Volume 39 No. 10 October 2013 Peter Mulvey - Bike Tour Concert Rolls through The Brink Oct 6th Join us in welcoming Peter Mulvey to Peter is a native of Wisconsin, how- our MadFolk stage on Sunday, October 6, ever, spent a good amount of his time in 2013 at the Brink Lounge at 7:00. Peter Boston and both in the U.S. and over- will make a stop in Madison as part of his seas, he has been back in Wisconsin for 7th bike tour, this year hitting 7 cities be- several years now. He has been touring tween Michigan and Wisconsin. Making for over 20 years and currently 15 albums the ride with him in Wisconsin, and open- he has put out. ing for him will be Brianna Lane. When we talk bike tour, he is literally riding his I love this description from the Boston bike from town to town, with a trailer be- Globe “Gleefully mercurial...equal parts hind him with instrument and cds. breezy jazz and If you are not familiar with Peter Mul- whispery folk. His voice feels like fine vey, then you need to come to this show. old leather, and his guitar sounds like it’s I have been told by several folks on sev- on steroids...a superb technician with a eral occasions, wow, I have not seen him fondness for ignoring the rules...a genre- before, he is great! Then the next time I defying traditionalist — a knuckleballer see Peter in town, there are those same with finger-picks” folks each year, so come check out Peter Opening for Peter is Brainna Lane, and in no time you will be a veteran of Pe- if you have seen Peter play during any ter Mulvey shows. of his bike tour stops in Madison, you most likely have seen Brianna open for him. Brianna is a gifted singer/songwriter, she writes and performs on an acoustic guitar as well as a banjo and it is always a pleasure to listen to her when she hits the stage. Come join us on Saturday, October 26th as Mad Folk & the Celtic Music Association Present Skara Brae in Concert! For over 30 years, Dáithí Sproule clavinet and Donal Lunny’s bouzouki, has long been a favorite among audi- provided the driving rhythm section Mad Folk Concert Tickets ences in Madison, always coming with of the famed Bothy Band that formed When you see this symbol – ee someone new and different including soon after. It was through the concerts – you’ll know that you’re read- James Kelly, Liz Carroll, Trian, and Al- and recordings of this groundbreak- ing about a Mad Folk sponsored tan to mention but a few. On the cusp ing group that the world came to know event. Advance tickets for Mad of Celtic celebration of Samhain, a pre- and cherish the clear, sensitive vocals Folk shows are available online lude to darker days and the appear- of Mícheál and Tríona singing songs in ance of freaky characters in the streets, English and Irish, songs that became at www.madfolk.org and at these the Celtic Music Association, the Madi- the soundtrack of the new generation outlets: son Folk Music Society, and the Celtic of Irish music lovers. Cultural Center join forces to present As the new wave of Irish traditional • Orange Tree Imports, 1721 Mon- a rare performance by some rare per- music continued to surge throughout roe Street formers. the world in the following decades, an- In the late 1960s, four teenag- other supergroup, Altan, championed ers, Mícheál Ó Domhnaill, his sisters the songs and dance music of Donegal • Spruce Tree Music, 851 East Maighread and Tríona, and Dáithí and surrounding counties in the north Johnson Sproule, went off to learn Irish at of Ireland. Formed in the mid-1980s, summer school in Ranafast (Rann Dáithí Sproule soon became a regu- Purchase tickets ONLINE for Mad na Feirste), County Donegal. They lar on their tours, combining his guitar learned some Irish, they learned some and voice with the new sound from Folk concerts via Brown Paper songs, and the rest is history. The first the north developed by his old friends, Tickets: commercial recording to combine mod- Maighread Ní Mhaonaigh and Frankie https://www.brownpapertickets. ern guitar and keyboard arrangements Kennedy. com/producer/10879 with the rare repertoire of songs in Irish After spending decades perfecting You can also purchase advance Gaelic from Donegal in the north of their craft and expanding their reper- Ireland was just the beginning for this toire in combination with the finest mu- tickets by mail. Send a stamped quartet that did so much to develop sicians of Ireland and Scotland, all four self-addressed envelope with the sound of Irish traditional music members of Skara Brae finally reunited your check payable to Mad Folk, played by touring groups ever since. for two concerts, one in 1997 and again PO Box 665, Madison, WI 53701. If As members of such influential groups in 2005, to rapturous acclaim in Ireland all else