January 2007 Fountain AFTERDARK, with most recent first: Fountain AfterDark vol. 3, no. 5 € January 30, 2007 published weekly by R.A. Fountain, General Store & Internet Cafe Bluegrass Weekend Upcoming: Highway 58 Friday, Bridgewater Saturday No More Bluegrass until Feb 24 [Fountain, NC] The return of local favorites Highway 58 and New Bern-based Bridgewater mean two nights of bluegrass at Fountain General Store this coming weekend. Highway 58, named for the NC highway on which three of its members reside, is fronted by Kinston's multi-talented Clyde Mattocks, who formed the band nearly a decade ago to play what he calls "straight ahead bluegrass." Mattocks is a founding member of the SuperGrit Cowboy Band and is also a popular sideman and recording studio artist for many of the region's best bluegrass and country musicians. Under his own name, he has released two CDs, "Hugging the Hound" and "Over My Shoulder: The Steel Guitar Album," both featuring outstanding session work by many of the same artists. "This is great bluegrass," said Alex Albright," Fountain General proprietor, "and a highly entertaining show." Joining Mattocks in the band are John Booker on upright bass; Danny Morris of Vanceboro on guitar; Don Batten of New Bern on mandolin; and Snow Hill's Tim Myatt on banjo. "Mr. Myatt was out here last weekend, and he said he was feeling good and looking forward to playing for this show," said Albright. Highway 58's February 2 bluegrass show starts at 7:30; general admission is $5. The Bridgewater Band, based out of New Bern and named for the bridges and water that dominate the local landscape, is in a new incarnation since its last visit to Fountain. Founder Lester Butts, who writes the band's original songs, plays lead guitar, and sings, is now joined by John Harrell of Kinston on banjo; Mitch Harriett of Pollocksville on rhythm guitar, harmonica, and vocals; and Dan Stevens of New Bern on bass. Bridgewater plays traditional bluegrass and bluegrass gospel as well as original bluegrass. Their February 3 concert begins at 7:30; general 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. € € € Listen to Clyde Mattocks perform "La Cantina de Uvalde" from his "Hugging the Hound" recording http://rafountain.com/audio/mattocks_cantina.mp3 Hear Mattocks perform "Nobody's Darlin' but Mine" from "Over My Shoulder" http://rafountain.com/audio/mattocks_nobodysdarlin.mp3 High resolution photo of Don Batten and Clyde Mattocks performing with Highway 58 at Fountain General Store http://rafountain.com/pictures/Highway58/Hwy58_Clyde_lg.jpg € € € 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. 4 € January 23, 2007 published weekly by R.A. Fountain, General Store & Internet Cafe George Higgs Saturday Night! Steve Creech Quintet Friday with Carol-Ann Tucker, Jimmy Aycock [Fountain, NC]] Tarboro¹s George Higgs returns to Fountain for a concert of original piedmont blues on Saturday, and the Steve Creech Quintet performs jazz standards on Friday with special guests Carol-Ann Tucker and Jimmy Aycock. Higgs is the last of his generation of piedmont blues artists still performing. His Fountain show will be his first since suffering kidney failure and a series of strokes last spring. ³George is doing well,² his wife, Bettye, reports, ³and he¹s really looking forward to getting back out and performing. We always have such a good time in Fountain.² Higgs is on dialysis treatments three days a week, which prevents him from extensive travel, but his rehab has gone well, Bettye says. ³The doctors have prescribed him to play his guitar for his hands and dexterity and his harmonica for his breath and wind, and he practices every day.² Most of Higgs¹ repertoire is in the piedmont style of blues, which features more delicate finger picking than the slide guitar so often associated with delta blues. ³George will mix in some delta blues, too,² said Alex Albright, Fountain General Store proprietor, ³and some country, pop, and gospel, but it¹s always in his original style.