FEBRUARY 2024
In January we got a running start with some amazing shows with The Duo (myself and fellow Artistworks professor Mike Marshall) and the incrdible string orchestra, The Berklee World Strings, led by inprovising string legend Eugene Friesen.
February got off to a banging, or rather, sawing start with the creation of a new recording by myself and renowned fiddler Bruce Molsky!
Presided over by the brilliant engineer Dave Sinko, this is a raw and very rambunctious duet record of all fiddles and some singing. Very excited about this project! Apparently we already have some festival appearances on the books for this summer, and hope to have the recording out by May 2024. [see more]
Also a DEBUT (sort of) of my 3-movement Symphonic work for the wonderful West Virginia duo, fiddler Jenny Allinder and guitarist/banjoist Jim Mullins, entitled Suite For Nelle. I got to appear at a lovely reception in Charleston, WV with beautiful food, meet and play music with Jim and Jenny ( and also banjo legend Adam Hurt) and play a recorded demo of this 3 movement piece which we’re hoping that some West Virginia or other regional orchestra will perform. I received a generous grant from the Nelle Ratrie Chilton Foundation to write this piece for full orchestra, using traditional West Virginia fiddle tunes and some of Jenny’s own beautiful compositions. You can hear the orchestra demo using London Symphony samples and my live rendition of Jenny and Jim’s solo parts here.
And finally… Wintergrass, up in the land of my birth, where dreams become reality for a magic moment. So much great music at this festival!
You can visit Wintergrass’ facebook site for photos, or Tony Trischka’s Facebook site for a video of a raging torrent of fiddles there at the fester.
Going to Sweden in March to play music with Bruce Molsky and the Stinnerboms! Come on out.
Spring will include Mr Sun performances at the amazing Big Ears Musivc Festival in Knoxville, Tennessee, and at Delfest in Maryland or somewhere