Read no. 12

Greetings!

I thought summer was going to be so relaxing! So muchtime to do so many things. Not hardly, to use bluegrassgrammar. I recently finished up an English literature coursewhere I learned that it’s not only bluegrass songs that featuredead mothers. The literature we were studying, called “sentimental fiction,” is full of dead mothers! And these bookswere written by women! Always looking for that bluegrassconnection, I did a paper on “Dead Mothers in SentimentalFiction,” which I started off with a quote from Bill Monroe’s“Mother’s Not Dead, She’s Only A-Sleeping.” I think theremay well be some connection between these 19th-centurysentimental novels and bluegrass, but that research will haveto wait for another lifetime!

IBMA: WIB To Pick at FanFest

I am still trying to round up professional women pickersfor the Women in Bluegrass segment of FanFest, Saturday,October 18. Please let me know ASAP if you are going to bethere and would like to play. This is not going to be a jamsession, but will feature different groups of women playingtogether. Call me, toll-free, at 1-800-227-2357 if you wantto be a part of this.

Also, at the IBMA Trade Show this year, there will be anhour-long organized gathering of Women in Bluegrass,Wednesday, October 15, in the Collins Room of the GaltHouse in Louisville, Ky., from 7-8 p.m. This informalgathering will provide an opportunity for us to meet and greeteach other, network, arrange late-night picking sessions,share information, and even jam if we want to. Women inBluegrass is co-sponsoring the event along with the IBMA.Soft drinks and coffee will be provided. You do not have tosubscribe to this newsletter to participate. All bluegrasswomen are WELCOME! Spread the word!

Rose Maddox Biography

One of the things I enjoyed doing this summer wasreading Ramblin 'Rose: The Life and Career of Rose Maddoxby Jonny Whiteside. While Rose Maddox was not a

bluegrassperformer, she did cut one dynamite bluegrass album, RoseMaddox Sings Bluegrass, in 1962. Whiteside says that this“groundbreaking album” was “the very first bluegrass long-player recorded by a woman.” Bill Monroe and Reno andSmiley and

their band backed Rose on this album. Notmentioned by Whiteside is the fact that, on the second day ofrecording, Donna Stoneman substituted for Monroe, playingmandolin, singing, and doing an outstanding job. This albumhas recently been made available on CD, and I highlyrecommend it. I also highly recommend this biography,which is extremely well written and a pleasure to read. WhileWhiteside’s research is meticulous, his presentation neverbecomes tedious.

In 1933,when Rose wasseven, her motherand father, withfive kids ages fiveto seventeen intow, left Alabama and startedwalking to California. Theyprobably wouldhave walked thewhole way, but inMississippi theyfound out abouthopping freights.With the help ofsympathetic (andI’m sure incredulous) brakemenand conductors, they completed their trip this way, riding therails and staying in hobo camps. Can you imagine? It wasRose’s mother, Lula, who spearheaded this move. As thebook documents, Lula was an incredibly controlling womanwho ruled Rose and the Maddox Brothers with an iron fist.If you think you have problems with your mother, you shouldmeet Lula. After four tough years of picking fruit and cottonand almost starving, brother Fred decided they should playmusic for a living and wrangled them a job on the radio. ThusRose began her illustrious career at the ripe old age of eleven.She never looked back.

When Rose became a mother herself, she was faced withthe child care issue big time, for the band often played sevennights a week. Divorced from her husband, and with her ownmother traveling with the band, Rose made the decision to puther only child, Donnie, in a military school when he was onlyin first grade.

Through all the changes the country music industry madefrom the thirties to the nineties, Rose Maddox has hung inand has kept doing what she does best: singing her heart outand entertaining. I was fortunate to see her in 1995 inBerryville, Va., at the Watermelon Park Bluegrass fiasco.Still a no-nonsense woman, she chewed out one of her pickupband members on stage for kicking off a song wrong! Whew!Whiteside does not gloss over the bad parts of Rose’s life, butpresents her as a real human being, flaws and all. Anoutstanding job on an outstanding woman. I consider thisbook required reading for wibbers. Available at your localbookstore, although you may have to order it. Happyreading!

—Murphy Henry

Spotlight on…The Schankman Twins

“Totally talking at the same time.”

