2011 LOUIE BLUIE FESTIVAL PERFORMERS
Howard Armstrong Legacy
Performing on the Louie Bluie Stage at 5:10 p.m.
with Ralphe Armstrong, Ray Kamalay, and John Reynolds. When Howard Armstrong lived in Detroit, these were the musicians he played with.
John Reynolds, Ralphe Armstrong & Ray Kamalay“Like father like son,” goes the old saying. It has never rung truer than when applied to the father & son team of Howard “Louie Bluie” and Ralphe Armstrong. Howard Armstrong could coax sweet music from instruments he’d never touched before and could sing in eight languages. He could charm the socks off of any audience and leave them begging for more. Like his father, Ralphe Armstrong is an astonishing musical powerhouse. Ralphe is simply one of the finest bassists in the United States. He began performing with his father by age 5. By age 13 he was performing with Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. By age 16 he began an affiliation with Jean-Luc Ponty and Frank Zappa, which continued for many years. Ralphe was the original bassist in the Mahavishnu Orchestra with John MacLaughlin. He still plays with Aretha Franklin and James Carter, He loves the ancient jug band and black string music of his father and, at the same time may be the finest jazz-fusion bassist in the world ! His musical power encompasses the entire history of jazz. And, much like his father, he is the consummate showman. I promise you, he will steal the show. He always does!
Ray Kamalay covers the rhythm duty on guitar. He is a long-time professional musician who has shared the stage with many great performers, including Mark O’Connor, Doc Watson, Jethro Burns, Steve Goodman, Joel Mabus and Holly Near. Ray presently leads his own jazz band (Ray Kamalay and his Red Hot Peppers) and tours the United States with a talk called “World Slavery- The Haitian Revolution and the Rise of American Music”. That talk was largely inspired by Ray’s affiliation with Howard Armstrong. Like everyone else, Ray has been truly mystified by the cultural magic of the Armstrongs. Ray began performing with Howard and Ralphe in 1988 when the three of them formed the Howard Armstrong Trio. They performed as such until just before Howard’s passing in 2003.
John Reynolds joins Ralphe and Ray for the 2011 Festival. John is an old-time music whiz in traditional styles of violin, mandolin, and trombone. Early on, as an ethnomusicology student at Kent State University, John was influenced by a number of traditional music masters including our own Howard Armstrong, who John knew and performed with for decades; the Cleveland gypsy violinist Ernie King, with whom John was awarded an Ohio Arts Council apprenticeship, and bluegrass master fiddler Ray Sponaugle. He’s chalked up stellar performances at the National Jug Band Festival in Louisville, with the Youngstown and Canton Symphonies, and on National Public Radio. Even though John is new to the Louie Bluie Festival, but he’s still an old friend of Louie Bluie !!
View YouTube clips of Ralphe Armstrong:
CHARLES DAVID STUART-RALPHE ARMSTRONG-BILL MEYER GROUP
James Carter ( North Sea Jazz 2006 )
Ray Kamalaywith Ralphe Armstrong
"Ballad of the Landlord" from the album "We Won't Move: Songs of the Tenants' Movement"
The Roots of Popular American Music
Hokum’s Heros
Performing on the Louie Bluie Stage at 6:30 p.m.
