Greetings from sweltering Brooklyn, as I sit in front of the fan, shirtless and restless, listening to Todd Snider’s Agnostic Hymns and Stoner Fables, pretty certain I don’t want to be hanging around the asphalt jungle come July and August. Good thing June is already accounted for! Read on if you like music, friends, swimming, good food, or all of the above.
Summer Camps June 9-15
Miles of Music Camp: An All-Ages Music Workshop & Retreat
I’m very excited to announce I’ll be teaching at the second annual Miles of Music Camp on Lake Winnipesaukee, NH, along with an all-star roster of dear friends and colleagues, including Kristin Andreassen, Laura Cortese, Stefan Amidon, Zara Bode, Eric Frey, Chas Justus, Dawn Landes, and Christopher Pappas. Besides offering unparalleled natural beauty and an idyllic summer hang with a great crew of staff, instructors, and campers, this one-of-a-kind, all-ages retreat brings instrumentalists, vocalists, and songwriters of all abilities together to learn and create the kind of music we all love to listen to. You get to decide the kind of week you want to have. Want to brush up on your old-time fiddle playing? Want to write some new songs and workshop them with your peers and coaches? Want private guitar lessons by the lake at sunset? Want to just get off the grid for a few days and chill out by the lake? Click these links for more info:
Those of you headed up to camp, or in the Boston area on June 8th, come to a special concert at Club Passim featuring the staff and guest instructors:
June 8
Miles of Music Pre-Camp Concert
Club Passim, 47 Palmer Street, Cambridge, MA
Details & Tickets: www.clubpassim.org
I’m also humbled, honored, and wickedly looking forward to teaching voice, guitar, and mandolin for the first time at the Mike Block String Camp in Vero Beach, Florida, alongside a great lineup of instructors including Hanneke Cassel, Joe Craven, Rushad Eggleston, Brittany Haas, Zach Brock, Lauren Rioux, Victor Lin, and of course, camp founder Mike Block. This promises to be a week of fun and learning with some of the best string players on the planet.
June 25-30
Mike Block String Camp
Vero Beach, Florida
www.mikeblockstringcamp.com New Jefferson Hamer and Tashina Clarridge Record Tracked – Pre-Order Campaign Success
In other news, my new record with Tashina Clarridge has been tracked! It was recorded in Nashville by Dave Sinko and features Tristan Clarridge (cello) and Simon Chrisman (dulcimer) of Tashina’s incredible chamber-grass ensemble The Bee Eaters! We recorded 11 songs in three days: 6 original songs, 3 traditionals, and 2 instrumental pieces. We funded the first phase of the recording with a pre-order campaign, announced on this mailing list and made possible by supporters like you! Thanks and thanks again! We still need to raise more funds to help pay for mixing, mastering, and duplication, so if you haven’t pre-ordered your copy yet via paypal (a $20 donation gets you a signed, limited-edition, advance copy mailed to your home in early June), please click the link below to support our new CD with your pre-order donation.
Upcoming JH Shows – Toad in Cambridge, Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn, more
I’ve got a couple exciting shows around New York and Boston in the next few weeks, including two with my friend and wordsmith unparalleled, Robert Sarazin Blake of Bellingham, WA. We’ll be joined by an exceptional duo- Kristin Andreassen and Rayna Gellert (of Uncle Earl fame). I’ll be debuting some brand new songs off the brand new record, missing Tashina and the Bee Eaters, but swinging for the fences nonetheless. I hope to see you there!
Tuesday, April 17
Brooklyn, NY
Jalopy Theatre
8:30 PM
$10
A night of traditional music, collected stories, and new illustrations: Anna & Elizabeth, from Southwest Virginia, with artist Katherine Fahey. Opening sets from Jan Bell, Kristin Andreassen, and Jefferson Hamer.
Tuesday, April 24
Brooklyn, NY
Pete’s Candy Store
Rayna Gellert & Kristin Andreassen 7
Jefferson Hamer 8
Robert Sarazin Blake 9
Get there early for Rayna and Kristin’s set, stay late for Robert Sarazin Blake. I’ll keep you entertained in between!
