Free Fest Mix

Sorry I haven't been as diligent posting to this blog; caught up in the pace of summer and add to that work has kept me hopping and being on the Great River Folk Fest committee has been a hoot and of course another time demand.  Let's bring you up to speed quick.

Worked on getting all of our artist (except Dar and I don't blame her, it's her agents that have been silent) into contributing to a FREE Mix of music available in Noisetrade.com  My blog readers know I find many new artists there including SHEL.  Now here's the link to the free mix.

All the things I wrote about it:

The 38th Annual Great River Folk Fest has an outstanding line up, and we change as we grow, like sharing our first Mix before the fest. Dar Williams starts our fest on Friday, and as of the first post of this mix her people haven't talked to our people, but oh feast on the fest of the rest. Willy Porter an outstanding instrumentalist who will leave your eyes tearing from envy and laughter. Claudia Schmidt, proving a folky person can be dragged into social media with her tremendous wit and energy. Barbara Jean the winner of the Big Top Songwriter Contest and such a charmer with a banjo and fiddle. SHEL an incredible 4 pc sister group from Fort Collins who have their own Noisetrade site. Our mix includes a rare unreleased track of Moonshine Hill. Don Harvey of Ultrasonics and his great songwriting... love his Technology Blues. Finally the wonderful groove of the gypsy band Harmonious Wail. They too have an unique Noisetrade page; look them up.

August 23-25 in La Crosse Wisconsin on the UW L campus... all tips go to the fest which is a non-profit, and the artists will be passed your emails. This mix includes some rare songs like the unreleased SHEL "Moonshine Hill" to Claudia Schmidt's 1979 first cut on her vinyl "Drinking Buddy". Please feel generous to tip the fest, our volunteers are working hard to bring cool acoustic music to the lovers of music everywhere. La Crosse used to be advertised by a famous beer company as "God's Country", and it truly is... everyone who gets a chance to visit us is impressed and leaves with comments like "it's as beautiful as the Rhine river valley in Germany" or "wow cheese curds... incredible". Add to the list one of the friendliest festivals you will run into for all your travels; and now you can preview the artists.

Thanks to all the artists and agents who allowed this to happen. The 38th Annual Great River Folk Fest has an outstanding line up, and we change as we grow, like sharing our first Mix before the fest. Dar Williams starts our fest on Friday, and as of the first post of this mix her people haven't talked to our people, but oh feast on the fest of the rest. Willy Porter an outstanding instrumentalist who will leave your eyes tearing from envy and laughter. Claudia Schmidt, proving a folky person can be dragged into social media with her tremendous wit and energy. Barbara Jean the winner of the Big Top Songwriter Contest and such a charmer with a banjo and fiddle. SHEL an incredible 4 pc sister group from Fort Collins who have their own Noisetrade site. Our mix includes a rare unreleased track of Moonshine Hill. Don Harvey of Ultrasonics and his great songwriting... love his Technology Blues. Finally the wonderful groove of the gypsy band Harmonious Wail. They too have an unique Noisetrade page; look them up. Ok one more... Mike Munson is playing a Blues workshop during the day and has contributed a great original blues song to the mix.

And finally... Lori and I have gotten out on dates a few times this year.  We went to Lanesbero MN to bike ride, and we were lucky to get SHEL into LaCrosse when they had an open date on a trip to BlissFest in upper Michigan.  I took a lousy picture, but someone got some great videos when the hit the imfamous Cafe Carpe in Fort Atkinson.  Here they are playing "Moonshine Hil" which will be on their next cd, but it is FREE on the Mix above because of the generosity of these fine women.  My goodness, my wife Lori was sure I liked them only because they are pretty.  She was impressed, talented and most importantly to her... friendly both during the show and after.

