The Sons Of Ralph

 

The Sons of Ralph are an Asheville institution and favorite of Black Betty's and mine. They are also the house band at Jack of the Wood. We happened to catch them there during Bele Chere weekend when they rocked down the house to the delight of the crowd.

At 83, Ralph Lewis is still going strong. Ralph jams with the boys on mandolin, guitar, and vocals. He usually plays the first set of the night and then heads home. You can tell that his sons really love him and the crowd absolutely adores him.
They play a lively blend of  pure Appalachian Americana music ranging from Bluegrass to Country to Rock and Roll.
Ralph's sons Marty and Don make up the Sons of Ralph along with cousin Steve Moseley and "other brother" Ozzie Orengo Jr.
Read their bios and purchase their merchandise on their website: Sons Of Ralph
Better yet see them in person.

Holy Ghost Tent Revival at Bele Chere

Black Betty and I hit Asheville for Friday night at a scaled-down Bele Chere with some hot, hot, hot, Holy Ghost Tent Revival. This rockin' roots band from Greensboro NC seems to get better each time we see them. Even with out a banjo (seems to have been short a D string) the band had the crowd whipped into an enthusiastic, dancing, sweating, frenzy. It was certainly a great start to Bele Chere 2011!

The Barn Cats // Clog Dancers

It seems that with the explosion of youth sport programs, traveling teams, and other after school diversions over the last 15 to 20 years that local clog dancing has experienced a general decline in popularity.
It's not been that long ago that every little community in the mountains had their own competitive teams. I can still vividly remember sitting in the bleachers at the Franklin High School Gym with my family and watching the best dance teams from the western counties compete. I'm sure that the rocking and stomping of the hard wood could be heard a block away. It was a site and a sound to behold, for sure.

I was pleased to see a few young clog dancers get up on stage with The Barn Cats last Thursday night at the Mountain Heritage Center at WCU and show their stuff. After all, music without dance is like peanut butter without jelly. It's just not right!

The Barn Cats at The Mountain Heritage Center

The Barn Cats performed last night at the Mountain Heritage Center at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, NC. The Barn Cats are the three piece band consisting of  Frank Lee, Issac Deal, and Bradley Adams of the Freight Hoppers. Even though though they were without David Bass on fiddle (he was out of town and unable to attend) their inspired passion for traditional music made for great times and great music.
It just doesn't get any better on a cold and rainy winter night in Appalachia.


From their website: http://www.thefreighthoppers.com/
 

The Freight Hoppers: Bio  After more than a decade The Freight Hoppers have released their eagerly awaited fourth album Mile Marker. This collection includes music that was first recorded in the late 1920's and early 1930's, and spans geographically from Mississippi to West Virginia. The Freight Hoppers play hard driving old time music with an emotional, raw excitement that keeps one foot planted in the past and the other in the present. Of course that’s only when they keep their feet still, for this is high energy dance music of an older day played like there's no tomorrow. Finding their passion from a love of stringband music of the 1920's and 30's, The Freight Hoppers have been entertaining crowds of fans at festivals and music halls alike as they travel around the country. The heart of the band is held together by the powerhouse fiddle and banjo combo of David Bass and Frank Lee, while the rhythm section of Isaac Deal on guitar and Bradley Adams on string bass keep the groove moving. Add in the vocal duo of Frank and Isaac, and you've got yourself one of the most exciting traditional bands to come out of the woodwork. Based out of the Smoky Mountains of North Carolina, The Freight Hoppers draw from a deep source of rural southern music for their inspiration, and are proud to present music that is still very much alive and meaningful to today's world.

The Freight Hoppers are:
David Bass fiddle
Frank Lee banjo, vocal
Isaac Deal guitar, vocal
Bradley Adams string bass

Your Hometown Hiker's Live Band List 2010

2010 proved to be another great year for live music. Black Betty and I were fortunate enough to see many of these groups numerous times each. There were so many incredible shows, so much inspiring music!

