MUSIC Forum at canaaninstitute.org

[Mike_L]

Fiddlers! is the oldest celebration dedicated to the Fiddling Traditions of the Catskill Mountains and North America.

FIDDLERS! 18, Sunday, October 9, 2011, noon-7:30pm
at the Roxbury Arts Center’s Hilt Kelly Hall

The Fiddlers! festival, an annual fall event in Roxbury since Hilt Kelly Hall was dedicated in 1994, celebrates the artistry of musicians whose playing styles originate from family heritage and community tradition. Hilt Kelly taught nearly every Catskill fiddler and had broad influence in the fiddle styles that eventually evolved in the Catskills.



Fiddling has existed in Canada, as it has in the United States, since the time of the earliest European settlements in the New World. New York fiddling doesn’t have a style you can label like Cajun, Cape Breton or Klezmer, but the style is very much associated with square dancing and square dance calling. Fiddlers! 18 pays homage to its New York heritage with a square dance called by Hilt Kelly from 12:30 until 1:30pm preceded by a short square dance lesson beginning at noon. The dance is followed by a concert (2-5:15pm) featuring Hilt Kelly and the Sidekicks, The Tremperskill Boys, George Wilson with Selma Kaplan and Lissa Scheckenburger with Bethany Waickman.

Fiddlers! 18 wraps up the day with an All Star Jam session (5:30-7pm) open to all, so if you play an instrument, bring it along and join us! We’ll have great food and drink available from noon until 7pm. You’re invited to join us for a wonderful early fall day filled with great music, plentiful food and a toe tapping celebration of traditional fiddle playing.

Tickets are $15 for adults, $12. for seniors, $7.50 for children under 12 and FREE for all Firemen. Just show your credentials at the door for free admission, food and drink, all day long. The Roxbury Arts Group would like to thank our local Firemen in this small way for giving, and doing, so much for our flood ravaged communities in the wake of Hurricanes Irene and Lee.

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Michael Ludgate - forum administrator
The Canaan Institute http://www.canaaninstitute.org/

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[Mike_L]

When Hilton was 5 1/2 years old, his parents purchased a tin fiddle for him for Christmas. They did so because he was very interested in playing his fathers fiddle which was too big for him to handle. Hilton tuned his fiddle to his father's fiddle and, in a very short time, began playing tunes on it. When he was 6 years old, his great uncle, Durward Kelly, gave him a three-quarter size fiddle.

As a child, Hilton couldn't talk very clearly, but could whistle nearly every tune he heard. His Father, Carson Kelly, would say "I can't remember how that tune goes, Hilt, could you whistle it for me?" Hilton played the tunes he heard his father play. Carson was a was a square dance caller and fiddler just as Hilt's grandfather, Ward Kelly, was.

In the fall of 1937, at the age of 12, Hilton began playing his fiddle at school dances, house parties and taught the neighborhood kids how to square dance. After his 15th birthday, August 1940, Hilt began playing with a local band and 'calling off' all the square dances around.
The fiddle Hilt plays today is the early 1880's fiddle that was passed down to him by his grandfather.

In 1978 the New York State Council on the Arts decided that old-time fiddling and square dancing should be preserved. Hilt Kelly was asked to come to Cooperstown and work to bring them back and promote fiddle and square dance in the surrounding areas of Upstate New York.
Hilt joined several fiddling organizations but, eventually, had to devote most of his time to the round and square dance band he'd organized.
On October 9th, 1994, the Roxbury Arts Group decided to honor Hilt Kelly and his lifelong contribution to keeping traditional fiddle music and playing alive by dedicating their performance hall to him. That was the beginning of the Fiddlers! festival, now in it's 18th year.
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Michael Ludgate - forum administrator
The Canaan Institute http://www.canaaninstitute.org/

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[Mike_L]

‘Red Molly’ Serenades the Catskills
Saturday, May 19, 2012 – 7:30 pm
At the Roxbury Arts Center, 5025 Vega Mountain Road, Roxbury, NY 12474
Tickets: $17 adults, $15 seniors, under 12 free • Reservations 607-326-7908