Saturday, April 28
Cambridge, MA
Club Passim
Reed Foehl
I’m excited to play guitar and sing harmonies with my talented friend Reed Foehl, from Boulder, Colorado. We’re in the middle of recording a brand new record. Come to Passim Saturday night and get a sneak preview of Reed’s incredible new songs.
Sunday, April 29
Cambridge, MA
Toad
Robert Sarazin Blake and Jefferson Hamer
I love sharing the bill with Robert. It’s been almost exactly one year since our last show at Toad together. We’re each playing our own set. Don’t miss this one.
Thanks for your love and support. You make it all possible! See you soon.
I’m writing with some exciting news. My good friend and master fiddler Tashina Clarridge and I are heading to Nashville to record a brand new studio album with legendary engineer Dave Sinko! We couldn’t possibly be any more fired up!
Tashina and I played our first show almost two years ago, and after all our tours, concerts, and teaching gigs together, we’ve finally come to the perfect time (next week) and place (Dave’s house) to record our first album. To get to work with Dave Sinko is, quite simply, a dream come true. Click here to see some of the incredible records Dave has made in his storied career.
We will be recording a mix of brand-new original and way-old traditional songs, and some hand-picked (yes, that’s a pun) instrumentals. Our friends Tristan Clarridge and Simon Chrisman from Tashina’s band The Bee Eaters will be contributing their awesome cello and hammered-dulcimer skills, and we might have a few surprise Nashville friends drop in as well.
This is an incredible opportunity, and it’s all happening next week! We’re paying for the record ourselves, and we couldn’t afford to do it without your support. Instead of a full-blown internet website funding effort like Kickstarter or PledgeMusic, we’ve decided to reach out directly to our fans (that’s you) to pre-order the record to help us meet our costs. For a $20 donation, we’ll send you a signed copy of the CD the day it’s released- we’re aiming for June 5th. The CD will show up in your mailbox months before we head out on tour. Besides getting your hands on the music as soon as possible, you’ll be making the biggest difference right now by giving Tashina and I the means to make it happen.
Please click on the button above to send us a donation via PayPal. You’ll hear back from us right away to let you know the money came through. We’ll also be in touch with everyone who gave money during and after the recording process with photos, videos, and sound clips, to keep you in the loop about the project that you helped make possible. Again, we’re asking for a $20 donation per copy of the pre-ordered CD. We encourage you to order as many copies as you like at $20 each, and if you’d like to donate anything extra to help us meet our mixing, mastering, and artwork expenses, we humbly thank you. The total amount is yours to decide using the PayPal button. In the meantime, here’s a link to us playing a version of the old-time tune “Farewell Trion” from Bainbridge Island, WA in 2011.
Again, we can’t thank you enough for helping us make this record. We promise to graciously channel your generosity and love into beautiful music, and Dave Sinko will be there to record it all, amen.
Thanks to Jeff Chu and The Plant Productions (www.theplantproductions.com), the Brooklyn Ballad Theatre debut from December 2, 2011 at Brooklyn’s Jalopy Theatre is now on-line in a six part series. Here are the videos in order:
This slide show shows some nice shots of the St. Patrick’s Day Celtic Sojourn presented by WGBH Boston and Brian O’Donovan. Eamon O’Leary and Jefferson Hamer’s rendition of the song “Come In, Come In” is used as soundtrack.
Friday, 2/24 and Saturday, 2/25, Jefferson and Tashina will be playing workshops at the 2012 Wintergrass Festival in Belleview, WA. Here’s the link to the full workshop schedule:
I’m excited to play with Eamon O’Leary (of the Murphy Beds) and some great musicians for this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Celtic Sojourn with Brian O’Donovan. Eamon and I are currently working on an album of traditonal songs, and we’ll be playing some of them at these shows.
Saturday, March 17th at 8:PM
Zeiterion Theatre, New Bedford, MA,
Saturday, March 24th at 8PM
Sanders Theatre, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA,
Tickets: $20 – $45, (WGBH member discounts apply)
Tickets on Sale Through: Sanders Theatre Box Office.
http://ofa.fas.harvard.edu/boxoffice/
Zeiterion Theatre Box Office
http://tickets.zeiterion.org/
WGBH will present the seventh annual St. Patrick’s Day Celtic Sojourn with Brian
O’Donovan in two locations again this year. Last year, the show sold out quickly at
the beautiful Sanders Theatre in Cambridge and also for the first time at the Zeiterion
Theatre in New Bedford. This year, each theatres is again slated to present the show.
