February 2007 Fountain AFTERDARK, with most recent first: Fountain AfterDark vol. 3, no. 8 € February 22, 2007 published weekly by R.A. Fountain, General Store & Internet Cafe Country Roads Friday, Marlboro Boys Saturday, Bonus Bluegrass Sunday Afternoon € March Schedule Changes [Fountain, NC] Nancy and Tammy Dail and the Country Roads Band bring a Branson-style country music show to Fountain General Store on Friday night. The Marlboro Boys, who perform Saturday evening, are one of the region's top bluegrass gospel groups--and with six members, one of the largest, too. Sunday afternoon's free bluegrass show is really a practice session for Frankie Harrison and friends--Lane Hollis and Keith Gastor--who will perform their own more formal show here on April 13. The mother-daughter duo of Nancy and Tammy Dail live in Raleigh. They team up with the Bowie Martin-led Country Roads Band -- http://www.thecountryroadsband.com/index.asp -- to present a show and concert as memorable for its dynamic theatrics as for its excellent musicianship and singing. They primarily perform covers of contemporary and classic country songs, said Alex Albright, store proprietor.: "They've added some originals to their repertoire, and they mix in some country covers of several rock and roll standards." Joining Bowie Martin, who plays steel guitar, are Ronnie King on lead guitar, Ken Dawson on drums; John Ackerman on keyboards; and bassist Billy Bass. King and Bass also sing some lead and harmony, but for the most part, it's the ladies' show. Martin, a local legend as a musician, band leader and supporter of live music in the region, says he likes playing Fountain General Store "because it keeps us honest." At the many club and private party dates the band plays, patrons are dancing and enjoying the evening, he added. "In Fountain, everybody's listening to you play, so it keeps you sharp." Showtime for Nancy and Tammy Dail and the Country Roads Band on February 23 is 8 p.m. General admission is $8; reserved seats, which are recommended for this act, are $10. Based out of Famville, the Marlboro Boys are named for their home church, Marlboro Free Will Baptist, where most of them also play and sing in the church choir. Over the past five years, they have built a solid reputation as what Albright calls "the best bluegrass gospel group in the region." They perform classic and original bluegrass gospel. "They really bring out the crowds, too," Albright added. Band members include brothers Joseph and Steve Sutton on guitar and banjo respectively; Bobby Harper on guitar; Reed Kennedy on bass; Tim Shelton on mandolin; and Tim Tyner on dobro. Jason Tyson is lead vocalist, although most of the Boys also take a turn or two singing. Randy Blalock is their sound engineer. The Marlboro Boys have released two CDs, "God's Only Son" and "First Time Around," both of which will be available at their show. [To hear the Marlboro Boys perform "God's Only Son," click on http://rafountain.com/audio/marlboro_godsonlyson.mp3.] The Marlboro Boys February 24 concert begins at 7 p.m.; general admission is $5. Frankie Harrison and Friends' practice session on Sunday afternoon will reunite three picking buddies who have performed with each other but not as a group off and on for years. Harrison, of Williamston, is one of the best and fastest mandolin pickers in the region. His picking partners are also excellent musicians: Keith Gastor of Bailey on banjo and guitar and Lane Hollis of Greenville on fiddle. Sunday store hours will be from 2-5. Free-at-three Sunday afternoon shows will return in April; they are booked solid into June at this point. A schedule is forthcoming soon. € € € Hi-Resolution PHOTOS Nancy and Tammy Dail and the Country Roads Band http://rafountain.com/pictures/CountryRoads/country_roads_lg.jpg the Marlboro Boys performing at Fountain General Store http://rafountain.com/pictures/MarlboroBoys/Marlboro_lg1.jpg Lounge Abouts Replace Roby Huffman in March Schedule We went from the dean of eastern Carolina bluegrass to the opposite extreme in booking a trio of youngsters with the unlikely bluegrass