, and it was foggy.   We had stayed though until the end of the on-stage music and had picked a little bit in the parking lot afterwards with various folks and had finally decided it was time to go back home for the night- there was still another day of the festival coming in the morning after all. Things were mostly all quiet as we made our way through the cars and campsites to get to our car, as I said, it was late and kind of damp and most folks had turned in by then.

Somewhere out in the night though someone was still at it and we could hear faintly a fellow singing and playing guitar.  We kept trudging along to the car and luckily the singer was on the way and it wasn’t too awful long before I saw him and could hear better.  I’ll tell you, it was a poetic sight to see, one lone man standing between us and his campfire so that all we could see was his silhouette.   He wasn’t singing with anyone, his friends were there but they were not playing, or watching for that matter.  They were either asleep or just sitting and staring into the fire.  It was late as I mentioned. I remember stopping when I was close enough to hear well and just standing there in the dark watching him.  It was clear he was not singing to or for anyone but himself.  Just standing there feeling the music and letting it take his mind wherever it wanted to go.  His rhythm playing was sparse and thoughtful and his singing injected more blues into the song than I had ever heard.  It was almost like at that moment I could feel the emotion in the words.  Honestly, before then I had considered this particular song nothing special, almost like a throw-away cookie cutter one.  Standing there in the dark watching the silhouetted guitar player sing that song that night changed all that though.  It was like I understood what lonesome felt like for the first time.

The longest train I ever saw

Went down that Georgia line

The engine passed at six o’clock

And the cab passed by at nine

In the pines, in the pines

Where the sun never shines

And we shiver when the cold wind blows

I asked my captain for the time of day

He said he throwed his watch away

A long steel rail and a short cross tie

I’m on my way back home

Little girl, little girl, what have I done

That makes you treat me so

You caused me to weep, you caused me to mourn

You caused me to leave my home

So give the song a listen or two and maybe take the time to track down the Nirvana version too.  I have to say, the Nirvana version is very high on my list of favorites!

………………………….

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The True Story of Molly and Tenbrooks

Posted on May 12, 2014 by Bud Bennett

Bill Monroe had a big hit in 1949 with the song Molly and Tenbrooks.  It was the B side of a record he cut in 1947 (the A side was I’m Going Back to Old Kentucky) for Columbia Records.  The song is one of that I have always identified with Monroe, but recently I learned that he was not the first to record it nor did he write it.  The song apparently dates back to the late 1800s and was actually first recorded in 1929 under the name “Tim Brook” by a band called the Carver Boys.

The Stanley Brothers recorded a version of the song in 1948.

And then in 1949 Bill Monroe’s version was released.

In addition to the fact that there were at least two recordings of the song before the Monroe one was released is that there was actually a horse race between a Kentucky horse named Ten Broeck and a California horse named Molly McCarthy and the song pretty well tells the story of the race.  Somehow I had never thought that the song was telling a true story.

What happened is that in the 1870s there was a wonder horse in Kentucky.  This horse was a champion and and a record setter and Kentuckians loved him.  They loved him so much that they bragged about him every chance they got.  In the horse racing world, this apparently got a little old because there were a group of Californians who also had a champion race horse that they loved and bragged on.  As will happen, one side got tired of hearing the other side brag and so it was arranged by the owners that the Kentucky horse Ten Broeck would race the California horse Molly McCarthy at Churchill Downs on July 4, 1878.

The owner of Ten Broeck bet the owner of Molly McCarthy $5,000 that his horse would win best two heats out of three in a 4 mile race.  They both agreed though that if one horse beat the other in a very significant way that the other races didn’t need to be run and that one would take the prize.  Both were confident they would win and neither thought there would be three races run that day.

On the day of the race it rained.  Now apparently some horses run well in rain and some don’t.  Ten Broeck liked rain and the Kentuckians were even more sure they were going to win because Molly liked to run in sun.  The race started and for the first mile the two horses were neck and neck.  The second mile flew by and they were still neck and neck.  By the end of the third mile though, Molly had taken a healthy lead.  Ten Broeck’s jockey did what he could but the Kentucky horse just seemed to have no more to give and Molly and her Californian friends seemed to have it all wrapped up.

