Thursday, November 3, 2011

NEWS & REVIEWS, Acoustic Americana Music Guide, Nov 3 edition

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LATE ADDITIONS: .
SUNDAY, Nov 6, at 7 pm - "JOE HILL NIGHT" is a FREE event with music by ROSS ALTMAN for the booksigning of "THE MAN WHO NEVER DIED," the new Bio of Joe Hill by WILLIAM M. ADLER, at the Folk Music Center, 220 Yale AV, Claremont; info, 909-624-2928.



"GIVE ME THE BANJO - Arts from the Blue Ridge Mountains" premieres Friday, Nov 4, 9-11 pm on PBS - TV.

The banjo's been called America's quintessential instrument, perhaps because its long and contested history has encompassed so many popular musical forms, from black folk styles and the 19th century minstrel show, to blues, ragtime, early jazz, old time folk and bluegrass. One of the biggest challenges of making Give Me the Banjo was trying to cover the full range and breadth of music that the banjo has helped to shape.

Ask Dr. Ralph Stanley what he's been playing for the last half century and he'll call it "old time mountain music." Enjoy these diverse performances from Cynthia Sayer, Taj Mahal, Rhiannon Giddens and Abigail Washburn. For more on the banjo's diverse styles and history, visit The Banjo Project.

More at www.thebanjoproject.org

 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
    Here's the rest of the current edition...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Want the Guide's NEWS FEATURES directly in your inbox, without waiting for your webgroup moderator to approve and post it? Email us! Subscribe directly, for FREE,
     
by email at     tiedtothetracks@hotmail.com  
     
    (That way, you'll also know each time our SPOTLIGHT EVENTS section gets a major update, though we do NOT email that one.)
    
    We are grateful to our many website and webgroup partners who bring you The Guide's weekly News Features. But these are sometimes subject to delay (up to several days, it seems) for moderators of some sites / groups to get to them and re-publish for their readers. So why not GO DIRECT!? (Yep, it's still free, and we don't share your email address with anybody.)
     
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
   
    Here's the latest edition of The Guide's NEWS section, including REVIEWS.
    
The companion section with ALL THE EVENTS – the Guide's SPOTLIGHT EVENTS section – is a click away, at
   
http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2011/11/spotlight-events-acoustic-americana.html  
   
   
Here's the NEWS & REVIEWS, so let's get started!
   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
   
    Tied to the Tracks' 
   
||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<|| 
    
          ACOUSTIC
                    AMERICANA
                              MUSIC GUIDE
                                        NEWS FEATURES
                                         
                                                       November 3, 2011 edition
   
||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<|| 
   
   
THIS WEEK’S NEWS FEATURES   
   
  1) Bluegrass on DAVID LETTERMAN Thursday Night  
  2) ROSS ALTMAN Performs “SONGS OF JOE HILL” Friday Afternoon 
  3) Saturday is Folk Concert-Crazy in Southern Cal... 
  4) GRAM PARSONS 65th B'day Tribute at Ronnie Mack's Barn Dance, November 7
  5) GORDON LIGHTFOOT Playing Local Shows November 8 & 9 
  6) Nominees THE TUMBLING TUMBLEWEEDS and JOYCE WOODSON to Perform Together En-Route to Western Music Awards 
  7) CD Review – DAFNI, “Sweet Time” 
  8) Reviews – New Series Takes a Fresh Look at Old Recordings,
    “Across the Digital Divide...”  
  9) Review – Across the Digital Divide... “Home Sweet Home,” a Cassette Treasure
  
    
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
       Here are this week's news feature stories, listed above...   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
   
Our # 1 Story
   
BLUEGRASS ON DAVID LETTERMAN THURSDAY NIGHT
    
    Just Tivo or set whatever recording device you have. Tonight, Thursday, November 3, at 11:35 pm, STEVE MARTIN, THE LONESOME RIVER BAND, & SAMMY SHELOR are guests on the David Letterman Show on CBS TV...
    
    
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~  
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~  
    
Our # 2 Story
    
ROSS ALTMAN PERFORMS “SONGS OF JOE HILL” FRIDAY AFTERNOON
    
    For anyone with the day off, and everyone who is unemployed, head to the San Pedro Maritime Museum on Friday, November 4. At 2 pm, ROSS ALTMAN performs “SONGS OF JOE HILL.”
    
