WilburNews Winter 2010
Hi everyone!
We’ve been slammin’ busy here and of course I’m way behind on sending out the news!
The big amazing news in case you missed my plastering it everywhere I could think of is that the solo kora cd “Douga Mansa” that I recorded with kora master Mamadou Diabate WON A GRAMMY for best traditional world music recording! Mamadou was nominated for the first cd “Behmanka” which we recorded together in 2006 but winning this year is over the top!
The Weeping Willards will be releasing their awesome new album “Where There’s A Willard...” for free on June 18 from their Bandcamp site! Be sure to check it out!
Dave Davies has been writing, arranging and performing for several decades. He is almost done with a retrospective of original songs and arrangements called “Downstream” and you’ve just gotta hear it! My biggest problem with getting the mixes done is that I keep singing along...
Andrew and Noah VanNorstrand. Wow, what can I say? These 2 young men have quite simply blown me away! Awesome new songs, stunning performances and quite frankly, we all hit this one out of the ballpark! The new CD is titled “All The Good Summers” and trust me you want to get this!
Lutesong Duo Mignarda have made their home here and I couldn’t be happier! Wrist slitting ballads and medieval music played on lute and sung in French and Latin. I don’t understand a word of it and it doesn’t seem to matter. The emotion translates clearly and it’s hard not to be affected by this music. If you want to hear what these two are up to go buy their latest release “Au pres de Vous” and a box of tissues!
On her website it says that “Robin Blair has spent the last 20 years inviting children and their families to explore the arts as an expression of beauty and faith.” I’ve spent a lot of time with Robin, working both on her Common Good Radio and on a storytelling project with Ralph Singh, and I’m here to tell you that this description is totally right on. If faith and family are important to you you owe it to yourself to check her radio station on Live365.
Well, it seems that you simply can’t take 80s arena rock out of Kris Hadlock. We tried, but darn it he writes such awesome hooky 80s style songs that you can’t help smiling, pulling your lighter out and raising it high when each chorus comes around as you sing along! Check out his new cd “Your Wife’s Rock Band”
The lovely acoustic duo Littlewheel have finished their new cd “Honest Labor” and they should be proud! It sounds great and I hope you get a chance to hear it when they release it this spring!
Modern NYC Folksinger George Mann released a compilation of songs for Veterans called “Until You Come Home” and is just about done with his new CD “Songs For Jules and Bruce”. George has crafted a fine collection of songs here about topic we all hold dear to our hearts. This project started out good and has really grown on me!
Black Belt Blues came to spend the day kickin out some straight ahead old school blues. Nothing like the real thing!
Contra dance band Tunescape are ready to put the finishing touches on a great new cd of quirky and of course totally danceable tunes, featuring piano, flute, an accordion named Alfredo, fiddle and Nickelharpa! Produced by Andrew VanNorstrand, this CD should be in your collection whether you dance or not.
Another contradance band called The Contradictions have been playing together forever but don’t have a CD! So we are gonna fix that situation and mandolin player Rick Manning is finishing up some overdubs. Who knows, this CD might actually come out sometime!
A sweet duo named Hot Koko came in to record a holiday gift for their friends and family, including a mother/daughter version of the Cat Stevens classic “Father and Son”. What a nice present!
Brian Turner came in to sing and play trombone on a tune he recorded at home and I might as well have taken a spin in the musical time machine back to the day when The Tower Of Power ruled the airway! Wow! “I’ve got the Lube Room Blues, ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh...”
Music doesn’t get much more “Ithaca” than the songs of Alan Rose. Alan has been supporting and studying the Ithaca music scene for over a decade and his upcoming CD is the delightful result of that research. With a band that consists of members of Kites In Space (formerly Seth Feldman), The Weeping Willards, The Hot Foot Club and The Sim Redmond band Alan weaves his way through stories of fun and everyday life and the results are sweet! I’m just about to start final mixing so look for a late spring release!
The Fall Creek Brass Band rocked Wilburland HARD when they dropped in with, well, a lot of BRASS! Really cool and fun arrangements and the chops to play them! I look forward to the next stage of this project that should involve some overdubs, and I imagine some surprises.
Laurie Hart and Stefhan Ohlström came in for round two of a project of region specific Swedish fiddle tunes. It’s been fun hearing the subtle yet significant difference in tunes from these different parts of the country. Now If I could only figure out where the one is...
The Destination wrote new lyrics for the old Beach Boys tune Kokomo and came up with Corkomo to promote the finger lakes wine industry. The hook is firmly set in my skull and no amount of listening to Megadeath seems to help!
Kevin Kinsella has teamed up with no other than Harry and Eric Aceto for a new CD of Kevin’s awesome songs! Watch out for this one folks! I’m not kidding!
Mike Callahan and Mortal Combine were in laying down some great basic tracks for a wonderful collection of songs. All of these songs sound like roots rock classics, really well written and played by a kickin band. I’m pretty psyched to continue work on this CD especially since the rough mixes sounded kinda like a finished album!
And then there was Funishment. What can I tell you? Blazing speed metal with some of the most provocative and offensive lyrics I’ve ever heard screamed, yet these 4 guys were perfect gentlemen at Wilburland and we had a blast. Oh yes, Phil, Beaner, Pookie and Oops will be back. You have been warned!
I had intended to finish this newsletter before Two Hour Delay came in but, oh well, I might as well tell you about the great weekend we just had recording 14 new songs and wow, what great tunes! Singer and acoustic guitarist Tim Burns sang his heart out and the band rallied, with a rock solid rhythm section and ripping electric guitar licks! Plus, it was Bob’s birthday...
From what I can see on the calendar, I’m not gonna get a break anytime soon...
If I may quote songwriter Patti Witten, “thanks for reading all the way down to here!”
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