The Four Lakes Traditional Music Collective would like to thank everyone for making 2010 the most attended year ever. We officially sold out for the first time in our seven years!

Special thanks to our volunteers who we literally could not do the fest without. Thanks to all the bands for their fantastic performances. Thanks to our sponsors for their kind contributions. Thanks to the park staff for their hospitality. Thanks to our vendors for keeping us fat with food. Thanks to my fellow board members (and über volunteers) for their tireless efforts (which includes putting up with yours truly). And last but certainly not least, thanks to our patrons, who share our love of the music.

Oh, and thanks to the weather gods for their mercy and to the inventors of deet.

Singer-songwriter Tim O’Brien has an uncanny intersection of traditional and contemporary elements in his music, as well as the array of instruments he utilizes, and the diversity of the artists who preform his songs, such as the Dixie Chicks, Nickel Creek, and Seldom Scene. O’Brien, in addition to collaborating with Steve Martin and the Chieftains, among others, has most recently been performing with Mark Knopfler’s band. Knopfler describes O’Brien as “a master of American folk music, Irish music, Scottish music….”

O’Brien’s musical journey began in his native West Virginia, where he was surrounded by classic country and bluegrass, by taking up the guitar and banjo, adding fiddle and mandolin to his repertoire later on. By 1990, after several bands, such as Hot Rize and Ophelia Swing Band, O’Brien established himself as a solo artist and recently released his 13th album, Chicken & Egg. Mixing O’Brien originals, collaborations, and a handful of outside compositions, Chicken & Egg is an illuminating, engaging, and ultimately life-affirming meditation on the art of living. “This stuff reflects what goes on in the life of someone my age,” O’Brien reflects. “I’m 56 years old. I’m not the young kid on the scene – and I’m happy about that. I’m at a strange point in my life: my kids are growing up, while my parents and teachers are passing on. There’s a lot happening – but it’s just life, and that’s what this album is about. There’s a little love song action here and there, but mostly it’s about living life.”

O’Brien listens to bluegrass and hears the music’s roots in modal Irish ballads and vintage swing. He insightfully re-examines and reconstructs those styles, and many others, in his own music, throwing off new sparks by reawakening the tension and interplay of the colliding components at the heart of American music. “Over the years,” he explains, “my music has become a certain thing. Each time I go into the studio to make a new album, I could make an Irish record, or a bluegrass record, or a country record…but it seems artificial to sift anything out. I feel like I’d be leaving out something important. In the end, I just try to make it round…”

Tim plays two sets at 2pm and 7:30pm on Saturday. He will also take part in the Fiddlers In The Round workshop at 3pm, Saturday.

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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.

We officially announced the lineup for the 2010 Sugar Maple Traditional Music Festival last night at our Kick Off Concert. Thanks to everyone for coming down! And thanks Shotgun Party, Jim James and the Damn Shames and Frogwater for entertaining us all while we scarfed down cookies and beer. ‘Twas a fabulous show.

So without further ado, here is this year’s lineup:

Tim O’Brien
Ginny Hawker & Tracy Schwarz (Appalachian Mountain Music)
Liz Carroll and Dáithí Sproule (Celtic)
Dennis Stroughmatt and Creole Spirit (Creole)
Jackstraw (Bluegrass)
The Modern Sounds (Jazz/Blues)
Old-Time Dance w/ Tracy Schwarz, Chirps Smith & Dot Kent (Old-time)
Son Mudanza (Son Jarocho)
The Currach (Traditional Irish)
Ida Jo and the Show (Modern Strings)
Dave Laundau (Children’s Entertainer)

It’s gonna be another great year!

Shotgun Party returns to Madison to headline the 2010 Sugar Maple Festival Kick Off Concert at the High Noon Saloon, Friday, April 30th. The show also features Frog Water (2009 alumns) and Jim James and the Damn Shames. During the show we will be announcing the lineup for the 2010 Sugar Maple Fest and you’ll be able to purchase the ever popular extremely early, early bird special price on a weekend pass for only $20! The Kickoff Concert starts promptly at 8pm (21 and up) and is a modest $10 cover charge.

The original Shotgun Party trio met in a little Texas dive bar in 2006. They got their start performing weekly at Austin’s own Continental Club. Sparks flew and now Shotgun Party, the Austin based trio, really knows how to fire up a crowd! Their original songs are beautiful and timeless drawing influences from early blues, country, bluegrass and depression era swing. Katy Rose Cox’s fearless fiddling is simply virtuosic. Miss Jenny Parrott’s gorgeous vocals and addictive songs will bring you to your knees …and
introducing Shotgun Party’s newest member, (and Madison native) Andrew Austin-Petersen on show stopping upright bass! The group became an instant sensation at the 2009 Sugar Maple Music Festival!

