Americana Gazette October-November 2012

MERICANA GAZETT E A October / November 2012

FEATURE STORY MSB (Mighty Short Bus) The Moody Brothers Chris Scruggs Jessica Stiles Kevin Welch Leroy Troy BoDeans Tom T. and Ms. Dixie Hall The Roys Warner E. Hodges, Joe Blanton & Jason & the Scorchers Concerts

Charlie Faye George Ducas John Birner Krause Family Band Action Guitars Farmer Jason Concert Bob’s Guitar Corner CD Reviews and much more!

AMERICANA GAZETTE Greetings: Fall is here! Yea! Pumpkin bars, homemade soups, chili, apple orchards, football, back to school, and frost - just to name a few things that pop into my head this time of year. Fall is my favorite time of year. In fact Andy and I will be celebrating our 33rd Wedding Anniversary on October 6th, the same day as my little “adopted granddaughter”, Winter Willow (actual granddaughter of Warner and Deb Hodges) will be celebrating her very first birthday!

My husband, Andy Winter opened Action Guitars in Belleville, WI. The store is doing good, keeping him busy with sales, repairs and custom builds. Now with me being on the local school board, working full time at the New Glarus Home, helping him with the store and doing this magazine, my plate has become a little full. Thank you everybody for your wonderful support of all of these adventures of ours – you folks are the best!

PUBLISHER Joyce Ziehli • jziehli@advisorymgt.com

SENIOR EDITOR Andy Ziehli • aziehli@advisorymgt.com

Bobby Westfall

STAFF WRITERS/PHOTOS Celia Carr

Rosemary Ziehli

Travis Cooper

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Ric Genthe • rgenthe@charter.net

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Welcome to

Americana Gazette TABLE OF CONTENTS

WHERE TO LOOK The Moody Brothers 4 6 Chris Scruggs 7 Karl Gmur 8 Mighty Short Bus 9 Jessica Stiles 10 Litt DuBay 11 The American Cowboy 11 B-Side by Celia 12 Kevin Welch 14 Leroy Troy 15 Krause Family Band 16 Random Thoughts 17 BoDeans 18 The Roys 19 Future of Music 19 Bob’s Guitar Corner 20 Robert’s Ramblings 21 New Music 22 Pet Note - Bailey & Isabelle 23 Charlie Faye 25 Wood, Stone & Water 26 The Quilt - Frye Gaillard and Kathryn Schelt 28 George Ducas 29 Tom T. and Ms. Dixie Hall 30 John Birner 31 Rick Recalls 32 Action Guitars 33 CD Reviews 34 Warner E. Hodges, Joe Blanton, JATS Concerts

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The Moody Brothers: Americana Artists and Entrepreneurs When two-time Grammy nominee Dave Moody was thinking about a place to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the independent record label started by his father, he decided on the ErnestTubb Midnight Jamboree. As the second oldest radio show in the country, the Jamboree has a rich and colorful history. Launched in 1947, it has followed the Grand Ole Opry every Saturday night on WSM radio in Nashville, and along the way has featured some legendary performances.

I still remember the October night in 1975 when Willie Nelson played the Jamboree.

He was just beginning his meteoric rise, pulling in new fans for country music and helping to create what soon became known as Americana. Some people were unsure what to make of all that, and a few weeks earlier on the stage of Opry, Roy Acuff had insulted Nelson’s image – particularly his shoulder-length red hair – declaring with a touch of derision in his voice:“We hope someday Willie will come back and be one of us.”

Ernest Tubb, one of the Opry’s most warm-hearted members, heard the comment and in order to to make amends invited Nelson to appear on the Jamboree. Willie did, and brought down the house – a standing room crowd of longtime fans and newer converts who shared the love of a good country song.

This past August, I thought about that scene – that atmosphere of inclusiveness, and that musical blend of tradition and change – when Dave Moody took the Jamboree stage. Moody comes from a legendary musical family. His father, Dwight Moody, was and is a fiddle-playing preacher from North Carolina, who played the Grand Ole Opry in the 1940s in the band of bluegrass legend, Clyde Moody (who was no relation.) In 1950, Dwight also played fiddle for Country Music Hall of Famer Hank Snow, before shipping off to fight in Korea.

After the war, now a decorated veteran, Dwight worked in Durham, North Carolina, playing square dances on the weekend, performing live on country radio, and studying for the ministry.With his wife, Cathy, also a musician, he moved around, pastoring small-town Methodist churches, and in 1962 he launched Lamon Records, initially to support the building fund at his church. For the first twenty years or so, Lamon remained a primarily a gospel label, little known except to the friends and family of Dwight Moody.

But then came the Grammy nomination of 1985. By then his three sons, Carlton, Dave, and Trent, were following musically in their father’s footsteps. They had formed a band called The Moody Brothers, and among other things in the early ‘80s they were cutting a lot of country dance tracks, selling,as Dave Moody remembers,“30, 40, 50,000 singles for dance competitions around the world.”In 1984, one of their cuts was“Cotton-Eyed Joe,” an old slave song from the American South that became, after the movie “Urban Cowboy,” a line dance standard in the 1980s.

By then the Moodys were living in Charlotte, NC, where Dwight had opened a recording studio that he operated with his sons. Dave was still a college student, and one day after class he came by the studio and saw an entrance form for the Grammy Awards lying half-discarded on his father’s desk.“Being the young and ambitious, college-educated man that I was,I filled out the form,”Dave remembers.“I never really thought anything would come of it. But then we got this call, and we thought,‘Holy, moly!’”

Suddenly, the Moodys were Grammy nominees, finalists for Instrumentalist of the Year, sharing that distinction with Chet Atkins, Ricky Skaggs, the Whites, and Doc Watson. It

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didn’t matter that they didn’t win. For artists on a small independent label, it was, as Dave says,“almost ludicrous” to be in such company. But there they were, and all of a sudden their career took off.They began to tour with George Hamilton IV, one of the stalwarts of the Grand Ole Opry who had an enormous following in Europe.

“George took us to the Opry,” Dave says.“We did it quite a bit in those days. It was as if we had won the Grammy. People in Nashville loved the story. For an independent label to have a Grammy nominee was unheard of. We played big festivals in Europe with George, and found ourselves on shows with Johnny Cash and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.We won three International CMA Awards for Best Trio, beating out people like the Gatlin Brothers and the trio of Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris. It was kind of crazy.”

Dwight Moody continued periodically to perform with his sons,including shows at the White House for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W.Bush. In 1989,the Moodys cut an album in Prague with Czech recording artist Jiri Brabec – a rockabilly piano player – and released it through their own Lamon label in collaboration with the stateowned company in communist-run Czechoslovakia.At about the same time, they expanded Lamon’s roster of American artists. In 1990, George Hamilton IV and his songwriter son George Hamilton V cut a duet album on the label – a mostly acoustic, folk-country record that still holds up more than twenty years later as a pioneering Americana album.

After yet another Grammy nomination, the Moody Brothers rode the wave through most of the ‘90s.They turned their attention to Europe for a while, becoming featured country performers at Disneyland Paris when the complex opened in 1992.“We played there regularly,”says Dave, a touch of amazement still in his voice.“We also played a big country music club next door with ‘The Moody Brothers’ there on the marquis. Between 1992 and ’98, over 50 million people came through those venues.”

But nothing lasts forever, and by the end of the decade the Brothers began to pursue different paths. Dave and Trent moved back to the United States, where Trent, the youngest, began his own music school in North Carolina. Dave focused more heavily on the record label, which he guided toward the gospel roots of its founding. Carlton, meanwhile, continued to concentrate on performing.He became the lead singer for an iconic band, Burrito Deluxe, founded in 2000 with legendary steel player“Sneaky Pete” Kleiner. In 1968, Kleiner had been a co-founder of the Flying Burrito Brothers, joining Gram Parsons, Chris Hillman, and Chris Ethridge to create a California countryrock sound that later influenced the Eagles and many other bands.

When Kleiner decided in 2000 that he wanted to re-create some version of that band, he and Moody chose the name Burrito Deluxe, the title of the Flying Burritos’ most famous album. For the next seven years, the new band performed widely and recorded three critically acclaimed albums, including“Georgia Peach,”a tribute to Gram Parsons, “The Whole Enchilada,”and“Disciples of the Truth.”Kleiner died in 2007, but the band w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

has continued to perform occasionally with Carlton singing lead.

Dave, meanwhile, moved his record label to Nashville. He had already recorded his own tribute to Chet Atkins,“Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” which was nominated for a Dove Award in 2002, the gospel music equivalent of a Grammy. But unlike the Grammys where he was a finalist but didn’t win,Dave soon won the first of two Dove Awards in 2005. In 2010 he earned another Dove nomination after co-producing the critically acclaimed “George Hamilton IV and Friends: Old Fashioned Hymns and Gospel Songs … for those who miss them. ”The album featured duets between Hamilton and musical guests Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, Del McCoury, Gail Davies, Charley Pride, Bill Anderson, and the Moody Brothers.For all his success in gospel music,however,Dave has continued to record other artists, including Kathryn Scheldt, an Americana songwriter who hit the top ten in 2012 with her country-flavored single,“Almost Cheatin’.”

All of which brings us to the Ernest Tubb Midnight Jamboree, where Dave took the stage in August to celebrate 50 years of Lamon.Among his guests were country artists Bobby Dean and Courtney Stewart, who have also charted in the past year for Lamon, and of course George Hamilton IV. “They’re just talented, enterprising people,” Hamilton told me before going onstage.

“When I was living in Charlotte,NC,the Moodys were kind of hometown heroes.It was such a delight to be around them.We did the Opry a lot together and toured Poland together. I can’t think of a family music group more talented or more creative.”

With that, Hamilton walked smiling onto the stage and with Dave singing harmony, he broke into the strains of “Abilene,” his number one hit from 1963.Together, the two Grammy nominees, Hamilton and Moody, moved effortlessly into the old gospel standard, “Life Is Like a Mountain Railroad,” and closed their intimate, three-song set with Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young.”

Somehow it seemed perfect – an affirmation of tradition and creativity, which has been a hallmark of the Moodys,and of their small,but ambitious record label that began operations more than 50 years ago.

Frye Gaillard Photos supplied.

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Moving Forward with Chris Scruggs There’s no doubt that the best musicians just know how to adapt to the musical situation that they're in.To know how to lay back and groove with a band, and they know when its time to tear it up. Chris Scruggs is one of those special musicians who know how to do just that and not just with one instrument, but with several. He started with drums,but since he was 11,he has been pursuing guitar,steel,bass and even fiddle.And not only that, he has a voice that just works for the style he plays in. Of course, he's had quite the musical family growing up with his mom being singer Gail Davies and his grandpa being Earl, but he's obviously someone who has worked very hard at his craft and its paying off. He and I got to meet up in a coffee shop in East Nashville to talk about how he got started and where he's taking his music. One thing I'd like to invite anyone reading this to do, even if you're not a musician and you’re just into the music history, go check out some of the great old players that Chris mentions as influences.

Their contribution to their respective music genre and style should not be forgotten.

And of course, look into Chris’s music as well.

Travis- It’s great to talk with you Chris! I suppose growing up with the musical heritage that you did, I guess the reaction would be to fully embrace it, or turn away and run.

But did you know very early on that music was what you wanted to do?

Chris- Well, it’s something that I never really thought of that much. I mean everyone I grew up with even if they weren't family, was a musician. It was pretty natural and I never had to force it at all.

Travis- What was the first instrument you gravitated towards?

Chris- I got this drum kit when I was like 3 years old. Larry London used to own a drum shop here in town and my mom got me one. It was a little kid kit with like, snap on heads. (Laughs) I think I ended up jumping on it more than anything and ended up busting all the heads. She figured out that I wasn't quite ready for an instrument so she sold them. I started playing guitar when I was 11. I stuck with it from that point. But I've always been able to sit down and play drums.

Travis- Did having some easier access to some of the heavy hitter musicians growing up, were they able to help you along and teach you things?

Chris- Yeah, I suppose so, but more just general philosophies of music and how to approach a song or situation. More than learning a note for note thing, or licks. I've never been one to ask "show me how you play that lick". Until recently, I've been playing fiddle and with that instrument so much of it is oral tradition and passing down fiddle tunes and under the guidance of Buddy Spicher, he shows how one guy would have played something say, 75 years ago.And here's what so and so added to it in the 50's for example. So I've started to study more note for note for the fiddle.

Travis- And I know from jams I've participated in,that some of those bluegrass guys can be very strict on how and what you play....

Chris- Yeah! And I've always kind of shied away from that.And I’ve never really been a bluegrass player. I've always been more into the old country stuff.And the early rockn-roll stuff. Guitar players like Grady Martin, Hank Garland, Cliff Gallup, Gene Vincent, and the Blue Caps. Steel players like Jerry Byrd, Jimmy Day, and Bud Issacs. Fiddle players like Tommy Jackson, Dale Potter, and Buddy Spicher. Bass players like Bob Moore, Ernie Newton and Junior Husky. Drummers like Buddy Harmon. Guys like were amazing and the amount of stuff they played on 3 or 4 sessions a day; 7 days a week. From the 50's to the early 80's. For 25 years they were playing almost 10 hours a day.They were so on top of their game and we're lucky all that got captured.

Travis- Were you able to meet many of them over the years?

Chris- A lot of them. Harmon. Moore. Harold Bradley. Particularly steel players, but a lot of those guys became a little more reclusive in their later years. It’s like Cowboy Jack Clement says, 'we're in the fun business, and if you're not having fun, you're not doing your job.' I think for a lot of those guys, they just got burned out.And a lot of them didn't want to talk about it.

Travis- Was it just the changing business that got to them?

Chris- I think so.That and the music itself changed. I remember reading an interview with Jerry Byrd and this was in the 70's,where he said if he got invited to a session, he wouldn't know what to do. I think a lot of those guys felt that the music they helped to create sort of passed over them.

Travis-And they were feeling that in the 70's...

Chris- Yeah, it’s all really subjective. What’s 'real' country...and what’s not. Bashful Brother Oswald, who played dobro for Roy Acuff said country went downhill when

Roy Wiggins started playing electric lap steel on the Opry for Eddy Arnold. He said that was the beginning of the end. (laughs) It was better with banjos, fiddles and dobros!

And if you talk to guys like Ray Price or Little Jimmy Dickens or ones that passed on like Faron Young or Carl Smith, they would have all told you that it ended when Elvis came along.After rock-n-roll, things were never the same. So there’s always that issue, its traditional music yet pop music at the same time. It can go back to Jimmie Rodgers incorporating blues music into country. But being traditionally based, it’s easy to say things isn’t what they used to be. So I guess there really is only two styles of music...music you like and music you don't.

Travis- So besides the country guys, who were the early rock-n-roll guys you were into?

Chris- The first stuff I was listening to was the Everly Brothers.And The Beatles were why I got into guitar. I saw Hard Day’s Night when I was 11. I said that’s it! I gotta play that!

Travis- So you're how old?

Chris- 29.

Travis- (laughs) After all these years, the Beatles are still doing that!

Chris- Yeah! I've got a cousin who's 22, and he dissects the Beatles songs even more than I ever have.It is interesting,the staying power of something like that.I guess when it gets shoved down your throat in the popular consciousness. It’s always there. If you've grown up hearing it,it makes no difference whether it was recorded last month or 50 years ago.That’s the beauty of those recordings.It’s always gonna be there,always relevant.

Travis- Were there some other British Invasion guys on your list?

Chris- Always dug the Kinks.The Stones of course.The ones who built upon the Eddie Cochrane/Buddy Holly approach. More chordal lead type playing rather than the twiddly, single note stuff. It was a special sound.

Travis-Do you personally feel like you've had to walk that line of having to keep things more traditional, or have you felt the freedom to push musical boundaries a bit?

Chris-I think it comes up from time to time. I think it’s kind of funny that maybe in the 50's and 60's guys like Faron Young or Carl Smith made some rock-n-roll records just to try and survive. I think today, listeners can be a lot more conservative.The less creative you are, the more you reproduce what’s already been done, the more people are receptive towards it.Which is really tough for someone who is creative and wants to write songs and sound like themselves.You know, before there was a Ray Price shuffle, there wasn't a Ray Price shuffle.Before Grady Martin played that fuzz bass on 'Don't Worry’, there wasn't that sound. continued on page 35

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We Will Miss Karl Gmur

It is with sad news and a heavy heart that I have to inform you that Green County‘s Musical family lost one of our own this past August. Karl Gmur world class bass player and friend to all of us passed away. Karl was the anchor of the Roger Bright Polka Band. He traveled the globe with Roger spreading the word and gospel of Green County’s vast musical heritage and showcasing the world class musicianship that Green County musicians offer that still thrives to this day.

Besides being a world class musician Karl was a world class person. He supported local music and musicians throughout his life. With Kay his wife by his side the two of them attended shows, concerts, and musical events tirelessly these many years. Always a fixture at local musical happenings Karl was a friendly face and pat on the back to many of us at our shows. Never afraid to tell you to“turn it down a little”Karl helped to mentor many a young musician on stage etiquette and performance. He was a great guy and a tireless friend to all of us. When the show was not going so well, he would tell you to “get them to drink a little more, they’ll come around or play a polka that always works!”

The things that I’ll always remember about Karl with a K as we affectionately called him, are his dry sense of humor, his wonderful stories, and his ability to always bring a smile to my face every time I talked to him. It did not matter if you met him on the street, in a bar, or at church Karl always had something funny to tell you. With his passing comes the loss of just not a brother but a mentor and one of the last true Polka Musicians in the state. We are fortunate to have a record of his playing on the Roger Bright recordings so he will always be close to us.

Karl with a K will be missed by many. His legacy is that he helped to bring a regional music form to a national level, and that he inspired many local musicians to take up instruments to learn to play even though they did not always play the style of music that he loved. His support, mentorship, and most of all his friendship will be missed by me greatly. Karl was a fine example of a human being, loving to his family, his friends, and to his music.

It’s going to be hard to play Puempels in the future without Karl’s smile and wit being there. I know heaven is hopping with Karl thumping the bass with all his buddies playing Polka music for the masses. Hopefully there is beer in heaven to go with Karl’s bass playing and if not all of us here will raise a glass to one of the best folks whoever graced a stage, Karl Gmur.

Andy Ziehli

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Mighty Short Bus packs a Mighty Big Load of Music!

I caught up with Mighty Short Bus, a Madison,WI. Based “Roots Rock Country Soul band”, and got to ask them about their excellent brand new “MSB Family Band” CD, and what was going on in MSB Land.

AG: How did this band get started?

Frank Busch:We have been around for a long time and have gone through some major and minor changes along the way. I kind of wish we would have let the name Mighty Short Bus die and started over with a different name, but oh well. It started the same way a lot of bands do, in a basement with some beer and a dream of playing music all the time.

AG:You guys have been a staple of the Madison Music Scene for a long time, what keeps you here?

Frank Busch:That’s a good question, maybe we should have made the move to Austin, or somewhere where our style of music has a bigger scene. But Madison is a nice town to live in, I just wish it had more music clubs; they seem to be less and less these days.

AG:The new CD is off the beaten path for you guys, more on the folk-country Americana kind of groove, what led you in that direction?

Frank Busch:We just had a bunch of songs lying around that sounded like they needed to be recorded this way, we try to allow the songs to dictate how they need to sound.

