Americana Gazette April - May 2012

MERICANA GAZETT E A April / May 2012

FEATURE STORY WARNER E. HODGES OTHER STORIES: JEANNE KUHNS HEATHER BERRY & TONY MABE TONY DIPOFI EDDIE STUBBS TRAVIS COOPER BLANCHE HODGES JIM BERKENSTADT STACIE COLLINS CHRIS COOK CD REVIEWS PET NOTE - ERROL FLYNN BOB'S GUITAR CORNER RANDY KOHRS MITHRIL: TAPROOTS OF AMERICANA THE SATURDAY NIGHT PREACHERS

AMERICANA GAZETTE Greetings!

I received many comments on my “Buck or Doe” short story in the last issue. I just want to follow up to let you know that I believe Andy learned a lesson. I fell on the ice getting out of my car the other day at work. When I called Andy to tell him I fell, the first words out of his mouth were“Are you OK?” Need I say anything more????

Some people have asked where they can pick up a copy of the Americana Gazette? Just to name a few places - In Belleville, you can get it at the Belleville Public Library, Francois Sales, Townmart, Schwoegeler’s Sugar River lanes, Burreson’s Groceries, Corner Café; In New Glarus at the Fat Cat Coffee Works,The Town Edge,The New Glarus Home, New Glarus Public Library, Puempel’s,Ampride, Chalet Landhaus, Glarnerladen; In Middleton at Hody’s Bar; In Spring Green at Arthur’s Supper Club,The General Store; In McFarland at Country Corners; In Monroe at Super 8;American Inn,Monroe Public Library,Ludlow’s, Garden Deli; In Madison at Willy Street Co-op, Ground Zero, The Harmony Bar, Barnes & Noble, The Brink Lounge; In Hollandale at the Corner Feed & Supply; In Verona at Miller’s Market, Cousin Sub’s and the Tuvalu Coffee Shop and you can always check it out on line at www.americanagazette.net .

We have had inquires about getting some papers down the Milwaukee way. If anyone/business would like to carry our free magazine,please contact me at jziehli@advisorymgt.com and we will be sure to get you some copies so people can pick it up. Also we are always looking for ideas on stories, so feel free to submit this also.

PUBLISHER Joyce Ziehli • jziehli@advisorymgt.com

SENIOR EDITOR Andy Ziehli • aziehli@advisorymgt.com

Mark Gerking

GUEST WRITER Tom Mason

CREATIVE DIRECTOR STAFF WRITERS/PHOTOS

Ric Genthe • rgenthe@charter.net

Anne Sullivan

Travis Cooper

Americana Gazette Advertising Rates Litt Dubay

Business Card Ad $30.00 a year Classified b/w 3.25” w x 2” h $20.00 an issue

Frye Gaillard

Small b/w 3.25” w x 4.25” h $50.00 an issue

Robert Hoffman

1/6 Page vertical, b/w 3.25w x 6.5”h $75.00 an issue $45.00 an issue for 3 issues $35.00 an issue for 6 issues

Thanks all and keep on reading!!!

Till next time.

Joyce Ziehli Publisher

Anne Miller

1/3 Page vertical, b/w 3.25” w x 12.75” h $150.00 an issue $70.00 an issue for 3 issues $65.00 an issue for 6 issues 1/3 Page horizontal, b/w, 10.25” w x 4” h $150.00 an issue $140.00 an issue for 3 issues $130.00 an issue for 6 issues

Jim Smith

Bobby Westfall

Rosemary Ziehli

½ Page horizontal, b/w, 10.25” w x 6.5” h $175.00 an issue $140.00 an issue for 3 issues $130.00 an issue for 6 issues Full Page b/w, 10.75”w x 12.75” h $300.00 an issue $285.00 an issue for 3 issues $270.00 an issue for 6 issues Back Cover color 10.75”w x 12.75” h $375.00 an issue $360.00 an issue for 3 issues $345.00 an issue for 6 issues Sponsorship Artist/Band Page Border Ad $350.00 an issue $330.00 an issue for 3 issues $300.00 an issue for 6 issues

2

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

Welcome to

Americana Gazette TABLE OF CONTENTS

WHERE TO LOOK 3 CD Review 4 Litt DuBay’s Slant 5 Women In The Round Blanche Hodges 6 Travis Cooper 7 Jim Berkenstadt 8 Stacie Collins 9 New Music - 2012 10 Cherokee and Cody 12 Pet Note - Errol Flynn 13 Heather Berry 14 Jeanne Kuhns 16 Warner Hodges 18 Alone Time - Jim Smith 19 Boys Will Be Boys - Rosemary Ziehli 19 Mithril:Taproots of Americana 20 Chris Cook 21 Cover vs. Original - Andy Ziehli 22 Eddie Stubbs 23 Robert’s Ramblings 24 Randy Kohrs 25 Saturday Night Preachers 25 Bob’s Guitar Corner 26 Tony DiPofi

101 6th Avenue • New Glarus, WI 53574 608-527-4300 Hours: Monday-Saturday 9:30-5:00 Sunday 10:30-5:00

The Americana Gazette is printed by: The Print Center • Brodhead, Wi. 53520 AMERICANA GAZETTE % Andy & Joyce Ziehli P.O. BOX 208 • Belleville, WI. 53508 OFFICE: 608-424-6300 Andy Cell: 608-558-8131 Joyce Cell: 608-558-8132 w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

CD Review Johnny Dowd ♪♪♪♪ No Regrets Mother Jinx Records Rock/Electronica I was originally going to call the new album,‘Regrets, I’ve Had A Few’.

Then I realized,I didn’t”,says Johnny Dowd.That tells you where Dowd is coming from on his latest release,‘No Regrets’.An album of thirteen vignettes on women in Dowd’s life; the good, the bad, and the ugly.And he loves them all.

‘No Regrets’ plays like a sound track to a film noire version of ‘Girls, Girls, Girls”, Dowd offers up his mutated stew of soul, country, blues and funk, all fused with his Okie nursery rhyme vocals. Constant Dowd compatriots Willie B. and Michael Stark are along for the ride, along with a pair of 60’s drum machines, (and an occasional sax). Riveting bass lines, pull you in, and the sonic flourishes (think 60’s Booker T. style organ), command you to listen.And Dowd’s ever impressive (and expressive), guitar-attacks or subtly appears.

As always, Johnny’s lyrics offer up dark, twisted tales-like Poe might have recited/composed, if he’d been writing while listening to Hank Williams,Johnny Otis,and Sun Ra.He wears his (Beef) heart on his sleeve.Always leaves himself open to interpretation, and in some instances retaliation.Witness the songs use of female vocalists, almost as a call and response devise to Dowd’s tales. For there are two sides to every story, right? An equal opportunity type of guy, is Johnny Dowd. It has often been said that he writes in a ‘gothic’ vein. But, to me it’s only in the sense that his stories come from the shadowy side of life’s spectrum. It’s the twists and turns of the narratives that draws the listener in, chuckling one moment, gasping the next.You never know exactly where the next line is going to take you.

To say that Johnny Dowd does things his own way is a given. He’s also the only one doing it this way. So, for God’s sake Betty, give him back his jacket. {‘No Regrets’ is available on Mother Jinx Records and can be ordered thru his website: www.johnnydowd.com} Review by: Mark Gerking

Ruthie Foster ♪♪♪♪♪ Let it burn Blue Corn Music Americana/Folk/Blues Ruthie Foster's latest album,'Let It Burn,' finds Foster continuing her exploration of Gospel, blues, soul, and R&B and fusing them into her own unique brand of folk music.To call Foster an interpretive singer is only partly right,for she takes on a variety of songs and styles,some familiar, some not, and imbues them with her power and arrangements, making them musically her own.Backed by a crack R&B band (along with assists by the Blind Boys of Alabama and William Bell), Ruthie’s choice of material can sometimes look more than eclectic on paper. It’s her strong will and strong set of pipes that make each song her own, and bring 'Let It Burn' into a cohesive whole. Her voice is indeed a powerful tool. She is one of the rare stylists working today who can convey the power of a lyric through her voice without reverting to histrionics.This ability to refrain from such devices as well as her ability to emit power through phrasing rather than gimmicks merely gives each song more credence.

Every song is a standout: from the smooth soul of 'This Time' (Los Lobos), to the jazzy interplay of 'You Don’t Miss Your Water' (a duet with William Bell), a staggering Foster arrangement of 'Ring of Fire' (Johnny Cash), the beautiful balladry of 'It Makes No Difference' (in which Foster does both Robbie Robertson's song and Rick Dankos original vocals proud), David Crosby’s 'Long Time Gone' is given a blues/gospel workout, and the sultry take of 'Don’t Want to Know' (John Martyn); these are songs that have a tendency to sneak up on you and eventually make you their aural prisoner.

The closing pair of songs brings Foster full circle. Her stunning version of the Pete Seeger folk standard 'If I Had a Hammer' is something to behold, a stunning blues/jazz casting which makes the listener cling to each line like it is more relevant than ever (which it is). And an a capella version of 'The Titanic' with the Blind Boys of Alabama; both powerful in its sheer force both of will and subtlety. 'Let It Burn' smolders.

Review by: Mark Gerking

continued on page 30

3

Litt DuBay’s

Rant!

by Litt DuBay

Ole Litt Dubay here and am I glad spring is almost here. The skin on my legs is so dry if I flake any more people will start thinking I’m writing for TMZ! My skin’s so dry underneath my pants that I found a caravan of nomads setting up camp near my navel. They thought my belly button was an oasis, and the Mrs. was seeing a mirage from all the stirring go on down there!

Well we finally got enough signatures to have a recall election here in Wisconsin to get rid of Scott Walker and one of the Fitzwhatits brothers, the chubby one. It’s about time. If Wisconsin loses anymore jobs I will have to start looking for real work!

Ziehli fell out of bed in January and it registered as an earthquake in Mexico. No, really his buddy Pat Cockroft called from Mexico and wanted to know if Ziehli had fallen because they had a tremor at the resort he was staying at. About 36 years ago Ziehli and Cockroft were deer hunting together down near Spring Green. They had just finished a drive and were unloading their guns. Ziehli’s gun accidently discharged and just missed Cockroft’s foot. Ever since then at least twice a month Cockroft reminds Ziehli how he almost shot him. Ziehli told him a week ago that if he would have shot him he could have played Jesus in the Easter Play at Church, and he wouldn’t be complaining today!

The Grammy’s what a joke! If the voting would have been based on talent instead of record company placement I would have won instead of Dave Grohl! What the hell Grohl was a drummer who learned to thrash a guitar. Saying Grohl is a musician is like saying that John Miller is a humanitarian! Geez!!!

Boy I hate posers! You know those local musicians who stand on the stage and pose like they are big rock stars! Back to back hands in the air hair flowing in the fake wind posers. You never see Ziehli posing on stage. That’s cause once he gets seated, he can’t get back up!

Phil Lee got something that he always wanted as a gift this past week. No not age reducing cream, he got a yodeling pickle from Joyce. Now he can quit asking Ziehli’s mom to go on tour with him.

Well my rant this time is about fat guys at Wal-Mart. You’ve seen them. They wear sweat pants, baseball hats with race cars on them, coats that are too small for them,Velcro tennis shoes that are not stuck together because their shoes are not wide enough, butt crack hanging out, unshaven, scooter riding, candy bars in the basket fat guys! They disgust me!!!!!!! First you wouldn’t have to ride in a scooter if you wouldn’t eat all those candy bars at one sitting. There are clothes to fit fat guys at a decent price on the web at King Size. Check it out! The biggest size Wal-Mart carries is a 3xl, and trust me brother you are at least a 5xl so don’t try to squeeze 10 pounds of Sh@# into a 5 pound bag. Buy shoes that fit and you can tie. It’s good exercise to bend over once in awhile and touch your toes even if you can’t see them looking down. Bic raisers are cheap, shave!!! Cover up that nasty butt crack. No one wants to see it or smell it, so take a shower too! You wonder why people look at you funny? Get off your ass and stand in front of one of the fitting room doors, that’s why! Those scooters are for handicapped people, and the last time I checked being fat was not a handicap! Lastly look at the example you are setting for your fat kid that is trailing behind you. If you don’t get up and start moving around, there won’t be any scooters left for him to ride by the time he’s a teenager!

Litt Dubay

Phil Lee

4

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

Blanche Hodges Eddie and Blanche

Take a Walk Down Memory Lane with Singer/Entertainer/Recording Artist - Blanche Hodges

Do you recognize the handsome musician on the front cover of this magazine? That is the greatest/fastest guitar player around, Nashville’s very own Warner E. Hodges, and this story is about his Mother, Blanche Hodges,who was quite a singer/entertainer herself back in her day.A Southern Belle living her dream of being a singer and recoding records, her journey from Columbus, Georgia to Nashville,Tennessee.

Warner and Deb Hodges are very dear friends of ours, and upon visiting them we have also been able to spend some quality time with Warner’s Mom, Blanche. She has talked a little about her musical past and I thought it might be fun to do some reminiscing. She is a beautiful, talented,fascinating lady,with lots of stories to share and best of all, she has had a very exciting music career and I thought our readers might enjoy a walk down memory lane with her.

Joyce: Good evening Mrs. Hodges. Let’s start out by telling me and our readers how this exciting musical career all came about, if you don’t mind sharing with us?

Blanche: Well, my Dad played the guitar a little bit in his younger days. Long before so many children came along, there were five of us in the family. He used to play for square dances, and my Mother had a beautiful tenor voice. At one time she was offered to study opera, but w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

she opted the family life instead. I suppose my music came from the two of them. My whole life I don’t remember wanting to be anything but a singer. I always wanted to be an entertainer. I started singing in church as a little girl, with a friend of mine.

In my home town, which is Columbus, Georgia, I found out that they had a Kiddy Show which was a talent show for children. It was sponsored by a man who owned a very expensive children’s clothing store. With my folks always working in the textile mills, they weren’t financially able to Blanche Hodges help me out with my music career. Most everything I did, I had to do on my The band was called the Western Star Ranch Boys. It was own. When I found out about this show, which a band made up of GI boys at Fort Benning there in was held at the Bradley Theatre in Columbus, a Georgia. They hired me to sing with them on Friday and beautiful old theatre, my friend and I started Saturday nights. I made $6.00 a night. I was loving every going to the shows. There would be singing in minute of it. the talent show and then they would show old westerns, which had singing in them, which I abOne night when I got to the job, there was a stranger on solutely loved. I found out that they had a sign up stage, I had no idea who he was. He was playing with sheet where you could be on the show, which the band. I thought to myself, he is so cute. He was was broadcast over WDAK Radio. The talent singing an Elvis Presley song,“Mystery Train.” He was show was broadcast on the radio. I was on sevjumping and moving around like Elvis, shakin his leg. I eral times and almost always won something. just couldn’t take my eyes off him. After the show we sat Sometimes it would be money; other times it and talked. He had met the band guys that afternoon at would be gift certificates to shop at the children’s their rehearsal and had asked if he could get up and do clothing store that sponsored it. I sang there until a number. The band guys said yes, he could. This genI was 13 years old. After 13, you couldn’t be on it anytleman’s name was Edgar Hodges and he told me he had more, because it was just for children. The last time on to go to the field. He was a military man and he would the show, one of the judges asked me what I was going be gone for 3 months. He asked me if I would write to to do to pursue my singing career? I really had no idea him as it gets mighty lonely out there. I said I would if – I was 13. I even cried this last show cause I was so he wrote to me first. We wrote back and forth. When he broken hearted I couldn’t do it anymore. The judge incame back he came to see me and we started dating. Six formed me that there was a live Country Western band months later Eddie and I were married. He played guithat performed on the Saturday Morning Radio Show. tar and sang and I played rhythm guitar and sang.

He asked if I had ever sang any country songs. I said that I hadn’t but sure had heard a lot of them on the radio.He continued on page 29 Warner and Blanche gave me some records, told me to go home and learn them and when I was ready to audition, come see him. He informed me that I could try out and I got the spot, I got to sing one song every Saturday morning with the band. By the time I was 16 years old, I was singing with bands all around Columbus in the bars. I wasn’t really suppose to be in the bars, but My Dad knew I wanted to sing so bad, so he would take me and come and get me.

One day while I was at the local dry cleaners, a man came in and was all dressed in Western wear. I said“Oh a cowboy?”just like that, I was really excited. He said,“No ma’m, I play in a Country Western Band.” I told him I loved Country Western Music and used to sing a little. He informed me that they were looking for a female singer, so I tried out for the part.

5

“Travis Cooper - Coming your way soon!”

There are a lot of reasons that songwriters pickup and move to Nashville. Some for fame, some for money, and some just because they have to write. Travis Cooper is the latter, a man that just needs to write. Cooper is from Portage,Wisconsin. A man who loves creating and weaving tapestry’s with his words.Cooper has recorded two albums of his music, and is working on writing for his third which he hopes to record and release in 2012. Trying to navigate Music City has been quite a journey for Cooper, but he stays determined to make his mark in Americana Music.

Cooper is coming back to Wisconsin in April to play some shows with his friend Dan Anderson in support of Anderson’s new CD,‘Weight and Sea’. Starting Friday, April the 13th is Anderson’s CD release party, and continuing over the next week. The shows will feature both Anderson and Cooper playing on each other’s tunes. Anderson and Cooper each played on each other’s recordings and support each other musically by touring together. They will be playing shows in Madison, Portage, Kewanee and Menasha as well.

Cooper is looking to hookup and tour as an opening act this summer with some other Americana Acts out of Nashville. His style of writing fits in the same groove as the Americana Artists that call East Nashville home. Cooper’s songs tend to be more story orientated with depth, unlike the fluff that comes off Music Row today. He cites writers like Guy Clark,Chris Whitley, Townes Van Zandt and Steve Earle as inspirations and heroes of his. Cooper says that “those guys write great stories in their songs. They communicate to you a feeling or memory and it can become your own.They all read great authors and poets, which brings such an intelligence to what they themselves

6

wrote about.”“I want to follow that kind of craftsmanship.”