As the story goes, when Ten Broeck rounded the bend for the homestretch of the third mile, he suddenly turned on the gas as it were.  He overtook Molly and did not look back.  At the end of mile three he was a good ten lengths in front.  All through the fourth mile, Ten Broeck ran like there was no tomorrow.  Molly on the other hand had run out of gas and by the end of the race, Molly could barely stand.  The distance between horses was so great that there was no question who won.  There was no question that Molly could not run another race that day either.  Frank B. Harper, owner of Ten Broeck got his $5,000 and bragging rights and that is the end of the story.

Here are the lyrics for Monroe’s version of the song.  The Stanley version is a little different but not much.  The Carver Boy’s version is different as well but generally, they are all the same story.

Run O Molly run, run O Molly run
Tenbrooks gonna beat you to the bright shinin’ sun.
To the bright shinin’ sun O Lord to the bright shinin’ sun

Tenbrooks was a big bay horse he wore that shaggy mane
He run all around Memphis he beat the Memphis train
Beat the Memphis train O Lord beat the Memphis train

See that train a-comin’ it’s comin’ round the curve
See old Tenbrooks runnin’ he’s strainin’ every nerve
Strainin’ every nerve O Lord strainin’ every nerve

Tenbrooks said to Molly what makes your head so red?
Runnin’ in the hot sun puts fever in my head
Fever in my head O Lord fever in my head

Molly said to Tenbrooks you’re lookin’ mighty squirrel
Tenbrooks said to Molly I’m a-leavin’ this old world
Leavin’ this old world O Lord leavin’ this old world

Out in California where Molly done as she pleased
Come back to old Kentucky got beat with all ease
Beat with all ease O Lord beat with all ease

The women all a-laughin’ the child’n all a cryin’
The men all a-hollerin’ old Tenbrooks a-flyin’
Old Tenbrooks a-flyin’ O Lord old Tenbrooks a-flyin’

Kyper Kyper you’re not A-ridin’ right
Molly’s beatin’ old Tenbrooks clear out sight
Clear out of sight O Lord clear out of sight

Kyper Kyper Kyper my son
Give old Tenbrooks the bridle let old Tenbrooks run
Let old Tenbrooks run O Lord let old Tenbrooks run

Go and catch old Tenbrooks and hitch him in the shade
We’re gonna bury old Molly in a coffin ready made
Coffin ready made O Lord coffin ready made

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Highlights of the McConnell Library Appalachian Music Collection- The Bristol Sessions

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Bud Bennett

In 1927, Texas fiddlers Eck Robertson and Henry Gilliland recorded a record for the Victor Talking Machine Company.  This was the first “country” record made and it ended up being very important, only the company dubbed the genre “hillbilly” music.  Side one was Sally Gooden and side two was Arkansas Traveller and it sold enough copies to make the budding recording industry sit up and take notice.

By 1927, the industry had developed a more refined system for recording music, the original system was known as “acoustic” and the new system was “electronic”.  Being proud of their efforts, they even included “Electrically Recorded” on many of their records around this time.  Country and hillbilly records were selling so well that careers were made for Eck Robertson, Ernest Stoneman, Uncle Dave Macon and several others in the genre.  Hillbilly music was honest, easy to understand and the public was hungry for more.  The Victor company knew that they had a goldmine on their hands with this new genre and sent talent scouts out to sign up new acts and make new records (translate that as: and make more money for Victor!).  One of these talent scouts was a man named Ralph Peer.

Ralph Peer is not a household name by any means, but two of the things he accomplished in life were certainly important enough to make him one.  Peer was one of the first, if not the first agent to pay royalties to recording artists, and he was the first to record Jimmy Rodgers and The Carter Family.  So confident was Peer in his efforts at discovering new talent that his arrangement with Victor stipulated only a $1 per year salary!  Instead of a real salary, Peer chose to own copyrights to recordings he made and be paid through royalties on those recordings. It was basically a no-risk opportunity for Victor.

The recording industry had recently become a viable business because new electronic recording practices proved to increase the sound quality of records in a very noticeable way over the traditional recording methods.  This new electronic recording process was also a lot more portable than earlier methods and this allowed the studio to come to the artists and so bands that were not financially able to travel to big cities like New York to record were suddenly “discovered” by the industry and so by the public.