Dan Ryan:The tastes of the individual members and the band have changed and we didn’t want to stunt any creativity that came from that. Frank had an idea to do the record acoustically and naturally, so we did it. It was an experiment. It felt like the right thing to do, and luckily for us, it turned out amazing and is something that we

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are very proud of and love to share with fans.

AG:What is it about playing together in this band that makes you all happy?

Dan Ryan:This band has a groove of its own that I have felt develop over the past year that, really put simply, makes it fun to play. Everyone listens and feeds off of each other to put on the best show possible. We have taken songs and truly made them our own; inside and out. Showing that to the fans will always keep us happy and push us forward to new music.

AG:Who are your influences and who do you try to emulate musically?

Dan Ryan:The range of influences in this band is almost comical: country to rap, pop to metal and even classical music. As far as who we try to emulate, I believe we have all found our own style that we play and we simply try to be ourselves. That is what makes MSB, MSB. Our influences, however, reflect Tom Petty,The Black Crowes, and many others.

AG: If you could do anything in this group, what would it be?

Frank Busch: Play music and live comfortably as long as we are physically able.

AG: What are some of your greatest moments playing in this band?

Nic Adamany:There have been so many great moments playing with this band. Playing to a packed club, full of fans who know the words to all of your songs is a very special thing, every single time. Equally as exciting is playing to a large crowd that has never seen the band. For me though, the first time listening thru the Family Band album after it had been fully mixed/mastered was a great moment. continued on page 35

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Jessica Stiles “The Latest Stiles” Jessica Stiles’ style is “Straight From the Heart” to quote Jim Lauderdale, or “Stiles…sings in a voice that recalls old-school country forerunners like Kitty Wells and Sara Carter” according to Peter Cooper.

One day while visiting with Phil Lee at his home in Nashville, Phil handed me a CD and said “have you ever heard of this gal”. I hadn’t, so Phil said take the CD give it a listen. Well I did and then I contacted Jessica right away so we could chat.Thanks Phil! Someone this talented should not be kept a secret, so here’s to all of my readers – check this gal out!!!

Joyce: Good morning Jessica. How is the weather in Nashville today?

Jessica: It is warm, but I just saw the most beautiful rainbow. The sky was pink! It was gorgeous.

Joyce: We haven’t had rain for so long here in Wisconsin, I can’t remember what a rainbow looks like! Jessica tell me about your youth and how you got involved in the music industry?

Jessica: I grew up in a musical home. My Mom is a jazz pianist and composer now. Back then, she taught me how to play folk guitar. I used to play these little ole folk songs. Then I went off to a Renaissance Fair before I set out for college and ended up learning all these ole English ballads, Irish music and such. Growing up we listened to Woody Guthrie records,The Byrds,Peter Seeger and so on. I grew up in New York City and there were always tunes on the turntable. Mom was into classical music, then went on to play jazz.There were lots of rock ’n roll records at my house. I studied classical clarinet and sang most all my life. I have always been a listener as well as a singer. I have played guitar since I was a teenager. It is a real simple pleasure and I try not to forget that. Looking at music as a business, it can be very confusing and at times discouraging. Music is just a part of being human. It is a language that we can use to reach each other.

Joyce: Jessica what instruments do you play?

Jessica: I play guitar. Recently I got an old fiddle. I haven’t quite learned how to play it yet, but it’s one of my favorite instruments. If I could do over, I’d love to just play the fiddle. I’d love to be able to scratch away on the fiddle on the front porch 20 years from now!

Joyce: Jessica, I loved the CD Phil handed me. Tell me about your writing experiences.

Jessica: My first commercial CD was a self titled EP that came out in 2009 when I was living in Portland, Oregon.

I had 4 original songs and 2 covers on it. I started writw w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

ing songs in high school. Before this EP, I had a little CD called“Americana”, but it was not a commercial release. This was a word that described me and helped me to do the EP. I also was playing with a 5 piece Honky Tonk Band in Portland, doing classic country and people just loved it.

Then I moved to Nashville in September 2009 and came around the time of the Americana Music Conference. It has been like a whirlwind since then. My friends asked me what I was going to do in Nashville? Be a big star? I told them I hoped to sweep the floor at the ErnestTubb Record Shop. (we both laugh) Low and behold, I got to do that. I was hired in the mail order department at the Ernest Tubb Record shop in Nashville and that was the best education I could have got in the history of country music. I used to listen to country music all the time; Johnny Paycheck was one of my favorites. I was in heaven working here. I worked there a couple of years and also worked for WSM Radio. My first assignment here was to meet DJ Eddie Stubbs. I went out to see him where he was meeting his oldest fan of 102 years old.

He came out to meet her at her birthday party. He is a great man and in fact I just saw him at Kitty Wells’ funeral where he did a wonderful job on her eulogy.

One of my other interesting jobs was “popcorn girl” at the Midnight Jamboree at the Ernest Tubb Record Shop.

All kinds of people come out for this and I loved it, we have a lot of traditions here in Nashville. Curently I am working on a 3 month project for WSM Radio, helping support their emergency preparedness plan, after that I don’t know what I will be doing.

Joyce: Where do you play out at Jessica?

Jessica: Mostly do shows locally. I do some shows every year in Portland,Oregon and NewYork City and am looking forward to branching out to some new venues. Have also played in Kentucky and on the stage at Bean Blossom, Indian recently. “The Latest Stiles” CD has been doing well on iTunes and getting some airplay, including abroad. I am glad people are enjoying it and I am trying to get out to play to help promote it.

Joyce: What’s in the future for Jessica Stiles?

Jessica: I’m starting to work on a new CD to be released in 2013. I would love to perform on the Grand Ole Opry some day. If I ever had an opportunity to do that, it would be a huge thrill. It is an institution that is a part of every Country Music artist’s early aspirations and history. I did get to play at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville one time, live on WSM Radio. Guitarist and songwriter Danny Flowers was kind enough to play with me, and that was one of the neatest venues.

I would also love to sing with Del McCoury sometime,to see if our voices blend. He’s got the high lonesome sound and always makes me smile when I hear him. You never know! I want to keep on the path. I am so glad I came to Nashville. If I would never have moved from Oregon, I would not have met all these wonderful people. Nashville is an inspiring, but challenging place.

Joyce: Well, I have really enjoyed talking to you. I thank Phil Lee for connecting us. By the way,how did you ever meet that fellow? Is it anything we can put in print?

Jessica: (laughing) I met him at the Red Beet Record Showcase during the Americana Music Conference, he was performing. What a great guy, Nashville is such a supportive community!

Joyce: I was probably at that same party. That’s where I met him too. And once you meet Phil Lee,there is no forgetting him! We sure do have a lot of common friends in Nashville – what a small world it really is!

Jessica, you are a great singer and performer and I have confidence in you that you will be around for quite awhile.Thank you Jessica for the interview. See you in September in Nashville. Meanwhile the rest of you check her out at: www.jessicastiles.com Jessica: Thank you Joyce. See you soon.

Story by: Joyce Ziehli Photos by: Deone Jahnke P.S. (Update from Jessica) I’d also like to add a postscript, it looks like I am moving to Washington, DC this Fall.

Know there will be some good pickin’ there and I won’t forget my friends in Tennessee! Hope to see y’all before too long.

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Litt DuBay’s

Rant!

by Litt DuBay

Litt Dubay here, Well joke fest is off and running! Both candidates have spoken and we are for nothing but tall tales and lies for the next 2 months. I know that there has to be some fudging of numbers for political purposes but the crap the Republicans is spewing out is unbelievable. Attack Dog Paul Ryan is on the prowl and barking like a rabid dog. Hard to believe a guy who spends more time in Washington than here,that he is true to Wisconsin. Scott Walker got his 3 minutes of Fame at the convention,should have stayed there. Oh well enough on politics.

Tony Dipofi released his solo CD and it’s selling like tricks at a whore house on nickel Tuesday! The man's on fire. Really folks it’s a great CD and you should pick it up, otherwise Tony will make you an offer you can’t refuse.

Word is that Ziehli is going to go to Nashville in February and debut his singing voice for all the folks in Music City. Hope they have ear plugs. Ziehli’s voice has been described as a cross between Willie Nelson with allergies and the mating call of the Tasmanian

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Devil. Either way some things should just not be heard!

How dumb are people anyways? Organic food is not any better for you than regular grown in the ground covered in manure. Organic veggies are the same as the regular veggies you get at the store. Both are grown in dirt, covered with manure for fertilizer, washed with the same tap water. The only difference is the price.

I used to have a friend that would only eat “happy chickens”. Chickens that were free range raised. I asked him if they were still happy just before they had their heads removed so he could eat them!

Now for my rant! I hate people who are not tolerant of other folks. People who don’t like people because they are gay, a different color, or fat. Those so called Christians who are looking out for my well-being by treating those of us that are not right wing republican Christian whites like themselves as fellow brothers and sisters.

These wackos are so worried about people being gay that they have no common sense. What’s so wrong with gay people? Personally I like people that are happy all the time! Then there is the color thing. I have never seen a brown person in my life. I’ve seen some folks who say that they are blue,but they are not even close to that color according to my Crayola Crayon box of 52 colors. Now the fat thing really gets me! People who are fat can’t help it (except those cart riding Wal-Mart folks). Fatness is a disease and should be recognized by the AMA and The CDC, in fact I have proof that it is a disease and is even contagious, and it is caused by Twinkies! Ziehli was once a skinny tall kid who everybody loved, then one day after being exposed to Twinkies he became infected and grew to mammoth proportions overnight! Twinkies are the cause of Fatness. Until he ate a Twinkie he was normal (well kind of) and then he became a giant. The contagious part comes from being in the same room with them. Ziehli is known to grow three sizes if even he smells Twinkies. Yes Twinkies cause fatness.

People who make fun of Fat People should have to walk a mile in their stretched out Velcro tennis shoes.

Being fat is tough. When you are a kid you are forced to wear Husky’s. Pants that announce your fatness to the world. Obviously thought up by a super skinny geek. You are forced to go the back of the lunch line so the other kids can get their food before you take it all. You have to sit on one side of the picnic table as your four skinny friends sit on the other so you can balance their skinny asses from falling off. In gym class you are given a washcloth to dry yourself off with when everyone else gets aTurkish bath towel. On dates you have to share the tub of popcorn instead of eating it all yourself. Fat people are discriminated at every turn. Plane seats, bus seats, train seats, toilet seats, especially toilet seats. You should have to sit on a toilet seat that is so close to the ground that you could clean your toe nails without lifting your foot. A toilet seat so small that more than half of you hangs off either side.

Lastly it’s very hard to find underwear that does not turn into bikinis after one washing. Sure they fit the first time but after that it’s higher voice and butt crack city! Yea it’s tough being fat, but we can get over it. Being a right wing republican bigot is much harder to cure!

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The American Cowboy IS VANISHING Kids in the 1940’s most likely spent Saturday afternoons at the movies.The Saturday matinee was a great way to see your favorite cowboy movies.The matinee would consist of a cartoon, a continued story, (that was to get you back the following week) and a feature film. It would star one of many cowboys.The great stars of those days were Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy, Johnny McBrown,Allan (Rocky) Lane and they always had a“sidekick”and of course they had a great horse.They could beat any horse thief, cattle rustler, bank or train robber with very little effort.And they always won.Their heroism was awesome.

During the 1950’s and 60’s television came on the scene, with a new generation of viewers, you could watch all the action with new heroes, plus some of the old, right from your living room.TV Westerns were a great hit and they even ventured into the night time hours. We had the return of Wyatt Earp, Billy the Kid, Clint Eastwood in Rawhide and of course Matt Dillon on Gun Smoke. We saw epic adventures in mini series such as Centennial or Lonesome Dove, the cattle drives were long, they always fought the bad guy and the good guy always won. Yes the cowboy was a hero. More songs have been written about him and more movies have been made about cowboys than any other figure in our history.

But, what was the life of an American cowboy really like? Was it really as glamorous as we would like to believe?

Western novels are a popular read.Since the cowboy became a hero many books have been written about his adventures and acts of heroism. Zane Grey wrote 78 novels of the west. Max Brand was a great western writer. One only has to read the author name of Louis Lamour and you will know that a great western adventure is written on the pages between the cover of his books.

And, of course the music in this country that was influenced by the life of the cowboy.

The early songs depicted the life of the cowboy on the range. Songs such as Home on the Range, I’d like to be in Texas for the Roundup in the Spring, Little Joe the Wrangler.

When Gene Autry and Roy Rogers came on the scene we discovered that their guitar was as popular as their famous horses Champion and Trigger.The songs Springtime in the Rockies and Happy Trails to you will always be attributed to these two cowboys.

Today country music is way up there on the charts for all Americans.

The writer Martin W. Sandler said that “Raw courage, a deep respect for nature, and a fierce spirit of independence –these are the qualities that mark the cowboy.” Today these are qualities that we all admire in people. They are truly AMERICANA. Happy Trails to You! Rosemary Ziehli

The American cowboy comes from various backgrounds and really came into his own after the Civil War.The arrival of railroads and the increased demand for beef led to driving big herds of cattle from Texas to the railroads in Kansas and Missouri. From there the cattle were transported East for slaughter. Some of the cowboys were veterans of the Civil War, some were men just looking for adventure, many African Americans who were ex slaves became cowboys.The work was hard, the hours were long and monotonous and sometimes even dangerous.They were always underpaid for the work they did. Most were young.

Not all the cowpunchers were men, some of them were women.They were wives and daughters of ranchers.They also took part in the cattle drives.Many of them would later show off their talents and skills in horseback riding and roping in Wild West shows.

Most of the cowboys work was on the range. By the middle of the 1880’s the open range area covered 1,400,000 acres.The cowboy’s job was to look after the cattle.

In the spring there was the rounding up of the cattle, then the branding to get set for the drive.The trail drive was the biggest venture the cowboy would make. He had to drive cattle thousands of miles over dangerous country. In 1880-81 cattle were driven from Texas all the way to Wyoming, Montana, and the Dakotas. The cowboy’s life on the cattle drive was often dangerous. He could be thrown from his mount; He could be kicked by a horse, or charged by a steer, or trampled in a stampede. Contrary to cowboy movies, cowboys rarely saw hostile Indians.

When barbed wire made its appearance in the late 1880’s, fencing in large areas of land, the railroads had expanded their lines to cover almost all the nation, and meat packing plants were built closer to ranching operations, the big trail drive became unnecessary. The open range was no more.

Smaller cattle drives continued in the west until the 1940’s only on a smaller scale.

Today the cowboy uses a truck more than a horse and the ranch owner may even have a small airplane or helicopter to keep track of the herd.The cowboy is still needed only his job has become more settled.

the B-Side Howdy!

Recently, I was listening to a Bill Staines CD, and thinking ‘oh, this is lovely,’ and then, in the middle of a song, he started to yodel. Which inevitably caused me to laugh. A lot. This inevitably led to my attempting to yodel, which you couldn’t say was exactly successful.

For about a week now,I’ve been walking around spouting my wannabe-yodeling,which I’m realizing can’t be exactly pleasant for innocent bystanders. So, mine being the digital generation, I went off to ask the internet.And came back with mixed results.The general consensus is that while you yodel, you sort-of jump from your chest voice to your head voice.While you do this, you’re s’posed to make your voice crack – it’s not supposed to be a smooth transition.Apparently, a good way to do this is to sort-of slide up from your chest voice and then suddenly crack up to your head voice. I find this rather difficult, perhaps partially because I find it hard to take seriously.

I also learned that there are two types of yodeling: western and Alpine, although it’s a little hard to tell what the difference is. From what I can gather,Alpine was the original style, and western was adapted after German settlers brought it over to America.

From here, things got a little stranger and less reliable. One website insisted that before you actually learn to yodel, you’ve got to have a yodeling outfit (hmm, I wonder where you could buy one of those…),access to (and this is a direct quote)‘a large gymnasium, canyon, or mountain pass, ravine, or abyss where you can practice,’ and a pair of industrial noise-cancelling headphones.The same page also claimed that you shouldn’t yodel for at least an hour after eating.

We really owe a lot to the American Cowboy.Think of all the things he has contributed to this nation culturally. Entertainment wise he has made a big contribution.Think of the Rodeo where the cowboy shows off his skills.There is calf roping, steer wrestling, and bull riding.The rodeo is one of the biggest spectator sports in the United States.

The United States offers more than 15 million dollars in prize money a year. Cowgirls participate in these events also in the field of barrel racing.They also compete in all girl rodeos where they compete in bareback bronco riding, tie down calf roping and snatching a ribbon from a running steers back.

In other places, I found instructions that said things like ‘Shout short words like ‘no!’ and ‘hey!’.Then hum loudly. Now you’re ready to yodel!’. I’ve sort-of decided that yodeling is best learned from someone who already knows how to yodel.YouTube could also be a good place to start – there’s a wealth of how-to videos to be found there. Personally, for the time being, I’m planning to stick to my wannabe yodeling. It’s enough to get me through ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight,’ (good old Tokens!) which is really all I need. However, I dare you to try to yodel, if only for a source of comic relief. Who knows? Perhaps you’ll unleash a talent so fearsome that it allows you to conquer your enemies.Ta ta.

Western wear clothing is always in fashion with hats, boots, and shirts all done up in the western style.

Written by: Celia Carr

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Kevin Welch, Poet Laureate of the Americana Music Scene

Kevin Welch is the kind of songwriter that makes you think. His stories and melodies are literature put to music, or Americana Opera as I like to say. His lyrics stand alone as true poetry. There are not many songwriters today that can stand in Welch’s shadow let alone by his side.

He is one of the finest songwriters today and has been for the last 25 years. His music goes beyond borders and types. A Kevin Welch song is pure musical alchemy. He turns simple words and melodies into classic song fare. The desire to write came early to Welch, and from the foundation of his younger days in Bluegrass bands. He trekked to Nashville to try his hand at being a professional songwriter.After working in the song mill’s on music row Welch became focused on writing songs for himself. At that point there was no turning back.

Over the years Welch has kept a close relationship with Kieran Kane, another songwriter who left the mills and Fats Kaplin, writing and performing in first the Dead Reckoner’s and then Kane Welch Kaplin. The Dead Reckoners were a tight group of Nashville writers and sidemen who banded together to write and record their music. This was long before the Muzic Mafia came to town. They were so proficient and interesting that Ralph Emery dedicated a whole show on his TNN show Nashville Now to perform.

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Welch left Nashville in 2008 and moved to Texas. His two older children Dustin and Savannah lived in Austin and he wanted to be closer to them and join a community of musicians that focused on the music and not so much the money and the “next” big thing that Nashville and Music Row tend to do. He still performs with Kane Welch Kaplin, and in fact they are touring Western Canada right after Thanksgiving.

I sat down with Welch and listened intently to one of my very favorite songwriters talk about his beginnings and what drives him to create such cerebral authentic Americana Music.

AG: Is it hot down there in Texas today?

Welch: It’s hot down here, but not as hot as it usually is this time a year. I try to go north and play in Colorado and Northern New Mexico in August. I do a lot of songwriter’s workshops this time a year. I also go to Maine and play on a schooner called the Timberwind this time of year. This is a National Historic Landmark, incredible vessel. We play music and eat and drink and sail for several days and nights. I’ve been on the road for the last six weeks so it’s good to be back home for awhile.