Cooper is currently demoing new songs.“Demoing is always an interesting part of the recording process for me”says Cooper. “The songs can take on a new life after you get them recorded. And yet another when you play them out live after awhile. I really enjoy seeing where they can go. But you hope each song holds up, no matter what kind of musical situation you’re in. “I’d love to have several different versions of songs recorded. Dylan was really known for that.”“ I’ m hearing different rhythms for the some of the songs this time around” said Cooper.

Songwriting is both work and play for Cooper. His songs weave stories about interesting characters, lost loves, and life’s journeys. They are about the fabric of lives of working people. The kind of story songs that fit well in the Americana and Classic Country story telling mold. Cooper is a very accomplished guitar player and an excellent slide guitar player. His expertise on the fingerboard is a great accompaniment to his unique vocals and songwriting.

So Nashville and the world keep your eyes and ears open for Travis Cooper, he’s on the radar screen! Wisconsin check him out when he comes through in April. You will not be disappointed! I guarantee it!!!

Visit travisvcooper.com to hear clips, download albums and to see his schedule.

Written by:Andy Ziehli Photos supplied by Travis.

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

Jim Berkenstadt – Music Historian,Archivist, Consultant,Author, and The Rock And Roll Detective BW: So Jim, How did you get started as a researcher for Music,TV, and Film?

Your client list is pretty impressive.

JB:It started in the late 60’s.I had collected records prior to that and I was one of those people that would study the album front to back. Because I wanted to know who’s playing that instrument. We got more of that information as the decade went on. I wanted to know who produced it. I wanted to understand what it means when it says this guy produced it.What does it mean when it says someone’s the engineer? What are some of these weird percussion instruments? I was just into that. I played some instruments as a kid, but my real interest in music was in listening to it, and then documenting it. I thought let’s leave the playing to the good players, and there has to be someone to keep track of it all. So besides collecting music and studying it I was reading Crawdaddy, Cream, and Rolling Stone. I also started sneaking around to these head shops, but not for the usual material but because they were selling bootleg records. I was fascinated by that concept.Where it was something the artist did not necessarily intend you to hear.Whether it was someone who had recorded a TV show, or a radio show, it gave you a chance to hear people you had only heard on a record, and now you could hear them “Live”.That was a cool thing.Then I came across a double album of the Beatles rehearsing in the studio and I was just blown away.The Beatles had just broken up or were on the verge of breaking up.That was 1970, just when Let It Be was coming out.The performances were them rehearsing, talking about songs, stopping and starting,playing old cover songs from the fifties,chatting,arguing,tuning,and it was just like I got to be in the studio with them. So it was a real find, and to me it was a real adrenaline rush. I became fascinated by the artist in the “creative mode.” Not just the final product we’d buy at the record store, but the whole “work in progress”. I really liked that so I started to keep track of all these un-released recordings as well as ones that would come out and I tended to specialize in the Beatles because they were one of my favorite bands. So besides continuing to collect their solo recordings, which I guess I’ll have to do until I’m 90, I also collected any sort of rare recordings by the Beatles as a group, and even bootlegs of solo Beatles started to leak out over time.That really started more in the 80’s and 90’s.Whether it was a solo tour, or some engineer had made a copy of alternate takes or out takes from one of their solo sessions. For example there are five or six hours of Imagine demos, alternate, and out takes from John Lennon’s album that are out there in pristine quality.That was pre- computer days so I used index cards to keep them all in order.And I started to think in terms of this is when this was recorded and this was when this was released.Then I hopped on the computer in the 90’s and started using a spread sheet program so everything was findable and in chronological order. By then it had gotten a little more complex collecting because people were trading cassettes of rare shows around the world.And then came CD’s, and vhs videos and the DVD’s. So the computer really helped with that because later on when I did get to work for some clients in the “Beatle World” it was quick and easy to locate and retrieve what they were looking for.

BW: Can you talk about some of the things you’ve done with the Beatles, George Harrison, and the Travelling Wilburys?

JB: Sure, the first thing I did was that I heard George Harrison was going to digitally remaster All Things Must Pass and I thought well, he might want to consider putting out some rare tracks with the box set. So I found someone who knew his personal assistant and started talking with her and explained to her that I had a lot of material from those sessions that George might find of interest and I believe he did ultimately put on a couple of those rare tracks. I worked on The Travelling Wilburys box set basically gathering every single interview in the world that was done with any of the members talking about them. I also tracked down video interviews with the members which were made into a video that is called The History of the Travelling Wilburys, which is included in the re-mastered box set.That was fun! I was also the historical consultant to Martin Scorsese and Olivia Harrison for the film George Harrison - Living in the Material World, which debuted last October on HBO. w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

BW: Jim, you’ve also written some critically acclaimed books, how much fun was that?

JB: It was pretty fun I have to say.The first book was Black Market Beatles which basically summed up all those years of collecting all the rare un-released recordings.It talks about how some of those leaked out over the years. It’s got the opinions of the Beatles and what they thought of bootlegs.There was a chapter that summed up what the most important or significant Beatles bootlegs were.Which, if you compare to the final release of the “Beatles Anthology” box set, you’ll see that they may have perhaps used it as a model in some ways to figure which recordings should come out.The next book was Nevermind Nirvana which I wrote with Charles Cross who is a Seattle music journalist. He was an editor of a music paper out there called The Rocket. He’s also a contributor to Rolling Stone. So it turns out that he had heard I was writing this book and I liked the idea of writing a book about how an album was made from start to finish.

I was fascinated by going behind the scenes. I know Butch Vig and he produced this Nirvana album,which was the most important Rock album of the Nineties.So I thought I could just get help from Butch, and the guys that engineered it and worked there and get the local Madison angle because that’s where the album started, and then get the rest of the story out in L.A.In the meantime Charles Cross contacted me and said we’re both writing the exact same book.

BW: How did he know that?

JB:You know there’s something in the music world amongst writers, historians, and researchers that they all tend to know what other people are doing. I don’t know how that works. I don’t know what other people are doing. So I said let’s merge and work on this thing together.Which I think made it a better book. It also goes into the sociology of the time and why the fans of that era took to this album so incredibly and how it changed radio at the time and just why it had such a big impact on a generation. So I think each decade has one or two albums that have a big impact on society.

BW: I understand you have a new book coming out called The Beatle Who Vanished.

JB:Yes, this lead up to a book about Jimmie Nicol who was a Beatle for ten days. Most people felt that he came out of nowhere and was suddenly plunged into this job for 10 days in the eye of the hurricane of Beatlemania.They were getting ready to go on their first ever world wide tour. All the concert tickets were sold, all the promotion had been done, and all this money would be owed to these promoters all over the world if the show did not go on.There was no “out clause” in the contracts in that day and age to let them out based on an illness. On June 3, 1964 they were doing a photo shoot and Ringo just collapsed on the floor and passed out. So they put him in the hospital and they said he had tonsillitis and he’s going to have to stay there awhile.Well the tour was supposed to start on June 4, in Holland. So I was fascinated by how did they find this guy in an 8 hour day, and find the right guy that could know Ringo’s drum parts? So, the book explores his time with The Beatles, but also, what Nicol accomplished as a band leader, drummer, session man, arranger, producer and composer, before and after the Beatles.

BW:That sounds really interesting. Jim I know you have a lot more interesting projects you are working on and for those interested in what you are doing,or who want to hire you they can go to your website. www.rockandrolldetective.com Thanks for talking with me. Sounds like really fun stuff that you do.

JB:You’re Welcome.And you are right, this research is a blast!

Story by Bobby Westfall

7

STACIE COLLINS A Nashville female singer/songwriter you need to be checking out!

I had heard the name Stacie Collins several times from my friend Warner Hodges, but just never got around to checking her out. Then the night we went to see Jason and The Scorchers in Bloomington, IL, Stacie got up on stage and did a number with them.

My God, the woman blew me away. Can she sing – WOW! I had the pleasure of joining her and her husband,Al Collins, (Jason and The Scorchers – bass player) for breakfast the next morning. At this point,I knew I needed to interview her and get her some coverage in this magazine so that the rest of you can check out her music as well. She is too good to be kept a secret. I visited her website and here is a little background info on her; Harmonica blowin’ hell-cat COLLINS is a blazing a trail travelled by few women. Sporting a hard-core honky-tonk wail while backed by a slam-bang rock 'n' roll band, she weds Stones fried rock-n-roll, gut bucket blues and vintage honky-tonk. Based in Nashville,TN,she tours the US,Scandinavia and Europe regularly and has even spawned a Japanese “ Collins” tribute band.

Produced by rock legend Dan Baird (The Georgia Satellites/Homemade Sin), her 2007 release,THE LUCKY SPOT became a fan favorite and received airplay world wide.A ten song, southern rockin', harp howlin' blues romp, had this record been released twenty or thirty years ago it would have sounded as natural on '70s FM radio alongside ZZ Top andThe Rolling Stones as it does next to contemporary rockers like the Drive ByTruckers or Blackberry Smoke.

Her current release, SOMETIMES YA GOTTA (the second produced by Baird) hit the streets in November 2010. Made possible in part by partnering with her fans and Kickstarter.com, SOMETIMES YA GOTTA is packed with 12 tracks of giddy-up rattle-n-roll and boasts an all-star line-up of players including the guitar work of Warner E. Hodges (Jason & The Scorchers/Homemade Sin), Eric ‘EBO’ Borash (Radney Foster) and Dan Baird along with the rhythm section of Jimmy Lester (Los Los Straitjackets/Webb Wilder) on drums and 's rocker husband/writing partner, Al Collins (Jason and The Scorchers) on bass.

Stacie and I connected again via telephone. Let me share this conversation with all of you:

Stacie and Al Collins

Joyce: Stacie, how did you become such a terrific singer/songwriter/performer?

Stacie: My story is kind of different. I never discovered my musical ability until later in life. I had a good ear, sang in a choir, and had a pretend girl band in school. We never played any instruments; we just pretended to be singers. This all came about once I was around Al (Al Collins is her husband) and being immersed into that whole world; we lived in Hollywood and Al was in a band. We always had music in my family, but once being around Al and his band, this gave me an opportunity to explore this whole new world. Al inspired me. I got a hold of a Patsy Cline cassette and just fell in love with her. It was the Sweet Dreams soundtrack. When Al would have band practice, I’d sing in another room for hours while he was rehearsing with the band guys.

This helped me develop my ability. One night they were recording a record and they needed a female vocalist. I had practiced on some of their demos, and so they decided why not just call Stacie to come in and do it. After the record came out and then they went on tour, if I was around, they would call me up to perform those songs. This gave me a feel of what it was like to be on stage.

away, maybe we should go check it out. We had a friend in Nashville and he said he had a room we could stay in and to come on down. We went to a writer’s night at the Bluebird Café, got in line, got our number and had our 30 seconds up on stage to perform. Barbara Cloyd, host of the Bluebird Café fell in love with us and asked us where we had been? We ended up talking to some music industry people and found out what we could/should be doing.Some of the contests you had to be here to win. I said they had a saying here,“you must be present to win”, so we moved there. So on New Year’s Day we packed up everything,loaded up the dogs and headed for Nashville,that was about 11 years ago. We took the big leap of faith. We had no jobs, the car broke down on the way there. We got here though and we love it – it is a great community.

Then on a side note,Al is a singer/songwriter and had asked me to help collaborate and write songs with him. We were living in Cleveland at this time, so we wrote songs together and we performed as a duet. Al is not real comfortable being in the spotlight, being a front man and doing interviews,so we just have my name on the CD and bookings. We played around town and had the opportunity to open for some big name stars, like Hank 3.

How many CD’s do you have out?

I started to learn how to play the harmonica because I felt naked, not having an instrument to play. After 3 years of playing/performing we actually started winning some awards around the area. This was really cool and thought Nashville was only 8 hours

8

Joyce: Oh my gosh . I’m going to write a script and make a movie of this. (we laugh)

Stacie: 3 CD’s out now. The first one I did in 2001, and it is currently out of print.

Once we got to Nashville we figured we should make another CD and we found Dan Baird and he produced it. This went great. Dan has really helped open up doors for me. We recorded The Lucky Spot in a studio in Kentucky. It was magical. After we recorded this we went out on tour and I had some great musicians, Dan Baird, Ken McMahan and Paul Griffith. They brought life to these songs. I can’t even tell you how wonderful it was. w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

New Music to be checking out in 2012: MOOT DAVIS DELIVERS MAN ABOUT TOWN New Jersey country artist enlists Grand Ole Opry star/Outlaw Country Sirius XM host Elizabeth Cook and Kenny Vaughan as guests on new CD. From Auckland to Austin to Nashville, New Jersey-based country musician Moot Davis took quite a journey to make his third CD, Man About Town, but it was certainly worth it. Davis describes his new release as the one he likes the most because “it wasn’t altered to suit anybody’s tastes but mine.” Man About Town fulfills the promise of his earlier efforts while also expanding into new musical territory. Tracks like “Day the World Shook My Hand,”“How Long” and “Only You” should resonate with fans of his earlier, retro honky-tonk sound.“Queensbury Rules,” on the other hand, boasts a harder, rockier sound, while “Rust” mixes country twang with a funky beat. “Crazy in Love With You” stands as his first duet, with the delightful Elizabeth Cook serving as his singing partner. He also delivers his first murder ballad with “Black & White Picture,” a highly cinematic tale driven by Mexican-style guitar picking.

CHELLE ROSE’S GHOST OF BROWDER HOLLER MEETS AT THE INTERSECTION OF APPALACHIAN ROCK AND COUNTRY Ray Wylie Hubbard-produced second album due out May 1, 2012 Album features Elizabeth Cook, Ian McLagan and the McCrary Sisters Hardscrabble Appalachia is known for its bluegrass, moonshine and coal mines. Now, with the May 1 arrival of gut-honest singer-songwriter Chelle Rose’s second album Ghost of Browder Holler (Lil’ Damsel Records, street date May 1, 2012), add visceral rock ’n’ roll to that list.

Rose brings her elemental power to the 12-song disc produced by legendary Texas songsmith Ray Wylie Hubbard in Austin.And while those cuts, ripe with mystery and passion, sound like they were plucked from the kudzu-scented air of her native Loudon County in East Tennessee, they’re really written from life.

Information supplied by: Conqueroo: Cary Baker

Joyce: I absolutely love your CD. Stacie: It was a labor of love! Easy to do with such musicians playing on it like Dan Baird,Eric“EBO”Borash, Warner E. Hodges, Al Collins, Jimmy Lester, Michael Webb, and Jonell Mosser. The relationships and friendships you develop are what counts in this business. I am so lucky to have such great musicians backing me.

Joyce: Stacie, if and when you have any spare time, what do you do for fun or to relax?

JON CLEARY READIES NEW ALBUM OCCAPELLA The seeds for Jon Cleary’s sixth solo CD were sown when the acclaimed songwriter, pianist and singer was asked the hypothetical question,“Would you ever do a record of somebody else’s tunes?”The English-born Cleary, who has made New Orleans his home for more than three decades, provides his emphatic answer with the utterly captivating Occapella (released April 17 on the artist’s own FHQ Records).

An exploration deep into the bountiful songbook of Cleary’s musical touchstone,Allen Toussaint, the new album is as inspired as it is sure-footed. On this labor of love, Cleary inventively reimagines the classics “Southern Nights” and “What Do You Want the Girl To Do,” while he presents less familiar pieces like “Poor Boy Got To Move,”“I’m Gone” and “When the Party’s Over” as newly unearthed treasures.

Information supplied by: Conqueroo: Brian O’Neal/Cary Baker

Stacie: I love to go to this Indian Buffett. I eat so much and can’t do anything for hours afterwards. (laughs) I am a nature girl,I like the outdoors,sports and animals. We don’t have much free time though, we usually tour Europe 3 or 4 times a year.

Joyce: When did you know you wanted to be an entertainer?

Stacie: When I was 4 years old, I would go to work with my Mom and I would dance on the pool table for quarters so that I could play the juke box. (We lived above a bar and my Mom was a cocktail waitress there.)

Joyce: (laughing) I used to dance on tables too, but that was mostly alcohol induced! On this note, I think I better let you get on to your rehearsal. Stacie thank you for your time and it was great meeting you. Good luck in your future endeavors.

Stacie: Thank you Joyce.

Nanci Griffith Releases New CD - Intersection Nanci Griffith debuts at #1 on UK’s Official Country Album Chart. Nanci Griffith’s new album Intersection has debuted at No. 1 in the UK’s Official Country Album Chart.The new entry has taken over from Gretchen Peters album Hello Cruel World which has dropped to No. 2 after 4 weeks on the top spot.

Posted by nancigriffith.com in News • February 24, 2012 Information supplied by:Alisse Kingsley, Muse Media Los Angeles, California 90039 Come Find Me, Audrey Auld Hot on the heels of her 2011 album, Come Find Me,Audrey Auld and Reckless Records are proud to announce the release of Resurrection Moon, a 20-track overview of the veteran singer-songwriter’s best-loved songs of the last decade.

Information supplied by: Audrey Auld DUKES OF DIXIELAND – WHEN COUNTRY MEETS DIXIE

Please check out Stacie Collins at:www.collins.com, www.myspace.com/collins, youtube.com/staciecollinsmusic . When she is performing in your area, check her out and pick up a copy of her CD, you won’t be sorry!

Dixie Jazz band Dukes of Dixieland has released their cross-genre album,When Country Meets Dixie, also features musical appearances from The Oak Ridge Boys, Lathan Moore and many others.

When Country Meets Dixie includes blended, dynamic compositions of “big band New Orleans jazz meets American barbershop gospel/country” and is poised to inspire and entertain generations young and old with its swinging energy and “rhythmatic” performances featuring trumpet, trombone, clarinet and sax (baritone & tenor).

Story by: Joyce Ziehli Photos by: Warren Rudolph

Information supplied by: Megan McNair, Publicist Music City News Media

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

9

Our Good Friends Cherokee and Cody

Cherokee

Cody

It was the summer of 1995 when Jim and I first met Cherokee and Cody, and little did we know that they would become such loyal good friends. Jim and I had talked that summer about selling each of our homes and building one together somewhere in the country. Jim had asked me the boundaries as to what I would consider as a location for this home. And so one Sunday night that August we took a sunset ride into the country around Belleville to scout for a possible land site. We asked my Aunt Betty and our friend Phyllis to join us. We had not told them that this was a scouting mission.

