The Lovell Sisters | Musician Jessica Lovell

June 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Dr. Kent: Welcome back to Sound Authors. On the four part of each show I like to feature an author of sounds. This group the Lovell Sisters really impressed me the first time I saw I heard them and that was on Garrison Keillor’s Show “A Prairie Home Companion”. They were pretty young when they were on the show. And I was blown away by their sound. This group is just come back from Sweden. They were on about a week tour in Sweden and now they are back in the Midwest and their going to go down south pretty soon and out east. They’re going all over the place so now I have Jessica on the line from the Lovell Sisters. Welcome to the show.

Jessica: Hello. Thank you so much for having me. How are you doing?

Dr. Kent: Very Good. So you just come back from Sweden I see.

Jessica: Yes we actually just got off the plan not long ago and then drove Atlanta where we flew in up to we are now in Middleton Wisconsin and we’re doing a show here tonight. So it’s been a good time. Everybody had a fantastic time in Europe, we were in Norway and Sweden for almost three weeks and now we are going on another 10 day run. Kind of in Wisconsin, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and down to Maryland and gong back home. We live in Callhoun Georgia. But our mother and father, we have a little brother who is 6 years old. His name is Thomas are very much anticipating out return home. But we’re having a good time.

Dr. Kent: Now your three sisters. Tell me about the family a little bit you told me you got a little brother and parents but tell me about the Lovell Sisters.

Jessica: Well my name is Jessica, I’m the oldest. I play fiddle. The middle sister, her name is Megan. She plays the Dobro. Our youngest sister Rebecca plays mandolin and also plays finger style guitar. That’s the three of us we’re also touring with two guys in our bank who are fantastic instrumentalists. Daniel Kimbro playing the bass and Matt Twingate playing guitar. So we really have fun on the road. It’s been really a great band. The band is really tight and of course we’re very excited about the new CD in our lives we’re playing the new songs and so it’s been awesome.

Dr. Kent: So how about without further a do I’d love to play the title track from the album were going to play the whole track so you can put me on speaker and chill out a bit. Its called “Time to Grow” the title track from the Lovell Sisters new album. When’s it come out?

Jessica: I think over the summer date not exact the release date not been quite set. That is should literally know that in the next couple days here. We’re really excited about that and I think its going to be released a little sooner but kind of more information TBA later on that.

Dr. Kent: Cool.

Jessica: The record we just finished recording in Nashville.

Dr. Kent: We’ll talk to you in a minute after this tune is done.

Jessica: Ok Thank You so much.

Music Playing

Dr. Kent: That’s a beautiful tune from the Lovell Sisters “Time to Grow.” It’s the title track of their album that’s going to be released this summer. Jessica promising us that there be a digital version to released before that. So welcome back to the show again Jessica.

Jessica: Thank you so much.

Dr. Kent: Tell us about tack

Jessica: Sorry one more time?

Dr. Kent: Tell us about that track a little bit.

Jessica: That track we had some fun making this record. I think for us the last couple years have been a real learning experience for us. WE basically have decided to keep creative control and through make the record the way we wanted to. Just play the music that inspired us and this is a song that Rebecca out baby sister and she’s playing finger style guitar on this track and Megan playing Dobro and I’m playing fiddle. So we went into the studio and were able to create the sound that we wanted I think that not being on a label is really giving us the able to do that and so “Time to Grow” I think is also kind of what this whole record really means for us. WE put out our debut CD in 2005 after going on Prairie Home Companion. Which was an awesome experience for us going on Prairie home Companion. We put out that first CD and so now it’s been awhile since we put out a CD. That time for us to learn a whole lot and find out own voice. I think this record really is a good snap shot of what we are over the last couple years. We’ve toured a lot and had the opportunity to meet a lot of really really cool people and artists and just to have a lot of experiences. We certainly wouldn’t have otherwise had except for just having people supporting us and going out on the road. Rebecca was 25-26 when that first record come out and she just turned 18. So getting involved with songwriting as well that all those different things floating around the creation of into this CD and which that was the title track.