AG: Do you have a new album in the works?

Welch: No I don’t at this time. I’ve been helping some other folks out and I’m going to be producing a couple of albums this fall and winter. I’m also co-writing with some other artists. I’ve been very busy this past year. I was in Europe playing for a month and a half, and I’ve got a couple of other recording projects I’ve been working on.

AG: Then you’re off to Calgary in November. Could you have planned a colder time to be there?

Welch: I don’t know. It was the only time that worked for Kieran, Fats, and me to get together. It will be cold and windy for sure!

AG: You left Nashville four years ago, what caused that?

Welch: I was increasingly disinterested in what was going on at Music Row. I’ve been that way forever, but it finally reached the point that I just had to get away. I could not even live close to it. Even though there is a great music scene happening in East Nashville, I just wasn’t part of it. My two older kids had moved to Austin Texas already and my youngest was in college, and here I was living alone. I had this cabin in the Texas hill country outside of Austin and thought I might as well stay there full time. I’m really, really glad I did. I miss a lot of the players and writers in Nashville; they’re some of the greatest in the world.

AG: I loved your last CD. You’re one of my favorite top three songwriters. How did you start out as a songwriter?

Welch: I think just growing up listening to records all the time. At some point I quit just listening to the guitar playing and started to notice the lyrics more. That led me to seek out different songwriters. Growing up in Oklahoma I realized that Woody Guthrie had grown up just down the road from where I lived, so that sparked an interest in understanding his writing and his story telling.

There was one summer when I was 14 or 15 years old and I read On the Road and Bound for Glory and Woody's other book. I was really getting into Guthrie and found out that they had the Woody Guthrie Archives right down the road at the University of Oklahoma, so that opened a whole new door and avenue for me. I started playing music when I was seven years old. I started out on the accordion and piano. I was playing Henry Mancini, Cole Porter, and all these great Jazz tunes from sheet music. I was playing pop music and kid’s music too. I was a big reader too.

I’m from Midwest City which is a suburb of Oklahoma City. It’s to the east about 20 miles or so. About the time I was 17 I was going to school at a little college called Central State, studying music. I joined a Bluegrass band my first semester. I was really digging music school but the band took over. It was so different than anything I had ever been exposed to. I started learning all these mountain ballads and tunes and it just took me over. I split and went on the road at 17 and never looked back.

AG: When you went on the road did you go as a soloist?

Welch: No I didn’t even sing at the time. I was just the sidekick guitar player guy. We were playing some of our original songs and a lot of songs by other Oklahoma writers.

We were doing a lot of Woody’s songs and acid versions of Haggard stuff. Really revved up Bill Monroe and Lester Flat stuff got played a lot too. John Hadley was a great teacher to us. We played all kinds of his songs. Bill Caswell was another Oklahoma guy we covered. These guys were also in Nashville later on.

When I first got to Nashville after traveling five years on the road it was the first place I had a house or home to go home to. I just crashed at friends or family members when I would get off the road for short stays. Coming to Nashville was a step in settling down and trying to make a living as a writer and putting some stability into my life. I fell in love and decided to get married. I needed a way to support us and stay a musician so writing was that way. John Hadley set up an appointment with his publishers and they kind of liked what I played them. They saw fit to give us a place to hang out and work on my music. I was 23 years old when I moved there. That eventually turned into a 17 year deal as a staff songwriter. The first 10 years I focused on writing for other people. Then I decided to write for myself. By that time I had gotten better as a singer. I was never a very good singer as a young guy, so getting to like my voice with my songs was a process that took a while. Singing demo’s in the studio so that they were not embarrassing for the song pluggers to take around took awhile.

I worked very hard at becoming a presentable singer. By the time I was 30 I was ready to give it a shot. w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

AG: Your kids are very talented musicians/singer songwriters too. Do you ever play shows with them?

Welch: I do when it works out for us schedule wise. I do a bunch of shows with Dustin in Austin and we go out and play a bunch of under the radar shows in the Southwest and East coast. Small venues and clubs where the audience is upfront and close.

When Savannah and the Trisha’s are in town I might get up and play a song or two with them. Being on the road so much I don’t get to see them very often.They both have their own careers and that’s great. My youngest daughter Ada isn’t a musician but she’s sharp. I am very proud of all three of my kids.

AG: If you could write with any songwriter or composer dead or alive who would it be?

Welch: Boy that’s a hard question. I used to write with Harlan Howard. He was a great friend of mine and he taught me a lot about songwriting. When I was in my 30’s and traveling all the time I kinda of fell out of touch with him, me being so busy. About that time he started getting ill and slowing down. I had not seen him in a long time and I stopped over at his house to say hi. He was mad at me for not staying in touch and I could tell. I felt really bad about that. We patched things up that day and that was the last time I ever saw him. So I guess if I could write with anyone I would love to write with Harlan again.

AG: What does the future hold for Kevin Welch?

Welch: Well I’ve got a couple of records to produce this fall and winter. I’m doing one with Jason Eady again. Got the Canada tour with Kane Welch Kaplin, I have another recording project I’m in the middle of, and I guess I should start writing a new album.

I also have been doing songwriting classes where four or five songwriters come out here and stay for the weekend and we work on songwriting techniques and structure.

I’ve been doing that for awhile and it is really a lot of fun to do. Here songwriters are of all levels so you get some very cool interaction and diversity when you put it all together. They come here from all over, England, Canada,Australia, all over the States. So that’s on tap to continue.

AG: A very full plate!

Welch: Yes, and that’s the way I like it! www.kevinwelch.com Story by:Andy Ziehli Photos supplied.

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The Sultan Of Goodlettsville Leroy Troy It started out as a typical Friday night, playing one of my solo acoustic shows at the Star Cafe in Goodlettsville,TN. I was a few songs into my set when I recognized that Leroy Troy, banjo extraordinaire had come in with his little boy, Cash to eat dinner.

Now, I'm not afraid to admit that I can get a bit self conscience when I know a picker is in the audience,but it’s even more special when you know how good they really are.

The instinct is to kick it up a notch.They sat, ate and listened awhile, then before they left, Leroy gave Cash some money to drop in the jar.Which of course, made my night.

Shortly afterwards,I had started working in the tape library of RFD-TV,where the Marty Stuart Show is filmed and Leroy is a regular guest. Since then, we've had the chance to eat our lunch and talk during filming days and even pick together at a local Friday night bluegrass jam. He is a fantastic player, a great ambassador of the instrument and knows how to entertain a crowd. Just check out his performance of the 'Grandfather Clock' on YouTube to see what I mean. When I called Leroy to meet up for this interview, he said we could meet at his place where he has a shed, or ‘makeshift museum’ as I would see it, containing many old country music artifacts. Of course, I jumped at the chance. Not only that, when we wrapped up the interview, we hopped in his truck and he took me to where Grandpa Jones and Stringbean lived, and the old church cemetery where Grandpa Jones is buried. All in the beautiful hills and area that is Goodlettsville. I also got to meet ‘Lonesome’ Lester Armistead, who is Leroy’s band mate in the Tennessee Mafia Jug Band, which another band I highly recommend that you all check out.. Overall, I just had a great time hanging with these guys, learning some of the history and folklore of the people and place, capturing a true essence of the South. And I truly had a great time doing this interview!

Travis- Well, I see you just got back from Canada. How did that trip go for you and how has the summer been going for you guys overall?

Leroy- Yeah! It’s been real good. Been the third time we've gone up there for the bluegrass festival they have up there. It’s really grown. It’s fun to go up and play for them.

Travis- I imagine you're getting ready for filming a new season of the Marty Stuart Show.

How did you first get started with that?

Leroy- Marty called me up one day, and said he wanted me to be a part of it. He had the plan of what he wanted it to be like, the set and everything. He thought that RFD-TV was going in the direction of what TNN used to be like.To help keep traditional country music alive. Every now and then Marty might suggest what songs to do, like when Stonewall Jackson was on, he wanted me to learn ‘Waterloo’. But usually, I just come in with what I'm going to do and tell Marty about it.

Travis-Growing up in Goodlettsville,TN I understand you picked up banjo at 13.What were some of the factors that got you into old time music and the banjo itself?

Leroy- Good question. When I was a kid mom and dad had a record collection. One record had a picture of a banjo and the first song I heard was 'Foggy Mountain Breakdown' by Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. And that’s what did it.That’s what made me want a 5 string banjo. I loved that sound! After that I discovered Roy Acuff, Johnnie and Jack, Hank Snow and Jimmie Rodgers.Although the first instrument I got was a fiddle; my folks found one for 50 bucks.Took about 4 or 5 lessons, but I had an ear for it.

My mom had a piano and I used to pick out tunes on it. My dad used to take me to an old grocery store where they used to pick every Tuesday night. People came from all over, all kinds of groups, Guys from the Possum Hunters who used to be on the Grand Ole Opry. One night I was sitting there and right next to me with a mandolin, it was Bill Monroe. He was up there a lot, he had a farm right down the road. In fact the first

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night I walked in with my banjo case, along with my fiddle and there was Roy Acuff.

He said, 'What’s this?' He goes, 'if you're to play 2 instruments, you're going to have a split mind.' (Laughs) He was great. He taught me a few tunes on the fiddle, note for note....'Shoot That Turkey Buzzard' and 'Lee Highway Blues'. But anyway, I got my first banjo from the Nashville flea market from an old guy who had a booth. His name was Peanuts. He could play that Scruggs style and I figured I could learn that.That’s what started it.

Travis- How cool is that? I wanted to ask you about some of the neighbors you had growing up.Were they willing to share their stories and spend some time with you?

Were you digging for some of the history of the music?

Leroy- No, I really wasn't.They were just kind of there. But looking back on it, you sort of take some of that for granted. I did get to meet Grandpa Jones who lived up here, but that was after I did the Hee- Haw thing. He kind of took me under his wing, and took me on the road 2 or 3 times.

Travis- So in the time you had with him, was he willing to teach you things on the banjo?

THE KRAUSE FAMILY BAND

Leroy- I never asked. I could already play at that time and I wasn't about to ask him.And he could be a bit quick tempered. Sonny Osborne one time asked Grandpa about how to play a lick.And Grandpa banged on the strings and angrily said, 'you do it like that!'

(Laughs) Travis- Obviously, besides Earl and Grandpa, Uncle Dave Macon has had a big impact on you as well.

Leroy- Yeah. Back in '83, I went to Uncle Dave Macon Days in Murfreesboro and met this old player named Cordell Kemp, playing a banjo like I ain't never seen. I've been acquainted with the Macon family and they knew Cordell. He had learned from Uncle Dave directly. So I used to see him. I also found out years later that when my grandmother was young, they would ride down to see Uncle Dave playing banjo on his front porch.All that got me into Uncle Dave, finding all these little connections to him.

Travis- And Stringbean lived here in Goodlettsville too...were you old enough to remember when he was murdered?

Leroy- Oh yeah, I remember that, 1973. We had just gotten a brand new colored TV, seems like the news was covering it for 2 days, pretty heavy.That was a big deal when he and his wife got killed. I remember the helicopters flying up around his house.And it was Grandpa that found them. Grandpa and String had a hunting trip planned, so that's why Grandpa went over there. He knew something wasn't right when he didn't see any smoke coming from the chimney.And then he saw Estelle lying in the driveway.

Travis- What a horrible ordeal that was. Was there a healthy competition between him and Grandpa?

Leroy- They were best friends. Fishing buddies.And the property that Stringbean and Grandpa lived on,they bought together.Grandpa and Ramona lived in the bigger house and Stringbean and Estelle lived in the smaller one behind it.Ramona is doing well. She gave me some of Grandpa’s striped pants, a checkered shirt and a scarf that he was wearing the night he collapsed at the Opry. He had done his show, was walking to the back of the stage, he fell and never did recover. He died a few weeks later.

Travis- I didn't realize that's how he died. So, can you tell how did the Tennessee Mafia Jug Band got started?

Leroy- I met Lester at a clothing store here where they used to be Friday night music.

I loved his singing and playing.And Mike started playing guitar and singing. I've known them for several years and played with them off and on over the years. It started roughly in '85.There have been some different players in it.And Lester owns a little old store that was built in the 1800's, where we practice.There's a story about a murder that took place there too. Everybody has been out there, to come up for the pickin's Mac Wiseman,Earl Scruggs,John Hartford,Bill Monroe and even Billy BobThornton and Angelina Jolie when they were together.A week before they got married, they were here visiting with Marty. Marty kind of cooked up the whole thing, it was fun!

Travis- You have some CD's available as well, at shows and through your website, including a recent one with Apostle Paul Martin on bass and Marty Stuart.Any other upcoming plans for new recordings?

Leroy- Oh yeah. I'm going to get in the studio as soon as I can. I've thinking about the tunes for about a year now. Some get added and taken away.The Jug band is going to get started on one this Fall.

Krause Family Band on Prairie Home Companion Left to right…Ruthie Krause, Brian Montrey, Katie Krause, Jim Spansy, Rick Krause, Craig Radi

Some time back on a chilly autumn night, I went down to my favorite local pub to hoist a pint and maybe talk a little music with friends. I passed through the front door and was about to descend the three steps that led to the main room when I heard two women’s voices singing in absolutely perfect harmony, accompanied by a guitar, fiddle and harmonica. For a minute I thought the owner of the place (a friend of mine named Joe) had taken my advice and upgraded his sound system. But as my foot landed on the last step I looked to the left and saw three musicians huddled in the corner playing their hearts out.The two young women were in their 20’s; one was playing a fiddle while an older man was playing guitar and some simply amazing rack- harmonica. I spent the rest of the evening glued to my chair, not missing a note.After the gig was over I talked with them and learned that they were Rick, Ruth,and Katie Krause ( THE KRAUSE FAMILY), a father and daughter trio from Middleton, Wisconsin and they agreed to be the subject of a future article.This piece is taken from the taped interview I did with them in their living-room surrounded by friends and family on the occasion of Ruth Krause’s birthday dinner.

RH: Rick, did you come from a musical family?

RICK:Yes,my mom was a wonderful singer and piano player.She played all through her life and was a great lover of all the old standards and torch songs. Her father, my granddad, was a fiddle player from Missouri. I don’t recall my dad’s side having much musical ability although dad did like to sing when he got a little beer in him. So I guess mom’s side was the musical side.

RH: Did you sing or play with your mother growing up?

RICK: Oh yeah, mom and I sang quite a bit.Any chance we got.The last 15 or so years of her life she would come up here to Wisconsin from Kansas and we would sing and play at nursing homes and such.

RH: Beautiful memories!

RICK:Oh man,she loved it.MelTorme,Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire,you know, all those standards. She was a great sight reader.

RH: So you are from Kansas then?

Travis- Do they have any songs that they have written?

RICK: Right.

Leroy- No, it’s going to be older stuff, obscure stuff. Superman is doing a Roger Miller called Kansas City Star. He really does it well.

RH: How did you end up in Wisconsin?

Travis- Well thank you Leroy.This has been a blast! I invite everyone to check out your website (leroytroy.us) and tennesseemafiajugband.com. Buy some CD’s, you’ll love ‘em all!

Written by: Travis Cooper Photo by: CONNIE TSANG

RICK:I answered an ad in a theatre magazine.Much to my dad’s chagrin,I gave up football to put on tights and joined a theatre and mime troupe in Spring Green,Wisconsin.

RUTHIE:Yeah, we have the only dad that went to clown school!

RICK:Then I met and married a beautiful Norwegian girl and here I am.

RH:When I hear the three of you perform I marvel at the way your voices blend. Do you think that’s a familial thing, like the Everly Brothers? continued on page 31

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Random Thoughts I talk fast. I can get more words in one minute than most people can. If people have trouble keeping up with what I am saying, I only think they should listen faster. Pretty simple, isn’t it?

My brain works fast, too. While listening to a conversation, my mind will run several parallel or connected facts or memories or stories that are triggered by that conversation. In my mind, I have connected the dots and the switch in conversation is apparent to me, but I discover it is not so apparent to others. I see their puzzled look and often I hear,“What does that have to do with what was being said?” Obviously others have not made the leap in thought like I have. Occasionally I meet someone who is as good at this art as I am. Those persons can follow my switch in topic and make their own leap of thought. And when they speak, I follow their jumps in topic with clear understanding. If I take time to analyze the switches, I can usually figure out just what made me move from point one in the conversation to point two, etc. Keeping that in mind, I am going to follow through with a demonstration via this issue’s contribution from me. I will guide you through the switches which is something I would not do in person. It is only in the printed form that I will do just that.

The season of fall means the start of school. Each school year we teachers wondered what would be some special qualities or characteristics of that fall’s group of junior high kids. Individual classes did have individual characteristics. That gives me the leap of thought to a class from the late 1960’s or maybe the early 1970’s. This was a fun loving group. They found many ways to have fun. They gave nicknames to each other, and they gave them to their teachers, too. I was Doc and my good friend Pat was Peaches. I do not know if I ever knew how we earned our nicknames. But I do remember this class was so literal, and you as a teacher needed to watch what you said. “Pick up the room, class,”meant they picked up their desks or chairs and held them up waiting for your next command.

“Turn around,” meant they all stood up and turned around. And my biggest mistake came when I said,“Drop what you are doing.”

Soon the room was filled with books and notebooks and whatever being dropped to the floor.

That class reminded me of how a handful of the class wanted to go to the Coliseum in Madison for a rock show they wanted to see. They had saved their money to buy the tickets, but they had no transportation. After hearing of those woes for days upon days, I agreed to take them. I had no desire to see the show, but I thought I could slip up in the highest seats and wait out the concert.

They insisted that I sit with them; which I did probably slouched as low in my seat as I could. Sadly the star of the concert did not come on stage at the starting time. He made his appearance 45 minutes late. It was immediately obvious that he was in no condition to do a show. He attempted three or four songs, and then he simply left the stage. The show was over, and the students’ hard earned money bought them little return.

The thought of a show took my mind to my first Rose Bowl excursion. We were on a tour and part of the tour took us one evening to a dinner theater for dinner and a show.

I think the location was the Palladium somewhere near Los Angeles. There were three of us in our group, and I sat alone across from my traveling companions. Soon a blind man tapped his way down the aisle, stopped by me, and asked if he could sit there. He was very outgoing, and he quickly explained he was a big Badger fan, lived in Madison, was a piano tuner, and that his wife and her sister were seated up a head of us. Then he whispered a request to me. I was to look out for the sign of the Palladium, and when I saw it I should tell him. I did as he asked, and as soon as I told him I saw it to the right of the bus about half a block away, he stood up and announced,“Look to your right. There is the Palladium.” Everyone laughed at the thought that a blind man spotted our destination before anyone else.

Ready for a leap? We met other interesting people on that trip. To attend a Rose Bowl parade means getting up by 3 AM. It is quite cool almost cold in the early morning before the sun rises above the mountains. Knowing this, I took a blanket out of the hotel closet, folded it over my arm, covered it with my top coat (all men wore them then), and headed for the elevator. On the ride down, a voice from the back of the packed elevator spoke out,“I hope no one here is taking a blanket out of the hotel. It is against the law.” For a second I felt panic, I glanced around, and most people were holding their coats close to their bodies. It was at the moment I realized some clown standing in the back was having fun at our expense.

