Trip to Noiseland

On Monday Lynn and I met with the folks at Noiseland, in Northeast Minneapolis, to initiate the design and manufacturing process for our CD tentatively titled Blue-Eyed Boatman.

We first met with the owner/manager (Andrew?) and discussed packaging. We hope to go with the 'digipak' rather than a jewel case (compare here); however, the digipak adds $$ to the project (about 40 cents per CD). Noiseland is local and both our recording and mixing engineer are familiar with the company (and the folk at Noiseland knows both of them!).

After some of the business discussion , Andrew brought over Dan, one of their designers, who has an interest in old-timey music - at one point he brought over the Yazoo CD, The Stuff That Dreams are Made Of, which is a collection of rare 78s with artwork by Robert Crumb (himself a 78 collector).

Lynn, who is fronting the artwork from our end, had brought her computer and showed Dan the photo shoot by Tracy Nielsen taken at Lake Harriet in October. Some of the pictures are on our page on facebook and should be on our myspace site soon.

As they looked through the photos, both Dan pointed out a picture he thought might make a good album cover: Lynn had been looking at the same picture. We are starting to feel pretty good about choosing Noiseland. Here's the picture (before the photo-shopping to make us look like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie):



At the Noiseland office, I also noticed CDs from local bluegrass artists like The High 48s and Becky Schlegel plus one from our friends 'The Roe Family Singers', that we had just bought at the latest 416 club concert at the Cedar Cultural Center. We're in good company ;-)

Andrew is preparing a contract and estimate: Dan is going to start with a mockup of the cover. We'll get in touch with David Gardner from Magneto to send over the final master. There will be PDFs, feedback and tweaking going over email, but once the final design is set,the time for production will be about two weeks. We will definitely have our first CD out before the snow melts!

Thinking about "Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes"

The Carter Family song "I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes" is one of the first Carter Family songs I learned and it has been in the Bob&Lynn Dixon Band's repertoire since we first started playing out. I have always sung the chorus:

Oh, I'm thinking tonight of my blue eyes
Who is sailing far over the sea
I'm thinking tonight of my blue eyes
And I wonder if he/she ever thinks of me

( I sing "if she ever thinks of me")

Recently, I heard a slightly different chorus done by Doc Watson and in two different Jams it seemed that the other singers were using the 'altered' version - this goes:

Oh, I'm thinking tonight of my blue eyes
Who is sailing far over the sea
I'm thinking tonight of him/her only
And I wonder if he/she ever thinks of me

This got me wondering if I just learned it wrong or if there just two versions of it.

So the other day I checked my recordings of the Original Carter Family: they recorded it at least twice and both are the way I learned it. The Doc Watson recording with the 2nd version is from the album the 'Vanguard years' so he recorded in the '60s or '70s.

I went on Google and found the following in published lyrics for other versions (these don't always match what is actually sung):

• Gene Autry (1942) & Ralph Stanley(2006) use the 'original' version.
• In addition to Doc Watson, Dolly Parton and June Carter sing the 'altered' version.

It may be that June Carter created the altered version or that Sarah Carter changed it at some point. In a biography of the Carter Family, there is the story of how Sarah sang this on the radio appealing to the man she loved to contact her - maybe she sang the altered version.

As for me, I'll continue to sing the original chorus. I'm used to it and it is the one I prefer.

Dulono's this weekend

Lynn and I are pleased to be playing at Dulono's both nights this weekend. We're billing it as our 2nd annual post-holiday palate cleanser (no carols or cookies, just pizza, beer and old-time music).

Last year it seemed like everyone we knew came to see us and many could not find a seat or had trouble hearing us. We're hoping to get the same big crowd spread over two nights, plus we've upgraded our sound system.

A year ago January was our first Dulono's appearance and we've played 2 other times. (March, 2008 we played a full weekend and a Friday night in September). We usually plan 3 sets with a 15-20 minute break in between and so fill the 8-midnight slot.

The set list for each night will contain about 45 songs and tunes. We're working on Friday's set list now and then will rearrange things and swap out 5-10 songs for Saturday's set list. We've added around a dozen songs and tunes in the last year and will be playing 3 songs for the first time:

Rambling Boy (Carter Family)
Cannonball Blues (Carter Family - with 12-string!)
The Highwayman (Charlie Poole)

We've also worked on some new 'dance' tunes arranged for mandolin and fiddle. All-in-all we have a dozen new songs/tunes to share this time around.

We really look forward to showcasing the full extent of our repertoire, but are well aware that this will be a marathon session. Each night is the equivalent of 2 normal shows, plus we need to set up and tear down all the sound. (We're hoping to engage our 23 year old son as a roady).

I do have the week off from my day job, so we should have plenty of time to review songs and get "plenty of rest" before the gig.

Quick note on a 'new' song.

The Raging Sea is a song I started to learn last summer and has now become part of the Bob&Lynn repertoire. I learned it first from the New Lost City Ramblers, than located their source: a 78rpm Ernest Stoneman (which I found on an LP). Both feature a fiddle doing the melody and Stoneman's version adds banjo and harmonica. I worked out a Carter Family type lead and we ended up on two guitars - Lynn is singing harmony on both the verses and chorus.

On my way back from the office today (right after lunch because of current and impending snow), the shuffle on IPod played The Wave on the Sea by the Carter Family: this is a 'variant' and sure enough Maybelle was doing a nice guitar part - different from but similar to what I had worked out. I don't know if what she does will change the way I do it, but I like what she does and feel that using the guitar as a lead instrument can still be 'true' to the original source material.

Searching through my itunes, I also discovered that the Mill City Grinders do the Carter Family version on their album No Corn in the Crib --- with fiddle and banjo picking up the melody. What goes around comes around!

About last Saturday's Contradance Band...

In 1996, shortly after I started playing the mandolin our family started going to the Danebod family camp in Tyler, Mn. Folk dancing is an important part of the Danebod tradition and the June camp had a strong 'live' band tradition. Although guitar is my main instrument, I started playing mostly mandolin with the Danebod Folk Band. Around the same time, Tommy was taking fiddle lessons from Brian Wicklund. Lynn and I alternated driving duties and also took a fiddle(Lynn) or mandolin (me) lesson from Brian as well. So I started learning 'fiddle' tunes on the mandolin.

Twin City musicians in the Danebod band would play live dance events under the name of 'Wild Rhubarb' and eventually even held formal rehearsals as part of the Twin Cities Urban Folk School.

Ken Steffenson, another musician who attends Danebod, has played fiddle for contra dances for over twenty years. About 4 or 5 years ago, Lynn played a dance or two with Ken as the rhythm pianist and I started tagging along (mostly to haul her keyboard, but I'd try to keep up on mandolin). In 2004 or so, Ken formed Danebodium, which added Daniel Leussler on bass to Ken, Lynn and me. I think it was Sept 2004 that we played our first dance at the Tapestry Folk Dance Center. I practiced for weeks trying to learn about 30-40 tunes. I also discovered that 'dance speed' was at a much faster tempo than I was used to playing. However, as Danebodium continued, my proficiency on mandolin improved and playing for these dances become 'easier' and actually a lot of fun. As a group we also started playing at a higher level and have been called one of the most 'mature' contra dance bands that play at Tapestry.

Ken works out the booking with Tapestry: we played a dance in September and in October he booked us to play on December 13th (last Saturday). A couple of weeks ago Lynn had a recurrence of a back problem which took a turn for the worse last Tuesday. At that point she wasn't sure if she could play piano for the dance; however, I didn't worry too much since with Ken on Fiddle, I could play more rhythm guitar and we could make it as a trio. However, on Thursday Ken called saying he had a conflict and would need to get a substitute for himself. At this point it was clear that Lynn would probably not be playing so we were really short 2 musicians. Ken called Pat O'Loughlin who has played in various bands over the years and he was available (Pat plays concertina and banjo). Thursday night I was headed for Bill Cagley's Roots Showcase at the Coffee Grounds - Ken joined me with the idea of seeing if Bill could cover rhythm guitar for the contra-dance. Bill was late and it wasn't until my 'set' (with Bill and Ken accompanying) that we asked him if he was available - he wasn't, but afterwards Stew Leleivre, one of the other guitar players at the Coffee Grounds said he could play, but didn't have any experience playing contra-dances. Ken was still trying to contact a couple of experienced rhythm players he knew so I told Stew I'd let him know as soon as the scoop.

Friday around supper time, Lynn talked to Ken - he had not found anyone, but hadn't been able to get a hold of Jim Parker who plays with Pigs Eye Landing. Ken had a phone number for Jim, but when Lynn tried it she found it was wrong or out-of-date. Since she had once played piano with Pig-eye (as Jim's substitute), she had the phone number of their fiddler, Tim Reese. She called Tim and found that Jim was just walking through the door - Jim was available so we were set for Saturday. Pat, Jim, Daniel and me - 2 melody players and 2 on rhythm. (I emailed Stew that he was 'off the hook', but that he was now 'on our list of players'!).

