Tag: joe walsh

Camp Tunefox Immerses New Musicians in Bluegrass and Creativity

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Camp Tunefox strives to bring out the creativity in aspiring bluegrass musicians, even those who are just starting on guitar, banjo, or mandolin. This year’s camp takes place on May 15-19 in Montreat, North Carolina (right outside of Asheville), with teachers such as Danny Barnes, Wes Corbett, Grant Gordy, Clay Hess, Joe Walsh, and Mike Compton. Tunefox’s Bennett Sullivan answered a few questions by email about the upcoming event.

What sets Camp Tunefox apart from other instrument camps?

I’d say our focus on creativity and musicality over pure technique is what makes Camp Tunefox different. The schedule for the camp is organized using daily themes so each day all of the campers will have a focus that they can practice and discuss together. The teachers will teach their material with the theme in mind and the small group rehearsals will be aligned with it as well.

Tunefox is an app company and we have online content that will help support the students’ learning at camp. We’ll be launching a new feature and the campers will be the first ones to experience it in May.

How do you decide upon the instructors?

We wanted teachers that reflected both the tradition of bluegrass and pushing the envelope. Most of all, the teachers at camp are creators at heart. They’re people that have studied with the great bluegrass artists, either with their records or in person, and they bring that knowledge and passion with them to every gig, teaching event, or recording session.

I also am looking forward to learning from each of the teachers. As a professional musician, I know more than anyone the value of hearing a different perspective, be it musical or academic.

Your 2019 theme is Cultivating Individual Creativity. What does that mean to you?

It’s what I strive for every day! These days I’m writing more music in an attempt to further discover who I am. The creative process is a vulnerable, yet revealing space. At Camp I want the students to be inspired to look in themselves to not only technically play music but play it with intention. Bluegrass can be intimidating and when you label yourself as a ‘bluegrass musician’ it seems you have to play a lot of notes really quickly. I want the students to leave camp knowing themselves a little bit better. And I’d like that for myself, too.

What can a someone who is new to the instrument expect to learn at Tunefox?

[New players] will be immersed in an experience where they will learn foundational concepts like rhythm and chords but also be encouraged to create, improvise, and explore what music means to them. I think beginners can do this from the start. We’ve all listened to music before and we have a taste of what we like and dislike. So when you approach learning an instrument, you bring that discernment with you. It’s important to learn the fundamentals but when it comes to choosing songs to learn, pick what you dig most. Eventually, this will translate into ‘your sound.’

What is it like, from your perspective, to see these beginners develop their ability?

It’s exciting. The smallest breakthrough by a student gives me so much joy. All of the teachers resonate with this as well. Camp Tunefox will be a hands-on experience, giving students even more of an opportunity to make these breakthroughs with the guidance of experts at hand.

 

Photo courtesy of Tunefox

 

Discover more about Camp Tunefox and the Tunefox app at tunefox.com

MIXTAPE: Nate Sabat’s Quiet, Poignant & Powerful Playlist

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Something completely magical happens when musicians find the perfect blend of darkness, quietness, and intensity. It almost feels like the bottom drops out of the music, guiding the listener’s ears into the void of beautiful nothingness below. I still can’t pin it, how such a soft sound can feel so immeasurably huge, like it somehow contains the entire universe within itself. It’s something I’ve grown to love over the past few years, and I hope these songs will touch you as they’ve touched me.

P.S: The tracks on this list have been responsible for the majority of my tears over the past few years, so get your tissues ready. — Nate Sabat

“Humble Me” – Norah Jones

The raw story mixed with the incredibly honest delivery of the lyric always gets me with this one. Norah at her absolute best. I also particularly love the line “it never rains when you want it to.” I feel like it sticks out in a really, really good way.

“Pink Champagne” – Kathleen Edwards

The combination of Kathleen Edwards’ brilliant songwriting and Justin Vernon’s production approach are in full force on this track. Since hearing this song I’ve made it one of my life goals to not feel like this on my wedding day.