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At the parade we were seated behind two older ladies from Ohio, and they had blankets on their laps. They told us they come to the parade every year. The game means nothing to them, and they come for the parade alone. They took out thermos bottles and poured out “tea”. As the parade went on and the more sips of tea that they had, the louder they talked and the more they giggled. Those ladies were prepared in more ways than one.

At the game the man seated to my right quickly informed me that he was new to California having moved there that fall from Oklahoma. He said his boss gave him a ticket to the game,and he confessed he knew nothing about football. He wondered if I might explain the game to him. Thus, I attempted to educate him. He did not know a thing.

Four downs, ten yards, punting, interference, and everything about the game was foreign to him. So my lessons on football continued through the first quarter. It was at the start of the second quarter that he was now loudly cheering for Southern Cal. The sea of red clothed fans around him meant nothing. I stopped speaking to him, and he had the rest of the game to try and figure out the game.

And now I leap to my second Rose Bowl visit. On New Year’s Eve our group went to a nearby restaurant for dinner and plans to retire early because of the need to arise early the next day for the parade. There we sat in our Wisconsin clothes having a good time.

Our waiter arrived and introduced himself speaking with a very thick foreign accent.

He passed the menus around, looked at us, and asked who or what we were dressed as we were. I explained we were from Wisconsin and here for the Rose Bowl. “Where is Wisconsin?” he asked. We used Chicago as a reference point. He looked around at us one more time, and he said,“Well, you are going to lose.” We all left the place after our dinner, and we all agreed NO TIP. He needed a lesson in manners and tact.

The talk of football causes my brain to leap to my long time season ticket seats in the upper deck of Camp Randall. Section DD, row 20. We were a family, and we sat there and suffered through the worst years of college football possible. One year it was one win, and we celebrated that as though it was a championship. My seats were the third and fourth ones in the row, the first two seats were occupied by a former UW champion boxer from Hawaii and his wife. He was a man of a few words. His wife was very outgoing, and she treated us to Macedonia nuts sent to her from her home state. But the stars of our section was a couple that always entered the game just before kick off. It was a grand entrance, and the entire section waited for that, and you could hear the gasps as they exited the tunnel and turned toward their row 19. She was drop dead beautiful.

She dressed the part, and he was as dapper as Cary Grant,and he,too,dressed the part. But once they made their entrance and sat down, they were as ordinary as the rest of us. Occasionally their two teen age children appeared during half time from some other area of Camp Randall. They, too, were knockouts and dressed in the heights of the day’s fashions. We had a wonderful time, chatting and watching the game, and once they found out that a former Oregon student, about the only good player on the team that year, was a friend of mine, I was quickly elevated to a new status. Slightly before half time, a teacher friend Carol would drop into our section for a visit. When she turned the corner to look for me, people in section DD would call out,“ She is here,” and they would turn to me and people in my row would slide over to give her room to sit by me. As I look back, the social aspect and the UW band was what brought us to the games. And because we were patient, we all had good seats when it became difficult to get a ticket to a home game. I eventually moved to the 50 yard line, but once out of section DD, it was never as much fun for me to attend the games.

Now how random are these thought? I am out of space, but you can see that my head is full of many more random thoughts.

Written by: Bob Hoffman

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BoDeans Release New CD American Made A quote from The BoDeans website: "I've always thought of the BoDeans as a truly American band," says Kurt Neumann, the founder, primary writer and front man of the veteran Milwaukee-based group."We were blue-collar kids straight out of the heartland-how could we be anything else?‘Roots rock' was a label I fought when I was younger,but I came to realize that if by‘roots' you meant blues, rock, country and soul all slammed together into one sound, then I'd say yes-that is the sound of American-made music."

Neumann fully embraces that notion on American Made,the BoDeans' eleventh album. Its dozen songs are laced through with strands of indigenous roots elements-Heartland hoedown folk ("American," with guest Jake Owen spinning out the guitar solo), Celtic-rooted mountain music ("Walk Through This World," "Flyaway"),zydeco ("EverythingYou Wanted"),Southern roadhouse soul ("Don't Bring Me Down"), Chicago blues ("Shake the Fever") and 100-proof roots rock ("All the World").These tracks are played with heartfelt emotion as well as jaw-dropping skillfulness by the band-Neumann on vocals and guitars, original member Michael Ramos (Patty Griffin, John Mellencamp) on keyboards and accordion, longtime BoDeans bassist Ryan Bowman and new member Warren Hood, a fiddle/violin virtuoso from Austin.

As it turns out, the album title bears a thematic resonance as well as a stylistic one.With American Made, the BoDeans have created a soulstirring song cycle that directly reflects the American experience at this critical moment in our history.The album-which also includes a powerful rendition of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm on Fire"-was inspired

by Neumann's blue-collar upbringing and his desire to express what a great country America remains, despite its troubles and the challenges facing it today.

"As we've moved into the new millennium, we've begun to question our identity as Americans-who we are, or who we want to be," says Neumann. "With the onset of the Tea party and the Occupy movement, it feels like we're pulling in two very different directions.The song ‘American' talks about this land of ‘endless possibility,' and ‘Where else in the world you ever gonna find this kind of ideology?'

We're lucky to have the rights and opportunities that we have, but I believe those rights come with a responsibility to help each other along. It's wrong to stockpile millions or billions of dollars while all your neighbors struggle to survive. It feels like we're losing the common sense that has always guided us, and that worries me.We're so out of touch with each other-and just trying to find an American-made product has become almost comical. I wanted to bring that all of that to the surface-hence the album title."

-----------------------------Kurt was out on the road, sounding a little tuckered out, but still very enthusiastic about this new CD. He was gracious enough to chat with me a little bit about its making and what else is going on with him and The BoDeans.

Joyce: Kurt, I listened to your new CD and absolutely loved it. Of course, I grew up listening to you guys. So I knew I’d like it. Tell me a little bit about this new CD. Kurt: Thank you Joyce. Yea, the new record is called“American Made’ and it embraced me to let me do music the way I wanted to. It was recorded live out in LA,it really gave the band a good feel for the music. It came out June 12th and now we’ve been on the road since May 12th touring. We did the southwest, then up the west coast, northwest and back down and then to the southeast. We have been traveling the country, town to town, and glad to be out playing again.

Joyce: Well it’s good to be busy! Kurt who writes the songs? And what or who are the inspirations in your writing?

Kurt: I do all the writing. Life is really the inspiration. I went through my 30’s, 40’s and now am into my 50’s; my philosophies have also grown, changed and evolved. I try to let that influence my writing a lot. I am hopeful that I have become a better songwriter. It is kind of like being a craftsman, and you hope you get better with time and each craft or in our case, CD. That’s my inspiration! w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

Joyce: Kurt, do you come from a musical background/family?

Kurt: I didn’t have a musical family at all. I would take some time out of classes to study some musical instruments. When this was offered, I jumped at the chance. (we both laugh, what a great way to get out of regular class) I started learning to play the drums early on. I got a little bit older and I decided I really wanted to write songs. I bought a guitar and started to play that. All evolved from there. I really didn’t have anyone to teach me. Everything I learned was from trial and error and doing things I liked and going with my emotions. I play guitar and I’m really a pretty good drummer. I get by on the piano and bass guitar. I can pretty much play any stringed instrument. But I don’t play the French Horn!

Joyce: (laughing) This could be a future goal!

Kurt: Yea, it could be.

Joyce: Let’s talk about future goals, besides the French Horn thing.

What are your band goals and personal goals?

Kurt: Picking up a Grammy for the new record! That’s been on my bucket list for a long time. Really do want people to hear this record.

Think it’s the best record we’ve made in a long time. The problem is getting it out there and letting people know about it. That’s my goal – get the CD out there and have people check it out.And maybe learn how to play the French Horn. (laughing) Personal goals? Well I still have young children at home and I am really focused on keeping them happy and healthy.They really keep me running.

Joyce: You sound really tired Kurt. How has the tour schedule been running?

Kurt: Yea, I am a little tired. Don’t sleep the best away from home. We are usually out 3-4 weeks at a time, then off for a week and back on it again.

Joyce: Well, I will let you get back to your work. I have one last question before I let you go. Any words of advice to people wanting to get in the music business these days?

Kurt: No matter what the state of music is in these days, be sure you are doing it because you love it. I mean really love it. Music has lost a lot of its value as trying to make a living at it.You better make sure you are doing it because you feel love and passion for it. Well, you may not make any money or make a living off of it, and if you do, you are one of the lucky ones. It is tough out there.

Joyce: Thank you Kurt and I look forward to meeting you in person real soon. Good luck on the tour and on the CD sales. Readers please check The BoDeans out at: www.bodeans.com Kurt: Thank you Joyce for helping spread the word.

Story by: Joyce Ziehli Photos supplied.

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The Roys, a brother-sister duo who have just released their bluegrass album, New Day Dawning.

If you haven't already heard of them, the pair are a big deal in the bluegrass scene.

They've played the National Anthem for the Red Sox at Fenway Park and at the October 2011 Tennessee Titans /Denver Broncos game, which drew a crowd of 97,000.

They've played at the Kansas Speedway during the NASCAR Truck Series.They've even played for then-President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush at Andrews Air Force Base.

Elaine and Lee Roy have a clear, clean sound and are true to traditional bluegrass arrangements and instruments. The Roy's work has beautiful instrumentation, and paired with their warm vocal harmonies, the duo give us seven songs that are original, yet reminiscent of old-time tunes that I've heard before.The recording is a joy to listen to.

New Day Dawning is an intensely personal album and the driving emotion behind it is the pair's love of their family.Their parents are both French Canadian and as children they lived in Coal Branch,New Brunswick for a time.However,they consider Fitchburg, Massachusetts home. Both locations helped develop them musically.The pair learned traditional Acadian melodies from their aunts and uncles in Coal Branch while their grandmother played the fiddle. Elaine's first singing gig was in Fitchburg and the duo first established their musical reputation in Massachusetts.

Three of the songs on New Day Dawning are about family directly. Living Scrapbook is a bittersweet ode to how family has shaped the pair and is a striking showcase for Elaine's voice.The other two deal with loss and are more somber, but never despairing. It's important to the Roys to emphasize hope and thankfulness even in times of adversity. Grandpa's Barn was written by Lee and is a reflection on the life and passing of his grandfather.Daddy to Me deals with the death of Lee's father-in-law, who was a decorated Marine and a law enforcement veteran.

Elaine and Lee want to share their success and they both contribute a great deal to charity- in fact, the pair have taken part in over nine charity events in the past two years.

Helping veterans is very important to them both.The Roys were asked to be part ofThe Boot Campaign and they were proud to join it.The idea is simple: buy and wear a pair of combat boots in order to support the troops and raise awareness of the difficulties they can face on their return home.The cause has a large following in the music scene, including one of Elaine's favorite artists, Dolly Parton.

Rural Rhythm's president, Sam Passamano Jr, had heard the Roys' work and knew that they would be a perfect fit. Lonesome Whistle was released in March, 2011 under the Rural Rhythm label. New Day Dawning followed the next year.

And it doesn't stop there.The Roys are working on a new EP project containing seven songs, which will be available in 8-9 months time.The Roys do this all on top of an intense touring schedule,with 150 dates booked this year.When I caught them at the end of August, they had been on the road since January.

The Roys are also breaking into television. Earlier this year, the pair hosted seven episodes of Bluegrass Mountains,an international television show featuring guest artists Dolly Parton,Alison Krauss, Rhonda Vincent, Cumberland River Band and Carrie Hassler & Hard Rain.The episodes will air to 20 million viewers in New Zealand,Australia and the United Kingdom.

Roots in Music with The Roys, a 13 episode series, is currently in development and will be entirely hosted by Lee and Elaine. Each episode will follow a variety-show format, including performances by The Roys, humanitarian features, festival event highlights, guest musical artists, interviews, and will close with a jam session.

The Roys were also part of Pa's Fiddle: America's Music; a musical tribute to the writing of Laura Ingalls Wilder, the legendary pioneer girl.Wilder's books mention 127 different songs and her father is famous for his fiddle playing, one of the few forms of entertainment that the family had. The show was filmed in Nashville's Loveless Barn and The Roys were joined by a number of other artists, including Randy Travis, Ronnie Milsap, Rodney Atkins and Ashton Shepherd. Elaine sang Buffalo Gal (with the 'gal' appropriately changed to 'guy') and Lee preformed Gum Tree Canoe. The event also included a rendition of Battle Cry of Freedom by Committed, a Christian a capella band from Alabama who won season two of NBC's The Sing Off.

The Roy's charitable work doesn't stop there though; they devote a lot of time and energy to children's causes. Just recently, the siblings visited Bogota, Columbia through Compassion International, and an outreach ministry that The Roys support. Elaine and Lee each sponsored an eightyear-old child, Nigella and Miguel, respectively. Seeing how these kids live, and how grateful they are for what they do have, was deeply moving and drove home what a difference sponsors' support can make.

But they don't just help kids overseas.This April,The Roys co-hosted the Christmas 4 Kids Celebrity Golf Tournament with Rob Bironas.A number of musical personalities took part, including their friends Tracy Lawrence,Troy Gentry, Doyle Lawson, Dailey & Vincent and Joe Diffie. The golf tournament proceeds will give a group of 400 Middle Tennessee kids a special Christmas celebration, including a party with Santa Claus; a $150 chaperoned shopping spree at Wal-Mart; and a new winter coat.The kids chosen face a range of difficulties; be it financial, health-related or the aftermath of abuse; which would otherwise prevent them from celebrating Christmas.

The Roys are happy to be in a position to give back now, but things weren't always so easy.The pair were picked up by their first recording label early in their career, but found that the relationship did not work out. In order to be better able to follow their vision,The Roys struck out on their own as an artist-owned label.This gave them the freedom to develop artistically without interference and paved the way for another collaboration later with Rural Rhythm Records.The pair had already done some of the recording for their album Lonesome Whistle when they were approached with a deal.

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This July, The Roys were in Twin Lakes,Wisconsin for four days to take part in Country Thunder for the second year straight. This year was the festival's 20th anniversary; the event combines camping and music. Each year CountryThunder is split into two halves; the first is held during April in Florence,Arizona and the second half is held in The Dairy State.The next time that The Roys will be in our area is November 9th at Springfield, Illinois' Greater Downstate Bluegrass Festival.You can find out more about that festival at www.bluegrassmidwest.com; and more about The Roys at www.theroysonline.com.

Written by: Andrea Nolen Photos supplied.

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The Future of Music Around Here A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege and pleasure to play a show with by buddies Doug Sies, John Fahey, Jim Smith, Mark Schwoegler, and Bob King out at Schwoegler’s Sugar River Lanes in Belleville,WI. It was a great show where we got to play rock stars with to real life rock stars Joe Blanton and Warner Hodges who are both very good buddies and close friends of mine.

During the three hour show I found myself looking across the stage at the graying,balding, and slightly larger friends I grew up with playing music and realized that after we retire from playing there really isn’t anyone left to take our places. Dale Freidig who was in the crowd that night echoed these same thoughts a week later when he stopped in at Action Guitars. Dale said “after us there is nobody left”, and he was right! There is not anyone in there 20’s or 30’s playing music in this area anymore. When I was in that age demographic there was live music every Friday and Saturday nights in every tavern and club within 40 miles of here. You booked double nights in the same club. There was a circuit that we all played and all made good money. There were beer tents, weddings, and festivals all summer you could play. Now you’re lucky if you can get two jobs a month let alone a double weekend in the same club.

So what happened? A few things I guess, first DJ’s came in and took over the wedding dance market. At first they charged a lot less and then slowly raised their prices to now equal or even in some cases charge more than a band. I find it hard to stomach paying a DJ a $1000.00 a night and arguing to pay a band $500.00. DJ’s in my opinion are the scrooge of the entertainment business. They have no musical talent, dress up and act like buffoons, and take work away from honest to good artists.

Next came Karaoke. It was even more hideous with guys who could not make it as DJ’s now hosting real bad talent nights with off key singers and horrible actors trying to imitate artists and musicians. Then the drinking age changes back to 21 and sent bar and club owners out of the band booking business,and if that was not bad enough local police departments started waiting in parking lots and picking up everyone who left the bar. In fact one club owner told me that the local police department in his community

just about put him out of business because of the way they hassled his patrons when they left. Now I’m all for picking up drunk drivers, but not for harassment of people who went out and had a beer or two and get pulled over because some local officer thinks their drunk because they left a bar at closing time. I myself have been pulled over a couple of times coming home after a gig just because I was out at 3:00 in the morning and I have not had a drink in 22 years!

So what do we do to make it good again and get younger folks playing? First we destroy every Rock Band type video game and put real guitars in kid’s hands, enter the MAMA’s. Next we get younger folks interested in playing music by supporting local musicians who play original music. That is really the key! There are not many national acts worth copying or covering anymore so it has to come from the local level. Inspire the young by playing outdoor concerts to showcase your music. Take your kids to see real musicians playing real instruments. Enroll your girls in Girls Rock Camp so that they can get a taste of what it is like to play. Buy them a real instrument and get them lessons instead of updating your Nintendo or other game players. Just like real exercise outdoors is good for kids so is being exposed to real music. Have a house concert of your favorite local songwriter or even touring songwriter and let them feel the excitement of a live show. I’ll bet if you ask any musicians in their 40’s thru their 60’s they will tell you of one single event of seeing a live performance that gave them the bug to learn an instrument. For me it was being able to play at family reunions with my Grandma Linden and her sisters.

Lastly supporting local music, taking the time to introduce your kids and younger people to good music (not the crap on the radio or TV today), and encouraging them to be creative. If we have lost one thing in the last 20 years is the art of being creative.

We recycle movies, music, and art all the time. Let them be original! It’s okay if you don’t like their music or art. Your parents didn’t like yours either.

It’s okay to grow up and be a musician. For 30 years I was an accountant/manager and was terrible at it. I hated it! I did it because people told me that if I wanted to make something of myself that’s what I had to do. I was a part-time musician and loved that. Five years ago I said screw it and started down the path to being a full-time musician/guitar repair guy and I love it! Many of my friends have gone down the same path and are creating some of the best music of their lives. Don’t let the music die out around here. Support it, nurture it with your kids, and encourage them to be themselves. Music comes from the soul. It is spiritual and it is healing. It’s also a hell of lot of fun!

Andy Ziehli

Bob’s Guitar Corner #6

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Robert’s Ramblings

wrong guy, and then his effort to clear his name and find the real killer. BREACH OF TRUST tells the story of corruption among elected officials. The main character goes undercover to help authorities expose the corruption. There are lots of characters in both of his books, but they are so well written that you easily can keep them apart in your reading from chapter-to-chapter. As an additional bit of information for you, the author Ellis was part of the prosecution of a well known jailed Midwestern governor famed for his hair style. Thus the author does have first hand knowledge on corruption.

The last book to mention is BLAME by Michelle Huneven. The book follows the events in the life of an alcoholic female college professor who is found guilty of driving while drunk and killing two people, her time in prison, and her life once released. There are many twists and turns in this story. It is well crafted and keeps you interested and guessing until you finally discover why the book is called BLAME. The author creates very vivid characters and situations for those characters to carry out the plot of the book.

One good thing about this long hot summer: the heat and humidity kept me in the air conditioned confines of my house on the hill on the couch with fans blowing around me and good books to read.

