Pat Dohohue | Guitar Wizardry

February 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment

Interview with Pat Donohue: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Pat Donohue took time out of his busy rehearsal schedule for NPR’s Prairie Home Companion to do an interview with us, about his music and his life in the business. He spoke to us about his new instrumental album, and about his earlier work… More about Pat Donohue from his website www.patdonohue.com:

From swing to jazz to bottleneck blues to folk, Grammy-winning acoustic guitarist Pat Donohue plays it all with a flourish of artistry and melodic inspiration. Chet Atkins called Pat one of the greatest finger pickers in the world today; Leo Kottke called his playing “haunting.”

Pat is certainly one of the most listened to finger pickers in the world. As the guitarist for the Guys All-Star Shoe Band of Minnesota Public Radio’s A Prairie Home Companion, Pat gets to show off his savvy licks and distinctive original songs to millions of listeners each week.

His decade-long association with Garrison Keillor’s popular program has led to some unusual gigs: There was the after-show club date in Berlin, when Wynton Marsalis showed up to sit in with Pat and the Prairie Home band. Or playing music on camera for the Prairie Home Companion movie with director Robert Altman and stars Meryl Streep, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Kline, John C. Reilly, Woody Harrelson and Tommy Lee Jones.

Besides the weekly radio broadcasts, Pat plays about 30 concerts a year nationwide and teaches at such popular music camps as Augusta Heritage Center and Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp.

Pat’s musical tastes are eclectic. Though he considers himself foremost a folk guitarist, Pat’s influences are rooted in bluesmen Blind Blake, Robert Johnson, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Muddy Waters and Miles Davis. He manages to blend jazz and blues with folk, and the mix is seamless. Over the years he has captivated audiences with his unique original compositions, dazzling instrumentals and humorous song parodies, including Sushi-Yucki andWould You Like to Play the Guitar?

Honors include a 2005 Grammy for his participation on Pink Guitar, a compilation of Henry Mancini tunes on acoustic guitar, several Minnesota Music Awards, and the title of 1983 National Finger Picking Guitar Champion. His original tunes have been recorded by Chet Atkins, Suzy Bogguss and Kenny Rogers. Pat has also been a featured performer at major music festivals including the Newport, Telluride and Philadelphia Folk Festivals.

Pat has been obsessed with the guitar since he first picked one up at age 12 and began learning simple chords and melodies from a Pete Seeger instructional book. His background as a drummer in a garage rock band helped with the transition and he never looked back. As a youth, the St. Paul, Minnesota native pestered guitarists playing at Twin Cities coffee houses and blues venues, seeking tips on playing. Borrowing bits and pieces of the styles of finger picking pioneers he admired, he taught himself to play, building a repertoire flavored by Blind Blake, Django Reinhart and Chet Atkins.

“I was very lucky to see some of the old-timers that aren’t around anymore,” says Pat. “The University of Minnesota had summer concerts in the early 70s and I got to see Lightnin’ Hopkins, Big Joe Williams and Jesse Fuller. I wasn’t shy about going up to them and trying to befriend them and find out what I could about playing the blues. By and large, they were very accommodating. Big Joe Williams invited me to his hotel and we wound up playing guitar together.”

Aside from his music CDs, Pat also has two instructional videos and a concert video on Stefan Grossman’s Vestapol Videos, which not only display his guitar wizardry, but also feature the warmth and humor he brings to his live performances. Pat recently recorded an instructional DVD with buddy Mike Dowling, “A Guide to Two Guitar Jamming,” or Learning to Play Well with Others. Produced by Homespun Tapes, the DVD comes with tablature and is nearly two hours of strategies, examples, and advice on making good music together, no matter your playing level.

Pat currently lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Posted by admin | Filed Under Comedy, Folk, Jazz, MUSICIAN INTERVIEW, PODCAST

Dr. Elmo Transcript

December 22, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Introducer: You’ve been listening to Sound Authors, where authors sound off. If you’d like more information about Sound Authors and Dr. Kent’s guests, visit soundauthors.com. Now, back to Dr. Kent and friends.

Dr. Kent Gustavson: Welcome back to Sound Authors. On the fourth segment of each show, we have authors of sound. It is my childish pleasure to welcome Dr. Elmo, who is the author of “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” I’ve loved it all my life. Welcome to the show.

Dr. Elmo: Hello, Dr. Kent. Great to be on.

Dr. Gustavson: Before anything else, I think I’ll play a little of the clip that made you famous. “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” Here we go.

Dr. Elmo: OK.[Musical interlude]

Dr. Gustavson: How did this song start in your head? Did you just sit down and start playing it?

Dr. Elmo: No, I just wrote it about a friend of mine. He had a grandmother who used to imbibe a lot during the Christmas holidays. We just sat and instead of saying she was hung over, it would more politically correct to say that she was run over by a reindeer.

Dr. Gustavson: [laughs] And this song has sold how many million copies? It’s on cute little reindeer dolls, right?

Dr. Elmo: Yeah, it’s amazing that it’s sold so much because, you know, in the beginning, it didn’t start out to be a hit. A lot of people didn’t like it. Whatever station would play it, somebody would call and say they didn’t like it and they would pull it off the air. So it kind of babbled on and off for about four or five years, until finally enough people called in and they started playing it.

Dr. Gustavson: And you’re one of the first successful independent artists in a way because now, it’s open to all sorts of musicians in the industry. But back when this song first came out 25 years ago, it was not common that somebody could just get on the radio.

