Northwest songwriter and folk musician Laura Love has been at the frontlines of political movements since she was a little kid in Omaha, Nebraska, watching Civil Right race riots with her mom. She continued this work over the years, marching for anti-apartheid boycotts of South Africa in the 80s, marching in the raging streets of Seattle against the WTO in the 90s, and more recently, working in Ohio to turn the votes towards Obama in the 2008 Election. Time hasn't softened her beliefs or her desire to be out on the streets helping people, and with the Occupy movements spreading across the country, she knew she wanted to be on the front lines helping out again. Over the past six weeks, she's been down at the Occupy Oakland protests, right in the thick of all the police brutality and unlawful raids. It's rough and not without risk. She was brutally arrested following the November 2 General Strike at Occupy Oakland, and is now under constant threat of jail time by continuing to participate in any Occupy protest. This hasn't stopped her, and when I called for an interview, you could hear the assembly shouting in the background. On the phone, she told me she was 15 minutes away from marching again, this time with Occupy San Francisco.

On my end, I'm producing the Seattle Folk Festival this weekend, December 9-11, and Laura Love is one of our headliners! So I'm hoping that she'll be able to make it back for the festival without getting arrested again. But I knew this was the perfect opportunity to talk to a musician whose art I really respect and who has the courage to stand up for her people as well. There's such a long history of folk music as a tool for political activism, that I just had to know how this has changed or evolved in the radical new world of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Why Oakland?
Laura lives in the isolated Methow Valley in Eastern Washington, so Occupy Seattle would be a better choice, you'd think. "I was particularly drawn to Oakland because of its racial diversity," she said over the phone. "There are so many different influences here. It's a very diverse group of people. If they can get something done in Oakland, they can get something done anywhere." Laura's past few albums have been powerful and thought-provoking examinations of her own African-American heritage. Though she's known as a singer-songwriter, she's always had an affinity with American roots music, especially folk, Appalachian old-time, and bluegrass music. On 2007's NeGrass, she brought old Black spirituals together with bluegrass courtesy of producer Tim O'Brien. It was a surprising marriage, but not if you look at the historical record. African American musical traditions are the foundation of most American music, and spirituals have always been intertwined with bluegrass. With her new album, The Sweeter the Juice, Laura joins her music with NW dobro master Orville Johnson to look at the African-American music at the heart of many of our Civil Rights song repertoire. One of the most powerful tracks on the album is the old song "Eyes on the Prize", which Laura told me is actually based on an old slavery song "Keep Your Hands on the Plow". The song was cleverly adapted to the Civil Rights movement, keeping the original coded Biblical lyrics for freedom, and pointing the song's message to the movement. These new-old lyrics eerily reflect Laura's current position now, following her arrest in Oakland.

Laura Love & Orville Johnson: Load Up (L. Love)/Eyes on the Prize (trad.)

Eyes On the Prize (traditional lyrics)

Paul and Silas bound in jail
Got no body for to call their bail
Keep your eyes on the prize
Hold on

Paul and Silas thought
They was lost
Dungeon shook and
The chains come off
Keep your eyes on the prize
Hold on

Freedom's name is mighty sweet
And soon we're gonna meet
Keep your eyes on the prize
Hold on

Arrested in Oakland
Though Oakland's interim police chief Howard Jordan dismissed the November 2 Oakland General Strike as around 4,500 people, other news outlets have commented that the number could have been as high as 100,000.
Laura was involved with the march on November 2, and was actually joined by fellow bluegrass artist Laurie Lewis! Following the strike, which successfully shut down the Port of Oakland, some of the marchers, including Laura, returned to their camp in Oscar Grant plaza in downtown Oakland. According to Laura, there were about 5-600 people in the plaza when riot police moved in, also numbering in the hundreds. In the early morning, waiting for escalation, the conflict turned violent when a  handful of anarchists started a small fire. The anarchists fled the scene, leaving the rest of the peaceful occupiers at the mercy of the cops. The police filled the square with tear gas and moved in on the occupiers, most of whom were sitting peacefully. Laura told me the rest of the story: "They were extremely violent. Everyone I was with, most of us were sitting down with our peace signs. They were giving the order to disperse because this was 'an unlawful assembly.' We were staying there and exercising our rights to peaceful assembly. They grabbed me and pulled me behind their line, making a visual curtain between the crowd and me. They threw me to the ground, smacked my head on the pavement. Cuffed me extremely tightly, pulled me around by the cuffs and left the cuffs on for about three hours. I was in jail for fifteen hours and was charged with unlawful assembly and failure to leave the scene of a riot." In an example of profiling against OWS, Laura said that while she was in jail, she was told by the police that if they caught her again with Occupy Oakland, she could expect to spend a lot more than 15 hours in jail.