Friday night, Pat and Daniel came over and we found the sets of reels and jigs from the Danebodium repertoire that we had in common. Since Pat had played for years with Ken, he knew most of the tunes. We had a couple sets with some tunes I wrote and after playing through them a few times, Pat picked them up, we ended up with a set list of 8 reels, 4 jigs and 2 waltzes (at the break and at the end of the contradance, the band plays a waltz for couples to dance to). We played through most of these and by the end of this rehearsal I was feeling a lot better about Saturday night.

Then on Saturday, a little after 6:30 just before I was getting ready to go, I got a call from Jim Parker: his mother had a health emergency and he was going to have to deal with it since other family members were not available. I said we'd be pretty thin without him , but that we'd set up a mike just in case he could make it. After Jim hung up, I remembered Stew's offer so I gave him a call - he was home and willing to play, but his wife had the car. Stew lives in St. Paul so I said I'd pick him up. By this time it was 6:45 - the contradance starts at 7:30 but the 1st 1/2 hour is teaching so I figured we'd get there in time to do a sound check before the 'real' dancing starts at 8:00. Lynn said she'd try to get in touch with Daniel and/or Pat to let them know what was going on.

Fortunately, traffic was light and I got to Stew's a bit after 7:00 (I overshot his house, but by that time he had seen me and was outside waiting). We used the Ford bridge to get over to Minneapolis and after a few wrong turns finally pulled in to the Tapestry parking lot at 7:30. During the ride, Lynn called me to say that she'd heard back from Daniel that Jim was at Tapestry. (Jim's brother, who was supposed to be 'on duty' had finally appeared). So we ended up with a 'big' band: bass, 2 (or 3 guitars) with mando, banjo or concertina. We added a chair & on extra mike for Stew and were ready to go by 8:00.

Fortunately, I had made copies of the music for a '3rd' book (Lynn and my Danebodium books were the 1st and 2nd). Lynn had also made a clear and big type version of the set list with medleys numbered according to their position in the master Danebodium book. We had a copy for David Kirchner so he would sometimes pick a specific medley rather than just a reel or jig set. We ended up using 11 out of the 12 medleys so we had 'just enough' music with one jig set left over.

We had a blast - Pat, with decades of experience, always set the initial tempo and warned us when we going too fast. The new thing for me was that I was 'The Leader of the Band' - for Contra dances I had never played with anyone but Ken and I was used to him taking the lead and indeed 'leaning' on him at times. I was in the middle and was the person calling the changes and 'setting the tone'. Of course, having Daniel on bass was another life-saver - he worked with Jim to set a steady rocking rhythm. We had a number of musical high points. I brought a guitar, even though I wasn't expecting to use it much, if at all. However, for a couple of sets I switched to flatpicking the guitar and on one piece, Over the Waterfall, all three of the guitar players were flatpicking the melody. Jim had a blast and even said I did a great job on mandolin and as 'leader'.

A final note: Stew told us about a party at a musician friend (who I knew slightly) in St. Paul close to his house. He gave Pat directions and on the drive back to St. Paul, Stew pointed out the party house to me (we saw Pat arriving). At the party, I immediately saw a number of the usual suspects (musicians I knew). Stew and I ended up in a jam with some folks we knew and played until 2:30 - I got home about 3 AM. Exhilarated but exhausted.

New 'new' songs

In a previous post, I went over some 'new' songs that we played at our gigs in November; however, I have also started to look at some other songs. Lynn and I have started to work out arrangements and I'm hoping that a couple of them might be ready for our Dulono's gig in January. But at the moment they are definitely works in progress:

The Rambling Boy:

This is from the Carter Family - I was struck by Maybelle's guitar part, so I tackled that first. There is a slight 'swing' rhythm with almost a triplet feel. They do it in G with Sara singing the lead but in 3 part harmony for most of the song. At times AP's and Maybelle's voices are stronger than Sara, so it made it a little hard to pick out the actual melody. But with some help from Lynn and using the guitar interludes I came up with a melody line that makes sense to me. Initially I pitched it in F playing in the C position with the Capo at the 5th fret. When I started going over the song with Lynn, we slid it up to F#, but she couldn't get her guitar part to sound right (playing in D at 4th fret). We finally tried in G with my guitar capoed at the 7th fret while Lynn is playing open. This is a combination I've seen other duos used, but the first time that we've had our capo's that far apart: we like the sound and it turns out that once again I am singing in the same key as Sara Carter. I also have a version by the New Lost City Ramblers that appears to be based on the Carter family version, although they have straigtened the rhythm and to my ear, have a less interesting melody. They also changed the last verse to something more bland, here's what the Carter family (and we) sing:

Now when I die, don't bury me at all
Just place me away in alcohol
My forty-four laying by my feet
Please tell them I am just asleep

However, I did find words in the New City Ramblers version that I am using instead of some Carter family words that I found 'problematic'. A version of the lyrics that is close to what we do is here.

Joan Baez also does a version she calls 'the Rake and Rambling boy' and from Wikipedia I found that the original source is from an Irish song: Newry Highwayman which dates to the 1830s.

The Highway Man:

This is a Charley Poole Song with a 'ragged waltz' rhythm. It's a variant of "Slack your rope, Hangman" which Lynn and I remember from the 60's folk era. Both the Kingston Trio and Peter, Paul and Mary had versions of 'Hangman' and Lynn said she used to do it as well.

However, The Highway Man has a different melody and dispenses with all the relatives: only two verses refer to 'paying the fee'. Lyle Lofgren's article describing Pool's version and origins is here. This original 'original' source is the Child ballad #95 which is found here.

It was mostly the tune and fiddle part that got me first thinking about the song and it wasn't until I was learning the lyrics that I figured out the 'Hangman, slack your rope' relationship. We're keeping in the key of C and Lynn is playing fiddle throughout.

Louis Collins:

This a Mississippi John Hurt song which I first thought about doing after hearing a version by Lucinda Williams on a tribute album. I have two versions by Mississippi John Hurt, one from around 1928, the other from about 1963 after he was rediscovered during the 'folk revival'. I've ended up using the words from the 1928 version, but I raised the key to E-flat (Capo on 3 using the C position). So far I'm finger-picking it but not trying to exactly replicate his version. I worked on it once or twice with Lynn but we're a ways from coming up with a performance version. This should be a nice contrast to some of our usual old-time songs.

Cannonball Blues:

The Carter Family recorded two versions of this: one where AP is singing the 'lead', the other with Sarah. A few years ago, before I heard the Carter Family versions, I started to learn a variant called 'Solid Gone' by Doc Watson, but never ended up doing much with it. There is also a youtube version with Sarah and Maybelle (from the 1960s?): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlFyGPNmOvI.

I knew of AP's version first and since it was singable for me in 'F', I started working out a 12-string arrangement - instrumentally, the breaks contain a 'bridge' followed by the melody: this meant that there was about a 2 to one ratio of guitar-breaks to vocal. At some point after I started learning this I heard a couple of local groups do it. The Mill City Grinders move it to a string band setting with banjo and fiddle but otherwise follow AP's version. A number of months later I heard a version by The Roe Family Singers. This had an additional verse or two and Kim was playing the washboard so it had a rollicky-rhythm: I don't recall the rest of the arrangement. After their set, I was talking to Quillan and Kim and Quillan clued me in to the youtube video of Sarah and Maybelle.

Then a couple of months ago, I was walking and listening to my IPod on shuffle and I finally heard the version that Sarah recorded a few years after the AP version (in the 1930's) which had additional verses. So lately I've been working on learning that version and have played it a few times with Lynn. We seem to be sticking to the 12-string with Lynn on guitar (6-string capoed 3 playing in D position) and full duet harmony throughout. The 'bridge' is still there but only done every other verse: the instrumental and vocal are more balanced.

In all 3 Carter Family versions, Maybelle is finger-picking with the melody on the treble strings. For the 12 string, I use finger picks, but I'm using the thumb for the melody notes (this is the typical way I play 'old-time' 12-string).

Both Lynn and I think this is a fun song to do and we can't wait to perform it (once we actually learn it!)

Set lists for Gigs at Coffee Grounds and Kip's Pubs

Lynn and I have a couple of gigs coming up next week: Thursday we're at the Coffee Grounds as part of Bill Cagley's Roots Series and Friday we have a half-hour set at Kip's pub as part of MBOTMA's Harvest Festival. See our Myspace site for more details.

For the Coffee Grounds we are preparing two 45 minute sets: about 21 songs and tunes. Kip's will be a subset the Coffee Grounds set list, probably 8 or 9 songs. Last week, on Election day, we played for TwinCitiesRadio.net for Sarah Pray's 'Live Sessions' (I know my sister and niece listened in). We did songs that we were familiar with, most of which will be on our upcoming CD (recorded, mixed and mastered, but still need to do artwork and production).