² In recent years, Higgs has performed throughout Europe and the United States and in Australia, as well as to SRO crowds in Fountain. He has released two CDs on the MusicMaker label, including his latest, ³Rainy Days,² which features two songs penned by his wife. George Higgs¹ January 27 concert begins at 7:30 with a performance by the Higgs¹ jazz singing daughters, who perform as Just Us. Higgs will do several numbers with Just Us and, after an intermission, he will present a solo set. General admission is $5; reserved seats, which Albright recommends, are $8. Steve Creech the Greenville-based jazz guitarist who always surrounds himself with excellent musicians, brings to town a quintet that features vocalist Carol-Ann Tucker and the Jimmy Aycock Trio. Their show is a warm-up for their sold-out Saturday performance at a black tie fundraiser for the Grainger Hill Performing Arts Center in Kinston. Tucker has delighted Fountain audiences with her unique jazz stylings at previous Creech shows. Joinng pianist Aycock in the band are bassist Brian Krous and drummer Earle Abernethy. Krous, who has a master's in music from Cornell Univeristy, is the new orchestra director at Rose High School in Greenville. The Steve Creech Quintet with Carol-Ann Tucker performs at 7:30 p.m. on January 26. General admission is $5; reserved seats are $8. R.A. Fountain, General Store and Internet Café, 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. € € € High Resolution Photo of George Higgs performing at Fountain General Store http://rafountain.com/pictures/Higgs/george_higgs_still.edit.tif Listen to George Higgs perform "Wholesale Dealin' Papa" http://rafountain.com/audio/Higgs_Wholesale.mp3 € € € PHOTO of Steve Creech and Carol-Ann Tucker http://rafountain.com/pictures/Creech/Creech_Tucker_sm.jpg € € € 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. 3 € January 16, 2007 published weekly by R.A. Fountain, General Store & Internet Cafe Carolina Chocolate Drops Headline Weekend's Music in Fountain [Fountain, NC] The Carolina Chocolate Drops bring their African-American string band show to Fountain General Store on Friday night. Ted Jones and the Tarheel Boys return on Saturday night for a concert of original and classic bluegrass music. Based out of Durham, the Chocolate Drops [http://www.sankofastrings.com/ccd/home.html] are one of North Carolina's hottest new bands. They recently completed a tour opening for blues legend Taj Mahal, and they will leave after their Fountain show for New York City, where they will be featured at the 4th annual GlobalFest, an international festival of roots and world music. Their 2007 schedule has them booked from coast-to-coast in the U.S., including a slot at this year's MerleFest. The trio performs old-time string music that was popular in the piedmont regions of the Carolinas and Virginia through the 1930s. They are named in homage to the Tennessee Chocolate Drops, a popular African-American string band fronted by Howard Armstrong, also known as Louie Bluie [http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2002/sweetoldsong/update.html], during the 1920s. Rhiannon Giddens plays banjo, fiddle, and sings, Justin Robinson plays banjo and fiddle and sings, and multi-instrumentalist Dom Flemons plays--depending on the tune--everything from guitar to jug to harmonica to fife. Giddens grew up in Greensboro, where she recalls singing folk music with her father and listening to country music with her mother's side of the family: "And both my grandmothers loved 'Hee-Haw.'" As a student at Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio she majored in voice, and she still performs operatic selections as one half of the duo Eleganza [http://www.rhisong.com/eleganza/]. Robbins, also a native North Carolinian, played classical violin from the age of 9 to 13. His interest in old-time music has been greatly influenced by Joe Thompson, the Mebane fiddler whose career has spanned 70 years. Plemons grew up in Phoenix, Arizona; his musical roots include Ma Rainey, the Beatles, and the Band. The Carolina Chocolate Drops was formed last year after its members all met at a black banjo players meeting and conference held in Boone at Appalachian State University [http://www.rhisong.com/blackbanjo/bbtn.html]. "We're lucky to have booked them last summer, soon after they formed," said Alex Albright, Fountain General Store Proprietor. "This is a band that our bluegrass audiences should really love, too." Unlike old-time mountain music, in which the banjo plays mostly rhythm, old-time piedmont music uses the banjo as well as the fiddle to play leads, Albright noted: "Much of it has a bluegrass feel to it, and all three of them are excellent musicians. "They're enthusiastic performers, too. They dress in period clothes and their shows feature dancing in an experience that's theatrical, musical, educational--and a lot of fun." The Carolina Chocolate Drops January 19 performance begins at 7:30. General admission is $5; reserved seats are $7. Ted Jones and the Tarheel Boys features Jones, an expert mandolin picker in the cross-picking style of Jesse McReynolds. Jones also sings lead and writes the band's original songs. He is from Smithfield. Joining him in the Tarheels are a quartet of veteran