Had several exchanges with Diane Bouska, mandolin-player Roland White’s wife, over the last few days. Among the many tasty morsels the two of them have put on his website, http://www.rolandwhite.com/, is a brand new demo of Roland slowing down and explaining his instrumental version of Danny Boy.
I wish I were still trying to learn mandolin, [...]
Posted February 3rd, 2010 in ALL POSTS |
Spoke to Roland White one nite last wknd. Roland is one of the four or five best Bluegrass mandolin players on the tour and a terrific singer. Following a family tragedy in 1973 he took a hiatus from bandleading to sing and play guitar with Bill Monroe. You can’t get better credentials for love or [...]
Tags: Ash Grove, bill monroe, Clarence White, Copper Creek Records, Country Boys, Jesse McReynolds, Just a Used-to-be to You, Roland White, Scott Hambly, Souther Mountain Boys, Tofu on my jelly
Posted January 17th, 2010 in ALL POSTS |
Today is one month and one day since folklorist Bess Hawes passed away. She was a stand up gal who contributed mightily to the folk and roots-music movement in the middle of the last Century, at a time when it really mattered—the ‘60’s and early ‘70’s. But it’s reading her obits and seeing her name [...]
Tags: Almanac Singers, Bess Hawes, Lonnie Feiner, UCLA, Woody Guthrie
Posted December 28th, 2009 in ALL POSTS |
This, from writer/historian Jason Odd, when I asked him what he does that takes him to a place and time (Southern California, 1960’s) I know well from 50 years ago (Jason, are you even half that old yourself?):
“I’ve done various freebies online, a Bakersfeild section for the Rockabilly Hall Of Fame, and a buddy of [...]
Tags: Ash Graove, Bob Hope, Byrds, Cal Worthington, Chaim Weizman, Clarence Darrow, Clarence White, Country Boys, Dave Cohen, Eric White, Frank Sinatra, Harry Truman, Herblock, Jack Benny, Jason Odd, Joe Louis, Joe Maphis, John Dewey, John Fahey, nat king cole, Pinks Hot Dogs, Richard Nixon, Roland White, Rosalie Maphis, Roy Clark, ry cooder, Sammy Masters, Taj Mahal. Reasons/Nashville West, Xavier Cugant
Posted December 12th, 2009 in ALL POSTS |
Attention Jason Odd. To reward your loyal Power Pickers fanship I’ve tried hard to recount a true John Fahey/Country Al story. It will be another chapter in the saga, “Country Al & His Ash Grove Buds.”
I was at a party chez Barry Hansen* in Santa Monica, prob. in 1966 or ’67. My girlfriend at the [...]
Tags: Al Wilson, Alice Gunn, Ash Grove, Barry Hansen, Blind Al Wilson, Bob Hite, Bukka White, Canned Heat, Charley Patton, Country Al, D.K. Wilgus, Dave Cohen, Delta Blues, Doctor Demento, Evergreen Blueshoes, Henry Vestine, John Fahey, Marc Levin, Sergeant Bilko, Son House, Topanga corral, UCLA
Posted December 7th, 2009 in ALL POSTS |
Jason Odd asks if I know of any live Ridgerunners tapes orbiting about out there that he could get ahold of (btw, Jason, let me know something about you so I can share you with the rest of us arcane esotericists).
The Ridgerunners, you may recall, was a Bluegrass band out of Berkeley, Ca, formed in [...]
Posted November 17th, 2009 in ALL POSTS |
My partner, Gregg Conners, and I are going to try to develop an act, whose form and content I have absolutely no idea of. Embedded here is our very first performance, at an open-mic op on Sept. 12, in Pleasantville, NY. I’m the one with the guitar. We hope to get better.
In other news…I’m posting [...]
Posted October 20th, 2009 in ALL POSTS |
Had a series of ultimately gratifying phone exchanges w/Ry Cooder last week. I say “ultimately,” because while I didn’t end up with the feature article I wanted to do on him for The Fretboard Journal, the conversations were meaty, and, for Ry Cooder, pretty candid.
For the record, I was the one who decided to 86 [...]
Posted October 19th, 2009 in ALL POSTS |
Hi, everybody,
Sorry it’s been so long since my last post; I’ll explain when it’s easier for me to type. But please stay tuned, because I’ve had several exchanges with Ry, and I want to tell you about them, which I will do very soon.
In the meantime, would you allow me to burden you with [...]
Posted October 10th, 2009 in ALL POSTS |
Long-haul (47 yrs) friend of mine, mandolin player Scott Hambly, sent me this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCCu5V5HZPc
of him with Phil Marsh, frequent figure at the famous Berkeley music non-profit dive, Freight and Salvage, and some of its friends celebrating its move from Addison Street to Addison Street (Berkeley’s a small town).
Scott is prob. the least recognized, most [...]
Posted September 16th, 2009 in ALL POSTS |