Fiddlers! 14 at The Roxbury Arts Group
The Roxbury Arts Group’s Fiddlers! has become one of the best loved events in the Catskills.
On Sunday, October 7, Fiddlers! 14 will bring one of the most diverse groups of traditional fiddlers and musicians ever. From Irish through bluegrass, there will be a full day of great music, good food, an open mike and jam session, and a culminating square 12 noon to 10 pm. There will also be free horse-driven coach tours of Roxbury available throughout the day. This annual event is sponsored by The Margaretville Telephone Company and The New York State Council on the Arts’ Folk Prgram. $14-adults, $10 seniors/students, $5 12 and under. All the fun takes place in The Hilt Kelly Hall on Vega Mountain Road, rain or shine.
Come early for non-stop music from this year's line up of a diverse and superb group of talent. It includes: The Lime Hollow Boys with rollicking bluegrass; Randal Bays, one of the greatest Irish fiddlers playing today; Genticorum, a trio who exemplify the Canadian tradition at its best; Brad Leftwich and Linda Higginbotham, the acme of Appalachian musicians; and of course our own Hilt and Stella Kelly and the Sidekicks. Call (607) 326-7908 for information and directions.
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| Brad Leftwich & Linda Higginbotham |
Brad Leftwich is one of the foremost old-time musicians in the United States. His music is a direct link to the traditions of the southern Applalachian and Ozark mountains. He grew up hearing the old-time music of his father, grandfather and great-uncle and learned from many of the last great traditional musicians from the turn of the 20th Century. In 1973, at the age of 20, he met the man who became his most influential mentor, the legendary fiddler Tommy Jarrell of Mount Airy, North Carolina. For the next two decades Brad continued to seek out and learn from musicians in the Appalachians as well as in his native Oklahoma, the Ozarks and the Midwest. A noted fiddler, banjo player and singer, Brad has won the fiddle contest at the prestigious Appalachian String Band Music Festival in Clifftop, West Virginia, and his fiddling has been acclaimed by critics in magazines as diverse as Billboard and Bluegrass Unlimited. He tours internationally and has performed at venues from the White House to the Philadelphia Folk Festival. He now resides in Bloomington, Indiana, with his wife and musical companion, Linda Higginbotham. Over the years he has played with a variety of bands, including Plank Road, Leftwich & Higginbotham, the Humdingers, and Tom, Brad & Alice.
Linda Higginbotham comes from a family of musicians, entertainers and colorful characters with roots deep in the pioneer heritage of Indiana and Arkansas. She learned to play guitar from her father, a Tin Pan Alley songwriter, and was introduced to old-time music as a teenager in New York through a chance meeting with Miles Krassen, one of the early seminal figures of the old-time music revival. She moved to Bloomington, Ind. in the early seventies and became active in starting an old-time music and dance community which continues to this day. It was there she married Brad Leftwich and began playing clawhammer banjo and banjo uke. Sharing a love of authentic traditional music, they spent countless hours visiting older musicians in the Appalachians and Ozarks, as well as performing and teaching throughout the 1980s as Leftwich & Higginbotham and in the 1990s with the Humdingers. After a ten-year retirement, she is again appearing with her now well-known husband.
The name, The Lime Hollow Boys™, comes from an actual location at the junction of the townships of Potsdam, Madrid, and Norfolk, NY. This, the original Lime Hollow, is the site of an abandoned limestone quarry and primitive reduction kiln. The band, like many great folk bands, is made up of working men who have been friends for a long time and consists of Ray Gardner, bass and vocals, Floyd Sherman, fiddle, Johnny Wolfe - Guitar, Vocals, Chromatic Harmonicas, Trumpet, Banjo & Dance Caller. The band has played some prestigious venues, including multiple shows at the 2004, 2005 and 2006 NY State Fair, shows in 2003, 2004 and 2006 at the North American Fiddlers' Hall of Fame, and regular performances at the popular Norwood, NY Village Green Concert Series. In 2005 and 2006 the band was chosen to showcase at the Country Music Association’s Acoustic Stage in Nashville Tennessee.