“Unless” – Hawktail

I love the winding, lush melody of this tune, paired with the beautifully shot video at Nashville’s Downtown Presbyterian Church. And also, I like, TOTALLY geek out at Paul’s bass shredding. Ya know, as a fellow bass player and all.

“Louise” – Daniel Romano

I first heard Daniel Romano on WUMB, Boston’s premier folk music radio station, with his song “Time Forgot (To Change My Heart).” Since then I’ve dug into a ton of his stuff, and particularly love his record Modern Pressure, an ode to the psychedelic sounds of yesteryear.

“Dreams of Nectar” – Abigail Washburn

This track is so cool and collage-like. I’m such a sucker for horns, so was instantly pulled in from the start the first time I heard it.

“Turning Away” – Crooked Still

I love how exposed Greg Liszt’s banjo part is on this track. The track is so short, but also the exact right length.

“Bonden & fan / Leffes polska” – Hazelius Hedin

This pair of tunes from Swedish duo Hazelius Hedin are so dark, so expansive, and so, so rich. I always picture a dark Swedish forest after an intense rainfall when I listen to this one.

“Your Long Journey” – Sam Amidon

This song, written by Rosa Lee and Doc Watson, has been beautifully reimagined by the great Sam Amidon. In my opinion he’s one of the greatest interpreters of folk and traditional music on the scene today, so definitely check out more of his stuff if you haven’t already.

“Harbour Hawk” – Becca Stevens

Becca Stevens’ music is some of the most interesting stuff I’ve heard to date. Constant texture and groove changes are tied together with impeccably crafted lyrical content. I love the opening riff of this song, and how it re-enters throughout in such a smooth way.

“00000 Million” – Bon Iver

One day last summer I was in a dark place, so naturally I listened to Bon Iver, specifically the entirety of 22, A Million. This song, the final one of the record, was so comforting. I remember being amazed at how powerful music can be, that it could somehow reach into my mind and make me feel better.

“Closer” – Joe Walsh

Man, Joe wrote an absolute gem. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard a melody so simple and profound. I told him how much I loved this tune, and that I always thought of the name as meaning “closer to someone or something,” but he told me that it’s actually “the closer of the album,” as it is actually the closer of his latest album, Borderland. Go figure.

Blitzen Trapper Head All Across This Land

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Since they came on the scene 15 years ago, Blitzen Trapper have made music that blends country and folk ideas with an arena rock attitude. Their newest album, All Across This Land, cuts a broad musical swath through American music, from Springsteen's Jersey to Michael Stanley's Midwest (with even a bit of Jolly Old England in the mix, too). 

You and the band are on road as we speak, right? Somewhere between Austin and Alabama?

Yep, that’s right.

Is it still fun being on the road?

Yeah, the shows are fun.

People are reacting enthusiastically?

Yeah, definitely.

I guess you could say you’re all across this land to promote All Across This Land. [Laughs]

Yeah, pretty much. [Laughs]

Did some of these songs get worked out on the road before they were recorded?

No, no. I wrote them all during a spell when we weren’t touring at all. I’m always trying to write songs, here and there. This is just the kind of group that I came up with, I liked, and they all kind of went together. It just kind of seemed like a record.

Are there bands that have influenced you over the years that were in the back of your mind when you were writing the songs?

I guess I wanted to give more of a kind of classic Americana approach. Older Americana, like Springsteen and Neil Young. Just kind of that eclectic guitar, rock, folk mixture.

“Let the Cards Fall” reminds me of Wilco. Tell me how that song came about.

That one is sort of hard to remember, honestly. I think I had the chorus first. That one has a very personal creative ethos to it. The chorus is kind of just me talking, you know? The verses are images from Oregon — all the wildness. The whole song just kind of came one day.

That one has images of Oregon, but it feels like you’re headed down the road somewhere in this lush, green part of Tennessee or something. That’s the way it sounds to me.

