November/December 2012 Publication of the Northern California Bluegrass Society. For additional information, go to
www.ncbs.us
Editors: Brenda Hough and Nancie Barker
October 28 from 2 to 6 an Afternoon of Music
and Love!
Join in a day of music, love
and support for Ingrid DavidHorgan, wife of Rob Horgan,
banjo player for Sidesaddle &
Company and Bean Creek.
Let’s help Rob and Ingrid towards covering the costs of
addressing cancer.
Sunday, October 28th, 2 pm to
6 pm at the Morgan Hill Grange, 40 East 4th Street, Morgan
Hill, CA. Suggested donation: $20
Featuring:
Sidesaddle &
Co, Bean
Creek, special guest Ed
Neff and
many other
folks from
our wonderful bluegrass
family. There
will be refreshments,
a raffle and
much more. Come join us all for a great afternoon.
For tickets and information or to make a donation call: 831801-8742 or email [email protected] . Sponsored
by Sidesaddle
& Co., the
NCBS and
the CBA.
Kathy Kallick Band CD
Release Concert
October 27
The Kathy Kallick Band will celebrate the release of their new
CD, “Time”, at their concert on
October 27, opening the 20122013 RBA concert series at the First Presbyterian Church in
Mountain View. This will be a great fun event. Come at 5 to
jam with your friends, or to just listen. Doors open at 7:00 for
a 7:30 show.
Boulder Creek — A Happening Place For
Bluegrass - November 30-December 1
The tiny mountain town of Boulder Creek — A Happening
Place For Bluegrass – will welcome us back for the third time
during 2012, with the November 30-December 1 NCBS
Winter Boulder Creek Bluegrass & Old Timey Festival.
The previous events took place in March and July.
Now that Eric Burman’s Brookdale festivals have moved a
mile north into town (due to the closing of the Brookdale
Lodge), fans are getting to know the restaurants, bars, and
other venues around charming “downtown” Boulder Creek,
with Scopazzi’s Restaurant serving as festival headquarters.
Eric Burman, Bruce Bellochio, Mike Hofer, Barry Tanner,
and the other Brookdale volunteers work hard all year long to
bring us these fun gatherings.
Boulder Creek is 12 miles north of Santa Cruz on Highway 9
in the Santa Cruz Mountains. For more information go to
www.Brookdalebluegrass.com
*************************
Good Old Fashioned Festival 2013
Band applications are now being accepted for the Good
Old Fashioned Festival 2013. 2013 Good Old Fashioned
Bluegrass Festival band application will be on the Web siteby Nov 1, 2012. The deadline for applying for the 2013 GOF
is Dec. 31, 2012. www.ncbs.us
Bluegrass By the Bay
page 1
VENUES
Amnesia 853 Valencia St, SF amnesiathebar.com
Atlas Café 3049 20th St, SF www.atlascafe.net
Don Quixote's Music Hall 6275 Highway 9, Felton
www.donquixotesmusic.info
Freight & Salvage 2020 Addison St, Berkeley
www.freightandsalvage.org
Frog and Fiddle 1544 Webster Street, Alameda
www.frogandfiddle.com
Fandangos Pizza 3163 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto.