For the past six years, St. Patrick’s Day Celtic Sojourn Concerts have introduced a wide
range of new and familiar musicians alike to audiences eager to celebrate the holiday in
true Irish style.
Local, regional, and national broadcasts of O’Donovan’s radio program, A Celtic
Sojourn over the past 25 years have proven extraordinarily popular. This concert follows
the format established for the burgeoning Christmas Celtic Sojourn series of concerts
which, during this past December, played to almost 10,000 people in Boston, New
Bedford, Worcester, Rockport, and Portsmouth, NH.
These March concerts, called A St. Patrick’s Day Celtic Sojourn, were first produced
in 2004 and reflect the easy, relaxed and diverse offerings of O’Donovan’s weekly
program.
Artist Line-up:
“One of the strongest, most expressive voices to have come out of
Ireland” is how the Boston Globe describes Dublin-born Susan
McKeown who will join this year’s line-up. She will be accompanied
by newcomer and rising star Michael Brunnock who recently recorded
songs for Sean Penn’s newest movie This Must be the Place.
The Bee Eaters have been turning heads and ears over the past four years and will
bring the string talents of Tristan and Tashina Clarridge and hammer-dulcimer player
extraordinaire, Simon Chrisman to the stage. Simon wowed audiences around New
England this year with his mastery of the instrument as part of A Christmas Celtic
Sojourn.
Jeremy Kittel has been called “One of the most accomplished and
gifted string players of his generation” and as part of a generation
known for innovation and excellence in roots music, that’s saying
something! His new CD, Chasing Sparks has been getting a lot of
attention from listeners to Brian’s weekly show, and so he thought of
inviting him in. Jeremy also regularly collaborates with the Bee
Eaters.
Jefferson Hamer and Dublin man, Eamon O’Leary
make up two thirds of the group, the Murphy Beds who
were part of a memorable Guest Street
Session with Brian during this past year. Jefferson
has also collaborated extensively in the past with
the Bee Eaters, and Eamonn with Susan McKeown.
Kieran Jordan, a long time Dancer Director for Christmas Celtic
Sojourn and frequent collaborator with O’Donovan, will return with a
group of hand-picked dancers to bring variety and percussive spice to
the gatherings. She will be joined by Jackie O’Riley and Kristen
Kelly. And local fiddle phenom Tina Lech will be joined by Uilleann
Piper Joey Arbata, and founding member of the band Touchstone,
Mark Roberts. add the required touch of “pure drop” playing to the
evening’s activities.
“St. Patrick’s Day – indeed the whole month of March – is a time for many in the Irish
Diaspora to celebrate roots” says Brian O’Donovan, producer and host for the concert.
“For many others, with no ethnic connection whatsoever to the country, it is a time to
explore a music and dance culture that is at once sophisticated
and accessible, while tracing its origins back hundreds, even
thousands of years. Everyone is welcome to our party on St. Patrick’s
Day!”
This will be a lively, varied and relaxed concert in two of the most delightful theatres in
the region, each hosting so many great concerts over the years.
“Last year, we sold out both Sanders and the Zeiterion and we are so much looking
forward to returning to each. (The Zeiterion also sold out quickly for the Christmas
Celtic Sojourn concert in December, so South Eastern Mass definitely supports what
we do at WGBH!) I am very excited to present the wonderful Irish musical connections
in such hallowed spaces. These theatres perfectly suit our needs and we are looking
forward to making this series of concerts a tradition in each” added O’Donovan
More information and ticket details: www.wgbh.org/celtic
Jefferson Hamer is a singer and guitarist based in Brooklyn, NY, praised as an “appealing voice” in 2011 by the New York Times. Tashina Clarridge is a Grand National Fiddle Champion, renown for her work with the new acoustic group The Bee Eaters and Grammy winners Laurie Lewis and Mark O’Connor. These two hard-traveling artists draw from a transatlantic range of influences, performing original songs, Texas-style fiddle tunes, Irish trad, long-form instrumentals, and Appalachian old-time music. These unique, yet related genres are framed by voice, fiddle, and guitar- a classic instrumentation which diminishes regional differences and accentuates the fundamental traits common to all styles of folk music.