Laura was arrested while she was actually pleading with police to halt the mass arrests. There's amazing footage of her standing alone in front of a full line of riot cops. Curiously this footage can only be found on right-wing video outlets, since so many of these outlets jumped on the chance to report that protesters were violently clashing with police.

Screencap of Laura and the Riot Police just before she was arrested


Aftermath
Laura returned to Oakland this week for her arraignment, and learned that Oakland police were thinking of dropping charges. But now she has to call in once a week for a full year to check and see if they've decided to drop charges or not, and any further civil disobedience will affect this decision. It's a kind of forced probation, and it's not stopping her from getting out on the streets again. Since her arrest, she's been back in Oakland and Occupy San Francisco, working to stop home foreclosure auctions, to pressure banks to return foreclosed homes to their impoverished owners, and documenting her recent efforts in the Occupy San Francisco camp. The day we spoke, the camp had been raided in the early hours, when resistance was light, and the occupiers were now homeless.

Laura, and a lot of people, are all looking forward now to the next big Occupy movement: the December 12 West Coast Port Shutdown that will bring together people in most major West Coast cities in a call to stop port traffic for the day and cost the establishment huge amounts of money.

I wanted to talk to Laura about music and the Occupy movement, and she'd certainly been working on this. On November 2, she'd been stage managing and performing during the Strike, and over the past six weeks has seen a good number of other musicians joining in, like Laurie Lewis, Boots Riley, Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine (who's been out filming), indie songwriter David Rovics, and more. But with all the violent action against Occupy Oakland and San Francisco, she makes an excellent point that "it’s really hard to plan an event when at any moment you can be raided or your sound system confiscated."

So for now the good work being done is just standing in the front lines, documenting what's going one and standing up for all of today's disenfranchised. "We’ve come to a saturation point, with corporation and banks controlling every aspect of our lives," Laura explained. "They control our government, they’re stronger at this point than the office of the president. There are a lot of unemployed people out here; a lot of disenfranchised people. Virtually everyone has been touched by the foreclosure crisis in some way." Continuing a long personal history of protest and solidarity for the disenfranchised, Laura's back on the front lines today, and will be helping out Occupy Oakland and Occupy San Francisco for some time to come.

Laura Love & Orville Johnson: We Shall Not Be Moved / Stayed On Freedom

Come out and be a part of the movement! Join the West Coast Port Shutdown December 12!

OCCUPY SEATTLE

Support Laura Love and her Legal Efforts! BUY HER ALBUMS!

Laura Love & Orville Johnson: The Sweeter the Juice

Laura Love: NeGrass

And come to the Seattle Folk Festival on Sunday, December 10 to hear more of Laura's stories about Occupy Oakland. She'll be performing as Laura Love & Orville Johnson at Town Hall Seattle for the Sunday Family Jam. She's on at 3pm. She'll be joined that day by Pharis & Jason Romero, Jackstraw, Northern Departure, Riley Baugus & Kirk Sutphin, The Canote Brothers and more!

SEATTLE FOLK FESTIVAL

SUNDAY FAMILY JAM: Sunday, December 10, Town Hall Seattle

The Seattle Folk Festival is THIS WEEKEND! Wow, and by now I'm sure people are wondering what the heck a Crankie is anyway? (p.s. once you find out, mark your calendars to come to this once-in-a-lifetime chance to help make a Seattle Crankie—bring the whole family!—on Sunday, December 11th at Town Hall Seattle!)

We're so proud to be bringing out two young women from rural Virginia, fiddler Anna Roberts-Gevalt and old-time ballad singer/banjo player Elizabeth LaPrelle. Both of these women, as the duo Anna & Elizabeth, have been experimenting with ways to express traditional Appalachian culture through the folk arts. And they've found their muse with the old-fashioned "Crankies". These are kind of like hand-made movies, but rather than film, they're made with felt and cloth. Together, Anna & Elizabeth sew and assemble a long roll of felt covered with characters and artwork that depict a traditional story or ballad. They'll load this roll into a wooden viewer, and using a hand crank, the felt roll scrolls by in front of a window on the box. When they place a light behind the window, the light shines through the scroll and lights it up from behind. Whew! Kind of a long explanation, so let's just watch one of the Crankies:

Crankies aren't very common these days, but they used to be a form of old-fashioned movies that spread in New England and the South. Anna Roberts-Gevalt happened on the Crankies in her home state of Vermont, and there's actually a Crankie festival out there. Both Anna and Elizabeth have spent so much time exploring the traditions of the Appalachian Mountains, that the Crankies have become one of their preferred ways to spread their knowledge. Here's an excellent Crankie about Lella Todd, a great fiddler who once lived near Clay City, Kentucky.  

 It's so entrancing to watch that it's easy to lose sight of what we're seeing.  Each "frame" is comprised of intricate paper cut-outs attached to a felt cloth.

