Stop by Whole Foods Wed, July 20th (5-7pm) for good food, good beer and good music! The folks at Whole Foods will be grilling up some of their fine foods and offering samples of Ale Asylum beer. And you’ll be entertained while you eat/drink by bands, Off the Porch and the Northern Pikers. All proceeds go to support the Sugar Maple Traditional Music Festival… a delicious way to help support traditional music in Madison!
The 8th Annual Sugar Maple Traditional Music Festival is getting close and we need you in our hardworking, totally loved, fleet of volunteers. Whether you are interested in selling tickets, floating around doing a variety of tasks, helping at the merch table or giving folks the skinny on the parking lot, we have a place for you!
If you are interested, please (with sugar on top and all over the place) email Stephanie Ramer. All volunteers are rewarded with a festival t-shirt, but they do buy their own ticket for the festival.
The Four Lakes Traditional Music Collective will host the Sugar Maple Traditional Music Festival Kick Off Show on Friday, May 6th, 9:00 PM at the High Noon Saloon, in Madison, Wisconsin. The kick off show with feature two artists that played the Festival last year: The Modern Sounds and the Currach.
The Modern Sounds is a Chicago based trio featuring Joel Paterson on guitar and vocals; Beau Sample on string bass and vocals; Alex Hall on drums and vocals. This big little band is dedicated to performing traditional American music; specializing in rockabilly, hot jazz, western swing, classic blues and everything in between.
The Currach, features Darl Ridgley on bodhrán, Josh Perkins on guitar and Daithi Wolf on fiddle. This group is a Madison institution in the Irish traditional music scene, treating audiences with lively jigs and reels—“the stuff that’s been played in Irish pubs for hundreds of years,” according to Daithi Wolfe.
During the show, fans will have the opportunity to purchase weekend passes to the 2011 Sugar Maple Festival at a special Kick Off Show price of only $25! Amongst the acts lined up for this year’s Fest are Chulrua, a traditional Irish band who delivers music that has been handed down from generation to generation in Ireland, and folk legend Greg Brown, whose songwriting has been recorded by the likes of Willie Nelson, Carlos Santana, Shawn Colvin, and many more.
The official 2011 Sugar Maple Traditional Music Festival is in and it’s a beaute!
The 8th Annual Sugar Maple Traditional Music Festival is in the works and wecould use your help. The FLTMC board is meeting now to plan the next festival and we need you! The festival is put on soley by volunteers who generously donate their time and right now is the perfect time to join us. Email us to join a committee and help us get the 8th annual fest rolling!
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….”
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.Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Ginny and Tracy met in 1988 when both were on staff at the Ashokan Fiddle and Dance Camp near Woodstock, NY. They soon discovered that, despite their differing childhoods, they shared a deep understanding of and love for the music of the rural south. It was Ginny’s birthright and Tracy’s lifetime devotion. Ginny’s father, Ben Hawker, was her mentor growing up. Together, they taught the beautiful old singing of his Primitive Baptist Church for ten years at the Augusta Heritage Workshops in Elkins, WV. He went with her to the Smithsonian, the Chicago Folk Festival and the Vancouver Folk Festival where their family harmony left an indelible memory with their listeners. Ben also introduced her to early Bluegrass harmony through the oral tradition. For the past 15 years, Ginny and Tracy have appeared in concerts and festivals throughout the United States, Canada, and England. Their harmonies are hair-raising and representative of the finest American traditional music. In addition to performances, each summer they teach southern traditional singing at several music camps. Recently they have started teaching students in their West Virginia home.
Ginny and Tracy play at 4:30pm on Saturday. Tracy also plays the Old-Time dance on Friday night and will take part in the Fiddlers In The Round workshop at 3pm, Saturday.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