While on his search for new artists, Ralph Peer asked the advice of his friend Ernest Stoneman and was told to visit the town of Bristol, Virginia which straddled Virginia and Tennessee to look for talent.  Stoneman suggested there were many artists in the area and the town was a crossroads of sorts and would be easy for folks to get to. Peer took his advice and then put a notice in local newspapers saying he would be in Bristol for ten days recording musical acts.

 

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The response was not overwhelming though until Ernest Stoneman started talking about the $50 per side plus royalties he was making for recording with Peer.  Once word got out that real money was to be made, bands started coming in and Peer was able to record between July 25-August 5, 1927 ,  76 songs by 19 different bands.

Of the bands that recorded in the Bristol Sessions, two became most famous, Jimmy Rodgers and The Carter Family.  There was a third band that recorded there that I would like to mention also- The Shelor Family.

The reason we might know that third band these days is because of a fellow named Sammy Shelor, of Meadows of Dan, VA.  Sammy is a descendant of Joe Blackard who recorded four sides for Peer on August 3, 1927 as part of the bands The Shelor Family and also Dad Blackard’s Moonshiners.  These bands were made up of Joe Blackard, his daughter Clarice, Jesse Shelor and Pyrhus Shelor.  The Shelor Family, as the band became known, left Bristol after their sessions and made their way back to Meadows of Dan.  They were contacted again several months later to return to the recording studio to do more but they had to decline.  Joe Blackard had become ill with cancer and could not make the trip.  The family continued playing music in their homes and community, as they always had, not as professional musicians, but as neighbors and friends.

Sammy Shelor had other musical relatives since Joe Blackard (who was also a banjo player) and he has made a big and well-respected name for himself nationally as a banjo player.  Sam has headed the Lonesome River Band for many years, has won numerous “Banjo Player of the Year” and “Banjo Performer of the Year” as well as the Steve Martin Prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass.  He has remained faithful to and a resident of Meadows of Dan where his musical and family roots run deep.  I imagine Joe Blackard would be proud to know that.

 

To learn more and to hear actual recordings made at The Bristol Sessions, check out (be sure to get the CD that goes along with it too!):

The Bristol sessions : writings about the big bang of country music / edited by Charles K. Wolfe and Ted Olson
 
BOOK BOOK | McFarland | c2005
 Available at Main Collection – Level 4
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Rest in Peace Pete Seeger

Posted on January 28, 2014 by Bud Bennett

While driving to work this morning I heard the news that Pete Seeger died yesterday at the ripe old age of 94.  Pete Seeger was called a lot of things in life – among them musician, author, peace advocate, teacher, environmentalist, political activist and through them all he remained true to who he was and what he believed in.    As a teacher he introduced his style of banjo playing to the nation in a groundbreaking instructional book he wrote in the early 1960s- How to Play the 5 String Banjo.  As a musician he recorded more than 50 albums and either wrote or co-wrote many songs you are sure to have heard- Where Have all the Flowers Gone, If I Had a Hammer, Turn Turn Turn etc.  As an environmentalist, he had a boat built (called the Clearwater )that sailed up and down the Hudson River to bring attention to the amount of pollution people and industry were dumping into it.  As a political activist he found himself in front of Congress being questioned about his political ideas (and he refused to answer those questions too), and was well known as a labor advocate and a civil rights advocate.  To say that he led a fascinating life would be a great understatement.

Pete was known as a folk musician and not an Appalachian musician, but I am including him here today because when he published How to Play the 5 String Banjo, he created and inspired a massive number of banjo players.  Even if a person does not today play his style (frailing) there is a very good chance that person started out with Pete’s book.  Why?  Because there  was not any other book to start out with for many years!  Pete’s style of playing, is still used today and though it is maybe not the most popular style in old-time music, it is present and is a definite base that many players start with.

In the musical section of his life, Pete was a member of The Weavers, an important folk group, friends and musical partners with Woody Guthrie, started and wrote for Sing Out magazine.  He won a Grammy in 1996 and that year he was also inducted in the Rock and Roll hall of fame.  He was honored in the Kennedy Center.

