HANK WILLIAMS- The Essence of Great Songwriting
On Friday, Dec. 30, we have our 15th Annual Tribute to Hank Williams show coming up at the Birchmere Music Hall in Alexandria, VA. The idea for the show popped into my head 15 years ago simply because I always wanted to honor county music’s most poignant songwriter. I called my friends at The Birchmere and suggested I get together a group of musical friends who all love Hank’s songs and they said, “Go for it”. That first year, Robin & Linda Williams, Bill Kirchen, Cathy & Marcy and a few other friends gathered in the green room and talked through a show that started at 7:30pm. A little rehearsal, a little soundcheck and we were on. The show has gotten a bit tighter and we all swap songs each year, but it’s still amazing fun and a great opportunity to make music with friends. There’s a good 20% of the audience who attend the show every year.
What’s so special about Hank Williams? Well, take the song I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry. The whole song has 13 distinct lines in it, using the title as a refrain at the end of each of the 4 verses. But Hank said it ALL in 13 lines-the essence of loneliness in a simple country poem. Your Cheatin’ Heart, I Saw The Light, Take These Chains From My Heart, Jambalaya, Mind Your Own Business, the list goes on. These songs have been around for over 50 years and are still sung and recorded and listened to.
Then there’s Hank’s amazing version of THE LOVESICK BLUES. He didn’t write the song and he didn’t do the first recording of it (that goes to yodeler, blackface vaudeville performer Emmit Miller). But he captured his audience with that one. Patsy Montana, the first woman in country music to sell one million records told us that she and her daughters had to follow Hank on the Louisiana Hayride show. She said the audience demanded 15 encores and to quote her, “we could have all come out and performed naked and the audience wouldn’t have cared.”
In Cathy’s songwriting classes, a few Hank Williams songs always get studied for their stark, compact, style. Say more in less.
If you’re around, join us at The Birchmere on Friday, Dec. 30th. For some inspiring listening AND reading, we recommend HANK WILLIAMS Complete 10-CD Set Rare Performances You might also check out THE LOST NOTEBOOKS OF HANK WILLIAMS. Some of Hank’s lost songs were recorded by today’s artists, who also created the music. From Norah Jones to Bob Dylan to Vince Gill-worth a listen.
Books, Music & Muses -Mike Seeger to Eva Cassidy
Fav books from Cathy, Fav Music from Marcy
We’ve been traveling 1500-2500 miles a weekend since mid September. That’s plenty of time to catch up on reading, and new music. Thought we’d share a few recommendations of our favorites.
Music From True the Vine- Mike Seeger’s Life & Musical Journey
By Bill C. Malone, UNC Press
Bill Malone has beautifully captured the center of Mike’s life- to collect, learn, share traditional southern music. Mike’s obsession with the music is a major gain to all music lovers given that artists as diverse as Bob Dylan, Ry Cooder, The Grateful Dead and older half-brother Pete all learned plenty from Mike and are happy to acknowledge that.
Read more of my review from amazon.com HERE
Sing You Home
By Jodi Picoult
It was a timely coincidence that I was carrying this books around not knowing it would tie into our work at the American Music Therapy Association national conference. One of the main characters is a music therapist by trade and Picoult consulted with some of the best to show the beauty and healing that music therapy has to offer. The character ends a bad marriage and falls in love with a woman-deeply in love. Picoult has created a twisty, turny, heart wrenching and heart warming story that could easily include your own neighbors and friends. The book creates an intense look at ,any perspectives of the word family. Page turner….Also, you can download an album’s worth of songs that go with the book written by the author and her friend, Ellen Wilber.
For children
Which Side Are You On
By George Ella Lyon, illustrated by Christopher Cardinale
Im still in love with picture books. This one tells the story of the famous song by Florence Reese which she wrote in 1931 while helping her husband fight for unions in the coal mining industry. While the Occupy movement continues, this song lives on and will through every effort for equal rights of all kinds.
I Still Dream About You
By Fannie Flag
Here’s an author whose creativity, clever character development and quirky writing style never fails -I have been known to read some of her books yearly and this has that great mix of intrigue, smiles and fascination.
True Compass
Ted Kennedy
This book is a PROJECT, but worth it for the incredible history, humility and passion that marks Ted Kennedy ‘s complicated life.
Marcy’s Music Pics for November 2011.