Music Lineup - Great River Folk Fest 2013

The Great River Folk Fest will be held in La Crosse on August 23-25, on the UWL campus, this year with Dar Williams as the Friday night concert, Willy Porter as the Saturday headliner, and Claudia Schmidt as the closer on Sunday, Harmonious Wail that gypsy swing band, Barbara Jean the Big Top songwriter winner from the Twin Cities, The May North eclectic new grass sound, The Ultrasonics a new bluegrass group, and introducing SHEL a four sister act that has a fast rise in the Folk/Pop scene. It is their "On My Way" played in the background.

Great River Folk Fest 2013 Line up

Dar Williams, Willy Porter, Claudia Schmidt, The May North, Barbara Jean, Harmonious Wail, and of course my favorite SHEL!

Oh my this will be a great weekend.

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And we are now on Twitter  @GRFolkfest

Spoon River

Sometimes you get caught up in history by the love of a song, especially when it's well done. That's how the subconsicious has been since Allison Sattinger and Matt Coleman covered Michael Smith's Spoon River at my recent house concert.

I forgot that 20 years ago we saw a Viterbo College play based on the Edgar Lee Master's Spoon River Anthology, and I forgot how rich the writing was in the novel. Now I am no reader but I intend to spend some time at http://spoonriveranthology.net. Lately my writing time has dwindled to dust time, so I think I need to read and write again. I think I'm going to give up listening to music... HA... well maybe less..

Go to that site... it's cool.. this the most talked about poem written in 1915...

VERY well, you liberals,
And navigators into realms intellectual,
You sailors through heights imaginative,
Blown about by erratic currents, tumbling into air pockets,
You Margaret Fuller Slacks, Petits,
And Tennessee Claflin Shopes--
You tound with all your boasted wisdom
How hard at the last it is
To keep the soul from splitting into cellular atoms.
While we, seekers of earth's treasures
Getters and hoarders of gold,
Are self-contained, compact, harmonized,
Even to the end.

Then there is a video:


2008 RELEASE! A new look at a classic of the American heartland, which unraveled the myths about people who lived and died in the supposedly idyllic days of rural America. Director Thomas G. Smith has digitally remastered his original 1976 production, which captured Edgar Lee Masters’ lyrical realism with dramatic readings, authentic settings, and period photography. Smith's brand-new DVD adds nearly half an hour of new material exploring Masters' life and works, and includes interviews with John Hallwas, a Masters expert at the University of Western Illinois, and Hilary Masters, Edgar Lee Masters' son and a professor of English and creative writing at Carnegie-Mellon University.

In "Spoon River Anthology," Masters probed beneath life's surfaces to reveal the very human strengths and weaknesses of the people who inhabited his semi-fictional town. Smith's production, subtitled "Heartland Poetry for a New Age," shows why "Spoon River" was a major milestone in American literature - a book of poetry that was a national best-seller, and that still resonates nearly a century after its publication. DVD includes text versions of 11 poems. Click on the text version to go directly to the dramatic reading.


And if you want to hear the song covered by Allison & Matt.. email me and I'll send you the song free if you promise to go buy an Allison, Matt, or Michael Smith song on iTunes... or just go straight and buy the Michael Smith song on iTunes by Claudia Schmidt and you will have the version Allison listened to.

All of the riverboat gamblers are losing their shirts
All of the brave union soldier boys sleep in the dirt
But you know and I know there never was reason to hurt
When all of our lives were entwined to begin with
Here in Spoon River

All of the calico dresses, the gingham and lace
Are up in the attic with grandfather's derringer case
There's words whispered down in the parlor, a shadowy face
The morning is heavy with one more beginning
Here in Spoon River

Come to the dance Mary Perkins I like you right well
The union's preserved, if you listen you'll hear all the bells
There must be a heaven, God knows I've seen mostly hell
My rig is outside, come and ride through the morning
Here in Spoon River

Cut me loose

Matt Coleman & Allison Sattinger Bluff View Concert, Holmen, WI Wednesday May 27th ... email me at Dave@theroseriverband.com

Here's a little taste of what's in store with an original from Matt, ...boy... I love Allison's scatting. It reminds me a lot of Claudia Schmidt when she got in a groove.