Artist: Zoe & Cloyd
Hometown: Asheville, NC
Song: “Up and At ‘Em”
Album: Songs of Our Grandfathers
Release Date: May 19, 2023
Label: Organic Records
In Their Words: “‘Up and At ‘Em’ is one of my favorite Jim Shumate compositions and the title track to his 1991 album of that name. Jim was always proud that this record made it onto the Library of Congress/American Folklife Center’s list of outstanding folk recordings of that year, as it marked his return to recording after a decade-long hiatus. Since this tune is in a minor key, it really dovetails well with the klezmer material on Songs of Our Grandfathers, especially with Natalya’s added doina intro. We were psyched to have Andy Statman play mandolin on it for the album and he gave it a really cool treatment using the Monroe ‘Get Up John’ tuning for some old school flavor.
“For the video we had Kevin Kehrberg and Ben Krakauer with us and Aaron from Old Home Place Recordings thought it would be fun to have the camera in the middle while we played the tune in a circle, jam style. It’s a different approach that makes you feel like you’re inside the performance and it turned out great!” – John Cloyd Miller
Photo Credit: Sarah Johnston