Here are some photos of the "behind-the-scenes" work being done for the Lella Todd Crankie (above). 

The attention to detail on each element elevates their Crankies to true art. They are a pleasure to watch and listen to. 

Anna & Elizabeth will be bringing a brand new Crankie as part of their "Snow Is On the Ground" show, which celebrates the beauty of winter.  "The performance centers on the theme of winter in Appalachia—stories of the cold weather today & in times gone by, and those songs, stories and good cheer that help us survive the chill, " they say.  It's a multi-media experience with two of Appalachia's premier musicians.

Anna Roberts-Gevalt plays fiddle, banjo, guitar, and flat-foots.  She spent an entire year documenting the lives of female fiddlers and banjo players in Kentucky's history in a project titled "In Her First Heaven: Musical lives remembered in story & sound", which you can read HERE. Her own musical contributions to the stream of Appalachian music is no small thing, either.  Give a listen below as she plays "The Cat Came Back":

 Elizabeth LaPrelle lives in Virginia, and has been steeped in ballad singing since she was a child.  "I try to sing ballads the way these folks and their ancestors might have sung when they were my age," she says.  "I also try to sing with the emotion that I feel when I listen to the stories and poetry in the songs."  She is considered to have the most authentic and soulful renditions of old Appalachian ballads (you can take a workshop on Appalachian ballad singing with Elizabeth on Saturday, December 10th, at the Seattle Folk Festival 2011!); but in addition to her heart-wrenching vocals she also plays a mean banjo!

 Don't miss you chance to see these two wonderful and talented Appalachian musicians at this year's Seattle Folk Festival!

Anna and Elizabeth will be playing at the Seattle Folk Festival all three days:

Friday Night—7-11pm at the Benefit Square Dance for Bike Works at the Rainier Valley Cultural Center.

Saturday—3 pm: Workshop on Appalachian Ballads at the Columbia City Church of Hope

Saturday Evening—7 pm, Appalachian Winter Evening Concert (where they will perform with a new Crankie!) at the Columbia City Theater

Sunday—1 pm, Sunday Family Jam concert at Town Hall Seattle. SPECIAL FAMILY EVENT: Make a Seattle Crankie with Anna & Elizabeth!! 2-3:30 pm at Town Hall Seattle.

See you there!

Making a Crankie:

I just got this email from Compass Records:
http://bit.ly/tL2HQv

They've got select overstock albums on sale for $FIVE DOLLARS from Now until October 31. You still have to pay shipping, I think, but this is pretty great. Since Compass now owns Green Linnet records (the powerhouse Celtic label of the 80s and 90s), they have some SEMINAL albums that I would really recommend you buy if you don't have them already:

Celtic Fiddle Festival: Encore

The original lineup of Kevin Burke (Ireland), Christian Lemaitre (Brittany) and Johnny Cunningham (Scotland). Classic.


Donna Long & Brendan Mulvihill - The Morning Dew

This album changed my life. Best album of Irish music I HAVE. EVER. HEARD.


Dervish - Live in Palma (2 Disk)

My favorite Irish band. This is a live 2-CD set, but 2 CDs for 5 bucks is pretty awesome.

Gerry O'Connor - Myriad

Great intro to the Irish tenor banjo tradition. Gerry O'Connor is pretty amazing. A bit poppy, but a great album.
 

James Keane - That's The Spirit

Great intro to the Irish button accordion. Raw trad, but masterfully done.

Kate Rusby - The Girl Who Couldn't Fly

Dead brilliant classic album of British trad. Jeez, Kate Rusby for $5? Yes please!

Kevin Burke - Portland

A true classic, this album of Irish fiddle Kevin Burke and the late accompanist/singer Micheal O Domhnaill is a must-have.

Kevin Burke and Open House - Second Story

Sligo Irish fiddle legend Kevin Burke's made his home in Portland for decades, and his NW band Open House was a wonderful blend of West Coast sounds, from klezmer to old-time to Mark Graham's funny songs and Sandy Silva's inspiring dancing.Pure classic must-have.

Kevin Crawford - In Good Company

Irish fluter Kevin Crawford is known for his work with super-group Lunasa, but this album is straight up trad, and the best you can get. It also features an ultra-rare appearance from fiddler Tony Linnane, one of my most favorites. Oh man, and Frankie Gavin kills it on a track here.


Kornog - Premiere

The band that put the eerie melodies of French Brittany on the Celtic map. Classic.

Kris Drever - Black Water

Orkney singer Kris Drever turns out top-flight albums that never seem to make it to the US. This is a rare chance to catch him at his best. Wonderful songs here.