For these upcoming gigs we hope to include a lot of material that was NOT on the CD, most of which has come together since we did that actual recording last March. Some of these include:

• If I Lose, Let me Lose (Charlie Poole)
• The Baltimore Fire (Charlie Poole)
• Bear Creek Blues (Carter Family)
• I Got A Bulldog (Sweet Brothers)
• Raging Sea (Ernest Stoneman)
• Pretty Little Miss (Stanely Brothers)
• Mighty Mississippi (Ernest Stoneman, Mike Seeger)
• Last Gold Dollar (Ephraim Woodie and the Henpecked Husbands via Kim&Jim Lansford)
  

Lynn and I went through most of these on Monday and they seem pretty solid. Our hope is that for Kip's we'll do mostly new stuff and for the Coffee Grounds we'll intermingle these with songs and tunes from the CD.

We've also started working on some other songs that we're getting excited about. We hope to have some of those ready for our post-holiday gig at Dulono's on Jan 2nd and 3rd.

Stay tuned!

Warning - some politics and lyrics mix it up

So the RNC in St. Paul and other recent political events have reminded me of these lyrics from Laurie Anderson . I saw her at the 'old' Guthrie back in the day and have the vinyl Big Science LP from which this song is from:


SWEATERS

I no longer love your mouth.
I no longer love your eyes.

I no longer love your eyes.
I no longer love the color of your sweaters.
I no longer love it.

I no longer love the color of your sweaters.
I no longer love the way you hold your pens and pencils.
I no longer love it.

Your mouth. Your eyes.
The way you hold your pens and pencils.
I no longer love it. I no longer love it.



Vocals, Violins: Laurie Anderson
Bagpipes: Rufus Harley
Drums: David Van Tieghem


Context:

Today's NY Times/CBS News Poll Headline: "Obama Retakes Lead Over McCain"
From the link above:

Palin’s favorable rating stands at 40 percent, down 4 points from last week. Her unfavorable rating, which stands at 30 percent, has risen eight points in the same time period. Her favorable rating among women has fallen 11 points in the past week.

Playing at Dulono's

Lynn and I are playing our 3rd gig at Dulono's this Friday night (8:00-Midnight, Sept. 19th, 2008). We first played a Friday night last January and then a weekend in March. In my comments on our first gig, I said that one weekend night was enough; however, when Al Jesperson called us to fill in for another band for the whole weekend, we didn't hesitate and we survived. Since you can leave most of the sound system set up overnight (we take the amp and the microphones back home with us), I'm almost disappointed that we aren't playing both nights. (But we are playing both Friday&Saturday the weekend of Jan 2,3 2009).

Having regular gigs at Dulono's is a real privilege. If you look at their schedule, you'll note that some of the top bluegrass/old-time bands in the area play there. I found this link to an article which describes some of the history of bluegrass and Dulono's. Al Jesperson started booking bluegrass and related bands in 1974 and Adam Granger describes it as the 'oldest bluegrass venue in the world'.

We were on the Dulono's stage a couple of times when we took a couple of bluegrass jam classes in the early 90's from Brian Wicklund and Kevin Barnes (who were then part of Stoney Lonesome). The 'bands' that were formed in class each got to do a few numbers. These were public events so some of our friends came to watch.

In 2002 Lynn and I started to 'play out' and a few years later started to do MBOTMA fundraisers at Dulono's. You play about a 40 minute set and in addition to helping to raise money for a good cause, the fundraiers provide a way to meet other musicians and expose your music to the bluegrass and old-time audience. Al Jesperson was at one of these and suggested that we call him to perform, so we are now on the list to do 2 or 3 Dulono's gigs a year. And we still love to do the MBOTMA fundraisers when our schedule permits.

For this Friday's performance, we have the set list mostly figured out and Steve Wold, a musician friend from our church, will sit in for a few numbers on the first set. Although the audience continues to 'change' throughout the night, we try not to repeat numbers so we have about 45 songs and tunes on the list. Three are relatively new: O The Raging Sea, Pretty Little Miss, and I've Got a Bulldog. We've done these at Farmer's markets but not 'on stage'. We've also revived Tim O'Brien's Late in the Day, and Norman Blake's Last Train From Poor Valley, which we haven't performed for a few years.

We are rehearsing most nights this week - making sure the words are still there and that we 'agree' on tempos and arrangements. We'll get to Dulono's on Friday by 6:00 to set up sound, Steve is coming around 7 to go over the 3 numbers he'll be doing, then hopefully time for a little food and ready to hit the stage at 8:00!

Playing for Farmer's Markets

Last Friday I went to the coffee shop e.p. atelier to hear the Floorbirds, Mill City Grinders and the Lulu Gals (I had a great time). Lisa from the Lulu Gals noted that Lynn and I were playing at a Farmer's market the next morning. She said that she had played farmers markets before she moved to Minnesota and had fun but said the St. Paul Farmer's market was too 'formal'. I haven't been to the St. Paul Market so I couldn't comment.

For the last several years, Lynn and I have been playing at farmers market gigs set up by Bob Estes of the Rhubararians.

At the beginning of the season Bob sets up a number of dates at several farmers markets. Most commonly Lynn and I play at the Prior Lake and Bloomington farmers markets as 'guests'. (see earlier post here). The original Rhubarians (Bob, Tom , Dave and Joe) usually cover the Kingfield market in South Minneapolis. This weekend Lynn and I joined Bob at the Prior Lake market on Saturday; on Sunday only Bob and Tom could make it to Kingsfield. I hustled on over after church and played with them the last hour and a half.

Lynn and I usually wind up playing with Bob and Tom: there are a number of common reels,jigs, marches and polkas from the Rhubarbarian repertoire; otherwise we 'jam' on each other's songs. This provides us an opportunity to try out new songs - on Saturday, we did O, The Raging Sea and I've Gotta Bulldog. There's a couple of songs that we do that have become Farmer's market 'standards', including Otto Wood and One More Dollar. I did 'em both days (with Lynn on Sat, just with Bob and Tom on Sunday). Jesse James is an old jamming tune that I only play with the farmer' market gang.

Of course, at a farmer's market we're mostly playing background music - although, we usually have a few people who sit and listen to a few numbers. And the vendors really like it. On Sunday we got corn and tomoatoes!

We also provide a baby-sitting service: kids like folk music and there's usually a baby stroller or two that a Mom or Dad brings up next to where the band is set up. There's almost always a few kids who dance. Not only to jigs and reels but also to some of our bouncier songs like Milwaukee Blues or If I Lose. On Sunday a 8 or 9 year old girl was dancing to a few tunes and even did a modern dance interpretation to One More Dollar (which is a ballad).

The Bloominton and Prior Lake markets give $100 to the band, plus any tips we can busk up. Kingsfield is about $25 but is much closer. Thus we usually cover gas and a farmers market gig often means we can skip getting cash from the ATM for a week or two. Lynn and I played Prior Lake on our own in July on our wedding anniversary and paid for our anniversary dinner from the proceeds.

I sometimes tell Lynn that our 'mission' is to take old-time music to the masses and playing at Farmer's markets certainly accomplishes that (and shows the universal appeal of folk and old-time music ).

MBOTMA Duet and Guitar Contests at the MN State Fair this past Friday and Saturday

Lynn and I are 'recovering' from an intense weekend at the State Fair: on Friday we played in the Duet Contest and on Saturday I competed in the Guitar Flatpicking Contest (with Lynn as my accompanist). Friday turned out to be hard emotionally as we sang well, but didn't make the top five (we had placed third the last two years and so had some 'expectations'). Although we had a few people tell use 'we were robbed' (OK, one of them was our son's fiancee's father), I talked afterward with one of the people who helped tally up the scores (a volunteer not a judge): he said that we sounded really good but said the competition was 'fierce'. The up side is that we got lots of good compliments from fellow musicians including a member of Monroe Crossing (the 'premier' Bluegrass based in Minnesota).

We are really happy that Kathy Liners and Lincoln Potter (from Ivory Bridge) won - like us they have competed in the Duet Contest since its inception: they have been consistently in the top five but never took the top prize. On the 'promo' side, I passed out two or three Bob-&-Lynn cards ;-)

Saturday was more relaxing: the guitar field was as competitive as its ever been, even though Bill Liners, last year's champion, was taking the year off. The field was full, with a total of 17 competitors (last year there were 12 or so). It was fun seeing a lot of 'the usual suspects', but great to see a number of new faces (all of whom seemed to play really well).

There was one 'surprise' new competitor for us - 15 year old Austin Wahl is a 'shirttail' relative of Lynn: she shares an uncle with Austin's father Ned and we met them about a year ago after that uncle died (at age 90 or so). Ned and Austin have been in the Minnesota bluegrass scene and since we've met them have come to hear us at Dulono's. Austin is a great player especially since his focus is classical guitar (playing since age of 5). (Austin was 2nd in the youth category). Note: Austin's classical guitar teacher was in the audience and said the I had the best 'tone' of any of the players - I do strive for good tone, but playing a 1969 D28 helps. 1969 was the last year that D-28's were made with Brazilian Rosewood - makes a big difference in sound( and current $$ value).

Chris Silver was back after a couple years off and won the overall competition. Chris is a great musician and 'nailed' a piece that he had some problems with a couple of years ago. Clint Britzer, who is 15 years old, repeated as second overall. With a band mate from The Sawtooth Bluegrass band, he also placed second in the duet contest this year.

