Weirdo Stringed Instruments

This show aired as part of the WTJU Folk fundraiser in 2009, before this blog existed. I'm posting the playlist here as there are a whole bunch of cool links to all kinds of unusual stringed instruments embedded in the playlist, with the thought that maybe it might find a wider audience now. Let me know what you think....
Pete

Sun, Apr 19, 2009: "Weirdo Stringed Instruments" [12:00 - 14:00, Pete Marshall]

Weirdo Stringed instruments
Exploring the world of strings attached to boxes to make music! call in & pledge! Pledge online at wtju.net

1. "Whirl y reel" - Afro Celt Sound System
   Featuring the gourd boxed kora. Info about this cd and listen to this trackhere
2. "Brodkakan/kodinaioulou" - Ellika frisell & Solo Cissoko - FRoots 10
   Kora & Swedish fiddle. Cd review here Listen to this track here
3. "Yew piney Mountain" - Mike Marshall darol Anger & Vasen - MM DA & Vasen [Adventure]
   Nyckelharpa (from Sweden), octave violn, viola, guitar & mandolin.
4. "Josefin's waltz" - Vasen - Whirled [Northside]
   Nyckelharpa
5. "The big polska" - Nyckelharpa orchestra - Nordic roots 3 [Northside]
   More Nyckelharpas!
   Informative video about the nyckelharpa here
6. "Devrah's delight" - Trapezoid - Long Time down this road [Azure]
   Featuring the triangular bowed Psaltery. Go here
   for an informative video on the bowed psaltery.
7. "Te Quiero Dijiste" - Loituma - In The moonlight [Northside]
   Kanteles from Finlad
8. "Jig" - Minna Raskinen - FRoots 6
   Solo Kantelevideo here
9. "Villvinter" - Annbjorg Lien - Prisme [Shanachie]
   Norwegian Hardanger Fiddle
10. "The RSB & the Hob" - Blowzabella - Vanilla [Green linnet]
    feat Hurdy gurdy
11. "Maqam" - Nikola Parov - Nikola [Harmonia Mundi]
    Featuring the Oud & qanoun
12. "Zanzibar" - Duoud - FRoots 20
    More Oud
13. "Spirits in the morning" - Kantara - Kantara [Self]
    semi local oud/appalachian combo
14. "Andra's Song" - Bassekou kouyate & Ngoni Ba - FRoots 29
    African cousin of the banjo, The Ngoni
15. "Sam a Galtai" - Huun Huur Tu - Live 2 [Self]
    Featuring the Byzaanch and 3 Igils. truly out there, w tuvan throat singing too!
16. "Suite of Damali pieces" - Ramazan - Mystic fiddle of proto gypsies [Shanachie]
    feat the sorud from Baluchistan..a fiddle like instrument played sitting like a cello
17. "Maria Leticia" - Jibaro Hasta El hueso - Mt music of puerto rico(?) [Smithsonian Folkways]
    Featuring puerto rican cuatros. Video of one being made, plus music here
18. "The Friend I Never Met" - Andy mcKeee - Beyond 6 Strings [?]
    Harp guitar
19. "the Sound of water" - Pat metheney & brad mehldau - Metheney Mehldau quartet [Nonesuch]
    42 string guitar with 4 necks called Pikasso by the maker, Linda Manzer
20. "Clarsach" - Muriel Anderson - Beyond 6 Strings [?]
    Harp requinto
21. "Reuben's Train" - Harry Manx - Dog my cat [NNorthern Music]
    feat. the Mohan veena, sitar/slide guitar hybrid

Leftover Biscuits & Love Gone Wrong...

Tune in this Saturday morning, February 12, starting at 6:30 for a Valentine's Day show filled with heartbreak.

From Hank Williams' Your Cheatin' Heart, to Flatt & Scruggs' Your Love is Like a Flower, to Blind Lemon Jefferson's Deceitful Brownskin Blues, and even Kitty Wells singing all about A Woman Half My Age, we'll make sure Cupid's arrows don't reach their intended targets.


Have a request or suggestion?  Drop us an e-mail, or post it on our Facebook page.

10th Annual Valentine's Day Bluegrass Concert...

For any traditional bluegrass fans in the Central Virginia area, the Virginia Ramblers will be putting on their tenth annual Valentine's Day concert this Saturday, February 12.  Joining them this year will be local bluegrass gospel group, the Deanes, from nearby Greene county.  Leftover Biscuits host Peter Jones will emcee the evening's festivities.