Lyrically, that whole first verse is about a forest fire coming your way.

I love the guitar and vocal textures in “Mystery and Wonder.” Tell me about that one, from a recording standpoint. How was it put together?

That one was initially acoustic guitar, bass, and drums. Then we layered on other guitars. The guitars in that one are pretty ambient. It’s straightforward, as far as that goes. There are keyboards and piano that comes in here and there. It wanted it to sound really lush and full.

I think the whole second side of the record has that sort of feel to it. The first side has got some nice textures; it kind of teases you. The second side gets real big and wall-of-sound-ish. “Nights Were Made for Love” reminds me of listening to the radio when I was a kid. Kid Leo on WMMS used to play Michael Stanley all the time, it kind of reminds me of that sort of thing.

Yeah, for sure.

The title cut has a glam-rock-ish edge to it. It reminds me a little bit of Edgar Winter during the 1970s, when he was really, really popular. [Laughs] How does that sound to you?

That one is more Thin Lizzy.

Thin Lizzy?

The guitar on it, yeah. The riffs and guitar on that are pretty great. I think that Joe Walsh was a big influence on that one.

Well, if you put Thin Lizzy and Joe Walsh together, you kind of have Edgar Winter. [Laughs]

Right, yeah.

At least when he was doing “Frankenstein” and when he was a popular artist, as opposed to when he was doing “Tobacco Road” and [Edgar Winter’s] White Trash and all that sort of business. Which songs, of the new ones, are the most fun to play on the road right now and why?

I think “Cadillac Road” and “Love Grow Cold” are pretty great live. And “Nights Were Made for Love,” those three are probably my favorites to play live.

Are you working in a lot of the older stuff with the newer stuff?

Oh, yeah.

Well, you’re coming to Portland at the end of November. Is that kind of a homecoming show for you?

Yeah, that’s the last show of the tour.

Are you going to go back out in the Spring and hit up other parts of the country?

Yeah, I think we’re going overseas in the Spring. We might do some smaller market stuff in the Spring, as well.

Photo by Jason Quigley

The Essential Dan Fogelberg Playlist

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Contrary to what it sounds like on his records, Dan Fogelberg wasn’t born in Colorado. He was born in Peoria, IL, the son of a classically trained pianist mom and a high school band director dad (the person who inspired Fogelberg’s hit, “Leader of the Band”). As a teenager, Fogelberg played in the requisite Beatles cover bands before trying his hand at the folk music circuit around Chicago during the early '70s. It was there, at the famed Red Herring Café, that REO Speedwagon’s manager and future label exec, Irving Azoff, discovered him and signed him to a record deal.

Transplanted in Nashville, Fogelberg tracked his first record, Home Free, with Norbert Putnam behind the wheel. It pretty well tanked commercially (though has since gone platinum) but it encouraged Epic Records to stick with him and assign him a second session (with the strange bedfellow Joe Walsh as producer). Souvenirs — recorded with a cadre of L.A. session players plus Graham Nash and guys from both America and the Eagles — reached the Top 20, the single “Part of the Plan” made the Top 40, and Fogelberg’s career achieved liftoff.

Starting with Souvenirs, Fogelberg recorded five straight multi-platinum albums, wrapped up the '80s with a pair of platinum records, and became the unofficial voice of the Colorado snows (second only to John Denver). His 1985 album, High Country Snows, is a fine record of songs in the bluegrass tradition and, mixed in with his solo albums, he tracked two sets with jazz flautist Tim Weisberg, the first of which — Twin Sons from Different Mothers — is considered an acoustic classic.

Though some would categorize the late singer as nothing more than an MOR pablum pusher — which was true on a few occasions — Fogelberg was a well-loved performer, a respected songwriter among his peers, and a guy who made a melody sing. Herein, we offer an essential playlist of his best songs, a mix of those pop radio classics and some deep album cuts.

Photo courtesy of DanFogelberg.com