The American Banjo Museum is inducting Tiki Parlour Recording artist BILL EVANS into the American Banjo Hall of Fame along with RALPH STANLEY, Kristen Scott Benson, Ken Aoki, and Ned Lurecki!
If you haven’t picked up Bill Evans’ “Banjo in America” CD & Movie Set from Tiki Parlour Recordings, do yourself a favor. It is a unique display of various banjo styles and repertoire on an assortment of banjos that will blow your mind. Bill even won the prestigious STEVE MARTIN Banjo Prize just after its release!
Nic Gareiss (he/they; percussive dance, vocals) and Simon Chrisman (he/him; hammer dulcimer) met in 2007 at a fiddle festival in the Californian redwoods and have been exploring sound and movement together ever since. Both innovators within their practices, Nic and Simon bring their unique approaches together for traditional song, percussive dance, instrumental tunes, improvisation and new compositions, engaging interlocking rhythms and dynamic textures. Well-known for his work with the groundbreaking new acoustic string band The Bee Eaters, Simon’s music combines “chamber music’s finely calibrated arrangements with bluegrass’s playful virtuosity and pop music’s melodic resourcefulness.” (Boston Herald) Noted for his”dexterous melding of Irish and Appalachian dance” (New York Times) and described as “the most inventive and expressive step dancer on the scene” (Boston Herald), Nic has performed with many of the luminaries of contemporary traditional music and dance, including The Chieftains, The Gloaming, Phil Wiggins, Liz Carroll, Bruce Molsky, Bill Frisell, Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas. Together, Nic and Simon adventure into the world of time and timbre to create a breathtaking evening-length performance of song, instrumental music, and percussive dance.
In 2007 Tim Kerr was asked to start a session at the then new Rio Ritas . At that time , Tim had put down the electric guitar and was now playing Irish tunes on a button accordion. Since more people played old time in Austin , It was only a matter of months that the session became an all old time session. Tim had been playing an open D guitar in a loose Irish style to accompany the old time tunes but moved on to playing banjo so as not to “confuse” the other guitar players.
Jerry Hagins was a regular at these sessions and was well known in the folk scene here in Austin for his clawhammer banjo playing. The project began in 2012 when Kerr asked Hagins to record some banjo tunes for him to study the clawhammer technique. Kerr laid guitar over the tracks for Jerry so he could have a recording of how Tim used to accompany him. When Morgan Coy heard the recording the next day , he surprised Tim by offering to release them as an LP on his local Monofonus Press label. Their first show was a miniset at the Austin Stringband fest October 2012 as Way Up Yonder Around the Sun.
Since that time , Up Around the Sun has put 3 recordings out and 2 more are coming out this summer /early fall ( 2024). The band prefers playing in nontraditional spaces such as house shows and art galleries, etc… and they have toured Japan playing with their friend Bosco on fiddle. One of the new recordings coming out is the recordings they did with Bosco while in Japan.
You might know Tim from his early days as the guitarist of the influential Austin, TX punk band, Big Boys, and many others (Poison 13, Bad Mutha Goose, Lord High Fixers and Monkeywrench to name a few)
Take Old-Time fiddle tunes played clawhammer banjo style and add an opened-tuned acoustic guitar played in a loose Irish style accompaniment and you get the idea of what this combination sounds like.That contrast, Hagins’ faithful foundation of American mountain music and Kerr’s chord changes with an open tuning, results in a wonderfully meditative combo .One radio DJ called them Windhamhillbilly .
–Old-Time Fiddle Intensive Workshop: Bowing Rhythms, Bow Rocking, and Tunes–
David Bragger will demystify several fiddle tunes with an emphasis on the infectiously rhythmic bowing techniques used by countless, classic old-time fiddlers including Earl Collins (OK), Tommy Jarrell (NC), Melvin Wine (WV), Uncle Bunt Stephens (TN), John Salyer (KY), Mel Durham (IL) and MANY others.
