From: owner-jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org (jangle-poets-digest) To: jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org Subject: jangle-poets-digest V9 #95 Reply-To: jangle-poets@smoe.org Sender: owner-jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-jangle-poets-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk jangle-poets-digest Tuesday, September 18 2007 Volume 09 : Number 095 Today's Subjects: ----------------- [JP] The Strangelings on XM ["Marsik, Theresa" Subject: [JP] The Strangelings on XM After listening to The Dharma Cafi on Sirius on Saturday, my husband turned on The Village on XM (which we get free with our DirecTV). After a few songs, imagine my surprise when I heard The Strangelings performing Man of Poor Fortune! It was quite the Kennedys day :-) Check out the Kennedys' Official Home Page: http://www.KennedysMusic.com/ Fab photos, the Official tour diary, dashboard Buddha haiku, groovy merchandise...what more could you ask for? ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2007 15:47:25 EDT From: Nieldsforever@aol.com Subject: [JP] Separately or Together - Strangelings Weekend 1 This was the second straight year of the Twin Angels Folk Festival at Camp Sloper in Southington CT, and the second straight year it conflicted with two other NE festivals -- the Boston Folk Festival and the Strawberry Park Folk Festival in Preston CT. Decisions, decisions! It was tough for me because the Nields, the Kennedys, and Gandalf Murphy were all playing Strawberry Park again this year. That's a hard combo to beat, especially given my history. But I've been on a mission since '05 to shine a light on that multifaceted "diamond in the rough" Chris Thompson, who plays either solo, with her sister Meredith as Chris and Meredith Thompson, with her sister-in-law Kathryn as the Livelys, or with TK and Rebecca Hall & Ken Anderson as the Strangelings. Volunteering at Twin Angels again this year, I got to help sell merch for Chris, Cliff Eberhardt, and Mad Agnes, who were all playing. And with Rebecca & Ken playing the Ridgefield Library the next day, I had a chance for the first of two back-to-back Strangelings weekends before next week's much-anticipated show at Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs. Being at Camp Sloper brought back a pang of bittersweet memories for me this year. I have video from seeing TN there 9/24/95, and in that Nields video one can clearly see 6-year-old Stephen going down the slide in the playground area right behind the stage while the band played. "This Used to Be My Playground"... I'm having a tough time adjusting, since Stephen, now 18, has left the nest, going off to college in Chicago. "Where Did It Go?" Ken Anderson is right -- it's kind of a grieving process that I'm going through. Here's what Chris and Kathryn played 9/15/07 at Camp Sloper as the Livelys -- Hallelujah I Shall Be Released Flashlight The Mountain Old Man of the Mountain One People Tanglewood Tree Ain't No Grave Chris later played on 3 songs during Lisa Cote's set, including a beautiful 3-part harmony rendition of "Helplessly Hoping," incredibly, done without a lick of rehearsal on Chris' part. I briefly got to see Meredith and baby Zachary when I dropped Chris off in West Hartford afterwards. Meredith is done with the Strangelings and mostly on maternity leave with C&M, but I'm looking forward to seeing her do a Chris & Meredith Thompson show at the Sounding Board in West Hartford 11/3, a week before N&K play that same venue. On to Ridgefield. Ridgefield Library has long had a great series of free folk shows, and I'd seen N&K and Cadence & TK play there before. This time Rebecca & Ken brought their slew of retro-folk renditions with them, that are alternately wistful, wacky, and just plain wonderful. Rebecca Hall has a voice like a mountain spring or a morning sunrise, natural and refreshing. And Ken Anderson lends expert assistance on a variety of instruments and supporting vocals, also spicing up their sets by initiating unexpected flashes of witty repartee with Rebecca between songs. They're a lot of fun! Here's what Rebecca & Ken played 9/16/07 at Ridgefield Library -- Hello Stranger (Carter Family) Like You Do Darkest Hour If I Needed You (Townes Van Zandt) Come Around Weep Not For Me The False Bride Hard Way to Learn Going North Long Black Shore Every Day Rose or the Briar (w/ Bruce Palmatier on harmony vocal!) I Loved You Better Than You Knew (Carter Family) Not the Same When I Stop Dreaming (Louvin Brothers) One Morning in May (new protest song) Rosemary Lane O Lord Solid Ground Sculptor's Song On the Other Side California Hungrytown Road Lucille, Lucille I was pretty happy getting to sing bass along with Ken's tenor, backing Rebecca's lead vocal on the refrains of "The Rose or the Briar." After hearing them do it at North Attleboro in July, I told them that it would be a piece of cake for me, and thankfully it worked out. There are a number of R&K originals that sound just like traditional songs, sort of the way Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson have written traditional-sounding songs. "The Rose or the Briar" is one of those, along with "On the Other Side" and "Hungrytown Road." With good songwriting, you don't always know who the author is -- and when that's entirely the case, and no one remembers who wrote it, the song is tagged, "traditional." Rebecca & Ken mix in their own traditional-sounding songs, together with covers and traditional songs that they've chosen, in a new-traditional concoction they call "retro-folk," both like and unlike the new-traditional Sister Holler album of N&K Nields. The basic tracks have been put down for R&K's next album Hungrytown, long in the works, and they assure me that it will be finished after they add guest musicians to round out the arrangements. I can't wait! Next week: Strangelings Weekend 2 -- Separately or Together -- in Saratoga Springs! Bruce Check out the Kennedys' Official Home Page: http://www.KennedysMusic.com/ Fab photos, the Official tour diary, dashboard Buddha haiku, groovy merchandise...what more could you ask for? ------------------------------ End of jangle-poets-digest V9 #95 *********************************