They assumed it was simply a Sunday night ride to the country; something pretty normal for the four of us. Just as we were ready to leave my Uncle Joe stopped in for a visit, and he was happy to ride along. As a retired farmer he loved the freedom of looking at the farm fields without the responsibility of driving. We picked up the ladies and made our way south out of Belleville. As we continued along about five miles out in the country, I spotted a side road that had often caught my eye, but I had never gone onto it. So the first turn off the main highway was onto this narrow country road. We went a few feet to see the road split into two side roads. We stopped at this point, and our breath was taken away by the view. We could look for miles to the west seeing hills and valleys and fields and a great number of wooded regions. When we glanced more directly in front of us,we spotted a sign“Lot for Sale�. What were the odds of our first stop being the spot where we would build and live? Little was mentioned about the for sale sign, and the ride continued in and around Green and Dane Counties that marked my desired location.

The next few days Jim and I talked about that lot and the wonderful view. On Satur-

10

day morning we drove back to that land. We parked the car and decided to walk the lot finding the boundaries, and perhaps did we even dare to think about a spot on that land for our house? The lot was covered with tall wild grasses and weeds, and when we were about in the middle of the land we heard some running noises and coming toward us at full speed were two dogs---one very large almost wolf-like in appearance and the other smaller almost fox-like in appearance.We were trapped! It was obvious we could not out-run them. The large wolf-like dog reached us first coming full speed into us nestling his head under our hands for petting. He went from one to the other of us for this attention. We soon discovered he loved to be scratched behind his ears and on his back just before his tail. He licked us in appreciation. The smaller dog stood back watching.It was obvious she did not want us to touch her. We continued our walk with these two companions jaunting along with us. They took side trips, but they always came back to walk with us. They followed us to the car, and when we started moving, they headed for their home at the end of the dead end road at the edge of the property line. We drove down that road, turned around, and then stopped at the first house across from the lot.The lady there gave us the facts as she knew it regarding the sale. She pointed out that the owners lived in Illinois and also owned the house two lots down from her, and that was for sale, too. We obtained the realtor phone number from the for sale sign, and we called him and made an appointment to meet him on the lot and give us the low down on the possibility of us buying that land. As it turned out, within one month we had purchased the land, and for a year we came out at least once a month for the sunset to discover the range of the sunset to help in placing our home, which we were designing ourselves. On every visit those two dogs came runw w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

ning to meet us and stayed with us as we checked out the sunset and dreamed of living there someday. Things moved fast, and April of the next year we had staked out the house location and by the end of May the digging had begun, and by the first of October we moved into our new home.

We visited the site every day of the process as was suggested by our builders,the Buols, and every time we were there those two dogs came to be with us. We soon met their owners Bill and Linda, and they gave us the background on them and told us their names which were Cherokee (the big dog) and Cody (the small shy female). The owners apologized for the dogs constant time with us, but we had fallen in love with them by then, and we felt we should apologize for taking the dogs away from them for such long periods of time. We humans agreed to let the dogs do their thing, and we were all happier for that.

Thus our new home now had two watch dogs. Whenever we were outside, the dogs came to be with us. When we were gone,the dogs lay on their owner’s lawn and stared down at our house. If anyone drove into our driveway, the dogs came immediately to check it out. If it was our car coming home, they were there before we could open a car door. Cherokee demanded to be petted and loved to come into the house. Cody still hung back, and she rarely even entered the garage and then only if the big doors were open. All summer long they followed us mowing or working on the gardens.

When they got tired, they would lie down and watch us often taking a nap while out in the sun with us. It was a very dry July, and I began to water my gardens. One Sunday night I stood by the flower bed watering while Cherokee and Cody lay watching me. Cherokee had demanded I pet him at the first moment he arrived, and Cody hung back as usual. But after about ten minutes of watering, I felt something brush against me. It was Cody. I reached down and she let me pet her for a few seconds. Then she retreated. This went on for over a dozen occasions, and that broke the ice with her.

After that she demanded as much attention and touches as did Cherokee. They often pushed each other aside to get closer to one of us. I suspect they spent about as much time with us in the daylight hours as they did with their owners. One day Cherokee bounded into the house with Jim. I was on the third level reading when I heard a loud noise and then sharp barks. He was coming all the way up the stairs to see me. When he spotted me, he barked again and rushed over licking me and moving around so I could scratch him.

Thus all seasons of the year no matter the weather,if we were outside those two joined us. If we tried to sneak out the back for a walk, they would soon hear our foot steps, and they would come bounding across the fields to join us almost knocking us over in their rush to be with us. They loved going on walks with us. They loved to watch us work outside, and they often spent hours with us and when we went in, they might lay for a time napping and watching for us to come out again, and then one of them would start for home and the other followed immediately.

Sadly, Cherokee met with an accident and died. Cody still came to visit us as much if not more than before. She would now come even when we weren’t outside, and she would bark until we came out to be with her. She would come at meal time and sit outside the window by the table, look in, and bark at us. Whenever I grilled, she was there within the first scent of the food. If someone visited us and went for walk on our land using the paths we had made (I think Cody thought the paths were just for her), Cody would come running and get between the people and the house, and she would look back at the house and bark telling us a stranger was on our land. She would not let others pet her. Only Jim and I got the honor of that when she was on our land.

When her owners took her for a walk, and if they went past our house, Cody would often stop here and not continue on with them on the walk. If we would recline on the grass in the sun, she would come and be with us there, often as close as she could.

The years went on, and Cody began to age, but she still visited, but those visits became quite rare. Her hearing and eye sight suffered, but once she figured out who we were, she licked us and demanded to be petted over and over again. The past year we saw little of her, and one nice day last November she suddenly appeared like always barking to announce her arrival. Jim petted her and played with her and she flopped down for her belly scratches and licked him as he did so. Then he called me to come out,and she got up and made her way toward me moving so slowly and awkwardly. But once by me, she sat down and I petted her and talked to her and scratched her as I always had.Tears ran down my cheeks,and she tried to lick them off. Jim knew. I knew.

And Cody knew this was her farewell. Our good friend came to say good bye and give us thanks for being her friend. Little did she know what an honor we had to be friends of both of them. Thus it was not a big surprise a few days later when we learned Cody was gone to join Cherokee once again.We were honored to be so trusted and so unconditionally loved by Cherokee and Cody, our welcoming committee,our friends,our personal guard dogs, and our four-legged companions.

Written by: Bob Hoffman Photos supplied.

Back in 1993, American Heritage magazine featured Puempel’s as an example of rare authentic taverns in the U.S., a modern relic profiled as one of our country’s “most impressive historic survivors.” The comforts, charm, and atmosphere that appealed to settlers and travelers back in 1893 has been infused with the energy and integrity of over a century of patrons from all walks of life. The ambience of oldworld Swiss tradition, a commitment to local foods and drink blends, and the contemporary energy of the local community and its visitors, allows Puempel’s Olde Tavern to thrive as a throwback to a simpler time.

Puempel’s was established in 1893. The first owners were Joe and Berta, who also operated the building as a railroad worker’s boarding house and served meals to their patrons. In 1935, their son, Otto, became the second owner of the establishment. Upon Otto’s retirement at the age of 88, Chuck and Lessia Bigler bought Puempel’s and continue to run it as a tavern and restaurant, while passionately maintaining its integrity and welcoming atmosphere.

You are always welcome at Puempel’s. We hope you’ll come visit us! bigler@puempels.com • (608) 527-2045 • 18 6th Ave. • New Glarus, WI 53574

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

11

A PET NOTE

Errol Flynn a swashbuckling, music-loving dog, steeped in the classics.

Errol came around about six or seven years ago. I live in Shelby Park in East Nashville, and for years people have dumped their dogs there when they could no longer take care of them. My wife Pru took to rescuing dogs, cleaning them up and taking them to the humane society or sending out e-mails to friends.Errol came around as an almost full-grown puppy with a big hairy malamute. Because Errol has some pit bull in him, they would have put him to sleep, so Pru vowed to find a home for him.As a kid I always wanted a dog, but as an adult I’ve always wanted to be on the road, so owning a dog was never even a possibility.

As Pru started spending more and more of her time in Australia, I started spending more and more time with Errol. I knew dogs had to be walked, and I‘d started acting, so I started bouncing soliloquies from Richard III and other plays off Errol Flynn as we walked around Sevier lake.Then I started writing songs for“The Blue Buccaneer”,often while walking Errol around Shelby Park, and now I’ve truly become a dog-lover.

Errol Flynn was named for the Tasmanian swash-buckling star of“Captain Blood”,“The Sea Hawk”and“Robin Hood”. Oddly enough, he got the name before I really embraced my inner pirate. He was actually named for a physical attribute the actor he was rumored to share with him.

Errol Flynn loves music, and whenever people come over to play he sits right in the middle of the room and listens intently, occasionally sniffing instruments and their players to see what information he can glean from them (“Do they have a dog too?”).

When I went on the road with Phil Lee, we made an important discovery during rehearsals: playing the harmonica made Errol sing! From then on, whenever I’m on the road and the topic of dogs comes up,I proudly show a phone-film of my canine Caruso singing away.When we did the overdubs of “The Blue Buccaneer” at my house with Michael Webb, Phil, Eric & Peter, and more, Errol was right at everyone’s feet, listening away.

These days when I go on the road a great Nashville actor named Jon Royal comes and takes care of him. I’m assuming he heard some of Jon’s scenes from “Julius Caesar”. I haven’t figured out how to take Errol on the road yet,but I did write a snippet of a song for a duet for youtube: “As luck would have it, luck will have it, I’ve been unlucky at a number of things As luck would have it, luck will have it, I happen to have a dog who sings He pays me no attention, it’s hardly worth a mention When I’m plucking my guitar But when I play the mouth organ, I’m a modern Henry Morgan The greatest buccaneer is what I are (Errol sings) “ Errol Flynn,The Singing Pirate Dog http://youtu.be/EUtszgAOvW8 Written by: Tom Mason Photos supplied by Tom Mason.

12

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

Heather met Tony Mabe in 2005 in Nashville, dated a short time and they were married in 2006 and have been performing together ever since. They have also added a Bass player from Bristol,TN named Jamie Collins.

If you go see Heather Berry,Tony Mabe and Jamie Collins, you will be in for a great time of old time music, bluegrass, gospel and classic country. A real variety of music.

All is performed in a simple, pure heartfelt way. Heather has written 2 of the songs on their new CD, but most of the cuts are older songs.

Heather likes to record Tom T. and Ms. Dixie Hall songs. Ms. Dixie Hall was a long time friend of Maybelle Carter, which has an influence on Ms. Dixie’s writing. Ms. Dixie writes like the Carters did and this is exactly what Heather likes to sing and has the perfect voice for it.

Heather has been making CD’s since she was 12, a few on Tom T. and Ms. Dixie Hall’s label, Blue Circle Records and the latest was released on Mountain Fever Records. Heather enjoys working with these labels as they let her perform and be creative with her music, not pushing them to do something she is not comfortable with.

Heather met Ms. Dixie Hall back in 2004 at the SPBGMA (Society for the Preservation of Blue Grass Music of America). They had a mutual friend, Linda Lay and she introduced Heather to Dixie, and told Dixie that she was sure Dixie would like Heather’s singing, and she did. In the past, Heather and Tony have recorded at Tom T. and Ms. Dixie Hall’s studio. Enjoying the beautiful scenery, and a few peacocks flying by now and then. I’ve been there and the peacocks are amazing, and we can’t forget the wild turkeys, cats and dogs that run around this little piece of heaven. Currently they are recording at Mountain Fever studios in Willis,VA. Making music is Heather and Tony’s main career. When they do have some free time, Heather told me that Tony likes to collect and rebuild old radios and restores old cars, A & T Models. Heather on the other hand simply enjoys her music, and sometimes watches old television shows like Three’s Company, etc.

New CD

The Heather Berry & Tony Mabe Show Released February 14, 2012 It was a very cold, windy day here in Wisconsin while I conversed with Heather Berry who was enjoying a nice sunny, warm 60 degree day in North Carolina. Talking music with this young lady at least warmed my heart. She has such a beautiful voice and such a passion for her music – how could I not feel all warm and tingly inside. Besides Ms. Dixie Hall turned me onto her and her music – so you know it has to be great!

These are some very talented folks. Check them out when they play in your area and be sure to pick up a copy of their new CD. You can purchase a CD or find out more about them at; www.heatherberrrymusic.com www.youtube.com/user/heatherberry87 www.facebook.com/pearlyblueberry Heather has taken on a“song of the day”challenge! She plans to post a song on her new YouTube channel everyday for a year! So go check out her channel, check back everyday, and tell all your friends!!! www.youtube.com/user/heatherberry87 Story by: Joyce Ziehli Photos supplied.

Taken from Heather’s Website: Pure. Honest. Heartfelt. Sincere.All of these simple words sum up Heather Berry and her music.A Virginia native, Heather has a strong love for the traditional country music that she first heard from the Carter Family.Thusly, she learned to play an arch top guitar accompanying herself in a Maybelle Carter-esque manner.The simplicity of which, combined with her song-bird singing is truly unparalleled. She is incredible.”Tony Mabe, also an accomplished musician on several instruments including both clawhammer and Scruggs style banjo, guitar, mandolin and autoharp, is the perfect complement to Heather both on and off stage; the two have been married for six years. One without the other is beautiful enough but combined, the two are musical perfection.The Heather Berry & Tony Mabe Show has unassumingly evoked emotions among their listeners and delightfully captivated many faithful followers. Mountain Fever Records released the new CD from this group on February 14th, 2012!

Heather and I started out our interview with how her music career all came about and this is what she shared with me: Heather started singing when she was about 12 years old, and she has sung all her life.

Her Dad got her playing when he bought her an old guitar. Heather’s Granddaddy, back in the Shenandoah Valley, showed her the first 3 chords from an old Carter Family song called Cowboy Jack. This is the first song she ever learned how to play.

Heather grew up listening to the old Carter Family records. It was her family’s favorite music.

A few months after her Dad bought her the guitar, he got her an auto harp. She really took to the harp,and I quote her“I took to the auto harp like a duck to water.” Heather only practiced on the harp a couple of weeks, and then she was out playing it in public. Looks like she was born to play this instrument! w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

13

Jeanne Kuhns

the many hats of this talented lady from Door County, Wisconsin

Musician, painter, health-care advocate, nurse, music promoter and Mom, are just the partial list of hats that Jeanne Kuhns wears. I shared a delightful visit with her which made me want to meander up the peninsula of Door County and spend some time in her world.

Jeanne is the developer of the Woodwalk Concert Series at Woodwalk Gallery in Egg Harbor on the Door County Peninsula in Wisconsin.You can find her there on Friday nights, June through September where you might hear her band, Lost Mothra, and a bevy of other local and regional musicians coordinated by Jeanne.While you're in Door County, you might visit Jeanne at her art gallery, Lost Moth where you will find her paintings along with paintings and sculptures of other local artists. As if all of that weren't enough for one woman to do, Jeanne's "day job" as nurse is one she clearly brings the passion of an artist to as well.

AM:You are an artist of many mediums, other than musically, in what forms do you express yourself?

JK: I love painting and I own Lost Moth Gallery in Egg harbor where I am the resident artist. I paint acrylic on canvas animals, figures, landscapes and story paintings. I love to capture the way light makes a subject appear in my eyes.

AM: How did you get your start painting?

JK: My grandmother was a great oil painter of conceptual subjects. I remember watching her interpret through her painting, and I loved the smell of oil paint, and it made me want to interpret things that way too. I went to art school in Illinois for a year, and then studied at the Peninsula School of Art. AM:Are yours the only works at your studio?

JK: No, my gallery also shows paintings by Stacia Dick Schuster and sculptures by Maureen McGrath.

AM:And what about your start in music?

JK: Music started for me the day my Dad played the 1812 Overture thru his new speakers and I lay on the floor and felt the music in my bones, I was 5. I sang at junior high graduation, then in the high school choir and ensemble and at college and folk festivals. When I got married and had kids, I stopped performing and only sang to my kids at bedtime. When my kids grew up I got another guitar, and started singing and writing songs again,and realized how much I had missed it.I started performing again with Roger Kuhns in 2001 and then took off as a solo artist in 2007, then founded Lost Mothra in 2010.

AM: So your "day job" as a nurse, was that your plan from the start?

JK: No, I went to school for zoology, I wanted to do research on wild animals, but I watched my friends in the field finish the program, then not get jobs, so I switched my focus to nursing. Now I work in reproductive healthcare.

AM:Community coordinator,music promoter,local touring musician,painter,what else should people know about what you do?

JK: I feel passionate about making a difference thru my music and art, encouraging people to think about their surroundings. Also,I am persistent ! Door County has such a wealth of great artists and musicians that it makes it hard to get noticed, but if you work hard and book yourself, you can play all summer long all over the peninsula. I

14

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

started the concert series eight years ago in Jacksonport at the Town Hall Bakery, and then we had to move the series to the Woodwalk to accommodate larger crowds (up to 120), now I do thirteen shows a summer, I host and open for whomever is playing.

Oh and you should know that my band Lost Mothra is named after the giant moth monster who fought Godzilla! Humor is good!

AM: Do you show your paintings at Woodwalk gallery?

JK: I used to, but I've had my own gallery for about four years now- Lost Moth. The name Lost Moth comes from a song I wrote, inspired by the beautiful Luna moths who flew into my porch light summer nights and beat themselves to death. They were lost, actually wanting moonlight. I was a little lost too at the time and identified with sometimes being drawn to the wrong places in life. After that song,I wrote a whole CD,sort of from the perspective of single motherhood and my experiences with women who had suffered from violence and my worries and wonders about the earth. It’s a hard thing to do, write about very personal things without sounding depressing. I'm heavily influenced by Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Rait, and many others. I really try to express in a personal way what I've triumphed over without being depressing.You've got to be poetic with a hopeful eye and musically interesting, so people will want to listen to what you have to say.

