Orange County Review inSIDEr, June 7, 2007 three minutes of music." During her sophomore year, she i Is it a joined a bluegrass band called Walker's n Run, and that same week, the band's guitar player, Brian Calhoun was quitting to pursue instrument building full time. fidfiddledle "When I met him, the guitar company S was first starting," she remembers. "He took down all his orders on a scrap piece of cardboard that he had laying around or a I his shop. And sometimes he wouldn't even use a pen; he'd just take a nail and D etch it into the cardboard. He didn't even violin?violin? do e-mail. He didn't have an email address. He was just this kind of moun- tain man," she says affectionately. ctually, in Ann Marie's case, it's Married in 2002, Brian and Ann E both. "Same instrument, just dif- Marie moved to a drafty renovated barn AAferent styles," she says of this "that had no climate control" near musical instrument that she first picked Barboursville. "So we basically saved all up at age three. "I don't even remember our money to have a down payment so r learning how to play; I was so young. we could buy the house." By now, Ann I've just felt like I've always been able to Marie was playing with play." Americana/New-grass band Old School Generally speaking, a violin is for Freight Train and teaching at classical music; a fiddle is for everything Woodberry Forest as well as directing else: country, old-time, bluegrass, jazz, the school's string program. She decided gypsy. Ann Marie Calhoun does them to leave the band because she wanted all. to teach more "and also to be at home, There's a good reason for that…her Ann Marie Calhoun on vacation with her immediate family in Hawaii. because I had just married Brian; I was parents. Her mother, a classically From left to right: her brother, Joe; her husband, Brian; her older brother, away at work and then I'd leave from trained pianist, was born in China, Richard; her mom, Theresa Chi; her dad, James Simpson; Ann Marie, and work to do more work and then I'd have exiled to Taiwan, orphaned at age eight, sister, Mary. Everyone in this picture can play one kind of instrument or a weekend where I'd leave to do touring. and emigrated to the states at 18. Little another. So I just wasn't at home." Contributed photo That was three years ago. Now, she's Hot Sauce did she know, when she bumped into banjo-pickin' "hillbilly" and documented imity to DC, I was able to train with a tuition made UVA affordable. "In retro- put the teaching on hold to concentrate descendant of Pocahontas, James fellowship with the National spect it was one of the best decisions I on her performance career, which, from Simpson at a church singles club, that Symphony." By this time, her parents made for my musical career because it the look of things, is skyrocketing on a and Little they would marry and produce a child didn't pay for her violin lessons any- wasn't conservatory. If it had been con- parallel course with Brian's hugely suc- prodigy. more; she was winning enough scholar- servatory, I would have been on a spe- cessful guitar making company. And so from the very get-go, Ann ships to cover instruction costs. cific train and path to study classical Do they ever get together musically? Marie had no problem making the cross Through the National Symphony she music." So this multi-talented multi- "Every once in awhile we'll just do Black Cats over from violin to fiddle and back took master classes from "anybody who tasker double-majored in music and something little and fun," she smiles. again. "It happened all throughout my soloed," … violinist Itzhak Perlman, cel- biology, with a pre-med option, "to keep They both play in the Arab-Appalachian nd so, Ann Marie Calhoun of life because my dad plays guitar and list, Yo-Yo Ma, pop/jazz artist, Bobby all the doors open." fusion band Kantara which just Gordonsville is sitting in an Indian banjo," she explains. "We listened to McFerrin, to name-drop just a few. The music department is small at wrapped up a mini-tour in Virginia and P restaurant in Sao Paolo, Brazil with that music all while I was growing up She even played with the National UVA. Ann Marie was allowed to create Washington, DC. A h IanA Anderson and Doane Perry of the British and I actually did a lot of fiddle contests Symphony itself "somewhere in the her own program of independent study, Asked what kind of music she listens J to, she responds cryptically, "I don't lis- rock band Jethro Tull. And they decide to i when I was younger." Her younger