www.fandangopixxa.com
Great American Music Hall 859 O'Farrell St, SF
www.gamh.com
Jupiter 2181 Shattuck, Berkeley www.jupiterbeer.com
Mission Pizza & Pub 1572 Washington Blvd, Fremont
www.missionpizza.com
Music Store, The 66 West Portal, SF
www.themusicstoresf.com
Phil's Fish Market & Eatery 7600 Sandholdt Rd, Moss
Landing www.philsfishmarket.com
Plough & Stars 116 Clement St, SF
www.theploughandstars.com
Sam’s BBQ 1110 S. Bascom Ave, San Jose
www.samsbbq.com
San Gregorio General Store Hwy 84 & Stage Rd, San
Gregorio www.sangregoriostore.com
Smokin’ Okies BBQ, 1941 Oak Park Blvd., Pleasant Hill
Willowbrook Ale House 3600 Petaluma Blvd N, Petaluma
July
Boulder Creek Bluegrass and Old Time
Festival www.brookdalebluegrass.com
August
Good Old Fashioned Festival
www.scbs.org
September
King’s River Bluegrass Festival
www.cbaontheweb.org
September
Berkeley Old Time Music Convention
www.berkeleyoldtimemusic.org
September
Bluegrassin’ In The Foothills
www.landspromotions.com
September
Fall Strawberry Festival
www.strawberrymusic.com
October
Brown Barn Festival www.scbs.org
October
Hardly Strictly Festival
www.strictlybluegrass.com
September through April
RBA Concert Series
www.rba.org
December
Boulder Creek Bluegrass & Oldtime Festi
val www.brookdalebluegrass.com
RADIO STATIONS
KALW 91.7
www.kalw.org
KFJC 89.7 www.kfjc.org
KPFA 94.1 www.kpfa.org
KPIG 107.5 www.kpig.com
KKUP 91.5 www.kkup.com
WAMU online bluegrasscountry.org
FESTIVALS & CONCERTS
January
Great 48 Hour Jam
www.cbaontheweb.org
February
Bluegrass On Broadway www.scbs.org
February
SF Bluegrass & Old Time Festival
www.sfbluegrass.org
February
Wintergrass www.acousticsound.org
March
Boulder Creek Bluegrass & Old Timey
Festival brookdalebluegrass.com
March
Sonoma Bluegrass & Folk Festival
www.socofoso.com
May
Parkfield Bluegrass Festival
www.parkfieldbluegrass.com
May
Santa Cruz Bluegrass Fair www.scbs.org
May
Cloverdale Old Time Fiddle Festival
www.cloverdalefiddles.com
May
Hicks/Dabney Bluegrass Campout
www.hickstival.com
May
Spring Strawberry Festival
www.strawberrymusic.com
June
Father’s Day Festival
www.cbaontheweb.org
June
Kate Wolf Memorial Festival
www.katewolf.com/festival
June
SF Free Folk Festival www.sffolkfest.org
June
Susanville Bluegrass Festival
www.susanvillebluegrass.com
July
Scotts Valley Bluegrass Festival
www.scottvalleybluegrass.com
Bluegrass By the Bay
page 2
This could be your business card ad for only
$20.
To submit a business card ad, contact
Nancie Barker ([email protected])
408-782-5044
Bluegrass By the Bay
page 3
Interview with Roland White by Brenda Hough
Roland White began his musical career as a member of his
family’s band in Southern California. Roland, Clarence, Eric
and Joanne enjoyed singing together as children and they
performed together in
Southern California. Later Clarence, Eric and
Roland became the Kentucky Colonels. Clarence
performed with the Bryds
before his passing in
1973 and Roland continued to play bluegrass
mandolin and guitar with
Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt,
Country Gazette and the
Nashville Bluegrass Band
before forming his own
Roland White Band. Roland sat down to discuss
his life during the CBA’s
Winter Camp in February
2012.
RW: It’s good to be here. I’ve always liked this camp, and it’s
a good way to start out the year for me.
BH: Your family was very involved with music; did you start
with the mandolin as your instrument of choice?
RW: My Dad was a Canadian fiddler, from New Brunswick,
and he had a lot of the Canadian style tunes and American
tunes like Old Joe Clark and Soldier’s Joy and he also loved
to strum the guitar and play old country songs. I’ve known all
those old songs and when I was big enough to manage a
guitar, I started backing him up. He had seven brothers and
they’d all get together and play music. I used to watch them
and figured out how to form a D chord, and a G chord. One
day I was trying to play the fiddle, and I was scraping around
with it. Two days later I came home from school and I heard
this instrument. He was playing a mandolin, and he handed
it to me. And that’s how I started playing the mandolin. I
heard that music every morning, and every Saturday and
Sunday. In 1949, Joanne and I were singing and playing and
my brother Clarence looked at me, he was 5, and said ‘I
want to do that.’ So I played the chords and he strummed.
He always had perfect timing. After that, every time I picked
up an instrument, he wanted to play it. We got a ukulele for
him. We had an old tenor banjo and Eric started playing it.
