The Old 78's

Go to a record store and look for old tunes, and you’re likely to find some — if you consider 1950 old.

For players like Curly Miller and Carole Anne Rose, that’s not nearly far enough. As the driving force behind the quartet The Old 78′s, the Northwest Arkansas residents are interested in many genres, none of which can be found in conventional music stores. They mine from genres such as ragtime, Charleston and early jazz. They are also interested in the instruments that created those sounds: gut-string banjos, banjo-mandolins and banjeaurines.

With musicians Ray Palmer and Melanie Palmer, they’ve assembled and 18-track collection of songs that will be released Sunday (Dec. 4) at Greenhouse Grille in Fayetteville. The event begins at 5 p.m., with music about an hour later. Featured on the menu that night will be shiitake mushrooms, which Miller and Rose grow on their farm near Kingston and sell to local restaurants and grocery stores. Admission to the concert is $5.

The album, “The Women Wear No Clothes At All,” has largely been recorded in the past year. It features Miller’s arrangements of old time tunes — from about 1880 to 1930 — and guest work from artists such as Clarke Buehling and members of the band Shout Lulu. You can read more in my story about The Old 78′s that was published today in What’s Up! [Note: Subscriber content]

Before you go, listen to a track from the new recording. It’s called “Beaver Slide Rag,” and it was originally recorded by Peg Leg Howell & His Gang in 1927.

Beaver Slide Rag

Casey Donahew Band

So, it may be difficult to get tickets to the big concerts this weekend.

Take, for instance, Casey Donahew. Inspired to pursue music when Texas country music icon Pat Green performed at his fraternity house, Donahew has since forged himself a noteworthy career working in the same genre. The Texan has been performing for nearly a decade and recently released the album “Double Wide Dream.” Donahew and his band come to George’s Majestic Lounge for a 10 p.m. show tonight (Dec. 2). Admission is $15.

As of press time, the show was nearing a sell out.

Then, there’s the (semi) secret Girl Talk show which will be at 9:30 p.m. tonight at Dickson Theatre. Tickets were handed out on campus to a fortunate few (we’re told 400) and we’re told no tickets will be sold at the door. On Girl Talk’s current tour, French Horn Rebellion has been opening, so we’ll see if that’s the case for the Fayetteville show, too.

Elsewhere this weekend, there’s BoomBox at George’s on Saturday (12/3) night and a CD release party for the Old 78′s on Sunday (12/4) at Greenhouse Grille. That show begins at 6 p.m., and if you visit the blog later today, you can hear a track from that band and learn more about the show.

What’s on your agenda for the weekend?

Candy Lee

Hey. It’s fall. You should be listening to live music.

That might be a little bit (or a lot) of a non sequitur, but both are true. You should probably also be checking out some art.

So… how about some music?

After building a fan base in Northwest Arkansas and releasing an album, “The Gate,” Candy Lee sought new opportunities in Florida. The songwriter will launch a fall tour, however, that will bring her through the area. She’ll perform tonight (11/11) at Landry’s in Fort Smith, Saturday (11/12) at Greenhouse Grille in Fayetteville and on Sunday (11/13) will reunite with her backing band, The Sweets, for a 6 p.m. show at Greenhouse Grille. For details, visit her website.

Elsewhere this weekend, there is the Sarah Hughes Band doing a special gig with Jed Clampit on Friday at Smoke & Barrel in Fayetteville, electronica producer Ana Sia on Saturday at George’s and The Eoff Brothers Band on Saturday at Shirley’s Bar in Springdale.

Got something else you think everyone should see? Let us know in the comments below.

Teddy Sablon

Vocalist and guitarist Teddy Sablon, a member of the local jam rockers Guta, can be found on many local stages, including tomorrow night. A North Carolina transplant, Sablon has been performing and playing for years. He performs at 6 p.m. Wednesday (Aug. 17) at Greenhouse Grille in Fayetteville. The show is free to attend.

Chatham County Line discourages people from going into a ‘Wildwood.’ If you want to see them live, you’ll have to go to the Fayetteville Roots Festival.

Expanding upon the first event last year, the second Fayetteville Roots Festival takes place later this month. When it does, it will take over multiple stages in the area and will focus jointly on Americana music and food.