Lunasa - The Kinnitty Sessions

Damn, yo! Lunasa is hands-down one of the best Irish trad bands. They've also been a huge influence on pretty much everyone else. This isn't their best album, per se, but if you don't have it, you need it!

Mick McAuley & Winifred Horan - Serenade

Not strict trad, that's for sure, but no one can fault these two master artists from Solas and how much fun they have on this great album.

Moving Cloud - Moving Cloud AND Foxglove

One of my favorite little-known Irish trad bands. Part of what makes them great is the absolutely stunning fiddling of Maeve Donnelly. She's a back-room brawler of a fiddler, all punch and spit. Love her playing! The other part that makes them great is their old-school dance sound, too rare in today's ultra-slick Irish trad world.

Oisin McAuley - Far From The Hills of Donegal

Dang, I don't have this, but I'm getting it! The Donegal fiddle style is punchier and more rhythmic than any other Irish fiddle style. Great stuff, and not only does this album from Danu's fiddler have great Donegal tunes, but more eclectic fare as well.

Sharon Shannon Albums!!

Dang, they have like every Sharon Shannon album up for $5. She's one of the best living Irish accordionists, but I love her for her gentle, subtle, and briliant Clare style of playing. Sure she's fun when she plays super fast and sings weird, unusual pop songs, but damn when she hits the trad Clare style with Mary Custy on fiddle.... Swooon....

Sharon Shannon/Frankie Gavin/Michael McGoldrick - Tunes

Oh, this album is awesome. This album is so powerful, they should tile the space shuttles with extra copies. Three of the best players ever to play Irish trad, even God himself, ol' Frankie Gavin? YES PLEASE!!!!

Susan McKeown - Lowlands

Though McKeown's a great Irish singer, she can travel pretty far afield. This is one of her best, most understated albums, and it draws primarily from the rich loam of Irish soil. Great stuff.


The Unwanted - Music from the Atlantic Fringe

A totally surprising, unexpected album of delights. Cathy Jordan and Seamie O'Dowd of Dervish join forces with harmonica whiz Rick Epping for an album that explores the links between Ireland and America. Check out our earlier review of this album

NOW, if you have all these albums, or most, already, then maybe you should pick up a new release or two? John Doyle's got a new album out, and Punch Brothers' Noam Pikelny has a pretty awesome solo bluegrass banjo out now too.

Noam Pilkeny: Beat the Devil and Carry a Rail
 

John Doyle: Shadow and Light


Happy Shopping!!

Your Friends at Hearth Music

After re-posting our photo-essay blog on the Wilds of Connemara to No Depression, we received an amazing comment from "Lucky Mud". A member of the vibrant No Depression online community, Lucky Mud, aka Mike McKinney, has traveled to Ireland extensively with his wife Maggie, and has some fascinating things to say about his time over there. He gave us permission to repost his comment, which we ended up liking better than our own blog!

Guest Post by Lucky Mud: The Wilds of Connemara

The first time I drove through Connemara was the first time I'd driven in Ireland. All my American training was screaming at me that we were going to die. Driving on the other side of roads the size of a table top, no white lines, no wide, safe shoulders to edge onto every time a lorry passed. Sheep stood on the road. Rain drummed the car's roof and raced down the steep hill sides in torrents, like the quick Irish rivers they were. Howling winds swept up water from Killary Fjord and made it swirl like dervishes across the surface.

It was our first Irish tour, and in our arrogance we even brought a cameraman who wanted to film our tour. To record our concert at the Linenhall in Castlebar. Fed him, filled him with Guinness and let him stay with us in homes and castles, and never saw him again. Americans, in short.

Now, eight years later, we're preparing our ninth tour for November. We stay at the foot of the Reek in Murrisk, drive (just the two of us now) through the Maum, through Connemara, have many dear friends in the West who invite us into their homes and their pubs, and we've learned a lot about Connemara.

The people of that area aren't isolated so much as they've simply stayed put. Kept on doing what they've always done while the rest of the country fell prey to the alluring ways of Europeans and Americans.

We've played in Maire Luc, laughed and drank with the good folk from the West and learned to talk softer, and to listen more than talk.

I'm amazed and disheartened at how many American musicians brag about going to Ireland to show them how to play Irish music. Luckily, most of them wind up in Dublin, which has large sections now devoted to pleasing Americans much like one of the fake cities in the Epcot Center at Disneyworld. The rest of Dublin goes on about its way.

Irish music, in Ireland, comes from the inside out. It's part of the DNA, it rages in the blood and comes out not only in song, but in the lilt of the language itself. We've been invited into inner circles where, in a room of a hundred people, Maggie and I are the only ones speaking English. On very rare occasions when we add a song, we sing a cowboy yodel or some old Honky-tonk from Lefty or Hank. But, mostly, we decline unless we really know the room.

