Here are a couple things that didn’t make it into my first post about Banjo Camp North. I can’t believe I forgot to include this picture:
Banjo Camp North camper sporting a classic quote from Murphy.
I also can’t believe I forgot to write down this guy’s name!! I chalk it up to it being Sunday and I’d just finished teaching my last class and my brain had turned off… If you read this (guy in the picture) please comment and tell me who you are!! I sent the picture to Murphy and she said when she started reading the shirt she thought it was going to say “The first thing you have to do is tune the banjo,” which would also make a pretty good shirt. But she thought this quote was funnier!
Next, here’s a clip of me at the staff concert on Saturday night at camp. Joining me are Phil Zimmerman (mando), Kelly Stockwell (bass), and April Hobart (guitar and tenor vocal).
Last Saturday some old-time pickers and I had a good old-time session playing at North River Mills, West Virginia for their annual town festival. And just where is North River Mills? Well, when you first drive there, it seems like a long way from anywhere, but it’s only about 8 miles from Capon Bridge. (That’s METROPOLITAN Capon Bridge, WV.)
The musicians numbered about 15 at various times during the day, playing an assortment of instruments which included fiddle, 5-string viola, banjos, mandolins, pennywhistle, guitars, bass, a harmonica, and an accordian. No kidding, the accordian player played very well and unobtrusively, so he was welcome. Here’s a photo of this relaxed session:
(Photo from the North River Mills Historical Society site-- thanks folks!)
And what did we play? We played tunes in the Key of D. We played Liberty, and Soldier’s Joy, and Cowboy’s Dream, and Yellow Rose of Texas, and Dubuque. We played several tunes I hadn’t heard before but picked up (as everybody did) as we played them over and over– that’s what you do. Then we played lots more, including Forked Deer– and here’s a video of that tune, complete with the floor show, a gentleman who was quite a dancer:
(A note on old-time session etiquette: I started this tune, so I was the one who called “One more time!” near the end, so we’d all know when to quit.)
. . . . .
…I expect that we’ll play there again next year. So if you’re ever in this part of the country and would like to visit a place where (as far as I can see) not much ever happens, and it’s good that way, drive through North River Mills. But don’t blink– you’ll miss it!
http://www.historichampshire.org/nrm/nrm-home.htm
Come next year. Bring an instrument. You don’t have to be an expert. If you don’t know the tune, just play rhythm. You just have to like to play!
I was trolling around on YouTube yesterday and I found a couple videos from past shows that we haven’t yet posted here. The first one is from Kaufman Kamp in June 2010. It features myself and Tim May playing “I Am A Pilgrim” with Pat Flynn. I actually really like my break on the song, which was totally off-the-cuff, so I thought I would share it.
This second video is from the American Revival Tour in November 2009. I’m sitting in with Uncle Earl on what was typically the final number in their set. We do the breaks to the song in an old-timey way, that is, fiddle and banjo playing at the same time. Therefore it’s not so much that I like my break on this song, but I do like my outfit!
This video is the first single of the music from an upcoming album to be released before the end of the year. Chris Lovelace and I have been making music quite a while in different genres. We’ve been punk rockers, hip-hoppers, and now we’re putting some of our favorite sounds together in what has been described by The Bluegrass Blog as “Alt-County”. I like that, not alt-country, but alt-county. We’re county fellers and though neither one of us grew up farming or hunting, we really do connect with the county vibe. Chris has two daughters, Lilian and Evelyn, who are just starting kindergarten this year and you can see their initials on his shirt in some parts of the video. I’m wearing a pin that my grandmother used to wear.
We were initially going to film the video in Luray Caverns. That was the location that the director who came down from New York, Liquid, had chosen. We got there and they said it was a no-go, so we started driving up and down some back roads until we saw a fellow out in a field with a metal detector. He was looking for civil war stuff and we found out that he knew some bluegrass folks. As I recall, I believe his wife had maybe sold a house to one of the Yates brothers and might have been related to Earl Taylor, so that was a good connection. We asked him if he knew a good place to go and he said he had some land up the road. I asked him if it was purty and he replied “Well, I think so.” And when we got there via a grass path off the main dirt road, it was pretty. We shot the first part there and then cruised up the skyline drive and shot some footage looking out toward the Shenandoah Valley towards North Mountain, where Chris and I grew up. The last location, where the waterwall is, was in Sterling and I used to pass it going to work and always thought it would be a good scene for a music video.
Liquid rode the MegaBus down from up north and arrived at 5 in the morning in D.C. I picked him up, late, at about 9 and we shot from about 12 to 8, having lunch in Luray. We got back to the studio in Sterling and he finished editing about 4 in the morning and I took him back to D.C. and he caught about a 9AM bus back. So it was a whirlwind 24 hours and Chris and I had a really good time making our first video. Stay tuned for more Archetones music videos and an album to be release this fall!
Many of you may be familiar with this song, which Murphy wrote years ago and performed regularly on stage as part of the Red and Murphy set. This is the recording we made of it, I think from the first Red and Murphy and Their Excellent Children album. Murphy on banjo and lead vocal, Red on mandolin and baritone vocal, Casey on bass and tenor vocal, Chris on guitar. (Click on the title to listen.)
Here’s something nifty. An email about this CD just landed in my inbox. Titled Look A-Yonder Comin’, It is from the Florida Folklife Collection and has live performances from the Florida Folk Festival. Leading off the disc is none other than Red and Murphy, with Tuck Tucker, playing and singing the Chubby Anthony classic “Georgia Bound.” The year that it was taped was the first time Christopher (age 11, who you hear on mandolin) and I (Casey, on bass, age 14) played a real gig with our parents. I didn’t know any tape existed of it, but here it is for all to hear. The CD has 18 cuts, including Bill Monroe playing “Big Mon.” And best of all, it’s free! You can download it, or they’ll send you an actual CD. How cool is that?
Here are some video clips for your viewing pleasure.
First, here is a look at a slow jam from Kaufman Kamp a couple years back. I couldn’t believe someone actually posted a slow jam, but it’s kinda neat. I can only stand to hear about 45 seconds of it myself, but it will give you a good idea of what goes on: calling out chords so everyone can follow along.
Next, a blast from the past. Red and Murphy and Co. sing “Mtn. Laurel Man” from 1980. Murphy’s sister Nancy sings the lead. I especially like the comments from Nancy’s current students (she’s a high school math teacher). My favorite one is “dude mrs pate”.
Here are Chris and myself singing his song “One Foot In the Grave” at an IBMA showcase two years ago:
And here’s us with our now-defunct band The Two-Stringers (in this case Tyler Grant and Casey Grimes) singing “Walkin’ West to Memphis”:
