The 11th Annual
Park Slope Bluegrass & Old-Time
Jamboree
September 12, 13 & 14
Annual music festival celebrates "Roots" of American Music,
with "Branches" explored in newly added third day of music.
Saturday features a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the formation of The New Lost City Ramblers, with guest appearances by two founding members of the seminal string band.
A performance by two of the founding members of the New Lost City Ramblers - the highly influential string band that jump-started the folk music revival (some called it the "folk scare") in the 1950s - will be one of the highlights of the 11th annual Park Slope Bluegrass & Old-Time Jamboree. The band's many recordings are available on Smithsonian/Folkways and have influenced musicians as diverse as Bob Dylan, Gillian Welch and the Grateful Dead.
John Cohen and Tom Paley, along with Mike Seeger, started the New Lost City Ramblers in 1958 and inspired a generation of musicians to take up instruments and explore American roots music. Cohen and Paley will perform separately and together on the second day of the 11th annual Park Slope Bluegrass & Old-Time Jamboree. The band's first concert was exactly 50 years earlier, on September 13, 1958. Bill Christophersen will join Cohen and Paley to evoke the fiddle of Mike Seeger.
Each year, Park Slope becomes the focal point of bluegrass and old-time music when the Park Slope Bluegrass & Old-Time Jamboree, now in its 11th year, takes place. The sounds of banjos, fiddles, mandolins, guitars and big upright basses echo through the "hills and hollers" of Brooklyn in this celebration of American traditional music.
The Jamboree, held each year at the historic meeting house and surrounding gardens of the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture on Prospect Park West near 2nd Street, starts off with a bluegrass concert on Friday night by James Reams & The Barnstormers, the band that the New York Daily News called "New York City's bluegrass icons." This internationally known bluegrass band plays bluegrass music the old-fashioned way, reminiscent of the way the founders of the genre played it - Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs and other "pioneers" of the music. James Reams - whose voice has been compared with that of Del McCoury by bluegrass and country music magazines - fronts a band that has garnered nominations from the International Bluegrass Music Association and critical acclaim from every major bluegrass and roots-music publication.
The next day's schedule includes a full day of activities, including workshops in banjo, fiddle, harmony singing, and more, plus all-day jamming and an evening concert featuring many fine performers. This year an additional day has been added, in a different location. While Friday and Saturday celebrate the "roots" of traditional American music, Sunday's activities explore the "branches" - with workshops and performances by musicians who combine the traditional styles with more contemporary elements. The music on Sunday takes place at Jalopy in Red Hook.
Musicians from all over the Northeast convene at the Jamboree each year to play and enjoy the music that originated with the earliest immigrants to this country. The settlers from Scotland, England and Ireland combined the ballads and instruments of their tradition with the music and instruments of the slaves (the American "banjo" was originally the African "mbanza") to produce this country's first "fusion" music.
Each year, the Jamboree attracts more than 700 musicians and fans of old-time and bluegrass music. The Jamboree is sponsored by several arts organizations, civic associations and community businesses. "We're lucky we have great organizations that support and sponsor American traditional music," says James Reams, who organizes the Jamboree. "In addition, there are lots of incredibly talented musicians in the area as well as an appreciative audience and supportive radio deejays, so we have all of the ingredients to keep the Jamboree going - and it's been going for 11 years so far!"
This year the Jamboree is once again sponsored by Warren Lewis Realty (warrenlewis.com) - an organization that is among the most active in supporting the arts in Brooklyn - with additional sponsorship by The Clay Pot (clay-pot.com - sponsor of the "Brown Jug" award), The Brooklyn Arts Council/ BAC-Folk Arts (brooklynartscouncil.org), the Park Slope Civic Council (parkslopeciviccouncil.org), the NY Pinewoods Folk Music Society (folkmusicny.org), Los Blancos and HelloBrooklyn.com. The Jamboree is also made possible by a grant from the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by The Brooklyn Arts Council, Inc. (BAC), and from Con Edison (coned.com), and is hosted by the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (bsec.org). In addition, this year Dizzy's Diner (dizzys.com) will offer food on site at Saturday's festivities.
The Friday night concert by James Reams & The Barnstormers starts at 8pm (doors open at 7:30, and admission is $10 for adults and $6 for children). The band is a favorite on the bluegrass music festival circuit and has garnered excellent reviews from music publications:
No Depression magazine:
"James Reams & The Barnstormers move deftly between old-time, bluegrass, and country with a sound that leans toward the first half of the 20th century a la Bill Monroe, the Stanley Brothers and Roy Acuff. ...What makes the album so appealing is the energy, fullness, and occasional roughness of the Barnstormers' sound. ...The Barnstormers deliver an edge that's missing from a lot of bluegrass being made today."
Sing Out magazine:
"Tight instrumental excellence and hard-edged vocals …uncompromising, hard-core bluegrass."
Bill Monroe biographer Richard D. Smith in Bluegrass Unlimited
"There are few vocalists as natural as Reams. He doesn't have to try to sound down-home, he's there at each turn in the song."
Saturday's activities run from 12:30 to 10:30pm (admission $4 - that's right, four dollars) and feature workshops, all-day jamming (with acoustic instruments only: acoustic guitars, fiddles, mandolins, banjos, Dobros, upright basses, dulcimers, autoharps, harmonicas, etc.), and evening concerts.
This year's Saturday evening concerts include performances by influential and accomplished musicians:
John Cohen (johncohenworks.com) helped form the New Lost City Ramblers (johncohenworks.com/music/ramblers.html) in 1958 and has performed and recorded with them ever since. Bob Dylan has cited the Ramblers as an influence, writing this in Chronicles: "I listened to The New Lost City Ramblers. Everything about them appealed to me - their style, their singing, their sound.… Their songs ran the gamut in styles, everything from mountain ballads to fiddle tunes and railroad blues. All their songs vibrated with some dizzy, portentous truth.… I couldn't listen to them enough." John will be joined at the Jamboree by Annabel Lee, who sings and plays guitar.
Tom Paley (tompaley.com) is one of the original members of The New Lost City Ramblers and also played with Woody Guthrie. He was also a member of The Old Reliable String Band. Now living in England, he joins the Jamboree during one of his occasional return visits to his old hometown. Long known for his singing and his old-time banjo and guitar picking, he now also plays fiddle (in both American old-time and traditional Swedish styles).
New Lost City Ramblers Anniversary Celebration: John Cohen and Tom Paley, along with Mike Seeger, founded the seminal string band, The New Lost City Ramblers, in 1958. This September marks the 50th anniversary of the formation of the band that influenced a generation - and more - of musicians to explore the roots of American folks music. Joining John and Tom will be highly respected fiddler Bill Christophersen.
David & Linda Lay come to the Jamboree this year as part of the Virginia Folklife Program (virginiafolklife.org). Linda Lay started singing and playing with her family band at an early age. She is a member of the Bristol, Virginia-based band Appalachian Trail, which has won the Society for Preservation of Bluegrass Music Association's band contest. She was chosen as a master vocalist by the Virginia Foundation of the Humanities in 2006. Linda also plays the autoharp, among other instruments. David Lay has deep roots in gospel music. His father, a United Methodist preacher for 50 years, introduced David to the music of the great artists in the gospel circuit at an early age. David sings and plays guitar.
Bust Down includes the twin fiddles of Emily Schaad and Ambrose Verdibello, who combine with the clawhammer banjo playing of Ray Alden, guitar and vocals of Deborah Clifford and bass player Debby Tankard. The concentration will be on tunes and songs from the Round Peak area of North Carolina, the focus of which is strong rhythms and a unified band sound.
The Haywire Gang (myspace.com/thehaywiregang) consists of Paula Bradley, Mac Benford and John Hoffmann and offers a delightfully rich and memorable musical experience, featuring toe-tapping fiddle tunes, old ballads, hoedowns, banjo-pickin', hot dancing, sentimental songs and lovely old melodies, all delivered with sincerity, polish and the zany stage-presence that the band's name implies.
American Flyer - Bill Christophersen, Gene Yellin, Deb Griner, Phil Zimmerman, Ben Freed and Ethan Kende - play a brand of bluegrass that derives from the 1950s-era sounds of the Stanley Brothers and Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys.
Lightning in the East is a powerhouse string band that puts an exciting spin on traditional Southern Appalachian music. Its members, all widely recognized as outstanding musicians, have played with the very best in old-time, bluegrass and Cajun music. With John Hoffmann and Emily Schaad on twin fiddles and vocals, Steve Arkin on banjo and Erica Weiss on guitar and vocals, the band's repertoire runs the spectrum, from red-hot fiddle tunes to haunting ballads.
In addition to the workshops, jamming and concerts, there will be the presentation of the "Brown Jug" award-given each year to a person who has made a significant and continuing contribution to old-time or bluegrass music in the Northeast. The Brown Jug sponsor is The Clay Pot (clay-pot.com). The recipient will be announced shortly.
This year's Jamboree includes several special events, including:
- an old-time and bluegrass film festival (with interviews and rare archival film footage), from film archivists Russell Scholl and Chad Hunter;
- a "slow jam," specially tailored to be a non-intimidating musical performance experience.
The Jamboree is heralded as one of the finest events of its kind in the Northeast and attracts musicians and fans of traditional American music from all over the area. Time-Out New York magazine called the Jamboree a "happy little festival," and indeed it is. Musicians gather in informal groups in the beautiful century-old meeting house of the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture and the gardens surrounding the landmark building for informal jam sessions; attendees who do not play music themselves can enjoy listening to it. In addition to the music, on Saturday food will be available on site by well-known and well-loved Dizzy's Diner, and beverages are also available.
This year a third day has been added to the Jamboree at a different location. With the collaboration of the Virginia Folklife Program, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, on Sunday, Sept 14, several performers will conduct workshops in the afternoon ($25 each or all four for $80) in instrument building, flatpick guitar playing and more,. The events will take place at Jalopy, a music school and venue in Red Hook, Brooklyn. In addition, at 7pm a performance called "Best of Virginia" will include concerts by finger-picking guitarist Wayne Henderson, who has participated in three national tours of "Masters of the Steel-String Guitar"; fiddle-competition winner Jimmy Edmonds; Gerald Anderson (guitar) and Spencer Strickland (mandolin); and progressive bluegrass band No Speed Limit. Jalopy is at 315 Columbia Street. Tickets are $15 for the evening performances. For information or directions, visit jalopy.biz or call 718-395-3214.
Friday and Saturday's events are held at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture Meeting House, 53 Prospect Park West at 2nd Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Further information may be obtained by calling the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture at 718-768-2972 or the Jamboree staff at 718-965-8490 or by emailing info@jamesreams.com. Additional information is also available at gchmusic.org or jamesreams.com. Directions: Q train to 7th Av station in Brooklyn; F train to 7th Av; 2 or 3 train to Grand Army Plaza; B69 bus to 2nd St; B75 bus to Prospect Park West; B41 or B71 bus to Grand Army Plaza; B67 bus to 2nd St.
The detailed schedule for the Jamboree and the name of this year's recipient of the "Brown Jug" will be announced shortly.
Park Slope Bluegrass & Old-Time
Jamboree
September 12, 13 & 14
Annual music festival celebrates "Roots" of American Music,
with "Branches" explored in newly added third day of music.
Saturday features a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the formation of The New Lost City Ramblers, with guest appearances by two founding members of the seminal string band.
A performance by two of the founding members of the New Lost City Ramblers - the highly influential string band that jump-started the folk music revival (some called it the "folk scare") in the 1950s - will be one of the highlights of the 11th annual Park Slope Bluegrass & Old-Time Jamboree. The band's many recordings are available on Smithsonian/Folkways and have influenced musicians as diverse as Bob Dylan, Gillian Welch and the Grateful Dead.
John Cohen and Tom Paley, along with Mike Seeger, started the New Lost City Ramblers in 1958 and inspired a generation of musicians to take up instruments and explore American roots music. Cohen and Paley will perform separately and together on the second day of the 11th annual Park Slope Bluegrass & Old-Time Jamboree. The band's first concert was exactly 50 years earlier, on September 13, 1958. Bill Christophersen will join Cohen and Paley to evoke the fiddle of Mike Seeger.
Each year, Park Slope becomes the focal point of bluegrass and old-time music when the Park Slope Bluegrass & Old-Time Jamboree, now in its 11th year, takes place. The sounds of banjos, fiddles, mandolins, guitars and big upright basses echo through the "hills and hollers" of Brooklyn in this celebration of American traditional music.
The Jamboree, held each year at the historic meeting house and surrounding gardens of the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture on Prospect Park West near 2nd Street, starts off with a bluegrass concert on Friday night by James Reams & The Barnstormers, the band that the New York Daily News called "New York City's bluegrass icons." This internationally known bluegrass band plays bluegrass music the old-fashioned way, reminiscent of the way the founders of the genre played it - Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs and other "pioneers" of the music. James Reams - whose voice has been compared with that of Del McCoury by bluegrass and country music magazines - fronts a band that has garnered nominations from the International Bluegrass Music Association and critical acclaim from every major bluegrass and roots-music publication.
The next day's schedule includes a full day of activities, including workshops in banjo, fiddle, harmony singing, and more, plus all-day jamming and an evening concert featuring many fine performers. This year an additional day has been added, in a different location. While Friday and Saturday celebrate the "roots" of traditional American music, Sunday's activities explore the "branches" - with workshops and performances by musicians who combine the traditional styles with more contemporary elements. The music on Sunday takes place at Jalopy in Red Hook.
Musicians from all over the Northeast convene at the Jamboree each year to play and enjoy the music that originated with the earliest immigrants to this country. The settlers from Scotland, England and Ireland combined the ballads and instruments of their tradition with the music and instruments of the slaves (the American "banjo" was originally the African "mbanza") to produce this country's first "fusion" music.
Each year, the Jamboree attracts more than 700 musicians and fans of old-time and bluegrass music. The Jamboree is sponsored by several arts organizations, civic associations and community businesses. "We're lucky we have great organizations that support and sponsor American traditional music," says James Reams, who organizes the Jamboree. "In addition, there are lots of incredibly talented musicians in the area as well as an appreciative audience and supportive radio deejays, so we have all of the ingredients to keep the Jamboree going - and it's been going for 11 years so far!"
This year the Jamboree is once again sponsored by Warren Lewis Realty (warrenlewis.com) - an organization that is among the most active in supporting the arts in Brooklyn - with additional sponsorship by The Clay Pot (clay-pot.com - sponsor of the "Brown Jug" award), The Brooklyn Arts Council/ BAC-Folk Arts (brooklynartscouncil.org), the Park Slope Civic Council (parkslopeciviccouncil.org), the NY Pinewoods Folk Music Society (folkmusicny.org), Los Blancos and HelloBrooklyn.com. The Jamboree is also made possible by a grant from the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by The Brooklyn Arts Council, Inc. (BAC), and from Con Edison (coned.com), and is hosted by the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (bsec.org). In addition, this year Dizzy's Diner (dizzys.com) will offer food on site at Saturday's festivities.
The Friday night concert by James Reams & The Barnstormers starts at 8pm (doors open at 7:30, and admission is $10 for adults and $6 for children). The band is a favorite on the bluegrass music festival circuit and has garnered excellent reviews from music publications:
No Depression magazine:
"James Reams & The Barnstormers move deftly between old-time, bluegrass, and country with a sound that leans toward the first half of the 20th century a la Bill Monroe, the Stanley Brothers and Roy Acuff. ...What makes the album so appealing is the energy, fullness, and occasional roughness of the Barnstormers' sound. ...The Barnstormers deliver an edge that's missing from a lot of bluegrass being made today."
Sing Out magazine:
"Tight instrumental excellence and hard-edged vocals …uncompromising, hard-core bluegrass."
Bill Monroe biographer Richard D. Smith in Bluegrass Unlimited
"There are few vocalists as natural as Reams. He doesn't have to try to sound down-home, he's there at each turn in the song."
Saturday's activities run from 12:30 to 10:30pm (admission $4 - that's right, four dollars) and feature workshops, all-day jamming (with acoustic instruments only: acoustic guitars, fiddles, mandolins, banjos, Dobros, upright basses, dulcimers, autoharps, harmonicas, etc.), and evening concerts.
This year's Saturday evening concerts include performances by influential and accomplished musicians:
John Cohen (johncohenworks.com) helped form the New Lost City Ramblers (johncohenworks.com/music/ramblers.html) in 1958 and has performed and recorded with them ever since. Bob Dylan has cited the Ramblers as an influence, writing this in Chronicles: "I listened to The New Lost City Ramblers. Everything about them appealed to me - their style, their singing, their sound.… Their songs ran the gamut in styles, everything from mountain ballads to fiddle tunes and railroad blues. All their songs vibrated with some dizzy, portentous truth.… I couldn't listen to them enough." John will be joined at the Jamboree by Annabel Lee, who sings and plays guitar.
Tom Paley (tompaley.com) is one of the original members of The New Lost City Ramblers and also played with Woody Guthrie. He was also a member of The Old Reliable String Band. Now living in England, he joins the Jamboree during one of his occasional return visits to his old hometown. Long known for his singing and his old-time banjo and guitar picking, he now also plays fiddle (in both American old-time and traditional Swedish styles).
New Lost City Ramblers Anniversary Celebration: John Cohen and Tom Paley, along with Mike Seeger, founded the seminal string band, The New Lost City Ramblers, in 1958. This September marks the 50th anniversary of the formation of the band that influenced a generation - and more - of musicians to explore the roots of American folks music. Joining John and Tom will be highly respected fiddler Bill Christophersen.
