On Friday, May 10th, The High 48s, The Roe Family Singers and Becky Schlegel will celebrate Mother’s Day weekend with a triple bill at the O’Shaughnessy Education Center Auditorium on the campus of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul.

The 48s will be hosting the event and will be playing songs from our new CD You Asked for It, a collection of our most-requested cover songs (including, yes, Orange Blossom Special and I Will Whisper Your Name). It’s a limited-run CD and is selling briskly, so stop on down to the show and get your copy while you can!

We’ll be joined by our good fried Becky Schlegel who has moved back to Minnesota after working out of Nashville for the last few years. She’ll be performing some songs from her new CD Opry Lullaby, which was produced by Grammy-winning producer Randy Kohrs (Jim Lauderdale) at his Nashville studio and sounds amazing. Eric will be sitting in with Becky, and maybe if we ask her really nicely, she’ll play a few songs with the 48s.

We’re also THRILLED to have the The Roe Family Singers, jug band par excellence and winners of a heap of awards, including the much sought-after McKnight Foundation Fellowship and title of World’s Best Jug Bend in the Battle of the Jug Bands.

Here are the details:

WHERE: O’Shaughnessy Education Auditorium

University of St. Thomas
2115 Summit Avenue
Saint Paul, MN

WHEN: Show starts at 7pm.

TICKETS: $12 adults. $8 moms and students. Kids free. No advance sales.

Check out the Event on Facebook

Related show

• Project: The High 48s
• Date: Friday, May 10th 2013
• Time: 7:00pm
• City: The High 48s in St. Paul, Minnesota
• Venue: O’Shaugnessy Educational Center Auditorium
• Address: 2115 Summit Avenue
• Country: United States
• Admission: $12 (adult) $8 (moms and students) Kids are free
• Age restrictions: All Ages
• Notes: With The Roe Family Singers and Becky Schlegel
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As a tribute to this recording (and an excuse to bust out my green screen again) I’ve arranged one of my favorite tracks, “Skating” for the banjo and created a little video greeting card to send out to the world. If you enjoy it, please leave a comment or Like/Pin/Tweet it to your world, I would appreciate it!

And for you fellow banjo players out there, I have tabbed out my arrangement so you can impress your co-workers at your upcoming office holiday party.

I hope you have a great holiday season!

Anthony

“Skagit railroad crewman, 1929″ by Seattle Municipal Archives Archives (c) Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

This is why I am truly overjoyed to have been chosen for this showcase based on a song that I wrote about my own grandfather and his time working on the Great Northern Railway. Unfortunately, he didn’t live long enough for me to really get to know him, but by all accounts, he had a very hard life. The son of Irish immigrants, he was pulled out of school at an early age to work on a neighbors farm to bring in more money for his family. He eventually got a job for the Great Northern Railway, working at a St. Paul rail yard, but after years of service he suffered a permanent injury and was forced to quit. He turned to the bottle, which only made things worse for him and his family. His story does not have a happy ending.

Although these stories and my few memories paint a fairly dark picture of my grandfather, I have also heard bits and pieces over the years about a younger, sober man that could be very kind and loving, who had a big laugh and a wonderful singing voice. Although I cannot pretend to really know either version of him, I understand the complexities of the human condition and would like to believe that he did the best he could with what he had. What I can say for certain, is that he worked very hard to raise a family and help them move ahead in this world and, if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have the opportunities that I have today, including playing music and writing songs. So I go to Nashville this week to honor this opportunity and the man that helped make it possible.

Here is the rough demo version of the song that I submitted for the showcase, just me and a guitar:

A recent live version:

And here are the lyrics of the song:

The Great Northern Railroad

by Anthony Ihrig

I punch the clock at dawn and work the rail yard all day long
I walk them tracks with a crooked back whistlin’ a worried song
At the end of every day, I head to the bar and stay
‘Till all my aches and sorrows have been drowned

On that Great Northern Railroad, I’ve lived life and grown old
And I’ve left my dreams behind
But perhaps on account of me my kids will never have to see
Life on that Great Northern Railroad line

Time has had its way with me, and so has the company
Now I walk with a cane and live with the pain of my injuries
I once laid these tracks with pride, for a train I’d never ride
And I guess that’s going to be my legacy

On that Great Northern Railroad, I’ve lived life and grown old
And I’ve left my dreams behind
But perhaps on account of me my kids will never have to see
Life on that Great Northern Railroad line

I care for my family so, but reckon they’ll never know
Unless I lay that bottle down I don’t let it show
I’m just a lovin’, angry man, unhappy with the good Lord’s plan
And I pray I’ll be forgiven when I go

On that Great Northern Railroad, I’ve lived life and grown old
And I’ve left my dreams behind
But perhaps on account of me my kids will never have to see
Life on that Great Northern Railroad line
But perhaps on account of me my grandkids will never have to see
Life on that Great Northern Railroad line

Photo by Jeanne Christopher

We went entirely acoustic for the Minnesota Bluegrass & Old-Time Music Association’s 32nd annual Festival in early August. It was a real honor to be invited to play this great bluegrass festival and share the stage with bands like Chris Jones & The Nightdrivers (who were great),  Robin & Linda Williams & Their Fine Group and  The Larry Stephenson Band. The weather was absolutely perfect and we had an amazing time!

