Volume 43 No. 3 March 2017 Ari and Mia House Concert 8pm Saturday, March 11 For more info: “Strikingly beautiful, distinctive Their all-acoustic, pure and honest http://ariandmiamusic.com and exhilarating, with expressive vo- approach has significance. Treading cals that will find a way into hearts the edges of traditional folk in a more The Suggested donation is $15 and minds” No Depression, The Jour- faithful manner, they share the lyri- but, if this is a budget breaker, donate nal of Roots Music. cal wizardry of 70’s bands Steely-Eye what you can afford. The performance Span, Tir-na-Nog, and the Incredible space is in the basement (stairs). Ari & Mia reference the styles of String Band, with searing harmony as Guests are invited to bring a snack Southern and Northeastern fiddle good as The Beach Boys. The sisters or beverage to share but that is not music and the early American song- sing in unison like two violins,” con- required. book to create a realm where their tinues No Depression on the review To reserve a seat please contact own compositions cross paths with of their most recent release, Out of Mike at [email protected] or older traditions. Their stylish and so- Stone. give him a call at 608 274-6340. phisticated music honors the sounds Together, the sisters have toured of Appalachian cottages, rural dance all across the U.S and Australia and are Mad Folk Concert Tickets floors, and urban concert halls. Com- both graduates of New England Con- When you see this symbol – ee bine this with their innovative ap- servatory. Their two previous albums, – you’ll know that you’re read- proach to songwriting and the result Land on Shore and Unruly Heart, ing about a Mad Folk sponsored is a captivating sound. ranked high on the national folk radio event. Advance tickets for Mad “Ari & Mia are not creating a new charts. Mia’s song “Across the Water,” Folk shows are available online music; they are taking it to another won the 2010 John Lennon Songwrit- at www.madfolk.org and at these level and exploring areas that have ing Contest in the folk category. outlets: not been attempted in decades. • Orange Tree Imports, 1721 Mon- roe Street • Spruce Tree Music, 851 East Johnson Purchase tickets ONLINE for Mad Folk concerts via Brown Paper Tickets (with $1.62 service charge): https://www.brownpapertickets. com/producer/10879 You can also purchase advance tickets by mail. Send a stamped self- addressed envelope with your check payable to Mad Folk, PO Box 665, Madison, WI 53701. If all else fails, call 608-846-9214 for information. Folks hosting Folk: Reflecting on six years of house concerts By Dave Wallner and Anne Katz Aren’t they so much work? How do to see if they will work in our house. Our journey down House Concert you find the performers? Aren’t you For every show we present, we have Road started on Dec. 2, 2011 when, worried about strangers walking off to turn down three or four offers to after years of pondering whether to with your silverware? Do you really let play at our house, but we always take the plunge, we hosted our first people use your bathroom? Have you send on those requests to other folks house concert on North Few Street. been busted by the police following a doing concerts in the area. We’ve Josh Harty and Sims Delaney-Pothoff neighbor’s complaint? learned that the 21st century Woody from Harmonious Wail showed up on The answers are really quite sim- Guthries traveling the back roads and a cold Friday night, the house was ple: Yes, the concerts take some work. highways of America are looking for packed, the music was great, and we We have to make a deal with an agent friendly places to make music and a were hooked. or artist and negotiate a date and few bucks to keep going. Since that first concert we’ve pre- payment terms. We have to promote It may be hard to believe, but in sented Bill Staines, Vance Gilbert, Gar- the concerts; we do that by putting a nearly 40-concert run we’ve never net Rogers, Birds of Chicago, Brother the word out to our email friends and had a problem with a drunken guest, Sun, Tim Grimm, Kim and Reggie Har- neighborhood listserves, send notices and our mismatched silverware is ris, Karen Savoca and Pete Heitzman, to the Simply Folk, WORT and Mad- just not worth taking. We’ve met lots and a collection of other great per- Folk calendars, and even hand out of friendly, neighborly people from formers. We’ve pledged to support flyers in our Tenney neighborhood. Madison and beyond. Sometimes Wisconsin musicians as well as region- We spiff up the house, move the fur- the performers