So we had a little house band and that’s how we started.
After we went to California, we acquired a bass fiddle and
Joann played that.
After we moved to California, my aunt told us about a talent
show in Pasadena – there was a Sunday afternoon show on
the radio. The Squeakin’ Deacon was on KXLA and the
show was free, and they put out the chairs and they would fill
the place. We went down there and we auditioned and we
won the show. We didn’t have a name so he said how about
the Three Little Country Boys? My sister didn’t want to play
with us. The second hour of the show had people like the
Maddox Brothers and Joe Maphis and other west coast acts.
The Town Hall Party was a TV show with some of the same
people. If you haven’t seen Town Hall Party, you should get
Bluegrass By the Bay
the videos and see them.
After the show, he told us about a new TV show before the
Town Hall Party on Channel 13, and they were looking for a
group just like us. They had a group called the Three Little
Country Girls and you guys will be great. The next week we
were on the show and played between September and
Thanksgiving. We quit going there because of the traffic.
There was only the Hollywood Freeway at the time. It was a
long drive and the show only lasted a year.
We didn’t do much singing and then in 1954 one of my uncles came to hear us play. He asked if I had ever heard of
Bill Monroe. I went to the local store in Burbank and we ordered a Bill Monroe record with Pike County Breakdown.
Every week I’d buy a record and we started playing that music, and we watched Bill Monroe on Town Hall Party and
that’s how I learned to do my chop chords. Clarence saw the
guitar player and that was our first bluegrass lesson. We
saw the five-string banjo and we had the Flatt and Scruggs
records by then so I went out and bought a Gibson Mastertone banjo and learned how to play it.
The Whites met banjo player Billy Ray Latham at a music
store and he joined the band. The Ash Grove had just started
in 1959 and they contacted Ed Pearl who hired the band.
The college students at the time were aware of old-time and
folk music but The Country Boys were their first exposure to
bluegrass. The band played all over Southern California with
their “folk music in overdrive.” In those days, their $60 earnings would play for gas, burgers, fries and ice cream with
money left over.
RW: The first bluegrass band we met down there was the
Golden State Boys. Don Parmley was one of them. We got a
call from the booking agent at Desilu Productions and people
from the Andy Griffith called looking for a string band. By this
time we had a dobro player, LeRoy McNees. We arranged
to go down and we met Andy Griffith. We got to be on the
show; the episode is “Mayberry on Record.” In 1963, the
Dillards came to town and they got on the show as the Darlings – Rodney said “we had the look.”
Joe and Rose Maphis had a show and they hired us to do
shows at the furniture stores in the San Joaquin Valley.
They did an album produced by Joe and Merle Travis. It was
on Briar Records which was a subsidiary of Decca Records.
They recorded the album and Merle Travis came up with the
name Kentucky Colonels. I wasn’t there at the time and the
album was called Bluegrass America. I came back and in
1961-3 we played the East Coast. We played the Ash Grove,
and the Creamery in Berkeley that became the Freight and
Salvage. Adams Otis recorded some of our shows live at the
Ash Grove. Ed Perl got us a record deal with World Pacific
Records with instruments. We went down there and recorded
this album – Appalachian Spring. We disbanded in 1966.
Bill Monroe’s bus broke down in Texas and he was scheduled to play the Ash Grove. Bill came out with Byron Berline
and Roland was asked to be the guitar player and Eric
played the banjo. Bill asked Roland to stay on after the rest
of the band arrived. The band was James Monroe on bass,
Lamar Grier on banjo, Bryon Berline on fiddle, Doug Green
on guitar and Bill. Doug went back to school and then Roland joined the band and moved to Nashville. He was with
the band for a year and nine months.
RW: In 1968 I went to the WSM studios where Flatt and
Scruggs were recording their radio shows and doing their
page 4
Martha White TV shows. I went inside with Lester and I
asked him if he needed a mandolin player. He told me after
the first of the year there will be some big changes in this
band. I turned in my notice to Bill Monroe but he asked me to
stay longer and go to Europe.