Another musical job Pete Seeger had in his lifetime was to work at the Library of Congress in the American Folklife Center with musicologist Alan Lomax.  While there he listened to and collected folk songs for the national collection.  Alan Lomax had a radio show at the time and Pete was a frequent musical guest on it.  This was in the 1940 timeframe and helped pave the way for his musical career.

The political section of his life is a complicated one.  In his younger years, Pete Seeger was a member of the Communist Party but later renounced it when he became disenchanted with Stalin.  He and many of his friends were blacklisted in the McCarthy era.  He fought all his life, even to the end for civil rights and equality.  He was among those participating in the Occupy Wall Street movement.  Not everyone will agree with his politics, but I think we can all respect his dedication and commitment to his beliefs.  I think the fact that he went from being blacklisted in the McCarthy Era to being honored in the Kennedy Center speaks volumes.

But none of that is what I thought of when I heard the news.  My first thought was of why my own children probably know his name.  Abiyoyo.

One of the Pete Seeger albums I have is “Abiyoyo and Other Story Songs for Children”.  I hadn’t listened to it too many times but on this particular day I needed something to entertain them and so I pulled that record out and put it on the turntable.  When the song Abiyoyo came on, we all became interested and all sat and listened.  We listened again too.

Over the years, we listened to that old record many times.  Many times we read the book at bedtime.  Many times I would walk around the house humming the melody and thinking about the giant dancing and swirling around.  I have a lot of fond memories that grew from that record and book.  So thank you Pete Seeger for all that you did in your fascinating life but most of all thank you for telling us all about Abiyoyo.

In honor of Pete Seeger, I am recommending you read this book.  It won’t take long.  I think it is a very fitting tribute to the man, it is the story of plain folk fighting a giant through music and dance.  Seems fitting to me.  Rest in peace Pete.

Pete Seeger May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014.

Abiyoyo : based on a South African lullaby and folk story / text by Pete Seeger ; illustrations by Michael Hays
Seeger, Pete, 1919-
BOOK BOOK | Collier Macmillan | c1986
Available at Juvenile/Easy – Level 4 (PZ7.S4517 Ac 1986)

Items

Location Call No. Status
Juvenile/Easy – Level 4 PZ7.S4517 Ac 1986 AVAILABLE
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Highlights of the McConnell Library Appalachian Music Collection- Tony Rice

Posted on December 10, 2013 by Bud Bennett

Anybody who listens to acoustic music knows the name Tony Rice.  For many years Tony has been a guitar icon to players of all ages and musical styles.  He has also written and/or sang songs that are firmly entrenched in the musical memory of generations of acoustic music fans.  Among others, he has played with Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, Peter Rowan and JD Crowe; he created and fronted his own jazz-oriented acoustic band The Tony Rice Unit and spent a few years in musical collaboration with Peter Rowan.

Born in 1951 in Danville, Virginia, Tony etal were soon moved to California by his semi-professional musician father, Herb Rice.  In California, he was attracted to and inspired by two musical giants, Roland and Clarence White.  (Clarence White later was a member of the rock band The Byrds.  He is also known for being one of the folks who started New Grass.) It was probably because of Tony’s exposure and friendship with Clarence White that led him to Kentucky in the early 1970s to play with a group called The Bluegrass Alliance.

The Bluegrass Alliance was one of the first bands to push the boundaries of blue grass music and its members included Sam Bush, Courtney Johnson and Vince Gill.  When the Bluegrass Alliance broke up, Sam Bush and Courtney Johnson went on to form New Grass Revival and they forged an amazing path into the acoustic music scene like few other bands.

Tony Rice did not go along with Sam and Courtney though,  he ended up playing with another acoustic music visionary, J.D. Crowe.   Crowe had put together a super-group of Tony Rice (guitar), Ricky Scaggs (mandolin), Jerry Douglas (dobro), and Bobby Sloan (bass) and would record one of my favorite albums and bands ever. Their album “J.D. Crowe and the New South” was one of the most influential albums of that genre and that band was and remains one of the most talked about collections of musicians in acoustic music.

Bluegrass Album Band- copyright Jim Stripling

JD (center) with Doyle Lawson (left) and Tony Rice (right) from the Bluegrass Album Band(Used with permission from Jim Stripling, photographer)

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