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Walt Michael & Company
Click here to visit Walt's website www.waltmichael.com
Monday, December 21st, 2009
(moved to this date due to snow storm)
Walt Michael & Co. Holiday Concert
7:30 PM
featuring
Walt Michael & Co. with Alexander Mitchell and Ralph Gordon
with special guests
Shelley Ensor - vocalist
Port Righ:Jo Morrison & Wayne Morrison Celtic harp and Scottish pipes
 Half a century ago, people in the mountains of the North Carolina and Southwest Virginia celebrated Christmas quite differently than the way most of us do now, holding two weeks of informal house parties that were filled with old time fiddle music, song and dance - a tradition they called "Breaking Up Christmas." These Christmas parties ran through and ended with Old Christmas, January 6th. Walt Michael & Company will "break up Christmas" with you this evening as they share their wide-ranging repertoire of tunes and songs that reflect the rich musical heritage of the Appalachians. The traditional folk musics of Scotland, Ireland, England and Africa made their way into the remote mountain hollers, later emerging as an integrated American musical genre that continues to evolve. Traditional string band music is passed down from generation to generation., from singer to singer, from musician to musician. In this great oral tradition, songs and tunes are evaluated and winnowed by time. Memorable melodies and lyrics that withstand this test of time take their place among the venerable repertoire. Welcome to an evening of old time music. Let the season begin!
Considered to be a virtuoso of tremendous influence in the revival of the hammered dulcimer, Walt’s wide repertoire ranges from old-time Southern Appalachian, to Celtic, to folk, to breath-taking original compositions. His various musical incarnations, including Bottle Hill, Michael, McCreesh & Campbell and Walt Michael & Co. have spanned over 35 years and taken him from the coal camps of Appalachia to the Closing Ceremonies of the 13th Olympic Winter Games in 1980, when 900 million world viewers heard his signature composition, Snowblind. As a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist he has recorded sixteen albums and instructional videos, appeared at the White House, the Lincoln Center, and the Kennedy Center and toured extensively throughout the US, Canada, Europe and the UK. His music has been heard on ABC-TV, NBC's Tonight Show, Broadway, BBC, TNN, CBC, OLN and PBS. Walt is the Artist in Residence at McDaniel College, as well as founder and Executive Director of Common Ground on the Hill.
Photo by Richard Anderson
Click here to visit Walt's website
January 9, 2010
Mike Seeger
We are deeply saddened to note the passing of Mike Seeger on August 8th, 2009. Our condolences go out to his family, as we mourn the loss of this great musical mentor, whose work in playing, reviving and preserving traditional roots music has enriched us beyond measure. We will miss you, Mike. You changed our world.
A founding member of the famed New Lost City Ramblers, Mike Seeger is at the epicenter of the renaissance of old time music. Mike has been honored with six Grammy nominations, recently for Southern Banjo Sounds in 1998 and Solo: Oldtime Country Music in 1991. In 1995 Mike received the Rex Foundation's Ralph J. Gleason Lifetime Achievement Award, established by the Grateful Dead to recognize "those who exemplify the qualities of talent, vision, innovation that Ralph so tirelessly supported." In the words of the award citation, Mike Seeger ". . . remains one of our great musical and cultural resources. To see him perform is to experience the richness of our traditions."
"In brushing the dust of time from American folk music, Mike Seeger illuminates the roots of contemporary music and champions their strength" Dan Bottstein, Billboard
"Clean and crisp as any acoustic music now being played . . . Here is an American artist standing forth, voice 'well trained', in narratives, in fun, in irony, himself branch and root of the entwined true vine." Jon Pankake, Rolling Stone
"His instrumental technique borders on the astonishing. He switches easily from guitar to banjo to autoharp to fiddle to mouth harp, singing and foot stomping all the while. Just playing with authenticity and style is a trick in itself, but Seeger does it with class and jovial spirit." Philip Elwood, San Francisco Examiner
Click here to visit Mike's website
January 8, 2010 8:00pm
Guy Davis
with Professor Louie & Mark Murphy
Please make note that this concert takes place on FRIDAY.
He's got some Blind Willie McTell and some Fats Waller, some Buddy Guy and some Taj Mahal. He's got some Zora Neale Hurston, some Garrison Keillor, and some Ossie (his father) and Laura (his grandmother) Davis. He's a musician, composer, actor, director, and writer but most importantly, Guy Davis is a bluesman. He received rave reviews for his performance off-Broadway as the legendary Robert Johnson in Robert Johnson:Trick The Devil. This fall he will star in the Broadway production of Finian's Rainbow, playing the role carved out by famed bluesman, Sonny Terry. He has won the Blues Foundation’s W.C. Handy "Keeping the Blues Alive Winner" and has been nominated for a number of additional Handy Awards. Numerous acclaimed releases on Redhouse Records have cemented Guy’s place on the world blues circuit. "It's difficult to know where to begin with NYC bluesman Guy Davis. Accomplished and accalimed as a musician, actor, composer, director and writer, Davis makes the term multi-talented woefully in adequate." Jim Musser, Icon Magazine www.guydavis.com
February 5th, 2011 8:00pm
Archie Fisher
Master guitarist, singer and songwriter Archie Fisher is Scotland’s foremost troubadour. Recognized for his contributions to Scottish folk music, he was inducted into the Scots Traditional Music Hall of Fame and in 2006 was awarded an MBE, (Distinguished Member of the British Empire) a prestigious honor nominated by his peers and bestowed by Queen Elizabeth for services to traditional music in 2007. The most recent recognition of his art came from the Goderich Celtic Roots Festival in 2008 when he was granted the Tradition Bearers Award.
