| vol. 2, no. 16 | Fountain Express |
April 18, 2006 |
[Fountain, NC] Bruce Piephoff, the Greensboro-based folk singer who recently released his 14th CD, headlines the coming weekend of music at Fountain General Store. Piephoff's Friday night concert showcases the talents of a singer-songwriter who has been called by Chuck Brodsky "one of the best kept secrets in Americana music."
The Triangle-based jazz quartet Second Third performs in Fountain on Saturday night, and a free bluegrass jam on Thursday night starts the weekend off.
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Bruce Piephoff has performed on the main stage at Merlefest and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. He has appeared on bills with Tom Paxton, Steve Forbert, Riders in the Sky, Greg Allman, and Hot Tuna. His newest CD, Fools Get Away with the Impossible, includes 12 new songs and three new versions of older songs.
Parker Puterbaugh, the Rolling Stone music writer, has said of Piephoff, "If anybody's writing better folk songs than Bruce Piephoff right now, I've not heard them."
All 14 of Piephoff's CDs have been recorded and released by Flyin' Cloud Records, the Eden, N.C.-based label that specializes in producing recordings by regional acoustic, bluegrass, and old time musicians.
Piephoff performances feature excellent guitar picking, finely crafted lyrical narratives, and a few poems mixed in. He earned an MFA in writing poetry from UNC-Greensboro, where he studied with Fred Chappell.
Chappell's comments on Piephoff's poetry collection Honky Tonk Stradivarius might easily have been said of his songs: "He prefers the down home, funky sounds of street and field and barroom to the cultivated whispers of academia. Some of these poems are tough, but none is mean and never a one is false."
Bruce Piephoff's April 21 concert begins at 7:30. Admission is $5.
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Greenville-based picker Jack Wrzesinski hosts Fountain General Store's monthly bluegrass jam on April 20. Free and open to the public, the jam kicks off at 7:30.
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Saturday night's jazz show marks a return engagement to Fountain for Second Third, whose name pays homage to beat writer Neal Cassady's autobiography.
The band includes Bo Lankenau on 6- and 12-string acoustic guitars and harmonica; Robert Siegel on alto sax, flutes, harmonica and kalimba; Steven Coon on electric and acoustic guitars; and Jim Salmonson on percussions.
Lankenau grew up in Chappaqua, NY, where as a teenager he taught himself to play guitar. He has lived in and played music in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and Dallas, Tex. He has developed an original style of playing guitar exclusively in altered tunings, with an emphasis on complex fingerstyle rhythms.
Siegel played jazz, blues, rock, and folk for many years in the San Francisco Bay area, where he also worked as a composer with Danny Grossman of the Paul Taylor Dance Company and recorded with Seattle-based Peace Bread and Land. Around Greenville, where he is a professor of creative writing at ECU, he has played with Mike Hamer and Lightnin' Wells.
Coon, a native of Southern California, recently moved to the Triangle. He has toured and recorded with several groups based in the southwest U.S. and has most recently played with the up-and-coming blues guitarist Ben Robinson. He operates his own music gear and gift shop.
Salmonson grew up in North Carolina but has spent considerable time in Nashville, Tenn., working on various jazz recording projects.
Second Third performs original jazz that mixes bop, Afro-Caribbean, pop, and modern elements. "They're a fine group of musicians who put on a big city kind of jazz show," said Alex Albright, Fountain General Store proprietor. "We sometimes get typed as a bluegrass-only kind of venue, but we have some good crowds, too, for shows of this high quality."
Second Third's April 22 concert begins at 8:00 p.m. [Note starting time change from originally announced 7:30.] General admission is $5.
Reserved seats are available for all shows. Prices are always posted on our up-coming events page. For further information, phone 252-749-3228.
R.A. Fountain, General Store and Internet Cafe, is located in historic downtown Fountain, at the intersection of US 258 and NC 222. Its family atmosphere is smoke- and alcohol-free.
Bluegrass Act Added for April 27
Jarvis Street Bluegrass Band is an ECU-based quartet that began out of an English class assignment which encouraged a couple of the guys to write a research paper on the history of bluegrass music. Jesse Iaquinto, from Elmira, NY and Mark Romano, of Charlotte, wrote the paper for Olivia Murray's English 1200 class, and out of that experience, they became friends and soon began hosting jams and then performing in public.
"We had Jesse's dad's 50-year old banjo and a mandolin," Romano told Shannon Davis for the East Carolinian, "so we started messing around with those." Their band was soon formed and they began playing dates around Greenville last fall.
Their Fountain date was filled after Romano visited Fountain General Store to write an article for the East Carolinian on Watermelon Sugar. He wound up staying late to jam with Sugar. Paul Black, originally scheduled for April 27, had just cancelled his date, and Romano was quick to accept it for Jarvis Street.
