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6/21/10
Howdy Folks,
Once again it is time for the next installment of my Banjo Blog or as I
like to call it, Letters from Home.
Well, summer is definitely upon us. Record high temps not to mention the
heat index of way over 110º with huge thunderstorms one after another
rolling across the entire Midwest. It is a wonder that we survive these
extremes and yet we keep rolling along.
We have decided through the thick and thin, the good times and bad, it’s
the tunes that are the medicine we need to push on. The tunes are what
keep us a goin’.
The Fiddler’s Picnic in Alton was big fun and a great success. We played
tunes non-stop all day Saturday and Sunday with lots of musicians
joining in. There is even a short video clip of the scene which you can
view here: Check my my other videos
at
http://www.banjobilly.net/videos.htm
Presently, I am in Champaign, IL playing lots of tunes with my partners
Paul and Christine Breen. We are now calling ourselves The Old Time
Players. They have even prompted me to sing a few times, we're having
fun now! Oh boy!
This week, we are off to Battleground, IN for the
Annual Fiddler’s Gathering. I am working on some new things;
video clips, new tunes and of course a new recording in the works.
A new web release coming up pretty quick as well, so visit the
website for new developments.
For the 500 Tunes Fiddle project,
the tune count is now at 349 tunes! We will also begin translating
the tunes to standard notation for the upcoming book.
The continuing pursuit of happiness is happiness itself.
Don’t forget to be thoughtful of those around you and be thankful they
are there in the first place.
The most worthwhile investment you can make is in the future potential
of those you love; they are truly your greatest asset.
More later, Billy
May 9th
2010
Happy Mothers Day
It is time again for another installment of my blog or as I like to call
it, Letters from Home. I was and still am very fortunate to have such a
wonderful mother. She has been gone now for many years, but even at my
age when odd questions arise, I find myself thinking, “Now what would my
mother say?” and consider what she might have thought. So fortunately,
she is still there to advise me when necessary and for that I am
grateful.
We had a great time fiddling and carrying on in Mountain View at the
Arkansas Folk Festival. The weather cooperated for once, which is nice.
The Festival this year was smaller, attendance was down quite a bit. The
stage in front of the courthouse had a great lineup of Old Time Fiddlers
going on all day Saturday. Thanks to the tireless efforts of Martin
Darrell who helped organize this year’s event. Also, thanks to the
Chamber of Commerce and all you good folks in Mountain View for making
this year’s Festival a special one indeed!
My long time fiddling buddy Suzi Vause and I played our Annual Arts Fest
in Springfield, MO. We set up on Historic Walnut Street with over 100
art vendors and of course the doggie parade and throngs of fair goers.
Lots of fiddling excitement with the addition of Sonja Areal Swiss Miss
from Switzerland and her new found love of American Old Time Fiddle
Tunes.
Coming up next, we all meet at Alton, IL on Memorial Day weekend for the
Old Time Fiddlers’ Picnic where we celebrate over 200 years of
fiddling on the Mississippi. For more information about this event,
click on the link to
www.folkjam.org.
Not too many people know this, but it was actually Thomas Jefferson who
started this whole business by sending Lewis and Clark on the expedition
across the frontier which employed two fiddlers, Pierre Cruzatte (see
photo above) and George Gibson. We find it quite fitting to continue the
fiddling tradition that started so long ago.
I’ll be in Arkansas next week working on recording more tunes for the
collection. Once again, I want to take this opportunity to thank all of
you for your support in the 500 Fiddle Tunes project, your patronage is
much appreciated. If it wasn’t for you, it wouldn’t happen!
Well, it is time to finish up now and get on with the business of the
day. So, tune in again for the next letter home and the continuing story
of the life and times of Fiddlin’ Banjo Billy. It is a way for me
to keep in touch with you and continue our ongoing conversation
about some things we have in common. Come and visit
www.banjobilly.net anytime, we
are always open 24/7. There is always something going on around here.
Oh, I would also like to send out a big hello to Trudie Cook, “the best
baby-sitter a little boy could ever have” Love you always. Got to go,
see you again in Alton.
Like my mother would say “Any thing worth doing is worth doing well.”
Later, Billy
April 4, 2010
Howdy Folks!
Happy Easter 2010! Well another month has gone by
and once again its time for another installment of my blog, or as I like
to call them “letters from home”. I was never that good at writing
letters, so I guess this is my chance to hone whatever literary skills I
might have. My mother would send us boys (me and my brother) off to camp
when we were young. I was maybe 8 or 9, my brother a couple of years
older. Anyhow, mother would send us off with self addressed, stamped
post cards so that we could write home from camp, all the news. She’d
put us on the bus and say, “Now, don’t forget to write, I’ll be waiting
to hear from you!”