We love each and every musician who poured it on and ripped it unselfishly in order to aid us in our never ending quest for spiritual growth through boogie woogie enlightenment and rock n roll endarkenment!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

When they come to take you down

When they bring that wagon round

When they come to call on you

and drag your poor body down

Just one thing I ask of you

Just one thing for me

Please forget you knew my name

My darlin Sugaree

Shake it, shake it Sugaree

Just don't tell them that you know me

You thought you was the cool fool

Never could do no wrong

Had everything sewed up tight

How come you lay awake all night long?

Just one thing I ask of you

Just one thing for me

Please forget you knew my name

My darlin Sugaree

Shake it, shake it Sugaree

Just don't tell them that you know me

You know in spite of all you gained

you still have to stand out in the pouring rain

One last voice is calling you

and I guess it's time you go

Just one thing I ask of you

Just one thing for me

Please forget you knew my name

My darlin Sugaree

Shake it, shake it Sugaree

Just don't tell them that you know me

Shake it up now, Sugaree

I'll meet you at the Jubilee

If that Jubilee don't come

Maybe I'll meet you on the run

One thing I ask of you

Just one thing for me

Please forget you knew my name

my darling Sugaree

Shake it, shake it Sugaree

but don't tell them that you know me

Shake it, shake it Sugaree

Just don't tell 'em that you know me

-Garcia/Hunter

Cades Cove Weekend

Black Betty and I are home from a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend camping trip to Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I figured that the crowds would be gone (they were) and the camping would be sweet. It was a rare opportunity to enjoy the Cove without having to experience the horrible traffic-choked nightmare that the loop has become during peak season. The campground was also sparsely populated, creating a quiet and peaceful campsite.

We awoke to heavy frosts on Saturday and Sunday mornings with temps in the 20's. The little pop-up was pretty chilly, the only warm place around was deep inside our sleeping bags. It made for some great camp fire time, though.  The stars were spectacular in the night sky and I was treated to a couple of the quietest nights that I've experienced since my AT hike. What a great setting to enjoy eating our Thanksgiving left-overs in. Mmmm pie!

Black Betty told me that it was all worth it (speaking of the cold) as we watched 2 bear cubs and their momma dig for grubs while they sauntered through the  chilly woods on Sunday morning. She was right!

Del Yeah! Black Mountain

We were fortunate enough to be able to attend the first Del Yeah! weekend at the Pisgah Brewery venue in Black Mountain yesterday. It was a wonderful day spent enjoying beautiful mountain weather and listening to superb mountain music. Labor Day weekend doesn't get any better than this; if you missed it, you missed out indeed!

The lineup featured Charlotte rockers The New Familiars, Asheville bluegrass band Town Mountain, Black Mountain's Paco Shipp on blues harmonica, Colorado super group The Emmitt Nershi Band, and, of course, the one and only Del McCoury Band.

The enthusiastic crowd gave their love to Del and the boys. Del summed it all up in the lyrics from "Sweet Appalachia":

I’ve got that sweet mountain soul down in my bones,
And I can feel it when I sing them lonesome songs.


And I can tell by the way I feel,
That it comes from somewhere else,

Got that sweet mountain soul down in my bones.


I’ve got that sweet mountain spirit down in my veins,
And it flows through my heart like a mountain rain,

And no matter where I might roam,

These hills and hollers are still my home,

Got that sweet mountain spirit down in my veins.



Some people call me Hillbilly,
Some people call me Mountain Man,
Well, you can call me Appalachia,
Appalachia’s what I am.


RISE (Rising Appalachia)

http://vimeo.com/8281592 from Captain Crazy Productions on Vimeo.

RISE (Rising Appalachia) is one group that I have had my eye on for a few years. I've caught them on video and have streamed their music. Although I have actually been in the same place at the same time as them (festival-wise) I have managed to miss seeing them.

Sisters Leah and Chloe's state in their Mission Statement:
"RISE (Rising Appalachia) is a genre-bending force of sound that uses both lyrical prowess and diverse artistic collaborations to defy cultural cliches and ignite a musical revolution..."

In other words, rootsy, rhythmic, soulful, compelling, beautiful, and real.

I hope to see them this year.

Songs from the Road Band / Give me a Ring Sometime

Man, what a bluegrass show at Jack of the Wood last night in Asheville!
If you haven't heard the two CDs by the bluegrass supergroup, Songs From The Road Band, you need to check them out!

