(Last Updated December 18, 2009 )
CityFolk Opening for Carrie Newcomer on Labor Day Weekend 2009 at Bond Park, Cary
We had a wonderful time opening for Carrie and she gave a fantastic concert. She is as gracious as she is talented and we were thrilled to see how many folks were there to see this wonderful singer/songwriter. We would also like to express our gratitude to Carrie for giving us the opportunity to share the stage with her. If you were not able to attend and have not heard Carrie, by all means check out her beautiful website at http://www.carrienewcomer.com which has sound bites as well as bit of background on Carrie. She'll have a new CD coming out this coming February. Be sure to look for it. Many thanks to our friends Ken Spencer and Stuart Gordon who took the following pictures of the event!
Carrie beguiling the audience with one of the many wonderful songs she has composed! All we can say is wow!
CityFolk with our daughter Joanna sawing away on her Ned Steinberger electric upright bass!
CityFolk with Carrie. What a thrill and honor it was for us to share the stage with such a fantastic singer and songwriter.
Jane and Pete at Swannanoa Gathering July 2009
Jane and I were fortunate to be able to attend this year's Swannanoa Gathering near Asheville. We took classes from some of the most amazing singer/songwriters and guitar players in the business including the incomparable Kathy Mattea, her husband Jon Vezner, Kate Campbell, blues guitarist and songwriter Scott Ainslie, and the funk-meister, Adam Rafferty. It was a life changing experience for us. We just would like to send a heartfelt "thank you" to Kathy, Jon, Kate, Scott and all the folks at the Gathering for sharing their gifts and talents with us!
Pete and Jane with grammy-winner Kathy Mattea. Our classes with Kathy were just amazing. Her sense of service to others is inspirational.
Here's Jane with Jon Vezner, Kathy's husband and another Grammy-winning songwriter. For those of you unfamiliar with Jon, you probably have heard his songs. Perhaps the best known is "Where've You Been" sung by Kathy which won a Grammy!
Jane and I have been long-time Kate Campbell fans. She writes and sings some of the most beautiful and poignant songs you will ever hear. Her song "Crazy in Alabama" is almost an anthem to the civil rights movement. We were honored to be her opening act at the Sertoma Amphitheater in Bond Park, Cary several years ago.
Here's Pete with singer/songwriter/blues guitarist extradinaire, Scott Ainslie. Scott played some incredibly moving songs during class and in concert. Not only can Scott play the blues with conviction, he has a wonderfully powerful voice that can move an audience to tears. You "feel" Scott's songs, not just hear them!
While I was a pile of nerves backstage (Jane was as cool as a cucumber), we had the opportunity to perform at one of the Gathering's open-mic nights with the various wonderful instructors and very talented singer/songwriter attendees in the audience looking on! What an incredible experience that was! Thanks to R.L. Geyer for the photo!
CityFolk at Cary Spring Daze April 25, 2009
We had perfect weather to play outdoors at the Cary Spring Daze at Bond Park and were lucky to have our daughter Joanna play with us on her new Ned Steinberger electric upright bass! This also gave us a chance to try out our new, high tech, carbon graphite acoustic guitars. These guitars are impervious to the elements making them great instruments to play outdoors as you do not have to worry about any sun or humidity damage. Many thanks to Brian Sadler for the pictures!
Jane and Pete with our daughter Joanna on bass and her friend Maya offering support!
Jane belting one out playing her carbon graphite Composite Acoustics GX Performer.
Pete crooning with his carbon graphite Rainsong WS1000.
Joanna slappin' away on her Ned Steinberger electric upright bass!
Concert Singers of Cary "Heart Renderings" Choral Concert
We were very honored to be part of a wonderful choral performance by the chamber choir of the Concert Singers of Cary (CSC). Pete was thrilled (read that terrified) to be asked to play classical guitar accompaniment to one of the songs on the program, Rune of Hospitality. It was a indeed a thrill to play guitar along with a 35+ voice ensemble. Very unusual to have a guitar in such a large ensemble context, but a lot of fun and a totally new experience for us. Thanks to our good friend, Stuart Gordon of 2nd Stage, for the photos!
Pete deep in concentration playing classical guitar for the program's "Rune of Hospitality" piece.
Jane with the CSC Chamber Choir (she's in the second row, second from the left).
Men in Black
Pete with Bruce Emery, guitar player/teacher and author of the highly regarded Skeptical Guitarist (www.skepticalguitarist.com) series of guitar instruction books. Bruce is a local Raleigh resident and CSC member. Will the real Johnny Cash please standup!
Doyle Dykes Concert!
We were fortunate to be able to attend a Doyle Dykes concert (www.doyledykes.com) at the Raleigh Music Academy on August 11. Wow, Doyle is such a fantastic guitar player (awesome fingersylist) and showman. If you ever have a chance to see him, by all means do so! He has had a rough time of it over the past few years having a battle with cancer. But happily he is healthy and back playing better than ever! Here is a picture with me and a few of my fellow Doyle groupies! With me (from left to right) is: Stuart Gordon of local folk group 2nd Stage, me, Doyle, Jeff McLean, and Mick Wells. Mick has an amazing collection of custom Taylor guitars.
Guitar Week 2005 at Swannanoa (Warren Wilson College, Asheville)
Pete had the opportunity to spend an entire week at the Swannanoa Gathering Guitar Week at Warren Wilson College outside of Asheville attending a guitar camp with some of the luminaries of the acoustic guitar. Spending time playing and learning with such great musicians as Ed Gerhard, Pete Huttlinger (guitarist for Leann Rimes, Nashville session musician, and former lead guitarist for John Denver), grammy award winner Al Petteway, Mike Dowling, and Steve James was nothing short of an amazing experience. Check out the Swannanoa website for further details on the program. Here are some pictures of Pete with some of the Guitar Week staff:
Pete with Pete Huttlinger
Pete performing on stage with grammy award winner, Al Petteway
We had the opportunity to help out a talented luthier, musician, and friend, Alan Phelps, at his booth at Merlefest this past weekend! Alan has a local store in Cary where he builds and sells award winning mandolins and acoustic guitars. With special passes, on our off time we were able to go backstage to be with all the performers. We were privileged to see and meet some of the "who's who" of bluegrass and country. We met such artists as Vince Gill (see picture below), Russ Barenberg (guitarist on the stellar "Skip, Hop, and Wobble" CD with Edgar Meyer and Jerry Douglas), Sam Bush, Gillian Welch, Doc Watson, Patty Loveless, Mark O'Connor, Natalie MacMaster (fiddle player from Cape Breton, Canada), and Jorma Kaukonen. acoustic fingerstylist with Hot Tuna and former guitarist with the original Jefferson Airplane. Wow what a weekend of wonderful music and meeting new friends. We even got to meet John Paul Jones, the former bassist for Led Zeppelin! Yes, Led Zeppelin. Many of you may not know (including us) that John plays one mean mandolin! Even hard rockers love acoustic music!
A very special thanks to Alan for including us in this wonderful experience!
Pete and Jane with Vince Gill
John Paul Jones, former bassist of Led Zeppelin!!, with our friend Don Smith from ESP at Alan's booth at Merlefest. JPJ is one heck of a mandolin player and loves acoustic music! Who woulda thought! Very humble, nice person too.