I drew the 'fourth' pick, so played my first two tunes early: Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine went really well, but I started the 2nd tune, Ragtime Annie, a bit fast and although it wasn't quite a train wreck, the wheels went off the track more than a few times. Thus I was happy to place 2nd in the senior division, and really glad that Shirley Mauch Spanhanks took first. Over the past few years we've gotten to know Shirley and her husband Jerry from these contests (they both competed in the flatpicking contest this year and have participated in the duet contests as well). They are the founding members of the Blue Wolf Bluegrass Band.

Knowing that I wouldn't be in the final round, I was able to relax and enjoy the show; Lynn and I spent the rest of the afternoon with front-row seats! After the top five from the first round played the final round of tunes and the awards were handed out, Lynn and I put our guitars in the van and grabbed some 'supper' (OK, we each had a pork-chop-on-a-stick and a waffle cone). Adam Granger, the lead guitar judge, has a house close to the fair grounds and had invited all the duet and guitar competitors over for an after contest party. On our way back to the van we picked up some kettle corn as our contribution and made our way to Adam's.

There I jammed for a while with a rotating cast of musicians - David Tousley, and Katryn Conlin the Contest co-organizers, Lincoln Potter (co-winner of duet, 1st year competing in flat-pick), Shirley(new senior champ!) and 15 year-old Austin among others. (Austin more than held his own!)

Lynn kept her guitar in the case but got into some interesting conversations: including a fairly long one with Judy Larson, who with her husband Bill Hinckley have been part of the acoustic music scene in the twin cites since the 60s. Bill was also there (he was another flatpicking judge). I know him mainly as an old-timey kind of musician, but during the jam he played some old jazz standards.

It was a great way to unwind and finish off the day.

Finally, the results are posted here:
http://www.minnesotabluegrass.org/calendar/contest/2008.html.
(As of Labor Day, the duet results are up, but Guitar results are still pending).

Prepping for the MBOTMA Duet and Guitar Contests at the MN State Fair (Cont')

Well, I was hoping to get back to this before the day before the contests, but...

We've been more or less rehearsing songs and tunes daily, usually catching the last speech or two of the Democratic Convention (we'll watch Obama tonight). Last night we started late, and didn't get through everything. I've been working from home and taking 'breaks' to practice. Lynn has finished changing her guitar strings and I will change mine later this afternoon.

For the Flatpicking Contest, you need to prepare a total of 4 tunes - 2 for the 1st round and 2 if you are in the final round of 5. Since I only made the final round in 2004, I usually use the '2nd' round tunes from the year before as my first round tunes. No exception this year: I am using arrangements of 'Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine' and 'Ragtime Annie' for my first round selections: I've been working on them for over year since they were 2nd round picks last year. 2nd round tunes this year are 'Rounding the Horn' and 'Arkansas Traveler'.

I usually play a slower tune as the first tune, then pick up the tempo for the 2nd tune. First started doing this in 2004 (when I placed 4th overall).

The idea for flatpicking is to repeat the tune with different variations each time. This year I am just doing 3 variations for each tune - in the past, I've tried doing 4 for the faster tunes. Since there is a 5 minute limit for BOTH tunes, this means I am giving myself a bigger grace period (at least 30 seconds more).

At Carleton I took piano lessons from Mr. Nelson (who was also Lynn's teacher). One of the techniques he taught was to use a metronome - especially for fast passages: the idea was to start with a slow setting then gradually increase. I use the same technique for the flatpicking tunes, althought in truth, I usually don't start until a couple of weeks before the contest - this year was no exception. One thing metronome work gives you is the chance to go over the tune 6-8 times instead of once or twice.

The 1st round tunes seem comfortable - 2nd round tunes are still works-in-progress so if for some reason I make it to the top 5, I'll be a little rough. (It'll depend on who shows up and who chokes etc.). Last year, as I looked at the people signed up it was pretty clear that if they played well I didn't have a chance - I was a bit nervous and the good players didn't choke so once again I didn't have to worry about playing in the 2nd round.

Lynn does the accompanying on these so it's important that she gets comfortable too. Again, we'll both be a little rough if we do the 2nd round.

Hopefully, I'll post something after the contests, but that's all for now.

Prepping for the MBOTMA Duet and Guitar Contests at the MN State Fair

MBOTMA has sponsored the Minnesota Flatpicking Guitar & Duet Championships at the Minnesota State Fair since 2003. From the beginning, Lynn and I have entered the Duet Contests and I've been in the Guitar contest (with Lynn accompanying). In a blog I wrote after the event last year I described some of the reasons I enter. Since I'm writing now a few days before the contests I thought I'd describe some of the ways we 'prep' for the event.

When we first started playing for the duet contests, Lynn and I would often learn new songs specifically for the contest: sometimes we'd be still memorizing words the week before and often playing it in front of people for the first time at the fair. After a particular shaky experience, we decided to use songs that we'd played for a while and had sung 'in performance' Of course, it helps that for the past few years we actually perform regularly. This improved 'comfort' level has probably helped us place in the top 5 the last couple of years. For the preliminary round this year we are doing our versions of 'East Viriginia Blues' and 'Bear Creek Blues'. These are described here. East Virginia has been one of our 'favorites' the last year and we've performed it many times. Bear Creek is newer, but we've been performing it since March (although the first time we played it at Dulono's it was a train wreck!). If we make it into the final round (top 5), we will do Lonesome Pine Special. We've been doing this for a number of years and played it once at the contest (but didn't place). Like many of our songs our arrangement has evolved over the years so it sounds quite a bit different (and hopefully better) than a few years back.

Since this is a duet contest, we like to sing songs that are 'full duet' on both verse and chorus. This eliminates some of the songs we really like, since the verses are solo. Thus far and including this year, I have sung the 'lead' while Lynn sings harmony. Although last year our final round number had Lynn on fiddle, we usually both play guitar. The songs need to be less than 4 minutes which has occasionally eliminated a song from consideration. We've found that trying to 'shorten' an arrangement usually doesn't work.

Although all the songs we are doing this year are in the Carter Family repertoire, Bear Creek is the only one directly based on their arrangement. For East Virginia Blues, we are heavily influenced by a Stanley Brothers version; Lonesome Pine I originally learned from a Hazel Dickens record (but our version is now considerably different). Beer Creek is both the 'newest' (to us) and trickiest song we do. The rhythm is 'crooked' and it is important that we both are ready to sing at the same time.

Our main prep for the contest is to keep singing the songs. We've also been listening to make sure our word usage is consistent (weepin' vs weeping) and that word timing is consistent, although as the harmony singer Lynn has gotten pretty good at following my variations. (But I still work at singing it the same way each time). We also focus on the instrumental introductions and endings. These songs all have instrumental breaks and it is important to sing the next verse in time (without an extra measure or two).

The state fair audience is about as big an audience as we play for (although playing at the Home Grown Kickoff was similar) and you are singing through a sound system without monitors. I remember the first year or two being thrown off by the amplification. Thus for the last few years I've set up the sound system in the living room so that we get used to the 'amplified' sound. I set things up last night with our 'farmers market' setup (portable amps), so tonight will be our first go with the mikes set up.


During the year Lynn and I 'rehearse' on Mondays. As the state fair approaches we add rehearsals and this week we will practice every night. We are set in how everything goes: at this point its the 'reps' that do the most good.

(More on Guitar in a later post).

MBOTMA Festival (still more)

Well, after 3 days of work, last week's festival is fading into the past, but just a few more notes before I let go.

As mentioned I like the fact that this is both an old-time and bluegrass festival: from going to the Bluff Country Gathering and other old-time events, Lynn and I have gotten to know many folk in the local old-time community. I noticed that any time an 'old-time' planned played, we saw our old-time friends - we really get a chance to go to any square dances, but at the Cajun dance saw a fair sampling as well.

At Mike Seeger's showcases and main stage appearances I started noticing the same set of young men (in their early twenties) - they were completely engaged - taking pictures and videos. Good to see that the old-time traditions will continue.

The Monroe Crossing sets were very engaging - they tour a lot regionally, but I haven't really seen them that often. They are among the best at using the single mike setup (but wisely have a separate mike for the guitar). I caught the last part of their 'song-arranging' showcase - where they started to put together a song that they 'knew' but had never arranged. I was amazed when they performed it an hour or so later on the main stage - Lisa had a sheet with the words, but otherwise you'd never know it was only hours old...

Since Lynn and I have started to 'play out', we have spent most of our time at festivals listening to the bands (or hopefully performing like we did a year ago at the Homegrown Kickoff). We set up our VW Camper-van on a reserved site - we have electricity but are far away from most of the jamming happening in the 'rough' camping area. However, on Friday we ran into a few friends and figured out where they were gonna jam later by trekking to their campsite Saturday afternoon (find it first in daylight - El Ranchero Manana is huge). So Saturday night we walked to their site and jammed until 2:30/3:00 AM. Great time playing with folks I've played with and some new ones. What I liked was that everyone was a good musician without being 'intimidating'.