    Joe Hill was a labor organizer and songwriter who challenged the Robber Barons of the Gilded Age on behalf of the working man. Hill was accused, tried, found guilty and executed for murders that he may or may not have committed during violent clashes between the “copper bosses” and miners seeking to unionize over 100 years ago. Joan Baez brought his story to life in the '60s, singing, “I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night, alive as you or me. Says I, 'but Joe you're ten years dead,' 'I never died' says he, 'I never died' says he.”
    
    Ross Altman is a walking encyclopedia of labor organizing and protest songs, and he is the 2010 Topanga Banjo Fiddle “Legends” award honoree. It's an especially timely program, given the “99% Movement” and the various “Occupy” presences deriving from “Occupy Wall Street.” The museum is located at Berth 84 (foot of 6th St), San Pedro 90731. Info, 310-548-7618.
    
    
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~ 
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~ 
   
Our # 3 Story
   
SATURDAY IS FOLK CONCERT-CRAZY IN SOUTHERN CAL...
    
    In quick form (the details are in this week's Spotlight Events section), here's what'll make ya crazy with an overabundance of choice on Saturday, November 5:
    
    EARL SCRUGGS plus MERLE JAGGER play the UCLA Live! Series at Royce Hall; GRAHAM PARKER is at McCabe’s in Santa Monica for two shows; THE KINGSTON TRIO plays the McCallum Theatre in Palm Desert; DIRK HAMILTON plus CINDY KALMENSON & THE LUCKY DUCKS play the “Four Friends Acoustic Music Series” dinner-and-a-show in Thousand Oaks; MARLEY'S GHOST, that wonderfully Celtic / Americana flavored outfit, performs at the Folk Music Center in Claremont; THE FOLK COLLECTION is at the Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena; VOX FEMINA presents “AND JUSTICE FOR ALL,” at the Boston Court Performing Arts Center in Pasadena; Piedmont bluesman ERNEST TROOST and Emmy and Peabody winner TRACY NEWMAN share the bill at the Talking Stick CafĂ© in Venice; DREAM STREET is at Boulevard Music in Culver City; GARRET SWAYNE and LISA TURNER play the Westlake Canyon House Concert series; meanwhile, down in San Diego, there are three fine shows, as the BATTLEFIELD BAND plays the AMSD Concert series, and VIRTUAL STRANGERS play the San Diego Folk Heritage series, and THE MARK JACKSON BAND plays Carol Branch’s House Concert series; and there are two good shows in the world-folkie category, with the CREOLE CHOIR OF CUBA at UC Riverside, and METALES M5 - MEXICAN BRASS at the Performances to Grow On series in Ojai.
    
    The World Series is over, there's no basketball, there's GREAT acoustic music out there, so why stay home?
    
    
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~ 
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~ 
   
Our # 4 Story
    
GRAM PARSONS 65th B'DAY TRIBUTE AT RONNIE MACK'S BARN DANCE, NOVEMBER 7
    
    This month's “RONNIE MACK'S BARN DANCE” is teaming up with “Gram International” to present this birthday show to celebrate the music and memory of the late, great GRAM PARSONS.
    
    That alone should grab your interest, but this isn't just a nice concept. It's a musical gala of Americana stars.
    
    And what a lineup! Featured performers include ROSIE FLORES, JAMES INTVELD, RONEE BLAKELY, CARLA OLSON, JOHN YORK, I SEE HAWKS IN L.A., RICK SHEA, KAREN TOBIN, LISA FINNIE, PATTY BOOKER, THE PSYCHEDELIC COWBOYS (with Justin on drums), FUR DIXON & STEVE WERNER, BOB WOODRUFF, STEVEN CASPER & COWBOY ANGST, KAREN NASH, JANN BROWN, BRANTLEY KEARNS, and more.
    
    If you've ever needed a reason to stay out late on a Monday, we reckon this'll provide it. The show is Monday, November 7, at 7:30 pm, at Joe's American Bar & Grill, 4311 Magnolia Blvd, in Burbank. Yee-Haa!
    