Frogwater features a cross-pollination of musical styles: Celtic, Bluegrass, old-time, and blues. Their performances are particularly influenced by their love of Irish and Scottish music. Alongside Susan Nicholson’s flashing fingers on the fiddle, husband John adds his prowess on Celtic, Blues, and fingerstyle guitar.

Jim James and the Damn Shames started playing together in Madison in 2002. UW Grad Student and freelance arts & science writer James Travis leads the quartet’s original Americana Rock tunes that suit the front porch to the main stage.

8PM: Frogwater
9PM: Jim James & The Damn Shames
10PM: Shotgun Party

Fresh from the magical digits of Mrs. Allyson Casey, the official 2010 Sugar Maple Traditional Music Festival poster is here! And not only can you bask in it’s beauty, but you can download and print high rez PDFs of the poster to hang up and show your Sugar Maple pride! We also have smaller 4-up handouts that you can… well… hand out if you wish.

If you love flat-picking guitar and great musical arrangements, you’re in for a treat. Jim Hurst, two-time IBMA Guitar Player of the Year and member of the Grammy-nominated Claire Lynch Band, comes to Madison January 30 for a guitar workshop and concert.

Jim’s mastery of the guitar and expert vocal harmonies earned him membership in Trisha Yearwood’s band, as well as the opportunity to perform with Sara Evans, Travis Tritt, and the McCarter Sisters. As a popular Nashville studio musician, he’s performed and recorded with John Cowan, Mark Schatz, Tim O’Brien, and Sam Bush. Collaborating with bassist Missy Raines, the duet wowed the bluegrass community and won IBMA Guitar and Bass Player of the year for 2001 and 2002. Jim currently tours with the Claire Lynch Band not only as a wizard on the guitar, but also as a remarkable frailing banjoist.

Jim’s skill as a vocal and guitar instructor makes him highly sought-after. He teaches at guitar workshops, clinics, and music camps around the country. So take advantage of this opportunity to learn from and enjoy a concert by this maestro! For more information about Jim, go to www.jimhurst.com.

“There’s not a more inventive, talented guitar player in the bluegrass business than Jim Hurst. He brings a world of experience in so many different kinds of music and formats to everything he does.” – Tim Stafford

The workshop will be held at the Wil-Mar Center, Jan 30th, 1-4pm. The cost for the workshop is $60.

The concert will be held at Mother Fool’s Coffee House, Jan 30th, 8pm. Cost for the concert is $10.

For workshop registration or more information, call Julie Cherney at 608-244-2184, or email cherney [AT] uwalumni [DOT] com

So yah hey… the Sugar Maple Concert Series is a year-round celebration of the past, present and future of the annual summer Sugar Maple Festival. This year’s series kicks off this Thursday (Dec. 10th) with two fantastic bands: Mountain Heart and The Hot Seats. Technically, this will be both of these bands first Sugar Maple experience but both bands have already have deep ties to the fest. To that end here’s what may be the first of many installments of the Six Degrees of SugarMaple…

Mountain Heart’s bass player Jason Moore has recorded for Michael Cleveland’s solo albums, and toured extensively with James King. (Michael appeared with Audie Blaylock and Redline at the 2006 Sugar Maple Fest; James King appeared for the Sugar maple Concert Series March 2009.)

Aaron Ramsey, mandolinist for Mountain Heart, won the 2002 MerleFest mandolin competition at age 17. in March of 2006, he became a member of Randy Kohrs’ band, the Lites, playing bass then mandolin and recorded mandolin and bass on several cuts of Randy’s two most recent recordings, I’m Torn and Old Photographs. (Randy Kohrs appeared on the mainstage artist Jim Lauderdale and workshop artist Randy Sabien during 2007 Sugar Maple Fest.)

The Hot Seats have recorded and/or shared stage with Adam Tanner (2008 SugarMaple Fest); Hunger Mountain Boys (2006 Fest); everybodyfields (ibid); FoghornStringband (2005 Fest and 2006 Sugar Maple Concert Series); Karl Shiflett (2004 Fest); Carolina Chocolate Drops (2008 Concert Series); The Wilders (2005 and 2006 Concert Series); Forge Mountain Diggers (2007 Concert Series).

And the list goes on…