A Stitch in Time:
ARTS&LIFE MUSIC
"This is the life story of one man, but it parallels the stories of millions of Jewish people who tried to escape from increasingly hostile Europe to someplace safer" says Louis Finkelman. Available for purchase at BarnesandNoble.com, Amazon.com and IUniverse.com Michael is available to schedule book club appearances and/or author signings! Call 248-765-5880 for availability and scheduling.
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JANUARY 27 • 2022
CORN POTATO STRING BAND
Michigan Writer Tells His Father’s Story in New Novel
Aaron Jonah Lewis, Lindsay McCaw and Ben Belcher
Old-Time Country Corn Potato String Band performs at The Ark.
SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
T
he three members of the Corn Potato String Band began playing fun country music together in 2012, but it’s been almost three years since they’ve been able to appear in person as a trio. With entertainment venues opening again, they’re glad to resume taking their song stylings around Michigan with an appearance Thursday, Feb. 10, at The Ark in Ann Arbor. Sensing their energy geared up, the three dubbed this the “No Spaghetti Arms Tour.” “The main way I’m feeling liberated since the pandemic is by setting time aside to play music with my really good friends,” said Detroiter Aaron Jonah Lewis, a multi-instrumentalist joined by another Detroiter and multi-instrumentalist, Lindsay McCaw, and banjo player Ben Belcher of Alabama. “Getting in front of people and sharing that experience has always been really import-
ant to us, and it’s been hard to go without it.” The instruments the trio plays include fiddle, guitar, bass and mandolin. They joke about what their title represents about themselves and their choice of songs: the ears and eyes of America as the starches of the New World. “We do traditional songs, some new songs and tell the stories that go with the writing of the songs,” said Lewis, a Midwestern-bred entertainer whose immersion in Southern music came after the classical. “We try to do some songs that people will recognize and relate to as well as songs they haven’t heard before. An idea is to unearth gems from the musical past.” An example of their style is the presentation of two versions of a tune based on the fight song of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va. Lewis does “Washington County” learned as a fiddle arrangement once recorded