    
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~ 
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~ 
   
Our # 5 Story
    
GORDON LIGHTFOOT PLAYING LOCAL SHOWS NOVEMBER 8 & 9
    
    While NEIL YOUNG was busy being Canada's biggest rock star, GORDON LIGHTFOOT and ANNE MURRAY were its biggest acoustic pop / folk stars. Lightfoot's biggest hit was “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” but he's written a boatload of good songs, from “Early Morning Rain” to “The Canadian Railroad Trilogy.” We saw his show two years ago at the Canyon Club and he still had his chops. Catch him while you can. You'll find yourself singing along to songs you didn't know you knew.
    
    He plays Tuesday, November 8, at 8 pm at the UCLA Live! series in Royce Hall, on the UCLA campus in Westwood; info and tix, 310-825-2101.
    
    Wednesday, November 9, at 8 pm, he's in Santa Barbara at the UCSB Arlington Theater, 1317 State St, Santa Barbara; info and tix, 805-963-4408.
    
    
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~ 
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~ 
   
Our # 6 Story
   
TOP AWARD NOMINEES THE TUMBLING TUMBLEWEEDS AND JOYCE WOODSON TO PERFORM TOGETHER EN-ROUTE TO WESTERN MUSIC AWARDS
    
    Next Saturday, November 12, it's a night of a night of award-winning and award-nominated western music at the Coffee Gallery Backstage in Altadena.
    
    Both acts are no strangers to western music's top awards, and both are nominated for top 2011 awards. THE TUMBLING TUMBLEWEEDS are nominees for the Western Music Association (WMA) “Traditional Western Album by a Duo or Group” and JOYCE WOODSON is a nominee for both the WMA 2011 “Outstanding Female Performer” and WMA 2011 “Outstanding Songwriter of the Year.” They share the bill tonight, just one week before the award ceremonies in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
    
    It'll be a night of happy contrasts.
    
    JOYCE WOODSON is a lovely cowgirl troubadour with songwriting sensibilities that are recognized and envied far afield from the western genre, and her vocal control enables her to deliver soaring sustained notes, yodels and plaintive ballads.
    
    The Tumbleweeds are harmony singers in matching outfits who have a few dance moves and on-stage charm. They began as a tribute band to the SONS OF THE PIONEERS, and have branched out to arranging harmonies for other western standards and writing and performing their own songs. They're still a singing outfit, not a song-and-dance troupe. Their individual theatrical backgrounds could enable that to change if they wanted to choreograph the footwork and develop more synchronized hoofing.
    
    Along with the WMA nominations for their latest CD, “Blaze Across the West,” The Tumbling Tumbleweeds' new CD has rave reviews from magazine critics, including “American Cowboy,” “The Western Way,” “Big Sky Journal,” and even “Cri Du Coyote” in France.
    
    It's always special when the group returns to this venue, because they got their start on this stage. (The Guide was there that first night and wrote a glowing review, so we've always taken a special interest in their continuing success.)
    
    Singing Tumbleweed band members “TUMBLEWEED ROB” WOLFSKILL, “BIG CADE” PARENTI, CHRIS ACUFF and “BABYFACE” R.J. MILLS will be joined by their new member, fiddler JESSE OLEMA making his Coffee Gallery Backstage debut, along with regularly featured member, bass player “SMOKIN’ DAN” DUNGAN.
    
    The Tumbleweeds found Jesse playing in a jam circle at the Topanga Banjo Fiddle Contest and Folk Music Festival this past May. They tell us they “were instantly taken with his intuitively laid back style.”
    
    Tumbleweed Rob adds, “Jesse has an uncanny knack of weaving in and out of a melody as if being beckoned by some alternate point of view of the song no one but he has ever considered. It is his own special gift that we find stunning and we can’t wait for our audiences to be delighted by it as well!” Rob raves, “Jesse has the heart and soul for traditional American music and we are so thrilled to have him playing with us!”
    
    The Tumbling Tumbleweeds presented Jesse for the first time in September during their three-concert Arizona tour. The Tumbleweeds plan to present Jesse “to their Western Music family” at the Western Music Association Showcase and Awards Show in Albuquerque, where they will learn if their nomination will bring them “best album” honors.
    