House Concert :: Tashina Clarridge & Jefferson Hamer
When :: Fri, Feb 3, 2012 (7:30 PM Concert / 6:30 Potluck)
Where :: Inner SE Portland. Please RSVP for directions and to reserve as spot!
Cost :: Suggested donation $15.00 gen // $10 students
Contact :: Abbie Weisenbloom, (503) : 233-4945 / abbiew@froggie.com
I’m really looking forward to teaching at the Mike Block String Camp this summer! Enrollment is already half-full, so visit http://www.mikeblockstringcamp.com/ today if you’re interested. Here are the instructors for 2012:
Zach Brock - heralded as “the great bright hope for jazz violin”, Zach has a virtuosic and emotive voice that embraces many influences.
Hanneke Cassel - U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Champion, and a leading creative voice in Celtic music, The Boston Globe described her as “Exuberant and rhythmic, somehow both wild and innocent.”
Joe Craven – the “Musical Madman” will make music out of any object, strings or not! Long-time member of the legendary David Grisman Quintet, he has also performed with Stephane Grapelli and Jerry Garcia.
Rushad Eggleston - The Sneth Goblin is a Grammy-nominated cellist fluent in many folk genres, and the inventor of some of his own. If you want your mind blown, check out his power-rock trio, Tornado Rider, in which he also "sings" and "dances".
Brittany Haas – Fiddle player in the wildly popular Crooked Still, an Alternative-Bluegrass band based in Boston, Brittany also plays Appalachian mountain music better than it was ever meant to be played.
Jefferson Hamer - Offering vocal, guitar, and mandolin classes, Jefferson is a folk-rocker if there ever was one. In addition to developing his own personal songwriting, he is deeply rooted in the traditional song of America and the British Isles.
Victor Lin – a versatile Jazz pianist, violinist, and bassist, this musical prodigy received a Doctorate in Jazz Education at Columbia University, where he still teaches.
Lauren Rioux - Past President of Maine ASTA, and ground-breaking teacher combining Classical Music and Old-time fiddle styles, she also tours with the Republic of Strings.
Mike Block –Multi-genre cellist, composer, educator, and Juilliard graduate who has toured regularly with Yo-Yo Ma, Mark O’Connor, and Darol Anger.
Anais and I spent a few days in Nashville last week with producer Gary Paczosa. We recorded seven of our Child ballads live in the studio. The session went great and we can’t wait to mix and release the record. For those interested, the songs we recorded are:
Sir Patrick Spens
Willie’s Lady
Willie of Winsbury
Geordie
Tam Lin
Riddles Wisely Expounded
Clyde Waters
Here’s a shot of us singing the ballads last Fall, taken at Mike and Ruthy’s Folk City at the Cornelia St. Cafe by Gordon Nash.
On Friday, December 2nd, the Brooklyn Ballad Theatre makes its debut performance at Jalopy in Red Hook, Brooklyn, presenting an hour-long musical revue on the life and ladies of Willie, ubiquitous leading man of the traditional ballads of the British Isles. This show will feature an original script based on new adaptations of folk songs, and an extended cast of New York musicians swapping vocal, instrumental, and acting duties. Expect tales of lust, witchcraft, mistaken identity, virgin birth, Oedipal drama, florid Arcadian pastorals, and more. Music will include traditional folk, western saloon, bluegrass, jazz, rock, and show tunes. Costumes and props will be made from God-knows-what. See you there!
Starring Matt Diffee, Jefferson Hamer, Betsy Plum, Stephanie Coleman, Erik Deutsch, Hannah Read, Ben Davis, Maeve Gilchrist, Kristin Andreassen, Rachel Ries, Justin Keller, Sara Heaton, Liz Hanley, Cleek Schrey, Jake Tilove, Dawn Landes, Sean Hutchinson, Adrian Perez and more!
New Jefferson Hamer and Tashina Clarridge Record Tracked – Pre-Order Campaign Success
Thanks for your love and support. You make it all possible! See you soon.