Dr. Kent: I was listening to the show that night the Prairie Home Companion and that was my first introduction your group and you did a bang up job on that show. I remember going to your website that same day because I was so struck by it wasn’t only you guys have great sound and a great song style but I was blown away by your instrumental talent as a trio.

Jessica: Wow! Thank You so much. That’s really cool, I mean that was actually out 2nd official; gig we been involved in classical music and like sing in our church choir prior to that so we heard bluegrass and just started messing around more like at home on weekend and we played this little place called the Sigoneon Opry on Friday nights and that’s where we heard Bluegrass for the first time. That acoustic music that how we landed that one and found out the same time we were going to be playing on Prairie Home Companion. We sent in a demo and so we were so nervous to go on that program but it went well and that opened a lot of doors that we didn’t’ even know existed and its been am amazing ride since then. Now we’re making music which is just a great blessing it’s an opportunity for us to be touring around especially us sisters as well.

Dr. Kent: As part of that your on the your not an easy from the outside seem oh what a blessing you get to play all these gigs but then when you describe all the nitty gritty of it you get off the plan and drive for tons of hours to the next gig and to the next one. It’s a hard life on the road.

Jessica: You know it is but I think that from a lot of that comes a lot of inspiration for the song writing itself as well and makes you feel like a step away when your away from home. It’s a different kind of reality like for instance today we flew into Atlanta driving 14 hours from Atlanta to Wisconsin, snowing for part of it, it was raining for part of it. You get your good and you meet, there’s things on the road you never expect and I think its true of everyone you want to try and plan your life as much as you can but you know a lot of times stuff happens and it maybe the best thing that ever happened and you just have to be flexible and move forward and stay close to the people around you that’s something especially for us that we realized how important people are in your life no matter what’s happening around or to you that those people are really the whole part. Kind of been the point on another track of this CD that’s called “Subway song” that Megan wrote and that really incaps that for me. Yeah we’re having such a great time. Thank you for having me on by the way this is great talking to you.

Dr. Kent: Absolutely again your music fast want to ask you one more question and we’ll play another track from the record.

Jessica: Yeah Sure.

Dr. Kent: About your instrumental ability the three of you, How did that develop?

Jessica: You know we started playing classical violin and piano when we were younger little like maybe 6 years old. Music has always been a hobby for us. So all three of us started on violin and piano we played in symphonies and quartets. We still; we still love classical music although we aren’t as involved in it as we were starting out. Then we heard bluegrass music for the first time, that’s when Megan started playing the dobro and Rebecca started playing the mandolin. We were really proud of Rebecca, she become the first woman and youngest contestant ever to win the Merlefest International Mandolin competition. I think just being able to play and there’s more and more girl pickers out there we’re meeting. I think that’s really great. There’s a lot of women in the music industry just great role models for the girls getting started like Alison Kraus to the Dixie Chicks. There’s a lot of great singer/songwriter instrumentalists that are great role models. Yeah we’ve been playing bluegrass for I guess 5 or 6 years. So that’s how long we’ve been playing the current instruments. It’s a good time and the band we have is great.

Dr. Kent: Cool. You must be pretty good at it because you sure didn’t sound like you were playing your second gig on Garrison Keillor. Ever since then this is a beautiful album. It has the sound of the Dixie Chicks they play their own instruments and you guy do the same thing. You’ve definitely developed some serious talents there. I love this new album. Tell me about this track “Take One Moment” and we’ll listen to that.

Jessica: Sure “Take One Moment” I love that track. That was written its kid of funning talking about being on the road and off the road. It was written by Megan and Rebecca. We been on the road for at least a week and had 24 hours at home. As so as we were in the house, all of a sudden the girls were gone didn’t know where they were. They disappeared and breakfast came and breakfast went still no girls and they came back downstairs, they had written this song and recorded demo that’s how heard it. Rebecca has a little studio in her room its like a one Mic and a tool rig. She really enjoys recording things and kind of experimenting and this is one of the things that came out of Rebecca’s room. So I hope people will enjoy it I really love this track.

