Volume 12 Issue 1 January 2018 WWW.BLUEGRASSCANADA.ORG IBMA KEYNOTE SPEECH 2017 Rhiannon Giddens 6 MONTH FESTIVAL LISTING CCBMAECBMABluegrass Canada JANUARY 2018 - 3 V o l u m e 12 I s s u e 1 Publisher - The Bluegrass Music Association of Canada Editor - Mike Kirley Design/Production - Gord DeVries The Bluegrass Canada magazine is digitally published quarterly in Jan- uary, April, July and October, online in the ‘Members Only’ section of the Bluegrass Canada website. • Individual membership fees are $18 per year, or $25 per year for those wishing a grayscale hard copy. • Individual ‘Affiliate’ membership fees are $15 per year. This special membership category is reserved for members of a registered Member Organization. • Organizational memberships are $50 per year. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reproduced without the written permission from the Pub- lisher. PUBLICATION MAIL AGREEMENT NO.42167060.RETURN UNDELIV- ERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO BMAC, c/o Gord DeVries, 22790 Amiens Road, KOMOKA ON N0L 1R0, 519-719-2501, membership@bluegrasscanada. org. Please send articles, calendar infor- mation, photos and letters to : Bluegrass Canada Mike Kirley 831 Rose Street, Cambridge ON N3H-2G2 Email: mikekirley@gmail.com Telephone: 519-653-4975 Deadline for submissions is 45 days preceding the month of pub- lication. Bluegrass Music Association of Canada BMAC is a non-profit organization devoted to the preservation and promotion of bluegrass and old-time music in Canada, and supported by the volunteer efforts of its members. BMAC Mission Statement The BMAC mission statement as enacted in the by-laws: a) Dedicated to the preservation and promotion of Bluegrass and Old-time music through- out Canada. Goals: b) To support individuals, groups and organizations involved in bluegrass and old-time music. c) To provide leadership and promote education among fans, clubs, bands and artists. Specifically: 1) the establishment of bluegrass categories in the Juno Awards; 2) lobbying with other musical genres for changes in US laws to allow easier access to the US by Canadian musicians; 3) establishing a national bluegrass awards program not in conflict with the two existing regional awards events; 4) sponsoring Canadian Bands to Showcase at IBMA; 5) supporting Canadian bands efforts to play in other parts of the country; 6) seeking grant funding to achieve these goals. BMAC Board of Directors President -Murray Hale mhale@green-vision.ca - 705-474-2217 Vice-President - Brian Powley brobriansbluegrass@gmail.com - 613-544-9898 Secretary /Treasurer - Roland Aucoin raucoin72@gmail.com- 905-572-0116 Magazine Editor - Mike Kirley mikekirley@gmail.com - 519-653-4975 Membership/Website - Gord DeVries gord.devries@rogers.com - 519-719-2501 Grants & Funding - Sarah Bea Milner sarahbea@gmail.com Social Media - Carol Boyer carol.boyer@sympatico.ca General - Wilson Moore wmoore@ns.sympatico.ca Ongoing Volunteers Joe Rohrer - (ON - Regular column contributer) Denis LePage - ON - Regular column contributer) - dlepage99@gmail.com. Gloria Jean Hansen - (ON Regular column Contributer) Sue Malcolm (BC - Event Calendar) - sue@suemalcolm.com Jerry Murphy (NS - Event calendar Admin) - jerry@jerrysnews.com Nancy Tellier - (ON - Event Calendar Admin) - nancy.tellier069@sympatico.ca Nellie Holmes (ON - Event Calendar Admin) - thepieplates@gmail.com Printing- A & B Print Inc. - 519-652-0321 4026 Meadowbrook Dr. #135 London ON N6L 1C8 Distribution- Strictly Addressing - 519-433-4242 4-1025 Hargrieve Rd. London ON N6E 1P7 Advertising- CD Reviews- Pat Moore patmoore@patmoore.netWHAT’S INSIDE? Regular Features President’s Message5Murray Hale Editor’s Message6Mike Kirley In The News/Letters8Staff For Sale9Staff Run Forrest Run10Joe Rohrer Authentic American Culture 11Zachary Miller East Coast Award Winners 12JERRY MURPHY The Audition16Gloria Hansen 6 Month Festival Listing 19Staff Central Canadian Awards Winners 20Staff Award Winning Recipes 23Sue Draper Aynsley Porchak27John Lawless Angeline The Baker28Denis LePage IBMA Keynote Speech 2017 30Rhiannon Gibbons The Birthday Loon37Mike Kirley The Placement of Rattlesnake Rattles 38Hilda Downer BMAC AGM Minutes & Executive Meeting Minutes 40Staff Radio On The Air42Staff BMAC Organizational Members 46Staff ANNUAL *FESTIVALS* ISSUE • MORE INTERVIEWS - NEWS ITEMS - REGULAR COLUMNS ARTICLE SUBMISSION - THE DEADLINE IS THE 15TH OF FEBRUARY 2018 NEXT ISSUE (APRIL 2018) Central Canada Bluegrass Music Awards Show 20 IBMA Keynote Speech 2017 30 6 Month Festival Listing 19 East Coast Bluegrass Music Awards Show 12PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE It gives me great pleasure to accept the president’s position in the Blue- grass Music Association of Canada for 2018. I have been a member of the exec- utive for the past seven years and during that time