Now last year if you remember, from my blog, we waited for spring so
long and hard that it hurt! This year, spring happened so fast that it
was almost a surprise. So on we go.
I am just now getting ready to pack up and heard
for the
Arkansas Folk Festival on the square in Mountain View—Always the 3rd
full weekend in April. So, I am once again looking forward to that for
the 34th time. Lots of folks, fun and fiddlin’.
I have had lots of great input about my 500
Fiddle Tunes Project. I have begun work on the next 100 and hope to
have it available by summer. If any of you people who have read this
have any comments, questions or thoughts, you can always email my
website for may address and send me a letter from your home. Regular
mail still works, as far as I know.
I think I finally figured out why the accumulation of wisdom is so
important! You’re supposed to use it to stay out of trouble when you get
old. As my mother used to say, “As long as you’re awake, you might as
well pay attention.”
That’s all I got for now. Happy Spring! Keep Fiddlin’
Later Billy
Howdy,
Well, Old Man Winter has finally let go his grip on us folks here in the
Ozarks and the promise of spring is renewed once more.
Coming up this month, I will be traveling again back across the
Mississippi River to Champaign and Urbana, Illinois from my annual Early
Spring Fiddling Workshop that I present at a place called
TechLine (right
close to the U of I campus).
Fiddle Workshop is March 14th
I will also put on a small 2 hour concert on Saturday March 13th
at
Strawberry Fields
(a small acoustic venue). Saturday night (March 13th), I will be LIVE on
WEFT Community Radio
Station to play an old time music show with my long time friend,
Uncle John Coleman. You folks can get this show online –LIVE From 7 to
8pm. So, check it out and I’ll see you on the radio!
The folks in Champaign-Urbana have quite an established Old Time Music
Community, they dance twice a month and have a weekly Old Time Jam. I
have been going there for over 6 years now and I always feel right at
home. Illinois is one of the few places that is steeped in the Old Time
Fiddling Tradition. Their heritage runs deep and is well preserved. More
and more players are showing up all the time, even the kids are doing
it!
The shadows are growing longer and the sun has gone over the mountain.
It gets dark just a little earlier down here in the holler. I’ll have to
light a couple of lamps to be able to see long enough to finish writing
this. Supper is on, got to go.
Keep Fiddlin’
Stay in Touch
Billy
Seasons Greetings!
Well, here we go for another year. It’s January and I am holed up in
Reeds Spring.
Got 7 inches of snow still on the ground. Last week was deathly cold
with temperatures down to -10° and then add the wind blowing at about 20
mph. Weather not even fit for a dog outside! Pretty slow to go this
year. Many unexpected events took place in 2009 and the only degree of
satisfaction that I can glean from it was I was not alone in my plight.
2009 could have been worse, I guess.
Fortunately, I survived and hopefully, we will see some improvement in
2010.
Some good news: The 3rd Volume of my
500 Tune Collection collection is now available in a new up-graded format. All 3
discs are now in 1 compact box. They are selling well and I am already
ordering up some more to try to keep up. I have received lots of
favorable input from project patrons who are making progress learning
many of the tunes. I have just begun work on Volume 4 and that should be
ready by summertime.
Meanwhile, I have to run off to St. Louis and play for the
Child
Grove Country Dancers, something I have been doing now for over 16 years.
And then, on my way to the
7th Annual Fiddle Workshop at the Inn at
Mountain View, Arkansas.
Hope to see you soon!
Keep a tune in your heard and a tune in your heart. Also keep a tune in
your pocket, cuz the last thing we need is to run out of tunes.
Later,
Billy
Original Poem by Banjo Billy Mathews
This is about many instruments that I made that have re-appeared in my life in the last few years.
A reunion of sorts between me and my banjos.
Ode to The Banjo
9/26/06
Oh where, oh where do my lovely children wander?
So long away, so far from home.
What a joy, your return after all these years.
A lifetime in the hands of a minstrel boy.
All will finally find a place and roam no more.
Let the music serve the redemption of your soul.
Touch as many hears as possible, lovingly with patience and care.
The wandering minstrel back to the fold once more.
The ancestors will be pleased with a heavy sigh of relief,
In anticipation of renewed affirmation of all we hold dear.