Since the festival, Lynn and I spent some time Monday figuring out which cuts to include on our CD (this is our rehearsal night - we were too tired to play). Since the duet and guitar contest is coming up in a couple weeks, we are gonna try to get some extra practice in. We're out of town again this weekend, so we're shooting for tomorrow (Thursday). Our fall schedule is getting pretty full, so we will continue to be active in the local music scene!

MBOTMA Festival (cont')

For me, one of the highlights of this year's festival was the old-time Banjo Showcase on Friday afternoon. I don't play the banjo, but both Riley Baugus and Mike Seeger were part of it. Riley opened by singing a haunting melody with his banjo (danged if I can remember the title). After this, Mike Seeger said ... 'maybe I'll just do an instrumental'. As the showcase went on Riley would mention a banjo player that influenced him and then comment that Mike had actually got to meet and play with his 'banjo hero'. (Riley is in his 30's I'd guess, Mike Seeger is over 70).

Mike Seeger was recovering from a cold, so his voice was a little rugged (he actually tuned his instruments a half step flat to accommodate). I think I caught most of his main stage and showcase appearances. I especially liked the showcase on 'Early Southern Guitar Sounds' - I had already heard the CD , but it was good to see him demonstrate the styles. He is working on a DVD so I'll probably get that as well. (We bought a couple of his CD's that I didn't already have).

In the 'bluegrass' side of things, I enjoyed the Brennen Leigh set quite a bit - since she has local roots, I had seen her name for the last few years but never got a chance to hear her. Nice alto voice and the songs were good.

Another group I had looked forward to seeing was the Stairwell sisters. For their first set, the sound was a little off, so I wasn't 'blown away'; however, the more I heard them the more engaged I became. They played an unamplified set in the marketplace tent at Saturday Super time. For the last 2 numbers I finally got a place under the tent and I really appreciated hearing them in the real old time way - no electronics between you and the music.

I could write more and may post another blog another day, but for now, that's all ;-)

MBOTMA Festival

We're just back from the MBOTMA August Festival at El Rancho Mañana in Richmond, MN (about 90 miles North-west of Mpls). We missed last year's festival to attend my uncle's 65th Wedding Anniversary and had to miss this spring's Homegrown Kickoff (where we were scheduled to perform) because of Lynn's mother's failing health. So we came early on Thursday afternoon and stayed as late on Sunday as we ever have (and got caught in the coming-back-from-up-north traffic on the way home).

We didn't perform but got a chance to hear most of the groups on the schedule. Lynn and I are mostly focused on old-time music these days, so we got to as many of the old-time performances and 'showcases' as we could. (Neither of us attended a workshop this year). The national acts were The Stairwell Sisters, The Dirk Powell Band, and Mike Seeger. The members of the Dirk Powell band also performed as the Cajun group Balfa Toujours. Local old-time groups we saw included The Ditch Lilies, Poor Benny, and The Roe Family Singers.

A great thing about this festival is that it is both Bluegrass and Old-time, so we also saw some great national and local bluegrass groups. Cadillac Sky and Mountain Heart are 'cutting edge' groups while Michael Cleveland and Grasstowne have a more traditional sound. It was fun to see Monroe's Crossing, which is Minnesota based and probably Minnesota's only 'full-time' bluegrass band as well as Brennen Leigh who now lives in Austin, but has North Dakota, Minnesota roots. Ivory Bridge, Sawtooth, Morgan's Run and Bag o' Dirt Band were the other local groups we saw.

When I first started coming to this Festival in the early 90's I was mostly a bluegrass fan; however, I would usually listen to the old time music as well. Now I mostly come for the old-time music, but I really like the fact that I can keep up with the bluegrass side of things as well.

That's all for today, hoping to post a few more things during the week while it's still fresh.

Performing for the Stonearch Festival

Last year we were contacted by Stacy Schwartz to perform at the Stonearch Festival of the Arts held on the 'St. Anthony Main' side of the river (that would be the Mississippi river as it wends through Minneapolis). Since my bike route for commuting to work goes over the Stonearch Bridge ( see here) I was intrigued, so we said yes and we had a great time. It was a performance that a lot of our friends could make and we played for a number of new people.

We're playing at the Festival again at 12:15 this Saturday, June 14th at the City Pages Stage again. (This is the acoustic venue by the 3rd Avenue Bridge - right next to the beer and wine area). Lynn located the set list from last year so for this year we are doing mostly different songs, including new songs we've learned in the past year (marked as 'new', although we have performed most of them at Dulono's or a MBOTMA festival). I've given details for most of these before, so I'll just show the tentative set list for this year:

• Ain't Gonna Work Tomorrow
• If I Lose Let Me Lose (new)
• East Virginia Blues (new)
• Milwaukee Blues
• More Pretty Girls Than One (new)
• Baltimore Fire
• Muddy Creek (fiddle/mandolin tune)
• When the Work's All Done this Fall (new arrangement, with mandolin)
  
• Last Gold Dollar
• Bear Creek Blues (new)
• I've Been Dreaming of You Darling

We're the second act to preform on Saturday and scheduled to play from 12:15 to 1:00. The full schedule is here. Since there is a half hour between sets, it may go a little longer, so we have a few more songs and tunes ready.

In addition to 4 or 5 performing stages there are 250 Juried Art Exhibits, a Classic Car exhibit and more - see the official Stonearch Website.

Last year we were able to hang out and listen to a few of the other acts and we got some pictures of me in our friend Frank Howard '74 Lotus. However, this year we'll be leaving shortly after we perform in order to get to my niece's graduation party in Savage, MN.

Farmers Market gigs

Lynn and I were in Prior Lake Saturday playing the Farmer's Market with the 'Rhubarbarians'. The Rhubarbarians is a band headed by Bob Estes that have been playing for many years. However, only Bob and Tom like to travel to Prior Lake, so Lynn and I often guest. The common repertoire are a number of dance tunes that we also play at Danebod Folk camp. Tom has a number of folk/pop numbers which we jam along with;and Bob and Tom 'jam' with us on the Bob-i-Lynn tunes. Since I have a number of relatives that live 'South of the River' (the Minnesota river), I usually see a few of them. I also went to high school in Shakopee (which borders Prior Lake), so will sometimes see an old high school friend or two.

This was our first farmers market of the year and was especially fun since we had had to cancel our appearance at MBOTMA's homegrown kickoff the previous weekend because of a family emergency.

The weather had been threating and we even had a few sprinkles just before we set up; however, the skies cleared and there seemed to be a bigger 'crowd' than usual.

Although, in the past we have brought our plug-in sound system (with two long extension cords), we've now moved to a total battery powered system. Bob got a Crate TAXI system which he has jerry rigged to have 4 inputs (2 is usual), I have a Pignose and Tom has a Vox system so we had 6 inputs going. This seems to be enough for the venue.

My sister and brother-in-law showed up and Lynn and I visited Otto's mother Norma afterwards.

On Sunday, Bob had scheduled the regular band at Kingfield Market in Minneapolis; however, Dave couldn't make it and Joe and Tom had to leave early. Lynn dropped me off on her way to church; when she came to pick me up it was just me and Bob (we renamed ourselves the Rhu-bob-arians) -we took a break and Lynn joined us for a few last songs.

Good to be playing again - we'll be at Prior Lake again on July 5th and Lynn and I are playing the Stone Arch Festival Saturday, June 14th at 12:15.

Bluff Country Gathering

Lynn and I are just back from the Bluff Country Gathering in Lanesboro, MN. "The Bluff Country Gathering is a four-day event presenting traditional American music, dance and singing styles. Workshops conducted by a staff of nationally acclaimed musicians, singers, dancers and folklorists, are designed to pass along the traditions of old-time music to participants at all levels of experience."

This is our 2nd year there and it is probably on our annual list of things to do. We had to miss Saturday's workshops to attend a memorial service for my sister's father-in-law in Prior Lake, but we did drive back in time for the dance on Saturday night.

We did attend workshops on Friday and I ended up going to both of the harmonica workshops led by Dave Rice. Since I've started to listen to more 'original' old-time music on 78's I have noticed that a lot of music features harmonica. Dave's showcase on Thursday demonstrated that you can produce a lot of music from 20 reeds and the 'beginning' workshop led me to take the second one. Not sure if I'll have the time that will be needed to become proficient but it helped to learn things like 'tongue blocking' and other techniques.

At the end of the dance on Saturday, Lynn and I went to the Sons of Norway Hall and joined Sherri Minnick in a 'singing jam'. Most of the jams at an old time gathering are 'tune' jams - I have a 'desire' to learn the repertoire but haven't really gotten into the old-time jam scene so I a singing jam was more up my alley. Early on, we were playing with the cooks from Kansas City - after they went to bed (they had to be up early to cook the sunday brunch), some of the teaching staff joined in, including Alice Gerrard, Steve Rosen and Mac Traynham: definitely a treat to hear them harmonize on some Country Western Standards and to hear Alice do 'Ain't no ash can burn'. Steve taught a guitar workshop I attended and played banjo at the dance. At the jam, he played mandolin - one of the highlights of the weekend and definitely made the drive back for Saturday night worth it!