have witnessed growth in several areas: • The continuation and expansion of the Bluegrass Canada magazine. The creation and maintenance of our excellent website. • The creation of 5 geographical bluegrass areas throughout Canada. Compilation of an extensive and current list of bands from all across Canada. • Collection of informational and educational materials that pertain to Bluegrass. • Advertising for festivals and bands throughout Canada. Background: I have been immersed in Bluegrass since the mid seventies and have been privileged to be part of four band formations during those years. The latest being Georgian Blue up until September of 2017 where I sang lead and tenor harmony and played the mandolin. I have attended and participated in festivals in Canada, Australia and the United States. I try to keep current with the music and trends in the industry by attending IBMA yearly. Over the years I have been passionate about vocals and joined the Barbershop Harmony Society in 1989 to learn more about harmony and singing technique. I also have a running addiction and have run competitively since high school in the late 60’s. I was lucky enough to be Canadian Champion in M40 and M45 divisions for men in Cross Country 1990 and 1995. Please feel free to introduce your- self to me and let’s talk bluegrass. The executive has new and current goals and we would like to discuss these and listen to your ideas. --Murray Hale 6 - Bluegrass Canada JANUARY 2018 EDITOR’S MESSAGE by Mike Kirley Banjo in the morning, mandolin in the evening, fiddle at supper- time...go off to an awards weekend and hear bluegrass all the time! Talk about your total bluegrass immersion; an awards show is a weekend of pure bluegrass bliss. If you are in a car pool there and back, there is the satellite radio bluegrass station all the way there and all the way home. At some point in all this you either reach bluegrass nirvana or get a severe tension headache. The latter usual- ly being relative to how late you get to bed, or how healthy your eating and drinking habits are. All in all, it is definitely an escape from the real world of family, financial and political pressures. And pure unadulterated fun. As one elderly gent yells out at the Winterline jam, “This is the most fun I’ve had with my pants on in a long time!” At one point in that late night jam, a fiddler kicks off Saint Anne’s Reel and all the ladies cheer and jump off their couches and start clogging, drinks in hand. There are so many people packed into this jam the catering staff has to bring the food in on platters raised high in the air. And if you are a player and manage to jostle your way in to the centre of the jam, when you get tired and want to leave or go the washroom, forget it. You can’t get out of the tightly packed circle. It’s like The Hotel California. You can enter, but you cannot leave. Everywhere you turn there is laughing, picking and singing. And you either float on the vibe, or blend into a cauldron of machine gun banjos and ripping fiddle breaks. The only way to leave is on all fours. JUST KIDDING!! And when you get out in the hall, nine times out of ten you make the wrong turn and end up in another jam just as lively and you surrender to the unknown, forgoing all bodily functions and continuing your quest for the musically sublime. HYAHH!! Then you turn around and David Parmley squeezes into the room with The Cardinals and Cindy de Boer. She announces that the Awards are continuing for at least three more years at Deerhurst. You have reached the apex of bluegrass glory, surrounded by bluegrass family. Does it get any better than this?? ...You tell me. -MikeBluegrass Canada JANUARY 2018 - 78 - Bluegrass Canada JANUARY 2018 IN THE NEWS / LETTERS Hi Mike. I keep missing you at Galt Legion to tell you what a good article on singing you presented in the last Bluegrass news. Very informative. You guys really come up with a great magazine and that takes a lot of work. I have told Gord DeVries the same thing. Keep up the good work. I really enjoy reading the articles and always end up reading them at least twice. I always wondered where you went or why you showed up later on in the evening at Galt but found out you help in the workshop. I ran into a fiddle player at Galt last month and he was going to the work- shop. If you ever need some help at the workshop for fiddle, I could maybe help out some. I have been working at fiddle workshops for close to 30 years and judging fiddle contests for 43 years. I teach still and some of my former or present students include Aynsley Porchak at East Tennessee State. TN. and fiddle player for the Pride Bluegrass band. She also is 2015 grandmaster champion of the U.S. and the same for Canada this year. I have been working with Alanna Jennish since she was 14, who is up for Bluegrass fiddle player of the year at Hunts- ville. I