Watch an American enter an IRA pub, like one we visit at Achill Island, and order a Black and Tan, or a Car bomb. Listen to the place get silent in an instant. Irish politics, like their music, is buried deep inside them. As is their language. I've posted some photos of Connemara, as well as the road through the Maum on our website. I loved the ones posted here on yours. They make me homesick for a place that isn't mine.

Thanks to Mike of Lucky Mud for the guest post

LUCKY MUD WEBSITE

 

Seattle's annual Northwest Folklife Festival is one of the biggest fests in the nation. With 800+ bands, 25+ stages, and a couple hundred thousand people in attendance, the festival grounds at the Seattle Center play host to near-anarchy levels of people. It's our official welcome to summer, and a beloved event. It's also a great place to catch new artists and new musical communities before the rest of Seattle discovers them. But how to do this? Folklife's schedule is easier to use than ever, with iPhone and Android apps, and a new level of interactivity, but you're still looking at hundreds of bands! Here's our insider's guide to what Hearth Music is looking forward to at Folklife to help guide your way. Enjoy!


Hearth Music's Full Recommended List

Indie Roots Stage

This is a brand-new stage at Folklife, and it's about time! Located in the now-defunct Fun Forest, between the EMP and the Center House (it's technically called "Center Square") the indie roots stage will feature a broad range of artists, all of whom relate in some way to American folk music, and will be curated by Folklife staff and partner organizations.

Hearth Music is proud to be one of those partners! Our showcase is on Monday, from 1-4 pm and will feature hardcore old-time pickers the Rabbit Foot Duo, rocking alt-jugband Sassparilla from PDX, and Danbert Nobacon, of legendary anarcho-folk-punkers Chumbawamba. We're really excited to see Mighty Ghosts again too. They killed their last show at Columbia City Theater and are quickly becoming our new favorite band!
 

LISTEN and learn more about Hearth's Indie Roots Showcase 
 

Our buddies over at American Standard Time have also put together a killer show on the Indie Roots Stage. We're looking forward to catching solid Hearth Music favorites like Cahalen Morrison & Eli West and the Crow Quill Night Owls. Plus Sam Watts, or Ghosts I've Met as he's known, will headline. His album as Ghosts I've Met is both eerie and beautiful and recommended.

Crow Quill Night Owls: Wake Up Sinners

Cool Shows

Of course, Folklife is built on shows. All kinds of crazy shows, from folk-punks to pagan-metalheads to fiddle and banjo nerds and maritime sea shanties, and lots of shows from local communities. Here are some cool choices of shows this year.
 

Punk as Folk

Friday, May 27
Fountain Lawn Stage, 6-9pm

If it seems sometimes that the crusty punks have taken over Folklife, that's because they largely have. Word has spread in the folk-punk community that Folklife has great busking and a real love of folk music of all stripes. And many of these young folk-punks are amazing musicians and true folk music aficianados in their own right. I'm not sure if there were crazy folk festivals in the 70s that drew the likes of the Fugs or the Holy Modal Rounders, but there should have been. And if there were, they woulda been like Folklife.

The Punk as Folk showcase is curated again this year by Caspian of our fav band, Blackbird Raum. Di Nigunim is a definite highlight, bringing raging klezmer-punk up from the Bay Area. Check out the great video of them below. The definite show highlight is The Barons of Tang, a folk-punk band traveling all the way over from Australia. There are plenty of bands out there doing punk circus acts, but these guys take it to a new level. They sound like a cabaret spiraling the drains of a seedy Southern backwoods town. But this isn't sloppy punk music, these guys are deliberate and smart and know what they're doing. It's a great sound, and their live shows are supposed to be pretty legendary.

The Barons of Tang: Villain (Stage Left)

 

Di Nigunim: Fascist Degradation

Cascadian Underground Folk

Friday, May 27
The Vera Stage, 7-10pm

Folklife's all about the secret, hidden shows that happen at the edges of the festival. For the past three or four years, one of the strangest and most compelling of these shows has been the Cascadian Underground showcase. Our rainy Northwest is home to a thriving community of nature-minded modern heathens, drawing from the lush vegetation and deep silences of our woods. They play folk music, but don't expect to see a bunch of banjos and fiddles. Instead, they go to the far-lost roots of folk music, appropriating medieval poetry and seasonal rituals, along with organic instruments. We're looking forward to German poet/painter/mystic Waldteufel, and the soft, thoughtful forest folk of Novemthree in particular. In fact, we just saw on their website that Novemthree is planning a split 7" with Mariee Sioux, one of our favorite indie folk artists. Awesome!