Some new songs

Between the recording project and the Dulono's gigs, I haven't spent a lot of time on new material; however, I have been working on a few new songs. The following may break into the bob-i-lynn repertoire at some point this spring or summer (Farmer's markets are a good venue to try new material):

Pretty Little Miss In The Garden: this is a 'folk song' that the Stanley Brothers got from the New Lost City Ramblers to put on an album in the early 60's. I first heard Big Medicine do it (live , I think, but I have their CD as well). When I decided to learn it, I bought a Stanley Brother's Collection as well. Although the approaches are similar, we'll probably do it closer to the Stanley Brothers version. The New Lost City Ramblers do it as well, but I haven't heard their version. Tim O'Brien has a variant called 'Pretty Fair Maid in the Garden' and I also have a unaccompanied version of 'Pretty Fair Damsel' by Tom Ashley that Mike Seeger recorded in 'Close to Home'. Currently, I am doing it in the key of F# - capo on the 6th fret and playing out of 1st position (Lynn will be on 4th fret playing in D).

The Raging Sea, How it Roars: I first heard the New Lost City Rambler's version of the song but knew it was originally released by Ernest Stoneman and the Blue Ridge Cornshucker's on 78. The only recording I could find of this (other than the original 78) was on an LP that Rounder released in th 1970's. I started looking for it an EBay and was able to get it within a few weeks after starting my search. Both recordings are similar, but it's good to have 'the original'. This is based on a Child Ballad called 'The Mermaid', but there is no mention of the mermaid in this song. Lyle Lofgren has an excellent article on the song which was originally published in MBOTMA's Inside Bluegrass magazine. In addition to these two recordings, I also have an unaccompanied version by Crockett and Perline Ward (originally on 78). Norman & Nancy Blake have recently recorded 'The Mermaid' which actually preserves the mermaid. The current plan is to play in the key of E flat using two guitars, but we're still working out the arrangement.

Deep Elem Blues: part of the reason I picked this was that the Lone Star Cowboy's version features 'old-time' mandolin: I am always looking to add to our vocal/mandolin/guitar repertoire. according to this link, 'Deep Elem' apparently was the red light district in Dallas. The song describes trips to Deep Elem as life altering events:

Now I once knew a preacher,
Preached the Bible through and through,
He went down into Deep Elem,
Now his preaching days are through.

There is also a variant called Black Bottom Blues - turns out I have versions of these, including a version by Gene Autry with yodeling. We're doing it in D, the original may have been in C (it sounds like C# on our recording). I'm on mandolin and Lynn has tried it in C-position with Capo on 2nd fret.

I Got A Bulldog: We heard Troublesome Creek at MBOTMA's Winter Bluegrass Weekend a year or so back and this is on their CD. However, hearing the original 78 got me thinking about adding it to the bob-i-lynn repertoire. Nothing profound here, but it fits into the male bravdo/vulnerable genre (I'll figure what that means later). I have various collections that contain this, but they all are the same version by The Sweet Brothers and Ernest Stoneman.
We haven't done much with this so far, but it looks like a fiddle/guitar combination in G.


After I had started working on these songs, we received the latest issue of The Old Time Herald:
one of the articles in the issue (April/May 2008) is entitled Essential Hillbilly Commercial Recordings on 78s; interestingly, both Raging Sea and I Got a Bulldog are on the list of 100 or so essential sides. Note that the online version contains the introduction, you need access to the print addition to get the actual list. I'll be checking this list to both fill up gaps in my collection, plus maybe find another song or too to learn.

I have some other songs that I'm considering, but nothing that has percolated up far enough as something to spend a lot of time on. Lynn is working on a couple of songs, so we hope to add one or two that she sings this summer as well.

Harmonica?

Last Saturday (our 1st spring like day), I took the guitar out to the porch to play (it's a 3 season porch and it was well over 70 degrees). Lynn joined me and at some point brought out the 4-string tenor banjo which she'd tuned to g and we played through I Gotta Bulldog, which is a new old-time song I've been working on. The original has guitar, fiddle and banjo, so I thought I'd do a little experimenting of my own: I got out my G harmonica and placed it in the harmonica rack. Truth be told, we didn't sound too hot, but it got me to thinking about whether I should invest some time in harmonica. The harmonica was my first folk instrument and I was got reasonably
good at it. However, I never did really integrate it with my guitar playing, although I've have two harmonica racks and currently have decent harmonicas in 5 keys. I of course associate this with Bob Dylan (who emulated Woodie Guthrie), but I never opted to emulate that style.

As I've started to listen to more 78 recordings (on CD), I hear quite a few old-time songs with harmonica. Often they are used to play fiddle tunes, with or without a fiddle present. If Lynn continues her quest of playing banjo (we still need to get a 5-string), I might work up some tunes on harmonica. This would theoretically allow us to do actual string band music with guitar, banjo and harmonica.

We're going to the Bluff Country Gathering this year in Lanesboro, Mn. Here's the blurb about one of the instructors:




Dave Rice With the old 78 rpm recordings of DeFord Bailey, Dr. Humphrey Bate and others as models, Dave has helped revive the lost art of old-time harmonica, once an integral part of the string band sound. He currently performs solo and with the Hoover Uprights, an award winning stringband. Dave has over ten years experience teaching harmonica. Please bring a C harp to class !




I'm planning to attend his workshops so we'll see how it pans out. Of course the real issue is finding time to get another instrument up to a good performing level. I have enough trouble keeping my guitar and mandolin chops up!

Stay tuned!

CD Recording Project

Lynn and I spent last weekend at Seabed studios and completed the 'tracking' portion of our CD Project. Altogether we recorded for a total of 4 'half' day sessions (previous recording was done the March 8/9 weekend, see http://geezerguitar.blogspot.com/2008/03/our-first-real-recording-sessions.html). Daniel, the recording engineer, will be mixing this week.

Saturday was mostly spent recording some guitar-fiddle and guitar-mandolin songs that we hadn't gotten to during the first sessions. We also re-recorded the 12 string numbers, since Daniel wasn't happy with the sound from the microphone used the previous session. (Turns out that the 12 string puts out so much sound that you need a fairly 'crappy' mike to limit it or some such). On Sunday we did 're-dos' of songs that we had had problems with in previous sessions.

Although I felt fatigued and we hadn't done a lot of practicing the week before, we ended up with good takes. The fact that we had performed almost every song twice at the previous weekend's Dulono's gig contributed to fatigue but also helped us be more relaxed and comfortable this time around.

Lynn had worked on her vocals for her two solo numbers since the last session and we've ended up with good tracks of Going to the West and Dear Companion. For Dear Companion we up changed keys from B to C#/Dflat (We just slid the capos up 2 more frets). She had tried this before, but my first time in the new key was on the recording. This kept her from hitting some problematical notes in her low range.

I was pleased to get good takes on my two instrumentals: Babbington's Hornpipe and Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine (These were train wrecks 3 weeks ago).

It turns out that all of the CD will be from live tracks. We had discussed doing some multi-tracking on both Lynn's numbers and the instrumentals, but the live takes were all 'good enough'; thus, we are ending up not that far removed from recording the way the old 78 artists did. However, unlike their use of a single mike (or single horn) setup - we used separate vocal and instrumental mikes and Daniel will apply the magic pixie dust during the mixing process to clean up a few things. However, these are live recordings in the sense that no over-dubbing or re-recording was done.

During the 3 weeks between sessions Daniel had done some mixing and set up some templates. At the end of Sunday's session, he gave us CDs with all the 'good' takes. There were 27 in all (23 on 1st CD with 4 left over for the 2nd). I've put them on my Ipod and both Lynn and I are listening to them all. Factors influencing which ones make it to the final CD include the usual suspects: good variety, overall quality (there might be some fluffs that Daniel just can't coverup), and, of course, the 'publisher royalty', factor. We only recorded 2 covers of 'living' song-writers - Billy Gray by Norman Blake and One More Dollar by Gillian Welch. However, a number of the Carter Family and other older songs may be still under copyright (blame it on Walt Disney). Since it'll cost about $90 for each license, this could be a factor.

For posterity's sake (and maybe for friends and farmer's markets), I'm tempted to create an Outake CD-ROM from material that doesn't make it into the final CD.

Steps that remain: format of the CD (jewel case or 'digi-pak'), design of CD, title!, mastering and replication. We are probably going to end up using the people who have done Daniel's other CD's for mastering and replication (both local). We have a photographer in mind for new pictures but not sure what we'll be doing for Graphical design. Stay tuned...

Dulono's last weekend

2 Nights, 4 microphones, 3 guitars, 2 fiddles, 1 mandolin, 2 voices, 1 Friday and 1 Saturday on Easter weekend in March.

This was our 2nd stint at Dulono's and even though we played both nights, it was overall a more relaxing gig than the Friday night at the beginning of last January. Some of this had to do with the fact that there were not overwhelming crowds this time around: due partially to snow, spring break and Easter weekend, and also due , no doubt, to the fact that so many of our friends did see us in January.