Dr. Kent: Thank You so much for chatting with me. We’re going to listen to this track and we’re going to say Good Bye for this week. I can’t wait to talk to you again sometime and I’ll definitely keep up with what you’re doing.

Jessica: Wonderful Thank You so much.

Dr. Kent: And we can go to lovellsistersband.com and there’s a whole bunch of information about their tour, which is going on all over the place right now. We’ll talk to you again soon.

Jessica: Thank You.

Dr. Kent: We’re going to play a track called “Take One Moment” and this is from the upcoming album from the Lovell Sisters “Time to Grow.”

Music Playing

Dr. Kent: That was a beautiful tune called “Take One Moment” from the Lovell Sisters album “Time to Grow.” Check out their CD when it comes out later this year, it their second release. An amazing group of sensitive vocals and incredible instrumental skills.

Wells its been my honor today to have three authors and one musician on the show. Of course I chatted with James Bond Anthology author Raymond Benson at the beginning that was a blast. Paul Doyle who was narcotics agent and chatted with us about his book. That is already doing very well and also Jeremy Robinson, who is the author of Antarktos Rising and talked to him special worlds in fiction. And take it easy this week and pick up a good book and we’ll see you the next time.

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

Interview with Musician Susan Oetgen of Likeness to Lily

June 1, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Dr Kent: What a great tune, False Hopes, from the album Farewell, Recruit, and the band is called Likeness to Lily. Welcome to the show, Susan, I’m going to say your name incorrectly. Why don’t you tell me how to say it.

Susan Oetgen: Thank you, my last name is pronounced “Oetgen.”

Dr Kent: “Oetgen,” oh great. I slaughtered it earlier. Well, what an incredible track. There’s a little bit of out music in there, there’s some classical, there’s some jazz. Tell me about this.

Susan Oetgen: Well, that’s a piece that I co-wrote actually with the pianist in my band, Tony Malone, who trained, really as like a jazz pianist, and one of the reasons that I’ve loved writing this tune with him is because he really sort of brought that improvisatory and kind of off the rails sensibility of the jazz and improvisations you have, and we invited Peter Huff to play the clarinet, and Franz Nicolai who is on that track playing the accordian. He’s also, I think maybe if you know the band, the whole study, Franz (inaudible) is the whole study, and they’re kind of old friends of all of ours from jazz circles and old circles in New York. It was just kind of a tune that we wanted to get pretty free form and let everybody have their way with.

Dr Kent: Well, it’s so cool. How did you all find each other in the first place?

Susan Oetgen: The band? Likeness to Lily?

Dr Kent: Yes.

Susan Oetgen: Well, I started the band in 2003, and at the time I gathered together a group of musicians that I had worked with on different projects, and piano-based drums and guitar at the very beginning. Ian Riggs and I are actually the only two originals who sort of started with the band. But after a period of time, we were looking for a different drummer, and Ian suggested Evan Pasner, who he knew from lots of different projects around Brooklyn. Then Tony Malone went to, I guess Ian and Tony met each other when they went at Oberlin, so he came on board a little while after that, and that’s been the quartet for the last two years, two and a half years.

Dr Kent: When you’re writing a tune like this, with a great piano player like he obviously is, and this crazy arrangement, what do you do? Do you start with some words? Do you fish out a little tune here and a little tune there? What’s your process?

Susan Oetgen: Well actually I think one of the things that makes Likeness to Lily a unique, and sort of have the unique sound that it has is that it’s a very collaborative setup, the four of us are really good collaborators. But every song that we’ve written so far…

Dr Kent: You still there? I think I might have lost Susan, but hopefully we’ll try and get her back. Are you back? I lost her again. Their website is likenesstolilymusic.com, and it’s really inspiring music, incredible lyrics, and I’m pretty amazed by their whole sound, and it’s a mix of classical, jazz, and this and that. I’m going to play another song from it, and in the meantime we’re going to get Susan back on the line, she’s the lead singer from Likeness to Lily. So I’m going to play a track from their album called Farewell, Recruit, and we’ll talk to her about it right after the little pause here.