musicians: his father, Ronnie, who plays rhythm guitar and sings tenor; Jerry Dunbar on fiddle; Stan Temple on banjo; and Kenneth Glover on acoustic bass. Dunbar has played with Bill Carlisle and Jim and Jesse. Temple has also performed with Jim and Jesse as well as Jimmy Martin. Glover has worked with Roby Huffman and various bluegrass gospel groups in the region. Ted and the Tarheel Boys have released two CDs and are currently at work on their third. Their January 20 concert begins at 7:30. General admission is $5; reserved seats are $7. R.A. Fountain, General Store and Internet Cafe, is located in downtown Fountain, at the interstection 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. € € € PHOTOS high resolution photo of Carolina Chocolate Drops http://www.sankofastrings.com/ccd/graphics/ccd1print.jpg € € € photo of Ted Jones, center, performing at Fountain General Store with his Tarheel Boys http://rafountain.com/pictures/TedTarheelBoys/Ted_Tarheel_Boys.jpg € € € More Fountain General Music on YouTube: Masked Marvel [Washington, DC] Masked Marvel frontman Steve Losey reports that his band has posted a video of lead singer Janet Pinkham's original song "Shufflin' Glory" on YouTube, at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2c8XAHUPUY The song was recorded at their December 16 show in Fountain, and it joins the short list of videos from Fountain General posted there by Cliff Nelson: Lightnin' Wells performs "How Do You Want Your Rollin' Done?" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHtqqweutn8 Wells performs "Broke & Hungry" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz48t9RkYls Les Sandy's Other Band, with Johnnie Batchelor, performs "Bluegrass Stomp" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WL9YDa225M € € € 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 [formerly Fountain Express] 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. 2 € January 10, 2007 published weekly by R.A. Fountain, General Store & Internet Cafe --in memory of Johnnie Edward Batchelor-- Black Creek Bluegrass Gospel Friday Night, David Lewis Trio Saturday € RAF on You.Tube [Fountain, NC] Black Creek, the popular Johnston County bluegrass gospel trio, returns to Fountain General Store for a free Friday night concert that will celebrate the recent release of their debut CD, "Highway to Heaven." Rocky Mount native David Lewis, "the ol' folksinger," brings his trio in for a Saturday night concert of original compositions in a variety of popular musical stylings. Black Creek (http://www.blackcreekmusic.com/) regularly draws a big crowd to its Fountain shows. Members are Craig Allen, who plays guitar, banjo, and dobro; Scott Johnson, who plays mandolin and guitar, and his wife, Tracie Rhodes Johnson, who plays upright bass. All three share vocals. Danny Allen is their sound engineer. "Tracie has a beautiful voice," said Alex Albright, Fountain General proprietor. "And Scott and Craig are excellent pickers. Together, they sound like a much bigger band." Black Creek's musical influences include the Isaacs, the Rochesters, Doyle Lawson, and Ricky Scaggs. Their music is performed as part of their Christian ministry. "Their shows include some prayer and a bit of testifying," added Albright. Black Creek's free January 12 concert begins at 7:30. David Lewis (http://www.davidlewismusic.com/) left his native Rocky Mount for a career in music that kept him touring for several years throughout the western US from a Denver base. His trio, with Tom Becker and Dan Daniels, was popular at ski resorts in the Rockies. He has performed with the New Christy Minstrels, the Kingston Trio, John Prine, Michael Murphey, and Judy Collins. Lewis, who plays guitar and harmonica, is joined in his newest band by percussionist Randy Davis and David Mull on bass, banjo, and backup vocals. The David Lewis Trio's January 13 concert begins at 7:30; general 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. Photo of Black Creek performing at Fountain General Store: http://rafountain.com/pictures/BlackCreek/BlackCreek2.jpg -30- € € € Johnnie Batchelor Dead at 49 [Elm City, NC] Johnnie Batchelor, lead singer and guitarist for Bluegrass Redemption, died in his sleep last Thursday, January 4, at his Elm City home. The charismatic Batchelor sang and played guitar for Redemption, one of Fountain General Store's most popular bands. Band leader and banjo player Keith Gastor vowed that the band would go on. "Johnnie will be impossible to replace," he said, "but we've all got to keep on with the band." Batchelor's daughter Lindsay is the band's mandolin player, and his other daughter, Brooke, has