Greetings,
There is a cool breeze blowing up here on the mountain this evening which for sure means that fall is here. I finished off my summer with a great workshop at the Inn in Mountain View, Arkansas. My musical cohort, Colin Blair, and I put on a medley of workshops for 2 days; Guitar, Mandolin, Banjo and Fiddle. We had about 30 people from many places; Little Rock, Dallas, St. Louis. It was a huge success and we hope to offer this event again in August 2009. The specific dates will be on my schedule.
I am looking forward to going back to Urbana, IL for a couple of gigs and a Fiddle Workshop. Our annual workshop is the first full weekend in March in Champaign, IL. There are plenty of good players over there and more of them turning up all the time!
We are now taking orders for the next installment of my 500 Fiddle Tunes Collection. The Tune Tally is 201. This offering should be ready to go by November 1st. I want to sincerely thank all of you folks for your continued interest and patronage in my 500 Tunes Project-- I couldn't do it without you!
Well, I will be going back out on the trail to the Annual Bean Festival in Mountain View where they cook up a 1/2 ton of beans to feed all the visitors right there on the Court House Square.
And then on to the Raven Center for the Arts in Elsinore, MO for the Annual Old Time Music Weekend.
I will be in Springfield, MO playing a dance Presented by the Traditional Dance and Music Society. If you can make it, come and see me before I wrap up my season of 2008.
This year has really been a roller coaster ride---- Tornadoes, Floods, Hurricanes and even earthquakes right here in the Lower Midwest!
So hopefully, going in to the Holiday Season we can hope for some calm and peace. If I had any advice to give at present, it would be to:
"Have Faith, Press On, and always carry a tune in your Heart."
Peace Out,
Banjo Billy
Howdy!
Well spring has finally here and that means summer is just around the corner and at this juncture, I can safely say, from what I have seen this year in particular is , that Old Time Music in America, is alive and well. Many of the young folk are picking up a banjo or a fiddle and hopefully are beginning a life long love affair with traditional American Roots music. The kind of music that once made this country strong and self determined. As the old folks steeped in the aural tradition, we are more than happy to see new and vigorous interest in the old tunes.
We all had a big time at the Ozark Folk Festival in Mountain View, Arkansas. Lots of old and familiar faces and many wonderful memories of festivals past, tunes played, and history shared. A lot of things change but the music is getting better all the time.
I also traveled north to the Annual Community Folk Festival in Gays Mills, Wisconsin. I had not been there for the last 5 years and had forgotten how much I missed going. The festival is on Mother's Day weekend and is one of the few prime examples of a community that preserves and perpetuates American Traditional Old time Music and Dance. I highly recommend this event. For more info: www.gaysmills.org
I also wanted to mention our new event: A Medley of Old Time Music Workshops coming up on August 15th and 16th held at the Inn at Mountain View. Colin Blair (from St. Charles, MO) and I will team up once again, to host workshops for:
Backup Guitar
Mandolin
Fiddle
Interpretive Clawhammer Banjo
The spaces for these workshops are filling fast and time is running out! Registration ends on July 1.
For more information or to register:
Phone: (800)-535-1301
Email:
theinnatmountainview@gmail.com
This set of workshops are interactive; besides teaching the tunes, we
will be playing together each night in supervised jams. Also, I
want to mention to our mandolin players that many a great bluegrass
careers have been launched with just a few fiddle tunes.
Once again, I am out of time and space. Sound familiar?
Peace,
Banjo Billy
Howdy! Well, I thought I was finished talkin' about the weather for awhile, but I guess its never ending. March came in like a lion with a big 12 inch
snowfall, but the crocus and daffodils didn't mind a bit. So we are finally moving on. Spring has finally "sprung" and we have leaped ahead so hopefully everything else will even out.
I just got back from a Fiddle Workshop and concert in Champaign, Illinois. It was a great time with great people. We did a tag team marathon with guitar mandolin, banjo and fiddle workshops. This time I had a lot of help from my musical cohort, Colin Blair from St. Charles, Missouri.
Special Thanks go out to Paul and Christine Breen for the use of their wonderful facility at the Green Street Studio in Champaign and their superb hosting of this event. We are already making plans for next year./
I am still working on the second group of 100 tunes and hope to have them "ready to go" by the end of May.
Colin Blair and I will put on our annual concert at the Mountain Music Shoppe on the 10th of April in Shawnee Mission, Kansas.
Then, I will be on my way to the Arkansas Folk Festival in Mountain View, Arkansas-- where I have been a prominent figure on the Courthouse Square for the past 32 years. The festival was started by Jimmy Driftwood of Timbo, Arkansas in 1963. It is the annual coming out spring music party, after the cold doldrums of winter, the hill folks venture down to town for a weekend of pickin' and grinnin' on the Courthouse Square.