I made some good book discoveries this summer. Now is the time to share them with you. You can decide for yourself if one or two might interest you.

My two favorite books had similar titles. The title of one is AMERICA’S BOY by Wade Rouse, and the other title is AMERICAN BOY

by Larry Watson.

AMERICAN BOY is a coming of age story of a young boy in a small western Minnesota town. CATCHER IN THE RYE and DANLELION WINE are often considered the two best coming of age books ever written, but AMERICAN BOY is right up there in consideration according to my tastes and views. The book follows two classmates that became best friends as soon as they met in school. It is the classic rich boy vs. poor boy tale. The rich boy is the son of the town doctor, and the poor boy the son of a single mother working as a waitress. The poor boy spends most of his non-school time at the home of the doctor and his family. The doctor attempts to pass on medical information to the two boys, and that becomes vital to the plot of AMERICAN BOY. A woman considered “loose” by the town’s residents is shot by her live-in boy friend who then kills himself in jail. The injured woman is brought to the house for treatment, and the two boys are allowed to meet her. To the town’s astonishment the woman continues living in the doctor’s house with the doctor’s family long after her recovery. This only fuels the imagination of the two boys who then desire to see“more”of her. The doctor is very passive-aggressive to the poor boy which becomes the catalyst to the climax of the plot itself.The boy does come of age, but not in the way he thought it would be. Those of us from small towns will recognize much of the town’s behavior and attitudes, and any reader from a small town can easily relate to the adventures contained in the plot. The author Larry Watson is a Wisconsin resident, and his book MONTANA 1948 remains one of my favorite books of all time.

AMERICAN BOY is a very easy entertaining read, and it is the highlight of my summer reading. And can you guess which of the two boys returns as an adult to the same community to be the new doctor of the town?

On a few warm afternoons I escaped to the cool comfort of the movies. Just this week SLEEPWALK WITH ME was my choice, and it was a hit with me. Comedy stand up guy Mike Birbiglia wrote and starred in the story of events in his own life. He tells us about his long relationship and of his efforts to make it in stand up comedy. It is both funny and moving. Birbiglia is a very likeable guy, and it comes off on the screen. He talks to us directly from the screen, and it is very effective. In fact, he talks to us even before the opening credits warning us about the evils of cell phones in theaters, etc. You might look him up on YOUTUBE to get a feel of his comedy. HOPE SPRINGS is a story of us older adults and an honest look at what happens to long time relationships/marriages. It is told with comedy, with compassion, and it does not attempt to be a cure-all to the woes of being together for a long time or getting so far into a routine that you do not experience much happiness in the relationship. The entire cast is brilliant in underplaying their characters, and they often need few words to tell us what they are feeling. THE INTOUCHABLES is a charming story of a handicapped man selecting a North African man to be his caretaker and companion. Both learn from the other and their series of adventures make for a fun time at the movies. At home I watched PRIME about an analyst discovering that her client is dating her son, which is an older woman vs. young man romance. What can the doctor do in this ethical bending situation? And last BACKBEAT was another surprisingly entertaining look at John Lennon. This movie tells of the true story of the friendship of John Lennon and artist Stu Sutcliffe. The art in this case is painting. Lennon wants Sutcliffe to be a member of the group that became the Beatles and for a time Stu was a Beatle in their days in Germany. It is an excellent buddy movie, and it was fascinating to see John Lennon in a different way.

And so my rambling is done for this issue. Stay happy!

Written By: Robert Hoffman

AMERICA’S BOY by Wade Rouse is a close second to my summer’s best choice.The book is a series of very short chapters, much like the stories in this newspaper, which are true accounts of Rouse’s own life. Rouse always knew he was a misfit in his town, in his family, certainly in school,and even in his own skin. He can now as an adult look back and find humor in the events of his life even though many are very painful memories. Many of us realize how much of a misfit we were as kids trying to find the person within ourselves. What we become has its roots in our childhood no matter what sort of childhood we had. As a reader you will be making comparisons to your own relatives and classmates and friends and acquaintances as Rouse introduces his to you.

I actually laughed out loud as I read and recently read for a second time his accounts of his life growing up in rural Missouri in a point where Arkansas and Kansas and Oklahoma are not that far away. I think we all have had aunts and grandparents and maybe even parents like those Wade Rouse writes about. Again this is an easy book to read in a short time.

Earlier this summer I read another book by Wade Rouse,AT LEAST IN THE CITY SOMEONE WOULD HEAR ME SCREAM. It was written after AMERICA’S BOY, and it tells the true account of Rouse quitting his job in St. Louis to move to rural Michigan and devote full time to his writing. I also recommend this book.

Also as a good reading discovery on my part was finding two books by the author David Ellis. They both were very technical books, but they were excellent mysteries.

THE WRONG MAN tells the tale of the use of social media and its devices to frame the

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New & Blues Music – Things To Check Out! “Can You Canoe?” • Okee Dokee Brothers As childhood friends growing up in Denver Colorado, Joe Mailander and Justin Lansing were always exploring the outdoors.Whether it was rafting down their neighborhood creek, taking long bike rides into the country or discovering hiking trails through the Rocky Mountains, Joe and Justin were born adventurers.

Now, as The Okee Dokee Brothers, they have put this passion for the outdoors at the heart of their Americana Folk music. Joe and Justin record and perform family music with a goal to inspire children and their parents to get outside and experience nature.

They believe this can motivate kids to gain a greater respect for the natural world, their communities and themselves.

As an independently managed band, the young duo has gained a loyal grassroots following that is drawn to their witty lyrics, strong musicianship and unique folk style. By appealing to the musical needs of the entire family and recognizing that kids deserve quality music,The Okee Dokee Brothers are working full-time to advance the family music genre.

“Mr. Diddie Wah Diddie” • Randy Kaplan "Randy Kaplan is such a talented kids' rocker; the kind of performer who really engages his audience.He doesn't just sing,he tells stories.

And we listen stated Eva Glettner, Cool Mom Picks Please check this CD out, you will love it.

Info provided by: Beth Blenz-Clucas Sugar Mountain PR www.sugarmountainpr.com “Camilla” • Caroline Herring With accolades and endorsements from critics and fellow musicians alike, Signature Sounds recording artist Caroline Herring has emerged as one of the most literate and distinctive songwriters of her generation and one of the freshest voices to hit the music scene in a long time. Since her debut in 2001, Herring has gained a devoted following and much critical acclaim. Named “Best New Artist” at the Austin Music Awards, Caroline has been profiled on NPR’s“All Things Considered,”been a guest on Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion,” and was the only American representative involved in the prestigious Cecil Sharp Project in England, a group of musicians commissioned to compose music based on the life and collections of the famous song catcher.

Info provide by: Lotus Nile Ashley Moyer Lotus Nile Nashville,TN “SUNDAY RUN ME OVER” • HOLLY GO LIGHTLY & THE BROKEOFFS Fifth duo album due out October 9 on Transdreamer Records Sunday Run Me Over, due out October 9, 2012 on Transdreamer Records through Megaforce, is Holly’s fifth album with the Brokeoffs, who are actually a duo consisting of the London-born, Georgiabased singer/songwriter/guitarist and Texas-bred multi-instrumentalist and longtime collaborator Lawyer Dave, who contributes guitar, drums and vocals. But it’s one of nearly 30 albums on which the pioneering D.I.Y. iconoclast is featured, either as a solo artist or band member, and that figure that doesn’t include her various singles, guest appearances and collaborations with the likes of the White Stripes, Mudhoney, the Greenhornes and Rocket from the Crypt.Throughout a career that’s spanned more than 20 years, she’s maintained a fierce fidelity to the unpretentious attitude and stripped-down sonic sensibility that’s made her a seminal influence upon multiple generations of garage, punk and lo-fi artists.

FANTASY RECORDS READIES VINCE GUARALDI TRIO’S A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS Set for October 9th,2012 release,new deluxe CD reissue features 24bit remastering from original stereo masters and three holiday bonus tracks. A green vinyl LP edition will also be issued. Vince Guaraldi Trio’s A Charlie Brown Christmas [2012 Remastered & Expanded Edition] will be released by the Fantasy label in time for the holidays. One of the most popular and beloved holiday albums of all time, the multi-platinum-selling original soundtrack recording was a Library of Congress National Recording Registry inductee on May 23, 2012 and a Grammy Hall of Fame inductee in 2007.

The 2012 Remastered & Expanded Edition CD will feature the original 1965 recording newly remastered with 24-bit technology from the original analog stereo master tapes.

It also contains three holiday bonus tracks that did not appear on the original LP: “Greensleeves,”“Thanksgiving Theme,”and“Great Pumpkin Waltz.”The digi package includes a 20-page booklet featuring memorable Peanuts character images from the beloved A Charlie Brown Christmas television special and engaging new liner notes by Peanuts and Vince Guaraldi historian Derrick Bang, author of Vince Guaraldi at the Piano (McFarland Press).Concurrently,Fantasy will issue a 2012 LP pressing of the classic album on green vinyl.

KEYSTONE COMPANIONS/THE COMPLETE 1973 FANTASY RECORDINGS SPOTLIGHTS THE LEGENDARY MERL SAUNDERS/JERRY GARCIA COLLABORATION INCLUDING SEVEN PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED TRACKS Deluxe four-CD box set, due September 25th, contains vintage photos, extensive liner notes and memorabilia Keystone Companions/The Complete 1973 Fantasy Recordings, recorded live on July 10 and 11, 1973 at the Keystone club in Berkeley,California, beautifully captures the magical musical friendship of keyboardist Merl Saunders and guitarist Jerry Garcia.The Fantasy Records lavish four-disc set,scheduled for September 25, 2012 release on the heels of the 70th anniversary of Garcia’s birth, includes seven previously unreleased tracks, a special booklet featuring vintage photos; liner notes by Grateful Dead expert David Gans;and a poster,coaster,button,and“scratchbook”(replicating the design of the original album’s promotional matchbooks).

The sterling band featured Saunders on keyboards;Garcia,guitar and vocals;John Kahn, bass; and Bill Vitt, drums.Virtuoso David Grisman added mandolin to Bob Dylan’s“Positively 4th Street.”The mix of songs ranged from Saunders originals to covers of songs

by Jimmy Cliff, Junior Parker, Holland-Dozier-Holland, Rodgers & Hart, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Arthur“Big Boy”Crudup, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Don Nix and Dan Penn and Dylan.

Info provided by: Conqueroo: Cary Baker 11271 Ventura Blvd. #522 Studio City, California 91604

AMERICANA GAZETTE SUBSCRIPTION The Americana Gazette is a free bimonthly publication and may be picked up at area locations. However if you would like a copy mailed to you, please fill out the following information and submit a check for $15.00 to:Americana Gazette, P.O. Box 208, Belleville,Wi. 53508.

_______________________________________________________ First Name Last Name _______________________________________________________ Address _______________________________________________________ City State ______________________ Zip Code 1 Year Subscription - $15.00 2 Year Subscription - $25.00 Date:______________________________________

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A PET NOTE

Bailey & Isabelle Dan Baird’s Cool Dog Duo

Dan Baird & Isabelle Bailey

I have known Dan Baird for a couple of years now. He is an amazingly talented songwriter/performer/guitar player/bass player/joke teller, just a down to earth great person. He’s the“man”with a sense of humor to match.

The Americana Gazette had done a story on him awhile back. (Check it out online if you didn’t see it.) Now I found it only fitting that we (The Americana Gazette) should feature his dogs in an issue. After all, a dog is man’s best friend.Warner & Deb Hodges dogs have been featured in here, as well as Phil Lee’s, Tom Mason’s, Bones Hillman’s, Eric Brace’s, Peter Cooper’s,Tom T. & Ms. Dixie Hall’s and the list goes on.Why not the wonderful critters of Dan Baird? With a little persuasion and some heavy duty sweet talking on my part, (and you readers know I can do it) here we go!

be a good girl. (Pretending is the key word here, I begged Dan not to tell you what I had just done.We will stick with me looking like a good girl story for now.) Actually the other photo of me with my buddy, Dan is showing my real persona. I am in the book room with a candlestick, sitting on Dan.That’s what I’m all about.

Looking real pretty and sophisticated don’t you think?”

Now a typical weekday for these two dogs consists of a morning ritual to the dog park. Weekends usually finds them in the backyard of Dan’s buddy/engineer Ben Strano. At Ben’s they meet up with his dog, Runka.

Runka and Izzy grew up together so they still enjoy a good chase together, so shall we call it. Runka kind of bugs Bailey sometimes, but as long as Runka wears out Izzy, Bailey’s Ok with it. This gives Bailey a chance to catch a good nap when he gets home after the morning fun! Izzy is worn out and down for the count.

If you were a dog living at Dan Baird’s home in Nashville, what do you suppose your life would be like? Well here it is straight from the dog’s mouths!

Isabelle

“Hello, my name is Bailey. Check out my photo. I am eight years old and am the blonde cruiser. And yes, you guessed it. That is me doing my best impersonation of Ray Charles. Sometimes I just walk around in these glasses and think to myself, “Hey dude, don’t I look cool in my shades”? I am really, really that cool.”

“Don’t forget about me. Check out the other two photos. My name is Isabelle and I’m the baby of the family. I’m only three years old. Here I am on the sofa pretending to

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As Dan puts it, both of these dogs were “free dogs’ from the Humane Society, (well not FREE, but pretty damn close). Dan says they are good dogs, most of the time. They do however have a tendency to whine they are underfed at dinner time. They look pretty healthy to me!!!!! Your thoughts on this?????

Story by: Joyce Ziehli Information and photos supplied by: Dan Baird

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On The Road

With Charlie Faye In September of 2011, I had the pleasure of meeting a remarkable young lady named Charlie Faye at the Americana Music Conference in Nashville. Charlie was doing an interview with another magazine at the time. As soon as she finished with them, I went over to introduce myself. (For all you people that know me, you know how hard this must have been because I am so shy!!!!) Charlie is an amazing singer and songwriter, and cute as a button, with a personality to match. She agreed to give me an interview.

Well, it has been a year, but Charlie and I finally connected, and by the time you read this article I will have met up with her again and actually been able to go to her showcase in Nashville during the conference! It will be awesome.

Here is a little tidbit about what Charlie Faye has been up to which I got from her website.

On January 1st, 2010, Charlie Faye pulled out of her hometown of Austin,Texas, to embark on a modern bohemian adventure. In 10 months, Charlie made her home in 10 different towns;Tucson,AZ, Los Angeles, CA, Portland, OR, Boulder, CO, Shreveport, LA, Burlington,VT, Milwaukee,WI, Nashville,TN,Asheville, NC, and New York, NY. When asked why she would chose to tour in this unusual way, Charlie answers: "Ask any musician, on returning from a tour, 'How was Seattle? What was Chicago like? - and they'll tell you: "I don't know, man, we just loaded out of the van and played... and then got back in the van and kept driving."

But Charlie didn't want to just skim the surface. Instead of landing in a city, playing a show, and taking off the next day, Charlie spent a month actually getting to know the people and personality of each place she made her home.

Traveling alone,Charlie put together a new band in each town.Playing and hanging out with musicians in each town gave Charlie a really unique perspective on our national music culture. Looking back at the year, Charlie says, "If this isn't Americana music, I don't know what is."

Charlie also wrote and recorded a new song with local musicians each month. Her 10Town-made Travels with Charlie record includes members of Calexico, the Eagles, and Navarro, as well as Tony Gilkyson, Paul Bryan, Ian Moore, Chris Scruggs, Kenny Vaughn, Buddy Spicher, and Malcolm Burn. Each song, when recorded, was allowed to take the form of what naturally happened in that place and time.The result is a record that represents a real cross-section of our national roots-based,Americana music scene.

Charlie: OK. I actually didn’t start playing as early as a lot of other people; I kind of dabbled in high school. I played guitar for a year, then bass for a year, then drums for a year, all because my little brother was a musician. He actually teaches jazz guitar now. I didn’t play music again seriously until I was 22 years old. My senior year at Oberlin, I took an EXCO – a studenttaught Experimental College Class -with Chris Eldridge, who was teaching a class about Bluegrass. I really got into it.So I started a little band where I was playing rhythm guitar. I figured, 3 chords -- how hard could it be? When I graduated, asked for a mandolin as a graduation present.

Joyce: Hi Charlie. What’s the weather like in Austin today?

Charlie: Hi Joyce. It is hot, in the 90’s.

Joyce: Well, why don’t we start with you giving us some information on your background? w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

I moved back to New York and started going to this bluegrass jam at the Baggot Inn. This is where I met Greg Garing.

For anyone who doesn’t know Greg, he’s a phenomenal country/bluegrass/rockabilly artist, he lived in Nashville for a while, but at that point he was in New York. He saw

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me playing mandolin and asked if I’d play in his band, which I did for about a year. I learned a lot.

Then I got a job with Dan Zanes & Friends playing mandolin and guitar and singing harmonies. During the time I was touring with him, Dan won the Grammy for best children’s album of the year. The music was great,the people were great,and it was an all-around great gig. At the same time though, I had started writing my own songs. I was becoming interested in making a record of my own. When the Dan Zanes tour ended, I moved to Austin. I had toured through Austin before and always got the sense that there was a really cool music community there. I moved in 2007 and started my career in Austin as a solo artist.

Joyce: Charlie, had you made a record of your own before you moved to Austin?

Charlie: Actually I had made a record back when I lived in New York. I recorded it in Philadelphia and it was basically the first 10 songs I had ever written.

At that point in time, I really hadn’t had a chance to develop as an artist yet. And there are some people who love that record, but I really don’t promote or sell that CD anymore. I made my next record, my first official release, in Austin a year or two after I moved here. It’s called “Wilson Street.”

Joyce: What is your songwriting technique?

Charlie: I’m not the kind of person who sits down every day and writes songs. If I have a co-writing session, we go in with the purpose to write. And I can do that. But when I’m on my own, it’s basically about making sure that when the inspiration does come, I go with it. You have to make sure you entertain the inspiration when it happens.An idea will come to me, sometimes just one line, and then I’ll have this little piece of music with a lyric going through my head over and over again. Once it comes in my head, I have to record it. You always think you’ll remember it,but you can forget it,and then it’s lost, gone forever. Sometimes I’ll sing it into my iPhone while I’m walking down the street.

People who see me doing this probably think I’m nuts!

Charlie: Thank you Joyce. Looking forward to seeing you again.

Please check out Charlie Faye at her website www.charliefaye.com and be sure to purchase her CD. She is totally awesome!!!

Story by: Joyce Ziehli Photos supplied by Charlie’s website. www.charliefaye.com

Joyce: Charlie, tell me about your Ten Town Tour please.

Charlie: I had been talking to some friends in the music biz about what I needed to do to really make a go of it at being an artist. And the general consensus was that I needed to be on the road for the next year. A year on the road sounded kind of like torture to me, with no tour support and all the wear the travel would do on me. The worst thing about touring in my opinion is that you go from place to place so quickly, you don’t have time to actually get to see the places you’re going or get to form real connections with anyone you meet. It can all be very superficial, and while that might be fine for a couple weeks at a time, I didn’t want to do it for a year. I did want to expand my fan base though. I came up with the plan to spend a whole month in each of 10 different towns on my tour. I would find a place to live, form a band and play a residency. I would usually play alone the first gig, and by the second gig I might have another player. By the end of the month, I would normally have a full band, and a full audience as it grew with each gig and added musicians. By the last show of the month, it was like a good bye party.