Cathy Fink – My Huge Mistake – Available on CD Baby – Comedy
HERE
Everyone has sent an email by mistake or received an email not meant for them.
Cathy-Vocals, Marcy-Cello Banjo…As if the lyrics weren’t funny enough!
Ry Cooder – No Banker Left Behind – from the record “Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down” Available on iTunes.
Here’s a Youtube link to No Bankers.
No Bankers Left Behind is a, Progress, Pluto fantastic track from his new CD “Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down” featuring an allstar cast of musicians including Joachim Cooder and Flaco Jimenez. For a full list of credits see the Nonesuch website or better yet buy the record. You’ll need to hear the whole thing, anyway!
“Ry Cooder’s new album, Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down, was released by Nonesuch/Perro Verde Records on CD and digital August 30, 2011, with vinyl following on September 13. Uncut calls it “one of his best albums ever … an impassioned portrait of 21st century America and its injustices” in which Cooder is “remade as a modern-day Woody Guthrie, fearless and funny, for like Guthrie he nails his targets with droll humour while empathising with society’s underdogs. Ry Cooder premiered the album’s opening track “No Banker Left Behind” on Truthdig Radio. On the program, Truthdig’s Editor-in-Chief Robert Scheer said of the album: “It’s right up there with John Lennon’s Working Class Hero, which I think trumps just about anything else as far as taking serious, political observations and putting them to music … It’s just a great album.” Nonesuch
Peter and Lou Berryman – Rocky Frontier
Preview songs at CD Baby
A brand new release from our friends and favorites Peter and Lou! Dog Birthdays, Insomnia, The Gold Rush, Progress, Pluto…Peter and Lou write it all.
Peter and Lou, we love you!
Musicians helping musicians. Join us by passing this on.
Grace Griffith(Sailing) and Eva Cassidy(Simply Eva)
Available on iTunes
Grace
Eva
Here is a musical human interest story that has also been the story of my life for the last 15 years. I wrote this review of Eva’s CD “Simply Eva” for amazon.co.uk and tied it to Grace. Here is a small part of the real story of two women, singers, artists, angelic dreamers that I dearly love.
This review is from: Simply Eva (Audio CD) By Marcy Marxer
My Life: This won’t be a long review because losing Eva still breaks my heart.
We’re very lucky to live in an area that encourages musicians and singers. The Washington, DC area is not considered to be a center of the music industry but there is quite a bit of work for our area musicians. Since the chances of hitting the big time are almost nonexistent, most of the musicians here either grew up here of moved to this area because they like to work every day, and because they work every day, they’re great musicians. That sets up a very supportive, noncompetitive atmosphere and the musicians here embrace that atmosphere. That’s why Grace Griffith sent Eva’s tapes to Blix Street Records.
Grace was working on her first record for Blix Street (Minstrel Song) and we were all very excited with and for her. Grace came into the studio one day and asked if I thought she should send Eva’s tapes to Blix St. I told her I thought she should wait a couple of months to make sure her record went smoothly and to be sure Bill Straw who runs the company would be good to work with since Eva’s parents were still grieving and I wanted to be sure that we couldn’t possibly add to that grief in any way.
Well, she sent them anyway, which is really just what she should have done. Bill Straw and Blix Street did everything right. When Eva’s music started to spread, they manufactured enough, they followed the flow of interest and stepped up to dedicate their lives to making Eva’s music available. People around the world fell in love with Eva and her music just like we love her here. (Yes, we do and did love Eva here but the people who write books don’t talk to us.)
The first time I heard Eva’s music coming out of a store front I was on tour in New Zealand, just walking down the street. I was so overwhelmed I sat down on the street and cried. (Ah, sorry Christchurch. Ha.)
Eva’s music makes the world a better place. Musicians here are still finding rehearsal tapes and donating them to the cause. Chris Biondo, Eva’s producer and long time friend is still working to make sure every note Eva sang can be heard in it’s best possible light.
That’s why you need to buy this record.
And that also brings us back to Grace Griffith. Grace took a back seat to Eva for quite a while and she was happy to but while we were finishing her record we found out that Grace had Parkinson’s. I don’t have to tell you how tough that is.
The BBC 2 is now starting to play Grace’s music. It’s too early to know what will happen for Grace. All I can say is I hope you buy and carefully listen to Eva and then add the music of Grace Griffith to your ears and heart. After all, Grace was Eva’s favorite singer. Now it looks like Eva can help Grace in return. Eva would be proud.