(music)

Dr Kent: And what a beautiful tune that is. That was called Farewell, Recruit, by Likeness to Lily. And we’ve had some technical difficulties today, talking with Susan, but she’s going to be calling in here in a minute, and we’ll talk to her live on the show. In the meantime, the band Likeness to Lily is four members, she’s Susan Oetgen, and there’s Tony Malone on piano, Ian Riggs on bass and Evan Pasner on drums. And I think I have you live on the air again, Susan.

Susan Oetgen: Hi.

Dr. Kent: How are you doing?

Susan Oetgen: I’m good, I’m good.

Dr. Kent: We lost you for a minute there, but we’re now back. That was a beautiful tune, my goodness, tell me about some of the other tunes from the album, including the one we just listened to, which is called Farewell, Recruit.

Susan Oetgen: Oh, sure. Well, the record has six songs on it, there are twelve songs in total, but six of the songs on the record come from a piece that I was commissioned to write by the Brooklyn Philharmonic last year, where I was invited to bring Likeness to Lily and combine Likeness to Lily with chamber musicians, violin, cello and flute, and create a piece for a series that the Brooklyn Philharmonic does at the Brooklyn Museum, which involves collections, like the paintings or images in the museum’s collection. And the program that I was invited to write this commission for was based on the Islamic Art Collection at the Brooklyn Museum. So I had been working really with material related to the Marine Corp and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and somehow it kind of all came together when I went to the museum to research the actual paintings, and saw these really beautiful works of art that told the story of two lovers called Leila and Maglilan, which is sort of like the Romeo and Juliet of Islamic literature. So I created a piece with six songs that told the story of Leila and Maglilan in a kind of updated version of a United States Marine and a woman who meet and fall in love and then are separated because he’s deployed, which roughly follows the same story line as the two lovers Leila and Maglilan, who are separated for various reasons. So the song Farewell, Recruit, I think really sets the stage of that story and kind of introduces the rest of the record as like a sort of story that incorporates contemporary ideas as well as a more poetic and ancient one, too.

Dr. Kent: I’d like to talk about the words for a minute, before we get disconnected. We were kind of talking about that, whether you were talking about the process of how Likeness to Lily is special to you, and I was asking you about words first, music first.

Susan Oetgen: Yeah, sure. I think that the thing that makes Likeness to Lily unique is that really the songs start as poems or stories that I write and then set to a melody and then create for, and then bring to Tony and Evan and Ian, and as a group we arrange those melodies and create the songs that you hear on the record. I think that as we’ve developed as a band one thing has become really clear to us, and that is that the music is really, it’s very storytelling, not just in terms of the lyrics, which are always, you know, really most of the songs have a really narrative point of view, they’re about characters or portraits of characters, and that sort of thing, but the music itself also contributes to that storytelling, because I think that what we create I the moment, either listening to the songs on a record or live, is a way to kind of escape into another universe where as an audience you can kind of have a keyhole viewpoint on a different story or different people living out a different story line. So yeah, they always sort of start with the lyrics, that’s for sure.

Dr. Kent: And one thing I like about Farewell, Recruit is in the middle of the song you talk about September 11th, and it’s such a visual story. This guy goes to become a member of the Army, and it’s definitely from the woman’s perspective, and she says, “Was it really so brutal?” It’s an interesting part of the story that we don’t often hear about, but it’s kind of the result of all these, there’s so many military men that are committing suicide and this and that because their relationships are, you know, people just can’t understand.

Susan Oetgen: Yeah.

Dr. Kent: A really powerful story for these times. In what sense, how do you incorporate words? Are you like a poet that gets up every morning and does ten minutes of poetry? Or do you sort of explode with it?

