house concerts and 21st century touring

All Wood and Stones has been of the most talked about records at the music conferences I’ve attended in the past few years.

John Batdorf and James Lee Stanley are excellent (and busy!) performers in their own right, so it would be an achievement for this recording to be just as good as the sum of its parts. But gather up a few house concert hosts at a conference, and listen to the superlatives fly.

Can you imagine what the Rolling Stones songs would have sounded like if Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were California boys with acoustic guitars? Would Satisfaction, Ruby Tuesday, or Last Time have been as powerful if they had been played on acoustic guitars and filled with vocal harmonies?

Curious?

So were James Lee Stanley and John Batdorf, purveyors of acoustic rock music for decades. They took 11 Rolling Stones classics and turned them into something totally unheard of. You don’t have to live in California or play acoustic guitar to be enchanted by “All Wood and Stones” … an amazing collection of Rolling Stones tunes played on acoustic guitars and brimming with joyous vocal harmonies.

Have a listen, grab a copy, and email these gentlemen to inquire about their touring schedules. I think it would be easy to get your friends to come over to listen to a set of this material. Make sure I get an invite.

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Halloween fun!

We had so many fun entries to this quote contest. Unfortunately, as funny as many of them are, most neglected to account for the horrified expression of one of the audience members.

Here are just a few of the funny ones - the winning entry is at the bottom.

• “I always KILL at house concerts!!” - Doug Spears
• “The Dead? Never heard of them.” - Dan Montgomery
• “C’mon, sing along! I’m dyin’ up here!” - James Durst
• “Here’s a song from my new LIVE album” - James Durst
• “You’ve been a great audience-I wish I could take you all with me….” - Craig Carrick
• “And now for my Keith Richards impersonation…” - Ben Wilson
• “Any last requests?” - Wes Weddell

The runner up is… “The one person who didn’t contribute to the potluck gets to go home with me tonight!” - Lafe Dutton

And the winning entry came from… JP McGuire!

JP gets bragging rights and a free ConcertsInYourHome T-shirt.

Check the current newsletter for the next cartoon contest.

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Goal: getting younger acts to appreciate the roots, shining light on traditional music

Challenge: most artists more interested in participating than listening

Idea: create opportunity for artists to participate in a great new presentation of traditional songs. Main stage, 1 hour program.

FA and members:

• select 6 traditional songs to be performed (i.e. 2 old timey blues, 2 bluegrass, 2 celtic)
• select 3-5 piece ensemble for each pair of songs. (including soloists)
• select 4-6 vocalists for each song

Very inclusive - many participants with minimal setup.

• each vocalist gets to sing a verse and ensemble the chorus
• each instrumentalist gets a short solo in their pair of songs
• Each song lasts 4-6 minutes (avoid overkill, but allow room to stretch)

SELECTION PROCESS

1. To be considered for performance, or help select participants, you must be registered for the conference by January 1.
2. Artists submit their name and instrument online
3. Voting page created - Registered FA Members vote.

Results announced promoted by January 15th.. allows 1 month to select song key and get charts etc…

Benefits:

• well attended event (many people take part in voting or onstage) placing emphasis on a core value of fa
• encourages early registration of participants and voters
• showcases many artists
• help bridge the gap between old and new
• transparent voting keeps it from feeling like “insider only” event (i.e. americana awards)
• getting some of the most popular/talented artists of FA to embrace or at least educate themselves on traditional music.

Anyone have comments? Any suggestions to improve the idea?

Either way, I’ll see you there! — fran

Join us onboard Cayamo!

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