We still had a number of family, church, neighborhood and other friends show up, as well as people just wanting to hear bluegrass (or old time) music. Our new sound system worked really well (I'll probably post more on that later) and every one could hear, including at least one couple from church who didn't hear a thing last time around. I got good comments about the sound quality from a number of people.

A least one train wreck occurred during our first set on Friday (Bear Creek Blues). This taught us to avoid 'newish' songs in the first set (it went fine on Saturday). Although my voice was starting to get strained on our last set Saturday night, the worst physical problem was for our backs and legs - not used to being on our feet that long! (And we do like performing standing up - better for 'control': both breath control and microphone control - plus, I think you just project and connect more.) Also, on Saturday, we remembered the step stool, so getting on and off the stage was a lot easier (if not quite as much of a spectacle for the audience to see an arthritic old man attempt to get up and down the too-high platform ).

A couple of highlights - our 'new' minister came to see us Friday night - he'd heard us at the Lynnhurst Home Companion, so I was happy to see that he found time in a busy week for him to catch a whole set. On Saturday our previous minister and his wife came and sat at the same table (now known as the minister's table). It was good to see them. A guitar playing buddy came who was in the bluegrass band Minnegrassco in the 70's (and who played at Dulono's in 78,79). Gary marveled at the advances in technology - specifically the cup holders we have that attach to our microphone stands. His son is a real fan of bluegrass (and of us as well, I guess).

On Saturday, as we were coming in to set up, a friend from my Black Forest days was just finishing up supper with his family. He and his wife came back later and helped us close out our very last set. Luckily, we did one of his favorites (Sleepy Desert) and I had refound my voice.

Also met a fellow musician, Erin Kate, who I had heard of with her work as part of the Cates. I hope to catch her perform sometime soon.

Most times when we play a gig that goes past midnight, we skip church; however, Sunday was Easter and we were there... singing in choir. We had an Easter Brunch, then napped, then went out to hear Roma di Luna, the Floorbirds and others at the Sunday 416 club at the Cedar Cultural Center.

This week - rehearse songs for another round of recording this weekend - ah, the Musician's Life (who still works his day job ! and put in a full day on Monday...)

Tenative set lists for Dulono's Mar 21-22

While Lynn was at a church committee meeting, I spend some time last night creating set lists for our two nights at Dulono's this weekend (Fri-Sat 8-midnight).
Although we haven't learned any brand new songs, we did revive a few for our church show in February and the 'Spotlight on Longevity' set with Phil Nusbaum at the MBOTMA winter weekend. As well, we may attempt another fiddle-mandolin medley from our folk-band.

Thus new material that we didn't perform at Dulono's on January 4th:

Life is Like a Mountain Railroad: we considered, but did not perform at the Longevity set. We learned this from a Green Briar Boys LP in the early 70s and often sang at jams.

Last Thing on My Mind: A Tom Paxton song we've both known since our college days (in the '60s) for the Longevity set, we performed in the folky way with finger style guitar. We've come up with a flat pick version that is hopefully light and somewhat detached...

Bramble and the Rose: we learned this from Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin's version. We're changing the ending a little bit, but otherwise it is very close to what they do.

Sally Gardens: this is one that we revived our recording project. A traditional Irish tune that I worked out an finger style (almost classical) instrumental - then found the words from the Yeats book that we both owned from the Modern Poetry Class we both took in the Spring of 1967.

When the Work's all Done This Fall: this is one we considered for the Jan set, but I wasn't too enthused. I learned this from Doc Watson long ago and have varied the guitar treatment over time (from finger picking to flatpicking). Some recent CDs of 78s that I've put on my IPod have early versions of this including one called 'The Dixie Cowboy' and another in 3/4 time. Although I'm not sure that either of these feature the mandolin, I started thinking that switching from guitar to mandolin might make me a bit more enthusiastic and it has. It also is a really cheap way to add another mandolin song to our repertoire.

50 Mile of Elbow Room: one of our few gospel songs. We originally learned a version to perform with our church bluegrass band from Iris Dement. More recently, Lynn and I performed it using Norman and Nancy Blake's version as a model. At the last church talent show in February, we played the new version with the Hot Dish String Band.

Yamina / Angilina Baker: part of a dance medley that we play at Danebod Folk Camp. Yamina is one of the first tunes I ever wrote, Anginal Baker, of course, is traditional.

Everything else on the set list is something we played at the Jan Dulono's gig. I've mixed things up a bit, so if you came at the same time slice both nights (say 8-10) you won't hear a lot of duplicates. I've invited a few guest musicians - most are out of town, but a harmonica player (from my very first high school folk trio) may show up. Depending on if he plays, we'd probably do some things out of order. We'll probably change a few things as we go over it in the next couple days as well.

Here they are :

Dulono’s Fri
Set A -
1 I Ain’t Gonna Work Tomorrow
2 Oh Lord Won’t You Help Me
3 Bear Creek Blues
4 One More Dollar
5 Wild Bill Jones
6 When First Unto this Country
7 Going to the West
8 Muddy Creek
9 Milwaukee Blues
10 More Pretty Girls Than One
11 Bramble and the Rose
12 Swedish – Xander’s tune
13 Ragtime Annie
14 Sleepy Desert
15 Otto Wood
16 You’ve Been That Friend to Me

Set B -
1 Liza Jane
2 Poor Ellen Smith
3 Handsome Molly
4 Billy Grey
5 Last Gold Dollar
6 If I Lose, Let Me Lose
7 John Hardy
8 Mighty Mississippi, The Story of
9 Charmin’ Betsy
10 / Babbington’s
11 Lonesome Pine Special
12 East Virginia Blues
13 I’m Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes
14 I Truly Understand

Set C -
1 Sweet Heaven When I Die
2 Blue Railroad Train
3 Dear Companion
4 Mountain Railroad
5 The Baltimore Fire
6 Train on the Island
7 Swedish - Schottis efter Roger Alexander
8 Radio Joe
9 Sally Garden
10 Green Grows the Laurel
11 When the Work’s All Done this Fall
12 (Jig set) Swallowtail / 100 Pipers
13 Little Annie
14 My Old Cottage Home





Dulono’s Sat

Set A -
1 Lonesome Pine Special
2 East Virginia Blues
3 Blue Railroad Train
4 John Hardy
5 When First Unto this Country
6 Charmin’ Betsy
7 / Babbington’s
8 Sally Gardens
9 The Baltimore Fire
10 Train on the Island
11 Swedish - Schottis efter Roger Alexander
12 Radio Joe
13 One More Dollar
14 Dear Companion
15 Little Annie
16 My Old Cottage Home

Set B -
1 Sweet Heaven When I Die
2 Broken Hearted Love (I’ve been dream..)
3 Last Thing on My Mind
4 Poor Ellen Smith
5 Handsome Molly
6 Liza Jane
7 Otto Wood
8 Last Gold Dollar
9 Bear Creek Blues
10 When the Work’s All Done this Fall
11 Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine
12 Billy Grey
13 I Truly Understand
14 You’ve Been That Friend to Me

Set C -
1 I Ain’t Gonna Work Tomorrow
2 Billy Grey
3 I’m Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes
4 Going to the West
5 Yamina / Anglina Baker
6 Milwaukee Blues
7 More Pretty Girls Than One
8 Wild Bill Jones
9 Mighty Mississippi, The Story of
10 Oh Lord Won’t You Help Me
11 Sleepy Desert
12 Swedish – Xander’s tune
13 Mountain Railroad
14 50 Miles of Elbow Room

Our first 'real' recording sessions

This weekend (Sat, March 8 & Sun, March 9) Lynn and I spent time at Daniel Leussler's studio near University and Raymond (St. Paul Midway area) doing our first recording project. (Finally, in our seventh decade).

The first task was to determine how to set up microphones. Of the list of over 25 'potential' songs, the majority of these are vocals accompanied by two guitars. Daniel used an initial setup of a stereo pair using a couple of Shure condenser mikes. The recording room is very live and this sounded pretty good, especially the guitars. However, the vocals were somewhat echo-ey so he added two vocal mikes (also condensers). This improved the sound tremendously. Although the guitars sounded good, Daniel was concerned because he could not exercise much control over the guitar mix. He added a pair of Shure 57 dynamic mikes, the same type we often use for live performances, and got the mix he wanted. Thus each voice and instrument had its own mike; the stereo pair was still in place to get ambient sound etc. (We have some pictures that will eventually be posted).

He also asked about doing some multi-tracking (laying down instrumentals first), but we were not at all used to playing separately from singing. (On Sunday, we discussed doing one of Lynn's songs using this technique, so we may multi-track at least one song). Thus, most of the tracks are essentially live recordings. Although Daniel has control of the mix, we are not doing any over-dubbing or multi-tracking. On Saturday we tried once or twice to 'redo' a song: we discovered that the second time through anything usually resulted in a 'train wreck'. Thus, if we didn't get a good take the first time through, we'd shelve it for another day. Another thing that we learned Saturday was that it was a good idea to start a song and agree on tempo before Daniel said 'rolling' and we started recording. And of course, although Daniel said 'rolling', he's doing all the mixing on a computer, no reel-to-reel tapes were harmed in the making of this CD. And yes, Virginia, our goal is a CD, even though MP3s will certainly be available.