Location: Albemarle County High School Auditorium (2775 Hydraulic Road, Charlottesville, VA  [map] )
Time: 7:30 pm (doors open at 6:30)
Tickets available at the door

News from WTJU's Blue O'Connell

Hi to all in the WTJU community! Two years ago this past January, as you may recall, I underwent cochlear implant surgery. If you remember, I was excited for the opportunity to hear birds again and I signed on to the folk marathon to do a show on birds that following spring. But as it turned out, I had to cancel because my hearing did not come back so easily... but with some hard work, I have prevailed! This link is to an NPR interview that WVTF did with me that played on 1.4.11:

(scroll down to that date to find me)

~~

You may know that cochlear implants  (CI) are more of a speech processor and they are not really known for being good with musical perception. Many with CIs can't discern one pitch from another and therefore cannot recognize a melody.  For this reason I worked with a music teacher friend doing various ear training exercises in the early stages of my aural rehab. We worked with tuning forks to aid me in feeling the vibrations of the pitches & frequencies of notes.   In one exercise she quizzed me on interval recognition. She would play two notes in succession and I would listen to see if I could discern what interval it was. I used some charts that can be found online as an aid with interval recognition.  Some examples are: first measure of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” has a perfect fifth, the intro to “When the Saints Go Marching In” is a major third, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” begins with an octave, and so on.  There are lots more things we did.. but suffice to say I have not only regained my musical perception but I have also surpassed anything I could have hoped to do with music. 

I started a recording with Jeff Romano a few months before my CI surgery and had to put the project on hold. But I have just about finished the project and you will be seeing a Kickstarter video soon to help fund it. I will have Mary Gordon Hall on harmonies with me and Peter Markush on cello. 

I thought you'd like to read about a happy ending! 

Thanks everyone for all the support you gave me throughout this challenging time for me.

Best wishes from Blue

Below is  a YouTube video from a recent concert I did in Phoenix, AZ.

Sunset Road Playlist 2/4/11

Fri, Feb 04, 2011: "Sunset Road" [17:06 - 19:00, Pete Marshall]

1. "Pete' tune" {Pete Wernick} - Extended playboys - Extended playboys [Beet]
   theme tune
2. "A Blast" - Natalie MacMaster - Blueprint [Rounder: 2003]
   Might as well start the show with a(nother) bang....
3. "Emptyhanded" - Andy Irvine - Abocurragh [Self: 2010]
   New cd from Andy Irvine which has been a long time in coming. Click on "Andy Irvine" to go to a site with a live radio concert from last november in Germany. Click on Abocurragh for info about this new cd.
4. "Man From Another Time" - Seasick Steve - Man From Another Time [Ryko: 2009]
   This cd almost got deleted from the TJU library for lack of airplay. Hopefully this show will rectify that!
5. "What You Gonna Do When Your Liquor Gives Out" - Frank Lee - Artseen [Self: 2004]
   2004 release,but we only just got it.
6. "Dough Roller Blues" - Adam Tanner & Frank Lee - Two Mules [Self: 2004]
7. "Down On Me" - The Freight Hoppers - Mile Marker [Bone Tone: 2010]
   Click on The Freight Hoppers to listen to most of this cd.
8. "John Henry (w/The Nashville Lumberyard)" - Darol Anger; The Nashville Lumberyard - Diary Of A Fiddler [Compass: 1999]
   Start of a set of very different John Henrys.
   The Nashville Lumberyard is "an unprecedented gathering of seven of the most influential fiddlers playing at the end of this century; a three generation span encompassing a sizable chunk of the history of the American String Band", namely Darol Anger, Vassar Clements, Sam Bush, Tim O'Brien, Stuart Duncan, John Hartford, and Matt Glaser
9. "John Henry" - Sidetrack - Rowdy to Reverent [Self: 2010]
10. "John Henry's Blues" - Tangle Eye - Alan Lomax's Southern Journey Remixed [ZOE RECORDS: 2004]
11. "Oslo/Norwegian Mazurke" - Andy Irvine - Abocurragh [Self: 2010]
    New cd(first in over 10 years) from Andy irvine. Featuring Annbjorg Lien on Hardanger Fiddle
12. "The Close Shave/East at Glendart" - Andy Irvine - Abocurragh [Self: 2010]
    A new zealand reworking of the song Patrick Street (which spawned the band of the same name)
13. "Chetvorno Horo" - Andy Irvine & Davy Spillane - Eastwind [Tara: 1992]
    From one of my all time favorite cds.
14. "Sally in the Garden" - Critton Hollow String Band - Cowboys and Indians [Yodel Ay Hee: 1995]
    A set dedicated to all the gardeners out there. Spring IS coming!
15. "Proper sort of gardener" - June Tabor - Aleyn
16. "Just Because I Can (CSX)" - Seasick Steve - Man From Another Time [Ryko: 2009]
    More from Seasick Steve, a guy who really has lived the life of a bluesman. More popular in the UK than in his home country. Go figure.
17. "Seasick Boogie / I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" - Seasick Steve - Man From Another Time [Ryko: 2009]
18. "Old Joe Clark" - John Hartford - Morning Bugle [Rounder: 1972]
    Click on 'John Hartford' to see a slide show about John.
19. "Fade Out" - The John Hartford Stringband - Memories of John [Compass: 2010]
    Till next time....Pete