Susan Oetgen: I think it sort of comes in little segments here and there. Sometimes just a phrase or a word will seem really interesting, and then all of a sudden it will sort of spin out into a lyric, kind of of its own energy. But I think it’s mostly just because, as a way of communicating, language is so natural. I trained as a classical singer, and I’ve been a singer more than I would say a musician for most of my life. So the medium of words and language is something that is really natural, and I’ve spend a lot of time studying. Like in classical singing you really study the words of an opera, or the words of an art song, because a lot of times they’re in foreign languages, and you really have to know what you’re singing about. So in a way, I think that you, yeah, I heard of, I think it was E. Ennie Poole, the author who in an interview said that she gets up every morning, and it’s like any other job, she just sits down at the desk, and for like 8 hours, what she does is she writes. I definitely am not like that. I wish I had that kind of discipline, but it’s more just like, you know, words and images, or like a story kind of comes to mind and then it’s like a little bit of work at it whenever it seems inspired, you know.

Dr. Kent: Well, very cool. I’m going to play one more track here, and I’ll say goodbye to you know, but it’s Helen the Blessed. Tell me a little about that one.

Susan Oetgen: Oh sure, yeah. That actually, that piece is based on a poem that was written by my aunt, my father’s younger sister. She wrote a poem, which I adapted slightly to make it into more of like a song format lyrically, but it’s a song about my great grandmother on my father’s side, and her three sons, so she was, she lost three of her four sons before she died, and the fourth son I think was a priest. So in a way it was like saying good bye to all four of her sons, and it’s just, I thought that was an inspiring story because it seems so different than the kind of modern stories that you hear, like in the time of war there really is this thing where people have sons and daughters that go away, more than one, and it really affects the family life. So I thought it was, even though it’s a song about a different place and a different time, it’s kind of topical to what we live today in our society today. But it is about my great grandmother, a true story, if you will.

Dr. Kent: Well, very cool. Thank you so much for chatting with me. I’ve been speaking with Susan, the lead singer of Likeness to Lily, and their website is likenesstolilymusic.com.

Susan Oetgen: Thanks so much.

Dr. Kent: I’m going to play a track from Likeness to Lily, from their last album, and that’s called Farewell, Recruit, of course named after that gorgeous song we just listened to, and this song is called Helen the Blessed. Let’s listen to that.

(music)

Dr. Kent: That was a beautiful tune from Likeness to Lily, and that one’s called Helen the Blessed from their latest record called Farewell, Recruit. Well, it’s been a great show this week, thank you so much for tuning in. This is Dr. Kent, and I’m tuning out. I hope you have a safe one, and I hope you crack a book, and I hope you go to Likeness to Lily’s website and check out their music, what incredible sounds. So be well, enjoy the new spring we’ve got and have a great weekend.

Posted by admin | Filed Under TRANSCRIPTS, Experimental, Folk, Classical, MUSICIAN INTERVIEW, Jazz, PODCAST

Sarah Watkins | Nickel Creek Singer & New Solo Record

April 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Interview with Sarah Watkins | Nickel Creek Singer & Fiddler [21:21m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I loved speaking with Sarah Watkins about her brand new solo career, tour and record, after so many successful years with Nickel Creek. Check out the tunes and conversation in this interview! More about Sarah’s new album from her MySpace page:

In 1989, Watkins, barely out of her childhood, started playing in a nascent version of Nickel Creek at the seemingly unlikely venue of That Pizza Place in Carlsbad, California, along with her guitarist brother Sean and mandolinist friend Chris Thile (and chaperoned, of course, by her bluegrass-playing parents). The prodigious young trio built a reputation in bluegrass, folk, and country circles, then catapulted to mainstream prominence in 2000 after releasing an album produced by Alison Krauss. When not on the road or in the studio with Nickel Creek, Watkins guest-starred as fiddler and/or harmony vocalist on albums by Bela Fleck, the Chieftains, Ben Lee, Dan Wilson, Richard Thompson, and Ray La Montagne, among others. In addition, Watkins and brother Sean established an informal get-up-and-jam residency called the Watkins Family Hour at L.A. club Largo, “an uber-cool but cozy music and comedy club in Hollywood,” as Sean has put it. Watkins brings the spirit of the long-running Watkins Family Hour to her debut. It was there, in fact, that she developed and fine-tuned the repertoire for the album: “I had lived with a lot of this material for a while. It was tested and tweaked through the years playing at Largo. Songs would come and go; these are the songs that have stuck. Some are newer than others—’Lord Won’t You Help Me’ was a deliberate choice for the record. Some I had done for years, like Jon’s ‘Same Mistakes.’ ‘Too Much’ is a David Garza song, and I always loved it.”