Archie was born in Glasgow into a large singing family, which yielded three professional singers—Archie and his sisters Ray and Cilla Fisher. Constant music combined with his father’s appreciation of many musical styles (opera, vaudeville, traditional ballads) proved to be a heavy influence on Archie’s musical development, while his mother, a native Gaelic speaker from the Outer Hebrides, was a strong influence on the lyrical quality of his singing and songwriting. Archie first became interested in folk music through the Skiffle era of the late 1950’s under the influences of performers such as Lonnie Donegan and Johnny Duncan. Later, the recording of the Weavers at Carnegie Hall also had a profound effect on his approach to music and his political outlook.
During the British TV folk boom of the 1960’s and 70’s he appeared regularly with his younger sister Ray in magazine programs and the BBC Hootenanny series. He was based in Edinburgh at the time in the contemporary company of musicians such as Robin Williamson, Clive Palmer and Mike Heron who formed the original Incredible String Band and was an early guitar colleague of Bert Jansch. Archie’s first self-titled album was recorded in 1968 with the now sadly departed pairing of fiddle and mandolin player John McKinnon and the renowned whistle and piccolo player John Doonan.
During the mid 1970’s he formed a long-term partnership with Dundee musician Allan Barty, which was later grafted on to the revived pairing of Tommy Makem and Liam Clancy. As well as performing as a backing musician and arranger for the Maken and Clancy duo, he also produced a series of albums with them. Meanwhile, Archie became involved in record production with the dynamic Scottish band Silly Wizard. During the 1980’s he turned his attention to freelance radio work and originated several series of documentary programs with his local station Radio Tweed. He then returned to the recording studio during what he describes as one of his most creative songwriting periods. It was around this time that he began a partnership with Canadian songwriter Garnet Rogers. They toured throughout North America together, and Garnet produced several of his albums including his highly acclaimed album Sunsets I’ve Galloped Into, which was released on Red House Records in 1996. Following the success of that release, Archie toured throughout North America, playing with John Renbourn and Bert Jansch. His current Windward Away release on Red House has already achieved widespread acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic.
March 5th, 2011
8 PM
Happy Traum
Happy Traum is most famously known as one half of 'Happy and Artie Traum', a duo he began with his brother. They released three albums, Happy and Artie Traum (1970, Capitol), Double Back (1971, Capitol) and Hard Times In The Country (1975, Rounder). Happy has continued as a solo artist and as founder of Homespun Tapes, the company whose music lessons on tape, cd and dvd revolutionized music lessons, spawning thousands of artists who have been taught by roots music masters. Happy's highly influential early guitar instruction books set the standard for a burgeoning industry.
Happy was at the epicenter of the folk revival in Greenwich Village. He first appeared on record at a historic session in 1963 when a group of young folk musicians, including Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, Pete Seeger, Peter LaFarge and The Freedom Singers gathered in Folkways Records studio for an album called Broadside, Vol.1. With his group, the New World Singers, Happy cut the first recorded version of Blowin' In The Wind, and Happy sang a duet with Dylan on his anti-war song Let Me Die in My Footsteps . Later that year, the New World Singers recorded an album for Atlantic Records, with liner notes by Bob Dylan and featuring the first released recording of Don't Think Twice, It's All Right. In 1971 Happy once again joined Bob Dylan in the studio, playing guitar, banjo, bass, and singing harmony on three songs, which appeared on Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits, Vol. 2. Dylan also invited Happy to participate in a famous session with poet Allen Ginsberg, which resulted in the box set Holy Soul Jelly Roll.
In 1967, Jane, Happy and their three children moved to Woodstock, NY, and Happy and Artie formed a duet that, according to Rolling Stone, "defined the Northeast folk music style." Their performances at the 1968 and 1969 Newport Folk Festivals helped to gain them an avid following and a contract with famed manager Albert Grossman.
They subsequently produced and played on three more albums featuring top folk and rock musicians under the collective title The Woodstock Mountains Revue. The core group, comprised of Bill Keith, Jim Rooney, John Herald, Roly Salley, Larry Campbell, Pat Alger, and Happy & Artie Traum, toured the Northeast, Europe and Japan. Other members who appeared on the recordings included John Sebastian, Eric Andersen, Rory Block, Paul Butterfield, Eric Kaz, Lee Berg, Maria Muldaur, Arlen Roth, Caroline Dutton and many others.