Joyce: The musicians and audience were probably saying,“Don’t go,live and play here!’

Charlie: Sometimes, yeah, and sometimes I felt that way too. There were cities I would have loved to spend an extra few months in. I made lots of new friends during the whole experience. It was really cool. And now I get to travel solo and play with my local bands in all of these cities, and visit my with the friends I made when I was living there.

Joyce: What is in store for you in the near future?

Charlie: I am leaving for Europe right after the Americana Music Conference for three weeks. I’m also working on a new project with Will Sexton.

I also have a couple of other things happening. Of course I write and I play my own music, but I’ve also started to do consulting for other artists. I work with some people who are just started out,sometimes I help them figure out how to release their first records. Other artists I work with have been in the business for a long time, but they came up in the age of record labels, and they don’t know how to do all this stuff by themselves without a team. (Anyone interested in contacting Charlie for this service can go through her website at www.charliefaye.com ) Joyce: Charlie, do you have any hobbies?

Charlie: I am a big fan of yoga, and I practice every day, even while I’m on the road. I am also the founder of an affordable housing project for musicians and artists here in Austin. That and my music and consulting keeps me busy.

Joyce: Wow, you are one busy lady. On that note, Charlie, I will let you get back to work. Thank you so much for the interview and I will see you at the Americana Music Conference. I will be at your showcase.

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We all have an on board GPS system, right in our bodies. It is usually called our emotions, but, hey, it’s the modern age! Our emotions are the best guidance system ever invented. We know instantly when something feels good or bad. At that point we can either continue on our merry way (good feelings) or hear the voice in our head “calculating route” (bad feelings are our best friend alerting us that we are getting off our course of joy), and we adjust and continue. Our feelings offer us constant feedback on how we are doing in the adventure of life.

For a reason not completely known to me, log dwellings have always felt good. Not just good, REALLY good. A friend of our family had a small cabin on the banks of Pickerel Lake in northern WI. I can still see the white painted exterior logs as clearly as I see out my window now. I pause and vividly see the honey colored interior walls. I remember touching them and just thinking how beautiful they were. A stone fireplace and a screen porch (with a door that slammed just like it should!) were the frosting on the cake. That place was perfect.

My Trifecta: Wood, Stone & Water When you pluck a guitar string, what happens? To your eyes the string is moving back and forth, vibrating. To your ears, that vibration is interpreted as sound. Pluck it softer and the vibration changes. Pluck it harder and the vibration intensifies. A very simple example of vibration being translated by our senses into something we understand.

When I see a rainbow, it is not because there is a band of color in the sky. This amazing sight is simply the perfect refraction of light through moisture particles,what makes a rainbow beautiful is me. My eyes interpret the vibrations of light into different colors that I then truly enjoy.

You know I had to get a Beach Boy’s reference in here somewhere. Brian Wilson knows all about vibrations. The band’s largest hit has the word in its title;Good Vibrations. The song was written after Brian’s mother mentioned to him that dogs can feel the vibrations of people before they even encounter them.

So it seems that we live in a “vibrational reality”. Everything vibrates to some degree.

Ever walk on the beach and for some reason you pause,looking down you notice some particular item in the sand? There are billions of things there to observe and yet there you stand looking down at that one thing. You were a vibrational match to the object of your desire. Usually the next step is to pick your new treasure up and hold it in your hand. Doesn’t it just feel good to do that? The combination of your vibration and the vibration of the object of your attention creates something larger than each on its own.

Perhaps singing harmony with someone would be a good way to think about it.

Items that seem to be“static”or solid are not the only things that vibrate. Ideas do too.

My hunch is you have experienced being in the company of other folks and someone will offer a thought on some subject. Before you know it that thought has vibrated, via the contributions of those who participate, into a larger idea. Have you ever sat down with a piece of printed media, a book, magazine or newspaper, and simply opened to a page or allow your eyes to land somewhere on the newsprint and what greets you are words that feel like they were meant for you. Somehow the meaning for you is deeper and perhaps entirely different than the context of what you are reading. It just “speaks to you”. Well, guess what! You were in vibrational alignment with the “idea” that was on the page and just like picking up the item on the beach, this short printed segment has the power to expand and enlighten you.

It makes sense to me why living in a log home is something that I desire so greatly. My trifecta of high vibrational matches are all there: wood, stone and water. My most recent visit to Bayfield,WI found us staying for the first time in a wood clad 2 bedroom cabin. While I always enjoy every second spent in Bayfield, this trip was special as the internal walls of the structure were wood not plaster and the stone around the fireplace went from floor to ceiling, two stories. We were a 4 minute walk to Lake Superior. What I loved most about the experience was not so much the cabin itself,but how I felt being in the cabin. One reason I can’t wait to own a log structure is I am so looking forward to the“me”I will meet there. Same guy as everywhere else but,when I will be there I will be surrounded by things that have deep joy for me. Not a picture or an appliance but the bones of the structure will be vibrating right in my sweet spot, and my vibration will rise to match theirs.

I have decided that I am ready for this adventure to begin. Just this week I went to my local library and checked out books about cabins and other small footprint structures. For most of my life I enjoyed the occasional experience of being near these three things I love so dearly. I now know that I am ready for the next step. I can feel it. It feels good. My GPS is not telling me that it is “calculating route” meaning I have taken a wrong turn in my feelings of being ready. I have no idea of the “how”, I just know that my destination is owning a log structure to call my own. The “how” is the journey from here to there. The journey will be sweet as long as I pay attention to my feelings as I go.

I love wood, stone and water. I love how I feel when I am in their company, separate, or if I am fortunate, all three together. (As I am writing this my music device randomly selected “Ultimate Surf .” I am in the middle of 60 minutes of nothing but the sound of waves. Neat eh?) This is exactly the sort of thing I am looking forward to.

Here for the past few hours I have enjoyed my thoughts about my trifecta. With my attention on those good feeling thoughts, I believe the vibration I am offering allows me to continue to experience things that feel very good to me. So, my “Ultimate Surf” random selection may not be so random after all. My devise could have selected any track in my play list.

The point of all of this is that when you know you like something, enjoy it! Do it as often as you can. As you are enjoying your experience try to pay attention to how good you feel. Those good feelings are like radio transmitters, broadcasting outward, hey I feel good! All the stuff that feels that good will begin to vibrate right along with you.

The better it gets, the better it gets!

I’ll look forward to seeing you around the campfire!

Written by: Jim Smith

I have a trifecta of things that vibrate in a very powerful way for me. Perhaps my Native heritage (Bay Mills Chippewa from Michigan) has something to do with my particular attractions as they are part of nature.

The three things that will always make me feel good are wood, stone and water. Even if I am having my best day ever, put me next to a white pine tree alongside a body of clean water sitting on a rock, and my best day just became, more better! (I know, I know) Better yet, put me in a log home that is located on a clean body of water with a stone foundation and fireplace, and I almost become a different man. Why? I am now not only me, but I am me with the added vibrations of my sacred three: wood, stone and water.

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The Quilt & The Poetry: A Cultural Geography of Music Frye Gaillard

Many are the muses of human inspiration. Tributes in a variety of forms have, over the centuries, celebrated the talents of individual musicians, charting their influence on history and pop culture. In this autumn of rock and roll, tribute bands have become a mainstream feature of even the most well-established venues. And histories of genres such as the blues and even industries (think Motown) inspire new generations exploring the parameters of music. Oddly enough, with the exception of the Smithsonian’s International Folk Music project, few have seen fit to pay tribute to the music of a specific region, much less a state.

While cultural legacies of many kinds have been written by authors with a sociological bent, not many focus on music. Authors may give music a role, though it’s often a peripheral one. The best, such as Kathleen Norris’ Dakota, are markedly ambitious in their creativity and scope, and thought-provoking.Yet the average memoir tends to soothe our hearts with sentiment. Not so The Quilt and Poetry of Alabama Music by Frye Gaillard, writer-in-residence at Mobile’s University of South Alabama, and singer-songwriter Kathyrn Scheldt. The Quilt is a combined anthology of reflective essays on Alabama music and an audio CD of songs recorded by Scheldt, the inaugural publication of newly established literary publishing house Solomon and George. Due out in November 2012,the book and CD are part of an innovative experiment in music and literature reflective of their authors’ creativity, culture and values.

visor called myThesis‘too poetic,’”Kathryn confides— an irony I find rather liberating.Anyone who can break through the dense conventions that surround intellectualism to powerfully communicate the messages of scholarly work earns my admiration.

Over time her love for guitar, her expressive contralto and her passion for writing edged Scheldt’s interest away from academia, and by 2005, she had decided to try making a living in performance and launched her next musical career. Scheldt’s earliest recordings reflect her diverse musical interests—as well as Alabama’s heritage-- in spirituals, gospel and jazz, among other genres.

Gaillard and Scheldt met in 2007, when he and his wife Nancy took his mother to church one Sunday in Mobile, where Kathryn happened to be performing “Mercy, Send a Dove”--a song she’d written about the impact of Hurricane Katrina. More than a shade deaf at 92 years old,Gaillard’s mother was unusually moved by the song. “It’s perfectly gorgeous,”she told Gaillard, who approached Kathryn afterwards to compliment her performance. A year later, Frye’s mother passed away and he asked Scheldt to sing the song at her funeral. The two struck up a friendship that soon evolved into a fruitful collaboration. By 2008, encouraged by Gaillard,Scheldt was delving into the personal journals she’d kept for years to create new songs, resulting in her first all-original album, Southern Girl, which was produced by Mike Severs in 2009. Since co-writing their first song “Words Get in the Way “ (included in The Quilt’s compilation), the two have cowritten over 100 songs, over 70 of which have been published.

Frye Gaillard, a journalist by training, has written widely and to significant acclaim about southern literature, history,and race relations for over forty years.

His book Cradle of Freedom:Alabama and the Movement that Changed History, earned the Lillian Smith Award in 2005, an honor given by the Southern Regional Council in Atlanta to notables such as Alex Haley and Eudora Welty. In 2002, Gaillard won the NAACP’s Humanitarian award for his writing on the civil rights movement. These accolades give testament to Gaillard’s ability to assess and delineate the complex, nuanced relationships between the cultural roles and identities people struggle to negotiate. This is no less the case in The Quilt and Poetry of Alabama Music.

Scheldt won acclaim for Southern Girl, earning airplay on over 30 stations across the US and high praise from reviews in Australia. In 2010, Kathryn signed with Lamon Records,a long-standing Nashville label that has recorded such greats as George Hamilton IV and the Grammy-nominated Moody Brothers, to record her fourth album,Southern Wind. Her most recent album, One Good Reason, also released by Lamon, put Kathryn on the charts and in 2012, her single “Almost Cheatin’,” (co-written with Gaillard) made the top ten on the country chart.

While Kathryn Scheldt grew up in South Carolina, Fairhope, Alabama, has been her hometown for ten years. Born to musical parents originally from Mobile, Scheldt has been writing and performing songs since she was little:“I was born making noise,”she laughs. A classically trained guitarist with a Masters in music,Scheldt launched a career in academia, teaching music at Queens University in Charlotte, North Carolina, and at the University of South Alabama. “I should have known I was in trouble when my ad-

The shift from writing prose to songwriting was not an intuitive one for Gaillard, who emphasizes that he’s the junior partner in his collaborations with Scheldt. Scheldt coaxed Gaillard into the role over time by occasionally throwing him a lyric or two for feedback, eventually moving from casual consultation to deliberate collaborator. Gaillard acknowledges that he enjoys and has grown from the experience,pointing out that lyrics are just another form –albeit succinct and with rhyme--through which to tell

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had on our national culture. Allison Moorer reverently transforms a commonplace alienation into beauty in “A Soft Place to Fall” and bravely confronts the consequences of our tolerance for domestic violence in “Cold, Cold Earth.”

Indeed, as songwriters Scheldt and Gaillard maintain the strong and often surprising vein of social commentary in Alabama songwriting; their songs reflect a thoughtfulness born out of empathy for the voiceless, the disenfranchised. In the second section of The Quilt, Scheldt provides narrative context for the songs included in the anthology. Divided into “Stories,”“Feelings,” and “Good Ole Songs,” Kathryn interprets the messages in and influences on the songs, further highlighting the threads that bind Alabama’s contemporary and legendary balladeers.

The songs’ topics range from memorializing the wide-ranging impact of the civil rights movement (“Selma”) to the painful deterioration of a couple’s love tested and lost in the wake of the Vietnam war (“So Easy”). Gaillard’s mastery of history and the pair’s commitment to telling the full, rather than the easy story are visible in such revisionist tales as “Geronimo’s Cage.” New perspectives on culture and historical figures also characterize much of their collaborative work;“Casey in Love”reveals the little-known side of the famous railroad engineer whose heroic act of commandeering a train saved dozens but killed him. “The Last Shrimp Boat,” a Guthrie-like homage to the grit and courage of the fishermen that make their life on the La Batre bayou, was penned with Peter Cooper;it was chosen as the soundtrack for the Alabama Center PublicTelevision 2011 documentary In the Path of the Storms.

Art out of Everyday Life Patterns and shapes telling the tales Needles move fast, making their trails Traveling for miles in them ole kitchen chairs All of us got a story to share

Kathryn Scheldt

peoples’ stories.“Frye understands character so well,” Kathryn marvels;“that brings a huge strength to his writing.”

The Quilt isn’t Gaillard’s first foray into music;his 1978 book,Watermelon Wine, chronicled the stories of the “rebel” songwriters Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, alongside those of Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris, John Prine and others as they struggled to negotiate some meaning from their tumultuous lives and surface their messages in song amid the commercialism that had come to dominate Nashville. Upon watching Johnny Cash host the last performance at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium when it closed, Gaillard became fascinated with the complexities of country music, which, he maintains “is a more subtle art form than people give it credit for.” Gaillard picks up this theme in The Quilt and Poetry of Alabama Music--he cites Waylon Jennings’ ability to write with compassion about poor immigrants while still being best known for writing the conservative standard “America.”

The book is not meant to be a hall of fame for Alabama’s native musicians; the authors have no need to be inclusive and pay little tribute to notables such as Nat King Cole, the Commodores or Tammy Wynette. Rather, this is a closely observed exploration of certain themes that refract across the region’s musical history, as well as a deeply personal tribute to the values and messages that resonate with the authors.

When I ask what is it that makes a musician memorable,Gaillard says he respects those that “aim high and dig deep—they’re really trying to say something in their songs— about the human condition. They’re touching the heart of what it means to be alive.”

He saw this in Kathryn’s work, beginning in that moment in the small chapel in Mobile with his mother.

After four years of collaboration as songwriters, Gaillard and Scheldt were inspired to write about the legacy of the great Alabama songwriters--“under whose musical shadow we came of age.” From W.C. Handy to Hank Williams, Jr, Emmylou Harris to Davis Raines, Gaillard attempts, in the first section of the book,, to capture not only what made them unique as musicians in their respective places in history, but to trace the threads that inextricably link them to their own music and that of their contemporaries.

Truth and the Telling The Quilt’s authors trace the Alabama legacy of truth-telling in song beyond the frank starkness of their early forebears—Hank Williams, Sr.,W.C. Handy and Emmylou Harris among others--into contemporary times.Through interviews and close readings of their songs, Gaillard identifies the common themes among a diverse panoply of southern songwriters, writers with powerful sense of place in time and geography, with a deep connection to Alabama.

Kate Campbell’s literary elegance paints a poignant portrait of Sledge, Mississippi, the town in which she grew up. Former prison guard Davis Raines testifies with empathy to the cost of turning a blind eye to slaughterhouse work in his finely crafted semi-autobiographical album “Going to Montgomery.” In “715,” Peter Cooper exposes the relentless racism that continues to haunt America well after Hank Aaron’s record-breaking home run--a powerful tribute to the impact that Aaron’s courageous accomplishment w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

Upon inheriting a bag of brightly colored scraps from which her great aunt sewed quilts (the completed quilts had been appropriated by her siblings), Scheldt took the strips to a friend she knew quilted. Her friend saw the logic and potential of those scraps and created for Kathryn the remarkable quilt her aunt had been unable to finish. Inspired by this legacy, Scheldt recalls in a song the story of the famous Gee’s Bend Quilters, and identifies the quilt as a powerful symbol of how people come together to make art—and music--out of everyday life.

While the transcendent themes of change and heroism refract through the book and the songs, much of the authors’ attention focuses on the diversity of everyday Alabama life: the daily hauling of shrimp nets by bayou fishermen; the pride a girl feels in the dusty landscape of lower Alabama. Scheldt’s invitation to take refuge from a restless world in her hometown of Fairhope is gently nostalgic, melodically evoking shades of Jimmy Buffet, lyrically of Nanci Griffith.

The Quilt and Poetry of Alabama Music is an experiment,the two authors acknowledge; if there is anything they hope to convey through it, it is that music is able to fulfill the dual promises of being participatory and reflective. Regional song anthologies always risk becoming little more than catalogs of themes and lineages of influence.Scheldt and Gaillard have, with The Quilt, put on vivid display the myriad yet common face of the human experience. Disappointments are the life stuff of music, the residue of dreams unfulfilled not because they are too grand but because of our struggle to negotiate the fears and fatigue that accompany our journeys.

Gaillard and Scheldt remind us that it’s as much through the telling of a story as the struggle itself that noble themes emerge. A commitment to the truth. An unflinching belief in justice. An empathetic ear for pain and the ability to endure beyond it. And, most appreciably,an abiding faith in song as a vehicle for grappling with all three when, wavering with the vicissitudes of our humanity, we invariably fail to live up to our aspirations.

The two songwriters have exemplary partners in their effort to produce their musical anthology; among the musicians performing with Scheldt on the CD are renowned guitarist Rick Hirsch, lead guitarist for Greg Allman and founding member of Wet Willie.

The CD’s cover art, graced with a magenta Camellia,Alabama’s state flower, was designed by internationally-acclaimed Alabama artist Nall.

Scheldt and Gaillard plan to make appearances across the South, sharing the stage by combining readings from the book and performing the songs it contains, inviting friends to join them periodically. Where TV news and newspaper stories fail to secure the attention and empathy of the great national middle,The Quilt and the Poetry of Alabama Music has a shot at doing just that. As the authors themselves elegantly demonstrate, this hybrid genre sets up the liminal state in which listeners open their heart as well as ears to become more receptive to the scope of the human experience. After all, Gaillard reminds us: it is the listener who closes the artistic circle by bringing their own experience to the song and finding a connection to the musician—or the person from whose point of view the song is written.

For more information on Kathyrn Scheldt, visit her Website at: http://www.kathrynscheldt.com/ For more information on Frye Gaillard, visit http://fryegaillard.blogspot.com/ The song Fairhope can be found on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiD8atyJh10

By Anne Gravel Sullivan

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GEORGERELEASES DUCAS NEW CD – “COWTOWN” How many of you recognize the name,George Ducas? Well if you don’t,you better start checking him out now. Below is a little bit of background on him from his website.

music go together! My Mom’s a poet. She gets all the credit on that or the blame. (we laugh)

George Ducas has enjoyed success as an artist with two albums on Capitol Records and a string of hits like his Top 10 single“Lipstick Promises.”Ducas preceded his recording career by penning Radney Foster’s solo career launching Top 10 hit “Call Me Lonesome,” and has continued to score as a writer of hits for Sara Evans (her multi-week #1 song “A Real Fine Place To Start”), George Jones and Garth Brooks (the Top 20 duet “Beer Run”) and the Eli Young Band (“Always The Love Songs,” which hit the Top 10).

