String Theory Media

Being Bradley Walker

Late this summer I was fortunate to produce a video piece about bluegrass newcomer Bradley Walker for his label, Rounder Records. I'd heard a bit about him and seen him sing once with his friend and label-mate Alecia Nugent, the subject of an earlier post. Bradley's an enormously talented singer from Athens, Alabama who internalized hard core country music at the earliest possible age. That he has Muscular Distrophy and has been in a wheelchair his entire life has had seemingly no inpact on his desire to sing seriously, except perhaps to bolster it. He's getting a lot of attention from fellow artists, and his CD release concert at the Ryman Auditorium kicking off the IBMA convention should have the entire bluegrass world talking. He was spectacular.

Our goal in telling Bradley's story on video was, to be sure, to capture the attention of major national media. So there are a few moments in this piece that feel like a traditional EPK (despite my complete aversion to that term), but basically I had in mind a documentary treatment of a compelling and talented guy whom I really came to enjoy and admire. There are no credits on this piece, so let's clarify here that this wouldn't have been possible without editing from Sarah Wood and technical assistance from John McPherson. John still talks about the chills he got hearing Bradley sing a capella on his porch. Thanks also to the folks at Rounder Records. Please pass word of this video along. I hope Bradley sells a lot of CDs. SEE THE VIDEO HERE. Feedback welcome.

Strictly Amazing - A report from San Francisco

As if San Francisco wasn’t already electric enough, it now has a major roots music festival worthy of comparison to Merlefest, Telluride, or any other. For six years running, a very wealthy investment banker named Warren Hellman has single-handedly financed Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in Golden Gate Park. What began with a single day and a two stages has grown into a five-stage miracle of a party that attracted a record crowd, again. Police put it at about a half million people. Of course size can be a liability, and this year’s perfect weather drew so many people that at times the best stages felt a little oppressive, but folks treated each other well, in high (read that as you will) San Francisco style. The most remarkable thing is this deal is free to the public. There’s not even a gate or a fence to pass through. Wander into the park around 35th Avenue and bang, you’re walking up to the first stage.

A Feastival of Festivals

An immeasurable portion of my musical taste has been shaped by festivals. I probably wouldn’t have become a bluegrass fanatic (at least not as rapidly or as knowledgeably) had it not been for Merlefest in Western North Carolina. My passion for New Orleans and Louisiana music was deeply influenced by visits to JazzFest. These congresses of musicians are amazing vessels of discovery, where one can sample or delve, graze or feast. If I’m fixated with say Darrell Scott and he’s at Merlefest, I can probably see him ten times in as many musical settings. They’re places where serendipity is the rule. I’ll never forget the revelatory moment when, arriving one full set early to a stage to get a great seat for Doc Watson, the act just before was a duo I hadn’t heard of called Gillian Welch and David Rawlings. Combinations and collaborations form right before your eyes at on-stage jams where the resulting sounds could never have been planned or predicted. For these reasons, festivals represent music at its chemical best.

I’ve had the good fortune this year to attend two exceptional festivals that I’d never been to: the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in June, and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Francisco, from which I just returned. Resisting the temptation to address the freshest event first, I want to relive my festivals in sequence, as a requiem for my amazing Summer of ’06.

David Crow Resigns IBMA Post

In the wake of a politically loaded programming snafu during Thursday night's IBMA Awards, Nashville lawyer David Crow resigned his posts as president and board chair of the International Bluegrass Music Association. Many in the bluegrass community have responded with sadness over the move by a veteran in the job whom they say has been nothing but an asset to the IBMA. It's a fascinating case study (and one that's still developing) in how a very successful music trade group accomodates its diverse constituency.

In an open letter prepared for the bluegrass community, Crow said he was quitting out of a sense of responsibility for a controversial musical salute to the service branches of the American military that went on in defiance of what he had been promised by the show's producers and the U.S. Navy's bluegrass band Country Current. Essentially, a compromise that Crow brokered in advance of the awards was broken on-stage during the show. In a pure case of 'buck-stops-here' accountabilty, Crow believes he let down the IBMA, even though it seems as though his commitments and good-faith efforts at compromise were undermined by somebody who has yet to reveal themselves. THE FULL TEXT OF THE LETTER, WHICH INCLUDES A CLEAR SEQUENCE OF EVENTS, FOLLOWS...