also had Shane Cook before he won the U.S. championship. I have had a number of other award winning players that I have worked with over the years. I work on how to improve the tech. part of playing the fiddle rather than the approach of working on a tune which I see so much of from other teachers at the workshops. If you think I could be of some help, I wouldn’t mind helping out for some of the night. I really enjoy the jamming at the Legion. Keeps me up on things when working with some of the players I work with. Can’t get that with practise at home by yourself. Have our room booked at Dear- hurst starting Thurs. so might see you there. Keep up the good work on the news. Like it better than the U.S. version. Doug McNaughton Hi Mike, My name is Bill Jackson. I am on the Board of Directors for Foothills Bluegrass Music Society, based in Calgary AB. I’m trying to reinstate our news- letter and was wondering if I had your permission to “borrow” some of your excerpts in our newsletter from time to time. I think our readership would find them entertaining and informative. Would certainly make sure that you received credit for any articles we use. Yours in Bluegrass, Bill Ron Stewart’s search for work didn’t last long after the Boxcars disbanded a few weeks back. Next Saturday, he’ll officially join the Sel- dom Scene at a show in Cincinnati, transferring his stout banjo and fiddle skills from one Grammy-nom- inated bluegrass band to another. Stewart replaces Rickie Simpkins, who announced over the weekend that it was “time to move on to my next musical journey” after near- ly two years with the Scene. The remaining members were familiar and comfortable with Stewart, who filled in for Simpkins for a few gigs in August. “We thank Rickie for the time he spent with us, and we’re looking forward to the next chapter in the Seldom Scene with Ron Stewart,” said lead singer and guitarist Dud- ley Connell. Stewart is excited about the new gig. “I’ve been a fan of the Scene since Act 1,” he said, referring to the band’s 1972 release. “And I’ve known these guys, the current lineup, forever, but this is a whole new ballgame. We’re going to have a ball.” Simpkins, who had long stints with the Tony Rice Unit and Emmylou Harris, had big shoes to fill when he joined the band at the start of 2016. He replaced Ben Eldridge, the last original member of the group that formed in 1971 after practic- ing in the basement of Eldridge’s Bethesda, MD, home. He added a new dimension to the Scene’s live shows – fiddle, switch- ing from banjo during sets. Stewart, SELDOM SCENE UPDATEBluegrass Canada JANUARY 2018 - 9 who has won IBMA awards for both instruments, will bring the same versatility to the band. He’s as low key and unpretentious as he is talented. Stewart will join Connell, resophon- ic guitarist Fred Travers, mando- linist Lou Reid and bassist Ronnie Simpkins, Rickie’s brother. Connell, Travers and Ronnie Simpkins joined the band on the same day in 1995. Reid returned to the band in 1996, after an earlier stint, taking the place of band co-founder John Duffey. Rickie Simpkins didn’t say what his next act will be, but he thanked “all the folks who came out in support of the music.” And, he concluded, “Stay tuned.” Fiddle player Ebo Walker was seen prowling the hallways at Deer- hurst Resort, a few weeks ago. Rumor has it that he has joined the Granite Hill band. Unfortunately, he wasn’t playing, so his fans were disappointed. Granite Hill banjo player, Burns Babcock, was also seen in one of the many late night jams, delighting all with his 5 string prowess. Hi everyone.....to every thing there is a season, and as of today, a chap- ter has closed on Davis & Grant. Haydee and I have decided to move on; we wish the band members all the best in their music endeavours, knowing that their talents will serve them well. To our families and friends, fans of Davis & Grant, the festival organiz- ers, our incredible Pineridge Blue- grass Club in Oshawa and the radio stations that played our music.......a huge thank you for all the years of support and encouragement. Haydee and I will continue our music together....we are, after all, singers, and love what we do. Keep pickin’ and grinnin’.....see you down the road. ¾ Acoustic Bass, with canvas bag. German, Solid top. excellent condition & finish. Professionally appraised. $3500.00 firm. Phone: 519-688-2031 email: tom24shirl43@gmail.com IN THE NEWS / LETTERS GRANITE HILL UPDATE DAVIS & GRANT DEPARTURE PICK ‘N’ RIDE FESTIVAL UPDATE Calton Fiddle Case Serial # 313-11-2321 Original Sale Price 598.50 USD Will sell for $400.00 CAN firm Contact Gord DeVries 519-719-2501 gord.devries@rogers.com Unfortunaltely, The Pick ‘N’ Ride Festival in Forester’s Falls, ON is not staging its event in 2018. Promoter Walter Willet advised that the event will be looked at it again perhaps for 2019. Next >