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| Randal Bays |
Among the many Americans who play Irish fiddle, Randal
Bays is one of the few to find serious acceptance and respect for his music
in Ireland. His 2005 release, “House to House” (with Roger Landes)
was selected by the Irish Times as one of the top five traditional recordings
of the year, and the Cork Examiner called him "a rare beast, a master
of both the fiddle and the guitar.” Randal describes his music this
way: “The
real heart and soul of Irish music is the small
session in a house or pub, just a few players gathered together for some
tunes and fun. You start to play, and the next thing you know, the sun is
coming up. That’s the feeling I try to recreate in my concerts.”
Bays
has performed all over the U.S., Europe and Canada, including appearances
at major festivals such as the Gaelic Roots Festival in Boston, the San Francisco
Celtic Music and Arts Festival, the Festival Des Musiques-Vivantes in France,
the Willie Clancy Summer School and Festival in Ireland, Catskills Irish
Arts Week in New York, the Swannanoa Gathering in Asheville, North Carolina,
Augusta Heritage Week in Elkins, West Virginia, the Friday Harbor Irish Music
Camp, the Alaska Irish Music Festival, California's Sebastopol Festival and
many more. Randal has recorded or performed with many great musicians, including
James Kelly, John Williams, Daithi Sproule, James Keane, Martin Hayes, and
Tony McManus. Randal is a co-founder of the Friday Harbor Irish Music Camp
in Friday Harbor, Washington, and is also an album producer and composer
who’s created original scores for several award-winning films and documentaries.
Randal now lives near
Seattle, Washington.
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| Genticorum |
Genticorum are fast becoming one of the most sought-after proponents of Québécois musical culture, firmly rooted in the soil of their native land.The energetic and original traditional 'power trio' also incorporates the dynamism of today's North American and European folk cultures in their music. Genticorum conists of Alexandre de Grosbois-Garand, wooden flute, electric bass, vocals; Yann Falquet, guitar, Jew’s harp, vocals; and Pascal Gemme, fiddle, feet, vocals.Weaving wooden flute, fiddle, acoustic guitar, jaw harp, bass and foot percussion with strong vocal harmonies, they offer a blend of traditional songs and tunes as well as original compositions. Their distinctive sound, sense of humor and stage presence make them a supreme crowd pleaser. Since their debut in 2000, Genticorum has forged a solid place for itself on the folk and world music circuit, playing festivals, concerts and dances.Their album 'Malins Plaisirs' (2005, Roues et Archets/Fusion III) won the Canadian Folk Music Award 2005 in the "Best Ensemble" category and was nominated for JUNO (Canada) and Felix (Québec) Awards in 2006.Their recent success in England, Scotland, Scandinavia, Germany, Malaysia, Israel, Egypt, Australia and New Zealand forecast a sparkling international career for these slightly naughty 'bons vivants'.
And what would Fiddlers! be without Hilt Kelly and the Sidekicks? The obvious answer is, it wouldn’t exist . When Hilton Kelly was 5 1/2 years old, his parents purchased a tin fiddle for him for Christmas. He'd been wanting to play the fiddle, but his father's instrument was too big for him to handle. He quickly began playing tunes on that tin fiddle ( which he still owns). His father, Carson Kelly was a fiddler and square dance caller, as well as his grandfather, Ward Kelly. From the age of 12, Hilt began playing for school dances and house parties. In 1978, the State Council of the Arts decided that old-time fiddling and square dancing should be brought back. Hilt and quite a few other fiddlers were invited to Cooperstown and asked to bring it back and promote it in the areas where they lived. Now, his four piece band that includes his wife,Stella, on piano, Don Strausser, lead guitar, and Don Irwin, guitarist, vocalist and caller, has become a fixture in the cultural and social life of the Catskills. In October 1994, The Roxbury Arts Group dedicated the Hall in the newly renovated building to Hilt and In July of 1997, he was inducted into the North American Fiddlers Hall of Fame in Oceola, New York.