When Roland returned from Europe, he found out that Flatt
and Scruggs had broken up. When Roland called Lester, he
was invited to join Lester Flatt and Nashville Grass. He was
in the band for 4 years and then Clarence called and suggested that Roland join him, Eric and Herb Pederson and they
toured Europe. After Clarence’s death, Roland was invited to
join to join Country Gazette. He played with the band for 13
years, and then he joined the Nashville Bluegrass Band.
RW: Mike Compton left the band and I joined as the mandolin
player. I did that for almost 12 years. I wanted to have my
own band while I was able to do it. I got some musicians and
called it the Roland White Band. That’s what I’ve been doing
ever since.
BH: But you’ve also been doing some instructing, videos,
books.
RW: We don’t work as much as we did. We recorded a CD
called Jelly on my Tofu. I started giving lessons during the
90s and people requested that I do a mandolin instruction
book. Diane did the work on the book, and we came up with
Roland White’s Approach to Mandolin. The book has two
CDs in it and has a lot of instructional material. That did very
well and we sell it on my website: www.rolandwhite.com I’m
also on Facebook. She did the website and everyone and
one day I got a call to teach at Camp Bluegrass in Levelland,
Texas. Lot of people asked for Christmas music so we did
Roland White’s Mandolin
Christmas. Seven or
eight years ago, people
wanted a book about
Clarence’s guitar playing. So we got together
and had Steve Pottier
help us. Then we did
some adjustments. The
way Clarence did the
crosspicking was simple.
Diane did the whole
book and it also has two
CDs in it. One year I got
a call from Laurie Lewis
to do Bluegrass at the
Beach and I taught there
3 or 4 years. Then I
called to do Steve Kaufman’s camp and I have two or three
others. I like what I’m doing now; I’d like to do another band
album. I’m going to be cutting some music with Laurie Lewis
and Patrick Sauber. I played with his Dad, Tom Sauber, in
Southern California.
Famous Quote:
“If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often
think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms
of music.” ― Albert Einstein
Bluegrass By the Bay
Reviews
by Brenda Hough
The Hicktones: Sweet Potato
Pie
[email protected]
©2012
Song list: The Last Old Shovel, Hard Times, Midnight on the
Water, Polka on a Banjo, How Many Times, Lonesome For
You, Up This Hill and Down, Jesusita En Chihuahua, No Kin
in This World, Pearlie Mae, One More Night, Little Darlin’ Pal
of Mine, Now and Then There’s A Fool Such As I, Rock of
Love, Down Yonder.
Perhaps you remember the fancy labels that graced the
wooden crates of fruit in days gone by. The labels had drawings of beautiful fields or tasty ripe fruit and encouraged customers to remember a particular brand name. The Hicktones
have a delightful “label” on their new C D with a bountiful orchard, purple mountains majesty and a yummy sweet potato
pie that promises a tasty treat. The band has played in the
Bay Area since 2005 and they have a loyalty to the traditional
bluegrass sound as exemplified by Flatt and Scruggs and the
Stanley Brothers
augmented with the
California sound of
Vern and Ray.
Band members are
Alice Fitzwater on
vocals and fiddle,
John Fitt mandolin
and vocals, Kris Votruba on banjo, Mike
Gleason on bass and vocals and Jack Frost on guitar and
vocals.
The band displays instrumental prowess, vocal harmonies
and a versatility that lets them present songs as varied as the
gentle instrumental “Midnight on the Water” and the bouncy
“Polka on a Banjo” and “Jesusita En Chihuahua” that showcases fine fiddle from Alice and mandolin magic from John.
Jack also wrote several of the songs including the melancholy
“No Kin in This World” and the hopeful love song “One More
Night.” Alice’s lead vocals evoke the bluegrass tradition as
she sings the Carter Family’s “Little Darling Pal of Mine” and
Stephen Foster’s “Hard Times.” “A Fool Such As I” gives the
band a chance to stretch its boundaries and the banjo and
fiddle give a bluegrass touch to this pop music classic. Delightful collection of songs best served with a cup of coffee
and some sweet pie!
page 5
Mike McKinley: Bindlestiff
www.mikemckinley.net
©2012
Song list: Bluegrass Music, The Lush, Bindlestiff, Consider
Me, Two Little Eyes, Turn Around, Empty Feelin’, Always
Moving Dan, Dream of the Hobo, Santa Cruz Earthquake.