Andy Irvine concert on the web

Go here to listen to a live radio concert of Andy recorded in Germany last november for radio station WDR3.

Sunset Road Playlist 1/21/11

Fri, Jan 21, 2011: "Sunset Road" [17:06 - 19:00, Pete Marshall]

Old time, covers, poetry and more.....

1. "Hound Chase" - The Freight Hoppers - Mile Marker [Bake Tone]
   Just came in the mail today, latest from the great old time band from NC, The Freight Hoppers. Click on the Freight Hoppers to go to their website where you can listen to most of this cd.
2. "Birmingham Jail" - Chatham County Line - IV [Yep Rock]
   We just celebrated Martin Luther King day. this song remembers one of the most heinous crimes committed during the era when MLK was fighting for civil rights for all.
3. "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free" - Fiddlers 4 - Fiddlers 4 [Compass]
   Another song from the civil rights era, written by the great Billy Taylor, who passed away recently. Here sung by Bruce Molsky
4. "Train That Carried My Gal From Town" - The Freight Hoppers - Mile Marker [Bake Tone]
   More Hoppers music
5. "Taxes On The Farmer FeedThem All" - The Freight Hoppers - Mile Marker [Bake Tone]
   From Fiddlin John Carson in the 1920s. Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose.
6. "Can't Find My Way Home" - Rob Ickes - Slide City [Rounder]
   Start of a set of rock classics redone in a sunset road kinda way. Tim O'Brien on vocals
7. "A Whiter Shade Of Pale" - Darol Anger & Mike Marshall - Psycho Grass [Windham Hill]
   Tim O'Brien again...
8. "You Got The Silver" - Crooked Still - Some Strange Country [Signature Sounds]
   Rolling Stones cover
9. "Who throwed lye on my dog?" - The Horseflies - Human Fly [Rounder]
   by request from Bill, listening online
10. "Run Kitty Run" - Adam Tanner & Frank Lee - Two Mules [Self]
    Frank Lee is the banjo player with the Freight Hoppers
11. "When I was A Cowboy" - Adam Tanner & Frank Lee - Two Mules [Self]
    Leadbelly cover
12. "Riley The Furniture Man" - Frank Lee - Artseen [Self]
13. "Waltzing's For Dreamers" - Carrie Rodriguez - Love and Circumstance [Ninth Street Opus]
    Another covers set. This one is by Richard Thompson, in case you didn't know...
14. "Yellow" - Bill Frisell & Petra Haden - Petra Haden And Bill Frisell [Sovereign Artists]
    Coldplay cover
15. "Goodnight Irene" - Bill Frisell - The Willies [Nonesuch]
    Another Leadbelly cover. With Danny Barnes
16. "Urge For Going" - Darrell Scott - Modern Hymns [Full Light]
    Joni Mitchell cover
17. "Help Me / vocals by Laurie Lewis" - Darol Anger And The American Fiddle Ensemble - Republic of Strings [Compass]
    More Joni.
18. "If" - Joni Mitchell - Shine [Hear]
    Joni interprets Rudyard Kipling.
19. "Funeral In My Brain" - Wayfaring Strangers - Shifting Sands Of Time [Rounder]
    The Wayfaring Strangers interpret Emily Dickinson
20. "I Speak Fula" - Bassekou Kouyaté & Ngoni Ba - I Speak Fula [Next Ambiance]
    Loads of ngonis, ancestor of the banjo, on this cd.
21. "Saro (Featuring Vieux Farka Toure)" - Bassekou Kouyaté & Ngoni Ba - I Speak Fula [Next Ambiance]
22. "A Remark You Made" - Jerry Douglas - The Best Kept Secret [Sugar Hill]
    Weather Report Cover
23. "Soldier" - Tangle Eye - Alan Lomax's Southern Journey Remixed [ZOE RECORDS]
    till next time....Pete
    (PS Check out the WTJU folk blog at http://wtjufolkdept.blogspot.com/)