On Saturday we ended up laying down about 10 tracks; on Sunday, about 12 for a total of 22 tracks. Currently there are about 12 tracks that appear to be keepers, which I think is pretty good for about 10 hours of studio time. On Sunday we branched out and did some songs with with 12 string, mandolin and fiddle. We also redid a song from Saturday (Otto Wood), and ended up with a keeper. We tried a couple of instrumentals - 'Babbington's Hornpipe', a mandolin tune I wrote, and a flatpick guitar arrangement of 'Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine'. I couldn't get through the B part of Babbington's and there were some issues with Bonaparte (although overall it sounded better than I thought as we recorded it). I'm thinking that we should also try multi-tracking for instrumentals, since it would be useful to fix up any flubs (and there will be flubs!).

The songs that are working out best are usually ones that we have performed for at least a year or two. We are trying a few that we have learned this past fall (and have performed), but are finding that we often haven't quite settled on the arrangement or we aren't quite in sync. I have discussed almost all of the songs in previous posts (raw material for liner notes). As we start to settle in on the songs that make it to the CD, I'll start posting more information on the selected songs.

The other thing we've discovered is that recording is really exhausting. Part of it is staying focused (we found that we could record two songs before we needed a break - we're both pretty ADD). And of course when we weren't recording, we were listening to the 'raw mix' with Daniel and giving an assessment of whether to keep, redo or forget-about-it.

We are scheduled for another weekend at the end of March. (With a Dulono's performance in between). Of course recording is the only the first step - Daniel has to mix and we need everything mastered. (Mastering is some voodoo that is described here). Then there is all the design and packaging and replication of the CD - stay tuned...

MBOTMA Winter Weekend - a few notes

Lynn and I spent this past weekend (Feb-29 to March-2) at the MBOTMA Winter Bluegrass Weekend. We played at the Europa Room Friday night and were part of Phil Nusbaum's 'Spotlight on Longevity' on Sunday afternoon. Saturday we just showed up and went to some workshops, heard a lot of bands and did a little jamming - some notes:

Our gigs went well and the sound was good on both stages (at least the monitors were set right). For the Longevity session it was kind of fun to resurrect a couple of old songs and arrangements (and I actually remembered all the words!). Didn't get a whole lot of feedback, but did hear from a few people that they liked what we did. Al Jesperson (from Middlespunk Creek Boys, another band in the Longevity set) told me we did a good job. Since he's the guy who books Dulono's (where we play in a few weeks), that was good to hear.

We didn't spend much time jamming, even Saturday. I sat in on the Saturday tune Session with the 'New Bad Habits' and Lynn sat in on a Swedish Tune Jam (finding that she and the Swedish folk had friends in common). We also jammed with Bill Cagley and others and wound up "entertaining" the line waiting for the 9:30 Main concert on Saturday Night.

When we weren't performing or getting ready to perform, we spent a lot of time catching up on some bands with friends in it or some new bands (to us anyway) that we hadn't heard - these included:

- Ditch Lilies, John Whitehead and Deb Carlson and the Eelpout stringers: these bands played at the Saturday Night Dinner. We ended up sitting in the way back area (behind the buffet), the sound was OK , but couldn't really see the bands. John and Deb were accompanied by Deb Sorenson-Boeh, a great fiddler which added a nice touch to the good singing. I think John is writing some great songs (and we saw some scenes from his new movie on Black String Bands on Sunday). We know folk in the Eelpout stringers, but hadn't heard them before - good string band sound (we didn't hear the whole set as we had to finish eating and run down stairs to hear Hello Stranger).

- Hello Stranger: this is a band that has been around for a while with some veterans of the Minnesota Bluegrass scene. They recently added Deb Carlson on guitar and vocals and the duet singing of the two Debs (Deb Sorenson-Boeh is the other) was a real treat. We hope to make it to one of their nights at Dulono's on March 14 or 15th (one week before we play Dulono's).

- The Roe Family Singers: a band that I was aware of but had never heard. We heard them at the Europa room Saturday night (after dinner so we had better seats). Great old time singing - I especially liked their take on Cuckoo (Clarence Ashley's version).

- The High 48's: we just caught the tail end of their set on Sunday after our Longevity set. Classic bluegrass band with a lot of original songs - they are having their CD release concert at the Cedar, Sat March 22nd. We'd go, but we're playing that fri-sat at Dulono's ;-)

- New Bad Habits: this was the national old time act (from Illinois) - saw their concert and listened a bit as they played for the Sat night square dance. Chirps Smith and Dot Kent will be at the Bluff Country Gathering in Lanesboro in May (and so will we!).

We also saw The Fish Heads, Switched at Birth, Poor Benny, Highway 61 and more.

As Lynn says, these MBOTMA events are getting to be more and more fun as we get to know more of the performers. Next up is the Homegrown kickoff - we're playing on Saturday afternoon - we volunteered to be in a duet singing showcase/workshop, but no word on that yet.
See ya' there!

Gigs at MBOTMA Winter Bluegrass Weekend

The Bob&Lynn band is scheduled to play two sets at the MBOTMA Winter Bluegrass Weekend: the set on Friday night at 9:45 is the type we've done at this festival before; we are also doing a number of songs on Sunday at 1:00-3:00 as part of the Spotlight On “Longevity” hosted by Phil Nusbaum with 'Sotagrass, Bob & Lynn Dixon, and Middle Spunk Creek Boys.

For the Friday night set, we are doing a few numbers that are new since last summer, but we performed them all at our 4-hour Dulono set in January; these include Baltimore Fire, East Virginia Blues and Babbington's Hornpipe ( a mandolin tune I wrote).

We talked to Phil Monday night and the 'Spotlight on' series for this year is on Longevity: which are 'bands' that have been around for a while; although we have only been playing out as the bob-i-lynn band for 4 or 5 years, Lynn and I have been playing and singing together for over 40 years. (We met in 1965). His 'spin' will be our evolution from the Urban Folk Revival (or scare) of the sixties to the current 'roots' music scene (or some such - I'll let him explain it). Then the idea is that we will perform some songs from phases of our evolution. Of course, the scary thing is that we are doing a couple things that we really haven't done for a while - the tentative set list for Phil's show:

A Lesson Too Late for the Learning: this is a Tom Paxton Song that we have been singing just about since we've met. We haven't really performed it since we did a blue-grassy version for our first try at the MBOTMA duet concert. I have revived the finger-picking version I worked out in the 70's and we try to sound as folky as we can. I think we may have performed this at our Church Variety show which has been ongoing since 1986. We seem to remember the words, so this should go fine.

More Pretty Girls than One: this is really a jamming song which I've known for many years. I had learned a version from Doc Watson, but last summer heard a version from a 78 CD which had an additional verse which made it more appropriate for a bob-i-lynn song. We will attempt to recreate the 'old' version, then do it the way we do now.

The Bramble and the Rose: this is a song that we learned from Jodi Stecher and Kate Brislin and preformed for the Church Variety Show and maybe a few other times. This represents our use of almost the same arrangement as the original. We use the same pattern of instrumental intros and breaks as well as vocal harmony. We haven't played this for at least 5 years, but have gone through it a couple of times and I think we recreated the arrangement. Challenges are to remember the words and the fact that my part is pitched higher than most things I do now. (Long notes on a high F-sharp tire me out).


We'll end with a couple of ones that we currently perform:


East Virgina Blues: traditional song that we recently learned and added to our repertoire. This is influenced by a Stanley Brothers Version. But it didn't really click until I switched from mandolin to a Carter Family style guitar treatment.

If I lose, let me lose: a Charlie Poole song which share the melody and some verses from The Battleship of Maine. We learned it last fall. Pretty much our arrangement and harmonies. We use two guitars. (no banjo, no fiddle).

Practicing (The Book)

I've been reading a book I got for Christmas, Practicing: A Musician's Return to Music (Hardcover) by Glenn Kurtz. In his youth, Kurtz studied classical guitar and aspired to a concert career but abandoned this quest in his twenties. The book recounts his 'return' to the guitar and 'practicing' - events from his youth are intertwined with his current life. I'm about half way through it and enjoying it a lot: I studied classical guitar at the U of M for a few years with an academic career in mind, so there are some parallels.

Kurtz studied at the New England Conservatory of Music and he describes the somewhat informal play&feedback sessions that he and fellow guitarists had: mostly how they 'critiqued' each other and also searched for faults (good technique, but no emotion). He also discusses their dissing of concert guitarists such as Julian Bream and John Williams (Sloppy, too cold).

This type of criticism is certainly common with all musicians (even old-time) and I'm sure other artists as well. Although I rarely go 'public' with such criticism's, I am always listening to recordings and live performances with a critical ear. If someone is playing in a similar style as mine, I can be especially severe (in my mind;-)).

However, there are those times when the critical pose fades away and I can just relish the performance.

Might be more on this book later.