name of the Lounge Abouts to replace the legendary Roby Huffman. The March 16 show will now feature Alex Ball, Lee Moltvie, and Mark Voller, whose band traces its roots to their high school days in Chapel Hill. Currently, all three are college students. Ball, who plays guitar and fiddle, has performed in Fountain on several occasions. He's bringing with him his friends Moltvie, who plays guitar and mandolin, and Voller, who plays upright bass and banjo. Ball, an ECU freshman, promises an evening of high-energy, traditional bluegrass and says he's looking forward to showing Fountain General off to his buddies. Admission for this show will be $3; showtime is 7:30. € € € [Corrected] March Music Schedule Fri 2 Boys from Carolina 7:30 $5 Original & traditional bluegrass, from the Triangle--excellent pickers, fine harmonies. Sat 3 Smith Brothers 7:30 $5 Classic bluegrass, from Rocky Mount: this is the kind of local band that's kept bluegrass alive in pickin' parlors throughout the region. They play for the love of the music, and they have a lot of fun doing it. Fri 9 Cypress Landing Dixieland Jazz Band 7:30 $5 Trumpeter Les Sutorious brings his band to Fountain for the first time--they may be "retired," but there's nothing tired about this collection of excellent musicians who all happened to meet at the retirement community where they live. Sat 10 Revonda Roberts and Harvest Wind 7:30 $7.50 Outstanding bluegrass from Virginia--they were big hits their first time through Fountain, when they put on a great show of classic and original bluegrass presented by excellent musicians and the inimitible Roberts. Fri 16 Lounge Abouts 7:30 $3.00 A trio formed by high school buddies in Chapel Hill, these youngsters add a high level of enthusiasm to considerable picking skills. Their act is original but also respectful of the masters of bluegrass. Sat 17 Bill Redding & Mike Hamer''s 7th annual St. Patrick's Concert, with Angela Easterling openin 7:30 $5 Before Fountain General Store ever opened, Redding and Hamer were putting on this special night of St Pat's ballads and drinking songs for friends in the area. Easterling, from Taylors, SC, plays mandolin. She is making her first Fountain visit. Fri 23 Russ Varnell & the Too Country Band 7:30 $8 Classic honky tonk country--and a few originals--from Wilson's Buck Owens protege, and a really tight band. Sat 24 SWASH Improv Parents Night 7:00 FREE ECU's improv comedy troupe loves the challenge of doing "family style" comedy in Fountain so much that they've invited their parents to come out tonight. Fri 30 Greenville Grass 7:30 $5 Buddy Zincone and pals have been picking classic bluegrass in living rooms for decades. Our "listening room" environment is a perfect place to hear these fellows play. Sat 31 the Grass Cats 7:30 $10 gen ad/ $12 reserved North Carolina's premier bluegrass band returns to town for what promises to be another SRO night of classic and highly original bluegrass. Reservations recommended. € € € What You¹re Reading Each week, we send out a news release to 21 area newspapers and radio stations. The primary contents of each issue of Fountain AfterDark is that news release. The FAD distributed via e.mail contains no attachments. To add friends to our e.mail subscription list, send their e.mail address to ²fountainexpress@rafountain.com.³ To remove yourself from this list, reply to this e.mail with ²unsubscribe³ as either text or subject of your e.mail. Our e.mail list is not sold or traded or otherwise shared with anyone. Please let us know of any suspected abuses of the Fountain AfterDark/Fountain Express distribution list. -30- Fountain AfterDark vol. 3, no. 7 € February 15, 2007 published weekly by R.A. Fountain, General Store & Internet Cafe Jennifer Licko Sings Celtic, Irish Friday Night € 3-Act Musical Revue on Saturday Features Mike Hamer, Chet Nichols, See You Tuesday € March Music Announced € Mardi Gras in Gloucester Upcoming [Fountain, NC] Jennifer Shelton Licko returns to Fountain General Store Friday night with a fiddler and percussionist for a night of traditional Celtic and Irish songs. On Saturday