 
Novemthree: Beneath the Hemlock, Within the Grove

Mountain Blues

Saturday, May 28
Fountain Lawn Stage, 1-3pm

While a small handful of excellent roots musicians in Seattle get most of the press, there are some insanely talented players lurking just outside this inner circle and sometimes just outside the city limits. Sometimes they pop up as sidemen in awesome bands, as mando whiz Ethan Lawton did with Zoe Muth's band, and sometimes they form killer bands that don't get near as much press as they should. Jangle Bones is one of those bands. Led by country blues picker Cort Armstrong, Jangle Bones plays mountain moonshine music. Not the kind you'd expect in the Northwest, and certainly not what many are used to out here. And more's the pity. The Jelly Rollers feature harmonica player Sean Divine, who's also in Jangle Bones. I love his vocals; they've got the kind of rough edge that will be ground down over the years into a kind of R.L. Burnside drawl, given half a chance. Also, the cover to their debut album was illustrated by the mad woodsman genius that is Jim Woodring. Pyschedelic NW country mountain blues. Yes, please!

Also appearing in the Mountain Blues show, Ben Gilmer is a young talent to watch out for in Seattle roots music scene. He completely won us over a few months ago at Columbia City Theater by picking out heartfelt old-school bluegrass numbers with his brother, but he's best known for his hard-swinging, soft-drawling roots country songs. Growing up in SW Virginia, Gilmer soaked up the songs of the hills, but his music now does a great job mixing that sensibility with a rain-soaked urban vibe.

 
Ben Gilmer & The Sidearms: Sweet Gal

 

Balkan Bridge: Dance in the Vera

Saturday May 28
The Vera Stage, 6:30-10pm

Thanks to Gogol Bordello, Balkan music is all the rage. So expect to catch plenty of it at Folklife. But this show is a special kind of genius. We guarantee that the small, dark Vera Stage will be packed to the hilt with sweaty circle dancers and bands pumping out totally frenetic beats. It will be like a past-capacity Balkan bar way past hours with your favorite gypsy band rocking the house.

PDXperimental Folk

Sunday, May 29, from 7-10pm
Indie Roots Stage @ Center Square

It's no secret that Portland, Oregon has one of the best, if not THE best, indie music scenes in the US. If it was a secret to anyone, The Decemberists 2011 album, which debuted at #1 in the States, changed all that. As did hilarious comedy show Portlandia (highly recommended!). But I still think it's kinda gutsy for this Seattle festival to sponsor a Portland-based music show. And the bands are equally gutsy choices. Death Songs has a slightly unsettling, gettin-close-to-hair-raising take on creepy Americana, and The Ocean Floor remind me of the books of Maurice Sendak: light and hopeful, yet full of urban terror and decay at the same time. But the band we're looking forward to most is John Heart Jackie. They're a popular indie folk duo out of Portland, and their sunny roots pop songs won me over a few months ago when they came through Seattle. They make the kind of music that fits so well in the new Northwest sound: sweet, harmonic songs built for long, rainy days. Their voices whisper, tremble, and float along, and gently lull us to a happier home. It's sad music, but hopeful too. Just the way we all feel after an endless winter of rain.

John Heart Jackie: You've Been On My Mind

 
 

Old-Time Kitchen Party

Sunday, May 29
Northwest Court Stage, 3-5:30pm

This has always been one of our favorite shows at Folklife. It's a chance to catch some of the best old-time stringbands and early bluegrass duets in a small, intimate space. A great listening space, which can be rare at Folklife. This year, the highlight of the show will be RedDog, a Seattle stringband celebrating a brand-new album release! Old-time pickers know RedDog well, thanks to the affable mandolin picking of Cary Lung (ex-member of famed mandolinist Kenny Hall's band) and local old-time guitarist/singer Tom Collicott (check out his excellent duo $4 Shoe). But everyone else would know RedDog from lead singer/fiddler Doug Yule, formerly of The Velvet Underground. Yep, you read that right. The man who once sang side by side with Lou Reed has given up a debauched life of rock 'n' roll to settle down with some old-time fiddling. But listen to RedDog, and listen to Yule's fiddling, and you'll see that he's maybe always had a lot more music in him than just the Velvet Underground.

RedDog: How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times

Folklife Twang

We've been pretty twang-obsessed lately at Hearth Music HQ. So I went in search of some twangtastic bands at Folklife this year. And found some cool surprises.

Blueberry Hill - Miller Family Band
Sunday, May 29
Fisher Green Stage, 1pm

We love family bands at Hearth Music, and Folklife certainly supports these bands. We like family bands that play tight together, that play music like a real family, the kind of music you have to be born into. Blueberry Hill is a new family band from Stanwood, Washington with some serious twang. I'm not clear on their back story, but I know that I love what I hear. Sweet bluegrass harmonies, tight picking, and just enough slow drawl to smooth out the rough edges. Also, young Forrest Miller has got some seriously gritty banjo lines. He knows how to really pull the funk out a slow bluegrass number, a trait that early Scruggs shared as well. How cool to see kids these days appreciating the funkier side of bluegrass banjo!