The same bowing elements are also the key to old-time fiddle seconding! This workshop is old-time fiddle “gold” for fiddlers who have been trying to wrap their bows around getting that high-energy danceable “sound.” You will walk away with several tunes and all of the bowing clearly broken down and explained.
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Traditional fiddler David Bragger has become a ubiquitous figure in traditional American folk music. He is a musician, documentarian, UCLA ensemble director, 78rpm record collector, musical festival director and founder of the Old-Time Tiki Parlour. Having learned the “old-time” art of fiddling directly from two generations of traditional masters, David has been passing down these archaic musical secrets and sounds to fiddlers worldwide with an emphasis on BOWING.
His critically-acclaimed debut CD “Big Fancy” instantly put him on the traditional music map and paved the way for his groundbreaking sophomore release. In 2018, he and fiddler Susan Platz released the very first American old-time fiddle duet CD ever recorded: King’s Lament–Old-Time Fiddle Duets. David has also recorded and performed with artists as diverse as Brad Leftwich & Linda Higginbotham, Spencer & Rains, Hog-eyed Man, Rafe Stefanini, Social Distortion, Paula Poundstone, Greg Graffin (Bad Religion), and also provided the banjo and fiddle solos for the western feature film “Gone Are The Days.”
David has also produced, directed and recorded over 30 albums and countless video projects for his independent folk label Tiki Parlour Recordings.
David has written several articles and has been featured in Strings Magazine, Banjo Newsletter, Fiddler Magazine, No Depression, FolkWorks and many other publications.
This Sunday, April 28th at 1PM PST, David Bragger will be kicking off a special episode of Modular World with a live parlour performance video. This episode showcases 18 hand-selected artists from nine countries performing music and sounds on their modular synthesis machines. (Think analog oscillators, patch cables, blinking lights, knobs, sliders, control voltage, sci-fi sounds, and transcendent arpeggios.)
David ‘s video is featured in a stellar lineup of electronic musicians, which also includes experimental electronic artist AND David’s modular synthesis guru Todd Barton.
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Each performer’s instrument will feature modules that were originally conceived in the 1960s/70s by the innovative electronic synth creator Don Buchla. They are currently produced by TipTop Audio and Buchla USA.
If you’re curious about this “other” music that David conjures up when he’s not playing traditional old-time American stringband music 24/7, then we encourage you to watch this upcoming episode. It shot it with multiple cameras at the Old-Time Tiki Parlour, home of Tiki Parlour Recordings. You might really dig it too! Enjoy!
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ARTISTS:
AGAlGonzo, @agalgonzo
Cinematic Laboratory, @cinematiclaboratory
cksample, @cksamplenoodling
David Wunder-Brägger, @david_wunder_bragger
Dexba, @dexbasynth
Ice Locus, @icelocus
Johno Wells, @johno_wells
Kyle Munroe, @kmunroeaudible
little-scale, @littlescale/
Nireus, @nireusofficial/
Noise Buddha, @boutiquepedalnyc
Okin, @okin_musik
Piero Fragola @tiptopaudiofficial
Stazma, @stazma
Synsor, @synsormusic
Todd Barton, @synthtodd
Wavefiler, @wavefiler
WhenIWasWater @wheniwaswater
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A few words about the show for new-comers.
Modular World is modular-centric, but not exclusive. On our shows, you will see many formats of modular synthesizers: Eurorack, Buchla, Serge, Ciat Lonbarde, BugBrand, hybrid systems, midi controllers, computers, SOMA, Elektron, drum machines, acoustic instruments, tape decks, the human voice, and so much more.
This global community is all about making music and maintaining an inclusive, patient and helpful SAFE SPACE for all.
David Bragger & Susan Platz will be at the Greenleaf Old-Time Festival in Braggs, Oklahoma. They’ll be jamming, performing, and teaching Fiddle, Banjo, and Yodeling workshops alongside Spencer & Rains AND The Canote Twins!
