The Bluegrass Painter

Annual Bluegrass Concert Celebrates St. Joseph House of Hospitality

 The 14th Annual Bluegrass Concert for Catholic Charities’ St. Joseph House of Hospitality will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 27, at Synod Hall, 125 N. Craig Street in Pittsburgh. 

The concert kicks off a year of festivities commemorating  St. Joseph's 75th anniversary of outreach to the homeless. Founded in 1937 by Father Charles Owen Rice at a time when  one third of Pittsburgh's employable were unemployed, St. Josephs'  provided meals, rooms, and other necessities. At one time, both men's and women's shelters were also operating.

Today, St. Joseph's is located on Bedford Avenue in Pittsburgh's Hill District in the former Roselia Foundling and Maternity Hospital where  59 men ages 50 or older receive a room, three meals a day and supportive services.  In addition to celebrating the 75th anniversary, administrator Paul Dvorchak enters his 25th year
with St. Joseph's. He and his son, Paul Jr. will once again be performing  at the bluegrass concert with the group, Fern Hollow Boys.

"The concert has become a family affair as my son and I have played in every one," Dvorchak said.  "My wife and daughter are integral to helping plan and carry off the event that is just plain fun for all involved, the musicians who donate their time, and the audience who enjoy the music."   

In addition to Fern Hollow Boys, Mac Martin & the Dixie Travelers, Allegheny Drifters, Midnight Drive and Mon River Ramblers will also perform. Tickets are priced at $20.00 and festival seating is available.

For more information about St. Joseph’s or to purchase tickets, call 412-471-0666 ext. 227, or pdvorc@ccpgh.org.

A Red Letter Day

Thursday, July 14, was a big day for the bluegrass painter. Finally got this old computer back from the Mac Doctor and it seems to be running fine. Interesting how one gets to depend on these things that just a short time ago were (at least to me) an annoyance.

This is the first post in a month and a chance to say what a great time we had at the Del McCoury concert this past Thursday in Pittsburgh. I've seen bluegrass shows before and seen Del's band live before but it doesn't get any better...probably a combination of the band, the venue, the enthusiastic audience and the weather.

Del and his band seemed to be having as good a time as the fans...

Our stay in Pittsburgh was brief as my banjo picking grandson, Thomas, and I headed right back to the mountains looking forward to a weekend of our own mountain music.

 

Come on out for a good cause...

We were flattered when Roger Reimann of ZOMA Communications contacted us about artwork for a bluegrass music project to raise funds for the development of the Armed Forces Museum & Archives of the Carolinas.

Support of a tribute to those who have contributed and sacrificed so much for all of us here in the USA is something that needs to be done. We are more than a little proud to be associated with the project and, particularly, with all of the individuals who are making it happen.

The coming event is being held at VFW Post 2324 in Indian Trail, NC, just outside Charlotte, on Saturday, January 29. If you are at all in the area come on out and support this worthy project. Good music, lots of fun and fellowship...check the details of the entertainers, time, place, etc on this poster.

Your old bluegrass painter plans to be there...come on out and say hello.

John McCutcheon, Master Entertainer

We were honored to be a part of the recent John McCutcheon concert, sponsored by Garrett Lakes Arts Festival, on August 7th.  GLAF invited us to hang a display of music art in the college gallery for the reception that followed John McCutcheon's stellar performance.  What super talent.  

John McCutcheon, meeting the folks at the after reception.  

 Some of the art that we hung in the gallery. 

Petunia's favorite..."Faded Love".  I don't think she'll ever let me sell it. 

Jeff Reitz and I.  Jeff was the winner of the raffle.  

  

Back Home Again

Ireland is delightful... We got back to the States Monday night. Great trip. Good music and craic in the pubs of Kinsale, Kenmare and Ennis; and, a bunch of sketches and photos to develop into my next Eire art series of paintings.

And, not the least of it are the new friends we made in each of these towns and their surrounds. My prime motivation for this trip was to learn more about traditional Irish fiddle technique. Couldn't have had a better teacher than Gill Newlyn of Kerry Fiddles, an enterprise run by Gill and her husband, Chris Liddle. They not only instructed in Irish music but introduced us to some fine musicians and singers in the Kenmare area.

Here's Eddie, Chris, me and Gill in Gill and Chris' home studio. Quite talented people these Kerry Fiddle folks. Gill is an accomplished performer in traditional Irish music as well as jazz and contemporary. Chris teaches guitar, writes music, performs as both a singer and instrumentalist and records. They are very popular as a duo. 

