Ottawa Folk Festival update #2

More on the Ottawa Folk Festival.

As I mentioned on January 18, Ottawa Bluesfest’s Mark Monahan and his team “obviously know how to put on the big concerts that have come to dominate the evening concerts at folk festivals. I remain optimistic that he’ll maintain and develop the creative daytime workshop programming that I believe is the heart and soul of great folk festivals.”

Well, I’m happy to report that he’s assigned curatorship of the daytime workshop programming to the Ottawa Folklore Centre. That is the best news I’ve heard about the festival in a very long time. I think this is a great move that will ensure that the 2011 Ottawa Folk Festival’s daytime programming will continue to be the heart and soul of the festival.

Ottawa Folklore Centre owner Arthur McGregor has been involved in the folk music scene for a very long time and he has a deep understanding of the kind of programming I’ve been referring to. He’s already talked about continuing the kind of participatory workshops the Folklore Centre has coordinated in past years for the festival (excellent move) and depending on the selection of artists he’ll have to work with, I think there is the potential for this to be a great festival.

Pictured: Dan Frechette, Riley Baugus, Dirk Powell, Courtney Granger, Martha Scanlan, Robert Michaels &  bass player, and Mike Regenstreif at the Ottawa Folk Festival (2006).

  

--Mike Regenstreif

Riley Baugus, Jenny Whiteley & Dan Whiteley in Ontario and Quebec

A very interesting collaboration of Riley Baugus, one of the finest contemporary masters of traditional Southern, old-time music, who was recently on tour and CD backing Willie Nelson in his traditional country project, and Jenny Whiteley, one of Canada’s best singer-songwriters and multiple Juno-winner, and her brother, multi-instrumentalist Dan Whiteley, is now on tour with dates this weekend in Kingston, Montreal and Wakefield (near Ottawa).

Riley was a guest on Folk Roots/Folk Branches in 2006. We recorded the conversation in August 2006 at the Ottawa Folk Festival where I hosted a couple of workshops that he participated in. He should not be missed by anyone interested in traditional Southern music.

This review I wrote of Riley’s album, Long Steel Rail, is from the January 11, 2007 issue of the Montreal Gazette.

RILEY BAUGUS
Long Steel Rail
Sugar Hill

Although Riley Baugus is a relatively young singer, banjo player and fiddler from North Carolina, his music is deeply rooted in ancient Appalachian balladry and the traditional old-time country music he grew up playing. It is obvious that Baugus is a modern master of this old music. Performing songs like "Old John Henry" and "Lonesome Road Blues," Baugus’s singing and playing powerfully evokes generations of earlier musicians who have passed these songs along. When he lays down his instruments for an a cappella rendition of "Now is the Cool of the Day," his voice is spine-tingling. Baugus’s principal collaborators on the album are co-producers Tim O’Brien, who plays mandolin and guitar, and Dirk Powell, who plays fiddle and guitar.

-Mike Regenstreif

And click here for my review of Jenny’s latest album, Forgive or Forget.

It should be a great concert They’ve already played in Toronto and have these dates coming up:

Friday, October 8, 10 pm – The Grad Club in Kingston
Saturday, October 9, 8 pm – The Yellow Door in Montreal (presented by Hello Darlin’ Productions)
Sunday, October 10, 4 pm – The Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield.

Pictured: Dan Frechette, Riley Baugus, Dirk Powell, Courtney Granger, Martha Scanlan, Robert Michaels &  bass player, and Mike Regenstreif at the Ottawa Folk Festival (2006).

--Mike Regenstreif

This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history (August 24-31)

Folk Roots/Folk Branches with Mike Regenstreif was a Thursday tradition on CKUT in Montreal for nearly 14 years from February 3, 1994 until August 30, 2007 (and around the world via the web for most of those years). Folk Roots/Folk Branches continued for some time as occasional features on CKUT, and is now a blog. Here’s the 52nd and final instalment of “This week in Folk Roots/Folk Branches,” a weekly, year-long look back at some of the most notable guests, features and moments in Folk Roots/Folk Branches history.

August 25, 1994: Extended feature- Judy Small.
August 24, 1995: Extended feature- Guy Clark.
August 28, 1997: Show theme- A tribute to Pete Seeger.
August 27, 1998: Guests- Tom Lewis; Angela Page.

August 26, 1999: Guests- John Roberts & Tony Barrand.

August 24, 2000: Guests- Kim & Reggie Harris.

August 31, 2000: Guest- Rosalie Sorrels.

August 28, 2003: Extended feature- The 40th anniversary of the March on Washington.
August 26, 2004: Guest- Michael Pickett.

August 25, 2005: Guests- Jay Ungar & Molly Mason.
August 24, 2006: Guest- Tommy Emmanuel; Extended feature- Tribute to the late Kirk MacGeachy.
August 31, 2006- Guest- Riley Baugus.
August 30, 2007: The final regular edition of Folk Roots/Folk Branches after almost 14 years.
August 28, 2008 (Folk Roots/Folk Branches feature): New recordings and new reissues by James Talley.

Pictured: (Top) Rosalie Sorrels and Mike Regenstreif at the 1993 Champlain Valley Folk Festival; (bottom) Molly Mason, Mike Regenstreif and Jay Ungar at the 2005 Champlain Valley Folk Festival.

--Mike Regenstreif

Willie Nelson -- Country Music

WILLIE NELSON
Country Music
Rounder
willienelson.com

Willie Nelson, who turns 77 on Friday, has got to be one of the most prolific of all recording artists. He’s rooted in the Texas country tradition, but, like Ray Charles, he’s a genre-crosser who’s made compelling music in all sorts of styles. I have no idea how many albums he’s made over the years, but I’ve got more than 30 Willie Nelson keepers sitting on my shelves. (To be honest, there have also been some that haven’t made it on to my keeper shelves.)

In recent years, Nelson has released several excellent albums including Two Men with the Blues, a classy set of jazz and blues with Wynton Marsalis and his band, and Willie and the Wheel, a great western swing album with Asleep At the Wheel.

Add Country Music, recorded with a drummerless collection of A-list musicians assembled by producer T-Bone Burnett – and including Folk Roots/Folk Branches guest Riley Baugus on clawhammer banjo and Buddy Miller on electric guitar – to Nelson's list of fine recent albums. This one rooted, as the album title implies, in traditional country music. Most of the songs are bona fide classics.

The album opens “Man with the Blues,” the only Nelson original, an old-school honky tonk tune like the kind of songs Nelson was probably singing back in the 1950s, and closes with a deep-from-the-well arrangement of “Nobody’s Fault But Mine,” an African American gospel tune that's given a haunting arrangement featuring Nelson stalwart Mickey Raphael on bass harmonica, Dennis Crouch’s heartbeat bass playing and some eerie guitar interplay between Nelson on gut string acoustic and Miller on electric.

One of my favourite tracks is an exciting rendition of f the Delmore Brothers’ “Freight Train Boogie” which, like Doc Watson’s version, you can’t help but feel the train boogieing down the tracks.

Other highlights include Merle Travis’ coalmining classic, “Dark as a Dungeon,” the tongue-in-cheek “Pistol Packin’ Mama,” and a sweet version of Hank Williams’ “House of Gold” that seems like a traditional folksong.

--Mike Regenstreif