    Tumbleweed Rob, leader of the group, said “We are so thrilled and honored to be nominated by the WMA! The Western Music Association is very near and dear to our hearts so it means more than we can ever say to be recognized by them. We are proud to represent the WMA wherever we go and we are equally proud to be a part of an organization that sets the standard of excellence in our genre.”
    
    JOYCE WOODSON has received top honors in western music in multiple years. Here at the Guide, we believe her songwriting, vocals, and acoustic guitar are winners every time she performs.
    
    The show is Saturday, November 12, at 7 pm, at the Coffee Gallery Backstage, 2029 N Lake Av, Altadena; info, www.coffeegallery.com; for reservations (highly recommended) call 626-798-6236. Tix are $20, and this will likely sell-out.
    
    
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~ 
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~ 
   
Our # 7 Story
   
CD REVIEW – DAFNI, “SWEET TIME”
    
    Folk-Americana is happily inclusive of an era of dreamy vocals that spanned the gap between what we now call “old time music” and proto / pre-jazz, long before jazz became insufferably pretentious. It's inclusive of the music of the speakeasies and the “cheer-me-up” songs of the Great Depression. Given today's revival of more characteristically cabaret music, there should be an audience hungry for this music, as well – when it's good and when they can find it. We celebrate that this album shines, and hope to inform potential listeners.
    
    Dafni, who performs as a one-name artist, is a talented singer-songwriter who often writes and performs in older styles. She does that with fine musicality and a subtle impishness that was often taken in the 1930s for sultriness. The diminutive artist is certainly attractive, but Dafni brings an inner grace to her music, more quiet than effusive; she's always having fun and has no trouble drawing-in the listener. You hear her sing and you dream of a Big Band backing her. We must add that she also performs beautifully in more contemporary styles – but she is at her best with her signature retro style.
    
   The real-life Dafni Amirsakis lets fans avoid her tongue-twister Greek name, though she dedicates this record to her “beautiful grandmother,” Anthoula Chrissakis Diamanlidou (1922-2009). Dafni is a naturally happy person and a first-rate scientist with a PhD.
    
    Her lack of touring has limited Dafni's previous albums have enjoyed radio airplay. A live recording of her performing on “Tied to the Tracks” earned a “Listener Favorite” frequent-request honor on that show a few years back.
    
    This album has 11 tracks, all Dafni's originals. It was produced by Dan Janisch and recorded by Dennis Moody at his L.A. studio, with assistance from Chuck Wilson. It's the initial release on her Daffer Doodle Music label.
    
    “I love my band!” Dafni will tell you, with little provocation, and the music they make together is as good on the album as it is live. This time out, she gives top billing to Mark San Filippo on drums, followed by Geoff “The Wolfman” Rakness on upright and electric bass. Three guitarists played on different tracks, band member Peter Kavanaugh on four songs, Tony Gilkyson on three, and Dan Janisch on two. Janisch also plays three-string bass (?!), electric guitar and percussion on one more, and contributes backing vocals. Michael Bolger is fine on accordion, piano and trumpet, and recording artist / singer-songwriter Lisa Finnie adds backing vocals. It's a talented ensemble cast that brings Dafni's original songs to life, with principal assistant arrangement credits to Rakness.
    
    Dafni's vocals drive the entire record, and that's just fine. Her voice is wonderful, often dreamy and atmospheric.
    
    Here's a quick song-by-song critique.
    
    Track 1, “Anything at All,” has a very contemporary arrangement, characterized by rhythmic percussion, but tastefully.
    
    Track 2, “Sweet Time,” is the title track, a piano-vocal that feels like you're hearing Peggy Lee in a quiet, smoke-filled nightclub in 1962, except it is, well, sweet and a little jazzy.
    
    Track 3, “Someday,” with its cute dit-dit-doo is gently upbeat.
    
    Track 4, “Floating,” will find broad appeal, even though it lets loose with an electric guitar solo that isn't necessary, but doesn't hurt anything.
    
    Track 5, “Under the Blue Skies,” is instantly appealing from the first few notes, and it's the one you must download and the one to request when you catch her live; you'll learn it so you can sing along (and others will surely be covering this one).
    