Headlined by Guy Clark and with appearances by Sarah Lee Guthrie & Johnny Irion, Chatham County Line and many more, the festival takes place Aug. 27-28. Associated venues include Greenhouse Grille, the Walton Arts Center and Kingfish.

Tickets have recently gone on sale. Friends of the Festival tickets are $99. Other tickets packages range from $20-$60.

As the event nears, we’ll have more information about the performers and the concept. Until then, visit the festival’s website for more information.

Paddy O'Grill and Bill O'Sayle

The duo of Paddy O’Grill (Dave Malm) and Bill O’Sayle (Steve Kelsey) will perform traditional Irish turns at several local venues in the days leading up to St. Patrick’s Day. Between them, the duo plays instruments such as pennywhistles, mandolins, banjos, harmonicas, bodhrans and more. The duo will perform Thursday night (March 17) from 6-9 p.m. at Greenhouse Grille in Fayetteville. Malm (as O’Grill) will also perform solo beginning at 8 p.m. Wednesday (March 16) at Mickey Finn’s Irish Pub in Fayetteville. All shows are free.

Jeremy Camp

Starting to get cabin fever? How about watching some live music?

Contemporary Christian musician Jeremy Camp brings his current tour to Van Buren for a show Saturday (Feb. 5) at the Van Buren Fine Arts Center. During his recording career, Camp has recorded 19 No. 1 Christian hits and has sold more than three million albums. Tickets range from $15 to $45 and are available by calling 800-965-9324 or at www.itickets.com.

You could also catch some classical guitar this weekend. Serbian-born classical guitarist Nemanja Bogonovic has been playing guitar since the age of seven and performing in public since the age of 10. He’ll bring his talents to Fayetteville on Sunday (Feb. 6) for a show at Greenhouse Grille. The show is being packaged with a dinner that begins at 5 p.m. Bogonovic’s performance begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $75 and can be reserved by calling 444-8909.

There is also a rockabilly concert Saturday at Victory Theater in Rogers. We told you a little bit about it earlier this week.

Elsewhere, you can find Cletus Got Shot tonight (Feb. 4) at Smoke & Barrel Tavern. Admission is $3.

You can also find the Blind Boys of Alabama tonight at the Walton Arts Center. We’ll tell you a little bit more about them later today.

Looking for something else? Try the calendar on the blog’s homepage.

We’ll see you around.

Local songstress Tiffany Christopher’s music spans folk, country, rock, jazz and more. She’ll perform tonight (Dec. 22) at Greenhouse Grille in Fayetteville. The show begins at 6 p.m. Admission is free.

Rachel Ammons of Tyrannosaurus Chicken

So, let’s say you had a great Thanksgiving with the family yesterday (and we all hope you did). But let’s say that your crazy aunt (or uncle, or grandma, or kid sister, or whomever) just keeps talking, and you’ve just about had all the family you can handle for a bit. Or, maybe you need to leave before mom feeds you some more turkey leftovers.

Well, how about finding some live music to watch? It’ll get you out of the house for a bit, and it’s good for your soul, too. So, where to go?

You can find Tyrannosaurus Chicken tonight (Nov. 26) at Smoke & Barrel Tavern. They’ll be playing some bluesy boogies, because that’s what they do.

Speaking of blues music, on Saturday (Nov. 27) you can catch the annual Blues in the Natural State concert at George’s Majestic Lounge. More on that later (hint, hint).

Candy Lee and the Sweets are at Greenhouse Grille on Sunday (Nov. 28) for brunch.

If none of those shows look like your thing, find your way to the calendar on the right, where we’ve got a list of upcoming gigs.

What do you plan to see?

The Honey Dewdrops

We told you a little earlier about the Fayetteville Roots Festival, which comes to Greenhouse Grille in Fayetteville on Sunday (Aug. 29).

So, maybe it’s time we told you about one of the bands. We asked a few questions of The Honey Dewdrops, and they were kind enough to answer them despite being quite busy on a tour through Colorado.

The Honey Dewdrops, the husband and wife duo of Kagey Parrish and Laura Wortman, perform at 8 p.m. Sunday.

Here’s what we wanted to know and what they had to say:

Kevin Kinder: “Tell me a little bit about your upcoming record, “These Old Roots.”