Iaquinto, a junior philosophy major, plays mandolin; Romano, who plays banjo, is a sophomore majoring in science and math education. Also in the band is Chad Cowan, from Elmira, NY, who plays guitar, and English major Charlie McCanless, who plays bass. All four share singing duties.
Jarvis Street plays a variety of traditional bluegrass mixed with modern day favorites and originals. They have a few surprises, such as bluegrass covers of Nirvana and Johnny Cash, and enjoy extended jams on many of their songs, pushing them up to 12 minutes in length.
Jarvis Street's April 27 show begins at 7:30. Admission is $3.
Fountain's Spring Fling Set for May 13
Fountain's second annual Spring Fling will be held on Saturday, May 13. Music headliners are the Vines Sisters, one of the best gospel bands in the region.
Vending spaces are available for $25 or $50 (if electrical hookup is needed) in the stage area, and they begin at $50 for space on US 258. Contact Sharon Pryor at 252-749-4942 or Town Clerk Leitha Hines at 749-2881 to reserve vending space, or to book your musical act as part of this celebration.
Buildings for Sale
David Moye, owner/operator of Owens' Grocery Store in downtown Fountain, is actively looking for a buyer. His grocery is in the storefront beside Fountain General Store. Also for sale is the building next to it, which currently houses a silk flower shop. It has an access door to the grocery.
A prospective buyer might purchase both buildings and the grocery business, or either of the buildings. Asking price for both is $70,000. All fixtures are offered in the sale price, too, including the massive, original R.A. Fountain safe, and a dozen refrigeration/freezing units.
May Music at Fountain General Store
Friday, May 5 -- Ted Jones & the Tarheels -- 8:00 -- $5
Saturday, May 6 -- Harvest Wind -- 7:30 -- $7
Thursday, May 11 -- Stan Pearson & Donald Underwood Thompson -- 7:30 -- $3
Friday, May 12 -- Claude Bourbon -- 7:30 -- $7
Saturday, May 13 -- Black Creek Bluegrass Gospel -- 7:30 -- FREE
Thursday, May 18 -- Bluegrass jam -- 7:30 -- FREE
Friday, May 19 -- Russ Varnell & the Too Country Band -- 8:00 -- $8
Saturday, May 20 -- Buddy Zincone and Greenville Grass -- 7:30 -- $5
Wednesday, May 24 -- Lipbone Redding [formerly known as Citizen One] -- 7:30 -- $3
Thursday, May 25 -- Abe Quigley -- 7:30 -- $3
Friday, May 26 -- International Harvesters -- 7:30 -- $5
Saturday, May 27 -- Boys from Carolina -- 7:30 -- $5
Thursday, May 4 -- Ronny Drew -- 7:30 -- $3
Alt-rock from Birmingham, Alabama.
Original and classic bluegrass, from Smithfield.
MasterShield Recording artists. Nominated for 2006 Dove Music Award for best bluegrass gospel song of the year, "Daughter of a Gamblin' Man." Fronted by fiddler/lead singer Revonda Roberts.
Double bill from two Kinston artists: Big band jazz standards with opening act of classic blues and folk.
Original blues & world music from one of England's most popular recording & performing artists.
Bluegrass gospel music from Johnston County.
Hosted by Greenville picker Jack Wryzinski
Classic country from Wilson County.
Singer-songwriter from New York City, where he performs most Sunday nights at the Anyway Cafe on 2nd Ave.
Singer-songwriter from Chicago.
Classic country music from Wilson County.
Local bluegrass favorites.
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Malpass/Helms CD in Stock
The much anticipated Hank Williams tribute CD by Chris Malpass and Don Helms has finally arrived. Turn Back the Years features new covers of 11 classic Williams songs. Helms, who played steel guitar on most of the original recordings, has been traveling with Malpass throughout the country, performing Hank Williams tributes in Louisiana, Alabama, Missouri, Tennessee, Illinois, and Pennsylvania.
Clyde Mattocks doesn't think it will be long before Malpass is a fixture on the Nashville music scene, and few that have heard this amazing talent would argue. Mattocks, who often plays banjo, dobro, and bass for the Malplass Family shows, plays bass on the new CD. He is joined by fiddle champion Tim Smith and Taylor Malpass on electric guitar. Kenny Dail plays steel guitar on one track, and Lisa Hill plays piano on another.
Helms and the Malpass Family play a return engagement at Fountain General Store on Thursday, June 1. About half the available seats for that show are already sold.
Turn Back the Years is $14.95 and can be ordered on Fountain General's secure e.store.
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