    Track 6, “Part of Me,” is the waltz that shuts-up the guy who wants to hear “Melancholy Baby,” and it would work for the last dance at the honky-tonk, if you aren't crying with aw-shucks sentimentality at the bar.
    
    Track 7, “Walking Out the Door,” is the one with a '60s rock-and-roll feel and that makes the slinky go-go dancer shimmy and the surfers stay on the beach.
    
    Track 8, “Save Me,” is one that Janet Klein could include in her '20s proto-jazz repertoire; Dafni's delivery and the wonderfully understated (and uncredited) cupped trumpet, jazzy piano, and backing counterpoint basso vocals keep you smiling all the way.
    
    Track 9, “Oh How I Wish,” has nice bass riffs that inform its bittersweet 1930s-style lamentations.
    
    Track 10, “Run Away,” has a somewhat unusual feel, both instrumentally and in its time signature; it's a departure from the rest of the CD, but it's not jarring, just different.
    
    Track 11, “Fly Away,” is not the old John Denver / Olivia Newton John duet, and it has a feel that could predate that one by decades. This one could have made lovers cuddle at the speakeasy.
    
    “Sweet Time” is a fine album with plenty of internal cohesion and enough variety to warrant a start-to-finish listen every time you put it in the player. If you load music in your smartphone, you'll want to include all 11 tracks.
    
    You can get more info on Dafni's music and live performance schedule, and order the CD at www.dafni.us    
    
    
    This review is available by itself, as an individual and separate feature, at
http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2011/11/cd-review-dafni-sweet-time.html  
    
    
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~ 
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~ 
    
Our # 8 Story
   
REVIEWS – NEW SERIES TAKES A FRESH LOOK AT OLD RECORDINGS,
“ACROSS THE DIGITAL DIVIDE...”
    
    We are introducing a new series in the Acoustic Americana Music Guide. It's new reviews of old recordings from the other side of the digital divide. What we intend here is a bit of a time machine, delivering fresh reviews of music released a decade ago or more.
    
We get asked to do a lot of reviews of the latest new CD releases and even web-only new albums. It's overwhelming because the sheer numbers of new recordings are so great, and yes, sometimes the new recordings are, too.
    
    Obviously, not everything new is wonderful, and not everything wonderful is new.
    
    Older recordings have a magnetic charm – not simply because many of them were released primarily on magnetic tape cassette, or before that, on 8-track or 4-track tape and/or grooved vinyl phonograph record. In an age before pitch correction software, there was a fundamental honesty to recorded music.
    
    Perhaps they would have chosen to “enhance” or “improve” them if they could, but they couldn't. That technology was not there. What you hear is what the most talented recording engineers and producers could do to present the artists' best efforts. (Okay, so they could and did overdub to add instruments and vocal harmonies and to get rid of unintended sounds and replace bad notes. But that was about all they could do.)
    
    Then, as now, some bands and artists were better in the studio than they were in live performance for an audience, and vice-versa. Often, with the passage of time, we are left with the surviving product of one – the recordings - and only memories and contemporary reviews of the other – the live shows. Over time, attrition factors of age and sensibility will consume the latter. As with silent movies, recorded music from another time should not be allowed to vanish. Certainly the best of it should not vanish from the artistic record or the measure of today's best.
    
    In the days of vinyl records, it cost a LOT to manufacture – to physically “press” – and release an album. That limited the number of recording artists. CD technology is cheap, and now every musician is a recording artist. That was artistically liberating, but it lowered the bar. Tracks a label never would have released were able to flood the market, for good and bad.
    
That might suggest that everything pre-CD is of better quality. That's a factor. Old recordings can likewise sound very dated, loaded with archaic and tired old riffs and conventions. It runs the gamut. Disco still sucks. Old tracks are as likely to make us chuckle as say “wow.”
    
    Yet who can question the worth of having records of Enrico Caruso or Lightnin' Hopkins or Jelly Roll Morton or Lena Horne or Django Reinhardt or Woody Guthrie?
    
    Often, old albums – and those in the folk-Americana world in particular – go extinct. Many recordings issued only on cassette – which first broke the Big Label vinyl barrier – were never re-released on CD, so they were left behind. They have not crossed-over the digital divide.
    