night, Chet Nichols headlines a night of musical entertainment that also includes Mike Hamer and as opening act the acoustic duo known as See You Tuesday. Licko, a Swansboro native and ECU graduate, spent several years living in Ireland and Scotland, studying traditional music and dance, before returning to eastern North Carolina to live. She has released 4 recordings and performs her Celtic and Irish material throughout the southeast. Licko -- http://www.jenniferlicko.com/ -- has been a popular performer in Fountain, but for the first time she will bring along a fiddler and percussionist. Jennifer Barnes, a Greenville resident, was influenced as a child by the bluegrass fiddle and has studied violin to further her musicianship. Licko reports that she still plays mostly by ear, and that her tone is "pure and unspoiled." David Vinciguerra, of Goldsboro, is a "tasteful percussionist," Licko says, "who has a talent for enhancing the music by knowing just when and what to play." "Jennifer always puts on a beautiful show," said Alex Albright, Fountain General Store proprietor. "Her voice really transforms this old building and makes it seems like you could be sitting in a centuries-old cathedral." Jennifer Licko's February 16 begins at 7:30. General admission is $5. Saturday night's musical showcase features two of the region's best singer-songwriters in Mike Hamer, of Greenville, and Chet Nichols, of Wilson. Opening act See You Tuesday is Luke Whisnant on guitar and Erica Plouffe Lazure on vocals. Nichols -- http://www.chetnichols.com/ -- who studied art at ECU, has been called an "eastern Carolina Springsteen" who writes and performs gritty narratives from the blue collar tobacco- and cotton-belt cultures as opposed to Springsteen's better known tales from the rust belt. "Chet's had more to say about the war in Iraq than any singer-songwriter I've encountered," said Albright. "He has a strong feel and empathy for small folks who get caught up in the larger machinery of society that's pretty much out of their control." Nichols, who plays guitar and mandolin, has recorded two CDs, "Somewhere Out There" and "The Local Vocal Sessions." Both consist of all original songs. Like Nichols, Hamer favors the performing of original material. Most of his previous Fountain appearances have been with some of his many musician friends from the area, but tonight's show will be almost exclusively a solo set. "I'll do a couple of songs with Luke and Erica," he said, "and they'll do a couple with me, but other than that, it's going to be all solo." And, as antidote to Valentine's Day just passed, Hamer said he'll play a few "songs for the broken-hearted." Hamer, who plays hammered dulcimer, has released three CDs of original songs, "Crow" in 1998; "Love Dust" in 2004; and "Rhinos Doin' the Wild Thing" in 2005. He plans to debut during this show a couple of new songs, penned during his recent trip to Puerto Rico. Openers See You Tuesday -- http://personal.ecu.edu/whisnantl/SYTinterview.htm -- take their name from a fiction writing workshop at ECU that met on Tuesday evenings. They perform original covers of classic rock and folk artists. Whisnant, an English professor of creative writing, has been performing music as a hobby since his high school days in Charlotte. Lazure, who writes for the ECU News Bureau, has been singing since she was a child. The two met in 2004 and performed together informally at social gatherings for a couple of years before debuting their act professionally last December at Fountain General Store to great acclaim. See You Tuesday will perform for about a half-hour, starting at 7:30. Hamer and Nichols will then present solo sets of about 45 minutes each. Admission for their February 17 show is $5. Fountain General Store is located in downtown Fountain, at the intersection of US 258 and NC 222. Its family atmosphere is smoke- and alcohol-free. For further information, phone 252-749-3228 or visit www.rafountain.com LISTEN! to Jennifer Licko sing Canan nan Gaidheal http://rafountain.com/audio/licko_canan.mp3 to Chet Nichols sing "California Shore" http://www.rafountain.