Grass Roots Revival (GRR) plays traditional bluegrass and Americana music with a vengeance. GRR’s specialty is close harmonies and the high-lonesome sound that bluegrass is known for. All three members of GRR were born and bred in the cornfield-flatlands of Illiana–Jamie Lou Carras in Urbana, Michael Jones in Homer, and Jim Hand in Tolono. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Americana2012
All Jump Up/Silver Rose
The beloved and dynamic duo of Barb Silverman, “a folk festival in a box,” and Steve Rosen, “the folk Buddha,” pack 30 years of charm and talent from old-time to swing to novelty, weaving tight harmony, textured rhythms, expansive solos, and snappy footwork. When they play for kids, they are “All Jump Up;” for grownups, they transform into “Silver Rose.”
Interpreting and Arranging Old Songs with Red Tail Ring
Michael Beauchamp and Laurel Premo, of Red Tail Ring – the Michigan-based old/new-time duo, will discuss, and demonstrate through song, approaches to playing old ballads and tunes that honor the original while taking the form in new directions.
Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra’s Creative Process
Inspiration and Collaboration: A Look at The Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra’s Creative Process
The Shanties
The Shanties – In bars and in concert setting they are New Irish music, an energetic infusion of traditional and pop. Solid for 12 years, according to its fans, and more over the top than ever; rowdy fun with powerful Celtic and pop melodies driven by great fiddle, vocals, mandolin, guitar, bodhran, whistle.
Resonation Station
Krannert Uncorked gets the Champaign-Urbana Folk and Roots Festival off to an early start with the feel-good traditional and pop songs of Resonation Station. Jordan Schilling, Jeremy Taylor, Collin Richey, and JB Faires bring energetic picking and lush harmonies to tunes from the 1920s up through today’s roots music. Continue reading
Red Tail Ring
Red Tail Ring is the Americana roots duo of Michael Beauchamp and Laurel Premo. Whether rendering a traditional tune or one of their original compositions, the duo infuses each song with musical imagination, haunting harmonies and instrumental artistry on fiddle, guitar, banjo, mandolin, jawharp and plain-old foot stomping. Four years and 400-plus shows into their partnership Beauchamp and Premo have traveled increasingly farther in their musical ramblings, playing shows throughout the Midwest, East Coast and Southeastern United States. Continue reading
Shape-note Singing
Shape-note singing is a musical-notation system developed by 18th-century itinerant American singing masters to quickly teach 4-part unaccompanied vocal harmony for use in worship. Continue reading
Orpheus Mandolin Orchestra
The Orpheus Mandolin Orchestra comes to us from Bloomington, Illinois, where it grew out of old-time jam session that attracted a remarkable number of mandolin players. The Orchestra’s repertoire includes popular turn-of-the-century songs, ragtime, classical, jazz, and bluegrass. Continue reading
Carl Sandburg: Music of the People, Voice of the People
Carl Sandburg dedicates his American Songbag to the “Unknown Singers”: the people who lived and died, having sung, but who are now unsung. They live on through the tradition they carried and passed along. Not only did Carl Sandburg collect and record the music of the people, the unknown people, he also dedicated himself to speaking to them and to speaking for their cause. He wanted to unite common men to work toward their mutual benefit. Continue reading