John Paul Jones, who’d briefly toured during 2004 with Nickel Creek and Toad the Wet Sprocket lead singer Glenn Phillips in an ad hoc group called Mutual Admiration Society, had long encouraged Watkins to make a record of her own, offering his services well before she was ready to hit the studio. As Watkins recalls, laughing, “A couple of years ago we saw John Paul Jones at the Cambridge folk festival. He came up after our performance and said that if I didn’t let him produce my record he would never speak to me again. I was thrilled that he was that excited about it. He actually stayed with it and kept in touch. At that point, in Cambridge, I believe we had already talked about winding down the Nickel Creek touring, so it was a really convenient time and it helped me stay focused. It was a perfect moment to start transferring over the creative energy.”

Jones kept a familial atmosphere, and maintained an unobtrusive presence, in the studio, says Watkins: “I think he was allowing the band to be a band and play for each other, rather than have us play through a song, then look to see if that’s what he was or wasn’t looking for. Eventually, John would give us his feedback and directions to guide us in. I think that has a lot to do with the sound of the record being band-oriented, especially considering there were a lot of different musicians coming in.” Cutting John Hartford’s “Long Hot Summer Day” was especially inspired—with Rawlings playing “caveman drums,” Welch strapping on an electric guitar, and Watkins revving up everyone with her fiddle playing. The compellingly straightforward arrangements she and Jones devised allow Watkins’ personality to come through, illustrating both her sensitivity and her strength. Theses sessions had been a long time coming, but it’s clear that Watkins has only just begun.

—Michael Hill

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

James Reams | Troubled Times Music

April 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Interview with James Reams | Troubled Times [20:52m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I had a great conversation with James Reams about New York city and old time music. I can’t wait to have him on the show again. More about James from his website:

James Reams & The Barnstormers plays
old-school bluegrass music.

James Reams formed James Reams & The Barnstormers in 1993. Originally from southeastern Kentucky, James migrated north in his mid-teens when his family moved to Appleton, Wisconsin, where he stayed until he moved to Brooklyn, New York, in the early 1980s. James has played both old-time and bluegrass music since he was a child. There were traditional singers on both sides of his family, and his father played in a string band. His hometown of London, Kentucky, honored him in 2004 for his contributions to the arts and sciences at its annual Laurel County Homecoming.

James is deeply involved in a thriving bluegrass and old-time music community in NYC. He has made several old-time and bluegrass recordings. His original songs (alone and co-written with Tina Aridas) are important additions to the bluegrass repertoire. His guitar playing was highlighted in Flatpicking Guitar Magazine’s Masters of Rhythm Guitar column. In addition to leading James Reams & The Barnstormers, he is the organizer of the annual Park Slope Bluegrass/Old-Time Jamboree, an annual music festival he started in 1998 that attracts 700 musicians and fans of traditional music to its workshops, jamming and concerts and is the only event of its kind in or around New York City.

In addition, James is working on a documentary film, Pioneers of Bluegrass Music, in which he interviews some of the first generation of bluegrass musicians about life on the road in the early days of the music. The project is still in production (a 20-minute preview was released on DVD as part of the Troubled Times CD).

Mark Farrell, like James, is no stranger to bluegrass and old-time country music, having played and recorded for many years with a number of bluegrass and old-time string bands, including Major Contay & The Canebrake Rattlers. He also contributes his great arranging talent to many of the band’s recordings. His great hoedown fiddling and edgy mandolin playing (as well as his sometimes unpredictable humor) earns him friends wherever he goes. Doug Nicolaisen has been playing banjo with bluegrass bands in the NY tri-state area for the past 17 years. His music incorporates many of the best elements of all the major banjo players yet his style reflects an individuality of its own and adds to the hard-driving energy of the band. The newest member of the Barnstormers, Nick Sullivan, has been playing bass since he was a tot. In the northern woods of Wisconsin he started playing 1950s rock and roll when he was 12 and has covered lots of musical terrain since that time, from ragtime jazz and West African traditional music to early country music and bluegrass. He adds rock-solid bass and great singing to the Barnstormers’ sound.