back," soloed at the Kennedy Center, "and got credit for pursuing different u ten to music just for fun. I know that have a "hot off"…who can stand the most l brother, by the way, is an accomplished and attended the Interlaken Academy of styles of music." She studied everything: n sounds really strange; everyone always heat in their food. "And they had these levels A guitarist. Her older brother plays bass the Arts in Michigan. But during the Indian music, bluegrass, jazz and e of hotness you could get, and 10 was the and her sister plays bluegrass fiddle. summer, that violin quickly morphed improvisation from legendary thinks that's weird. I have all these B u The Simpsons became "a loosely- into a fiddle as she and her family Charlottesville jazz guru, John d'Earth. huge holes in my musical knowledge of hottest and so he ordered an 11." 7 y , Ian Anderson…remember him?…that wild d defined family band," that played cruised the county fair fiddle contest cir- She even played in a rock band. "It gave iconic figures. People will drop a name, and it means nothing to me because I looking guy who stands on one foot and plays 2 church picnics and the like near their cuit. me exposure to all different styles of i 0 Top photo: Ann Marie Calhoun has called Gordonsville home since b home in Fairfax. When it came time to go to college, music." don't have a history with that." the flute in that signature breathy/vocalized 2003. She worked as a chemistry, and conceptual physics teacher 0 During the week, Ann Marie attend- Ann Marie made a career-defining deci- Her first time in a recording studio, Then she mentions Steve Vai, who style. And yes, he still does that, and yes, the e and string orchestra director at Woodberry Forest for five years 7 sion…NOT to go to conservatory, but to she played a commercial. "I'll never for- one of her fiddle teachers once said is band still plays their mega-hit, Aqualung, and r ed Lake Braddock High School, in the before taking a leave of absence to pursue her musical perform- much-vaunted Fairfax County School attend UVA instead. "I wanted to do get, the theme song for Cracker Barrel "the best guitar player alive." She has an yes, Ann Marie is the fiddle player in the ance career. Above, dueling fiddle and flute, Ann Marie trades t ulterior motive here. "I'm listening to his band. She recently returned home to System… "lots of good classes, lots of other things and I wanted to study sci- restaurants." She was amazed how riffs with Jethro Tull band leader, Ian Anderson. good teachers and because of its prox- ence in particular." Besides, in-state much studio time it takes "to produce music because I'm touring with him." Gordonsville from a two-week-plus tour of Top photo by Phil Audibert, bottom photo contributed Orange County Review inSIDEr, June 7, 2007 Orange County Review inSIDEr, June 7, 2007 Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Uruguay, playing to busses and North African emergency rooms. and fashion designer Kenneth Cole, who now She missed the deadline, but sent the artist's man- audiences in small arenas and large theatres virtu- So what is that wild man Ian Anderson really like, designs her wardrobe; more band photos back- ager a video of her playing three of Vai's techni- ally every night. anyway? "He's very, very normal," she insists. stage in South America. cally challenging pieces anyway. "They were all "It's exhausting because you spend more time "Everyone wants me to say he's a wild rock star, Some folks would let that stuff go to their head, really, really difficult," she shudders. She had only on airplanes than you realize and you spend too but he's very, very normal. He's really easy to get but not Ann Marie; today, she's expecting a fiddle two days to practice. "My chances are not looking much time traveling and too little time sleeping, that along with; we have good conversations about just student at 4:30. Of her students, she says, "I feel too good," she figured…"one in a million. But the it actually becomes pretty grueling." Ann Marie is any topic. He's very well-educated. We tease him very guilty about abandoning them when I go on manager showed the video to Steve Vai, and Steve folded into an easy chair in the comfy and airy liv- about being a professor, because we'll go to a new tour." called me right after and asked me to be in the ing room of her and husband Brian's two-story brick town and he'll just look out the airplane window and Does she practice every day? "I actually don't band." colonial near Gordonsville.