Dana and Lauren Schankman (b. 1979), from Calabasas,California, near Los Angeles, hit the national bluegrass scenein 1994, when they came to the IBMA Trade Show andFanFest and played banjo and fiddle on the kids’ stage witha pickup band. How could anyone not notice them? Identicalteenage twins with long blonde hair, their wide-eyed innocence almost defied belief. It still does. They were back thenext year, playing on stage at FanFest in the all-female jam.In 1996, they showcased with a full band and did a wonderfuljob. Other folks must have liked them, too, because theirnames started appearing in festival ads such as Winterhawk,Windgap, Rocky Grass, and Gettysburg. After Winterhawkthis year, the talk on the bluegrass-l was that the Schankmanswere no longer a novelty act: these ladies could pick! Theirfirst recording, Duality, released in 1996, testified to that.One of their songs, Waterbound, found it’s way on to theBluegrass Unlimited s National Survey where it has comfortably resided for eleven months.

My favorite Schankman Twins story involves one of thesongs they were performing, Chris Stuart’s Cajun-flavored Thibodeaux. The twins had a great rendition, except for thewords. These they had learned from hearing Claire Lynchsing it on the radio. I wish I could remember exactly what theywere singing, for it was a delightful attempt by these youngCalifornians to make sense of words like “Thibodeaux,”“fais-do-do,” and “Pontchartrain.” Who would have evernoticed that they got some of them wrong? Chris Stuart, that’swho. He heard Dana and Lauren rehearsing this song beforegoing on stage at Windgap in 1995. I can’t begin to describehis reaction. He tried to teach them the correct words beforetheir performance, but that was a lost cause. You all knowhow hard it is to change words when you’re used to singingthem a certain way. The twins were gutsy, though. Theyhopped right up on stage and sang that song right in front ofChris, wrong words and all. The crowd loved it! And I’m sureChris didn’t mind when they put the song (with the correctwords) on their CD.

When I interviewed the twins in 1996 at FanFest inOwensboro, Ky., I found that they were not your typicalteenagers. They were both sweet, talkative, open, and unwilling to trash anyone. However, they are typical teens in the waythey talk (like, Valley Girl to the max, which I had to edit forreadability) and in what they think is important. So, don’tlook for any philosophical musings on what it means to beyoung women in bluegrass or how hard it is to claw your wayto the top. Although they take their music seriously, to themit’s still fun, fun, fun. And we hope that their daddy nevertakes their T-bird away. Or their instruments, either.

[Note: This interview took place in my van. Dana was inthe front seat with me, so I think that’s why she ended updoing most of the talking. Or maybe banjo players are justmore aggressive!]

My idea for this interview is a long-term project. I wasthinking we’d get a baseline here for you, and then we'llfollow you for the next forty years and see where you are inyour careers. [Laughter from the twins.] Because here youare, two young women, doing really well in bluegrass, and Iknow there are going to be so many stumbling blocks andother choices you can make, and I'll be curious to know howit turns out. Twins: Thank you.

Let's go over just a little bit of the history. Dana startedplaying the banjo first. Dana: Actually, my dad, he was never into bluegrass. Wegot our whole family into it. Most people think it’s theopposite, that the parents force the kids into it, but it’s not thatway in our family. My dad had a banjo he bought when he wasin college. Lauren (from the backseat): He didn't know what theinstrument was.

Dana: He knew what it was. Anyway, he just decided tobuy it. He got a good price, so he bought the banjo. So, twentyyears later I was cleaning out the garage with my mom, andI just stumbled across it. I was, I think, eleven years old, andI just LOVED the sound. I just loved it the second I heard it.Actually, before I played the banjo, I remember I heard thistape of Donald Duck and Goofy, we had a Partners album withMickey Mouse, and we heard Donald Duck and Goofysinging Dueling Banjos. When I played that banjo for the firsttime, I like totally thought of that. It was like “Ohmygod, justlike on the Goofy album!” So, I just decided I have to play,and I started picking it up and playing every day. And peoplestarted telling us, if you like it so much there’s a contest youcould enter and stuff like that. So I started taking lessons withBill Knopf. He taught me how to play. We found out about thebluegrass festivals from the contests. I started entering thesecontests for the banjo. And I just had the best time enteringthem. And, you know, Lauren here, she came to see me...

Lauren (talking on top of Dana, as usual): Once I saw shewas having such an excellent time entering contests and stuff,I just had to learn something, too.

Dana: So that’s how I actually found out that there’s moreinstruments in this music, and that it [the banjo] actuallybelongs to a music. We didn’t even know that. About a year later, I was winning all these contests and she’s like,“Ohmygod, you’re not the only one

who can do this.” Shedidn’t pick up the banjo like I did, she wanted somethingdifferent. That’d be scary if we both played the banjo. So, sheliked the fiddle out of all the instruments that we saw at thefestivals, so she started playing the fiddle. Which also goesgood with the banjo. And she started entering the contests andI guess from there we just started...

And you were about twelve or thirteen?