Thank you to all of the people who love Eva’s music. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Marcy Marxer
(working class musician, played on Eva’s music, producer for Grace Griffith, friend of Chris Biondo, 14 Grammy nominations in several categories, 2 Grammy wins for production and children’s music…and you’ve probably never heard my name. Ha. OK, back to work. Love DC.)
UKEFEST 2011- The Ultimate Social Music Experience
The NEW CD- ROCKIN” THE UKE
LISTEN & ORDER HERE
Our Ukulele Festival at the Music Center at Strathmore was an amazing social music experience. Real players ages 3-95 brought their ukes, strummed and sang together. Over 2400 folks came to enjoy the music. In our quest to top the Guinness World Record for LARGEST UKULELE ENSEMBLE we registered 964 REAL Ukulele players. The previous record was 851, so WE DID IT! But later that night, Guinness announced that Sweden had gone over 1500. So what? Everyone had a great time at the concert which included Victoria Vox, Gerald Ross, Sweater Set, The Riderwood Seniors Uke Orchestra & us truly.
Watch Video here of 946 folks strumming together.
946 PLAYERS!
Find uke friends where you live at www.ukulelesocialnetwork.ning.com
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Guinness World Record for the World’s Largest Ukulele Ensemble-AUGUST 24, 2011
UKULELE FEVER CONTINUES TO SWEEP THE NATION. As part time sweepers, we are trying for the Guinness World Record for the World’s Largest Ukulele Ensemble on Wednesday, August 24 at the Music Center at Strathmore in N. Bethesda, MD.
Come be part of history Pass this along to your friends, too. If they don’t have a uke and
don’t have a friend that will lend them one, they’ll have some at Strathmore for purchase.
JOIN US!
23 Aug: Gerald Ross and Marcy Marxer workshops – see Strathmore website for details and cost HERE
24 Aug: The FREE main event. Come warm up your ukes and fingers at the pre-concert
sing/strum along at 6pm, then enjoy the concert at 6:45pm — record breaking time is
7:30pm but you must be registered on site at 7:00pm. A notary will be onsite to validate
the count. More information can be found HERE
— and its FREE!!!
Line up includes:
** Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer
** Gerald Ross
** The Sweater Set
** Victoria Vox )
** The Riders(Senoirs Ukulele Ensemble) ** Piney Branch Kids Ukulele Ensemble
“Strathmore calls all ukulele players for Guiness record,” ArtsPost, Cultural News as seen by
the Washington Post’s arts writers and critics: READ
“Strathmore Goes for Guinness World Record at UkeFest 2011,” Bethesda News, Arts &
Culture: READ
Facebook Page
Ukulele Social Club
Ukulele Underground: READ
The NoVA Ukulele Ensemble (NVUE) HERE FOR EVENTS
Marcy’s “Ethel Martin”
A great story from THE SOUNDING BOARD, magazine of the Martin Guitar Company
photo and design by Marcy Marxer
Grammy Award winning multi-instrumentalist and
Martin signature artist Marcy Marxer bought “Ethel Martin” –
an old D-28 – in the late 70s. When it came into the shop it
was in pieces and looked like it may have been left outdoors
or in an old barn for a while. The sides were riddled with
cracks. After some careful repair, Ethel traveled out on the
road with Marcy for about 25 years playing folk festivals and
clubs. The finish is completely worn off the back of the neck
from the many years of playing.
Late one night in a campground some friends decided to
decorate Ethel. They didn’t know the guitar was an old
treasure. Marcy wasn’t happy about it at first but eventually
the look grew dear to her.
A couple of years after that Ethel was stolen. Marcy was
broken hearted, but Ethel was very easy to identify and was
returned a few months later. Ethel came back home with a
couple of new carvings. She wears them with the pride of an
adventurous traveler.
Ethel Martin was given her name in honor of the late
great Ethel Merman. The two have many similarities. They are
both large of stature, loud of voice, and both attended the
School of Hard Knocks in the Poconos.
Ethel Martin has always enjoyed dressing up and going
to costume parties. The above picture was taken at 5:30 pm
as Ethel was heading out to her local hotel for happy hour
and the early bird special dinner. Photographic equipment:
an iPhone with the app Phototropedelic. Total cost: $1.99,
and Marcy’s dignity!