    The Guide's new review series, “Across the Digital Divide,” brings us face-to-face with old recordings that should not be forgotten, for the sake of our cultural heritage, our history, art, our musical legacy – and as recordings that set the bar high, with standards of musicianship and finished recording that we should aspire to meet today.
    
    Will we present reviews of albums that are out-of-print? Sometimes. That's not intended to frustrate, but to create interest and demand for re-release in a modern format – CD or digital download – to enable the music to be heard again by today's audience.
    
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF A USEFUL KIND
    
    If you're wondering what started this, it's a tale with something useful. We were changing batteries in the radio in the earthquake / emergency box, and noted the device has a cassette recorder-player.
    
    Then we remembered why.
    
    When we wrote an Emergency Response Plan for an aerospace company about a decade ago, we got them to buy compact portable radio / cassette recorder-players. We had them install tapes with useful info on one side, like where to find water and first aid supplies, and blank tape on the other side to enable leaving messages. Messages like, “We [with all names] are safe and are going to _____,” or, “We are at such-and-such place, digging-out trapped people, so come help us.”
    
    Following our own advice, we bought a compact portable radio / cassette recorder-player.
    
    All THAT, in turn, reminded us our digital devices won't work in a disaster because all the cell phone sites will be down and the land lines and power will be out. Along with a note pad and pen, an old cassette recorder-player and fresh batteries are still a good idea.
    
    Serendipitously, we ran across a big box of cassette tapes we hadn't heard in years, inclusive of old favorites. Playing some of them after such a long time has become habit-forming, and it's music worth sharing. So there you have it.
    
HOW LONG WILL THIS BE GOIN' ON?
    
    Our first review in the series appears below. How long these new reviews of old recordings from “Across the Digital Divide” continue will be determined by your interest and feedback.
    
    WE WELCOME YOUR SUGGESTIONS FOR REVIEWS IN THIS SERIES, from blues to bluegrass to borderlands, Cajun to cowboy to Celtic to Cape Breton to Quebecois, music of the sea or the islands, new-old-trad-alt-post folk, and acoustic singer-songwriter music of its day – any acoustic Americana recording that was released ten years ago or more. We may need to ask you to send us a cassette copy or burned CD along with a Xerox or legible scan of the L-card or the 8-track's pasted-on label or the vinyl record's liner notes. If you think it's worth keeping alive and sharing, we probably will, too!
    
    
    This feature, describing the “Across the Digital Divide” review series, is available by itself, as an individual and separate feature, at
http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2011/11/reviews-new-series-takes-fresh-look-at.html  
    
    
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~ 
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~ 
    
Our # 9 Story
   
REVIEW – ACROSS THE DIGITAL DIVIDE...
“HOME SWEET HOME,” A CASSETTE TREASURE
    
    If you read the preceding feature, you'll know what this new series is about.
    
    “Home Sweet Home” was released on the Cumberland label in 1997 on audio cassette tape. It's all-instrumental, all traditional instruments, with no vocals. It's one of the best we've ever heard of its kind.
    
    There are 13 tracks, all showcasing the hammered dulcimer artistry of Alisa Jones, the artist of record for the album. But this is head and shoulders above other first-rate dulcimer albums.
    
    The instrumentation is rich. The arrangements are all splendid. The players are all-stars. Stuart Duncan plays fiddle and clawhammer banjo. Ronnie McCoury is one of two players on mandolin. Rob Ickes plays Dobro. After Jones herself, top credit on the cassette's L-card went to Ron Wall on autoharp, followed by Mark Howard on guitars and mandolin and Roy Huskey, Jr., on upright bass. The players are rounded-out by Richard Bailey on banjo and Kenny Malone on drums and percussion.
    
    One engineer is a name we know well. David Ferguson and Mark Howard did the work at Eleven-O-Three Studios in Nashville, and Howard produced the album.
    
    Cumberland Records was then a division of Green Hill Productions, a division of Spring Hill Music Group, Inc. in Nashville.
    
    To call the total presentation charming must be qualified by adding that's not meant to convey the sarcasm sometimes intended. It IS charming, thoroughly delightful, an instrumental album that is neither invasive nor one you can ignore while you're doing something else. It elevates any mood and inspires proficiency in any musician. The brilliantly melodious takes on old traditional standards are as fresh as any you've ever heard. What more could you want?
    