Dana: Yeah. And, I don’t know, we just started playingtogether. It just kinda happened. She played the fiddle and I playedthe banjo. Then we started singing songs. Bluegrass songs.Actually the first time we everplayed together on stage, like asa duo, we thought, “Why don’twe enter a band contest?” Andwe went up as a duo and we gotthird! [Laughs.]

How many bands werethere? Three?

Dana: What? In the contest? Oh, no. A lot.

That was a joke.

Dana and Lauren together:

Oh. [Then laughing.] Jammingtill 6:30 [a.m.] is hard.

This is your third year atIBMA. right? So you've beendoing the band thing how long? Dana: I think that’s more like two years for the band.We’re kinda new. It’s fun. We love it. We just love playing.

And your CD was released sometime this year. [1996.]

Dana: We just found out our song got on the charts theother day.

Which one?

Dana: Waterbound. So we’re like, “Ohmygod.”

How long did it take to record all the stuff?

Dana: It was really spread out because we’re in school,you know, and you have to book time in the studio...

Lauren: The studio was booked up a lot, and we’d haveto get, like, time one day on Wednesday and...

Dana: There were times when we’d have to go in twohours, and then we'd have to wait two weeks to go in again.That kind of thing. So, it took a while.

Now, y all are seniors, right? [Yeah.] What about otherkids and the music... Dana: Oh, we’ve gotten a lot of kids into it. People didn’teven know what it was. They knew what a banjo was, but I toldthem I play the banjo and they go “Oh, can you play OldMacDonald?" So, I was like, “No-no-no. It’s not that kindof band.” So they hear us play. They don’t think it’s hickmusic or anything ’cause they saw us playing it. They’re like,“Ohmygod, it’s cool music,” you know? We hope we showother young people that it’s not Old MacDonald and haystraw..

Lauren: Hay STRAW?

Now, before you took these instruments up, did you playother musical instruments? Dana: I didn’t, but Laurenwas playing the piano before Iwas playing the banjo. Shewrote a couple of songs on thepiano and stuff because mymom, she used to be a pianist.She used to work for WarnerBrothers. That was before wewere born.

She was a concert pianist?

Dana and Lauren: Staffcomposer for Warner Brothers.

Dana: But she didn’t getLauren into playing the piano.Because once we were born, shejust stopped.

What do you do about yourschooling?

Lauren: Our school has apolicy for kids that leave a lot and...

Dana: And our teachers have been great with it.

What are your short-term goals? Are you going tocollege?

Dana: Yeah, we’re gonna go to college. But we’re goingto arrange our schedule so we can keep playing. We want tokeep doing that.

Do you think you can do this and get married and havekids too? Does it ever cross your mind?

Lauren: It’s so far in the future...

Dana: I think it might work out. Yeah. People getmarried. [Laughs.]

Yeah, but your mom got married and she quit playing. Shegave up her job. Dana: Yeah, that’s true. I guess twins are a big job for amom. I don’t think I would give it up, though. I’d bring thekids with me.

Are there a lot of women out in California playing?

Dana: More and more every year. They’re picking up, notjust the bass, but they’re playing banjo and guitar andeverything. There are more women than there were even,like, three years ago when we just got into it.

You can tell a difference?

Dana: Yeah. Like even these new bands coming up, yousee women in them. It’s not just four guys playing. It’s mixedor even all women.

Just out of curiosity, when you were auditioning peoplefor your band, were any women auditioned?

Dana: Yeah, there was one. One bass player. And shelived kinda far away. But that was it. We asked names andstuff, and we haven’t gotten any women’s names. There'restill not many, you know? So it’s kinda hard.

How do you decide on your material? Are you both co-bosses of the band?

Dana: Yeah, I think we’re equal, even though I am threeminutes older.

Where do your boyfriends fit into your lives?

Dana: Oh, boyfriends? [Laughs.] It’s hard to explain.We’ve got, like, a bunch of them at our school. But we’re gonea lot so we don’t have, like, a steady boyfriend. It’s more ofa group thing. Like, for example, at lunch in our school, sincewe’re seniors now, we can all go out. It’s SO COOL. That’swhat I like about being a senior. This year we can actuallyleave for lunch, and it’s kinda like all the seniors go out, andthey all decide, “Oh, we’ll all go to Taco Bell today, or let’sail go to McDonald’s today.” So it’s really cool to have, like,all your friends and everyone right there.

But do people actually date out there? [Yeah, they do.]Well, because of your travel schedule, is that a part of yourlives?

Dana: Yeah, it is. It doesn’t make us like not-normalteenagers. We’re still normal teenagers, we still go out and doall that stuff.