Mike McKinley has
been part of the Bay
Area bluegrass scene
for years and his band
Harmony Grits is a
Santa Cruz institution.
This solo album features Mike’s own original songs and his
mandolin and guitar
playing along with Dayan Kia on vocals and
guitar, Bill Laymon on
bass, Jimmy Norris on
drums, Jim Lewin on
guitar, and vocals and
guest appearances from Laurie Lewis and Bill Evans.
Mike’s “Bluegrass Music” is an engaging romp through the
joys of our favorite music with references to Carter Stanley,
Bill Monroe and the picking towns at festivals. Mike’s
woody and crisp mandolin playing peppers all the songs
and it is joined by Bill Evan’s banjo in his happy love song,
“Two Little Eyes.” “Turn Around” is a political commentary
on war – “turn around, don’t ruin my world for the sake of a
few greedy men.” His “Empty Feelin” is filled with images of
a deserted old home place with “walls covered up with
vines, the orchard’s dead and smells like rotting pears” and
the satisfaction of the bankers who now own the land that
has no use. “Santa Cruz Earthquake” is an upbeat song
about a local disaster with references to the little mountain
towns that shook “when it’s time for the earth to move,
there’s nothing you can do.” “Bindlestiff” focuses on the migrant workers and the traveling hobos that keep the crops
harvested but are not welcome otherwise – “don’t be here
when the sun goes down.” Mike McKinley’s music follows
the tradition of the troubadours – Woody Guthrie comes to
mind – who provide a vision into the lives of folks on the
edge of success and happiness.
Brothers Comatose: Respect the Van
www.THEBROTHERSCOMATOSE.COM
©2012
Song list: Modern Day Sinners, Pie For Breakfast, The
Scout, 120 East, Strings, Morning Time, Feels Like the Devil, Pennies Are Money Too, Sleep, The Van Song, Blackberries.
For Bay Area bands, one of the ultimate stamps of approval
is an appearance at the annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
festival. The Brothers Comatose has already achieved that
honor and this second album gives their fans another serving of their hearty and exciting acoustic sound. Brothers
Alex and Ben Morrison began their musical journey at family
music parties and they are joined by Gio Benedetti, Phillip
Brezina and Ryan Avellone. Their lively musical muse combines sounds of bluegrass, rock, and a folk sensibility that
Bluegrass By the Bay
focuses on observations of
life. A pie for breakfast is
symbolic of a life on the road
and even pennies have value. The fiddle and banjo
vibe drive the rhythm in
“Strings” with its catchy
phrase – “I knew you wouldn’t love me if I wasn’t on the
road,” and in “Feels Like the
Devil” with its insistent pulse. The tribute to the band’s
Chevy Van begins with a Deliverance-style duel between
the fiddle and banjo and then floors the pedal into a highspeed romp with fiddle, banjo and mandolin moving at
dance speed. Another song based on the open road is “120
East” that celebrates the road to the Strawberry Music Festival with its pines, redwoods, whiskey and brotherhood of
song. The gentle “Morning Song” is a duet between Ben
and Nicki Bluhm and the banjo weaves around the exchange between a city loving guy and a country gal searching for some common time and space. The opening song,
“Modern Day Sinners” has an insightful observation - “your
cup is running
The Earl Brothers: Outlaw Hillbilly
www.earlbrothers.com
©2012
Song list: Arkansas Line, Hard Times Down the Road, Soldier, Rebels Romp, Hey Hey, Don’t Think About Me Unkindly, Cheater , Bad Man, Bone Down.