sung with the band and at bluegrass jams at Fountain General Store on several occasions. "We're all going to miss Johnnie," said Alex Albright. "He was a really special person, with an incredible presence. He also was an amazingly talented singer and songwriter. Fortunately for the girls, they've got a lot of family and church support, and we look forward to getting them back out here playing as soon as they're able." Batchelor was a regular at Robbins Music's Friday jams in Wilson and was also a member of Les Sandy's Other Band, which last year recorded the CD "A Bluegrass Legend." The band can be viewed on "you.tube" performing "Bluegrass Stomp" at Fountain General Store. Albright also said that Fountain General Store will host a memorial webpage for Batchelor that will include links to hear several songs recorded here for an intended live CD for Bluegrass Redemption. "From the first time he came in our store with Brooke, for a bluegrass jam, you could tell he was something special," added Albright. Johnnie Edward Batchelor was born on March 30, 1957. In addition to daughters Stephanie Brooke and Lindsay Michelle, he is survived by his wife, Kim Edwards Batchelor; two sisters, Fannie Batchelor Pridgen of Nashville and Joyce Batchelor Stone of Rocky Mount; and two brothers, Marvin Earl Batchelor of Nashville and Jarvis Lee Batchelor of Rocky Mount. His parents, also deceased, were Edward Claudius Batchelor Jr. and Lula Mildred Anderson Batchelor. He was buried last Saturday at Evergreen Memorial Park in Wilson. € € € Lightnin' Wells, Les Sandy Videos on You.Tube Fountain General Store operations manager Cliff Nelson has posted to "you.tube" three video clips of performances he filmed here. Lightnin' Wells performs "How Do You Want Your Rollin' Done?" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHtqqweutn8 He performs "Broke & Hungry" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz48t9RkYls Les Sandy's Other Band, with Johnnie Batchelor, performs "Bluegrass Stomp" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WL9YDa225M Nelson has also captured Lightnin' live in his barn performing "Twelth Street Rag," which can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEdKkL0dlJA € € € 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 [formerly Fountain Express] 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. 1 € January 2, 2007 published weekly by R.A. Fountain, General Store & Internet Cafe Lightnin' Wells, Staber and Chasnoff Kick-off '07 Shows € January Schedule Announced € More Than You Wish to Know [again] about [Resolved] Distribution Problems [Fountain, NC] Local blues sensation Lightnin' Wells returns for a concert of piedmont and delta blues, country folk, gospel, and old time pop songs on Friday, January 5. Dick Staber and his wife, Judith Chasnoff, are back in Fountain on their annual migration northward on Saturday, January 6, for a concert of bluegrass, oldtime, and folk music. Wells who moved to the Fountain area in 2006, plays a variety of guitar styles, ukelele, and harmonica. He is a popular entertainer at festivals throughout the country and has performed extensively in the states and Europe with piedmont blues greats Algia Mae Hinton, Big Boy Henry, George Higgs, and John Dee Holeman, among others. Two songs from previous Wells concerts in Fountain are now available for viewing on "you.tube." Wells, a Goldsboro native who recently re-located to the Fountain area, is also the author of the definitive entry on the history of the North Carolina recording industry, published recently in William S. Powell's "Encyclopedia of North Carolina." Lightnin' Wells' January 5 concert begins at 7:30; general admission is $5. Staber and Chasnoff--http://www.staberandchasnoff.com/--perform original bluegrass and bluegrass-style covers of a diverse array of artists, including Steve Earle, Les Paul and Mary Ford, and Pete Seeger. They have released 3 CDs. Their latest, "One More Journey," was dubbed "a musical work of art" by Bluegrass Unlimited magazine, which has also described Staber's mandolin picking as "tasteful and articulate." Judith Chasnoff accompanies her husband on guitar; they share vocals. Chasnoff and Staber live in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York, and their visit to Fountain is a stop on their annual migration to Florida for the winter. Dick Staber played mandolin for Del McCoury and the Dixie Pals from 1969-75, during which the band recorded three albums. He has also recorded two albums with Bob Paisley and Southern Grass and three solo albums consisting almost exclusively of original material. "He's got