“Tenderly, like a whisper, they began to play, feeding off of each other, growing more confident with each note. There was nothing else just then — only the music, sweet as evening breeze, heart-wrenching, pure ... this was the moment we had traveled so far to find. The spirit of Howard Armstrong had found a home.’ — The Boston Globe
Hokum’s Heroes is a revolving-door aggregate of Boston-based musicians united by their passion for the music of 1920s-30s stringband legend Howard ’Louie Bluie‘ Armstrong. They have worked separately in the shadows of some of America’s best music, performing and recording with Armstrong himself (most notably in the recent PBS documentary Sweet Old Song) as well as Tarbox Ramblers, Morphine, Jim Kweskin, Either Orchestra, Michael Hurley and others. The band has played at venues as diverse as Lincoln Center, The Boston Folk Festival, The Montreal Jazz Festival, The Country Music Hall of Fame and The New York City Blues Festival, garnering praise from the New York Times, Boston Magazine, The Boston Music Awards and others along the way. Hokum’s Heroes performs early 20th century pop music, twining together the roots of early jazz, vaudeville, hokum, stringband, jug band, gospel and blues. Looming largest is the influence of euphoric rag-tinged stringbands like R. Crumb’s Cheap Suit Serenaders and the legendary Black stringband Martin, Bogen and Armstrong — music which the group infuses with considerable spontaneity, modern sensibilities, and a big backbeat, while still offering a glimpse of a time before the record stores and radio stations divided things up — when blues, rags, country, gospel, vaudeville and more sat side by side on the shelf as popular songs. Though the era has passed, Hokum’s Heroes is very much intent on keeping the spirit alive. Band members include Bruce Millard, Samoa Wilson, Geodie Gude, Matthew Berlin, Jerome Deupree
Five Star Jubilee Gospel Singers
Harriman, TN - gospel choir
Performing on the Community Stage at 5:40 p.m.
Visit the Five Star Jubilee Gospel Singers' Facebook Page
The Five Star Jubilee Singers perform quartet-style harmonies, with electric guitars and drums thrown into the mix. Their style and repertory recall such great black gospel groups as the Swan Silvertones, the Soul Stirrers and the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi. They’ve been playing in and around Harriman for more than 50 years, making them one of the longest-running gospel acts in the region. They performed at Louie Bluie 2009 and really raised the (tent) roof!
Knoxville Videos (on Knoxnews.com) » Songs of Appalachia: Five Star Jubilee Singers
John Myers Band
Soul, Gospel
Performing on the Louie Bluie Stage at 3:50 p.m.
Back by popular demand John Myers is first and foremost an extraordinary entertainer. They have performed at Louie Bluie for the past two years, raising the (tent) roof each time! Beyond that, it’s a little hard to pin him down. He’s certainly a talented singer with a lot of soul. But despite his stint with Motown in the early 1970s, he’s not just a soul singer. His repertoire does contain some soul songs (even a few from his Motown days), but he can just as easily pull out a song by Hank Williams, croon a number by Louie Armstrong or belt out an old-time banjo tune. His current band shows his musical flexibility. No longer working with the horn and keyboard sounds of Motown’s Funk Brothers, he’s mixing it up by performing with some of Knoxville’s best Americana musicians. His current band is made up of Sean McCollough on guitar, banjo and mandolin, Chris Durman on guitar, Maria Williams on upright bass and Steve Corrigan on drums with others sitting in from time to time. John currently collaborates with his wife Pamela who is a prolific songwriter. Pamela is also the niece of Carl Martin who played with Howard Armstrong in the band Martin Bogan and Armstrong.
Johnson Swingtet
Performing on the Louie Bluie Stage at 2:30 p.m.
If you're a fan of old bands like Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks, Django Reinhardt, etc. or current bands like the Red Stick Ramblers or the Time Jumpers, then you will love the Johnson Swingtet.
Sparky & Rhonda Rucker
A Louie Bluie Festival Favorite!
Performing on the Louie Bluie Stage at 1:10 p.m.
Internationally acclaimed JAMES “SPARKY” RUCKER is recognized as a leading folklorist, historian, musician, storyteller, and author. He has been singing songs and telling stories from the American tradition for over forty years. Sparky accompanies himself on guitar, banjo, and spoons, and has released over eleven recordings. Rhonda Rucker is from Louisville, Kentucky and practiced medicine for five years before becoming a full-time performer. She began taking piano lessons from a ragtime player when she was four years old. In addition to piano, Rhonda adds sweet-sounding vocal harmonies, a mean, gutsy blues harmonica, old-time banjo, and rhythmic bones to their music. She began performing with Sparky in 1989 and appears on five recordings with him. Sparky and Rohnda Rucker’s audio release, Treasures & Tears, was nominated for the W.C. Handy Award for Best Traditional Recording. They also contributed music to the syndicated television miniseries The Wild West. Their unique renditions of John Henry and Jesse James were used in the National Geographic Society’s 1994 media project entitled Storytelling in North America.