Since its formation in 2004, the Earl Brothers have forged a
musical mix of bluegrass, rough country honky tonk and
deep shadowy themes filled with the down of heart and low
on luck. “Hard Times
Down the Road” is a
prime example of the
band’s style – a harddriving banjo drone
matched with a punchy
rhythm and Robert Earl’s
roughhewn voice crying
out about the hard times
going down the road bolstered only by a drink
and a companion. The
back roads of the country are filled with trouble as well as
Robert warns “you better be ready for what you might find,
people won’t trust you, no friends will you find.” The banjo
and fiddle swirl around the vocals and provide a constant
drone around the tale of death and destruction. The instrumental “Rebels Romp” features Robert’s banjo, Tom Lucas
and Jody Richardson on fiddle, and the mandolin of Bill
Foss and Thomas Wille’s guitar. While love may make the
world go round, love in the Earl Brothers world is the world
of lost love with lonely folks wishing “Don’t Think of Me Unkindly,” drifters tossing their wedding rings while moving on
down the road, joined by old abandoned soldiers, cheaters
and bad men. Listening to the Earl Brothers is always a
dose of musical reality – tight bonding between instrumentals, edgy vocals and a desire for dawn to arrive.
page 6
Do you recognize
these folks?????
?
Bluegrass By the Bay
page 7
Bluegrass By the Bay
page 8
Bluegrass By The Bay is published bi-monthly by the Northern California Bluegrass Society, an all volunteer, non-profit, tax exempt 501 (c )(3) organization. The NCBS was founded in 1982 as the Santa Cruz Bluegrass Society, and continues to be
known by that name in the Santa Cruz area. The name was changed in 1999 to reflect the expanded scope of the Society’s activities. The Society brings people together for the preservation, enjoyment, and advancement of bluegrass and related acoustic
music through jams, workshops, concerts, festivals, and this newsletter. © 2012 by the NCBS
Editors:
Brenda Hough [email protected]
Nancie Barker [email protected]
NCBS Board of Directors:
President: Mike Hall
[email protected]
Vice President: Mike Russell
[email protected]
Treasurer: Bruce Edmundson [email protected]
Secretary: Bruce Bellochio [email protected]
Eric Burman: [email protected]
Penny Godlis: [email protected]
Brenda Hough: [email protected]
Nancie Barker: [email protected]
Elicia Burton: [email protected]
Submission Deadline: the 10th of the month preceding the
desired publication month.
Electronic submissions: email to [email protected]. Formats accepted: Microsoft word or plain text; tiff, jpeg, or pdf
images.
Hard copy submissions: mail to BBB Editor 970 Vista Ct.,
Morgan Hill, CA 95037.
Advertising Rates
Display ads: full page
$ 100
half page
60
quarter page
30
business card 20
Advertisement dimensions: full page, 7” by 10”; half page,
7.5” by 5” or 3.5” by 10”; quarter page 3.75” by 5”; business
card, 3.5” by 2 1/8”
Committee Chairs:
GOF Festival Director: Eric Burman [email protected]
Membership: Gary Anwyl [email protected]
Webmaster: Stewart Evans [email protected]
Volunteers: Penny Godlis [email protected]
NCBS website: http://ncbs.us or http://scbs.org
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA BLUEGRASS SOCIETY
Membership Application
Name:________________________________________ Date:____________________________
Address:______________________________________ Phone:___________________________
City:________________________ State:_____ ZIP:__________
Email:______________________
Please list first names of family members who are joining, volunteer work you would be interested in doing for NCBS,
or any comments, questions, or corrections you would like to make. Thanks for joining us!
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
__Life Member*
$500
Check one:
__Life Couple*
$750
__New Member
__INDIVIDUAL
$20
__Renewal
__Family (under one roof)
$25
__Address Change
Make checks payable to NCBS
NCBS Membership Chair
P.O. Box 390846
Mountain View, CA 94039-0846
*Life memberships include advance reserved seating at NCBS concerts (preferred seats), NCBS T-shirt, and a lifetime subscription to
Bluegrass By the Bay
Bluegrass By the Bay
page 9
Northern California Bluegrass Society
Santa Cruz Bluegrass Society
P.O. Box 390846
Mountain View, CA 94039-0846
Send Address and E-mail Changes To:
NCBS Membership Chair
at the above address
Cut out this box! The mailing label is now your NCBS membership card.
Kindly remember to send your renewal. Expiration date is listed below.
Bluegrass By the Bay
page 10