In Praise of Jeff Newsom
Jeff Newsom is a fine harmonica player based in Driggs, Idaho. I met Jeff in August 2001 at the Grand Targhee Bluegrass Festival, where he offered (with no prompting from me) to introduce me to Tony Furtado, with whose band Jeff and I ended up…
Gear Review: About the Bulletizer
The Bulletizer is made by Greg Heumann of Blowsmeaway Productions. In a nutshell, it’s an easy-to-install add-on to a Shure SM57 or 545 mic that creates a Bullet-mic-style face for the mic, which in turn makes the mic behave more like a Bullet mic in…
Great gig with Michael Hurwitz
I had a blast playing a private party on Saturday night with cowboy blues artist Michael Hurwitz. Two-plus hours of blues and cowboy songs old and new. I loved Hurwitz’s lyrics in particular, complex stories about ordinary men and women–new new traditional music. I recorded…
Cowboy Blues tomorrow night
I’m playing a private party tomorrow night with a cowboy blues singer named Michael Hurwitz. It’s the first time I’ve played with him. We had a pretty long conversation on the phone, talking about what we liked and what we play. It turned out that…
One Ton Pig July 27 2010: Don’t Let Me Down
Here’s a live version of Michael Batdorf’s song Don’t Let Me Down from the One Ton Pig show at the Silver Dollar in Jackson, Wyoming on July 27 2010. I’m playing harmonica through a Fireball V mic into a Digitech RP355 into the mixer. I…
I’m playing the Virginia HarmonicaFest in March 2011
I’ve just been booked to perform and teach at the Viriginia HarmonicaFest, March 18-19 2011. Place TBD, but somewhere in Virginia is a good bet… I’m pleased to be working this show, whose previous featured performers include PT Gazell and Chris Turner. Stay tuned for…
Favorite harp video August 21 2010
Toots Thielemans plays “Blusette” at a Swedish awards show, Stevie Wonder joins in at about 3:45. What more need be said?
One Ton Pig, July 27 2010: Good Hearted Woman
Here’s a live version of Merle Haggard’s Good Hearted Woman from the One Ton Pig show at the Silver Dollar in Jackson, Wyoming on July 27 2010. I’m playing harmonica, of course, through a Fireball V mic into a Digitech RP355 into the mixer. I…
The Best Harp Player I Met at SPAH
… is a young Polish musician named Bartosz Leczycki. He played brilliant diatonic harmonica in lots of different styles, always very fresh and original, with very highly developed technique and harmonic conception, on a par with anyone I’ve heard. (I didn’t hear his chromatic playing,…
My two days at SPAH 2010
I attended two days (out of 5) of the 47th Annual SPAH (Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica) meeting in Minneapolis this week. It was not long enough, but I was glad to be able to spend some quality time with a…