But when do you have time for it?

Dana: Well, during the week. It’s hard to explain. Youhave to be there.

Lauren: Everything works out very well.

Dana: It works out well. You still do things and everything. For example, we were getting more and more bookingsevery year. So, like ninth grade, we were in school much morethan we were in tenth grade, and tenth grade more than wewere in eleventh grade, and this year we’re gonna be gone somuch we’re not even gonna be there!

Now, does your mom handle your bookings?

Dana: Basically, yeah.

So, she's really represents another aspect of being awoman in bluegrass. Dana: She’s kind of in the background because she’s noton stage with us, but she kind of brings everything together.She’s the mother, she’s the manager, she’s the boss, she’s themoney person. She handles all the plane tickets, the bookings.She kind of ties it all in a knot and keeps it together.

So your dad doesn’t really do that.

Dana: See, we have two other kids in the family. Mybrother Michael and another sister who is in the tenth grade.Alison was never really into the music. She’s more into beinga

teenager, school, going out with friends. She enjoys goingto the festivals as a spectator. So, dad has to stay with Alisonand Michael.

Do you think Alison didn’t get into it because it would betoo competitive with you? Lauren: No, I don’t think that’s the reason. She just likesother things. I think it’s interesting that your mom does serve asmanager and booking agent because that's an area that a lotof women weren’t into until recently. [The prominent exception is LouiseScruggs.] And yourmom's a real hustler. I guess two orthree years ago, nota lot of people, especially on the EastCoast, had heard ofyou. And now.through her efforts... Dana: Both ofour parents are verysupportive and that’sa good thing. If yourparents aren’t supportive, it’s kind of hard to play, especiallyif you don’t drive yet. So, Lauren, who did you take fiddle from?

Lauren: I used to take from Phil Salazar.

Wow! Y’all are not still taking lessons, are you?

Dana: We kinda just like do our own thing now. Listento tapes, listen to other live bands. That’s a big inspiration,too, listening to live bands. We listen to them and go “Wow!Oh, that’s so cool, the way they’re doing it.” And you learnso much at something like IBMA by jamming with everybody, because jamming is like one of the best ways to learnalso. So, if anyone wants to get started they should really getinto jam sessions. Do you find that y'all have been pretty well accepted allalong in jam sessions? Or was there any gender bias whenyou were first learning?

Lauren: We don’t really have that problem.

Dana: There’s always those few people that say stuff like,“Boy, she plays good for a girl.” So, you gotta expect that.That’s always gonna happen, or right now it’s always gonnahappen.

Do you always go together when you're jamming?

Dana: Most of the time, yeah. She hangs out with me allthe time. What can I say? She follows me everywhere. We likejamming together, if she's not there, I'll jam by myself witha group.

Who are some of your favorite banjo players?

Dana: Definitely Ralph Stanley. But I like a big, broadrange. I like Bela Fleck, too. From Ralph Stanley to BelaFleck. I listen to all banjo players in every band I can. Becauseyou learn from them.

What about on the fiddle, Lauren?

Lauren: Oh, god, there’s so many good fiddlers. StuartDuncan, Mark O’Connor. Aubrey Haynie...There’s so many.

It's just so hard for me to believe that everything has beensuch sweetness and light. Don’t you have any bad stories? Orunpleasant experiences?

Lauren: We’ve never really had an unpleasant experience in bluegrass.

Dana: I know. We’ve never really had a bad experience.There was one time when we were about to go on stage rightafter the Johnson Mountain Boys, and that was nerve wracking just by itself and that was like the first year we ever playedat a festival. Lauren: And the second we got on stage...

Dana: And the second we got on stage...

Lauren: ...a big bolt of lightning...

Dana: ...a big crash of lightning...

Lauren: ...and it started raining really hard...

Dana: ...the rain pelted down so hard and people ran forcover and we were like, “Ohmygod, was it something I said?”That wasn’t exactly terrible, but the first time you get up onstage to play and it starts raining and everybody runs...

Do you think any of your acceptance has come becauseyou're young, you're cute, and you're twins? If you had beentwo sisters who were not twins, do you think you would havegotten as far as fast?

Dana: Oh, I can’t say. I have no idea. That’s up to thepeople. You can never tell that. All we can say is that we trythe best we can, we play and we sing, and we just do what wecan do and that’s that! I guess it’s up to everybody what theythink. I don’t know. [Giggles.]

Do you do much local work out in your area?

Dana: Well, there’s not a lot in L.A. for bluegrass. I meanyou could say festivals in California are local. So, if there’ssomething, like, in San Diego, that’s local. And how far is that from L.A.?

