Fountain Express

[Fountain, NC] The Homegrown String Band from Rocky Point, NY, will perform a concert of bluegrass and old-time music at Fountain General Store this Saturday night.

Sing Out! magazine says Homegrown "transports the listener back to the days of families gathering together to sing the old tunes." Rick Jackofsky says, "We do what we can with the instruments we have at our disposal: guitar, banjo, ukelele, fiddle, jaw harp, mountain dulcimer, mandolin, clawhammer banjo, harmonica, and percussive flatfoot dance."

Jackofsky and his wife, Georgianne, made the decision in 1992, with their two daughters, Erica and Annalee, to get rid of their television. Georgianne explains: "We began using the traditional arts of storytelling, music, and dance to entertain ourselves." Gradually, as family members learned different musical instruments, their band came together.

The Homegrown String Band has been performing at coffehouses and festivals from Maine to Missouri since 1997. They are regularly listed on Appalachian Fiddle and Bluegrass Association questionnaires as one of the bands fans most want to see at a festival.

Although Homegrown hasn't played this part of the state before, they are no strangers to the old-time music scene in North Carolina. Daughter Erica won a youth scholarship to the Swannanoa Gathering at Warren Wilson College in 2001, when she was 16, to study both fiddling and dancing, with Ralph Blizzard and Rodney Sutton respectively.

Homegrown has released three critically acclaimed CDs: Blind Dog Thumping on the Porch, Big Fork, Little Fork, and their newest, Rock Hollow. All will be available at their Fountain performance. You can hear Homegrown String Band songs on their web site (linked above) and you can see a short documentary of the band here. The Homegrown String Band's July 29 concert begins at 8 p.m.; admission is $5.

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This week's 4-day run of live music in Fountain starts off on Thursday night with a free solo bass concert presented by Atlanta-based Darren Michaels.

In a 2004 article in Inside Bass magazine, Michaels wrote that the bass is "too young to be told what it must be and how its sound should be voiced. The bass lends this voice readily to more than just supporting the rhythm. When people hear the term 'solo bass' they usually think that it will be just the 'boom-boom' of a supporting bass line or the 'biggidy-biggidy' of a note-packed slap solo. The real sound always surprises them."

Michaels performs all over the United States when he is not at home in Atlanta, where he teaches bass. He has released two solo bass CDs, Equilibrium and Green, which will be available at his Fountain appearance.

Darren Michaels' July 27 concert begins at 7:30.

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The Steve Creech Sextet, with soloist Jerry Jolley, returns to Fountain on Friday for a night of jazz, pop, and gospel standards.

In addition to Creech, on guitar, also performing will be Larry Jones on keyboard, Keith Dobbins on bass, Larry Seigler on drums, and Dee Braxton Pelligrino on violin and vocals.

Jolley, minister of music at Lakeside Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, sings in the style of Robert Goulet. Among his favorite tunes to sing are "Old Man River," "Bridge over Troubled Water," "Amazing Grace," and "Blueberry Hill."

The Steve Creech Sextet with Jerry Jolley peforms at 8 p.m. on July 28. Admission is $5.

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Another Fountain favorite, the Flat Mountain Dulcimers, returns for a free concert on Sunday.

Named whimsically for the "Flat Mountains" of eastern North Carolina, where the band members all live, this trio released its first CD, Live at R.A. Fountain, earlier this year. (Here them perform Chinese Breakdown from that CD.)

The players are Nancy Galambush of Snow Hill and Margit and Dave Roberson (who also plays guitar) of Goldsboro. They play dulcimers handmade by Nancy's husband, J.C. Bradshaw.

The Flat Mountain Dulcimers' July 30 concert begins at 3 p.m.

This concert is also the last Sunday on which a 2-for-1 special will be offered on Jones Fruit Farm's homemade strawberry, peach, blueberry, vanilla, chocolate, and banana ice creams.

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.

Reserved seats are available for all shows at an additional charge. Prices are always posted on our up-coming events page. For further information, phone 252-749-3228.

August Music Schedule at Fountain General Store
** No Sunday Music in August. **
Thursday, August 3 -- 7:30 -- $5 -- Jimmy Aycock, Steve Creech, and Emery Davis
Friday, August 4 -- 7:30 -- $5 -- Heritage Bluegrass Band with David Hamlet
Saturday, August 5 -- 8:00 -- $5 -- Untravelled Road
Thursday, August 10 -- 7:30 -- FREE -- Andy Macpherson
Friday, August 11 -- 8 p.m. $5 -- Stephenson Brothers & Linda
Saturday, August 12 -- 8 p.m. -- $5 -- Ted Jones and the Tar Heel Boys
Thursday, August 17 -- 7:30 p.m. -- $3 -- Farm & Home
Friday August 18 -- 8 p.m. -- $8 -- Russ Varnell & the Too Country Band
Saturday August 19 -- 8 p.m. -- $5 -- Bridgewater Bluegrass
Thursday August 24 -- 7:30 p.m. -- FREE -- Bluegrass Jam hosted by Jack Wrzesinski
Friday August 25 -- 8 p.m. -- $5 -- Highway 58 Bluegrass
Saturday August 26 -- 8 p.m. -- $5 -- Dymond City Express Bluegrass

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