AM: Was your grandmother a big influence for your way of interpreting the world around you, or is there something else that compels the artist in you to interpret?

JK: My Grandma was a huge influence, as well as nature and matters of the heart and spirit. I think all artists draw from what's inside and the external sphere of life, the two are always connected.

AM:And I noticed you are reviving a tribute to Bob Dylan in June that was performed last year in the concert series, would you call him a strong influence for you?

JK:I am very proud of our show, Buckets of Rain! I think many musicians are influenced by Bob Dylan, whether they know it or not. They may not even know a song is his, but many of the people they were influenced by were set on fire by his work . I grew up in the era where folk music was very much a political statement during the Vietnam War protests, so Bob Dylan has definitely influenced me, along with many others from that era.

AM: Of all the things you do, if you picked a favorite, what would it be?

JK:Touring doing music. I love performing and writing songs, I love giving to the audience. I love people and I love teaching people how to love themselves. I like to read an audience, I can be accused of changing set lists when I'm performing, but sometimes, I just look at a person in the audience and think, they really seem to need this or that song. Another favorite for me is songwriting. I love the process. I sometimes realize something isn’t quite working, I’ll have to put it aside, maybe come back to it later. Then sometimes words can fall down to you, can be given to you. I’ve learned to listen and to be ready for the gift, you’ve got to pay attention when words are gifted to you, because they often won’t come back.

AM: Okay, speed round:What's the one object you are never without?

AM:What's the most difficult subject matter you've ever tried to tackle?

JK: My cell phone, and a notebook to write lyrics in.

JK: I once participated in“Out Of the Shadows”, a group of women who suffered from abuse and were photographed beautifully to aid in their healing. I played at the opening of the photographic exhibition as well as taking part as a subject. The project was about educating the community about domestic abuse and sexual violence. These topics are threaded through my songs. It’s not easy to write about tragic subjects and have people want to listen to you. Love songs are easy, you either have it, or you don’t, or you want it. Writing is fickle. I spent a lot of time researching a song about polar bears, and after endless pages of lyrics the creative process can bring you one line that can make the whole song come together. Finally a phrase opened up for me: “Nanuk walks on frozen water”. Without the ice, we won't have ice bears, so then I knew how to use a simple phrase to communicate a sad situation. That’s the challenge, writing about subjects that can be depressing, but with a hopeful eye, to show there's a point to caring. I've learned the creative process can come and go, and for me, while song-writing and painting kind of cycle around each other, the subject matter can stay through the cycle and is expressed through both lyrics and paint- I painted a lot of pictures of polar bears this winter.

AM:What's your favorite place to visit?

JK: Home, or I love London.

AM:What tops your bucket list?

JK: Oh, I'd love to sing a duet with Bonnie Rait.

AM: Other than the season about to unfold, what's next for you?

JK:I'm thinking of putting together a Door County duets CD. I’m working on songs about how we need to wake up and care for the earth. At the moment, working on a song about rhinoceros'. I saw a YouTube video about them. They are poached for their horns, and the video was about how this eclectic group of naturalists was trying to save them. In order to accomplish this long distance move, they had drugged them, put them in a sling upside down for helicopter transport miles and miles to a region where they are less likely to be hunted. It really struck me how these people had to work together to make this happen,and I like it when people work together, you know? It shows us at our best!

Plan to see Jeanne or Lost Mothra at one of their upcoming shows and check out her website www.jeannekuhns.net for a complete listing of shows as well as booking information.

AM: Switching gears, if I come to Door County this summer, and you pick the time, the place and serve as my tour guide, what should a visit to your community look like?

JK: Anytime is a great time to visit, I'm really proud of the whole concert series which focuses on original music! Of course I’m excited about Lost Mothra’s CD release concert on July 27th at Wooodwalk for our new CD: Beautifully Strange. It's our first band CD! Some of the great musicians in Door County contributed to my first CD's, and it was really interesting to see how people helped interpret my songs. Now I have my band mates George Sawyn on acoustic and electric guitar and vocals and Patrick Palmer on electric and stand up bass and vocals. So the songs have been developed as we have been performing them.This recording will be more unified in its creative sense. I'm really excited about the upcoming season's concert series, and any show anytime is going to be great. There is lots of music in Door County including the Steelbridge Song Festival, which was originally a fundraiser to save the bridge.While you're here you can visit any of the many galleries in the area, enjoy the beaches and enjoy the natural beauty of the peninsula. It's fun to stay at the Holiday Music Motel in Sturgeon Bay, which is run by musicians. You can just meander up the peninsula, there's so much beauty to enjoy and music and art are everywhere.

AM:You have so many areas of focus, and such a busy upcoming season, how do you keep it all together?

JK: Summers are intense, it's seven days a week from May through October. But, I've learned to take care of myself, I've had to be in order to give 100% as much as possible. I take acupuncture to keep my energy flowing correctly, I love gardening and walking my dogs and enjoying nature.In performances,people expect good energy and excellence, so you have to be on your game. w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

April 14th 7pm Holiday Music Motel Concert Lost Mothra Sturgeon Bay,WI www.holidaymusicmotel.com April 1st Third Avenue Playhouse Lost Mothra Sturgeon Bay,WI June 15th Door County Auditorium Fish Creek WI Buckets of Rain:The songs of Bob Dylan Jeanne Kuhns, Eric Lewis, Katie Dahl,Tommy Burroughs, Pat Palmer and Rich Higdon July 27th Lost Mothra CD Release show Woodwalk Events Gallery Egg Harbor,WI Written by: Anne Miller Photos supplied.

15

Warner E. Hodges Guitar Slinger Extraordinaire!!!

In this job you get to meet a lot of famous people. You even get to meet people you have idolized for years! When that happens there is always the chance that they won’t be the “person” you thought they would be, when you finally get to spend some time with them. I have to say that there are four people who I have always idolized and wanted to meet. Tom T. Hall, Cowboy Jack Clement, Fats Kaplin, and Warner Hodges. I have to tell you that all four are everything and more than I ever expected them to be as people and friends.

Like Fats Kaplin, Warner Hodges has become more than just someone I idolized as a musician. He has become a true friend! I have been very fortunate to have spent many days with Warner and Deb Hodges over the past few years. I have gotten to share the stage with him, jam with him in my studio, and just hang out. Warner is one of those people who you just love to be around. Like Fats and Kristi, Warner and Deb are like family to Joyce and I. Through them we have met so many wonderful people and had such great times hanging out. The Hodge’s have made us a part of their extended family, and we treasure every moment we get to spend with them! Writing this story was a pleasure and an honor to do. I hope you get as much enjoyment reading it as I did writing it!

16

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

When you say the name Warner Hodges you’ve said it all in hell fire rock & roll guitar!

Hodges is at the top of the heap when it comes to balls to the walls guitar playing today. He spins, wails, and whips guitars like no one making a living as a player can.

He is a well-respected top notch player in Nashville, a place where there is a new flavor and hot shot picker every other week and has been for the last 30 years. He has few peers when it comes to playing, and as a person. Friendly and helpful Hodges has forged a career that most players and pickers could only dream of.

Hodges is the son of professional Country musicians who for years toured with USO bands in England, Germany, and the U.S. Honky Tonk Country and Rock-a-Billy were he cut his teeth as a drummer in his parent’s band. His father Ed, an Army Officer, played guitar, and his mother Blanche was the singer along with top notch pickers from the bases they were stationed on. He was 10 years old when he first hit the stage filling in because the drummer for the gig was not going to make it.

After his dad retired from the military in the early 1970’s the family moved to Nashville so that his mother could focus on a singing career. His dad put together a band and hit the VFW’s and small club circuit in and around Nashville while his mother waited for her chance at a major record deal. Hodges soon picked up bass and guitar filling in on these instruments when someone would not show up. After attending an AC/DC concert Hodges threw away his drum sticks and stuck to the guitar. Along with friend’s Jeff Johnson and Perry Baggs, they practiced in his parent’s basement and on Bagg’s mother’s front porch planning out their futures as Rock musicians. After teaming up with Jason Ringenberg, a transplant from Illinois, Jason & the Scorchers were born and Hodges hit the road.

Playing pretty much continually through the 1980’s the band broke up and Hodges moved to New York and then on to L.A. playing with Iggy Pop and losing that gig to “bad” behavior. Broke and miles from home he went to work for a video production company until he had enough money saved to move back to Nashville and start over.

While in New York Hodges picked up the Carpenters trade and became very good swinging a hammer. When he returned to Nashville he met Deb his wife and they started a Carpentry home re-pair business that morphed into a studio building business that was very successful,but Hodges missed playing. A fill in gig with Dan Baird turned into a permanent job playing with Baird, Mauro Magellan, and Keith Christopher in Dan Baird and Homemade Sin. Also during this time Jason & the Scorchers were given the lifetime achievement award by the Americana Music Association. This sparked a renewed interest in the Scorchers. Bassist Johnson and drummer Baggs could not play on the road or record due to health reasons, so two new members Al Collins, bass guitar and Pontus Snibb on drums joined along with Dan Baird to record a new Scorchers album "Halcyon Times” which was the Americana Gazette top record of 2010.

Today Hodges plays and records with four bands:The Scorchers, Homemade Sin, Staci Collins, and the Bluefield’s with Baird and Joe Blanton. He also keeps busy doing studio work,touring,and spending time with his family and new granddaughter.Never too busy to help out his friends be it guitar playing or swinging a hammer, Hodges is at a place in his life where his playing has never been better or in more demand. He took some time out of his busy schedule to talk to me and tell his amazing history as a player and as a local boy who done good!

AG: Warner who was your first inspiration as a guitar player besides your dad?

Hodges: James Burton from Ricky Nelson’s band. The guy cut records with Haggard, Buck Owens,and played with Elvis.He is an amazing player who never ceases to amaze and awe me with how he picks the Telecaster!

After Butron I’d say Angus Young from AC/DC and his brother Malcolm. Man does Malcolm have the tone. We all thought Angus was the cool one when we were younger because of the flash in his playing. Today it’s Malcolm with the tone from hell!

AG:That was your first good electric guitar?

Hodges: My folks bought me a 1963 Olympic White Jazzmaster and a Vox Berkley amp and stuck it in the closet until I could play. I love that guitar and I still own it. I had it painted black in the 70’s by Gruhen’s and had the pickups changed. I used that guitar on the first two Scorchers records. It is still one of my favorite guitars today.

AG: How did the change from being a Country drummer to a rock guitar player happen?

Hodges: Well you have to understand that growing up I thought that every kid played in his folk’s band. It was cool and I was making great money for a teenager. There were some rough places with fights, stabbings, and shootings back in those days. Just another day at the office was what I thought. When I got to be about 15, Jeff Johnson and I went to an AC/DC concert and it changed my live! I knew then and there that I wanted to be a lead guitar player and play music all over the world. Jeff, Perry and I would sit and plan how we were going to be rock stars. We made it all come true. It’s funny how things work out if you are truly dedicated to your craft and work hard to continually get better.

AG: How did you go about getting your guitar playing style?

Hodges: Well living in Nashville you are exposed to the best players in the world. Hell guitar players grow on trees down here!

There is always someone better coming to town or someone here just blowing everyone out of the water so you either get better or you don’t work. Let me tell you that the way I play today came from hours and hours of practicing and watching the best do what they do. You have to keep your chops up or you don’t work. Perry, Jeff, Jason, and I worked very hard to “make it”. We were lucky too, don’t get me wrong. Hard work though was the backbone of our success.

Anyway back to my playing style (we both laugh) it comes from just absorbing licks and runs from my idols and coming up with new ways to play them. I love cry in your beer Country Music, Rock-a-Billy, 70’s Rock & Roll, Punk,Americana, and Bluegrass. If you listen close, it’s all in my style.

AG: Being so young and having the success you hand with the Scorchers was it difficult to handle?

Hodges: Let’s just say we did not handle it very well. Excess was everywhere and we joined in. You know when you get your record deal and you are in your early 20’s you think you are going to have a career like the Stones lasting forever. That does not happen very often, so you don’t plan for the future very well. Let’s say if I could do it over I would make some better choices and plans (laughs)!

AG: Is it different playing in Homemade Sin than the Scorchers?

Hodges: Yea I’m the “new” guy in Homemade Sin. Dan, Keith, and Mauro have been playing together since the 70’s and they have this bond from all those years making music together. Jason and I have the same thing in the Scorchers. They treat me as an equal. They just know each other’s personalities better and deal with that like brothers do. It has taught me a lot to see them interact that way. It has helped me interact with Al and Pontus much differently than if I was not in the position I am in in Homemade Sin. Music wise Dan likes to hit the stage and go without having a song list made up until right before we start playing. He likes the freedom and the expression starting cold does for the band. I like that too. Just strap on your guitar and let her roar! In Homemade Sin Dan will bring in Pop covers for us to do that you would not normally think a band like this would play which is very cool. Dan is a true student of music and listens to all kinds finding those gems that work well with us.

It is such an honor to play with those guys. They are my idols! There is no better drummer playing today than Mauro Magellan. The man is incredible! Keith Christopher is the bass guitar, what a groove. Dan Baird is everything a Rock & Roll guitar player and singer should be. He is a mentor, arranger, producer, and player that cannot be topped! I’m so very lucky that I get to play in these two incredible bands.

AG: Who are the guys you listen to and admire today?

Hodges: There are so many. I love anyone who is a real player. Guys like Burton,Albert Lee,Keith Richards,Angus and MalcolmYoung,Dan Baird,Brad Paisley,Keith Urban, and J.D. Simo. Boy that guy can pick! continued on page 29

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

17

The Joy of Time Alone Okay, see you later! The kitchen door slams, the hum of the garage door opening is heard through the wall and then the red sedan backs out of the driveway. Standing in the window that faces the road in our dining room I wave as Bob points his car east and motors toward the highway. Yes,we have our traditions here at our house,and one of them is waving to each other if we happen to be heading somewhere on our own.

Yes, I will even wave if Bob is going to the grocery store. No, I will not wave if Bob is walking out to get the mail. A car is needed for this ritual to occur. However, if Bob were to take his car to the end of the driveway and retrieve the mail and then drive back in the garage I believe that would technically call for a wave. Don’t tell him this please.

After the tail lights of Bob’s car vanish around the left hand corner and my wave is complete I find myself often filled with delight. No, please, dear reader, do not assume I am filled with delight because Bob has left home, but rather I am thrilled because I now have time alone.

Bob and I have been together for 17 years. The only nights we have spent apart from each other were nights when I was on the road with the band or happen to take an overnight motorcycle trip north to visit my sisters. I believe I could count the days we have been apart on both hands. I appreciate Bob and enjoy our life together. I love the things we do, and the way we both try to make each day a little better for each other than the one before. I enjoy the way we honor each other by very rarely saying no to each other,allowing for ongoing personal growth and a nurtured feeling of never needing to not explore what peaks our interest. If that interest is not shared by the other, there is a wave at the window, and we each have our separate adventures.

in some manner that came and went quickly and now the remembering of the exchange gently nudges me, and I can create a bridge of reconnection with an explanation and an apology when Bob returns home. Even if he is unaware of my concern, I feel less than authentic by my actions or words used so it frees me to convey my thoughts to him.

My relationship with me is my highest priority. I love myself and tend to put myself first, always. As that tending becomes my habit I find I have more of everything that I might wish to share with Bob and the world around me. I am the only one who knows what I need. I am the only one who knows the thoughts I am thinking about myself. I am the only one who knows if I am happy. When I look in the mirror, who do I see? Me. I don’t see anyone else, I see me.

My alone time happens daily with my long walks. I bet Bob loves to see me put my shoes on getting ready for my excursion outdoors for two reasons. He knows that my alone time is really joyful for me, and he gets his own alone time too!

I simply think there is so much energy in the world that says “do for others first, then tend to yourself”. I simply want to be a voice that reminds you that unless you tend to yourself first you will have very little to give to others. If you do tend to yourself first, what you have to offer others will feel good to everyone involved. If you tend to yourself first, should you find yourself alone on either a short or long term basis, you will find yourself with your very best friend, you.

Written by: Jim Smith

The joy of being alone is something that is important to me. When I wave Bob on to his adventure, the house suddenly becomes a different place for me. I now can play the music I really like on the home system that has speakers in every room. I need not worry about Bob’s taste for my choice or the volume with which I choose to play it. I will often select one of my wonderful jazz records or perhaps some of my Native American flute music.What I love most of all during the moments when I find myself on my own is the way my thoughts change. I now only have myself to consider and being that selfish often feels very good. It feels good to do only that which I want to do in exactly the manner I wish to do it. I often find myself engaged in one of two extremes: either I get very busy, echoing my mother’s ability to multi-task with the same varied results, or I simply will sit in the living room with the music on, or even with nothing but the natural sounds of the house and just enjoy being me. If I find myself busy, I appreciate that I can do what I am doing without interfering with Bob’s activity. If I find myself quietly sitting,I appreciate not having other sounds making their way to me. Either way, I find the time on my own to be delicious.

You may be thinking, watch it Jimbo, you know Bob is going to read this, and he is going to think that he is not loved and wanted at home. Nothing could be further from the truth. My point is I allow myself the very selfish pleasure of admitting that I enjoy being alone even as I enjoy my wonderful relationship. My alone time feeds me.

My alone time contains moments when I am focused entirely on me. What do I want?

How do I feel? How am I doing? I know so many people who say they need others to be happy. If they find themselves alone for more than a few minutes they are either on the phone or getting in the car to join a friend for some activity. I will make an assumption here when suggesting that many folks look outside of themselves for confirmation that they are happy. When they find themselves in a quiet space alone, their thoughts start to speak to them. If this natural communication one has with oneself is not comfortable that quiet time can seem like torture. We are all so unique. We are all so valuable. We are all precious and loved. We all should feel all of these things about ourselves.

When my alone time arrives, I find myself often talking out loud to myself. I feel very safe and healthy doing this. It’s amazing what I discover is going on in my thoughts when I take time to listen to myself! Is there some problem that I just keep focusing on? I will find my alone time provides me the opportunity to shift my attention from the problem to allowing the solution to present itself to me. Have I been unkind to Bob

18

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

Boys Will Be Boys!

This is an accounting of some things that occurred in the life of my father. Nothing noteworthy just a few things that he would recount when asked by his kids and grandkids to talk about. They are mischievous deeds that if repeated today would probably lead to fines and punishments of some sort. Back when they were committed, they were looked upon as “boys will be boys.”

I cannot be held accountable for all the specifics. I can only relate the stories as I remember them and as they were told to me. If they seem offensive to you, the reader, then stop and go on to something else. But the events of this story are true. I have my father’s word to prove it.

My paternal grandmother married my grandfather in April of 1903.They lived in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. It was a town known historically for the rich deposits of lead found there in the 1830’s. It was settled by the miners of Cornwall, England.

My grandfather was a farmer and farmed in the area. He was of German heritage. His family emigrated from Luxembourg.My grandmother was of Swiss heritage and had immigrated, at the age of six,with,her parents from Switzerland. To this union were born nine children, six boys and three girls. One of the boys died in infancy. My father was number four of the living children. Bernard was the oldest boy, born in 1904, and Edward the youngest boy, born in 1913. My father, Clarence was born in 1909. Before him were Bernard, Urban, known as Herbie, and Henry, whom we all called Hank. A boy Charles died in infancy. There were three girls born after Edward,They were Kathryn, Margaret, and Mary.

My grandmother really wanted a girl after the birth of four boys. She was going to call the girl Clara.When my father was born she named it the closest she could come to in a boy’s name. She named him Clarence.The boys were close in age and did all things together as brothers did.They were farm boys. Helping on the farm was something they learned at an early age. Making their fun was another thing.

My father was not very old when there was an accident to him that would affect him later in life.The boys took a running gear from a farm wagon and pushed it up a hill.

The object of this was that they would all get on it and ride down the hill. Dad was not very old so Herbie was going to hold on to him as they rode the gear.As the wagon gained momentum, Herbie let go of my dad. As he fell from the wagon his head got caught in the wheel of the gear.When the wagon stopped,his head was all swollen and blue. Later when he was an adult his jaw was broken and wired shut. He had a hard time breathing through his nose because it had been broken when he was caught in the running gear and nothing was done at the time to correct it.

This made the man very rich.Well,one day my grandfather told the boys that it was time to plant potatoes and they should go hitch the horse to the wagon and be ready to go.They had an old plough horse that was nearly blind. Not to be outdone by the fancy tales of their father the boys had their own idea about the horse that left gold pieces every time it lifted its tail.

They robbed the chicken house of 5 eggs and shoved them up Clarence Linden the horses behind. On the way to the potato field my grandfather, driving the wagon, was surprised when the horse expelled first one egg, then another, and another. One by one all five boys had jumped off the wagon and were headed back to the house.There were no planting potatoes that day.

On another occasion the boys found some old dynamite caps in an abandoned building on the edge of town.The caps were old and corroded; they didn’t think they could do much damage. Just to test them they put one under the lid of the cook stove where their mother was preparing supper. She had set a pan of potatoes to fry on the stove.

WHAM the lid blew off and potatoes went flying everywhere even reaching the ceiling. My grandfather was not a religious man but he did believe in God. He took this as a sign that something bad was going to happen and chased the kids out of the house.

When things had calmed down the boys told him that they had found these old caps and were just testing them by throwing them in the stove. He made them give the remaining caps to him so he could get rid of them. Unknown to him they did not give them all of them but kept two back and hid them in an old boot in the barn.

One rainy day they found themselves with nothing much to do. One of grandpa’s sisters was visiting from Canada along with another sister from town.The grownups were busy in the house. One of the boys remembered the dynamite caps they had hidden, and so they set out in the barn to play.They lit a lantern and were sitting side by side on the floor. One of the boys dug the caps out of the boot. He held them between his fingers and with the other hand took a piece of straw to use as a match. He lit the straw from the lantern and stuck to the dynamite cap.His intentions were to throw the cap outside and cause an explosion. When the cap got hot it did explode before he could throw it away.The boy who was holding the cap and had a hand that was bleeding. The force of it knocked the brother who was next to him over.The other boys took off for the house to get their dad.After the air had cleared and an assessment was made, my uncle Hank lost two fingers. One of the aunts who were visiting fainted when she saw all the blood.When she came too, she asked for some water. One of the boys got a tin can and dipped some water out of the cow watering tank.She drank it right down not knowing where they got it.

I think my grandparents should have been awarded sainthood for surviving parenthood with these boys.There were more incidents that occurred as the boys grew older.

Still, grandma always thought,“boys will be boys”.

Written by: Rosemary Ziehli

My grandfather was a great story teller. He told the boys of a man who had a horse and every time the horse lifted his tale to defecate, five dollar gold pieces would expel.

Mithril: Taproots of Americana

Oddly enough,Tom Morley was fully immersed in the New Orleans jazz scene when he first made his way to Celtic music. He had already done a stint in Nashville, spending five years in the new traditionalist band of John Anderson.Among other things, he won a gold record for playing fiddle on Anderson’s “Wild and Blue,” considered by many to be one of the great country albums of the 1980s. Inevitably, however, Morley tired of life on the road, he wanted to spend more time with his wife,Fran,and one day on a vacation trip to the Gulf Coast, the two of them came to Fairhope,Alabama, an oak-shaded village on the bluffs overlooking Mobile Bay.They were impressed by the beauty of the place, and as Morley remembers,“before we had driven all the way through town, we said to each other,‘this is the kind of place where we should live.’ It took us about three years to make the move but we finally did in 1993 without knowing for sure what we would do once we got here. But things have worked out pretty well.”

Morley put his classical training to use and took a violinist job with the Mobile Symphony, where he became friends with flutist Andra Bohnet.They began to play together in a chamber group, and it was there they discovered a mutual affinity for Celtic music. It seemed to be a taproot for Americana, particularly the folk tradition of Appalachia, and the more they began to play it together the more they loved the jigs and reels and the beautiful waltzes.

In 2002, they made their first album.The two of them played all the instruments in a band they decided to call Mithril, a name they borrowed from Lord of the Rings.

Once the album was done, however, Morely and Bohnet were faced with a problem. How could they take the music on the road? They couldn’t play multiple instruments at once, so they set off in search of other instrumentalists. Soon, they found guitarist Ben Harper whose musical background was rock ‘n’ roll. Harper quickly caught the spirit of Mithril, and so did percussionist David Hughes, who became the fourth member of the group. continued on page 28

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

19

Chris Cook…

Singer/Songwriter His Story in His Own Words

I wanted a bike for my 9th or 10th birthday, but Mama thought I was fit for a 1960’s Kay guitar. I think she paid fifty dollars for it, and boy was it a beast to play! I hated it.The strings were at least a half inch from the fret board. It may as well have been a ball-field length for young tender fingers like mine attempting to play “House of the Rising Sun” or the “Boogie-Woogie”.With the resentment of not getting the bike,on top of sore finger tips I think I remember breaking all but three of the strings on it and chuckin’ it under my bed until I was around twelve years old.When I realized how hip it was to even have a guitar to start with, it wasn’t long ’til I was picking with school friends and learning every Eagles, Skynyrd, Zeppelin,AC/DC and Bob Seger record I could get my hands on. It was the challenge that hooked me.

I dropped out of night school to go jam with what would eventually become my first “real” band, Stone Blue. I remember one of our first paying gigs was at a place called Cadillac’s in Hickory,NC opening for Quiet Riot.I think we made fifty bucks and a case of bud in the can,but we were damn sure there and thought we had arrived! We ended up on the “good side” of the owners, Rocky and Carmine which landed us opening slots at their clubs for the likes of The Fabulous T-birds, Night Ranger, Mother’s Finest, Molly Hatchet, Blackfoot, Foghat and others. Stone Blue played their last show on September 12th 1993. It was my 21st birthday.

By this point, I had started singing more, blowing harp and wanted to start my own group as the lead singer and writer. I quit my “day gig” at the local mill and formed Zeke’s Wheel, a full-time working band with great players and singers who could play anything from the Allman Brothers to Doobies to Beatles.We mainly stayed in the Carolinas playing 100 or so nights a year and were a great band, who loved to play music, drink and party our asses off.After a short two to three year stint, Zeke’s Wheel would roll no more.

My debut solo record came out in 2001.“Heartless Road”was put out with the help of the internet, numerous friends, family and fans. I think I sold (and gave away) about 2000 copies. Not bad for peddling ‘em out of my truck at gigs! My follow-up effort “Small Town Gone”, produced by renowned percussionist Jim Brock (Joe Walsh, Kathy Matea, Delbert McClinton, John Mellencamp, etc.) was released in 2004.With “Small Town Gone”, I was fortunate enough to branch out into the European market, specifically the United Kingdom, Denmark and Holland. I’ve been touring in Europe sometimes twice a year since its release.

Now for my conversation with Chris: Joyce: Hi Chris. Let’s start out by giving me a little background about your musical start.

Chris: Growing up in Belmont, a small town on the outskirts of Charlotte, NC, there was always music around when I was growing up. No real professional musicians in

20

the family. My Grandmother on my Father’s side was a saloon pianist back in the 50’s and 60’s. I never got the chance to meet him though.

I started playing guitar in my early teens. In high school people thought it was really cool. (laughs) I played in bands in high school and started playing in bars and clubs at 21 and here I am today!

Joyce: Tell me about your songwriting.

Chris: I was in my mid teens and in a band. We did lots of original music. Some were good and some were junk. Now writing is kind of a luxury. I wish I could find the time. Now I am older and have all the stories and experience, but no time! I play around 200 jobs a year. I have performed in over 10 - 12 countries over the years. I have played United Kingdom, Holland, Germany and Scotland pretty regularly for the past 6-7 years. I just finished playing 25 shows in a row in Key West, Florida and am really looking forward to some rest.

Joyce: Have you ever played in Wisconsin? If not will it be on your schedule?

Chris: Yea, I played at some bison farm near Wisconsin Dells. It was a house concert and lots of fun. I usually go where I’m invited. Maybe I will be invited!

Joyce: I will check around. You might check out the Brink Lounge in Madison for a gig.

You just released a new CD last Fall,“Remembering”. You wrote all the songs on this except one, which you co-wrote with Tammy Brackett and Marc Abernathy. The CD is great. What are your inspirations for writing?

Chris: It varies. Most of the songs are things that I know. I just need to get it on paper and hope that it sticks to tape in the studio. I want to make the best record I can and hope people will like it. My two favorite songs on the CD are “Growing Up” and “Boy I Used to Know”. These are kind of auto biographical stuff, sequels to each other.

Joyce: Chris, what do you do to relax?

Chris: I am a self-proclaimed chef. I like what I cook, sometimes people don’t like it. (laughs) I really enjoy doing photography and videography. I am working on producing a couple of videos. I am working with the Carter Brothers Band. But Joyce, I really just love to play my guitar!

Chris and I went on to discuss lots of other issues, concerns in the musical career, etc.

He is a very talented,intelligent,songwriter and artist and I encourage you to check him and his music out at: www.chriscookmuisc.com Story by: Joyce Ziehli Info and photos supplied by Chris Cook Website. w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

Cover vs. Original or the 10 Step Program in Making it in Music Here in Wisconsin we have two kinds of weekend musicians, the Cover Guys and the Original Guys (Girls are included here too). Both have valid ideas on how to make music and even a career in music, but what they don’t have is an idea on how to work together in a group. Sometimes they are so far apart that you’d think they were two separate political parties.

4.Be nice to everyone. Don’t burn bridges. Respect the people who come out to see you.

The Cover Guys play only cover songs, won’t play for the door, have a habit of saying “I won’t take my guitar out of the case for less than $100.00”, don’t like to practice, aren’t particularly fond of learning new material or the correct way to play the songs, playing out of a 50 mile radius of where they live, and will not for any reason play a song that was not written by someone famous, in fact they are fond of saying“if it ain’t as a good as (insert your favorite artists or band here) I ain’t playing it!” The Cover Guys like to wear whatever they can throw on to wear to a gig, wear a hat (baseball or cowboy), posture on stage, act like they are Bon Jovi or Carrie Underwood, be snobby to the folks who came to see them perform, or never play requests even if they know them. Lastly they get as drunk as they can when they play because they are up on the stage for themselves and if you don’t like it too bad!

6.Write a plan of action on how, when, and where you are going to be in 5 years with your music and stick to it. Make adjustments when needed.

The Original Guys never get paid unless it’s the door or a tip jar, have never seen a $100.00 bill at the end of the night, practice, practice,practice, are always writing new songs, will travel anywhere someone will listen to their music, put in as many chords and words as they can in each song, never will play someone else’s songs, dress down when they play, always want their faces seen not hidden by a hat, sit or stand in one place like a statue, never act like anyone we would know, are overly friendly to everyone in hopes that someone will buy their CD, play a request if it is one of theirs, only drink tea or vitamin water to save their voices,and will share the stage with other Original Guys whenever they can!

Now I’m being pretty tongue and cheek on these descriptions, but there is a hint of truth in every one of them. The problem with Wisconsin musicians is that very few of us have figured out a way to put the best of both of these forms of performing to make some real money! There is a time and place for both kinds of musicians, but there is also a time and place for a new kind of musician in Wisconsin. A musician that plays both originals and covers. One that plays “good” tunes that compliment each other, both their own and covers. One who pushes the envelope both in content and musical ability.

5.Don’t get hung up on the fact that someone else is playing better places than you are.

Work harder to play those places.

7.Ask for help when you need it. Network all the time!

8.There is no age limit in becoming or staying a musician! You are never too old to be a musician and have fun! If you like playing in a band and you are in your 40’s -70’s keep it up. If you are in your 80’s and you want to learn an instrument go ahead and do it.

9.If you think you are too busy to play music then you are too busy to enjoy life. Reprioritize your schedule to make music. It’s relaxing, it’s stimulating, it provides a social life, you get to meet interesting people, its user friendly, and it’s good for your sex life.

10.At the end of your life you will be remembered more as a musician and songwriter than you will be as an accountant, carpenter, teacher, truck driver, etc. You will leave more lasting memories for people, have helped more people than you even know get through problems with making music, and have created some of the longest lasting friendships you will have by being a musician.

Combined the above descriptions and follow these 10 steps and become an artist, musician, and entertainer. There is nothing wrong with being a Cover Guy or Original Guy, we just need to learn to put the best of both worlds together and seek out each other to become better musicians. If you want a career in music that allows you to travel and be creative then lean towards being an Original Guy. If you want to be the hit of the party and play songs all your buddies can sing along too than go the Cover route. Either way get up on the stage and perform,and show the world what you got,and if you make it come back and help someone else do the same!

Written by:Andy Ziehli

There have been a few of this new breed over the years. We all know their names, Miller,Vig, Nelson, Hatfield,Worf, Love, the list goes on. The reason they don’t come back is that they don’t want to hang out with people who don’t get it!

They want to hang out with people who encourage creativity, not stifle it. Their peers are winners who make an effort to be better at what they do, not sit and complain how they are really better than the next guy and should get the breaks they got. They help each other out and celebrate each other’s successes. They have a work ethic that helps them succeed. They take care of the small details. They take care of themselves. They don’t have a secret on making it, they have a plan and they follow it.

Here are some tips to help you in following your dreams and making it!

1.Be original. Be yourself. There already is a Carrie Underwood and a Bon Jovi the world does not need more of these folks.

2.Learn your instrument and the history of the music you play. Copy when you have to, improvise when you need to, and create new often.

3.There is no right or wrong way to make music! Music comes from you not from a book or a sheet of paper. w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

21

Eddie Stubbs

The Voice of the Opry, AM 650 Radio Show & Marty Stuart Show

After more than 15 years, it’s getting hard to imagine any other voice hosting the Opry, or hosting the nightly AM 650 radio show, OR announcing the Marty Stuart Show, than the one and only Eddie Stubbs. Standing out with his low, distinctive voice, you'd be hard pressed to find another DJ who knows the history of country music quite like him.

During his show, you'll hear him spinning CD's and vinyl (even 78's sometimes if it’s necessary) sharing the details of the recordings and the stories behind the individuals who played on them. He arrived in Nashville in March of '95. By June of the same year, he was announcing the Grand Ole' Opry. By July of 1996, he was on the air with his own show. He is the longest tenured radio host in the Nashville market and the longest running DJ in WSM's 86 year history.And in February, he received a well deserved induction to the Country Radio Hall Of Fame. It was an honor to talk with him and he was kind enough to take to the time from his very busy schedule for this interview.

Travis:You grew up in Gaithersburg, MD.Were there many country music fans in that area of the country when you were growing up?

Eddie: Well, it was 20 miles north of Washington. Bluegrass there has always had a tremendous following since the early 50's.There was a huge migration of people during the Depression and WW2 that came from Appalachia that came north to find employment there. So there was a huge interest in country music. Back in the 50's when you had Jimmy Dean,Patsy Cline and different folks working there. They sort of phased out, but the bluegrass really caught on and at one time was considered the Bluegrass Capital of the World.You go and see live bluegrass 7 nights a week.WAMU was such a great radio station that had the music on, at one point 40 hours a week.

Travis: Did you yourself get hooked on country radio early on or was there other genres of music that you liked?

Eddie: Exactly. I always wanted to find out more about the artist beyond what was in print.Through liner notes or some encyclopedia.

Travis: I was going to ask how you got some of your info when the liner notes on some of the old records were a bit skimpy. It can be pretty hard to find out who played on what record.

Eddie:Well, it took some time but I found out about the Country Music Foundation Library and Media Center which was a great resource that many people still don't know about. It’s located within the Hall of Fame and you need an appointment to get in. For serious research, you can go listen to recordings, look at old photographs. In some cases, you could get ledger sheets and get personnel on who played on what. It was a hard to do. If you can imagine wanting to know this information so bad as to make several trips a year (to Nashville) driving 650 miles each way to do it.

Travis:Wow! So it wasn't a matter of just calling these guys up, and asking for the info to be sent.

Eddie: Exactly.They didn't have the staff to do that. If they did it for one, they'd have to do it for everybody. I'd come, staying several days at a time. From the time they opened till the time they closed.

Travis:That is great dedication. Being a fiddle player, were you wanting to be a full time musician, or was radio the goal for you?

Eddie: Fiddle playing came first. It was a dream to be on the Grand Ole' Opry. I was blessed that I got to do that. I went full time in music in 1981, and my radio career began in June of 1983.

Eddie: As a kid growing up, I'm 50 now, growing up in the 60's and 70's, I never got into the popular music or the rock music of the day. I started playing the fiddle when I was 4 years old. My dad plays the fiddle so I grew up listening to that music everyday in the house. But as a youngster, I wasn't glued to the radio at all times.When I did listen it was WDON out of Wheaton, MD which was THE country station at that time.

Later I would get into WAMU, where I would later work.

Eddie: Oh yeah. I was playing full time with this band called the Johnson Mountain Boys. We did 9 records for Rounder Records. 2 that were finalist for Grammys. First time I got to play on the Opry was December of '85.We played 3 different times.

Travis: So in understanding your background as a musician and a student of music, would you find a particular artist that you liked and work backward, finding out who influenced them? Or were you listening to early stuff like Jimmie Rogers andThe Carter Family right away?

Travis:You formed friendships here early on with Kitty Wells and Johnnie Wright, and with Connie Smith and Marty Stuart. Was it intimidating interviewing folks that you had listened to and read about from such a distance of the center of Nashville, or did it come pretty easily?

Eddie:Well those artists were more of an acquired taste. So it took a bit to get to them.

Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs were who I really went hook, line and sinker for. I wanted every record they made and it took a long time. Some were out of print. Some things were only on singles. 45's. It took years to track it all down.We take that for granted today.You do search online and can find it. Back then, it was a different ballgame.

Eddie: It came pretty easy. I was such a fan and in awe of these people. I was a student of their work, collected their recordings.And I think one of the things that made it a lot easier in going into situations, I was interviewed myself in being with the group that I was in.Another thing is that if the artist knows that you've been on the road. It’s an unspoken fraternal bond of people.They know you've had those night drives.And 5 guys are sleeping in a motel room.They know you've been there and done it.It makes

Travis:That’s right...33's sometimes were hard to come by. It’s easy to forget, it was either 45's or 78's.

22

Travis: So you played the Opry stage before the radio job took over?

continued on page 28

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

Robert’s Ramblings

What will he be rambling about in this issue? That guy certainly finds strange things to be so concerned about,doesn’t he? Well,let’s find out……..

CUPCAKE WARS---There is a reality show on one of the cooking channels that features a competition of cupcakes. There is a theme each competition and four pairs of bakers begin the three round completion. In round one the four teams are forced to use some very unusual ingredients to match the theme. For example, for the a Rose Bowl tailgate party they might have the bakers use bacon or ham or mustard or a common tailgate snack. Two different cupcakes are to be submitted by each team for judging all in a certain amount of time. The bakers are free to find and use whatever else they want in the show’s pantry to go with the required ingredients.

One team is cut at the end of this round. In round two the three remaining teams are to create three distinct cupcakes that they feel will represent the idea of the theme. They will be judged by taste and decoration. Another team will be cut at the end of this round.

In the final round the two remaining teams are given f o u r more helpers and a carpenter to create the final requirement: a display of 1000 cupc a k e s using three different cupcakes from the previous rounds.

Modifications can be made to those cupcakes based on the comments made by the judges while sampling those previous entries.

There is much chaos as the two teams work to make and decorate those 1000 cupcakes.

The team leader meets with the carpenter to plan what he will develop for the display.

That display will be sent to the actual event that week’s theme is build upon,like taken to the opening of the opera season. There are three judges two of which are permanent and the third judge is associated to that week’s theme. That special judge is usually not too harsh on the contestants, but those two permanent ones are often mean and spiteful and if you watch them enough they contradict what they said when they make the final decision on which baker won the $10,000 prize and gets the honor to have their display seen at the event. The male judge is particularly spiteful and I often have no clue what he said as his accent to too thick to understand. On a couple occasions even the producers had trouble so they printed what he said on the bottom of the screen. So I have watched about ten of these competitions, and I am at a 10% rate of agreeing with the final decision. It is in that final decision that I note the contradictions made throughout the event by those judges.

I would like different judges each week, and some of those judges can be previous contestants. I think they would be more humane.

HUGO---Having finally broken down and gone to see this award winning much nominated movie,I came out asking myself why I had not seen it before….why had I waited so long to see it? Thus my Oscar for best picture of the year is HUGO. It is such a pleasure to watch this cleverly thought out and well made movie unfold before your eyes. My eyes darted continuously to look at all parts of the scene. There was something going on all over the place. The movement of the people in that Paris train station was fascinating by itself. The stuff going in the rooms above the heads of those people was always was even more interesting. We get to meet a wide variety of fascinating people played by many famous character actors willing to play their small role.

The boy lead should be getting a special Oscar. He was perfect. The use of 3-D made it a great theater experience. I found that I could take off my glasses and just wear the 3-D pair and I could enjoy that movie the way it was made to be. It will soon be rew w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

leased as a DVD and if you purchase some for your personal use, then buy HUGO your will family watch it over and over.

F A N N I E FLAGG---This author may be known best by you as an actress with even a time on C A N D I D CAMERA. She has written a series of excellent books of fiction usually set in the American South, and she always creates the most interesting diverse cast of characters to tell her intricate stories. She can make the most of a simple detail. You may be most familiar with her award winning book and then movie, FRIED GREEN TOMATOES. But her other books such as DAISY FAY and the MIRACLE MAN,WELCOME TO THE WORLD BABY GIRL, STANDING in the RAINBOW, and CAN’T WAIT TO GET INTO HEAVEN are each a reader’s dream. I just finished her new book I STILL DREAM ABOUT YOU. The main character Maggie is growing older still full of memories of her being Miss Alabama and second runner-up to Miss America. Maggie never married, and upon her return to her home town of Birmingham works in real estate always dreaming that some day she might get to sell one of the large old mansion that overlook the city. Maggie works with the usual cast of the most intriguing characters you can imagine.

One such character is a dynamic successful woman who just happens to be a Little Person. Another is a Black woman full of dreams of entering politics and trying to stop eating a quart of ice cream or a dozen heavily frosted donuts whenever she feels stressed. Then there is the villain who just happens to be the biggest rival for Maggie’s company, and this villain will resort to anything to get her way. Now don’t be put off by this thread in the plot: Maggie has decided to disappear as she feels a failure in her life, and much of the plot covers her plans for this disappearance. She sets a date for it, and then something gets in the way of that, so she has to postpone her disappearance. There are many laughs for a reader in this book.

Thanks, Fannie, you did it again.

In case you are keeping squirrel score: the mild winter has meant the squirrels are not as frequent in their visits to my bird feeders.

There is a truce going on between us.

Written by: Bob Hoffman

23

Travis: Nice...so did you start off with that or the Dobro?

RANDY KOHRS –

Randy: Well, actually acoustic guitar and singing were first. At 8 years old. By the time I was 11, I was messing around with the Dobro.

Travis: So what was the tipping point that made you decide to make the move to Nashville?

Randy: Well, I always wanted to surround myself who were better than me.And I wanted to grow. I always had a hunger to get better and mature with the instrument. There’re weren’t many bluegrass players in Iowa. I played a lot with Rhonda Vincent's family growing up.I did play the honky tonks around Iowa. I got to be one of the bigger bands there and realized I'm not going to get any higher, unless I move and start over. Being the small fish in the big pond again.

Everything you need to know about this Dobro Player

Travis: Did you come with the idea to be a sideman here or were you hoping to front your own band at the time?

Randy: I did come to be a front guy. But I found work wherever I could find it. So the sideman work came first. I got known a bit and kind of pigeonholed as a side-guy; kind of dangerous territory for someone wanting to something besides that.

Randy Kohrs is on a very short list of premier Dobro players in Nashville. Playing on well over 500 albums, you can hear his distinctive slide style gracing many recordings, one of the biggest hits being Dierks Bentley's "What Was I Thinking". Check out his playing on more traditional things like the album, 'Livin' Lovin Losin'- Songs Of The Louvin Brothers' or better yet, pick up one of his solo records like 'Quicksand' to see what a great singer and writer he is. Besides being a high-demand session player, the Iowa native is a sideman and producer for Americana artist Jim Lauderdale. Kohrs' studio, Slack Key, is keeping him busy with artists like Del McCoury,Alison Krause and Larry Cordle recently coming by and laying down some guest spots on some recording projects. I recently had the chance to visit Randy at Slack Key Studio to see what he's been up to.

Travis: Hey Randy, let’s talk a little bit about your start with the Dobro. How does a kid from Iowa get interested in that particular instrument?

Randy: I had an uncle by marriage named Jack Ferguson and he played acoustic guitar and sings like a bluegrass version of Marty Robbins. And he also plays incredible Dobro. Everybody loves him and he's won many awards.

Travis: Is he still playing around Iowa?

Randy:Yeah, he'll be about 75 now. Still touring with Vern Young.A retired cop who played Dobro.

Travis:Who were some of the early influences besides him on your playing?

Randy:Well, certainly Jerry Douglas. Mike Auldridge. Oswald. Gene Wooten.There were some straight steel players who played in my area that I really looked to for guidance.

The only guy who owned a music store near me growing up was a guy named Devere Adamson and I bought my first straight steel from him. It was the blonde Bob Wills special.

Travis: But, in the long run it didn't turn out too bad for you.

Randy:Yeah, I wouldn't have gotten to know the people I have if I hadn't done it.

Travis: So as I understand, with Hank 3 sort of 'discovering' you downtown on Broadway, how did things develop for you after that point?

Randy:I was playing a place which is now the Nashville Crossroads.It used to be called Maggie McGee's. I played and sang in the windows during the day and played with the bands at night..Playing 2 or 3 shifts a day down there or whatever they would give me.

Working in a body shop wasn't gonna further my music career (laughs) so I had to do that. And everybody came through the doors of that place. I got to know everyone...along with Hank 3.

Travis:What years would have this been?

Randy:Well,‘94-'95.The Hank 3 thing was a fairly short run for touring. I did work with him on a lot of his records. But I just couldn't hack the touring. But Tom T. Hall called shortly after that.And that was a wonderful stepping stone if you ask me. I was the last 'Storyteller' ever to be hired. So I get to carry that around.And the only one that didn't have to drive the bus (laughs).

Travis: So playing the roles of sideman and front man, then to producer and engineer, have the transitions all come pretty easy for you, or were they pretty challenging?

Randy: Yes and no. Some things did come easy. Jumping from different instruments, knowing the theory behind each one really helps. But with producing, you have to stop, look back and concentrate on it all. If you're a producer, you have to look at the bigger picture and really know what you're after.A broader scope.

continued on page 28

24

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

The Saturday Night Preachers The first time I heard the Saturday Night Preachers, I was sitting on a stool with my knees pressed tightly against the skirt of a bar and back against my husband Dan, a mass of people crowding around us. We’d had dinner at the Yardarm Bar and Grill in Racine many a time before, enjoying the musical acts it hosted twice a week, but this was the first truly packed house we’d had to contend with on a Saturday night. An upright bass stood in the corner of the small area that served as the stage, followed by two acoustic guitars, a banjo, and finally a mandolin perched on the banister of the Yardarm’s basement stairs. Emerging from a swamp of hugs and conversation with patrons,the band members casually took the stage, clearly very much at home in this claustrophobic atmosphere.

Within the first fifteen minutes,the Preachers had captured our spirits with their adept picking and light-hearted banter; blown our expectations with nuance and passion, and inspired an 8 year old girl to dance in what little room was left between tables as busy waitresses forged their way through with food-laden trays.

It turns out this remarkable troupe is a family band. The Pratt family, comprised of father Norm, Jr (guitar), sons Norm the Third (guitar, banjo and mandolin) and Jason (upright bass), as well as Jason’s wife Anneliese (vocals) has long had music in its blood.

Anneliese’s grandfather established the Chicago-based polka band the“Saturday Preachers,” which inspired the band’s name, and the patriarch of the Pratt family, Norm Junior, taught and played music with his boys for over 35 years before first taking the stage with them, 12-string in hand, on Saint Patrick’s Day 2009.

The Preachers’repertoire ranges from the stark country of Steve Earle and Johnny Cash to foot-stomping renditions of traditional Irish folk classics; their engaged audiences rise to their feet when the band plays “Whiskey in the Jar.” Norm III delivers an over –the-top rollicking version of John Prine’s “She’s my Baby,” augmented by a howl from the usually taciturn Jason behind the bass.The band has a large local following, in part because its menu of folk, bluegrass,Americana and country music has a broad appeal.

Norm III maintains the band does well because it selects songs that resonate with them as performers, allowing them to play with equal parts passion and skill. Few musicians I’ve seen in the intimate setting of a bar demonstrate as much connection with each other and have as much fun on stage as the Preachers. The arch of an eyebrow, a quick mug exchanged between performers, communicates more than direction or approval; it serves as a competitive volley, a challenge to the other to come up with something better.They act on stage like a family-our family—and they invite their audiences into their story and performance in ways that fans welcome.

Brothers Norm III and Jason began their musical careers early, cutting their teeth as members of Kenosha’s Golden Strings Strolling Orchestra. Norm played the viola and Jason the upright bass. After high school, the brothers expanded from their classical roots to form an electric blues band called“Soulbullet.”Anneliese joined the Preachers as their de facto lead singer after marrying Jason, prior to which she was the brothers’ self-professed biggest groupie. Listening to Anneliese move with ease between an Irish ballad and Susan Tedeschi’s blues classic “It Hurt so Bad,” one would never guess she was new to Americana music. “The guys pushed me,” she admits with a laugh. “I was shy about doing something different.”That the self-styled“Preacherette”holds a degree in vocal performance from UW-Parkside comes as no surprise; her voice has an authentic clarity and power that lifts many of the traditional pieces they sing out of the realm of the ordinary, bringing them home to listeners of all ages.

Bob’s Guitar Corner # 2

The Physical Hurdle As a beginning student the first thing you must overcome in playing an instrument is what I call the“Physicality Hurdle”. It starts with learning what your hands need to do. By that I mean what your left hand does, and what your right hand does.This is the same for right, and left handed folks.The fretting hand is the one that holds the strings down. The other hand strikes the string in some manner either with a pick, or the fingers.

If you’re just starting, or have been playing for a while and don’t seem to be making any progress I suggest you find a good teacher.This will shorten the learning curve by decades.Another important aspect of the physical part of this is learning to do these things with as little tension and stress in your body as possible.The most common thing I have seen is that people forget to breathe! Holding your breath causes tension so remember to keep giving your body the important oxygen it needs.The second thing is using too much muscle in the fingers and hands when it is not necessary.Again, less tension means more freedom of movement and less stress. For the fretting hand this means not over gripping the neck. For the picking hand this means loose fingers, or if using a pick, don’t squeeze it to hard. It’s almost as if you are about to drop the pick, that’s the place you want to get too with it.As for the fretting hand (the one holding down the strings) you could look at it like this:The fingers lead and the thumb follows. Your thumb is acting as ballast and a guide. In order to get your fingers into certain positions you have to have light pressure on the thumb and let it go where it needs to.Again, don’t squeeze the neck. In other words get your fingers into position with as little tension as possible, and then apply the necessary pressure.This is like a dance between your fingers and the thumb, your fingers lead, and the thumb follows.

Also whenever possible you should try to let the entire neck rest in the palm of your hand.Almost like a half of a baseball bat grip. However, when your thumb is relatively in the middle of the back of the neck it will allow your fingers to be as long as possible without inhibiting movement. You want the fingers to emulate a dancer, not a weightlifter. For info or contact email to bobbywestfall@hotmail.com Bob’s band Big Bang String Thing performs at the Merchant in Madison at 9 p.m. on Thursdays April 12 & 26.And the Tyranena Brewery April 14 at 7 p.m. in Lake Mills.

The Preachers maintain their classical training has enhanced their music and percontinued on page 31

Written by: Bobby Westfall

25

Tony DiPofi N.G. Blues Man To say that Tony DiPofi loves the Blues is an understatement! DiPofi has been singing and playing the Blues for the last 40 years. Growing up in Chicago, DiPofi was exposed to the blues at an early age. Hearing the Chicago style Blues being played in his neighborhood and on the radio DiPofi soon picked up the harp (harmonica to you non Blues experts) and was soon playing with local Blues bands. After going to college DiPofi found himself living and working in Wisconsin where he kept up his hobby of playing the Blues. After retiring from Dane County Human Services DiPofi plays in two bands,The Raindogs and Electric Blue where he sings and plays harp.

DiPofi is a master entertainer and all around good guy! Always in demand to play and get up on stage with local acts. DiPofi is a crowd favorite! The Big Man blows a mean harp and sings the blues like no one else in Southern Wisconsin. DiPofi recently took some time at a recording session for his new CD to talk to me about the CD and making music.

AG:Tony how old were you when you started playing the harmonica?

DiPofi: It was the last year I was in High School.

Not being content to just play covers or other musician’s songs DiPofi has been writing and keeping his own material for the day when he could record them himself.

That day came early in December 2011 when Sugar River Studios in Belleville offered DiPofi the studio to make a record. With the help of local musicians Marc Barnaby,Tim Haak, Jimmy Voegeli, Patrick Bodell, Erik Madsen, Randy Schneeberger, Lindsay Feuling, Ed Jarosz, and engineer Andrew Pulver, DiPofi recorded “Dreadful News from a Recently Refurbished Garage”at Sugar River Productions in Belleville and at Empire Media Group with Patrick Bodell and Adam Bansley in Monroe,Wi. “Dreadful News from a Recently Refurbished Garage” is a total package of music and entertainment with a complete foldout lyrics sheet and news stories to go with each cut. DiPofi explained that “I came from a time period when record albums used to have art, posters, and extensive writing on them. There was always something to hold in your hand and look at when you were listening to the music. I wanted this CD to have that same feel and appeal that I used to get when I bought records.”

26

AG: So you were 33?