Dana: About three hours. [Laughing.] We played therelast weekend.

What do you do for a band out there?

Dana: They came.

Did they fly?

Dana: Yeah. Actually they came to California last weekend and from California we flew out here.

How are Alison and Michael with you and your mombeing gone so much?

Dana: They do come a lot. Like when we’re on the EastCoast for the summer, school’s over so the whole family comesout and they come out for the festivals. But during the schoolyear, Alison, sometimes she comes and sometimes she doesn’t.If she wants to come, she’ll come. It’s not like she’s a jealoussister who sits in the comer and goes, “I’ll get them one day.”Sometimes she says, “Well, now let’s do something for me.”And we do. We say, “Let’s have an Alison day.”

I like to play music so much it's hard for me to understandhow she could have this available to her and not want to takeup an instrument.

Dana: I know! Yeah! I’ll say, “Alison, don’t you want toplay?” and she’s like, “Yeah, but I have to do my schoolwork, and I don’t have time.” She’s just not into it. She listensto rock, and she’s just a normal teenager. She likes going tothe mall and...I mean we do too, we go to the mall too...

I know, but you like this better because...

Dana: Right, this is what we enjoy. We like doing this.You know like, she likes going to the mall. We like playing.

So how does practice time work into all this?

Dana: That’s a problem! [Laughing.] That’s the onlyproblem, I have to say. Honestly. We have so much schoolwork, and I have physics and history and all these classes, andI brought my school bags along, but I didn’t even do it yet!

Lauren: Didn’t even open it up.

Dana: And I have a whole week of work.

What are you going to do? You’re going from here downto Atlanta.

Dana: I don’t know. And from there we have to go toArizona.

Lauren: I think I’m just going to do it on the plane.

Dana: It’s like, I don’t know how Casey does it. I meanwe do good in school. We’ve been in honors and everything.We’ve been gone much more than we were in ninth and tenthgrade, so eleventh grade was more difficult to keep up thegrades. And twelfth grade is going to be even harder.

But how about missing the school activities that go on likeprom or football games? Lauren: We don’t really miss a lot of the football games.

Dana: See, those are during the week, and we’re usuallygone during weekends. If we do just take off a week or so,that’s one week out of a whole year.

I guess it appears that you are gone a whole lot.

Dana: Well, we are. That’s the thing. We’re thereenough. Like if we’re playing, even if it’s far away likeFlorida, we won’t take off the entire week to go there. Lauren: More like two or three days.

Dana [Laughing.]: You’d still be there Monday. That’sgood enough. The only thing is we have to find a way to fitin doing the school work. Even when we are home, it’s hardto find time to practice. But when you get home, you havehours of school work, and plus that you have to practice. It’slike “oh, no,” you know.

Do you try to get in a certain amount of time to play?

Dana: That’s the most difficult thing out of this wholething. Finding time to actually practice and rehearse or findnew material or anything like that because the school work—there’s so much in twelfth grade.

Lauren: It takes up so much of your time.

Dana: And sometimes I just wanna say, “Maybe I’ll skipmy homework tonight.” But, I can’t do that. And then onweekends, we’re gone playing. That’s the only problem. Do you have a pretty busy schedule already booked fornext summer?

Lauren: We gotta lot of gigs out of the showcase, whichwas good.

When you go off to college, your mom will have to bookyou from afar—she’ll be in California.

Dana: Actually, we were thinking of moving since wewere going to college anyway, and my mom does all thatbooking stuff...We lived in California our whole life. That's where you were born, right?

Dana: Actually, not us. We were bom in New York, andwhen we were about a month old, we moved.

Are your parents from California?

Dana: No, both our parents are from New York.

Why did they move to California?

Dana: Our father found a job a long time ago. And wewere also on Young and the Restless. That was filmed there.[Laughing.]

So that was true? What you said in your showcase—thatyou were on the Young and the Restless. I remember thinking,"Oh, they’re kidding. ”

Dana: Yeah, it’s true. [Laughing.] We played the sameperson. We played Paul, the blonde guy’s daughter.

How long did you do that?

Dana: Like two and a half years. Something like that.

So what ages were you when you were doing that?

Dana: About three or four.

So, this hectic lifestyle is not really new. It’s not like youhad this conventional life style till you discovered the banjoand all of a sudden things got crazy. By the way, I liked in yourshowcase where you did that talking together. I don’t knowif that was planned or not...

Twins (immediately and together): No! It was not plannedat all.

Lauren: That always happens.

Dana: That's like what she does all the time. She’stalking totally at the same time as me.

I think that’s a good piece of business for your show.

Dana: Oh, really?

It’s very different.