The Honey Dewdrops: Our new record is based around traditional or roots themes and sounds with nine original songs and one traditional. We write our own songs and we’re influenced by old country and Southern Appalachian mountain music — with this cd we take what we love about those styles (true stories, earthy instrumental work, harmony singing) and make something new. We recorded the songs live (no overdubs, punch ins, etc.) because we love the energy and in the moment sound you get listening to live recordings. It’s also nice to just play and sing the songs, that’s what we love to do.

KK: When will it be it released?

THD: It’s out now and will be for sale at Fayetteville Roots.

KK: Does it follow in the path of “If The Sun Will Shine,” [the band’s previous album] or does it take another direction?

THD: It follows “If the Sun Will Shine” in that it’s the two of us singing and playing songs we wrote. We feel like the duets are a great way to make music and we’re invested in exploring how that works, this is another duet cd. The sound of “These Old Roots” takes a slightly different direction because we focused on writing songs that take traditional sounds in a new or contemporary direction. Our goal was to take the older influences and write some new songs from the southern mountains. We weren’t going for bluegrass or old-time sound specifically. We’re interested in the energy and emotion from the old songs and how we can translate that today.

KK: Considering that you recorded the songs around a single microphone with no dubbing, does it feel authentic to your live sound?

THD: Yes, what we sound like live is what we sound like on recordings.

KK: Where have you found songwriting inspiration for this album?

THD: Think we already answered this one a little above. Inspiration came from older American folk music. Most of that involved playing string instruments and singing and came before bluegrass. The energy and emotion in those songs have been a big influence. To us the stories and emotions feel true and appealing. That music’s look at life seems to us to be just that, nothing more, and that is very powerful.

KK: Tell me what winning “A Prairie Home Companion”’s 2008 talent show has meant for your career.

THD: We sent our songs to the contest on a whim. We’d been teaching full-time and playing as a hobby for several years. Both of us grew up listening to the show and heard the announcement about the contest and decided we had nothing to lose. At the time, we’d only recorded two or three songs and that’s what they listened to on our Myspace page.

The experience was really good for us. We’d never performed in front of so many people. Getting to do such a serious and professional show opened up a wide world of possibilities including quitting our jobs and playing music full-time. After the show, folks asked us for CDs (which we didn’t have then) and we got a swarm of emails from listeners telling us how much they enjoyed our sound. It was a real boost of confidence and we like to say that our appearance on ‘APHC’ made us take ourselves much more seriously. We recorded our first record and quit our jobs a year later.

KK: We’re having our first Fayetteville Roots Festival this weekend, and clearly, roots and Americana have been finding new fans recently. What do you think is responsible for for the genre’s upswing?

THD: We all saw a real turn of things after the movie “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?” because of the soundtrack. It’s just been progressing since. There’s also been an increase in these types of festivals where the center of attention is really ON the music and not the scene. The purity and honesty of this genre can reach everyone in a way — the more publicity Americana music receives, the more people it reaches.

KK: What was it about this style of music that attracted you to it?

THD: The old songs we’ve been listening to for years are interesting, dark, genuine — coming from a time when this type of music was an expression of a hard life being lived. We’re big fans of songs that look at the human condition and conflict and this type of playing and singing is rooted in those things.

KK: You mention this trip to Fayetteville will be a return trip for you. When was the last time you were here and what was the gig?

THD: During the radio show, we got to know Pat Villines and Mattie Speece (the second-place finishers) really well and they are from NW Arkansas. We had a lot in common and really wanted to do a few gigs together. That summer, we traveled to Arkansas and played several shows with them including Mike Shirkey’s GoodFolk Productions in Fayetteville. It is still one of our favorite shows that we’ve played. We also made a stop through last year for a house concert hosted by 3 Penny Acre.

KK: Are you familiar with any of the other talent on the Fayetteville Roots Festival roster? Have you played with any of them before?

THD: With all the traveling we do, names of musicians are always popping up in conversations or at the venues we play. Everyone in this genre makes a very similar circuit because of the types of venues. We’re really close with the 3 Penny Acre folks and have known Shannon Wurst for just as long. We’ve also met several of the acts at the International Folk Alliance Conference held in Memphis every February. We haven’t shared the stage with any of the others but certainly know who they are and love their music. Bryan Hembree has put together an excellent line-up of talent and we’re really looking forward to hearing the other bands as well as playing at this inaugural festival.