Besides the local hill folks, there is usually several thousand other people who make the pilgrimage from all over the the U.S.A. The generosity of the folks in Mountain View is beyond compare. They open up the town and throw out the red carpet for all to enjoy. So, if you are looking to get out and about his spring, join us on the Square in Mountain View for pickin' and grinnin'. We'll make room for everybody. I'm a headin' for the hills, see you there!
Banjo Billy
Volume 1 - The First 100 Tunes Available For Pre-Order
February 15, 2008
In order to finance the project to release the entire 500 Fiddle Tunes , I am offering a special PRE-ORDER of the first 100 Tunes in a signed Limited Edition for only $35.00 (that's $0.35 per tune!).
There are only 20 numbered copies, so get yours today! The CD should be ready for shipping early Spring 2008.
The 2nd Phase of the 500 Tunes Project is the completion of a Book of Musical Notation that will accompany all 500 Tunes. The Book of Notation will also include other essential information about each tune.
If you are interested in contributing to the project or want to know more, please email: contact@banjobilly.net.
Contributors / Sponsors of the project will be recognized in the Book of Musical Notation upon its release following the completion of the 500 Tunes Project. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Waiting for Spring
February 2008
Howdy Friends and Neighbors! Welcome once again to my virtual homestead. You are (as always) invited to come and visit anytime and stay for as long as you like. We have been having a wild time with the weather here this winter. We had tornadoes in January, more tornadoes in February and the 3rd ice storm in progress as we speak. For those of you who don't get ice storms, its when Mother Nature lays down 2 or 3 inches of ice that covers everything on the woodland, hills and hollers. It's just Mother Nature's way of pruning all the trees in the forest and apparently, she ain't done yet!
Now here in the Ozarks, we generally still go by the signs of nature. The official Groundhog predicted 6 more weeks of winter, but instead of taking his word for it, I checked with my groundhog that lives under my shed out back. I stomped around his den and yelled in there to see if he would wake up and come out, but apparently he's still sleepin', so no luck there. Did I mention that we're waiting for Spring?
Seems like we are always waiting for something; waiting for spring, waiting for summer and then waiting for summer to be over, wait your turn, wait in line. Just now, I put some water in a pot on the stove to boil so guess I'll have to wait to make the coffee. Did I mention that we're waiting for Spring?
I have been working on my 500 fiddle tune archive and I am pleased to announce that the First 100 Tunes have been recorded and are now available and for sale here at the homestead. I am now working on the 2nd installment of 100 more tunes, they should be available by Spring, when ever that is.. April or May.
Since this is a work in progress, it could be a while before the whole project is completed, 500 tunes on CD and the book of musical notation plus other valuable information about the tunes. So, there is still a lot of work to be done. I would like to mention that any of you folks that help out with a purchase of any CD's of the project will get their name and hometown printed in the book listed as: Project Patrons. I appreciate any and all support, I hope there are some tunes that you can use. Did I mention that we're waiting for Spring?
I asked a neighbor lady here recently what she thought about the weather this winter, she said, "The weather's been a might particular here just lately."
I asked, "don't you mean peculiar?
She said, " Well yes, like I was a' sayin', I don't know whether to put on my coat or take off my shoes!"
I always say, plan for the worst and hope for the best, but we also have to wait and try to be patient and see what develops. The coffee water is boiling, I got to go. See you next time. Did I mention that we're waiting for Spring?
Best Wishes,
Banjo Billy Mathews
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Happy New Year 2008
January 1, 2008
Luckily at this point in my life, I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to finally post my new offerings on this site and post more information about my travels and new projects. My mission, of course, is to preserve and promote our great American tradition of Old Time Music, specifically Old Time Fiddling.
Before I get started on new things, I would like to thank all the folks who have visited this site, which includes all the folks who have ordered recordings, books and T-shirts. I would also like to thank all the people who have helped me with production and infrastructure costs, scheduling, logistics and tech support, because without them , none of this would be possible. So, once again.... THANK YOU!
We are hoping to have may more things to offer in 2008. More workshops, concerts and recordings are presently in the works.
This past summer, I started my new project which is recording a collection of my first 500 tunes. I am hoping to release 5 triple discs (15 CD's in all)of my first 500 tunes with a book of musical notation to accompany the recordings. The idea is to present a reasonable rendition of the tune; not too fast, pretty much straight up with very little ornamentation, which will be very helpful for many people who, like me, learn by ear.
So, I am embarking on yet another artistic adventure of epic proportions to truly find out how many tunes I really do know.
So, I guess we will find out!
Happy New Year 2008!
Banjo Billy