Posted by admin | Filed Under Bluegrass, Folk, MUSICIAN INTERVIEW, PODCAST

James Reams | Old Time Music from New York & Kentucky

March 26, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Dr. Kent: That was a tune from James Reams and the Barnstormers from an album called Troubled Times. The song is called Troubled Times and now we have the honor of chatting with James Reams and these are indeed troubled times so welcome to the show James.

James Reams: Dr. Kent, it’s so wonderful to hear your voice!

Dr. Kent: You are from Kentucky and you ended up in New York. Tell us about that journey.

James Reams: What happened was when I was a kid I really enjoyed print work, there was a person that I met who was actually a young girl and I had some romantic interest in her and also I had some interest in print making and I came to new York city with a cardboard box and a pair of work shoes and got thrown into the whole trade and it was probably the best thing that happened to me in my life as I was raised there in eastern Kentucky and it was sort of hard scrabble but all of a sudden I came to new York and it was a completely different world. I got to meet people from all walks of life and it was an amazing adventure and still is.

Dr. Kent: As someone who, I live out on Long Island but I do know there’s an old time thriving music scene in New York and what I love about your music is it’s not polished to the T, it’s got that old time feel to it. Tell me about your theories on music and how that fits in New York City?

James Reams: Well you know yeah, I actually like the old time sounds and I was raised that way and I know also that you appreciate it too. I know that you have a book coming out about Doc Watson actually and he’s a hero of mine and so many people and what I like about music is I like it to be authentic and real and when we go and record an album we do it live in the studio with very little fixing and I also for years in the city I helped support a blue grass and old time convention that happens every year and this following year will be 12 years that we’ve had it going on. It’s called bluegrass and old time jamboree in park slope and it’s held by the Ethical Society and we have over 700 people who come in and have workshops and we have masters of the instruments. New York has a lot of great figures and they show people how to play mandolin, fiddle, banjo, we have film series and we really enjoy it, we’re having it in September.

Dr. Kent: Where do folks find out about that?

James Reams: They can go to my website at www.jamesreams.com and also a facebook page that has a listing of things and a nice film of last year where we had a new lost city ramblers celebration. We had two of the original new lost city ramblers and it was special to them because it had been 50 years from the night that they played together and its very rare film footage on that facebook page. You don’t have to be a facebook member to see it.

Dr. Kent: I’m looking at it right now, it’s in September 11-12, 2009 in Prospect Park area. That seems pretty neat and there’s some video up there of John Cohen, I think that’s who you’re talking about right?

James Reams: That’s right, John Cohen and Tom Paley. Tom has this really interesting history because he used to work with Woody Guthrie. Toms a New York fellow who is a big part of old time music and played with Woody Guthrie and now he lives over in England and he comes over occasionally. I recorded an album with him too, something that came out on Copper Creek Records. Mysterious Redbirds were Tom and I and Bill Christophersen recorded an old time album of some of the old-time songs and tunes. Tom was just such a big influence on me and part of what I love about music is to honor those who have made it and I also had another opportunity to make an album with a real legendary character, somebody in bluegrass many people may not know probably, a cult legend named Walter Hensley who was the very first banjo player to play Carnegie Hall. He played with Earl Taylor and I think it was 1952 [1959] and I did two albums with him and that was really exciting too and one was actually nominated for a blue grass recorded event of the year by the international bluegrass music association, which I know you’re a member of.

Dr. Kent: I am now, I just joined and the funny thing about blue grass I like that the world talks about old time music as bluegrass but there’s such a big difference. There’s a different amount of heart in old time music I think.