Mike Seeger Commemorative OLD TIME BANJO FESTIVAL
SAT. JULY 16 & SUN. JULY 17
We’re aiming for some pretty amazing banjo diversity this year. We will also have many of Mike’s CD’s and DVD’s and the new release of duets with sister, Peggy,
FLY DOWN LITTLE BIRD.
CONCERT- Sat. July 16th, Birchmere Music Hall, 7:30pm
3701 Mt. Vernon Ave., Alexandria, VA
Bruce Molsky- Master of old-time southern banjo and fiddle styles
Buddy Wachter- Virtuoso 4 string banjo
The Hot Seats- The next generation of old time, combining bluegrass and clawhammer banjos, versatile fiddling, clever original songs and inventive percussion
Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer- Grammy winning duo playing cello banjo, banjo ukulele, 5 string and other hybrids
ADVANCE TICKETS HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
$29.50 (+service charges) At Birchmere Box office or 202-397-SEAT/800-551-SEAT Concert begins at 7:30pm. WWW.BIRCHMERE.COM
WORKSHOPS IN TAKOMA PARK, MD SUN., JULY 17
$40 PER SESSION
http://www.hmtrad.com/lessons/workshops.html#banjo
Intermediate/Advanced Clawhammer Banjo with Bruce Molsky — 12:00-2:00 pm
Dig into the nuts and bolts of old-time clawhammer banjo! We’ll use a couple of great old tunes to explore ornamentation, melody, timing and playing clean and strong. Bruce will also share some tips from some of his own banjo heroes, like Wade Ward, Tommy Jarrell and Fred Cockerham.
Introduction to 4-String Banjo with Buddy Wachter — 12:00-2:00 pm
Perfect for players of guitar, 5-string banjo and other stringed instruments who want to get a sense of how they can add the 4-string banjo to their musical talents. Buddy will give an introduction to various styles of 4-string banjo playing and then show techniques that will get you started. Bring a 4-string banjo & flatpick. Limited banjos will be available to borrow from HMT; mention when registering if you need one. If you own more than one and would like to bring it for someone else to use, mention that as well!
3-finger Banjo In Old Time Settings with The Hot Seats — 2:30-4:30 pm
If you already play some clawhammer and wonder how to add fingerpicking to your banjo playing, this workshop is for you. The Hot Seats play both styles; sometimes at once (on 2 banjos). You’ll learn some 3-finger picking basics and context for working that in to old time music. Workshop will be combination instruction and jam session.
Jazz on 4 Strings (Intermediate/Advanced 4-string banjo or tenor guitar) with Buddy Wachter — 2:30-4:30 pm
Learn 2 chordal arrangements of standard popular jazz/swing tunes on 4 String Banjo or tenor guitar. This could change your life!
Click on Photo for more info.
Dave Giegerich Tribute @ the Birchmere
Our friend and fabulous dobro/steel player, Dave Giegerich passed away right after Christmas last year. He had so many musical friends in a multitude of genres. He was a loving husband to Pam and dad to Carter and Axel. It was fitting that in Dave’s honor, the Birchmere Music Hall helped us produce one of the most awesome music events we have ever been part of. It was a BLUEGRASS-HAWAIIAN-OLD TIME-COUNTRY-ROCKABILLY FESTIVAL if ever there was one. Mike Auldridge, the diety of the dobro, opened the show. Robin & Linda Williams flew in directly from performing on A Prairie Home Companion. The Dede Wyland Band took care of the hard core bluegrass. Hawaiian trad group The Aloha Boys brought their daughters for an amazing music and hula presentation. Dave’s long-time group The Hula Monsters had 3 guitar monsters on board-Dave Chappell, Tom Mitchell and Gary Ferguson, along with Mark Noone, Mo Nelson & Ben Holmes. The Hula Monsters rocked the house and Bill Kirchen topped it all off with an amazing rock version of The Times They Are A Changing. Dave would have been totally proud of his son Carter who joined CF & MM for some old time music.
This was also Dave’s CD RELEASE PARTY. IT’S ABOUT TIME was released at the show with 15 Dave dobro cuts and 4 from Dave with the Hula Monsters. It’s a beauty.
Dave’s website is coming soon at www.davegiegerich.com. You’ll be able to order the CD there, and look through the Dave archives.
Photos from the show are available here: http://ow.ly/5mm3L
This show was the music family at it’s best- we raised $7000 for Dave’s sons’ college education. Every artist donated their performance, all of the staff at the Birchmere helped make this a magic show. More kudos to others who donated time, energy, effort:
Billy Wolf – superb mastering of the CD
Oasis Manufacturing – CD duplication
And many of Dave’s friends who contributed tracks to his unfinished CD so it could be released.
