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July 31 & August 1
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Sugar Maple alumni Chirps Smith and Dot Kent will be back again this year to play and call for the Friday night Old-Time Dance. This year, they will be joined by Tracy Schwarz.
Schwarz first came to love country music from radio broadcasts of the late ’40s, which inspired him to learn the banjo and guitar. While in college, Schwarz also mastered the mandolin and the bass fiddle. He soon began playing in assorted bluegrass bands around Washington, D.C. During the early ’60s, Schwarz enlisted in the Army for two years and during that time learned to play the fiddle. He began working with the New Lost City Ramblers as a replacement for Tom Paley in 1962, and eventually became a full-time member for ten years; his involvement in the band later tapered off as he became more interested in spending time on his Pennsylvania farm. He continued to appear with other bands, most notably the Strange Creek Singers through the 1970s. He continues to perform and explore new areas of traditional music, most notably with Ginny Hawker.
Chirps Smith is a veteran of fiddle contests and playing for dances, at which he frequently plays backup to the fiddle on the mandolin and related mandolin family instruments, as well as four and five string banjos. While a part of the band Indian Creek Delta Boys, named after a stream in his native Illinois, Smith earned the nickname “Chirps” due to the “chirping” quality to his mandolin style. Chirps enjoys playing many types of tunes, from hoedowns/reels and waltzes to schottisches, polkas, two-steps, and perhaps one or two mazurkas or hambos. At dances, he is commonly joined by his wife and clog-dancer Dot Kent, also a veteran dance caller.
Dave Landau, twice voted as the Best Children’s Musician by Madison Magazine, has performed at every Sugar Maple Traditional Festival since it began in 2004. Although billed as a performer for children, Landau is entertaining to audiences of all ages. As a former first grade teacher in Verona, Wisconsin, Landau has a love for teaching, in addition to music. He travels to elementary schools, preschools, and libraries to perform musical programs that are educational, entertaining, and motivating, which include storytelling and music. Landau’s programs are an extension of his favorite part of teaching, which is helping children understand themselves and the world around them. Come and see him at the Roots and Reason stage, where you will witness children of all ages jumping, clapping, and singing.
Joel Paterson has played the Sugar Maple Fest under many monikers: The Western Elstons, Devil in a Woodpile and… well… as just Joel Paterson. Anyone who has seen him would know why; he’s just that good. 2010 will see Joel return with his newest band The Modern Sounds. This big little band is dedicated to performing traditional American music; specializing in rockabilly, hot jazz, western swing, classic blues and everything in between.
Modern Sounds plays Friday, 7:30pm.
Son Mudanza, of Madison, WI, is a group of friends and activists that have come together sharing their passion for music, cultural autonomy, movement and community. The group, deeply influenced and trained by Son del Centro, a Chicano son group, dedicating its efforts to activism through Son Jarocho music, was created to disseminate culture as a form of resistance. Son Jarocho, originally found in the state and region of Veracruz, on the gulf coast of Mexico, has been practiced for the past 200 years. It is a mixture of Indigenous, African, and Spanish elements, each influenced by various forms of political, economical, and social expressions, leading to manifestations of societal and ideological struggles. Son Mudanza, consisting primarily of graduate students at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, strives to use music as a form of resistance, while simultaneously providing entertainment, education, and an opportunity to dance. In addition to performing music, several of the members also dance.
Son Mudanza plays Saturday, 1pm and hosts a workshop at 2pm.
Jackstraw was born when rhythm guitarist Darrin Craig and lead player Jon Neufeld, met mandolin picker David Pugh and bassist Jesse Withers in 1997 at Artichoke Music–a Portland guitar store and acoustic music institution. Not long after their formation, Jackstraw recorded their first album and hit the road. Five albums later, Jackstraw is now a Northwest institution. While they typically play bluegrass, Jackstraw also has a deep collection of well crafted originals, and performs honky-tonk and rock ‘n roll as well.
