This morning we launched the woodchopper whirligig into the skies above 27th Street. Now let’s swing with Woody Herman with Bill Chase, performing The Woodchopper’s Ball. This tune was one of my father’s favourites. His friend Norm used to come over the house and they’d… Read More
We had so much fun square dancing when we were at Merlefest, we really wanted to do some up here in Toronto as well. The first opportunity we found was a dance called the Hogtown Hoedown that took place tonight in a church hall in… Read More
I had a request for a sound sample of the new Heavy Duty Brake Fluid Banjo so I recorded a short video. Notwithstanding the limitations of my playing, I think it gives you a good idea what this machine sounds like. The tune is Greasy… Read More
Here’s another Canadian old time gem, featuring two of our great fiddlers, Graham and Eleanor Townsend.. I’m amazed at how much fantastic music we have immediate access to these days…
I stumbled across Winse Saunders on the YouTube machine this evening. I don’t know anything about him except he’s from Newfoundland and he squeezes the hell out of that accordion of his. If any readers know anything about Mr. Saunders, please comment.
We saw Jerron Paxton, or “Blind Boy” Paxton as he is sometimes billed, at Merlefest. He sure knows his way around a song!
Time for a Daily Dose. Let’s start at the start – with Clarence Ashley. Nice interview segment with this one… Here are Sutton, Holt and Coleman…this version starts with a great little story about Doc Watson. The Coo Coo has a lot of legs and… Read More
Somebody entered “she likes kielbassa better than fish” into a search engine and came up with this blog. You asked for it buddy, you got it. It’s polka time on 27th St. Here are Buffalo’s own Scrubby and Trojak But while we’re on a Polish… Read More
One of the highlights of Merlefest was hearing the Del McCoury Band and the Preservation Hall Jazz band play together at the Watson Stage. Just to give you a taste of what happens when you throw these characters together, here they are on Letterman… Great… Read More
There is one more group we really loved at Merlefest that I wanted to highlight. Unfortunately I didn’t get a good photograph nor any video. The group is the Kruger Brothers. They are known as a trio, with Jens Kruger on the banjo and his… Read More
27th Street 