Lauren: It’s like, when people ask us a question, simultaneously we'll say “Oh, yeah, we’ve done that before.” Thesame phrasing, at the same time. Seriously, we do that all thetime. It’s actually embarrassing.

Dana: Sometimes when we’re announcing a song, she’llannounce it, and at the same time I’ll say something about thesong, and it's actually weird. It’s, like, sometimes I look at herlike, “Lauren, how do you do that? How did you know whatI was going to say?” But that happens all the time.

"Another year has come and gone now ’’ since we did thisinterview, and we understand that Dana and Lauren will beattending UCLA this fall. We wish them all the best and hopethat they never let life interfere with bluegrass! WIB

Alan O'Bryant talks about Blackbirds and Crows:

Why Would He Tell the StoryIf He Didn't Want to Get Caught?

By Claire Levine

Last summer, Murphy Henry shared with WIB readers hertreatise on Dead Mother Songs, an intriguing musical genrethat is a sub-set of Dead Female Songs. Murphy wondered atthe abundance of women’s corpses that litter the lyrics ofbluegrass. One of the songs she mentioned was Blackbirds andCrows, written by Don Humphries and performed by theNashville Bluegrass Band on the Unleashed CD. In this song,Eva is offed by her husband for thinking she might have moreinteresting things to do than hang out on the farm. Thinkagain, Eva. Now, Eva lies under the com fields, and “No oneknows who put her there but the blackbirds and the crows.”And, of course, her loving spouse.

As murder songs go, it’s pretty subtle, sparing us thegrotesque details of the murder and Eva’s heart-wrenchingpleas for mercy. But for sheer cold-bloodedness, it is in a classby itself. I challenge anyone to match the line, “I whisperedlow into Eva’s ear, ‘Eva, you're gonna die’.” Yikes!

Perhaps some of my fascination with the song has to dowith the voice that sings it, a voice I associate with heartfeltgospel and the sweetest and saddest of ballads. Oh yeah—andthe occasional howling hound imitation. On Blackbirds andCrows, Alan O’Bryant adopts the persona of a sociopath.And, as with everything else he does, he does it very well.

After months of thinking about this song (well, I didn’tactually think about it, it haunted me...I would wake up in themorning with those grisly words going through my head),

Ithought I’d like to know more about this song. Specifically,how do the performers feel about it? Are they trying to tell ussomething, or is it just another song? Despite a difficult travel schedule, including a long tourof Brazil, Alan agreed to answer a series of questions via e-mail. The following are his responses to my questions. To getin the proper mood, I suggest you turn out all the lights, putBlackbirds and Crows on the CD player, and listen closely.

How did you become familiar with the song Blackbirdsand Crows?

This song was included in a tape of songs pitched to meby the writer.

What was it that appealed to you about the song?

Actually, the first thing was the title, but after I listenedto it a couple of times, I realized that the way it was writtendrew me in and caused me to ask questions about the story (didhe actually say that or was it just implied?) and promptedquestions in my own mind much like you’ve asked me here.

Did you have any qualms about recording it?

Yes, I soul searched for a while and asked many differentpeople their take and reaction to the song and specificallyquestioned the gender issue and specifically asked womenfor their reactions.

How did you feel singing it? When you sing are youthinking about the words or are you thinking more aboutintonation and dynamics?

In the case of this song, I try to put myself in theperspective of a storyteller. The delivery on this one I believeis best done with not-too-serious inflection and matter-of-fact monotone, slightly tongue in cheek but not flippant.After all, there is a blood-curdling aspect to this story. I trynot to give it away too soon as to dampen the shock but notlose the impact.

What has the response been to it—and is there adifference between the genders as to their responses?

I continue to be confounded by the reaction to this song.First of all, the strongest reaction has been from women andthey really like it and most requests for this song come fromwomen. There have been no negative reactions from men orwomen.

Do you think that this song reflects the values of certainsegments of society (that women are "possessions " or thatmurdering a woman is less of a crime than murdering a man),or do you think this is simply telling a story of one man’sinsanity? I think that, like many of my favorite songs of this type,it is multi-level and speaks to all these issues, and saysdifferent things to different listeners

What do you see as the value in telling this kind of story?Or is it just a song? This is a thought-provoking song which I believe causesone to examine these issues and their reality in the world welive in thereby providing the opportunity to think throughthese issues and deal with reaction to emotions from therational perspective of a listener. Hopefully, this can help aperson deal with his or her own reactions when caught up insimilar emotion-driven situations. (O’Banyon theory #27.)

I always felt the guy singing the song was pretty proud ofwhat he had gotten away with. What do you think is goingon in the head of Eva's husband?