DiPofi: (Laughs) ya I was 33! My senior year in High School I started listening to Tony Little Sun Glover, he was a great Blues guy. He had a very cool book out to teach you how to play harp. It was more inspirational than instructional, anyway I got a copy of that and read it and started practicing and playing the Blues harp. I kept listening and listening to all Blues music I could find and practicing and after awhile I got good enough to play out.

AG: Now your dad was a musician too?

DiPofi: Yea he played the slide guitar,the resonator style. He played out in Swing Bands too. My uncles were all musicians so I came from a very musical background and family. My parents also had an extensive record collection mostly 78’s. I grew up listening to Vic Damon,Louis Prima,Italian singers,and guys like that. I love that kind of stuff. w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

AG: When were you in your first band?

DiPofi: I was in College in Chicago. In the 60’s. I knocked around Chicago playing in a lot of different bands. I remember in one band we lived and practiced in this apartment building. We would go around and gather up old mattresses and stack them against the wall to deaden the sound of us practicing. When I came to Wisconsin I was living in Stoughton and driving up to Baraboo to play in a couple of different bands up there. After I moved to New Glarus my wife heard that Marc Barnaby and the Raindogs were playing in town, and she told me to go listen to them and see if they needed or wanted a harp player so I didn’t have to drive to Baraboo all the time. So that’s how I got into the Raindogs. I hit it off with them right away. I asked if I could sit in for a song or two and have been here ever since.

AG:Was it the same lineup as now?

DiPofi; Lindsay Feuling was playing bass then and still is and there was a sit in drummer. John Miller joined a little later.

AG: You are in a Rock Band too.

DiPofi: Yes I’m in Electric Blue with Dale Freidig, Scott Hare,Tim Haak, and Bob Winkelman. I still love playing and singing Rock songs. Being in two different bands I get to play all the kinds of music I love. The Raindogs play covers and originals that are more Blues or Roots Rock orientated and Electric Blue is playing more 70’s Rock stuff.

All the guys I play with are great guys first as well as being top flight musicians.

Living around New Glarus and Green County is like living in this little Mecca of talent.There are so many great musicians and artists around here. It is so cool that we are all friends and there are no egos or backstabbing to get jobs. We all work together and help each other out. We go to each other’s shows and support each other. It’s all about the music. You and Joyce with the Americana Gazette are so good about covering local music. It’s perfect living and making music here.

AG:Why did you all of a sudden decide to make a record?

DiPofi: I always wanted to do something a little more comprehensive, something with a theme to it than just playing live. One of the things I noticed that with CD artwork and covers is that there is no stories to read or pictures to look at. I missed the style of records and the posters that went with them back when the 33 1/3 albums were out. I wanted to make something that represented that with the music I wrote so I came up with the idea to have the pamphlet go with the CD. I missed the posters and lyrics sheets that came with the records.

I also wanted something with great lyrics that told mini stories that kept your attention so I got the idea to write this CD based on that concept. Each song is a mini novel of sorts. Kinda of music Noir, like the old dime store pulp novels were. I got artwork to go with each song and really put a lot of thought into creating a total experience for your ears and eyes with this CD. AG: How did you get so interested in lyric writing?

DiPofi: I always liked words. I liked poetry and stories of all sorts. Don Van Vliet and Tom Waits were always people I idolized in their ability to write songs and stories with their songs. I guess I picked up that vibe at an early age and kept it going all these years.

Bob Dylan was another great writer. His lyrics were important and people lived and breathed them. Dylan was and is a fantastic story teller. I just wanted to be able to do something that emulated those guys.

AG:What to do you want to accomplish with this CD? DiPofi: Make $100.00!!! Then I will be successful!!! (Laughs) Change lives would be good too! Really I wanted to do this for the sake of art and having fun. Maybe shop it around and see if I can sell a song or two for a movie or TV show. My goal is to entertain and get people to listen to lyrics again.

AG:Tony you’re not a young guy anymore and either am I. You’re retired why kick it up now?

DiPofi: I don’t like to sit around! I like to be busy. You are only as old as you feel and today I feel younger than I should. I don’t like just hanging around cutting the grass.

I make lists for myself on things I need to get done, I go hang out with Russ at the Glarnerladen Antiques. We go junking and buy inventory for his store and a booth I have in Madison. I still love model trains,Old American Flyer and Lionel brands and buy and refurbish them. I love to do auto repair stuff,and I really love hanging out with my son Rocco. I’m always busy! I never get bored. Only boring people get bored!

AG: How long are you going to keep playing and making music?

DiPofi: As long as I can. I’m going to try to beat“Honey Boy Edwards’s record and play until I’m 100! They are going to have to wheel me off the stage or out of the studio.

Seriously I’ll keep doing this until it isn’t fun anymore. I’m having a blast making music with my friends. I get to entertain people, travel, and generally not have to grow up too much. Being a musician is great! w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

AG:What advice would you give a young person today that wanted to play Blues Harp or just be a musician?

DiPofi:As far as Blues Harp go get an inspirational instructional book and listen to as much and as many different styles of harp playing as you can. Get a variety of harps and play along with the guys you admire. Find an existing artist you really like and study them and where they came from. Who was their inspiration and study them. I always liked Magic Dick from the J. Geils Band and I love the way he plays. I admire his technique. He’s the best Harp player I’ve ever heard. That’s what you need to do.

Find someone to get excited about and learn to play their style and make it your own.

You don’t see many harp players anymore in the old Chicago style, especially in this area. There’s just Bird Dog and myself. I think the allure of the instrument and the difficulty of learning to play it has taken some of the desire to learn it away.

AG: You see the harp in Americana music, but that is a whole different way of playing it than you and Bird Dog play.

DiPofi: Yea it is. Those folks play straight harp like Neil Young and Dylan more as an accompanying instrument not a lead instrument. We play cross harp which is very different in style and technique.

AG: How has technology changed the way you play?

DiPofi: Well the amps you use today have effects you can add to your sound which makes it very cool. The old guys only had reverb and maybe a little echo to use. They would use small low wattage amps and overdrive them until they distorted. Today you can have a bank of processors and pedals to get any sound you want. Soundmen can turn you up or off, studios can straighten out bad notes, repeat parts without you playing them over, everything is very technical today except my laptop! I do all my lyric writing on it!

AG: I see you have it with you.

DiPofi: My friend Russell found this old “laptop” portable writing desk for me. He thought it fit my personality! (Laughs). If you look real close you can see the inkwell for the pen. It is from 1875, and proves that the guy who owned it before me was way ahead of his time owning a Laptop!

AG: Tony thanks so much for taking the time to talk to me about your CD. DiPofi: Thank you for helping get this project off the ground. Thank you too to everyone who has contributed to this project.Without all the help and support of all these great folks and artists in Green County this project would have never gotten off the ground!

Written and photos by: Andy Ziehli

27

stubbs... continued from page 22

kohrs... continued from page 24

them accept you a little easier.

Travis: With the Dobro too, and playing the sideman role...with so many guitar players in town, was that field a little easier to step too? With less of them around?

Travis:Yes, I suppose much more than someone who doesn’t have a clue what that’s really like.The hard lifestyle of it.

Eddie: Exactly.They learned that I not only love this music. I played it professionally. I lived it.

Travis:There are many listeners of country music who haven't always liked the changes that it has gone through to make things either more pop or rock, though the battle of it has raged on many years even to when Chet Atkins was producing records. Have you been able to roll with the changes of the genre more than the critics, or do you have issues with it as well?

Eddie: (pause) I think you have to be a realist. My personal taste versus my professional responsibility are two different things. On the personal side I'm a card carrying, hard core traditionalist of country music.As a professional, I know music has to evolve. If it didn’t, it would have never gotten to the point where it influenced me and continues to do so.The music has to progress. I think if you have the opportunity, you can present the music that is out there today, but also letting people know that it all didn't all start with these people.You can present what came before it. If you can weave it all together and sell that to the listener....that’s one of the joys of music, really.

Travis: Have you enjoyed seeing the movements to bring those more traditional elements back through the surge of bluegrass or Americana?

Eddie: Absolutely. Over the years traditional music has gotten a shot in the arm on numerous occasions.The Beverly Hillbillies.The movie ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ with ‘Foggy Mountain Breakdown’. 'Deliverance' with 'Dueling Banjos'. But there was a long dry spell from 'Deliverance' to 'O Brother Where Art Thou?' Little kids got into that soundtrack. Who would have thought that Ralph Stanley would have won a Grammy for his version of 'O Death'? Incredible. At last count, it had sold something like 7 million copies.And it really did it without the support of radio. It can't be overlooked what that did.

Travis: With the summer festival season coming up, will we be able to catch you at some of them like Uncle Dave Macon Days in Murfreesboro in July?

Eddie: Uncle Dave Macon Days is one of the major promotional events that WSM is involved with every year.And I will be there. It’s been a great thing. It’s the premier event for old time music.It’s amazing to see the young people get involved with it.The music has a good future with these people.The interest is there.

Randy:Yes,it was.There were only really 2 or 3 guys in town that you can call them dedicated Dobro players. So yeah, the window was open there. Having said that, it’s a specialty instrument, so you might not get called as much.That’s why I played straight steel.Lap steel. Pedal steel.So I could come into sessions and have an armory of things I could do.

Travis:Tell us a little bit on how your studio, Slack Key got started.

Randy: I felt I was a 'live' player who was pretty green to the studio. So I started buying a few microphones and preamps and things to be able to record myself and look back with a producer’s ear and find out what was rough or what was working. I was trying to hone my skills to be a better session player.

Travis: How did you first meet Jim Lauderdale? Going from playing with him to now producing his records?

Randy That was sort of taking the reins of a session that wasn't going so smoothly. I think Jim could see I was pretty dedicated. So I continued to help guide him through that first bluegrass record. So I shared the producer credits with Bill Vorndick.

Travis:Were things trying to be made too slick? The wrong vision or bad chemistry?

Randy: It was just the wrong call for musicians. I was a little bit more well-known, so I just spoke up and helped mold the song for him a bit. I think from that he could see I had an ear for doing it.

Travis: Is it rare for that to happen in Nashville where the players are so well seasoned?

Randy; (laughs) yeah...at this point it is.When you call the right players for a session, it’s easy as pie.That’s the producers most intense job is to call the right players for a particular session. I like to track everyone live on the floor. At this point, I have the ability to do it. I hadn't up until about 3 years ago. For Jim's new record, we tracked everyone live...including Jim.And for his last record, a lot of his vocals were done right on the spot.

Travis:Wow! The old way of doing it!

Travis:Well Eddie, it’s really been great talking with you. I really do love your show.

Randy: Yeah.This new record has twin and triple fiddles on probably half the record.

We tracked it all in 15 hours flat.

Eddie:We've be doing the evening show for almost 16 years. I sure hope we can continue to do what we do, for many years to come.

Travis: Nice! Can you discuss some of the new projects you're currently working on here?

Written by:Travis Cooper Photo by: Becky Hirsch

Randy:Yes,I'm getting ready to mix a girl from EastTennessee named Jesse Gregory.And Alison Krauss has guested on her record as well. Looking forward to mixing that. I'm in the middle of mixing a Larry Cordle duets record.

Mithral... continued from page 19

Travis:Who are some of the guests on that?

Tom Morley remembers their first concert, which remains, in fact, one of the highlights of their ten-year journey. In early January 2003, an overflow crowd packed the concert hall at the University of South Alabama, and it took only one number – a medley of Irish jigs and reels – to bring the whole auditorium to its feet.As Morley gazed out across the crowd, he saw a little bit of everybody there, sometimes three generations of a family – from children to grandparents – all of them moved by the ballads and waltzes, and stirred by the reels and other dance numbers.

“I’ve played every kind of music,” says Morley,“bluegrass, jazz, swing, and country, but never another kind of music that appeals to every age group.”That seemed particularly true in the live performances, and in the past decade the band has traveled from one end of the country to the other.Their fan base is centered on the Gulf Coast, but they have been guest artists with symphonies in Michigan,Mississippi,Arkansas,Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma, California, Pennsylvania and Tennessee, among other places.They have also played in pubs and coffee houses, colleges and schools, and wherever they go audiences almost without exception are struck not only by the musical virtuosity, but by the energy emanating from the stage.

Randy: Nearly everyone who has cut one of his songs. 13 tracks I think...Garth,Trisha, Dierks,Alison.Terri Clark. Diamond Rio. Travis: Any release date for that?

Randy: Late summer or early fall.

Travis-As far as your own albums go, any follow up to 'Quicksand' yet?

Randy:Well, I'm sure Jim will be in again soon. He's never at a loss for lyrics. I've been working on a more modern country and blues fused record for me.Trying to work on more bluegrass things too.Trying not to have to tour so much. I stay busy doing all this and it pays the bills better than having to sleep in the back of a van (laughs). Jack Pearson and I are talking about doing a reel to reel recording from a hotel room, with an old Ampex recorder.

Travis: All originals from you guys?

Thomas Harrison,art critic for the Press-Register newspaper that serves the Gulf Coast, recently described the Mithril sound as “a kaleidoscope of colors, tones, rhythms and moods — by turns wildly exuberant, hypnotic or mournful.” Some of those “wildly exuberant” moments have come from the antics of Harper and Hughes, both of them rock ‘n’ rollers at heart, as Harper bounces across the stage, playing rhythm guitar riffs off Hugues’ drumming.“He’s so carefree and happy onstage and he was able to keep on playing no matter what crazy thing I might spontaneously decide to do to try and break his concentration,” Harper told art critic Harrison.“Usually it would backfire because he’d give it right back to me somehow, and I’d be the one to drop a beat.” Sadly enough for the other members of the group, after five successful CDs Hughes has left

Randy: Half of mine and half of his.

Travis:That should be really cool man! Well, thank you for the time Randy. Good luck to you with everything you have going on!

Written by: Travis Cooper Photo by: Scarpati Photography

continued on page 29

28

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

warner... continued from page 17

hodges... continued from page 5

AG: You are a carpenter too.

Joyce: Who taught you to play guitar?

Hodges: I’m a fix it guy. When I was in New York I went to work for a guy who had a small company that fixed up rental units. I did not even know what end of a hammer to use. I guess through osmosis I picked up some things and it turned out I got to be pretty good at it. Deb and I started our own company when I got back to Nashville and “retired” from the music business. We were very successful. We built a lot of studios around town during the boom.

Blanche: My Dad had an old guitar, had a bent neck, was in bad shape. Daddy was too busy to teach me so I had enough money to take 6 guitar lessons from a music store there in Columbus; just enough to learn the basics.

AG: Why did you get back into the music business?

Hodges: Well things started slowing down in 2008 in the construction business. I never thought that I would fall back on my guitar playing as a second career. I started jamming and playing again and got the bug. Deb and I talked it over and decided to take a run at it one more time. The Homemade Sin gig came along,then the award from the Americana Music Association, the new Scorchers record and here I am.

I love what I’m doing. I get to play with the greatest musicians in the world! I’m 52 ½ and I am still making a living as a musician. I get to tour the world, record, and hang out with my friends. I’m married to a wonderful woman who lets me do this and is involved with my career. It just does not get better than this!!! I am blessed!!!

AG: Let’s talk about the Bluefield’s a little. How did that come about?

Hodges: I’ve known Joe Blanton since High School. He is an incredible singer and songwriter. We started getting together and working on some songs for a solo record for me. Joe’s got a great studio (The Underground Tree House). I asked Dan to come over and listen to some of the stuff Joe and I had written. Dan got excited about the songs and the next thing you know the three of us are writing new songs together. We started recording them. We got Steve Gorman to play drums on them. The next thing you know we are doing a show at the Mercy Lounge with Steve and Audley Freed playing Bluefield’s music. Dan wanted to play bass and away we went.

AG: The songs and the band are fantastic. The show at the Mercy was one of the best I’ve ever seen! When will the CD be out?

Hodges: Thank you so much. The CD will be out about May 1st. We are in the final stages of getting it all together for release. We plan to do a European tour and hopefully a short U.S.Tour this summer.

AG: What advice would you give someone who wants to make music their life’s work?

Hodges: Learn your instrument from top to bottom. Study your idols and who influences them. Practice Practice Practice! Mostly enjoy the ride and don’t blow it on excess! I’m lucky. I‘m still working and better yet still alive and healthy. A lot of my peers are not. Marrying right does not hurt either!

If you are going to make music your career, know your limitations and work to encontinued on page 31 mithral... continued from page 28

the band for personal reasons. But for “Along the Road,” Mithril’s sixth album, released in March, two other percussionists stepped in ably – Sam Gaston, a Led Zeppelin fan and former drummer for the hard rock band Mutant Speed, who now appears in most of the group’s live shows; and Andy Kruspe, a percussionist living in Huntsville,AL, the far end of the state from Morley and the others, who plays with Mithril whenever he can.The band launched its current tour, which will range from Alabama to Wisconsin, with a St. Patrick’s Day performance in Mobile. In an interview just before the first show, Morley reflected on Mithril’s popularity. He said he was proud of his fellow musicians, proud of their commitment and talent,but he talked primarily about the music itself.

“The resurgence of Irish music in America kind of happened in 1976 with the Smithsonian Bicentennial Festival of American Folk Life,” he explained.“Fifty-two Irish traditional musicians,singers and dancers played concerts in Washington,D.C.,and it started a network that has not stopped to this day. So much of Americana music has its roots in that Scotch-Irish, Celtic tradition.A song like ‘Streets of Laredo’ is an old Irish melody.

But the inspiration can go both ways. Our last album before the one we just released had a salute to American fiddle music.And the latest album from Altan, an Irish group we admire, contains a folk song from the American Civil War. So we find ourselves in that big melting pot – that rich gumbo – that makes American music what it is.”As Mithril launches“Along the Road,”an album that reflects its ten-year journey,Morley and the others hope they can add yet another touch of spice.

We formed a band everywhere we went. We always had a Country Western band. We played the NCO clubs on the base and any where else we could get jobs. We were stationed twice in Germany. The first time there, we played with a group two nights a week and then when we came back to the States, we started a band called Swingin Strings. We played what you would call rockabilly. Back in the ‘50’s people would dance the jitterbug to it.

The last time in Germany we worked for the special services and had the top band and played a contract deal of 15 shows a month. That’s when Warner starting coming on stage with us. He was 10 years old. He had a drum set and would rehearse with us.

