Indeed it was, thanks Rob. Now I gotta go mess with DADGAD tuning.

Said it before and I'll say it again:
Best thread EVER.
Mr. Young is always a joy and. strangely reminded me of Michael Hedges in that video.

Beck - besides a great musician his video oozed creative brilliance, I couldn't look away.

I was reminded of these folks recently, during an extended email rant on the influence of Doc Watson. See, waaaay back in 1999, our band and theirs was booked as opening acts at the same music festival... that might well be when my 'thing' for chic-fiddle-players started. I wonder if it might well be where their thing with Doc Watson started too, as he was one of the headliners there.



(DO NOT miss the positively magical violin solo beginning at 4:07... the intro is pretty cool too.)

We/I have to play this Frank Solivan tune for a wedding ceremony this weekend... instrumentally, as a reprise for the bride's recessional, and later perform the full tune for the reception, as part of a thematic idea. Sometimes people surprise me in a good way.



This was great fun to learn. The harmonies are irresistible. And "Dirty Kitchen" is a GREAT name for a string band. 

I don't really know if there are other forum members geographically located near the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, but this Saturday evening I'll be listening to these guys (The Malina brothers) who are playing a "house concert" at my place.  They've played with Charlie McCoy, Peter Rowan, and David Grisman so have a pretty solid resume.  If you're in the area and are interested in bluegrass with an international flavor, drop me a line and I'll provide you with more details.

Brian; cool that you're hosting a house concert.

Now for something maybe a bit unexpected.
Didn't think Glen Campbell could play like that.

Echoing Dave's comment Brian... very cool for hosting a house concert. Those are an excellent means for artists 'on the bubble'. I very much enjoy playing a more intimate setting like that, as it's much easier to connect with an audience. Thanks for supporting fellow musicians!

* love hearing those guys do "Flowers of Edinburgh"

Yeah, Campbell's a great player.  This solo is the one that turned me around on Glen being only a country singing star.  Oh Galveston...

Bob Weir - "Lay my Lilly down"

http://www.npr.org/sections/world-cafe/2016/09/12/493311611/hear-a-new-bob-weir-song-lay-my-lily-down

If music is really universal, I wonder why so many artists who are "on the bubble" in the US play to sold out houses and win the equivalent of multiple Grammys in other countries. I can see that when the music played is decidedly different (e.g. Indian music) but European bluegrass and bluegrass as played in the US are pretty much the same animal. The fact that a band that sells out concert halls in Prague, Vienna, Paris, and Berlin is going to be playing on my lawn for 40-50 people on Saturday amazes me. Now I make a damn good espresso and feed the band members well (no it's not Minnesota food I serve them) but I find it hard to believe that what has kept this thing going for 4 years and three different bands.

I find the history of "house concerts" and the role they played in a number of rebellions/revolutions quite interesting and love the way that our peers in Europe, especially Eastern Europe, have kept the tradition going.

If there's been one lesson that's made it through my thick skull Brian, it's simply this - the Tree of Music is twisted and gnarly, and the few of us that live on the branches of that tree aren't really all that different. I think it's how we ended up there anyway. 


Picked that postulate up from a good friend of mine over coffee one morning... traveling musician Steve Keith, who spends half his year playing in New Orleans, and the other half in Nova Scotia, writing playing the *exact same* cultural music. I'd never thought about it before, but the Louisiana Cajuns were exiled Acadians from up there. (Acadian = Cajun, like Indian = Injun) Phonetic faux-pas aside, people carry their music with them, just like family heirlooms. No small wonder Slovic, (and really most of Eastern European) folk music and American folk music mesh so well. David Grisman spent a good portion of his career studying, and incorporating elements of Gypsy Jazz into what became his "Dawg" music. Tony Rice seized upon that, and carried it to the ears of a Bluegrass audience. Two generations later, Bluegrass musicians from both sides of the Atlantic crossover to play festival circuits and/or smaller venues. It's just kinda' making laps around the world now.


In related news, here's my entry to the Listening Thread today: The Band's "Acadian Driftwood", live at Winterland, with a couple guests:

TOO cold:



Joey

Listened to the whole album this tune comes from a couple times in the car last night, as me and our fiddler made our way home from a l-o-n-g weekend of playing music around the Old Dominion. Tired today, (Mom says it's hard to soar with eagles in the morning when you spend all night hooting with owls...) but I woke up this morning with this one stuck in my head.



Britt Haas, and Paul Kowert, by the way I hear, will be part of the new Prairie Home Companion 'House Band' when Chris Thile takes the reins from Garrison Keillor.