He’s nuts! And he screwed up. His happy home iswrecked, and why would he tell the story if he didn’t wantto get caught?

The only other song I know by Don Humphries is EliRenfro. [Who "killed his wife / With a long sharp bowieknife."] Does he write about subjects other than gruesomemurders? What can you tell us about him?

I think Don is brilliant in his ability to tell stories thatcompel people to listen and think. He does go for shock valueand is not constrained by musical, poetic, social, political, orany other convention. I think he’s a damn good singer, too.

How do you find most of your material? What do you lookfor in choosing songs? We get most of our material from writers. We look forlyrics with meat and songs that communicate on as manylevels as possible and try to convey emotion.

Anything else?

I'm glad folks like this song and see it for what it is. I am,however, always mindful of how this comes across, and myattitude here becomes very important. I am not trying tooffend anyone, but I think there’s a danger in trying too hardnot to offend. People can

think for themselves, and it’s a graveinjustice to underestimate them. I feel a large responsibilityin my privilege to sing and play in front of folks, and it is atight rope.

SINGLE AGAIN

By Nancy Pate

The breakup of a band can be very sad, especially whenyour principal playing partner moves to the opposite coast,taking her sound system with her. Louisa Branscomb andBorn G____ had lasted six years in various configurations,which is a pretty good run for a bluegrass band. (Hey, Louisa!How’s Port Townsend?) In the last issue of WIB I documentedsome of the frustrations I’m facing booking myself as a single.Now I want to share some of the peculiarities of these gigs.

Without a sound system you are very limited in the typesof dates you can play. Though investment in a sound systemmay be somewhere in my future, it’s not the

foreseeablefuture. I’ve played unamplified for some preschool groups,just me and my guitar, but the acoustics of a daycare center,either inside or on the playground, are not conducive toentertainment without a microphone. It may have somethingto do with the activity level of the audience, but it is very easyto start pushing the sound out, thus straining your voice.

Then I discovered the coffeehouse attached to Border'sBooks and Music. The store books musicians for Saturdaynights and Sunday afternoons, and sound is provided! Thepay may be minimal, and there is only one microphone, buta tip jar and tape sales are permitted. I had the foresight toask about tape sales before my first gig there, but didn’t thinkabout a tip jar. The “event manager” for the store asked meif I wanted to use one just before my first set, and thenprovided a small coffeepot, hardly visible to the audience. Onmy next date, I came prepared with a huge glass jar and a“Tips” sign. What a difference in the take!

The store’s sound system worked well, always a point ofsome anxiety when you’re using equipment with which youaren’t familiar. I have a boomy D-28, but even for the smallperformance space of the coffeehouse, I missed having itmiked. So, for my second gig I borrowed a guitar pick-upfrom a friend. My first pick-up, and what a difference it made!Yes, I was a virgin of the plugged-in sound, but I confess thatI liked it. I would probably prefer a microphone to work inand out of, because I’m more used to that, but the pick-up gaveme good carrying power. It did bother my hand placement alittle, more in my head than any real physical difference.

The thought occurred to me that without my prior bandexperience just setting up and running that sound by myselfwould have been a huge challenge. When I walked into thecoffeehouse, the equipment was on stage, but nothing wasconnected. I went straight to work, unrolling cords, hookingthe speakers to the board, hooking up the microphone, andsetting the levels as best I could. (Setting the EQ myself mademe very uncomfortable; I don’t have an ear yet for highs,mids, and lows.) The event manager told me later that thestore has personnel on staff who can assist with setting up thesound. I’m glad I didn't have to take the time to find someonewho could help. So much for the sound—onto the joys of the show! It wasfun making up my own set list, singing songs I liked,including more songs that I had written. But, oh, I missed theharmonizing. I missed the other instruments covering up thesound of a flubbed chord. I missed the drive of the band, thepower of the band, and, yes, the total feeling of “cool,”walking in with a bunch of people carrying instruments, that,“Hey, I’m with the band” feeling. Walking in by yourself justdoes not have the same cachet. Maybe I should invest in anexpensive pair of sunglasses rather than a sound system. What about audience response, you ask? Pretty good, Ithink. I sold some tapes, always a comforting sign. NaturallyI had rallied family and friends for support, and they turnedout in fine style. I even sent out a mailing for the second gig,where a couple of my sisters joined me on stage for a fewsongs, partly to save my voice which was still recovering fromstrep throat, and partly because I like performing with them.But I’m ready to explore the singles scene a little further. I’vegot that stage fever in my blood. I still plan on being in a bandagain and on the road, maybe by the time I’m fifty, when mythen-teenage children turn me out of the house— “please goplay music in some town where nobody knows us.” I’ve gota band name all picked out, but feel free to borrow it for thenext ten years. The Hot Flashes—can’t you just see it on afestival flyer, coming to a campground near you!