Listen to Blueberry Hill on Soundclick
 
 

The Howdy Boys
Saturday, May 28
Fisher Green Stage, 12:20pm

We hadn't heard of the Howdy Boys before, but we knew they'd be good when we saw Doug Bright on fiddle. Doug's a quiet force in the Northwest roots music scene. He can play pretty much anything, and we've seen him playing old-time/bluegrass/country swing/Cajun fiddle, and playing accordion in everything from a cowboy to a zydeco band. He's got a magic way with his music, born from a gentle touch and a tasteful ear. He's got more twang in his pinky than most people do in their whole arm, and he knows how to use it. The other Howdy Boys are hot players too! Rob Bulkely works at Dusty Strings and leads bluegrass jams there, while banjo picker Bill Scott and bassist/singer Jeff Brohier are well-known local bluegrass leaders. The band plays it straight, focusing their music on the hard center line of bluegrass roots, and that's a good thing. There are plenty of other bands experimenting with bluegrass and it's nice to return to the center sometimes.

The Howdy Boys: What Do You Know About Heartaches?

The Black Crabs
Rockabilly Riot
Saturday, May 28
Fountain Lawn Stage, 4:40pm

We can't speak for Portland, but Seattle is a hotbed of rockabilly culture. With Leon Berman and the annually sold-out Shake the Shack Rockabilly Ball, and stalwart venues like Little Red Hen, we've got some hot rockabilly roots. And The Black Crabs are one of the best rockabilly bands in town. They started out as a back-up band for Wanda Jackson (now enjoying a huge resurgence thanks to Jack White), but formed into a tight trio that mixes surf-rock with garage rockabilly. The Rockabilly Show at Folklife (curated/hosted by Marshall Scott Warner) is always a great time, and highly recommended. Bring your own pomade.

The Black Crabs: Rink Lay

 

Safe Bets

Folklife's all about taking chances. But then again, sometimes it's nice to go with a sure bet. These artists/events are guaranteed to please. Or your money back.

The Tallboys w/Tony Mates
Subversive Squares
Monday, May 30
The Vera Stage, 3pm

This is the best square dance you will go to this year. Period. The Tallboys are at the top of their game and Tony Mates is hands-down one of the best callers. Mates is so good, that his calling is as interesting as the music. He sings out each call, grooving along with the dancers, and has a great sense of humor. He's what all dance callers should be: masters of ceremonies first and instructors second. Go to this and dance. You won't regret it. Plus you can learn more about the Subversive Square Dance Society, a group of musicians and dancers who have been throwing square dance house parties (w/alcohol!) and reclaiming square dancing from its stodgy image.


Baby Gramps
Saturday, May 28
Fisher Green Stage, 4:35pm

Gramps is a Northwest treasure, and rightfully so. He's a hokum performer, spinning long, bizarre tales and wrapping musical illusions around our eyes and ears. No performance is ever the same and there's absolutely no telling what will happen when he's onstage. I remember standing halfway across the grounds a few years ago and singing along to his amplified calls of "Scrotum, scrotum" as he sang the infamous Scrotum Song for an ecstatic crowd. We've got a blog post coming soon on Gramps' killer new duo recording with Peter Stampfel. Stay tuned for that too. Baby Gramps has to be experienced live; his recordings can't do him justice. So don't miss out on this!

Sea Shanty Drinking Songs
w/Philip Morgan
Saturday, May 28
Northwest Court Beer Garden, 6pm

This is one of the coolest events at Folklife in our opinion. Join renowned sea shanty singer Philip Morgan in the Northwest Court's Beer Garden for an hour of Sea Shanty Drinking Songs after the Maritime Show. Experience sea shanties as they were meant to be sung: while swilling a hefty pint among friends.
 

Paul Anastasio & Juan Barco
The Violin Music of Tierre Caliente Workshop
Sunday, May 29
EMP Learning Labs, 12pm

The fiddle music of Mexico's Tierre Caliente doesn't seem to be too well known outside of the country, and strangely outside of the Northwest. That's because, for years, the great Tierre Caliente fiddle master Juan Reynoso taught this style of fiddling at Centrum's Festival of American Fiddle Tunes. It's a mind-bending nest of twisting fiddle lines, cracked and soaring vocals and pure virtuosity. Paul's been studying the music for years and was one of Reynoso' proteges, so this is a great chance to discover this music. Here's a great quote from Paul about the music: "It was as if all the musics I'd loved and studied - swing music, and gypsy music, and tango - Cuban this and African that - all of these styles kind of formed the outlines of a puzzle piece that was this music."

Juan Reynoso in his later years. This. Will. Blow. Your. Mind.