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=52 to Mike Hamer sing "Wonder Why They Call It Blue?" http://rafountain.com/audio/hamer_wonderwhyblue.mp3 Mardi Gras Mambo Down in Eastern NC € € € [Gloucester, NC] The Unknown Tongues host their 15th annual Mardi Gras in Gloucester this Saturday, February 17. Festivities begin at 11 a.m. and include music, mask making, a Fool's Procession, and a Cajun feast: gumbo, deep fried turkey, oysters, crawfish, and a King Cake. Unknown Tongues perform at about 3 p.m., at which time the children's King and Queen of Mardi Gras will also be announced. All festivities are family-friendly, free, and open to the public. Dogs are not allowed. Friday night preliminaries include a vegetable-chopping party and a music jam. For further information, including a map, visit http://www.unknowntongues.com/utpage3.htm Or telephone hosts, Barbara and Bryan Blake at 252-729-8021. The Unknown Tongues will be back in Fountain on Friday, April 6, for a Cajun show and dance beginning at 8 p.m. For a near-continuous Mardi Gras party soundtrack, listen to WWOZ, News Orleans' community-based radio station, which streams its audio at http://www.wwoz.org/. They'll broadcast live from Frenchman Street for 24 hours from Lundi Gras through Mardi Gras. March Music Schedule Announced Fri 2 Boys from Carolina 7:30 $5 Original & traditional bluegrass, from the Triangle--excellent pickers, fine harmonies. Sat 3 Smith Brothers 7:30 $5 Classic bluegrass, from Rocky Mount: this is the kind of local band that's kept bluegrass alive in pickin' parlors throughout the region. They play for the love of the music, and they have a lot of fun doing it. Fri 9 Cypress Landing Dixieland Jazz Band 7:30 $5 Trumpeter Les Sutorious brings his band to Fountain for the first time--they may be "retired," but there's nothing tired about this collection of excellent musicians who all happened to meet at the retirement community where they live. Sat 10 Revonda Roberts and Harvest Wind 7:30 $7.50 Outstanding bluegrass from Virginia--they were big hits their first time through Fountain, when they put on a great show of classic and original bluegrass presented by excellent musicians and the inimitible Roberts. Fri 16 Roby Huffman & the Bluegrass Cutups 7:30 $7.50 Smithfield's Huffman is the godfather of eastern Carolina bluegrass. He's got that "high, lonesome voice" that defines the genre, and several of his original compositions are now bluegrass classics, having been recorded by various bluegrass superstars. Sat 17 Bill Redding & Mike Hamer''s 7th annual St. Patrick's Concert, with Angela Easterling openin 7:30 $5 Before Fountain General Store ever opened, Redding and Hamer were putting on this special night of St Pat's ballads and drinking songs for friends in the area. Easterling, from Taylors, SC, plays mandolin. She is making her first Fountain visit. Fri 23 Russ Varnell & the Too Country Band 7:30 $8 Classic honky tonk country--and a few originals--from Wilson's Buck Owens protege, and a really tight band. Sat 24 SWASH Improv Parents Night 7:00 FREE ECU's improv comedy troupe loves the challenge of doing "family style" comedy in Fountain so much that they've invited their parents to come out tonight. Fri 30 Greenville Grass 7:30 $5 Buddy Zincone and pals have been picking classic bluegrass in living rooms for decades. Our "listening room" environment is a perfect place to hear these fellows play. Sat 31 the Grass Cats 7:30 $10 gen ad/ $12 reserved North Carolina's premier bluegrass band returns to town for what promises to be another SRO night of classic and highly original bluegrass. Reservations recommended. € € € What You¹re Reading Each week, we send out a news release to 21 area newspapers and radio stations. The primary contents of each issue of Fountain AfterDark is that news release. The FAD distributed via e.mail contains no attachments. To add friends to our e.mail subscription list, send their e.mail address to ²fountainexpress@rafountain.com.