We decided to pull more from the traditional side of our repertoire for our sets, so Jed left his pedal steel at home and brought his fiddle instead! We cut loose on some traditional numbers like a twin fiddle version of Bill Monroe’s “Roanoke” and Dan sang an inspired version of the Hazel Dickens classic, “Wont You Come And Sing for Me.” I also dusted off   “Great Northern Railroad,” in preparation for the 2012 IBMA Songwriter Showcase in Nashville next month (more on that in an upcoming post).

Preparing to Film Tombigbee River/Gum Tree Canoe

The highlight of the festival for me took place far from the main stage, on Old Wash Machine Hill Saturday evening. My friend Craig Evans, a great old-time banjo player and the creator of the wonderful Conversations with North American Banjo Builders video series, organized a sing-along jam as a capstone for his video project. You can watch it here. I think it captures the essence of what bluegrass festivals are all about: camping, jamming, sing-alongs, potlucks… community.

And in case you’re interested, here’s some footage from my Almost Entirely Acoustic Ensemble’s Friday afternoon set:

Introducing Eloise Ihrig

Hello friends, for those that follow this music news blog, I wanted to let you that I haven’t fallen off the face of the Earth, but rather have been on a “baby sabbatical,” spending as much time as possible with our new baby daughter: Eloise Mary Ihrig.  I’m excited to get back on the musical horse in August with some exciting gigs with my Almost Acoustic Ensemble, including our debut festival appearance at the Minnesota Bluegrass & Old-Time Music Festival  and some great gigs with The High 48s Bluegrass Band, including the Red House Records Barnfest. Check out my shows page for a complete listing.

grass is greener - Kai Schreiber (c) CC BY-SA 2.0

Continuing with the theme of my last post, I’d like to point out that the Minnesota Bluegrass and Old-Time Music Association (MBOTMA) is aware that all Grass Seeds eventually grow up and that the grass doesn’t always stay purely blue. In fact, Minnesota is starting to gain a national reputation for being a hotbed of hybrid and progressive forms of stringband music with bands like Trampled by Turtles and Pert Near Sandstone touring the country, building a name for our local acoustic scene and introducing banjos, mandolins and fiddles to a new generation of fans. As these new fans become interested in the roots of the music (and perhaps even want to pick up an instrument or start a band themselves) it is important that there are resources available to help them learn and grow and that there is a community willing to embrace them. This often means meeting these budding ‘grassers in their natural habitat – college campuses, bars, night clubs etc. That is where the MBOTMA Underground comes in.

Roe Family Singers will perform at the MBOTMA Underground kick-off event

According the Facebook event page for their upcoming kick-off/fundraiser at the 331 Club in NE Minneapolis:

“MBOTMA Underground is a subset of MBOTMA designed to filter new members into the organization through events around the metro area, the festivals, and beyond! We would eventually love to have monthly or bimonthly concerts (where we can actually pay our artsits!), jam sessions on college campuses, a presence at MBOTMA festivals (think: “Brought to You By…MBOTMA Underground!”), and much more.”

Wild Goose Chase Cloggers will perform at the MBOTMA Underground kick-off event

If you’d like to be a part of this exciting new movement or just show your support, you can do so this Saturday, April 28th 2012 from 5pm-9pm at the 331 Club in Minneapolis, where they will be holding their kick-off event and a fund raiser. Here are more details from their press release:

Saturday, April 28, 2012, 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM, Minneapolis MN: MBOTMA Underground Kickoff Concert, 331 Club (331 13th Ave NE). Roe Family Singers, Wild Goose Chase Cloggers, and Ruby Magpie. Help welcome MBOTMA Underground to the music community. There will be a raffle for those that do donate for tickets to the Minnesota Bluegrass & Old-Time Association’s Kickoff Music festival June 1-3 at El Rancho Maana, as well as some other prizes. The proceeds will go to the start up of MBOTMA Underground, which is dedicated to promoting the next generation of bluegrass and old-time music. $10 suggested donation. For more information call 800-635-3037 or visit www.MinnesotaBluegrass.org. Produced by the Minnesota Bluegrass & Old-Time Music Association (MBOTMA).

Ruby Magpie will perform at the MBOTMA Underground kick-off event

I should mention that I will be there performing with a new progressive acoustic band that I have joined called Ruby Magpie, which features some of my favorite local pickers:  Catie Jo Pidel (fiddle, guitar, ukulele, vocals), Pete Mathison (bass, vocals) and Ryan Kimm (guitar, dobro, vocals).

I look forward to seeing who shows up…  …and who sticks around.

However, what they are often most interested in hearing about is how we are actively cultivating the next generation of  bluegrass musicians, through programs like the annual Grass Seeds Academy. Grass Seeds is a three day bluegrass “boot camp,” for kids and young adults ages 8-20 that takes place every March during MBOTMA’s Winter Weekend festival (a full-fledged bluegrass festival stuffed into a small hotel in the Twin Cities).  Not only do the participants learn how to play some great songs, they are required to be part of a band and learn how to work together on arrangements as well as the ins and outs of stage performance. These kids/young adults start out the weekend as a room full of strangers at various skill levels and end it by playing together in bands on the main auditorium stage– it is very inspiring!