Dr. Elmo: Not at all. I wasn’t even a full-fledged musician at that time. We didn’t have any promo company; we didn’t have any record company or anything. It seemed to me that we were just lucky enough that so many people called up, maybe more out of curiosity than anything. They called the radio stations so much that they kind of made a hit out of it, even without a promo.

Dr. Gustavson: Can you sing a little bit from some of your new music, which is just as amusing and everything as that song was back then. We’ve all gotten an email from Nigeria. Sing a little bit from “Santa’s Email from Nigeria”, if you would?

Dr. Elmo: [sings]When your arrears up-rear yah,Like bird flu or diptheria,Hope Santa won’t bum steer yah,With an email from Nigeria.

Dr. Gustavson: all right. I assume you’ve also gotten emails from Nigeria. Have you answered any of them?

Dr. Elmo: Well, now, whenever I receive an email from Nigeria, I always send them a link to my song.

Dr. Gustavson: [laughs] Nice. And you’re also a marathoner. I hear that you ran the New York marathon this year. Do you sing when you hit the wall at 20 miles?

Dr. Elmo: [laughs] That’s the last thing that comes out of me when I hit 20 or 21 miles. You won’t be hearing anything out of me other than heavy breathing.

Dr. Gustavson: [laughs] What are you working on now?

Dr. Elmo: I’m working on a new album. I make a new Christmas album every year. I’m working on a new album. I have a new Halloween album that we just had out in the last year. That was our last project. It involved a lot of writing that I thought was our cleverest one yet.

Dr. Gustavson: And where can we find your music online and in stores? What’s your website?

Dr. Elmo: It’s online. My website is drelmo.com which is just D-R-E-L-M-O or drelmo.com. My music is available at all Wal-Mart stores and pretty much stores all over the country. That’s by Wal-Mart and most of the rest of them as well.

Dr. Gustavson: And we can find it everywhere, I can assure you. Let’s listen to a little bit of “Grandma’s Killer Fruitcake.” We’ve got it cued up here. Let’s listen.

Dr. Elmo: OK.[Musical interlude]”Holidays were upon us, And things were going fine.’Til the day I heard the doorbell, and a chill went up my spine.I grabbed the wife and children, and as the postman wheeled it in.I fear the Christmas nightmare has come back again.”"It was harder than a heavy, hocky pucky, heavy as a sermon, if you’re lucky.One’s enough to give the whole state of Kentucky a great big belly ache.It was denser than a drove of barnyard turkeys. Tougher than a truckload of all beef jerkies.Drier than drought in Albuquerque. Grandma’s killer fruitcake.” [trails off but plays in background]

Dr. Gustavson: I love your songs. I’ve been a follower for many years and a lot of us have loved your songs even though we might not necessarily have known who you were. We’re going to check out your website at drelmo.com. What are you doing for Christmas this year?

Dr. Elmo: Well, I’m on a tour right now, but I’m going to be home. I’m in Rochester, New York. I’m in Binghamton, New York, sorry, and I’m playing with Brenda Lee tonight in a concert. Then we play in Syracuse and then I fly back to California. I have a couple of my own concerts back in Marin County, California. That will be on Christmas Eve.

Dr. Gustavson: So we’ll keep tabs on you at drelmo.com. Thank you so much for being on the show.

Dr. Elmo: Thank you, Dr. Kent. It was my pleasure.

Dr. Gustavson: And thank you to everyone who was on the show today: Natalia Ippolito, Bob Goodrich, Jon Paul Hutchins and Dr. Elmo. Thank you to engineer Anthony Farabee, host guru Sonia Darte, Executive Producer Charlavan Hart, Sound Engineer Reuben Columbe, and Randy Jackman with e-cards.Be safe and have a happy holidays. We’ll see you next week. Visit us on the web at soundauthors.com.[Musical interlude]

Posted by admin | Filed Under Comedy, TRANSCRIPTS, Folk, MUSICIAN INTERVIEW, PODCAST

Dr. Elmo | Grandma & the Reindeer

December 21, 2007 | Leave a Comment

Interview with Dr. Elmo [7:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

We had the amusement of chatting with legendary comic singer Dr. Elmo, who shared the story with us about his song “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,” and what he’s up to now…
From the Wikipedia entry on Dr. Elmo:

Elmo Shropshire, better known as Dr. Elmo, is a singer of comedy songs, most notably “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” He originally recorded the song in 1979 with his then-wife Patsy. He re-recorded it solo in 1992 for the album Dr. Elmo’s Twisted Christmas and again in 2000 for the album Up Your Chimney. He also recorded two albums of year-round songs: Dr. Elmo’s Twisted Tunes (1993) and Love, Death and Taxes (2000).

Elmo is a native of Lexington, Kentucky, and has a degree in veterinary medicine. After moving to San Francisco, he opened an animal hospital and became a competitive runner, all while continuing to play with his bluegrass band. It was then that he recorded “Grandma…” (written by his friend Randy Brooks) and became an instant regional superstar.

Elmo originally invested $40,000 of his own money to produce the original album and music video for “Grandma…” and in return, he’s become “a millionaire five times over” ^[1]. Since then, Elmo has become part of a class action suit against Sony based upon the royalties paid from digital downloads and ringtone sales. ^[2]

In a Christmas special, “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,” Dr. Elmo is the voice of Grandpa, and performs a small portion of a song, “Grandma’s Spending Christmas with The Superstars.”