Mustard’s Retreat: Fanning the flames of folk
Bela Fleck’s classical groove
(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., Aug. 10, 2000) -- For David Tamulevich, folk music is
more than just an avocation or vocation. It is a way of life.
This is only partly because by day, Tamulevich heads the most important
booking agency in contemporary folk music, sending out the likes of Greg
Brown, John Gorka, Ani DiFranco, Lucy Kaplansky, Richard Shindell and the
Nields to all four corners of the nation and beyond.
And this is only partly because by night, or about 30 nights a year,
Tamulevich is one-half of the folk duo Mustard’s Retreat (the other half is
Michael Hough), which performs at the Guthrie Center on Friday night, Aug.
11.
More than either of these, Tamulevich is a believer in the power of
folk music to change people’s lives, if not change the world.
“I believe that the folk music community is one of the greatest, and most
subversive to corporate America, movements going,” said Tamulevich in a
recent Email exchange.
“As Boston photographer Craig Harris describes it, this is ‘music for people
for whom the revolution succeeded.’ It represents the best of who people are
and aspire to be.”
Mustard’s Retreat’s music is boldly old-fashioned. While the duo
writes its own material, it couches it in the tried-and-true arrangements of
back-porch folk music, with acoustic guitars, fiddles, dulcimers, hand
percussion, and rough-hewn harmonies.
“It’s been a successful medium for communicating for centuries,”
said Tamulevich about organic, homegrown folk music. “It facilitates the
telling of stories, an ancient and important need that people have --
especially, we have found, at this time in history.
“It also harkens back to the music many of us heard as kids, so
there is that connection as well. It works, and people enjoy it, and it is
what comes out naturally for us. It really is who we are and what and how we
write. We couldn’t do music, writing, or performing in any other way.
From his perch at the Fleming-Tamulevich Agency, Tamulevich sees the folk
community “exploding across the country…because people want quality and
substance and connection in their lives.”
“It is one of the few places that all the generations can come together to
enjoy the same experience. That is a very powerful
thing...inclusive...reaffiring, uplifting, illuminating... in a
TV/WalMart/tabloid media world. And fun. It is non-soundbite...and treats
the audience with respect and appreciation.
“American culture is so predatory, wanting a malleable public that will
basically shut up, consume and die. It is the most efficient way to maximize
corporate profits. People resent being treated that way, and this community
offers a real experience, warts and all, but at least it is real and honest.
“Will it topple corporate America before corporate America kills us? Maybe
not, but I don’t think that is the goal. It is the focus on making the
choice to put quality into your life...and if enough people make that
choice, the system will adapt. And more and more people are making that
choice. It is a very exciting time to be involved in the music.”
Bela Fleck: Classical jams
There have been complaints that the Boston Symphony Orchestra is not doing
enough at Tanglewood this summer to recognize the 100th anniversary of Aaron
Copland’s birth. Perhaps Copland fans might want to make it over to the
Berkshire Moutnain Music Festival in Great Barrington this weekend, where
they’re likely to hear a version of Copland’s “Hoedown.”
Copland at BerkFest? Yep, you heard right. The first thing you hear on Bela
Fleck’s new CD, “Outbound” (Columbia), is not banjo, but three saxophones
playing a kind of 1920s ditty. Then the music segues into a full-fledged
progressive-rock version of Copland’s “Hoe Down.” Not since Emerson, Lake
and Palmer tackled the same tune back in the late-‘70s has a rock band made
such innovative use of a piece from the classical repertoire. In fact, when
Fleck signed his new five-record deal with Columbia, the contract called for
two albums to be released on the Sony Classical label. Perhaps his parents
knew what was in store when they named their son after the great Hungarian
composer Bela Bartok.
Fleck’s surprise-filled seventh CD continues in this vein, including throat
singing by Tuvan master Ondar and backup vocals by Shawn Colvin and Jon
Anderson of Yes on a dazzling world-beat fusion number called “A Moment So
Close.” The album also features instrumental contributions by an all-star
cast of progressive musicians including oboist Paul McCandless, keyboardist
John Medeski, guitarist Adrian Belew, bassist Edgar Meyer, Indian tabla
player Sandip Burman, and violinist Mark Feldman. All that, and a jazzy tune
called “Earth Jam.”
Catching an early groove at Helsinki
If you can’t wait until tomorrow to start grooving at BerkFest, head on over
to Club Helsinki in Great Barrington tonight, Aug. 10, where the Berkshire
Mountain Music Festival gets a head start with a show by two of the
festival’s most-loved jam-bands, Uncle Sammy and Addison Groove Project.
As heard on its recording, “Live at Broadway Joe’s,” Uncle Sammy
moves effortlessly from funk to space-jams to soulful organ-jazz to
metal-guitar, sometimes in the course of just a few measures of an
improvisation. The Boston-based quartet consists of drummer Tom Arey,
guitarist Max Delaney, bassist Brian O’Connell and keyboardist Walter “Beau”
Sasser. The musicians met at Berklee College of Music, where they joined
forces to lay down the incessant instrumental grooves that range from
three-minute melodic ditties to half-hour improvisational journeys.
Addison Groove Project also builds a deep funk groove with a
guitar-keyboards-rhythm section core, but as heard on the group’s eponymous
CD, it’s a tighter mix that opens up with a r&b-style horn section. The
sextet features two saxophonists and guitarist Brendan McGinn doubles on
trumpet and vocals. Also based in Boston, Addison Groove Project has opened
for national acts such as Parliament/Funkadelic, Groove Collective,
Galactic, Merl Saunders and Deep Banana Blackout.
Fun folk in Noho
If you haven’t already had your fill of festival-going, particularly
of the folk kind, you have one last chance to catch a fun-filled day of
contemporary folk under the open skies this Saturday, Aug. 12, in
Northampton at the Pines Folk Festival.
Headliners at the festival, fast becoming the Pioneer Valley’s
answer to Falcon Ridge or Newport, include new-folk singer-songwriters John
Gorka, Patty Larkin, Cheryl Wheeler, David Wilcox, and Vance Gilbert. Other
performers include folk-rockers the Nields, folk-blues artist Guy Davis,
Mark Erelli and Melissa Ferrick. There will also be a showcase stage
featuring up-and-coming artists, including several from up north in Canada.
Gate open at noon; music begins at 2. Tickets are $25, and children under 12
are free (one child per adult). Call 413-586-8686 for tickets.
[This column originally appeared in the Berkshire Eagle on Aug. 10, 2000.
Copyright Seth Rogovoy 2000. All rights reserved.]
Seth Rogovoy rogovoy@berkshire.net music news, interviews, reviews, et al.
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