    Side one (it's a cassette) has “Over the Waterfall,” “Southwind,” “Cluck Ol' Hen,” “Home Sweet Home” (in a really innovative tour-de-force on hammered dulcimer), “Daisy Dean,” “Mississippi Sawyer,” and “Huntin' for the Buffalo.”
    
    Side two is at least equally formidable, and our favorite side, with “Ragtime Annie” (not a common dulcimer tune), “Willow Garden,” “Uncle Joe,” “Grandfather's Clock,” “Devil's Dream,” and a rousing, fully instrumented “Arkansas Traveler.”
    
    If you're thinking, “Sounds good, but the hammered dulcimer is so jangly,” the happiest surprise is that Alisa Jones plays it like a harpsichord, and Walls' autoharp accompanies with precision – together with all those other string instrument virtuosos. This album was a treasure when it was first released, and it remains one of equal luster today.
    
--- +++ --- +++ --- +++ --- +++ --- +++ --- +++ --- +++ --- +++ --- +++ --- +++ --- +++ --- +++ ---
    
    Now, for the best news of all. “Home Sweet Home” IS AVAILABLE ON CD for $11.99 at www.vendio.com/stores/Specialtees_Music/item/root/0208-home-sweet-home/lid=19784724  
    
    You can click buttons there for samples of some of this album's fine tracks.
    
    More from the Cumberland Records catalog of current and past releases can be found at www.cumberlandrecords.com and yes, they feature folk, Irish and Christmas music CDs.  
    
--- +++ --- +++ --- +++ --- +++ --- +++ --- +++ --- +++ --- +++ --- +++ --- +++ --- +++ --- +++ ---
    
    We hope you enjoyed this, our first new review of an old recording in our “Across the Digital Divide” series. How long the series continues will be determined by your interest and feedback.
    
    WE WELCOME YOUR SUGGESTIONS FOR REVIEWS IN THIS SERIES – see the last paragraph of the preceding feature for details!
    
    
    More on the series and why we're doing it is at
http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2011/11/reviews-new-series-takes-fresh-look-at.html  
    
    This review is available by itself, as an individual and separate feature, at
http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2011/11/review-across-digital-divide-home-sweet.html  
    
    
||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<|| 
   
  
MORE STUFF >>>>>>> Resources, etc
   
Our VENUE DIRECTORY   
  
...with OVER 500 acoustic-music-friendly venues in Southern California, is available at   
  
http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2011/02/venue-directory-from-guide-updated.html   
  
  
||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||  
  
  
RECENT EDITIONS of The Guide's NEWS FEATURES are still available!  
  
    Just check our archive! Read the contents bar on the left side of the page at www.acousticamericana.blogspot.com and click the appropriate month.   
   
   
The MOST RECENT past editions (last 30 days) are easy to find HERE:
    
    
“Artists Join 'Occupy Wall Street'...,” The Guide's October 7 feature story and your comments to it, is available BY ITSELF, with YOUR COMMENTS, at
    
http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2011/10/artists-join-occupy-wall-street-as.html  
    
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
    
October 27 edition is available at
    
http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2011/10/news-features-acoustic-americana-music_28.html    
                       and the stories are:
  
  1) Irish, Celtic Music Plentiful for “SAMHAIN,” Original Halloween / Celtic New Year  
  2) “TWO SIDES OF CELTIC” Show at Caltech Saturday Night 
  3) Guerrilla Art Returns with Mayor On-Board – May The Fork Be with You 
  4) Music Got Us to the Moon – Where Might it Yet Take Us? 
    The biggest and final Mars lander touches down in November. Is there meaning for Artists? 
  5) STAGECOACH and COACHELLA Will Grow to 3 Days in 2012 
  6) Strong Mountain Roots / Bluegrass / Newgrass Double-Bill on Friday 
  7) YOU can still add your comment at the HUGE RESPONSE to our feature,
    “Artists Join 'OCCUPY WALL STREET'...”  
    