Ratifications—Winterhawk!

By Casey Henry

This year I decided to go north for the entire Winterhawkexperience. I drove up, camped Wednesday through Mondayand thoroughly enjoyed myself. I was a little leery of makingthe seven-hour drive entirely by myself (neither of my parentsaccompanied me!) so my friends the Howards—Lisa Kay,Shelly, Frank, and Judy—kindly let me follow them up andcamp with them. That was all hunky-dory. We left Winchester at 11:00 P.M.! Tuesday night (us, crazy?), and arrived justin time to sit in line at the bottom of the hill for four hoursbefore they opened the gates at noon. I was number 192. Thefirst people

in line had actually been camped there since July4th. This was July 16th. They are way crazier than we are.

It would be impossible to include all of the wonderfulexperiences I had, even if this article was seven pages long,so I’ll just focus on one. I did surprisingly little picking thatweekend but the one event I did participate in probably ruinedme for all average picking. I’ve recently become acquaintedwith Rickie Simpkins, the prodigious fiddle player whom Iam sure you are all familiar with. He was scheduled to do afiddle workshop with Jon Glik, the fiddler who RonnieMcCoury named his tune “Baltimore Jonny” after. Rickiethought two fiddles was rather sparse instrumentation, so heinvited me to “pick a tune” with them. Turned out I pickedall the tunes with them, which was perfectly fine with me.

We started off with "Temperance Reel.” I would nothave known the tune except for the fact that Rickie recordedit on his new album “Dancing on the Fingerboard,” whichI’ve been listening to constantly since I got it. It is a good songfor banjo backup, a skill that I don’t get to practice too often.I stumbled through O.K., though it was difficult to play andlisten to someone as startlingly good as Jon Glik at the sametime. I kept having to tell myself that the roll is the mostimportant thing. Just keep the roll going, it doesn’t have to befancy.

We primarily picked a bunch of different tunes, most ofwhich I knew, thank goodness. They fielded a few questions,but it was pretty clear that they are players rather thanteachers, which is not necessarily a bad thing. They’ve beenplaying so long that they probably can’t even remember whenthey couldn’t play. Their answers to questions like: “Whendo you switch bow directions other than when you run out ofbow?” and “Do you ever play more than one note at a time?”amounted to, “Whenever you feel like it,” something that abeginner is not informed enough to judge. But I’m not a fiddleplayer so I just kept my mouth shut.

They did let me pick a banjo tune: “Salt Creek.” I wasgratified when a man came up to me after the workshop andasked me how I did my high break. We ended with “Cattlein the Cane,” another tune from “Dancing on the Fingerboard.” I knew how the tune went but had never tried to playit before. The A part I got pretty well, two chords A and G (inthe key of A). The B part really threw me for a loop. I foundout later that the chords are A minor and C but had no cluewhile I was playing it. I knew that I had developed my fakingskills to an advanced level when Rickie said that he couldn’ttell I didn’t know the chords. Being able to fake it thatwell is almost as good as really being able to play it. [Editor’s note: Does this remind anyone else of the movieWhen Harry Met Sally?]

Book Review: Bluegrass and Time Travel

Carry Me Back, by Laura Watt, is a new novel withbluegrass as its theme. You know there aren’t many of those,so when one comes along, especially one that is well writtenand not embarrassing to read, I am always pleased. While thisbook is not about women in bluegrass (as Come and Go, MollySnow was), it was written by a woman in bluegrass. Laura,whom I’ve met through email—StellinGal—is a banjo player!A writer by trade, Laura grew up listening to the Beatles andJoni Mitchell with a little Doc Watson thrown in on the side.Then she got hooked on Flatt and Scruggs and “kept goingfarther and farther back till I was listening to the Carter Familyand Uncle Dave Macon and early string bands.” Ah, yes. Theold familiar pattern. Although she had played guitar since ageten, she was drawn to the sound of the banjo and “just had tolearn it.” Now she picks a Stelling Bellflower. Laura has neverbeen in a band, but she held a regular jam at her house for fouryears. That’s pretty dedicated!

Laura’s book centers around a male banjo player who goesback in time to 1951 to play with Hank Williams. (You can seethat this plot demanded a male protagonist.) He meets EarlScruggs and plays Groundspeed for him before Earl haswritten it! The book is light and entertaining and makes youthink about how it was to play music back in the old days. Pickup a copy and enjoy. WIB