fails, call 608-846-9214 for as the Bothy Band, Trian, Touchstone, and Europe. They were also the sub- Relativity, Nightnoise, Coolfin, and Al- ject of a highly regarded documentary information. tan, their voices and arrangements on the Irish language television net- on songs in Irish and in English have work. Since Mícheál's tragic death in touched audiences and inspired musi- 2006, the group has continued to tour cians around the world. but this is the first in the U.S. To hear The original band broke up in more of the contemporary recordings 1972. Mícheál continued to perfect a of Maighread and Tríona’s combined style of open-tuning guitar accompa- voices, check out Idir an Dá Solas (Be- niment (derived from the pioneers in tween the Two Lights) recorded with Pentangle) which, along with Tríona’s Donal Lunny for Green Linnet. GONE AWAY BACKWARD RObbIE FULKS at every stranger just to move the air title you might expect the trademark around” and “when I left that Brooklyn humor that Fulks exhibits in songs girl I never thought it through, she like “She Took a Lot of Pills and had silk brocade in her bedroom, and Died.” Though it shouldn’t, he’s made a job that paid for two.” “Sometimes a career out of defying expectations the Grass is Really Greener” is and categorization. Right now I equally upbeat, a toe-tapper that definitely think “sitting” is working out asserts there really is no place like pretty well for him. home. The third, “When You Get to the Bottom,” is a clever, “tear in your beer” cautionary tale featuring stunning harmony vocals from Bub and Spears. Even though the narrator is the one currently sitting Review by Kiki Schueler at the bar, he predicts that she’ll be the one hitting the titular bottom. Gone Away Backward is Robbie “Don’t think ’cause I’ve fallen, Mad Folk News is published month- Fulks’s first collection of original songs fallen I’ll remain. Time is the ly by the Madison Folk Music So- on CD since 2005’s excellent Georgia cure; the stuff that they pour just ciety, a non-profit, volunteer-led Hard. In the intervening years he helps with the pain.” Smart stuff. released a double live record (one Two public-domain fiddle tunes, society dedicated to fostering folk disc “standing” with his touring rock “Snake Chapman’s Tune” and music in the Madison area. Con- band, and the second “sitting” with “Pacific Slope,” give some of the tact us at [email protected]. a quieter bluegrass-leaning bunch), band a chance to really show off. Learnaboutconcerts,membership, sc a massive collection of songs called Gjersoe’s picking on the latter is holarships,andvolunteeropportuniti 50-Vc. Doberman (available only as worth the price of the record. es at www.madfolk.org. a download), and Happy, his eclectic For this record, four of collection of Michael Jackson covers Doberman’s standout tracks were Madison Folk Music Society Board that finally saw the light of day in 2010 re-recorded, perhaps as a favor but had been recorded years earlier. for those of us who never got The dichotomy of the live Revenge around to buying the download. predicted the direction Fulks, and “That’s Where I’m From” has the DarleneBuhler...............President,Concerts, subsequently Backward, would take. same autobiographical voice of Advertising Somewhere around the recording Georgia Hard’s title track as he 225-0710~ [email protected] of the live record he began backing contrasts growing up on a farm PegMichel….…..............................Treasurer away from the full band shows played with his current life in the suburbs, 831-1876 ~ [email protected] in beer joints (and a few nice places) observing, “A man climbs as high Tracy Comer ........Membership & Web Site across the country that had been his as he can, but his heart belongs 729-4498 ~ [email protected] bread and butter for so long. Instead where it began.” The sultry, NorbertWodke….......................…Secretary he chose to play fewer shows, stay seductive “Imogene” finds Fulks closer to home, and work with smaller slipping into something more 836-8422 ~ [email protected] ensembles, often featuring fiddle, comfortable, while “Guess I Got DedeGoldberg..............................Newsletter mandolin and sometimes a second It Wrong” is curiously languid distribution guitar. Those are the players who back in its description of the end of 246-4332 ~ [email protected] him on this record: Jenny Scheinman the affair. The fourth of the Neil Morris....................................Newsletter on fiddle, Ron Spears on mandolin, Dobermans is opening track “I’ll editor Mike Bub on banjo and bass fiddle, Trade You Money for Wine.” A 358-5855 ~ [email protected] and the remarkable Robby Gjersoe haunting, spare tune with only Meg Skinner.………................