James Reams: I think there is a big difference and the music that I love the most straddles those two and in the 1930s and 1940s and probably even a little into the 50s there were people who straddled those two and that’s the type of music that really inspires me and there’s still some people doing that today, like the Dry Branch Fire Squad and there’s a number of groups that try to straddle that old time bluegrass, but you’re right there’s two different camps and that’s sort of a shame. Even in bluegrass there’s like two different camps, traditional and contemporary and I think all the labels and I know that you’re a believer in this too. All those labels, they help have people understand, but also they hurt. I think that a lot of times musicians like yourself and myself what we do is create music and its almost organic, it just comes out from us so I’m hard pressed to even sometimes label what I do even though I think most of the time I get my records thrown in the bluegrass bin. It feels like an extension of me and I think that’s where music becomes a wonderful part of your life.

Dr. Kent: I had the great pleasure this year, I went to the thanksgiving concert of Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger at Carnegie hall and that was a real blast for me because I grew up with that music and their music crosses over between bluegrass old time somewhere in there and Pete Seeger, it was so neat to see him as part of the inauguration ceremonies this year. Talk about Pete Seeger and I guess the history of this music. What’s your take on all of it?

James Reams: Well Pete Seeger is I think an unsung hero of music and also his half-brother Mike Seeger too but Pete Seeger had that rainbow quest television program out of NYC and you still get the films of that where he brought in like Doc Watson and Clint Howard and Fred Price and those folks and also Johnny Cash and the Stanley Brothers. People in the urban world had become aware so I think Pete Seeger has really made so many people aware of their roots and that’s what I think right now in America you really see this new type of music; Americana, and you see that its being embraced by more and more people and I understand how people say I don’t really like country music because its turned its back on the roots of music. I think that if people have a sort of idea that they don’t like something like country music maybe they should explore the roots because the roots of it are extremely beautiful because it’s made by everyday people who struggle and with making their lives better through music.

Dr. Kent: All right, so you’ve got this record Wild Card, another one Troubled Times. Give us your advertisement about that.

James Reams: The Troubled Times record is really interesting because it has a CD and DVD. In the DVD I actually interviewed a lot of the pioneers of bluegrass music. Jimmy Martin, Sonny & Bobby Osborne, and the DVD is free when you buy the CD Troubled Times, its one of those two-for discs and there’s a documentary about myself and the jamboree and the Barnstormers and follows us making this music out of NYC, which so many people say this seems so strange – a bluegrass band out of NYC but we do and if you look at our schedule we’ll be playing west Virginia this year and places like that. The documentary shows how we grow bluegrass in the cracks of the city where we say red clay meets concrete. I guess you can get it at cdbaby or amazon. Plus I have a number of other albums available like you said; Wild Card, with the great John Glik and all of them are still available except my very first one Song Birds, which is out of print.

Dr. Kent: I love the sound and we’re going to play one more track. This one is from Wild Card, we’re the kind of people that make the juke box play. Tell me about that?

James Reams: I’ll tell you what that is; I like to take some of the older country forms and I love honky tonk country music and we’re the type of people who make the juke box play is a honky tonk song written by Johnny Paycheck that he was never able to record. We found it, changed it and made it bluegrass and we’re just so proud of it. So yeah, we hope that everybody enjoys it and I want to thank you for your time. I really appreciate you calling. I’m in Arizona now and I appreciate you tracking me down!

Dr. Kent: Absolutely, I would love to have you on again sometime. Its fun chatting about old-time music. There’s not many of us out there, I think a lot of people would love it if they hear it, but I’m a big fan.

James Reams: I know you’re originally from Oklahoma and the whole bit and I think it’s wonderful what you do along with everything else.

Dr. Kent: It’s been an honor speaking with James Reams. We’re going to listen to a track from Wild Card called We’re the Kind of People that Make the Jukebox Play. Troubled Times has a bonus DVD and what a perfect song and album for these times. Thank you so much for chatting with me and lets get together again down the road.

[music]

Dr. Kent: That was a beautiful tune from a guy named James Reams and that was his band with him, the Barnstormers. You can find out about him at jamesreams.com. What an honor to speak with all our superstar guests today. Alphie McCourt’s A Long Stones Throw, Dr. Allan Hamilton with The Scalpel and the Soul and Donald Greco’s Abramo’s Gift. Be safe and we’ll see you next week and read a good book between now and then!

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