Joyce: We will go with credit.

George: Somewhere between Willie Nelson and KISS I started playing guitar. It was like an ah ha moment. I was about 9 or 10 years old when I started playing. I was trying to impress the girls. I wrote songs trying to emulate Willie Nelson. (laughs) Joyce: Do you play any other instruments besides the guitar?

In late 2010, George Ducas brought his music back home to Texas with the release of his“Volume Up Windows Down”. Now, Ducas rolled into the summer sun with“CowTown”, a summer stomper for the Texas charts, and the single that will put the final exclamation mark on his first Texas-exclusive project. Since first emerging as a deep-rooted country artist with contemporary appeal in the mid-to-late 1990s, he has enjoyed hits as both a Nashville major label artist and songwriter. But his musical heart and soul reside in the honky-tonks, roadhouses and dancehalls of his native Lone Star State.

Ducas led off his return to his home state of Texas with “Never Goes Away,” co-written with Texas artist Randy Rogers. The tune,a widescreen tale of loving memories and desire, was Ducas’ first single from his current six-song EP.The Texas Music Chart hit “Breakin’ Stuff”, one of 2011‘s most-played songs on Texas Music airwaves, is a bristling hard-edged confessional of the mistakes we all make in life. Rollicking numbers like“Twang Thang,”and“Pure Blue Heartache”brim with the vitality and adventures of a night of live music on the Texas scene, while the ballad “Amnesia” tackles the regrets everyone knows and feels. It’s a collection of the real country with a modern kick that Ducas is known for, and as its title implies, a perfect soundtrack for driving the highways and byways of the Lone Star State.

“It was time for me to take the bull by the horns and do things my own way,” explains Ducas as he embarks on the next chapter of an already successful and fulfilling musical career, this time as an independent artist.“I consider myself very much a singer and songwriter with the emphasis on performing.And being out there playing for people is the part I really missed.”

And getting out on the road again is exactly what George Ducas is going to be doing, but I managed to catch up with him to talk a little about his CD and what else has been going on in his life recently.

George: “No”, I do plunk around on the piano at the house when I’m writing with someone.

Joyce: Let’s talk about your writing techniques.

George: Lots of inspirations come from conversations. Sometimes I hear stuff in the grocery store or working out at the Y. For example the song,“Breakin Stuff” has a unique little story I like to tell. It is a true story, not fabricated at all.

Joyce: Do tell.

George: After I had worked out one day, I walked up to the little coffee area at the Y. It was a chilly late winter, early spring day and I stopped to get coffee to warm up before I went outside. An elderly woman in front of me was trying to open a little packet of creamer and her frail fingers couldn’t quite negotiate it. So I waited, for awhile, several seconds,then I asked her if she needed any help with that. She said,“Oh yes,thank you so much.” I hadn’t wanted to offend her, by assuming she couldn’t do it, but after all I did wait awhile. She was grateful. She handed it to me, I popped it open and handed it back to her. She replied,“that was so easy for you” with such amazement in her eyes. I said,“Yea, I’m good at breakin stuff”. I thought to myself, wow that could be a song, so I went home and wrote it that day with Keifer Thompson, the half duo of Thompson Square. We write a lot of songs together. Keifer asked me where I got that idea from. I told him this literally happened to me and we both laughed.

Joyce: You are so lucky you had good manners that day and helped that elderly woman!

George: That is so Wisconsin of you! (we both laugh )That’s funny. I don’t know how often I’ve been accused of having good manners?

Joyce: Hello George. Just wanted to say that I absolutely love your new CD. My husband and I listened to it on a trip yesterday and thought it was one of the best CD’s we’ve heard in a long time.

Joyce: Well it’s a great song and you are lucky you minded your manners that day!

What are future goals for you?

George: Thank you Joyce. I appreciate the support and thanks for doing this interview.

George: I am going to be touring and hope to be recording by myself and with others. There was a time when I was more a part of the Nashville scene, and I certainly welcome that, but now I am half time in Texas.

Joyce: You are welcome. My pleasure.Well, let’s start on the interview. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Joyce: George any fun hobbies? I see you have a couple of children to keep you busy.

George: I don’t come from a musical family. My Dad was forced to take violin as a young kid and did not like it at all. My Dad’s really good at math, I guess math and

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TOM T. HALL AND MS. DIXIE HALL BREAKING NEWS!!! BMI will celebrate the incredible songwriting career ofTomT.Hall by naming him a BMI Icon at the company’s 60th annual Country Awards.The private ceremony will be held on Tuesday, October 30 at BMI’s Music Row building in Nashville.

The BMI Icon award is given to songwriters who have had a “unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers.”An all-star musical tribute will pay homage to Hall, who joins a list of past honorees that includes Billy Sherrill, John Fogerty, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Isaac Hayes, Merle Haggard, Brian Wilson, Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn, the Bee Gees, Bobby Braddock, Ray Davies, James Brown and more.

Tom T. Hall is one of the original master craftsmen of country music, a distinct voice who elevated the art form by staying true to himself and fostering a sincere respect for his listeners.

Like the most expertly crafted short stories,Hall’s songs are detailed vignettes,vivid and familiar thanks to his unwavering devotion to the sharply drawn characters who populate them.The Kentucky native’s approach earned him the nickname“The Storyteller.”

As a recording artist, Hall had seven No. 1 singles, all self-penned:“A Week in a Country Jail”(1969–70),“TheYearThat Clayton Delaney Died”(1971),“(Old Dogs,Children and) Watermelon Wine” (1972–73),”“I Love” (1973–74),“Country Is” (1974),“I Care” (1974– 75), and “Faster Horses (the Cowboy and the Poet)” (1976).The Grammy winner also famously wrote smashes for others, including “Harper Valley P.T.A.,” which Jeannie C. Riley took to No. 1 on country and pop charts in 1968, as well as “The Pool Shark,” a chart-topper for Dave Dudley;“(Margie’s at) the Lincoln Park Inn" and“That’s How I Got to Memphis,” recorded by Bobby Bare; and “Little Bitty,” a mega-hit for Alan Jackson in the late 90s. Hall has earned a total of 31 BMI Awards for songwriting spanning country and pop genres, and six of his songs have accumulated more than one million performances each. In 2008, he was welcomed into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2011, songwriters Eric Brace and Peter Cooper produced their own take on seminal 1974 children’s album Songs of Fox Hollow.The project, I Love:Tom T. Hall’s Songs of Fox Hollow, featuring top-tier roots artists delivering new versions of the classic songs, was nominated for a Grammy, reflecting the undiminished resonance of Hall’s music.

Tom T. Hall & Ms. Dixie Hall

In addition to Americana, it should also be noted that since Hall's retirement from touring, he has enjoyed mega writing success in the worlds of both traditional and modern bluegrass music and old time country, as well as classic and progressive country.

He has collaborated extensively with his wife Miss Dixie, and the Halls were named SPBGMA Songwriter of the Year for 10 consecutive years, garnering them the Master's Gold and Grand Master's Gold award. It is never surprising to see as many as five or six Hall compositions at a time in the bluegrass charts, several of them reaching No. 1, such as “Bill Monroe For Breakfast,” which Hall recorded himself; a new version of “That's How I Got To Memphis” by Charlie Sizemore;“Clinch Mountain Mystery” by The Larry Stephenson Band;“Train Songs” by Ralph Stanley II;“Train Without a Track”

by Junior Sisk and Rambler's Choice; and “The Boys In Hats and Ties” by Big Country Bluegrass, just to name a few.

Hall’s personal story is also uniquely tied to BMI: He met Miss Dixie, his wife of 45 years, at the 1965 BMI Country Awards in Nashville. During the BMI Country Awards, BMI will crown the Country Songwriter, Song and Publisher of the Year and salute the writers and publishers of the past year’s 50 most-performed songs from BMI’s country catalog. BMI President & CEO Del Bryant will host the ceremony with Jody Williams, BMI Vice President,Writer/Publisher Relations, Nashville; and Clay Bradley, BMI Associate Vice President,Writer/Publisher Relations, Nashville.

Dixie andTomT.will also be featured in an upcoming book titled "It Goes a Little Somethin' LIke This" by Dak Alley.

Tom T. Hall

Information and photos provided by: Good Home Grown Music Tom T. & Dixie Hall

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MEET ELECTRONIC RE-PURPOSING GURU JOHN BIRNER

What do,THE MASTICATOR,ALTO BOOST, CAGED FUZZ, and WOODYDRIVE all have in common? Give up? Alright, I’ll tell you.They are all names of guitar effects pedals designed and built by Mineral Point musician and electronic re-purposing guru John Birner.All are made from 100% recycled materials, and reflect John’s wonderful imagination, creative drive, and aesthetic view.This guy could make your toaster sit up and bark if he wanted to.Parts from old stereos,radios,television sets and phonographs,not to mention, altoid mint tins, wire mesh, dental drill foot switches, and wood from an Amish saw mill have all been used in his creations.We recently sat in his living-room, surrounded by his menagerie of one of a kind guitars, effects, and amps, to discuss his work.

RH: Looking at your effects pedals, the way they are designed, the materials used, and the way you ornament them, they seem to be as much about art, as they are about a piece of gear.You have a high tech electronic device built from old radio and stereo parts housed in a box made from rough cut lumber from an Amish saw mill. It all screams folk art to me.

JB: Well, you know we have gotten away from art in our every day lives.We have forgotten that art can be useful. It isn’t just something you hang on the wall. I think folk art might be a good description. I’m trying to create my own niche.

RH: Are you selling what you make?

RH:When did you start messing around with electronics and why?

JB: Shortly after getting my first electric guitar.I think it was more about wanting something and not being able to afford it. I remember when I was a kid my dad wanted a set of steamer trunks. So he built some.We recently visited him and there they were, 40 years later. If you can’t afford it, build it.And you get an education too. I also think people are starting to return to an appreciation of that one of a kind thing.

RH: Do you have any formal training or is this guerilla electronics?

JB: Oh this is guerilla electronics for sure. I would pick up old stuff and try to repair it. I’ve taught myself from books and now the internet is a great source of information on everything.

RH:When someone first told me about you they said that you build “FRANKENGUITARS”. Tell me a little about that.

JB: Well,that’s a great name for them,but I don’t actually build guitars from scratch like I do an amp or an effects pedal. I take a guitar that no longer functions and rebuild it.

Some parts are recycled from other guitars, and some parts I make.

RH:Are these guitars as easy to find as they used to be?

JB: I used to get guitars for 5 or 10 bucks at garage sales and occasionally I can still find one, but collectors are now interested in some of these guitars. Japanese guitars such as a Tiesco or Guyatone are in demand. Some of these old guitars from the 50’s and 60’s are great although some of them are the cheese graters we know and love.You can see what’s being collected on eBay. I can still pick up necks and bodies but I’ve been moving away from guitars. I have the skill to build cases, amps, and effects, but I’m not a luthier.

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JB: Yes I am, on eBay, but I’m soon going to have my own website. I offer a 90 day guarantee. If it’s broken I will fix it for free.

RH: Do you think the comparatively cheap Chinese amps and guitars of today will someday be collector’s pieces like the instruments and equipment of our youth?

JB: It’s hard to say.We never thought the old Kay, Harmony, and Danelectro guitars and amps would be worth anything and now some of them bring big prices. I don’t think the new Chinese stuff could ever have the historical significance that the Japanese equipment has.You know that whole Cold War, space race, seeing who was better thing of the 50’s and 60’s, gave us some great amps. I have worked on and own a lot of those so called vintage amps and they just sound so much better.

RH:I think the things you are building like;THE MASTICATOR FUZZ PEDAL,made from re-cycled electronic parts, the foot switch from a dentist’s drill, and ornamented with a toothy smile painted on the face of the effect, kind of tips the whole vintage thing on its head.

JB: Like I said earlier,“it’s my niche”.

To see some of Johns work, visit YouTube: Soaringtortoise Or Email him at: soaringtortoise@hotmail.com Story and photo by: Rick Harris www.soaringtortoiseelectronics.com

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RICKRECALLS Pay Dirt This is the third installment of Rick Remembers and I think I have some fun and maybe even thought provoking tunes for you in this edition of the Americana Gazette. Put on your seatbelts and here we go.

CONWAY TWITTY (Working Girl) A great tune about a hooker performed live on the Porter Wagoner T.V. show. Listen to that pedal steel.That’s the great John Hughey. Conway and his band are razor sharp on this tune.This was pretty x-rated stuff for the time.

krause... continued from page 15

RICK: Sure, I think that’s part of it but, it also might be a sisterly thing. Being raised together, hearing the same musical influences.

RUTHIE: Katie and I grew up listening to the same music, the same people.

RH: Obviously, you were a musician first. How did the family thing start?

RICK: Katie is the oldest and she was always singing, but by the time she was 10 or 11 years old I noticed when she would sing in school and do solos she really had something special going, and I thought,“all-right, here we go!” It was about that time she started singing with me in church, weddings, and that sort of thing.We went to an old Pentecostal church back then and they really encouraged that sort of thing. Then Ruthie, being a few years younger started coming in here and there, and that’s when it really got going.

RH:Your harmony sounds so completely natural it seems almost spontaneous. Is it all worked out?

LONNIE JOHNSON (Swingin’The Blues) Man if this solo guitar instrumental doesn’t blow your wig-hat off call the doctor. Everything is in it but the kitchen- sink. Just awesome.

KATIE:A lot of it is worked out. But, some of it isn’t.We’ve been singing together for so long we usually know who’s going to do what. If it isn’t working out that’s when dad usually takes over.

RH: Ruth, your fiddle playing is absolutely beautiful. Do you have any fiddle heroes?

RUTHIE: Oh yeah, so many. Stuart Duncun and Bruce Molsky for sure.

RH: Rick, How much writing do you do?

BONGO JOE (I Wish I Could Sing) Just keep listening.This guy was so real it was scary. Music needs people on the frontier and this guy was on the rim of the earth! I remember when the lp came out. Some people loved it and a lot of people hated it, but it rings true to me.

LESLEY GORE (You Don’t Own Me) A friend recently told me that this song made a huge impact on her in ’64.And people say music doesn’t matter. It’s always mattered.

THE ELECTRIC FLAG (She Should Have Just) This is from the A LONGTIME COMING lp.I loved the song,the band,and the record.

Psychedelic jazz, soul, and blues. They billed themselves as AN AMERICAN MUSIC BAND, and they sure were. ’67 was an amazing year!

RICK: A fair amount. I’ve always had songs. I just turned 54 you know, but it wasn’t until about 10 years ago that I started writing with the girls and the group in mind.

Ruthie has written some things and Katie has written a few spiritual things we’ve done in church. I really believe that their best songs have yet to come out in full bloom.

RH: I recently heard you guys on The Prairie Home Companion. I thought your performance was great.You really came roaring out of the gate. It must have been quite a thrill.Tell me about it.

RICK: It was an amazing experience, seeing how the show came together, as they rehearse, edit scripts and songs right up to show-time.The band, cast, and crew are very warm and unpretentious, and some of the most talented performers I’ve ever been around.Garrison Keillor is one of a kind.We all felt good about our performances, and having Garrison sing bass on “Swing Down, Chariot,” was a blast.

RH: Girls I hate to put you on the spot but I just have to ask . What’s it like being in a band with your dad? How do you meet guys with him hangin’ around?

RUTHIE:Well, Katie is married now, and we just never met any guys anyway.

KATIE: He’s our guy!

RH:You three are one class act,I’ll tell you that! Rick,you did alright for a guy who went to clown school. May I have another piece of birthday cake?

STAPLES SINGERS (I’m Coming Home) A friend gave me a collection of old Staples stuff and this was on it. I checked on YOUTUBE and bingo! There it was. I just had to share this with you! These voices have been places I can’t go!

You can see and hear THE KRAUSE FAMILY BAND on their website krausefamilyband.com and their cd can be purchased on cdbaby and amazon.com.

They will be doing a return appearance on THE PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION broadcast from Madison,WI in January.

Story and photo by: Rick Harris

MARTIN DENNY (Quiet Village) Martin Denny created his own genre (EXOTICA) with tunes like this. Not many people can make that claim. These were usually beautifully recorded instrumental songs, using the latest in recording technology, superb musicianship, and replete with exotic themes, sound effects, and worldbeat instruments.My mother played this stuff endlessly when I was a kid.That is until Bossa Nova got popular. I loved it all.

GOLDIE ANDTHE GINGERBREADS (Can’tYou Hear MY Heartbeat) White, American,60’s girl group,killer vocals and they even played their own instruments.Toured with the best of the Brit invasion. If you closed your eyes you would think you were listening to THE DIXIE CUPS or THE CRYSTALS! I love their vocal sound.

BESSIE BANKS (Go Now) This record did and still does knock me out.I first heard the Moody Blues recording of it in ’64 and still love that version. But soon after I heard Bessie Banks original.

FLIPSVILLE! By: Rick Harris

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Action Guitars, The Return of the Mom & Pop Shop

Brianna Hardyman & Craig Chicks Pickin at Action Guitars

On the corner of Main and Vine in Belleville Wisconsin sits a 100 year old building that has served as a General/Grocery Store, Health Club, Second Hand Store, Physical Therapy Office, and Flower Shop. Today Guitar Shop is now added to the buildings proud heritage. Joyce and Andy Ziehli have opened a full service Guitar Repair, Restoration, and Custom Build shop with a retail area.

This isn’t your big box music store! It’s a throwback to the days when you knew the folks by name, could get advice without the hassle of loud music blaring in your ears from the intercom system,could trust what the sales people told you about an instrument, did not pay for repairs you didn’t need, and local musicians had a place to hang out and swap stories. Action Guitars is a place where you are welcome and customer service is their number one concern.

Action Guitars is the perfect addition to Belleville and Northern Green County’s ever growing music community. Nestled along the Sugar River and the Dane/Green County lines Belleville has been a hotbed of musical activity for the last 140 years.

Starting when veterans of the Civil War brought back instruments from the South and joined them with the local ethnic music of the local Swiss, German, Norwegian French,and Irish farmers and residents, the music scene was started. Over the next 140 years many fine local musicians and songwriters have called this area home.

Warner E. Hodges & Joe Blanton

Along with the repair and restoration services Action Guitars has a fine selection of used guitars, basses, amps, and mandolins. Ziehli said “I really try to keep the prices down so people and especially kids can afford a good guitar and amp. About 75% of our inventory is priced between $100.00 - $300.00 dollars. I have some high end stuff for that type of buyer. All our instruments are professionally setup and ready to play. I warranty all the instruments I sell.”

The repair and restoration work is done by Ziehli,Andrew Pulver, and Morgan Smith. Lindsey Pfeifer runs the office and takes care of the phones and customer contact inquiries. Joyce comes up on her days off and on Saturdays to help out. Lindsey’s baby girl Finley is also a fixture at the store a few days a week. The shop rate is $40.00 per hour,you can haggle on the instrument prices, and they take trade ins and consignment sales at 15%. Many local musicians stop by for coffee and cookies to hang out. The Green County Songwriters Group will be holding sessions at Action Guitars starting this fall (check the actionguitars.com for dates and times); there will be singer songwriter concerts and other events throughout the year. Local musicians and bands can have their CD’s sold and displayed at Action Guitars at no cost to them.