I have been honored to be on the faculty of the Grass Seeds Academy for the last two years and can say that the future of bluegrass music in Minnesota looks awfully bright! If you are under 20, live in the Upper Midwest and are looking to take your bluegrass skills to the next level or have a child that has expressed interest in bluegrass music, I encourage you to sign-up next year. So mark your calendars and check out the registration page again in early 2013!

"Record Store Day @ Rough Trade East" by Tom McShane via HIKKERS (c) 2009 Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

It may sound strange in this age of digital music downloads, but I was extremely excited to get my new CD on the shelves at a couple of local Twin Cities music stores recently. Not because I’m going to make money or get much exposure from the half dozen or so copies that I dropped off at the Electric Fetus (a Minneapolis record store founded in 1968 that was voted one of the best in America) and the Homestead Pickin’ Parlor (a folk music hub in the Twin Cities since the 1970s), but because these are two of my all-time favorite places on earth and I’m grateful to be a small part of them!

Although I love browsing racks of vinyl at the Fetus and playing vintage banjos at the Homestead, don’t get me wrong, this is not about nostalgia for some by-gone era when these types of brick and mortar stores were the only way to access such merchandise. This is about the fact that when I walked into the Fetus to drop off my record, I ran into one of my band mates from the High 48s, who just happened to be there doing some shopping. This is about the employee there who I knew only through Facebook, but finally got to meet in-person and who made a point to personally make sure my record was processed and on the shelf quickly. This is about walking into the Homestead Pickin’ Parlor and being greeted by the owners and the staff by name and looking around to see local bands (and friends) CDs displayed prominently around the store.

This is about community

This is about an experience

"Record Store Day" by Tom McShane via HIKKERS (c) 2009 Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)

I know these are uncertain times for retail stores like these, but the social need they fill will not be going away anytime soon. Even if music goes completely digital and there is no more physical media to sell, I am confident that there will still be places where people gather to geek out over a shared love of listening to, playing, discovering and studying music. The question is, what will these places be like? What is the future of music stores? I decided to ask the internet what it thought about this and found a couple interesting takes on it, both of which touch upon the role music stores play in fostering community and an  experience:

Rough Trade and the future of the record store (Wired UK)

In an iTunes age, do we need the record store? (Salon)

Personally, I hope I am still patronizing the Fetus and the Homestead in 20 years. I doubt I would be buying music, but perhaps enjoying a pint at a listening party, jamming with friends before music trivia night, or trying out the latest Nechville Banjotron 3000 before a screening of the 30th Anniversary Edition of Oh Brother Where Art Thou… now that is a future I can imagine.

Rockin' w/ Walker Fields at the 400 Bar

American Strings Debut Performance

Live:
On top of many fun shows with the High 48s and the Mark Kreitzer Band, I dipped my toes back in the Minneapolis bar scene (400 Bar, Turf Club, Kitty Cat Klub etc.) with Walker Fields,  kicked-off a High 48s side project with Eric Christopher called American Strings and played some interesting one-off gigs as well, like backing-up Jordan High School’s Pops Choir and pickin’ at the MN Craft Brewer’s Guild’s Autumn Brew Review.

With Matthew Zimmerman Wild Sound

I recorded plenty of drums this year!

Recording:
I spent a lot of time in recording studios in 2011, not only on my album (we’ll get to that) but with other great Twin Cities bands and musicians as well.  I played on records by the Minor Planets,  Monroe Crossing, the Mark Kreitzer Band, and a couple different projects from artist and producer Michael Nelson.  And finally, one of the more interesting recording experiences I had last year was for a family history DVD project, where I ended up playing a banjo-fiddle duet with none other than Ron Stewart!

Grass Seeds Academy class of 2011

Me and Bob

Teaching:
I was happy to expand my teaching experience last year as well, taking on new students for private lessons, working with talented children and young adults at the MBOTMA Grass Seeds Academy and (one of the highlights), doing a banjo workshop with  Bob Black, one of Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys and a pioneer of the melodic banjo style.

Our first gig!

My first album! Missing Ghosts!

My own band and solo album!:
Perhaps the most gratifying accomplishment of 2011 was something that I had been meaning to say yes to for a while now, which was to get back to writing and performing original music. Since Free Range Pickin’ (original string band I was in for 10 years) dissolved, I had been looking for another outlet for my original brand of “Newgrass” music, and, after a lot of thought, I decided to put together my own band with some of my favorite musicians (Eric Christopher, Dan Christensen-Cowan and Jed Germond), record a solo album and get out and perform. I am VERY happy to say that the band has come together, the record, Missing Ghosts, has been completed and we’ve already had a handful of successful shows, including an amazingly fun album release party at the Aster Cafe last month.

Phew,  it really has been quite a year and I’m so glad I decided to say yes to the things I am passionate about! How about you? What will you being saying “yes” to this year? Personally, I can’t wait to find out what 2012 will be the year of…