Happy's most recent release, I Walk the Road Again, has received rave reviews. ""A solidly entertaining and tasty new folk recording. Traum is still infinitely listenable, musically creative and about as good an acoustic folk guitarist as there is.... Simply put, "I Walk the Road Again" is a winner, an excellent addition to any collection and a must-have for any folkie." - Noah Fleisher, Pulse
Don't miss this opportunity to hear this legendary musician.
Thursday, September 29th, 2011
from Scotland
The Paul McKenna Band
Baker Memorial Chapel, McDaniel College
8 PM
Presented by Common Ground on the Hill and the McDaniel Social Work Honors Society to help benefit the Rape Crisis Intervention Services
Admission: $19, $17 Seniors 65+ and teens, children 12 and under free
Free admission to all McDaniel College ID holders (students, faculty staff)
Combining their love for traditional and folk music as well as original songs and tunes, the Paul MacKenna Band has been touring the UK and internationally since 2006. With a contemporary approach to traditional material, their arrangements are both fresh and innovative with outstanding vocals, driving guitar and bouzouki, intense fiddle playing a warm pairing of flute and whistles and dynamic bodhran and percussion. Paul Mckenna is an outstanding singer-songwriter and mult-instrumentalist from Glasgow whose music draws from the rich traditions of Scottish and Irish music and is blended with modern rock and contemporary song writing. David McNee is a multi-instumentalist using traditional instruments such as mandolin and bouzouki to achieve a modern robust sound. Fiddler and vocalist Jeana Leslie, from the rich fiddle tradition in Orkney, was a scholarship recipient at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and is highly involved in the Glasgow fiddle scene and Celtic Connections. Sean Gray's final year of secondary school was spent at the National Centre of Excellence in Traditional Music at Plockton High School in the western Highlands, where he studied flute with Dougie Pincock and guitar with Jack Evans. He has played along side many major acts including the legendary Dick Gaughan. Percussionist Ewan Baird plays bodhran and cajon.
"A band with the potential to dominate the Scottish/Irish traditional scene for the next twenty years and be spoken about in the same breath as Boys Of The Lough." Fatea Magazine
Saturday, October 1st, 2011
Five Time Grammy Award Nominee
Ramblin Jack Elliott
8 PM
Carroll Arts Center
91 West Main St., Westminster, MD
Admission: $19, $17 Students, Seniors 65+ and teens
Ramblin' Jack Elliott is a true American original, since the early 50s personifying the footloose, carefree, hitchhiking, sing for your supper troubadour. He is Woody Guthrie's spiritual heir and an early inspiration to two generations of fledgling folkies, including his pal from Greenwich Village days, Bob Dylan. He's a singing cowboy who numbers rodeo stars, range hands, buckaroos, and cowboy poets among his friends and admirers, as well as fellow freethinkers as various as Tom Waits, Robert Duvall, Sam Shepard, and the late Jack Kerouac. Jack is an airplane pilot, a diesel mechanic, and a salt water sailor. He's rambled to every corner of the United States and most of Europe, and he may just now be coming into his prime. South Coast, his 1996 album on Red House, won a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album. In 2006 he earned another Grammy nomination for I Stand Alone, along with Odetta, Linda Ronstadt, Bruce Springsteen and Ralph Stanley. In 2009 Jack released his latest Grammy Award winning recording, A Stranger Here. In this recording, Jack steps out of the country/folk arena that has shaped his legend, 50+ years in the making. Haunting and evocative landscapes crafted by producer Joe Henry construct a mood that is enhanced by Elliott’s world-scarred voice. Together, musician and producer examine a carefully selected number of pre-WWII blues songs in a wholly unique way. Ramblin' Jack's life is the stuff of legend - don't miss this opportunity for a memorable evening of music.
Saturday, November 5th, 2011
Rounder Records Sensation
Sierra Hull
8 PM
Carroll Arts Center
91 West Main St., Westminster, MD
Admission: $19, $17 Students, Seniors 65+ and teens
Purchase Tickets
Rounder Records recording artist Sierra Hull has emerged as a leading light in a new generation of bluegrass musicians. It is rare that a young musician will take that spark of wonder that first inspired them to cradle an instrument and cultivate it to the point of full-blown virtuosity. Even rarer still is for that virtuosity to emerge as just one facet of a well rounded musical intelligence. At nineteen, Sierra displays instrumental facility and musical maturity well beyond her age. She began playing mandolin at age eight, and quickly became noted on the national festival scene for her fluid, inventive picking – winning several mandolin and guitar championships in the process. What is more astonishing is Hull’s overall musicianship: she never overplays, never overwhelms the emotion at the core of the song, and is committed to creating a band sound greater than the sum of its parts. She has developed into an exquisite vocalist whose performances are disarmingly tender and eloquent, yet delivered with the confidence and honesty necessary to cut through a top-notch bluegrass ensemble. Hull’s touring band, Sierra Hull & Highway 111, includes Cory Walker, Clay Hess, Christian Ward, and Jacob Eller.
“It’s amazing to listen to her precision and agility, and the potential for musical growth is tremendous, I can’t wait to hear what Sierra comes up with next.” - Sam Bush
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