David & Linda Lay come to the Jamboree this year as part of the Virginia Folklife Program (virginiafolklife.org). Linda Lay started singing and playing with her family band at an early age. She is a member of the Bristol, Virginia-based band Appalachian Trail, which has won the Society for Preservation of Bluegrass Music Association's band contest. She was chosen as a master vocalist by the Virginia Foundation of the Humanities in 2006. Linda also plays the autoharp, among other instruments. David Lay has deep roots in gospel music. His father, a United Methodist preacher for 50 years, introduced David to the music of the great artists in the gospel circuit at an early age. David sings and plays guitar.
Bust Down includes the twin fiddles of Emily Schaad and Ambrose Verdibello, who combine with the clawhammer banjo playing of Ray Alden, guitar and vocals of Deborah Clifford and bass player Debby Tankard. The concentration will be on tunes and songs from the Round Peak area of North Carolina, the focus of which is strong rhythms and a unified band sound.
The Haywire Gang (myspace.com/thehaywiregang) consists of Paula Bradley, Mac Benford and John Hoffmann and offers a delightfully rich and memorable musical experience, featuring toe-tapping fiddle tunes, old ballads, hoedowns, banjo-pickin', hot dancing, sentimental songs and lovely old melodies, all delivered with sincerity, polish and the zany stage-presence that the band's name implies.
American Flyer - Bill Christophersen, Gene Yellin, Deb Griner, Phil Zimmerman, Ben Freed and Ethan Kende - play a brand of bluegrass that derives from the 1950s-era sounds of the Stanley Brothers and Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys.
Lightning in the East is a powerhouse string band that puts an exciting spin on traditional Southern Appalachian music. Its members, all widely recognized as outstanding musicians, have played with the very best in old-time, bluegrass and Cajun music. With John Hoffmann and Emily Schaad on twin fiddles and vocals, Steve Arkin on banjo and Erica Weiss on guitar and vocals, the band's repertoire runs the spectrum, from red-hot fiddle tunes to haunting ballads.
In addition to the workshops, jamming and concerts, there will be the presentation of the "Brown Jug" award-given each year to a person who has made a significant and continuing contribution to old-time or bluegrass music in the Northeast. The Brown Jug sponsor is The Clay Pot (clay-pot.com). The recipient will be announced shortly.
This year's Jamboree includes several special events, including:
- an old-time and bluegrass film festival (with interviews and rare archival film footage), from film archivists Russell Scholl and Chad Hunter;
- a "slow jam," specially tailored to be a non-intimidating musical performance experience.
The Jamboree is heralded as one of the finest events of its kind in the Northeast and attracts musicians and fans of traditional American music from all over the area. Time-Out New York magazine called the Jamboree a "happy little festival," and indeed it is. Musicians gather in informal groups in the beautiful century-old meeting house of the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture and the gardens surrounding the landmark building for informal jam sessions; attendees who do not play music themselves can enjoy listening to it. In addition to the music, on Saturday food will be available on site by well-known and well-loved Dizzy's Diner, and beverages are also available.
This year a third day has been added to the Jamboree at a different location. With the collaboration of the Virginia Folklife Program, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, on Sunday, Sept 14, several performers will conduct workshops in the afternoon ($25 each or all four for $80) in instrument building, flatpick guitar playing and more,. The events will take place at Jalopy, a music school and venue in Red Hook, Brooklyn. In addition, at 7pm a performance called "Best of Virginia" will include concerts by finger-picking guitarist Wayne Henderson, who has participated in three national tours of "Masters of the Steel-String Guitar"; fiddle-competition winner Jimmy Edmonds; Gerald Anderson (guitar) and Spencer Strickland (mandolin); and progressive bluegrass band No Speed Limit. Jalopy is at 315 Columbia Street. Tickets are $15 for the evening performances. For information or directions, visit jalopy.biz or call 718-395-3214.
Friday and Saturday's events are held at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture Meeting House, 53 Prospect Park West at 2nd Street in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Further information may be obtained by calling the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture at 718-768-2972 or the Jamboree staff at 718-965-8490 or by emailing info@jamesreams.com. Additional information is also available at gchmusic.org or jamesreams.com. Directions: Q train to 7th Av station in Brooklyn; F train to 7th Av; 2 or 3 train to Grand Army Plaza; B69 bus to 2nd St; B75 bus to Prospect Park West; B41 or B71 bus to Grand Army Plaza; B67 bus to 2nd St.
The detailed schedule for the Jamboree and the name of this year's recipient of the "Brown Jug" will be announced shortly.