the purest, prettiest sounding tone of any mandolin we've heard in Fountain," said Alex Albright, Fountain General Store proprietor, "almost like hearing bells. Judith's a fine picker, too, and she has a beautiful voice. This is a really special show--one of the absolute best we'll ever be able to book." Staber and Chasnoff's January 6 show begins at 7:30; general admission is $5. MUSIC Hear Lightnin' perform "Guitar Waltz/Knoxville Blues" at http://rafountain.com/audio/lightnin_guitwaltzknox.mp3 PHOTOS Lighnin' Wells playing his ukelele at Fountain General Store http://rafountain.com/pictures/Lightnin/lightnin_uke_sm.jpg . . . Staber & Chasnoff http://rafountain.com/pictures/StaberChasnoff.jpg € € € January Live Music at Fountain General Store [originally published in our Merry Christmas issue] January, February, & March music will be presented on Friday and Saturday evenings only. Our free-at-3 Sunday afternoon concert series will resume in April. During January, we will have no Saturday afternoon hours. Doors open on Fridays and Saturdays about 6 p.m. Fri 5 Lightnin' Wells 7:30 $5 Piedmont blues from a master entertainer, who also plays vaudeville, hokum, folk, country, and classic pop, while accompanying himself on guitar, steel guitar, harmonica, and ukelele. Sat 6 Staber & Chasnoff 7:30 $5 Dick Staber, says store proprietor Alex Albright, "plays the sweetest sounding mandolin we've heard in Fountain." He was Del McCoury's mandolinist in the late 1960s. His wife, Judith Chasnoff, has a classically trained voice. Together, they'll make sweet sweet music on their second visit to Fountain, as they migrate from upstate New York to winter quarters in Florida. Fri 12 Black Creek Bluegrass Gospel 7:30 FREE Great bluegrass gospel from a Johnston County trio that mixes in a little testifying with their music. Their debut CD has just been released. http://www.blackcreekmusic.com/ Sat 13 David Lewis Trio 7:30 $5 Original songs in folk, bluegrass, and jazz stylings from Rocky Mount's Lewis, accompanied by excellent veteran musicians. http://www.davidlewismusic.com/ Fri 19 Carolina Chocolate Drops 7:30 $5 One of the hottest new bands in the southeast, this is a show we're lucky to have in Fountain. Old-time and country bluegrass-style music in original African-American stylings. http://www.sankofastrings.com/ccd/index.html Sat 20 Ted Jones & the Tar Heels 7:30 $5 Smithfield's mandolin sensation is always a hit in Fountain, with his mix of original and classic bluegrass--and his exquisite picking. Fri 26 Steve Creech Quintet 7:30 $7 Creech, the Greenville guitarist and jazz guru, always surrounds himself with excellent musicians, and his shows in Fountain are usually right at S.R.O. This one will include Carol-Ann Tucker singing with the Jimmy Aycock Trio. Sat 27 George Higgs, with Just Us 7:30 $5 The great Mr. Higgs, from Tarboro, is the last of his generation of Piedmont blues guitarists, and for years he's been one of the best. This is his first show since he suffered a series of strokes and renal failure last spring. His recovery has been remarkable, but thrice-a-week dialysis will likely confine his performance circuit to eastern NC. Opening for him are his jazz singing daughters, Just Us. € € € 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 [formerly Fountain Express] 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. UPDATE: We experienced distribution problems again for at least our past two issues. This time, the difficulty was related to the previous breech of security that had allowed a couple of subscribers to accidently e.mail a reply to "all" that went through to all subscribers, despite the fact such an act was supposedly impossible to achieve. In resolving this problem, our host, DTI of Greenville, neglected to inform us that whenever we attempted to send a mass e.mailing to our "fountainexpress" list, we would be required to reply to an e.mail from DTI seeking permission to release the e.mail. Unfortunately, their e.mail looked an awful lot like the hundreds of SPAMs we receive weekly, and we did not respond to it; thus, the issues never made it out of our computer. In theory, our problems have been resolved, again, and once again we apologize for any inconvenience. Thanks to alert reader Stan Comer in New Orleans who wondered whether we had gone on vacation; his query alerted us to the fact that neither our Christmas issue nor our New Year's issue had been delivered. As a result of this latest problem, last week's Fountain Express was late in delivery. Please let us know of any suspected abuses of the Fountain AfterDark/Fountain Express distribution list. -30-