Clinton Fearon
Reggae Rising
Monday, May 30
Mural Amphitheatre, 7:40pm

The only way to end your amazing Festival experience is with Clinton Fearon. Period. This old-school reggae master from Jamaica, who was once Lee 'Scratch' Perry's house bassist, is a wonderful performer. And his uplifiting reggae songs are just the thing to mellow you out and send you floating home. Be there.
 

Hidden Gems in the Schedule

The great thing about Folklife is that the size of the festival means the programmers can take chances on brand-new bands or little-known artists. So this is where you should go to find the next hot band in Seattle, or to discover your new favorite band. Here are a few discoveries we found:

Bakelite 78
Indie Roots Stage
Friday, May 27 @ 3:30pm

First of all, they get the Coolest Poster for a Folklife Show Prize. And after listening to their creepy, junkband rags of yore, singing about Dillinger and World's Fairs and sounding like a bunch of parlour-hopping con artists, we like!!


Laura Jorgensen
Friday May 27
Indie Roots Stage, 5pm

Frankly, she had us at "Accordion-Playing Story Weaver." But Laura Jorgensen's music has totally intrigued us. She's from Seattle, and her debut album is a fully orchestrated blend of Beirut-style vocal and trumpet lines, with dense lyricism and a nod to cinematic indie folk artists like Joanna Newsom. Wow, where'd she come from? Listen to her now on Bandcamp. And check out this great video of her deftly covering Fleet Foxes' "Tiger Mountain Peasant Song" with just her accordion. Has Robin Pecknold seen this? 
 

Harald Haugaard Trio
Scandinavian Dance
Saturday, May 28
Center House Court, 7:50pm

If you love Ballard's Americana performance alley, be sure to stop by this dance to pay homage to Seattle's deep Scandinavian roots. Harald Haugaard is a fiery fiddler from Denmark who's been to Folklife a few times before. He plays rare tunes from Danish islands, learned from old fiddlers in the back country. This is a great chance to see Scandinavian dancing in the hands of a master fiddler. Check out this video of Haugaard at Folklife a few years ago:

Vince Mtz. & The Great Blue Yonder
Monday, May 30
Indie Roots Stage, 12:20pm (just before Hearth's showcase)

Vince Martinez and Ben Gilmer are becoming fast friends. And that's great news, because they're both killer Americana bandleaders in Seattle. Martinez is perhaps a bit less country than Gilmer, but instead taps into a sweet undercurrent of clear indie waters. We haven't had the chance yet to see him live, but can attest to the fact that he's a real nice guy and his new album with The Great Blue Yonder does a great job of blending acoustic folk with a slightly tremulous indie voice. It's the kind of music that makes you want to go for a nice long hike in the Cascades, sniffing the flowers along the way and dipping your toes in mountain brooks.

Vince Mtz. & The Great Blue Yonder: Sycamore

 

Hearth Music Artists
 

Many of our artists and friends are playing Folklife this year! Be sure to check out our Personalized Schedule to catch everyone:

Hearth Music's Full Recommended List
 

See you at Folklife!
 

Hearth Music is incredibly proud that the ground-breaking collaboration we helped put together, Mr. Lif & Brass Menazeri, for the 2010 Seattle Folk Festival has inspired these artists to work together long-term. We'd asked Mr. Lif to join us for the Festival, knowing that his particular blend of socially-conscious, hard-hitting lyrics would fit perfectly with any fan of political folk music, especially in the midst of a raging depression and unchecked corporate growth. But we needed a band to put with him... Knowing how amazing brass bands sound with hip-hop beats, we asked if he'd be down to perform with a Balkan brass band, and to our surprise, he was totally enthusiastic about the idea! When we asked around for the best Balkan brass band in the US, all our contacts kept saying: Brass Menazeri. So on a whim, we invited them up and offered the idea to them. Peter Jaques, head of Brass Menazeri, is an old-school hip-hop head, and was thrilled at the chance to work with Lif.

So everyone flew out to Seattle and just a few days before the festival, gathered in an abandoned coffin factory (seriously) for their one rehearsal before the gig. It was a magical moment all around, and after a blow-out show at the Seattle Folk Festival, they headed over to KEXP for a special in studio.

UPDATE: MR. LIF & BRASS MENAZERI MADE THEIR GOAL! CONGRATS!!

Read more about this collaboration

Now they need your help. They're raising money for their first album and started a Kickstarter so fans could help them out. They've got a few days left and they're almost there, so dig deep and support this ground-breaking collaboration.

MR. LIF & BRASS MENAZERI KICKSTARTER PAGE

Have a listen:

Mr. Lif & Brass Menazeri Bandcamp Page

 Also, check out the national press they've been getting for the project:

Interview with Kickstarter Headquarters

San Francisco Weekly Article