music made better

We’re happy to be invited back by the Atlantic Highlands Arts Council for our third concert since 2009. This will be an intimate, all acoustic affair in a lovely Victorian home on Saturday, January 5th. Please visit the AHAC web site for tickets.

I am grateful to have been chosen for the Word From The Street feature on the API web site. As a long time fan of API products, I was happy to testify!

This picture is from the collection of Mike Black, a musician and photographer from Asbury Park. Look for more of Mike’s images on his site!

M SHANGHAI

“There’s plenty of action closer to the ground…catch the M Shanghai String Band, holding court in Williamsburg” - NEW YORK TIMES, feature article on roots music revolution in NYC

“The best acts are the locals, like M Shanghai String Band, which usually plays monthly, proving that New York, nay, Brooklyn, is as country as Tennessee.”- VILLAGE VOICE, naming The Jalopy Theater and School of Music New York’s Best Country Venue 2011

CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS

“To call them a string band does not really do justice to the flying instruments, the role changes and the strong and sometimes dangerous singing of Rhiannon Giddens…” — New York Times

I’m happy to be featured in this month’s Alumni Newsletter from the SAE Institute of Technology

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This year so far has brought a lot of interesting and diverse projects to the studio.  From the throwback jazz romps of Tin Pan to the modern funk of Aabaraki, Brooklyn - as usual - served up the jams.  Philly bands Eat Your Birthday Cake, Ladyfingers, and The Music Business represent three totally different facets of that city’s deep scene.  More original roots music came in from all around the country, notably from the bands Balto, Hilary Hawke & The Flipsides, and Jon Braman (self-proclaimed father of ukulele hip hop).  Audio Collision blew my mind with their hard rock instrumentals, and a clavinet player who sounds like Frank Zappa on guitar.  Lastly, I really enjoyed collaborating with David Weinstone on his latest album for kids, “All I Want”. (Parents, you might recognize him from TV’s Nick Jr. and from his Music for Aardvarks and Other Mammals series.)

At the New Harmonies Concert Celebrating Asbury Park’s Musical Heritage, Paramount Theatre, Asbury Park - March 13/2011

L-R: Bob Harris, John Grubb, Mark Clifford, Richard Morris, Gary Oleyar

L-R: John Grubb, Bob Harris, Mark Clifford, Richard Morris, Gary Oleyar

Bob Harris takes a solo and I enjoy the moment.

Legendary artist John Cohen will be screening his latest documentary, “Roscoe Holcomb: From Daisy, Kentucky” and performing a set of old time music with The Dust Busters on Thursday, March 31st at The Showroom in Asbury Park, NJ at 7 PM.

Cohen (a.k.a. “Uncle John” from the Grateful Dead song) is a filmmaker, photographer and musician who has worked primarily in Appalachia and Peru. He played for 50 years in The New Lost City Ramblers, who toured the world and released more than 30 albums.  Cohen released 16 musical documentaries and was a professor of photography and drawing at SUNY Purchase from 1972-97.

“Roscoe Holcomb: From Daisy, Kentucky” recently premiered at the Margaret Meade Film Festival at the American Museum of Natural History together with a retrospective of John’s work and also just won the award for Best Documentary Short at the Woodstock Film Festival.

A great piece about John Cohen and the new film just aired on NPR’s Weekend Edition.

“I listened to The New Lost City Ramblers. Everything about them appealed to me — their style, their singing, their sound. I liked the way they looked, the way they dressed and especially I liked their name. Their songs ran the gamut in styles, everything from from mountain ballads to fiddle tunes and railroad blues. All their songs vibrated with some dizzy, portentous truth. I’d stay with The Ramblers for days. At the time, I didn’t know that they were replicating everything they did off old 78 records, but what would it have mattered anyway? It wouldn’t have mattered at all. For me, they had originality in spades, were men of mystery on all counts. I couldn’t listen to them enough.” –Bob Dylan from “Chronicles”

The triCityNews wrote a very generous piece in today’s issue about me and the music events I am promoting in Asbury Park.  It wasn’t included in print, so I want to credit the photographer who took these pictures, Adam Cantor.  http://www.adamcantor.net/

New Harmonies Concert Celebrating Asbury Park’s Music Heritage - March 13, 2011

L-R: Bob Harris, John Grubb, Mark Clifford, Richard Morris, Gary Oleyar

I am very excited about this show and proud to share the stage with these musicians!

Mark Clifford is a veteran bluegrass banjo player originally from Liberty Corner, NJ. In 1977 he co-founded The Cloverhill Band, considered to be one of NJ’s best country-rock bands, and later played with the award-winning progressive bluegrass band “99 Years”. His playing can be heard on Bruce Springsteen’s Grammy-winning “We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions” and “Where Have All The Flowers Gone: The Songs of Pete Seeger”. Mark is owner of Skylands Professional Audio and is principal sound designer for the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival. He also serves as executive director of the Skylands Music & Arts Festival. Mark currently lives in Blairstown, NJ with his wife and two children.

Bob Harris performed for 15 years with fiddle legend Vassar Clements and served as his musical director.  He was the first place winner of Guitar Player International’s “Ultimate Guitar Competition” in 1992.  Bob continues to record and produce music for both major and independent record labels, including a recent production credit for Johnny Cash’s “The Great Lost Performance”, recorded in 1990 at The Paramount Theater in Asbury Park, NJ.

Gary Oleyar has been playing the violin professionally for over 30 years. Gary has toured with Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina, Bob Seger, and many others. As a studio musician in Nashville, Gary recorded with talented artists such as Marty Stuart, Paul Leim, and Eddie Bayers.  He has made TV appearances with Eddie Raven, Pam Tillis, The Lynns (Loretta’s twins), Trisha Yearwood, Kenny Chesney, Billy Burnette (of Fleetwood Mac) and Mick Fleetwood’s Zoo.

John Grubb is one of the best young bassists in contemporary bluegrass music today.  As a member of NJ-based Railroad Earth, he spent seven years touring the country and helping build the band’s devoted fan base.  He recently joined the Emmit-Nershi Band, adding his virtuosic touch to the group’s pyrotechnic picking.

Richard Morris is a mandolinist and guitarist born in Red Bank NJ.  He is a member of Brooklyn’s M SHANGHAI STRING BAND, and the producer of their first three albums.  As a mastering engineer at New York studios Sterling Sound and Masterdisk, he collaborated on many hit albums of the last decade, including “Yonder Is The Clock” by The Felice Brothers, the BBC’s 2009 Country Album of The Year.  He currently works as a mastering engineer at Asbury Media in Asbury Park, NJ.