The Roxbury Arts Group is excited to announce an evening at the Roxbury Arts Center with the multi- talented and much loved, NY-based trio ‘Red Molly’ on Saturday, May 19, 2012 at 7:30 pm. From the start, ‘Red Molly’ garnered rapt attention with their lively, engaging stage performances. Known for gorgeous a cappella ballads, bluegrass-tinged folk and a touch of jazzy western swing, all done up in 'Red Molly’s' trademark three-part harmonies, they moved quickly from NYC coffeehouses to the festival circuit in less than two years, winning notices for their performances at Merlefest, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, and NPR’s Mountain Stage. Tickets to the show, which is sure to sell-out, are going fast. Get yours by calling 607-326-7908. Ticket prices are $17 for adults and $15 for seniors and children under 12.

Band members Laurie MacAllister, Abbie Gardner and Molly Venter showcase their songwriting expertise with three solid original tunes on the recently released ‘Light in the Sky’ CD and also perform gems by Robert Johnson, Gillian Welch and Otis Blackwell. On the tune ‘Oh My Michael ‘, co-written with Jonathan Byrd, Gardner’s dobro adds to the song's haunted sound, while her poignant lead vocal is remarkable for its subdued emotion. Abbie and her father Herb Gardner wrote ‘Hello Goodbye’, a fun, funky tune with a hint of ragtime. The group's harmonies suggest the 40's swing of The Andrews Sisters. Venter's ‘Hold It All’ is a grown-up lullaby, both graceful and insightful. Gardner tweaks Johnson's ‘Come On in My Kitchen’ by adding a bridge that ups the song's emotional ante and by rewriting the lyric to make it a story of women supporting each other.

The group also puts their stamp on a collection of fine cover tunes. The album's opener, ‘Dear Someone’, is a Gillian Welch/David Rawlings tune, given an impressive a cappella reading. The ladies tip their hat twice to singer songwriter Mark Erelli. With Laurie on lead vocals, they deliver a stunning cover of Mark's power ballad ‘Ghost’, and a fun rendition of his tongue-in-cheek "Why Should I Cry". Buddy and Julie Miller's ‘Does My Ring Burn Your Finger’ gets an acoustic honky tonk treatment with MacAllister's teardrop-in-the-throat vocal. ‘Fever’, the Otis Blackwell/Eddie Cooley classic, features Venter at her finest in a performance that is both cool and sultry, supported by Craig Akin's upright bass and the trio's snapping fingers. In addition to Gardner and Akin, ‘Red Molly’ is joined in the studio by Ben Wittman on percussion and Jake Armerding on fiddle and mandolin.

"The album title [‘Light In The Sky’] could be about the sun, the stars, or looking forward to a bright future." Venter adds: "We're having so much fun as a band right now. We're excited to see what happens next!" We couldn’t agree more!

Listen for Red Molly on ‘RAG Time’, ‘Mostly Folk’ and ‘Crackle’ throughout April, May and beyond; and listen to Terry Doyle’s interview with ‘Red Molly’ live on WIOX 91.3FM (and streaming at www.wioxradio.org) at 5pm Saturday, May 19, 2012. You can get a taste of 'Red Molly' on their web site at www.redmolly.com, and purchase ‘Light in the Sky’ as well as other releases and merchandise at the show on May 19.

The Roxbury Arts Group Presents
RED MOLLY
At the Roxbury Arts Center, 5025 Vega Mountain Road, Roxbury, NY 12474
Tickets: $17 adults, $15 seniors and children under 12 • Reservations 607-326-7908
www.roxburyartsgroup.org

This evening was made possible in part through NYSCA,
A. Lindsay and Olive B. O’Connor Foundation, the Robinson Broadhurst Foundation,
the Tiannaderrah Foundation and individuals like you.
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Michael Ludgate - forum administrator
The Canaan Institute http://www.canaaninstitute.org/

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