³ To remove yourself from this list, reply to this e.mail with ²unsubscribe³ as either text or subject of your e.mail. Our e.mail list is not sold or traded or otherwise shared with anyone. Please let us know of any suspected abuses of the Fountain AfterDark/Fountain Express distribution list. -30- Fountain AfterDark vol. 3, no. 6 € February 8, 2007 published weekly by R.A. Fountain, General Store & Internet Cafe Canadian Folksinger Friday, Allan Thompson Homecoming Saturday with Lane Hollis and Frankie Harrison [Fountain, NC] Lindsay Jane, the former Wyrd Sister whose solo career has included several US tours, plays Fountain General Store on Saturday night. Bertie County native Allan Thompson returns on Saturday night with an ensemble that will feature two of his long-time friends, Lane Hollis on fiddle and banjo and Frankie Harrison on mandolin performing "bluegrass, old-grass, and new-grass." Lindsay Jane's professional career as a singer-songwriter was jump-started in 1999 when she took first place in a songwriting competition in Alberta. She traveled throughout Canada for several years as a solo performer before joining the Wyrd Sisters, for whom she played lead guitar in 2003-04. Jane -- http://www.lindsayjane.ca/ -- grew up in Calgary, where her singer-songwriter group included Steve Forbert, Chip Taylor, and Gordie Johnson. Calgary Magazine has called her "a deft interpreter of powerful emotion," and her voice has been compared to Liza Minelli's. She is a popular performer on the festival circuit, having performed at the Ottawa Folk Music Festival, Winnipeg Folk Festival, Minnesota Folk Festival, Stan Roger Folk Festival, and the Trout Forest Festival. She has been featured in showcases at Prairie Music Week, last year's SXSW in Austin, Texas, and the Canada Folk Alliance. Lindsay Jane's debut CD "Starting Today" has received good press in Canada, where she is billed as much more than a folk or roots music singer. Her February 9 concert begins at 7:30; general admission is $5. Allan Thompson -- http://www.allanthompsonmusic.com/ --left the Bertie County town of Windsor for a professional career in music that took him first to Nashville, Tennessee for over 20 years and then to the Low Country of South Carolina, where he lives in Georgetown, teaching and performing music from Charleston to Myrtle Beach. Thompson is a multi-talented instrumentalist who plays banjo, dobro, fiddle, mandolin, guitar and harmonica. He has performed on the Grand Ole Opry and with several country music stars. Hollis, of Greenville, and Harrison, of Williamston, are two of the region's best instrumentalists. Performing with them will be Harrison's 13-year-old son, Justin, who plays fiddle and mandolin. Thompson said the show will consist of traditional bluegrass tunes as well as a historical retrospective that will trace the origins of bluegrass back to its early Celtic roots, through the classic old-time fiddle and clawhammer banjo bands, to the 3-finger style of banjo picking favored by most bluegrass bands today. Aaron Gdovicak, guitarist in Thompson's old time/bluegrass band Blue Plantation, was scheduled to perform, but he's staying home, Thompson said, with his wife as they await the birth of their first child. Allan Thompson and Friends' February 10 concert begins at 7:30. Admission is $5. R.A. Fountain, General Store and Internet Cafe, is located in downtown Fountain, at the intersection of US 258 and NC 222. Its family atmosphere is smoke- and alcohol-free. For further information, phone 252-749-3228 or visit www.rafountain.com. € € € What You¹re Reading Each week, we send out a news release to 21 area newspapers and radio stations. The primary contents of each issue of Fountain AfterDark is that news release. The FAD distributed via e.mail contains no attachments. To add friends to our e.mail subscription list, send their e.mail address to ²fountainexpress@rafountain.com.³ To remove yourself from this list, reply to this e.mail with ²unsubscribe³ as either text or subject of your e.mail. Our e.mail list is not sold or traded or otherwise shared with anyone. Please let us know of any suspected abuses of the Fountain AfterDark/Fountain Express distribution list. -30-