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
    
October 14 edition is available at
    
http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2011/10/news-features-acoustic-americana-music_14.html   
                       and the stories are:
  
  1) Festivals & Semi-Annual “Art Night” in Pasadena this Weekend  
  2) Blues Bands Perform in International Finals, Saturday in Arcadia
  3) May the Fork Be with You – “Ride-the-Fork” Music Party Saturday, Raise “The Fork
    in the Road” next Friday, at Altadena & Pasadena Events
  4) West Valley Music Launches Concert Season Saturday with Performing Songwriters &
    Touring Artists JAMES HURLEY, LISA NEMZO, RASPIN STUWART  
  5) SONGSALIVE! Hosts Annual Music Picnic this Sunday  
  6) JUDY COLLINS and AMERICA to headline GRAMMY Museum in early November  
  7) October at GRAMMY Museum Bringing Live Music, Big Names, Substance
  8) “SQUEAKY WHEEL TOUR” Live Acoustic Show, to Help Bring Home Missing People,
    Monday, October 17 in West L.A.
  9) TIM GRIMM, musician / actor / top folk-Americana Music Award-Winner, plus
    THE SWEET POTATOES, play Wednesday, October 19 in Altadena  
10) Whoa! More on WILL RYAN & THE CACTUS COUNTY COWBOYS –
    CD release October 21 at “International Fork Day” Concert  
11) TOM RUSSELL “Mesabi Tour of the West” in L.A. for Two Shows, October 22
12) ALEX BEATON, Musician Paralyzed in Accident, Regaining Movement  
13) HUGE RESPONSE to last week's feature, “Artists Join 'OCCUPY WALL STREET'
    as Unemployment, Economy Worsen,” and how YOU can respond
    
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
    
October 7 edition is available at
    
http://acousticamericana.blogspot.com/2011/10/news-features-acoustic-americana-music.html  
                       and the stories are:
  
  1) A Festival-Crazy Weekend  
  2) “Show-of-the-Week” Concerts this Weekend  
  3) Chicago Folk Duo SMALL POTATOES Plays this Saturday In Pasadena   
  4) STEVE JOBS, iPod Inventor, Tech Guru, Has Logged-Off  
  5) Artists Join “OCCUPY WALL STREET” as Unemployment, Economy Worsen  
  6) WORKSHOP: “Country Blues with ALICE STUART & PAT TENNIS,” October 15  
  7) “Tracking Film & TV Music” with LEE HOLDRIDGE & JON BURLINGAME,” Oct 16  
  8) WILL RYAN & THE CACTUS COUNTY COWBOYS to Follow OSCARS Theatre Triumph
    with October 22 Concert  
    
    
||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||  
  
Questions? Comments? Contact us through our Blogspot site or by email at   
  
                          tied to the tracks (at) Hotmail (dot) com  
  
(We're trying to cut-down spam. Please help – just remove all the spaces and type the "@" and the ".")  
  
||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||  
    
YES, we invite you to add YOUR comments!
    
||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||>♦<||  
    
You can always find the LATEST EDITION of THE ACOUSTIC AMERICANA MUSIC GUIDE, with separate links for:
  
1) the latest NEWS FEATURES, with feature stories / reviews / editorials / current acoustic music happenings / "heads up" notices to buy advance tickets for shows likely to sell-out / news you can't find anywhere else from and about the world of acoustic and Americana music and artists;
  
2) the latest SPOTLIGHT EVENTS section, with new and updated info on festivals / artist workshops / schedules and calendars for concerts, club gigs, live music happenings, acoustic & Americana music-related events / and more;
  
3) The Guide's VENUE DIRECTORY of over 500 acoustic music-friendly venues in Southern California – the places TO HEAR MUSIC, or CONTACT TO GET GIGS.
  
It's all available 24/7 (& frequently updated!) at ~  
  
             www.acousticmusic.net or at   
             www.acousticamericana.blogspot.com    
  
- or follow any of the links in the fifteen web sites and web groups that carry the Guide’s weekly News Features.  
    
      
<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>  
 Entire contents copyright (c) 2011, Lawrence Wines & Tied to the Tracks. All rights reserved.  
<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>-<^>  
  
  

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks for your comment. The BEST way to comment or to reach us in a timely manner is at tiedtothetracks@hotmail.com