Now our bands consisted of most military members. A lot of times something might happen and people wouldn’t show up. One night when we were getting ready to go, we got a call that the drummer couldn’t make it. Eddie said “get your stuff Warner, your gonna have to go with us.” I thought this can’t be, we can’t take him, he’s too young. Eddie said,“we needed a drummer and Warner keeps good time. We won’t be draggin!”. Everybody loved it and the crowd kept saying, put the spotlight on your drummer. Warner ate it up and he got his first paycheck. We still have a photo copy of it to this day.

I made my first record in 1967. It was an independent record. I have recorded for 3 different independent labels. We moved to Nashville in 1973. Nashville was run over with music people. You could see them on the streets, guitars on their backs, disappointedly heading back home. The last recording I made was in the early 90’s. I made a cassette of ten songs and 4 more besides that. We passed around demo tapes, trying to get a major label, but by the time we moved to Nashville I was 36 or 37 years old and Eddie was 43. In this time, that’s too old. We were going to stay here for 5 years and if it didn’t work out we were going to move back. But by now my oldest son was married and Warner was into rock music here. Nobody really wanted to leave. We played around town and I had a couple of parts in movies,“Big Dreams and Broken Hearts”, the life story of Dottie West and also one for the BBC about a girl from England who wanted to be a country music star, and“Sweet Dreams”the life of Patsy Cline.

We really never accomplished too much over here, not like what we were in Germany.

I was always very proud of that part of my life. We got a lot of airplay in Europe, especially in Denmark. We opened for many super acts, like Johnny Cash, Lefty Frizzell, Lonzo & Oscar, Faron Young, Bobby Bare and Roy Acuff. That part of my life is done, but I am now living my dream through my son,Warner.

Joyce: Your son Warner, is the nicest, most polite, greatest guitar player in the world.

What’s it like being the mother of such a talented, and not to mention, cute fellow?

Blanche: I think so too. I am so thankful for Warner and Deb. He is the most wonderful son. It can be very exciting at times, but for the most part, he’s just my son and I’m just his Mother. When I tell him he’s got to put the trash out, he’s got to do it. (we both laugh. Next time he is at my house, let me see if he does this for me?)

Joyce: Mrs. Hodges, before I let you go, tell me what is on your “Bucket List”? Bunge jumping, zip lining?

Blanche: Gosh No! I’m 75 years old. I have my wonderful memories of my music. I lost 3 dear people in my life within a 10 year span, 2 sons and my husband, Eddie.

When this happened, I lost my desire to do anything really, but I do have wonderful memories and I now have my life with Warner and Deb and a brand new great granddaughter. I have been very blessed. I am however starting to work on my autobiography - “From Boogerville to Nashville and All Stops in Between”. We’ll see how that goes.

We went on to talk another 20 minutes or so, but I promised I wouldn’t publish any of this talk. I hope you enjoyed reading this story as much as I did interviewing and writing this. Dreams can come true. Mrs. Hodges sent me several photos to share with all of you and even a copy of the cassette tape she recorded in 1991. Thank you, I am honored to have this. Mrs. Hodges – thank you for taking me on this trip down memory lane and for you and your family being a part of Andy’s and my lives.

Story by: Joyce Ziehli Photos supplied by Blanche Hodges.

For more information on Mithril, log onto www.flyingfrogmusic.com.

Written by: Frye Gaillard Photos supplied. w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

29

cd review... continued from page 3

The Jimmys ♪♪♪♪♪ Gimmie the Jimmys Brown Cow Productions Blues/Soul I have to tell you right off I love this CD!!!

Jimmy Voegeli and the Jimmys are a rocking funky Blues Band out of Green County Wisconsin. In fact they are the county’s second biggest export next to cheese! These guys are seasoned professional musicians that know how to play and know how to rock! A Jimmys show is a life changing experience!

The CD starts off with HaDaYa HaDaYa, a footstompin soul changing tune that really sets the pace for this CD. The horns are as good as the Memphis Horns of the Stax days.

The rhythm section is anchored by Mauro Magellan on drums and John Wartenweiler on bass. Probably the best rhythm section in the Midwest, bar none! They all shine on this tune! Jimmys grove shows Voegeli’s expertise on the Hammond organ. It’s almost Jimmy Smith like in its tone and style. Guitar player Dave Potter plays some very nice licks in this song. Bun E Carlos plays drums here too. Love will find a way is a great up-tempo song that features Voegeli on barrel house piano. Kenny Bird Dog Olufs plays a mean harp throughout this CD especially on this song! Bird Dog is at the top of his game on this CD! JiMo Boogie is another great example of Voegeli’s piano playing. The key changes and step ups are excellent. It shows why Voegeli and the Jimmys are one of the most talented bands in the State.

My favorite track is Heaven or Hell. It’s pure Muscle Shoals Soul music. Helping the Jimmys out on this cut are Dan Baird and Warner Hodges from Nashville. Two guys that really know their way around the fret board! The horn arrangements and vocals really standout. This cut is pure radio quality and deserves to be played on the air!

If you are not familiar with the Jimmys this is a great place to start. Then go out and see them live, you will not regret it. Hat’s off to you boys, this CD rocks!

vision, thankfully, in which he has allowed us access to.You can call it rock and roll, Americana, folk blues: it simply defies pigeon-holing. He has a great ability and talent to make the listener feel involved and to care, both lyrically and through the music, which is not an easy thing to do. Gordon, somehow, makes it seems effortless.

Ably assisted by right hand man producer/musician Joe McMahan, Gordon has collected a set of songs that transforms the listener into his world. His rough-hewn, southern soul voice melds with a guitar sound that is often muddy and majestic within the same chord or riff.A few tracks of note: The blues infused groove of the title track, 'Gloryland,' is a song that not so much revels in, but simply states a self-satisfaction in having accomplished what one has set out to do, despite naysayers and heavily negative odds.Then there is the brutal sound of and tale in 'Tearing It Down,' in which at one point,a simple guitar note that purposely sounds out of tune, is used to bring the song full circle. In 'Black Dog,' he articulates the changes, trials and downfalls of a place you live (in this case Gordon's own neighborhood, although it could be your own). It makes you feel the wind of the helicopters that fly over your/his house. The haunting beauty of 'Pecolias’s Star' is steeped in trandescent imagery, and 'Trying to Get to Memphis', the tale of a modern day itinerant (hobo?), with such a soulful, R&B melody that it makes you wonder if it isn’t an old Stax song brought to life.

The centerpiece of GLORYLAND is 'Colfax,' an important song and artistic piece on many levels: a mini-movie, as Gordon himself has described it. It is a folk song in the grandest of traditions, in which an adult Gordon reminisces about a younger version of himself during an episode of his Junior High school marching band days.They are memories which evoke themes of hope, hormones, fears and astonishment.These are visions so powerfully delivered (both lyrically and musically) that after the song ends over 10 minutes later, the listener has lost total track of time, for they have been absorbed in the tale, and are ready to listen to (and re-live) again. Much has been written about ‘Colfax’, all correct...all dead-on.This song just needs to be heard. 'Another DooDah Day In Dixieland' is a line that is almost tossed off, almost buried.A powerful lyric that both haunts and at the same time establishes some kind of line being personally drawn by the narrator. It does not demand that you take sides, but rather gives you the choice.The cascade of musical power that accompanies the ending salvos of 'Straight Ahead...Straight On,' is a musical and chorale juggernaut that defies anyone to get in its way, and yet it also allows and invites you to follow along.

Review by:Andy Ziehli

I see Hawks in LA ♪♪♪♪♪ New Kind of Lovely WSR Americana I see Hawks in LA have been compared to the Flying Burrito Brothers, Byrds, and every other Country Rock Band before them with is okay,except this CD they are different. They are their own band. New Kind of Lonely is an all-acoustic CD which really lets the band show that they are influenced by those other bands, but on this CD they are their own band.

The playing is excellent, all the songs are well written and each stands on its own, not needing the others to make it. Dear Flash is a great song that makes you smile. I fell in Love with the Grateful Dead is an ode to the greatest Hippie band of all time! If you are a Dead Head you’ll love this song. Big old Hypodermic needle is a sad song of addiction and an itch that just can’t scratched without it. Hunger Mountain Breakdown is a great Bluegrass Tune that will get your footstompin and hands clapping!

This is a wonderful CD filled with great songs, hell they are well written stories that I found myself drifting into as I listened to the whole CD. I see Hawks in LA are a great band that deserves more exposure and hopefully New Kind of Lovely will get it for them. When I was listening to this CD I could hear the influences of Parsons, Sweet Heart of the Rodeo, and the Flatlanders. Great Work Guys!

Review by:Andy Ziehli

Kevin Gordon ♪♪♪♪♪ Gloryland Self release Americana/Folk/Bluegrass In ‘GLORYLAND' (his first release of new music since 2005’s 'o Come Look at the Burning), Kevin Gordon has once again proved himself a master at taking characters and situations from his life (some distant, some not so), and merging them into a personal musical vision.A personal

30

And herein lies my problem with writing about Gordon and his art,and in this instance 'GLORYLAND' in particular. His songs reach into you so deeply that you almost feel it a disservice to him and those you are trying to reach that you have only briefly touched on them.For those who are familiar with Kevin Gordon's previous work,'GLORYLAND’ stands as a testament to how powerful an artist he is. It reaffirms what we already know. For others, for whom this will be an introduction, 'Gloryland' will serve notice.

They will immediately want to take stock of his past catalog and discover Gordon’s land.

Review by: Mark Gerking

Michael and the Lonesome PlayboysLast of the Honky Tonks ♪♪♪♪♪ Produced by Michael Ubaldini Engineered by Jerry Adomowicz Recorded at Adamos, Westminster, CA This comeback effort from Michael Ubaldini brings a lyrical mix from the "rocknroll poet" paired with Gary Brandin's pedal steel guitar as right and tight as a shot and a beer at a honky tonk. If the blues represented anger in the 5 stages of grief, Ubaldini does his level best to let his pure Country and Western style represent acceptance in a toe-tapping, you-done-me-wrong-but-I'm-movin'-on set of stories in Last of the Honky Tonks.

This body of work recorded live in the studio,stripped down and clean is a solid bunch of melodies expertly punctuated with the pedal steel and Dog House Jerry's bass. The poet's irreverent phrasing makes you think life taught this guy some lessons. With experience comes a discipline of great blending, which this album certainly has, but I'm left wondering, would the less refined, maybe younger voice of Ubaldini have wailed out these tunes without leaving anything in the jar? Nevertheless, Michael and the Lonesome Playboys give us a great set of hits with Last of the Honky Tonks that you'll love listening to again and again.

Review by: Anne Miller

w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

Tommy Womack ♪♪♪♪♪ Now What!

Cedar Creek Music Tommy Womack is a musical genius! There I said it and I’m proud I did! Never a dull moment live or on the CD! Womack has the knack of turning a phrase just enough on its side to make it interesting not strange. Now What! Is filled with great songs that take the listener to a whole new world, filled with interesting characters and melodies.

The CD kicks off with Play that Cheap Trick Cheap Trick Play a very quirky fun song that will really get you in the mood for the rest of the CD. I’m too old to feel that way right now is an anthem to wanting to “perform” with your love but just not having the energy to do so. A very funny song! 90 miles an hour down a dead end street is a rap song for all musicians who live on the road!

Womack is a master of telling it like it is with a very comical twist. That does not mean that this is a comedy CD, no to the contrary it is a very musical CD with some of the best written songs I have heard in a long time.

Pot Head Blues could be on a Todd Snider CD. It’s meaningful with a twist. Womack’s vocals fit this song to the T! My favorite song on the CD is the ending song Let’s have another Cigarette. It just flows with the attitude you expect from Womack. The main character is trying his best but just seems not to be able to impress or score. He tells it like he is.

warner... continued from page 29

hance the talents you have. You don’t have to be the best; you just have to be good at what you do best to succeed. I loved playing in my parent’s band. It was a great stepping stone for me. We were not famous, but we were good at what we did. That taught me a lot on being a performer and appreciating the crowd and fans at an early age.

Learn from those that have gone before you too. Mostly once you’ve got your instrument down start adding your own style to it. Being different is what gets you noticed.

The Scorchers were different and it paid off.

AG: Warner thank you so much for your time and your inspiration. It’s not often you get to meet someone you have idolized, and they turn out to be as nice and as friendly as you hoped they would be.

Hodges: Thank you and you are welcome!

For more information on Warner E. Hodges and the bands please check out: www.warnerhodges.com www.jasonandthescorchers.com www.danbairdandhomemadesin.com http://www.facebook.com/TheBluefields http://www.facebook.com/danbairdandhomemadesin http://www.facebook.com/JasonandtheScorchers http://www.facebook.com/warnerehodges Story by:Andy Ziehli Photos by:Warren Rudolph preachers... continued from page 25

Womack is the poor man’s Dylan when Dylan was not so cynical. His lyrics make you think, they take you to places you probably won’t go on your own, and they bring you back safely. The players on this CD are all high caliber players. John Deadweick, Dan Seymour, Paul Griffith, Lisa Oliver Gray, Jim Hoke, Bill Huber, and Fenner Castner all deserve a big hand for capturing Womack’s songs in a natural way. No overplaying here, just great playing.

Now What is an excellent CD for the long drive to unwind or the first CD in getting you ready to step it up for the weekend. I loved it!

Review by:Andy Ziehli

White Horse ♪♪♪♪♪ White Horse Six Shooter Records Folk Rock/Americana Six Shooter Records is a wonderful record label in Toronto Canada that has one of the best independent rosters of artists in North America.

They are home to two of my favorite artists The Beauties and Luke Doucet.

This record is two of their finest artists, Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland. Some of you will remember Doucet as leader of the White Falcons, a rocking band that really kicks ass! This time around Doucet has gone into the opposite direction of the rock he is known for and created a wonderful collection of tunes in a Folk Rock vain. These are sparse recordings with wonderful harmonies. Doucet and McClelland’s voices blend beautifully. The first cut Eulogy for Whiskers is a strange but interesting spoken story.

I’ll leave it up to you to decide on it. By the 3rd song Emerald Isle, Doucet and McClelland are in high gear. Passenger 24 is a cool song about smuggling drugs with a very cool guitar riff by Doucet.

formance. “Music theory helps people understand the dynamics of music,” Norm the III states. He credits his parents for surrounding the family with classical, jazz, blues and many other forms of music and instilling a love of all in him and his brother. “With that understanding you get more nuance, more emotion out of the music.” Listening to the Preachers, you hear the influence of trust as well as training in their music. It’s audible in their occasional jazz tunings, in Norm III’s intricate finger work and the stretchy funk of Jason’s bass, in the winsome harmonies sung over Norm Junior’s resonant baritone.

But the mark of the Preachers is the sheer joy they bring to their performances. They parlay playfully on stage and perform their songs with abandon. It speaks to their love of their music and each other—quite a testament to roots sown by their musical heritage. The band’s diverse performance picks showcase their talents well: Norm III’s quicksilver banjo brightens their sets with such songs as “Little Lonely Boy,” with Jason’s’ bass often providing a humorous counterpart, if not an outright foil. Norm Jr’s earnest style and baritone render gospel equally well as Cash and Earle. Anneliese delivers a killer rendition of the Cranberries’ Zombie with as much elegance as passion.

Still,the Preachers’selections gravitate to American originals such as Prine andTedeschi, choices that reflect the soul behind both writer and performer.

Despite the fact their membership spans two generations, the Pratts are a young band.

Their talents attract the enthusiasm they desire and deserve—and their fans are willing to give it to this popular hometown band. And while the Preachers haven’t been producing original songs for very long, they have been writing them; they expect to release their first album this spring. They count among their most memorable moments the first time their audience knew the lyrics to their original songs well enough to sing along with them. Among the most popular is“If We Leave Here Tonight,”a piece that reflects their love of bluegrass instrumentation yet sports a pop flare to it.“Take Me Back”integrates elements from gospel, a genre well-suited for Norm Junior’s pleasant baritone. Comparisons to Nickel Creek are appropriate both in style and skills, though it’d be a disservice to the Preachers to label them too narrowly.

This CD is a wonderful representation of how good Doucet and McClelland really are.

Sometimes we Americans don’t give Canadian artists the proper respect and appreciation they deserve. This CD should go a long ways in breaking that bad habit we have!

The Preachers want to maintain their exposure at smaller festivals such as Milwaukee’s Sizzling Saturdays and Bastille Days. They still aim to please their hometown crowd by celebrating St. Patrick’s Day at McAuliffe’s in Racine, where the current full contingent of band members played for the first time in 2009. While their ambition is to secure more bookings in the Milwaukee region and expand their performance at familyfriendly festivals--the type of venue they particularly enjoy--the Preachers seem poised to take the creative risks they need to achieve the next level of musical success.That the raw talent each of these musicians has can be nurtured into a cohesive, polished band has been established. Whether they can position themselves to be ready to take the next step to become Wisconsin’s best bluegrass/Americana band is up to them.

Six Shooter Records is well worth checking out (http://www.sixshooterrecords.com.)

There artists are talented, intelligent, and a blast to listen to! Hats off to Luke Doucet and Melissa McClelland for putting together a wonderfully enjoyable CD. Hats off too to Shauna and the staff at Six Shooter Records for not letting the business get in front of the music!

I suspect the joy of performing together will keep the Preachers’ gypsy spirit alive and evolving, the family synergy and spunk carrying them closer to that dream. “If I ever get bored, I just pick up another instrument,” Norm III declares in earnest during the course of our interview. It’s that drive for constant growth and connection with their audience that will keep the Preachers fresh for many a Saturday night to come.

They cover Springsteen’s I’m on fire and it rocks! The vocal harmonies are superb and so is the arrangement. Doucet deserves kudos for first tackling a Springsteen hit and then making it his own. His guitar playing is top notch on this whole CD. The arrangements are excellent and I found myself drawn into each and every tune.

Review by:Andy Ziehli Story by:Anne Gravel Sullivan Photos supplied. w w w. a m e r i c a n a g a z e t t e . n e t

31