stay with us and we al and national performers - Patchouli, niture around, schlep about 50 chairs have the pleasure of getting to know Mark Croft, Cris Plata, Beth Kille, The up from the basement, put the beer them as friends. The rush of getting a Stellanovas (Mary Gaines and Chris and soda on ice, and wait nervously big Thank You! from a Joe Crookston Waggoner), The Listening Party from for the crowd to show up. or Garnett Rogers, followed by a big Milwaukee, Bill Camplin, and Randy Then there’s always the question, round of applause from our guests, Sabien have all brought their musical “what if we don’t sell enough tickets makes the work worthwhile. talent to our home. We have brought to pay our musicians?” No problem So far, so good on the noise com- in familiar performers as well as taken there, as it turned out. We have sold plaints from neighbors and no vis- chances on new talent, and we’ve en- out every show but one in the past its from the police department. Our joyed every single concert. So have five years. All our proceeds go to our shows end by 10 pm and acoustic our audiences. performers. We are true believers that music never shakes our neighbors’ We are having such a good time the work they do is really important windows. that we can’t stop setting up new and they should be paid top dollar. The bottom line for us is that we concerts. This spring we are bringing Finding performers is really quite love music, we enjoy throwing a good back Brother Sun (on their final tour, easy. Once you do a couple concerts, party, and we’ve had a blast greeting sad to say) on March 5, followed by you will have artists or their agents old friends and making new ones. We Madison’s Ritt Dietz Trio on Friday, knocking at your door or filling your are big believers in building commu- April 21. Bill and Randy are returning InBox. We get requests from friends nity. What better way to do that than on June 2, and Joe Crookston and and local music lovers all the time. We hosting a house concert? Claudia Schmidt will be back later this attend lots of festivals and local con- If you are interested in learning fall. We’re working on some exciting certs, check artists’ websites and You more about our concerts, send us a additional options in the near future. Tube videos, and keep an eye on the message at [email protected] People frequently ask us questions Madison music scene. We listen care- and we’ll put you on our notification about why we do house concerts. fully to every musician we hear about list. If you are on Facebook, please consider (if you have not already) “friending” or is it “liking” this page. Then when you are on this page you can invite others to “like” this page. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Madison-Folk-Music-Society/34497984835 We Banjo 3 - Friday, March 10 - 8PM Gaelic Storm - Thursday, March 16 - 7:30PM at The Barrymore - 2090 Atwood Avenue We Banjo 3 is an award-winning band of brothers from Galway, Ire- land. They combine Irish traditional music with old-time Americana and bluegrass influences to reveal the banjo’s rich legacy and roots. Enda & Fergal Scahill and Martin & David Howley are among the most cele- brated and distinguished musicians in Ireland today. They are holders of multiple All Ireland music titles on banjo, fiddle, bodhran and guitar. Their latest album, String Theory, recently debuted at #1 on the Bill- board World Music Charts. Gaelic Storm has straddled the line between tradition and innova- tion for nearly two decades. Led by founding members Patrick Murphy and Steve Twigger, the group infuses traditional Celtic music with mod- ern influences, updating the genre for a new generation of fans raised on rock, country and folk. Along the way, the musicians have topped the Billboard World Chart four times, ap- peared in the blockbuster film “Ti- tanic” (where they performed “Irish Party in Third Class,” an unreleased song made available for the first time on Full Irish) and earned a reputation as a hard-touring, genre-bending band. Regularly playing more than 120 shows a year, Gaelic Storm has built a loyal following as diverse as the band’s own music. Fans of tradi- tional Irish music have championed the group for years, but so have fans of harder-edged Celtic rock. SHINE A LIGHT: FIELD RECORDINGS frOM THE GREAT AMERICAN RAIlrOAD - BIll BRAGG & JOE HENRY COOKING VINYL ~ 2016 word is intelligible. In fact, nowhere rie songs, the Essex-born Bragg in the course of thirteen tracks do has emerged as a prolific recorder they seem hurried, content to just of American folk music.