Bristol Rhythm and Roots 2009

Just home from another great year of kickass music at Bristol Rhythm and Roots. We enjoyed seeing Jeni and Billy again, we first met them at Sugar Hollow Campground in Bristol, four years ago during our first visit to Rhythm and Roots. This year they were performing and we got to enjoy listening to them sing their old-time Appalachian ballads and coal mining songs from the stage of the Bristol Theater. Big time, J&B!

Their new CD is called Jewel Ridge Coal, check them out, it's the real thing. Their website is :http://www.jeniandbilly.com/home.html

Bristol Rhythm and Roots!!

Black Betty and I are getting psyched for our 4th year at Bristol Rhythm and Roots!

I am looking forward to hearing some great music, and as usual the problem is that there is too much to choose from, too many stages, and I won't be able to see everyone that I want to!

This year some of my favorite performers (besides Larry Keel) will be The Hackensaw Boys, Corey Harris, The Steeldrivers, Sam Quinn and the Japan 10, Jim Lauderdale, Scythian, Paleface and Mo, Ras Alan, Billy and Jenny, Town Mountain and The Belleville Outfit. Also we want to check out Trampled by Turtles and Holy Ghost Tent Revival.

Hopefully I'll have some great videos to post when we get home, come join us for the weekend!

Railroad Earth at FloydFest, Va.

We drove to Floyd, Va on Sunday, July 26 to see one of my favorite bluegrass / jamgrass bands, Railroad Earth.

Our friends, Marie and Aimee and Aimee's son Isaac, came along. It was our first visit to Floydfest, although it had been on my radar for several years (bad timing, it's on the same weekend as Bele Chere).

RRE "kicked grass" as usual and gave an inspired performance. What can I say? I'll let the video speak for itself....

Mac Arnold and Plate Full O' Blues

Last Saturday we caught legendary blues man Mac Arnold at Bele Chere Festival in Asheville. During his career Mac played, toured, and recorded with the best blues singers around: Muddy Waters, BB King, John Lee Hooker, Eric Clapton, Paul Butterfield, and lots more. In his retirement Mac returned to South Carolina, where he is an organic farmer and tours with his band, Plate Full O' Blues.

In this video, Mac is playing one of his famous gas can guitars that his brother Leroy learned to make as a boy in the 1940's.

Todd Snider at the Orange Peel

I'm really behind in my posting, and Black Betty and I have seen tons of good music this month. I'll try to catch up as I can get videos loaded in the next week or two.

We caught the barefooted Todd Snider at the Orange Peel on July 17th. We absolutely love his music and we were treated to a killer show with just Todd, his guitar, and a room full of his loyal Asheville fans! Sweet!

The Music Camp 2009

Hi everyone, I'm back from a little camping trip that Black Betty and I took up to the Maine woods. More about that later, I want to get this video up from the hot (literally) little festival that we attended in Spartanburg a few weeks back. We really enjoyed the music and vibes at the Music Camp. It was a real small crowd (I don't know...maybe 1,000 people?) and a young crowd (majority under 29) which we enjoy more than the older crowd (our age). The weather was HOT (South Carolina in June) and our fragile mountain thermostats would have boiled over if it hadn't been for the wonderful wet and refreshing Pacolet river. Jumping in the river several times a day actually saved the whole experience for me..........

So, the music...high energy performances by Donna the Buffalo, The Duhks, The Stringdusters, and the host band, The Belleville Outfit.........and many, many more good shows. What's not to love? We'll be back next year with bathing suits!

The Music Camp

Black Betty and I are packing up the popup and heading towards Spartanburg on Friday to try a new festival experience. This will really be the 5th year for this little festival put on by members of The Bellville Outfit, but will be our 1st experience with it.

I actually learned of both the band and the festival while driving home from Asheville last month and listening to WNCW. The Bellville Outfit were live guests and I really enjoyed their music. They talked about the festival and I came home and purchased the incredibly affordable tickets ($60. each for the weekend and $30. a carload to camp).

The line-up looks awesome, the crowd should be small, and the camping fun! What's not to like?

Madison County Ballad Singer

Denise Norton O'Sullivan singing Rose Connoly in the Madison County, N.C. Courthouse.
What's there to say? It's beautiful...