Ziehli. Pulver and local musician John Fahey have designed and made custom built lap steel guitars called Ziehli Steels. They come in a six or eight string configuration. What makes these instruments special is that they are equipped with benders to produce pedal steel guitar sounds. They also make other unique stringed instruments, cigar box guitars, and they build custom guitars. Their custom guitars and steels are used by weekend warriors and professional musicians here and in Nashville.

Action Guitars is a continuation of the Ziehli’s pursuit to bring notice to the fine musicians who call this area home. Along with the Americana Gazette Morgan Smith, Lindsey Pfeifer holding Finley Pfeifer and AG Recording Studio (formerly Sugar River Stu- Back Row: Andy Ziehli, Andrew Pulver dio) Action Guitars brings the Ziehli’s plan full circle. “We wanted to have the ability to promote local music and musicians. By having Please stop by Action Guitars and checkout their inventory and repair shop. The a studio and guitar shop we are able to meet and hear them. This gives us the ability Ziehli’s and their staff are there to get you up and playing again. If you are a beginner to also write about them”, said AG Publisher Joyce Ziehli. “All three businesses feed to stop and see them so they can get you going on the right foot to a life time of enjoyeach other, so it really works well for us.” ment making music.

Andy has been repairing and restoring guitars and stringed instruments for over 25 Action Guitars is on Facebook (Every Tuesday a free giveaway on their Facebook page) years for many local musicians. “I learned to fix guitars from Ray Kentner in Madison, and on line at actionguitars.com said Ziehli. Ray was the best there has ever been. I would go up to his store and work on Saturday’s learning how to fix gear. I did this for over a year. The rest I learned on Submitted by: Andy and Joyce Ziehli my own. I have always had a fascination with guitars, how they work, how they are made. Ray told me 25 years ago to open my own shop,but the time was not right. Now I’m older and ready for the challenge of it. It’s a dream come true for me.”

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CD Review

Susan Catania ♪♪♪ • “Little Big Sky” • Jersey Girl Music New Country This is the third national release for Susan Catania. The reviews on her first two were very impressive. Catania is a professor at the Berkley School of Music so she obviously knows her way around a song. Little Big Sky is filled with hooks galore,catchy tunes and lots of storytelling.

This seven song EP is well put together. Catania is a very competent artist and knows how to write songs to catch the listener’s ears. I would have liked this CD a whole lot more with less guitar and razor sharp fiddle. If you like the New Country that is blasting through the radio and TV today you’ll love this CD. For me it was just to in the face.

Hey I’m old and I like my Country music with a little twang, not a Marshall Stack.

Review by:Andy Ziehli The Coal Porters ♪♪♪♪♪ • “Find the One • Prima Records Bluegrass The Coal Porters are one of the best Bluegrass Bands going today.

That’s quite a statement to make since they are from England; well all but one of them is from England. Sid Griffin is the leader and chief songwriter for the Coal Porters. Griffin if you are not aware of is a fantastically talented man. He wrote the first and best biography on Gram Parsons, wrote a wonderful book on Dylan, headed the Long Ryders, and is an all-around nice guy. Griffin assembled The Coal Porters to break out of the Country Rock mold and explore Bluegrass and Roots music.

The band is made up of four other talented musicians;John Breese on Banjo,Carly Frey vocals and Fiddle, Neil Robert Herd Vocals, Dobro, Guitar, and Tail Trow Vocals and Bass.

Griffin plays Mandolin,Vocals,and Autoharp. The songs on the CD are a mixture of originals and covers including Paint it Black by the Stones. I can honestly say that I love each and every song on this CD and cannot for the life of me pick a favorite. Pure musical genius here! All the writers are top-notch and I cannot find fault in any tune here!

The Coal Porters are a versatile total entertainment package. This CD like their past records shines and speaks volumes of their talent and skills. If you love traditional and New Grass Bluegrass music this CD is for you. There is everything here that Traditionalists and New grass lovers will find common ground on. I totally recommend this CD to everyone! It rocks, it rolls, it twangs, it echoes from the hollers with pure Mountain Roots sounds (with a little Sitar thrown in)!

Review by:Andy Ziehli The Time Jumpers • Rounder Records ♪♪♪♪♪ TheTime Jumpers is the name of an eleven member super-group of high dollar Nashville studio musicians. It’s also the name of their first studio album.And a fine one it is, offering twelve new country tunes seasoned with just the right amount of jazz, swing, and pop.

But please, don’t get me wrong.This is real country.You know, just like it used to be.There isn’t a single screaming rock slide guitar on the whole record! But……….there is amazing pedal steel, fine electric guitar, driving fiddle, and pumpin’ piano and accordion.The song writing is first rate and both the male and female vocals are gorgeous. Oh, and did I mention Vince Gill? Easily, at least half of the tunes on this CD could be seamlessly placed on any classic country album collection in existence. Although history has taught us that super-groups are not always super, it must be said that The Time Jumpers and their new album are simply excellent!

Review by: Rick Harris The Twangtown Paramours • The Promise Of Friday Night Inside Edge Records ♪♪♪♪♪ The Twangtown Paramours offer an acoustic album of gentile beauty and wisdom to the second chancers,lost lovers,and the broken hearted of this world.The songs are well written and the strings are beautifully effective throughout this collection. Vocalist Marybeth Zamer delivers their message of resilience, hope, and belief in love, superbly.This is a very nice record, and Marybeth Zamer is simply wonderful.

Clark Paterson ♪♪♪♪ • “Walkin Papers” • Country Clark Paterson is a new Country Singer with a very bright future.

First of all he plays real country and his country has some balls.

There’s steel guitar, real bass, and songs with substance. I like this EP a lot.

There are only four songs on this EP. All of them are really well written songs.There is great lead guitar work done by Simon Flory and Luke Schneider’s steel guitar is a pleasure to listen to it. I really enjoyed the first two tracks, If I were you and New Love. Both of these songs were great toe tappers and got my attention.

If there is a short coming to this collection is that Paterson’s vocals sound like he was recorded in a tin can. They are very thin. Next time Paterson should find a different engineer and producer who can bring out the best in his voice. He has the songs; he just needs the team to help him put it all together.

Review by:Andy Ziehli Elizabeth Mitchell • Little Seed songs for children by Woody Guthrie • Smithsonian Folkways ♪♪♪♪♪ Twenty years ago, while searching through the folkways bin in an old record shop, musician Elizabeth Mitchell found a ten inch vinyl treasure that changed her life. It was: Songs to Grow on for Mother and Child, Composed and Sung by Woody Guthrie. Now we are the lucky beneficiaries of her discovery. She has just released what I think is one of the best children’s albums I’ve ever heard: Little Seed songs for children by Woody Guthrie. I once read that it wasn’t that Woody Guthrie could think like a child, it was more that he himself was child like.Whatever his initial source of inspiration was really doesn’t matter.What matters now, is the songs he left behind. Elizabeth says,“at this point in my life, these songs are a part of me, part of my family.”After listening to her new CD,I believe her.Her thirteen performances retain all of the magic, love, and wonder found in the original versions.Yet, she has still found a way to re-energize them, breathing new life and a renewed sense of sweetness and mystery into each song. Listen to her voice on the tune: Sleep Eye. I think this album is magical.

Woody would be proud.

Review by: Rick Harris Guy Forsyth • The Freedom To Fail • Blue Corn Music ♪♪♪♪♪ Guy Forsyth’s press release said,“soul-stopping blues infused Americana.” Brother that ain’t the half of it! I don’t think that I’ve ever heard a recording that covers so much ground so convincingly.

Country and electric blues,alt-rock,country,alt-country,folk,gospel, and maybe just a whiff of American song book are all here.And get this, he even tossed in what you might call a contemporary field holler, so beautifully written, rendered, and recorded, you can almost smell the sweat and hear the hammers falling! This record is a near perfect serving of the stew we call Americana!“Captain, can I please have another bowl?”

Review by: Rick Harris George Ducas ♪♪♪♪♪ • “Volume up, windows down Propel Records • Country Finally a new George Ducas Record! Ducas is one of the best allaround country writers today! I mean real country not that crap you here on CMT, GAC, and the other flavor of the week stations.

Ducas had a great career going in the early to mid-nineties. He was and is a talented writer with great vocal chops, and gosh darn it he had the look and it was genuine not manufactured. Enter the post Garth age.

This EP shows Ducas at his finest as a writer and a singer. The songs are well written with catchy hooks (Lipstick Promises from his early year’s one of the best!) like the “old” days. Twang Thang is pure country delight. The Telecaster barks and the fiddles sing. Never goes away is a beautiful love song with attitude. I love the organ in it.

CowTown is a pure country rocker that fits in with the new country today ala Jason Aldean. Pure County heartbreak is my favorite cut on the EP. It’s country pure to the bone!

Ducas is an excellent tunesmith and deserves a listen again. It’s a shame that guys like him don’t get the recognition that they deserve. He’s 100 times more talented than anyone on the country Top 40 today! He writes his own songs (for real), he can play, he can sing, and he’s still got those good looks to catch the women market. I think it’s safe to say if there is anyone out there that can save Country Music and return it to a respectable form of music not the cartoon Poppy image it has today, George Ducas is the Man! Buy this CD! Help start a movement!

Review by:Andy Ziehli

Review by: Rick Harris w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

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ROCKIN AT SCHWOEGLER’S SUGAR RIVER LANES

Jason Ringenberg and Warner E. Hodges

Mauro Magellan

Joe Blanton

On July 27th Nashville based band Jason and The Scorchers did a show at Schwoegler’s Sugar River Lanes.Yes, it was really them, less their drummer Pontus Al Collins Snibb from Sweden. Our local drummer,Mauro Magellan from Monroe sat in for this gig. The venue was packed.

People traveled from all over the United States to see this show. The parking lot was full of license plates from Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota, Michigan and Missouri.

And the admission was only $5.00. Jason Ringenberg,Warner E. Hodges,Al Collins and Mauro Magellan put on one hell of a show. They made the stop here on their way to Mankato, MN to open the next night for Tesla.

Then on a return visit to Wisconsin,Warner E. Hodges along with Joe Blanton returned to Schwoegler’s on August 25th to perform with some of our area local musicians, Bob King, John Fahey, Doug Sies,Andy Ziehli, Jim Smith, Mark Schwoegler and Tim Hintz.

The song selection was amazing from Southern Rock, a little country here and there and some awesome blues and reggae. A little bit for everyone. Warner was the guitar God and Joe is such an amazing singer. Joe’s version of“Let It Be”blew everyone away.

Our local musicians were right on as well. We are so lucky to have such talented folks in our community. Joe and Warner were here last January and had such a great time and the audience was so receptive they decided to come back and do it again!

Warner and Joe also played at Old Smokey’s in Monroe with our very own Jimmy Voegeli and some of the crew from the Jimmy’s. The place rocked! While in Wisconsin, these two Nashville fellows put on one hell of a Guitar Clinic at Heid Music in

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Madison,performing several songs off their new CD, Bluefield’s Pure. You can get a copy of this by going to their website at: www.thebluefields.com . Let me tell you, that CD never strays too far from my car CD player and once you listen to it, you will understand what I am saying. The Bluefields consist of Warner E. Hodges, Joe Blanton and Dan Baird and the Americana Gazette hopes to sponsor a show with them at Schwoegler’s in March or April of 2013!

The American Gazette sponsored both of these shows and we thank all of the local musicians, Schwoegler’s Sugar River Lanes, Jason and the Scorchers,Warner Hodges and Joe Blanton and all you fine folks that came out to support these shows. Special thanks to Tim Hintz for running sound. Rock on - - - - they will be back again next year!!!

Joyce Ziehli Americana Gazette

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msb... continued from page 8

scruggs... continued from page 6

AG: What's in the future for Mighty Short Bus? Nic Adamany:The future includes as much writing and recording as we possibly can.

Rock, acoustic, etc. we like to play it all. In addition, we hope to be touring on a national level very soon.A new albums and new markets, and hopefully making a whole bunch of new fans and friends.

Travis- And even with Doc, Clarence White...there sure wasn't lead guitar playing happening in bluegrass and string band stuff quite like that before them.

AG:Any plans to do an "Acoustic" Tour, like what you did with the MSB Family Band CD? Frank Busch:That would be great, I think we should put together a busking tour of Europe, since it’s all acoustic and we wouldn’t have to plug in.

Nic Adamany:We've been known to play a few acoustic shows from time to time, and it is quite fun. Ideally, I think it would be great to do a tour where we open with an acoustic set, and then rock the house with electric guitars and loud drums. "The light and the shade", as Jimmy Page would say!

Chris- Yeah! Or Bud Issacs pushing pedals on the steel guitar.The progress in music used to be accepted. Nowadays, they get a lot of flak for it.That, or people don't even bother to pay attention. Many people want to buy into a 'genre' of music. Like, 'come see our band... we're REAL country.' Well, it could be country and still be bad country.

(Laughs) That doesn't matter to me. Just do something that’s great.As long as its special and has a spark in it.When Hank Williams sang, there was that magic along with Don Helms backing him on that steel. It made no difference what 'genre' it was at that time. It’s branding. Like someone saying, 'I'm going to a bluegrass festival, and that’s all I want to hear.And if the band doesn't have a banjo, or someone is adding some percussion, you hear...'that’s not what I came here for.'

Travis-With the great musical abilities you have, does the songwriting side come as natural to you?

AG: Really Great work on the new CD, thanks for your time guys.

Chris-Songwriting isn't something I ever really push. I probably haven't written anything in a year. But a year ago, I wrote 12 songs in like 8 weeks. It’s important to not try and force it.You can hear the difference when it’s forced or not.That’s what some complain about, when you hear these songs on the radio that are written by those who say' hey, let’s get together and have a planned writing session.' Or let's get together and shit out a song. (Laughs) And you can tell when it’s not 'inspired'.There are several artists who have had incredibly prolific eras. Look at the Beatles catalog.

You can catch Mighty Short Bus at one of the following venues near you.

Travis- And some could say that Dylan came along and changed a whole lot of things for them...

AG: Where can people see you guys over the next couple of months?

Nic Adamany:We will be all over the Midwest, and out in Colorado the next few months.A tour for Shiner Bock in Illinois, UW football tailgate parties, more festivals, and a return to some of our favorite clubs.

Thursday Oct- 4 10:00 p.m. Menomonie,WI @ the Waterfront – Homecoming Bash w/ Summit Brewing Co. Saturday Oct. 6 12:00 p.m. Madison,WI @Badger Tailgate Party Sat-Nov-3 9:00 pm: Milwaukee,WI @ Milwaukee Ale House Friday Nov 9 -10:00pm Hazel Green,WI @ the Sandy Hook Tavern Wed-Nov-21 9:00 pm: Middleton,WI @ Club Tavern Fri-Nov-23 10:00 pm: Libertyville, IL @ Mickey Finns Friday Nov 30 9:00 pm Steamboat Springs, CO @ the Ghost Ranch Saloon Saturday Dec 1 9:00 pm Clark, CO @ Hahn's Peak Roadhouse Article by Bob Westfall Photos supplied

Chris- Yeah, that’s right, and they probably changed Dylan a bit too. It goes back to what I was saying about how people want you sound a certain way. Like when Dylan goes on stage with an electric guitar and gets booed off.Or you stop writing,'She Loves You', and they say,' well I like them better when they weren't taking drugs.' Probably what they mean to say is that you like them better when they were laying songs easily into your lap. As soon as you bring out,' I Am The Walrus', they have to think for themselves, which many don't want to do.

Travis- I see that all too often. I assume you're starting get calls for sessions. Do you like that side of things or do you prefer the live shows?

Chris- I like it all really. I don't really pursue playing with others. Some want to do sessions and stay in town. I like to do that with people whose stuff I really like. I do a lot of stuff at the Beach House here in town with Mark Nevers. But he does a lot of music that I really dig. I like being a part of that.There are other situations where I feel like I didn't fit in.

Travis- Were you able to feel those situations out and say "I can't really add to this"?

Chris- No. By the time you're there...you're kind of screwed. (Laughs) If I'm not feelin' it...you'll find me in the bathtub with a razor. (Laughs) Travis- How did the call come up with M.Ward

ducas... continued from page 28

George: Yea I have a son and daughter, they are 9 & 11. I love to coach my son’s flag football team and go to my daughter’s swim meets. I am very proud of both of them.

I love being a Dad, it is awesome. I also love embarrassing them too. (we continued to talk several minutes about kids, tae kwon do, school issues, etc.)

George: I plan on doing about 4-6 or possibly 8 shows a month. Any more than that takes me away too much from my family. I want to have to do it, I don’t want to just need to do it.

Joyce: George before I let you go, any words of advice for new upcoming artists?

George: Work hard at your craft. Take an idea and expand on it and make it universal.

This makes a great song. Study the structure of the song, this only makes the song better. You need to write a great song, not another average song!!!

Joyce: George we are also reviewing your new CD for this issue. Any other comments about the CD? George: It was a lot of fun to make. I felt a lot of personal growth since my last CD. I’m anxious to get back on the road. You can find out how to purchase it from my website www.georgeducas.com Joyce: Thank you George. Any plans on coming North on your tour, like Wisconsin where we obviously have great manners?

George: (laughing) Nothing booked up this far North, but you get me a gig, and I’ll be there!

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Chris- We met in '05, we were both in Tucson working on our own records.Where like Neko Case and Richard Buckner record.Very funky,analog,2 inch tape studio.Ward was working on 'Post War' there, although nothing he recorded there, I don't think made the final cut. I ended up playing some steel on some tracks. He called me last December about doing some dates, playing guitar and steel in Chicago.After that gig, he said I have a new record coming early next year, do you want to tour the world? I said sure.

We have a good chemistry and a lot of common ground.We're all into old records, me, Ward and the bass player Mike Coykendall.We all come from the same kind of musical place.We’ll be doing Austin City Limits Fest, Mexico City after that. L.A, and some TV appearances after that.

Travis- Have you started work for your follow up to 'Anthem' yet?

Chris- Yes! I have it finished and in the can. I'm trying to find a label for it now. It was recorded at the Beach House with Mark Nevers. I played all the instruments on it.

Adessa Jorgenson sang the female vocals and Buddy Spicher is helping out with some twin fiddle stuff.There’s that fear when you record everything yourself of things sounding stale. It’s important to work as fast as you can so you don't over think stuff.

Travis- Gotta ask...did you enjoy being in the movie 'Country Strong'?

Chris-Yeah, it was fun! People always say making movies is really boring, lots of waiting around. But I'm used to waiting around for the sake of art. I found it all interesting and had a great time doing it. Made a lot of money too! (Laughs) Travis- Do you have some shows coming up in town?

Chris- Yes,Americana Music Association (AMA), and a thing during IBMA.Not sure how that's going to go...with electric guitars and drums. I foresee a Pete Seeger type person coming up to the stage with an ax to chop the cables. (Laughs) Or the ghost of Bashful Brother Oswald!

Travis- (Laughs) Well Chris, thanks so much for the time. I wish you all the best.

Written by: Travis Cooper

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