WE were proud to know and play music with Dave, and we are lucky to have friends like all those who helped us remember him on Sunday night.
FINK & MARXER VS. THE BOARD OF EDUCATION
Snappy title, and not as ground breaking as Brown vs. the Board of Education, but we have joined with 250+ neighbors in a strident campaign to try to extract accountability from our local Board of Education. Being activist folksingers has certainly trained us well. We sang on a flatbed truck with Cesar Chavez outside National Airport during the Eastern Airlines strike. We’ve sung on picket lines, organized countless benefit concerts and we organize ourselves in an unlikely career playing non-commercial music for great people. We were indie before indie was hip. We were DIY before DIY was a buzz word. And now, we’re mad as H and we ain’t gonna take it anymore. We are attempting to preserve our local park from becoming a middle school site. It ain’t schools vs. parks, it’s schools in the BEST locations and PARKS, too. Kinda like Bread & Roses. It’s also about insisting that the BoE follow their own rules for site selections and community engagement. We pay taxes, we vote, we count. You get it! Marcy speaks at Board of Education meeting. Neighbors united at Board of Ed. meeting
CALL TO ACTION
Read all about it HERE
If you live in Montgomery County, MD, write the BoE-boe@mcpsmd.org
County Council - HERE
County Executive – ocemail@montgomerycountymd.gov
and demand that they re-open the site selection process for a middle school in the BCC Cluster. If they get away with bad behavior in our community, they may come plow through yours next.
NPR & Capitol Hill
We were delighted to be barraged with phone calls, email messages, Facebook posts and mail orders when NPR ran a story on our CD/Playbook, SING TO YOUR BABY.
Listen HERE
BUY HERE
On Monday night we joined delegates from the National Association of Music Merchandisers at the Capitol Building to kick off their lobbying efforts on behalf of music education and intellectual property rights. Marcy performed STARS & STRIPES FOREVER on the Ukulele and the crowd, appropriately, went wild.
STRUMMING & DRUMMING FOR MUSIC EDUCATION
Tuesday we set up shop with Kala Ukuleles at the DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION and kids from the George Fox Middle School Ukulele Ensemble and from Lime Kiln Middle School Percussion Ensemble. We led a 2 hour jam session and were joined by Yankee Baseball star Bernie Williams. He’s a nice guy & good guitar player, too!
Talking To Children in Troubling Times
Talking to your children about the killing of Osama Bin Ladin – Stark words, but if you watch or listen to the news today, inescapable information and images enter the minds of the children we love. As we watch the events of the day with guarded optimism, we also think about our children and how they perceive these important events. We know from past experience that no matter how hard we try we cannot protect them from the news or from the graphic images of violence.
This event is unfolding very differently than the events of 9-11-01 or Mad Cow Disease or violent events that are regularly seen on the nightly news. This time Americans and people around the world are celebrating. Chants of “USA! USA!” are heard around the country accompanied by graphic images of a killing.
Young children need to understand that we are acting in a very different way right now than they have ever seen. They need to know that we still expect them to use their words if something is bothering them. They need to know that we still expect them to communicate with others and do their best to settle their differences by talking about their problems.
We also need to let our children know that parents, neighbors, our Government, our Military and our President will do anything to keep them safe.
Here are some musical resources to help adults support the needs of children at this time. Parents, teachers, caregivers and anyone who loves a child can use these songs. We believe in supporting children, families and communities. Because of this community belief we are putting the following songs up on the internet for free download for one week. These 4 songs and their lyrics are available.
TALK TO ME
TURN IT OFF, CHANGE THE CHANNEL, LEAVE THE ROOM (for very young children who should not see this violence and may become quite scared by it)
TAKE GOOD CARE OF EACH OTHER
COUNT TO TEN AND TRY AGAIN
CLICK HERE FOR FREE SONGS
We also love and highly recommend Tom Paxton’s song, Peace Will Come, which you can find here
Children’s Music is our skill and our knowledge. It’s simply what we bring to the table. It’s the way we can help. We all need to do our part. We’re Americans. Helping is what we do best. We can all be proud of that. Let’s teach our children to communicate with us as parents and with others.
Thank You,
Marcy Marxer & Cathy Fink