Friday’s Line Up
Eddie Biebel and AJ Srubas
Eddie Biebel and AJ Srubas are a dynamic acoustic guitar, fiddle, vocal duo that perform an entertaining variety of Old-Time Country Music, which includes everything from Bob Wills to Bob Dylan to songs and tunes written before the Civil War. Eddie’s masterful guitar playing and warm baritone voice along with AJ’s stellar fiddling and down home vocals make a magical combination that captivates audiences wherever they perform. Though there are only two of them, Eddie and AJ put out a wall of music that will make you think there are ten people on stage. Eddie Biebel has been singing and playing guitar for over forty years and has played with master fiddler Vassar Clements, string wizard Mark O’Conner, mandolin virtuoso Jethro Burns and the multi-talented Country artist Vince Gill. AJ Srubas has played and performed on the fiddle since age12 with his family band. He has won several competitions around the state of Wisconsin and has traveled, on more than one occasion, to Ireland to soak up one of the many great styles of fiddle playing he loves.
The Tillers
The Tillers got their start in August 2007 when Cincinnati friends Mike Oberst, Sean Geil, and Jason Soudrette began thumping around with some banjos and guitars and a big wooden bass. They were clearly recovering punk rockers and their punk influence gave their sound a distinctive bite, setting them apart from most other folk acts- a hard-driving percussive strum and stomp that brought new pulse and vinegar to some very old songs. But their musical range soon proved itself as they floated from hard-tackle thumping to tender graceful melody, all the while topped by Oberst and Geil’s clear tenor harmonies. Magnetic showmen, mature musicians, and colorful storytellers, the band wears many hats. Their sound has proven to be an appropriate fit with a wide range of musical styles- traditional folk, bluegrass, jazz, punk rock and anything else they might run into.
Robbie Fulks
Robbie Fulks write music. His songwriting is one part artful country, one part artful sendup of country and one part a little of everything else. But he is more than a songwriter. He’s a gifted guitarist, a soulful singer, and a natural performer. His performances feature a warm, wry wit and he is clearly one of America’s most unjustly unsung singer-songwriter. Like all great country songwriters, Fulks’s trademark is a manipulation of language: by rearranging the meanings of simple phrases, cracking a whiplash of wordplay, and carefully arranging rhymes within rhymes, he effectively demonstrates that no other conceivable structure would serve the song so well. When the dust settles on this year’s Sugar Maple Traditional Music Festival, you may not be able to find a more intricate and perceptive example of intelligent songwriting.
Saturday’s Line Up
The Tillers
See Friday’s lineup…
Les Bassettes
Les Bassettes play traditional Cajun music from Southwest Louisiana. Drawn together by their appreciation for the older musical styles, songs and language of Acadiana, Les Bassettes are versatile musicians who delight in all facets of the Cajun tradition, from unaccompanied ballads to Cajun swing and country songs, back-porch fiddle tunes and traditional dancehall standards. With three female vocalists on guitar, accordion and double fiddles, their music is unique and varied while still being deeply rooted in the Cajun music tradition. The name “Les Bassettes” (pronounced lay bah-set) is a Cajun French term for petite females. It is not only a description of the band members, but is also a reminder of the richness and uniqueness of the Cajun language, which is a vital part of both the music and culture of Southwest Louisiana.
Joan Soriano
Born in the rural countryside near Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, Joan Soriano fashioned his first guitar from a tin can and fishing line and has never looked back. Soriano plays steel string bachata with equal parts romance and grit. The Afro-infused rhythm that permeates his music has made him a favorite among dancers. Bachata is essential to Dominican culture and draws upon a variety of influences from Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean. A practitioner of palo and gaga, Joan blends Afro-Dominican sacred traditions with bachata, imparting his music with down to earth spirit and dance-ability. Joan preserves his bachata’s roots and expands on them. He is a rare combination of new and authentic. Soriano’s music is gorgeous. He displays an emotionally powerful voice, versatility with bachata’s classic style of guitar playing, and compelling original compositions about love and loss.
The Pine Leaf Boys
Louisiana’s finest, four-time Grammy-Nominated, world-renown Pine Leaf Boys have made a name for presenting their own inimitable brand of Cajun music with youthful exuberance. Hailing from the southwest Louisiana, the Pine Leaf Boys, known for their wild shows and thoughtful arrangements, have breathed new life into Cajun music, reviving ancient songs and bringing them to the bandstand. Being described in the New York Times as, “… the link that connects the young and the old generations,” and, “the best new, energetic, and fun Cajun band in a very long time,” the Pine Leaf Boys play the old fashion dance hall standards while making a priority to bring many of the more obscure songs of past masters into their repertoire and play them with gusto.
The variety and energy they release evolves through their shows, bringing multi-faceted angles to Cajun, Creole, and Zydeco. Their mission is to present the beautiful, powerful music of their ancestors and present the real Cajun music to the world and prove that it is still thriving and full of life.
Ginny Hawker and Tracy Schwarz
Although Ginny Hawker and Tracy Schwarz have been singing together only 16 years, their strong, soul-stirring singing makes you feel their devotion to the place from which their music springs. As they wrap their songs in stories of the people and the places of the music, audiences are transported to another time when life was more real and families were held close. Their harmonies are hair-raising and representative of the finest American traditional music.
Ginny is a native of Halifax County, Virginia where she grew up in a large extended family of singers and musicians. When they met in 1988, Tracy had already spent 26 years as a member of The New Lost City Ramblers, the traditional string band responsible for introducing urban audiences to southern rural music in the 60′s and 70′s. In concert, Ginny and Tracy will cover everything from the beautiful unaccompanied ballads of the south to early Bluegrass duets to the songs of The Carter Family. You’ll hear fiddle tunes, gospel songs as done in rural families, even some classic country songs. What their concerts will lack is “fillers.” Every song they do means something special to them and will invite you to join them in the celebration of your heritage.
String Ties
String Ties calls the hills of the upper Mississippi home, blending Bluegrass, Old-time Country, Swing, Gospel, and Folk into an engaging version of acoustic music, evoking nostalgia, love lost and found, moonshine hills, and sturdy shoes on a barn-dance floor. Featuring tight harmonies, powerful instrumentals, and good-natured fun this dynamic group has delighted audiences of all ages for more than a decade at parties, festivals, weddings, and everywhere the joy of great music is celebrated. These fans bear witness to “feeling (String Ties’) love of music, the crowd, and each other”…And of their magic to convert: “I never thought I would be a bluegrass fan, but after listening to them, you just can’t help it.” The String Ties feature Larry Dalton on stand-up bass, Tommy Pfaff on 5 string banjo, Wayne Beezley on mandolin, and Dan Sebranek on guitar.
Evan Murdock