It was hard to leave Kenmare. But, I will put the return here on my list of highest priorities. We had the pleasure of enjoying some fine evenings at Crowley's Bar, run by Peter Crowley. Peter is a real fan, picker and singer of down home country music. Wednesday night it is all country music in Peter's Bar and we could only say thanks for them letting us join in.  These folks and places will be showing up in the new Irish paintings and I'll post them here. 

Sketches of Ireland

The bluegrass painter is stretching a bit...but not too much. The core of my painting inventory has been built for a great part on my passion for Appalachian music and things related to it....it is reflected in the various series on our website (appalachianstudio.com) and has been the base of our gallery exhibitions.

So much of our Appalachian heritage (and, consequently music) is rooted in the music of Ireland and Scotland. Consequently, adding some of my paintings that are based on sketches made in Ireland seems to be a natural step for the Bluegrass Painter. I currently have a series of paintings of Ireland that I continue to add-to These are watercolor sketches (about 9" X 12")  . At the same time, as time permits I'm using these sketches as a base for paintings of larger formats...both on conventional paper and on canvas. I'm going to use this blog to roll them out and I invite your comments...yea or nay.

This, The Last Rose of Summer, is the first of the series and is based on a session at a pub in Adare. I apologize to the owner and the local music shop owner who invited me to sit-in for a lapse in memory regarding names. It was a fun evening. One memorable moment was when one of the musicians asked me, "tell me friend, do ya know any Johnny Cash" from which point the session turned country and bluegrass. A real surprise for this yank.

Appalachian Festival and More

This past Saturday was a red letter day for me. Our band for the day,  Bloomington Hill, was privileged to be one of the mountain music groups playing at the Appalachian Festival on the campus of Frostburg State University.   It was a pleasure to have Randy Thomas, Eric and Wayne Weimer, Dave Funkhouser and Walter Dixon with me on stage

 This a well run event that showcases the mountain culture of western MD and surrounds. Thanks to Kara Rogers Thomas for inviting us and Greg Latta and the sound crew at the Sowers Stage for making it easy. We were flattered to be included with so many performers of significant stature. Saw Karen Artis, bassist and vocalist with the Allegheny Drifters. Also,  Pat Skipper on fiddle and Jim Rayner on mandolin, who perform as part of the Broken Glass and Rusty Hinges, were nice enough to sit through our set along with their wives.

Loretta Hummel, accompanied by Robert Broadwater and Bill Nelson, preceded us on stage and was kind enough to extend an invitation to an afternoon pickin' party at her home near Grantsville. I went and had a real good time although I had to leave just as things were getting going for another commitment.

I didn't get any photos, darn! But here are two watercolors that seem to capture the day.

Hope we get invited back to both of these events.

Mixing Visual and Musical Arts Makes for a Fun Evening at Garrett Arts Council

The Garrett County Arts Council (Garrett County, MD) combined their annual membership meeting on June 30 with their summer show opening at the Gallery Shop in Oakland, MD. I was flattered to be featured in the gallery and happy to see that some of my picking buddies were there to add some down home mountain music to the event. 

The evening was orchestrated by director Karen Reckner and it was her idea to add the pickers to the bill. Musicians included Pat Skipper on fiddle, Roger Kitzmiller on banjo, Bill Brenneman on bass, Jim Rayner on mandolin, Harold fike on guitar and Dave Bittinger on guitar as well. All of these guys can sing. The music was only for the opening reception but the art will be on display until August 8 so if you are in the area please stop by.  Thanks to Fabian Green for the photos. 

 

 

 

 

Fun Night at the Sagebrush Round-up

John Martin and his band, Rough Creek Sessions, made their second trip to the Sagebrush Round-Up in Bunner's Ridge, WV, this past Saturday night. And, I thank John for letting me be a part of it. I always have a good time at this unique den of down home country music.

The Sagebrush Round-up is also home of the West Virginia Country Music Hall of Fame and presents a variety of country style entertainment. The featured band this past weekend was a group called Silverado from nearby Fairmont. Not anything close to bluegrass, their electrified country was an interesting counterpoint to John's more traditional style. It seemed like the audience enjoyed both.

 

John brought Val Drummond on resonator guitar and that added a real nice touch.

 

Allegheny Drifters Album Reviewed in Bluegrass Unlimited

It was nice to see that our good friends, the Allegheny Drifters, had their latest CD release titled "Can't Wait" reviewed in the February issue of Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine. Check out the write-up on page 46. These folks are real pro musicians and make some great harmonies.