The Tennessee Sheiks
Performing on the Louie Bluie Stage at 11:50 a.m.
The Tennessee Sheiks is a band made up of several long time Knoxville musicians, who have graced many stages in numerous groups over the years. The Sheiks music is best described as acoustic swing: jazz standards played (and sung) a la the style of the great Gypsy guitarist Django Rinehardt, as well as original tunes and an occasional Appalachian ballad. Some regard Don Cassell as one of the finest mandolinists in East Tennessee. Singer Nancy Brennan Strange may be best known outside state lines for an album of sophisticated torch songs she made with internationally known jazz pianist Donald Brown. Guitarist Don Wood is a disciple of the mad gypsy innovator Django Reinhardt. You wouldn't think these people would even know each other. But with some talented friends, like bassist Jon Steele and banjoist/rhythm guitarist Morgan Simmons, they became the Tennessee Sheiks. Nancy Brennan Strange, the chanteuse of the Sheiks, joyfully delivers the vocals in this very interesting, entertaining band.
The Birdsong Family
Performing on the Community Stage at 3:10 p.m.
The Campbell County based Birdsong Family makes their first appearance on the community stage this year. The talented and versatile family band performs a wide range of music from contemporary Christian and traditional Southern Gospel to Bluegrass Gospel and Pop/Rock. The 9-member family band also includes original compositions in their performances. Skillful instrumentation and strong vocalization set this unique musical group apart and is sure to please our festival goers and fans of the community stage.
Mason T. and Carl Capps
Performing on the Community Stage at 4:00 p.m.
Awarding winning mandolin player, Mason T. and guitartist, Carl Capps make their third appearance at the Louie Bluie Festival this year. The popular Campbell County bluegrass, father and son duo, will again perform old standards and newly composed bluegrass songs. This year the 'fastest father and son bluegrass duo’ will introduce their newest song, “The LaFollette Blues”.
Visit Mason T. and Carl Capps on Facebook
Watch Mason T. and Carl Capps perform “House of Gold”
Legends of Campbell County Music
Performing on the Community Stage at 10:30 a.m.
The Tennessee Jamboree, a barn dance style radio variety show, aired between 1953 and 1978 on AM station WLAF in LaFollette, Tennessee. Across twenty-five years the Blue Valley Boys and Girls, the show's featured performers, picked, sang, and entertained each Saturday night for listeners in the Campbell County broadcast area. Today we welcome back veterans from this legendary program. Featured performers will include: Charlie Collins, Campbell County native, legendary sideman in Roy Acuff’s Smoky Mountain Boys and veteran of the Grand Ole Opry; Larry McNeely, banjo phenomenon, star of the Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, and longtime member of Roy Scuff’s Smoky Mountain Boys; Red Harrison, Campbell County’s beloved bass player and baritone singer, of the Blue Valley Boys; Arlis Jackson, country and bluegrass fiddler, regular member of the Blue Valley Boys, the Cumberland Valley Boys, the Bluegrass Professionals, and Solid Faith Gospel; Ray Blackwell, polished singer and dobro player, longtime member of the Blue Valley Boys, the Cumberland Valley Boys, and the Bluegrass Professionals; Carl Stump, expert mandolin player, founder of station WECO in Wartburg, and veteran of the Blue Valley Boys; Dean Huddleston, talented guitar player, fiddler, and singer, from Whitley County, KY, regular with the Blue Valley Boys; Fred Longmire, nephew of legendary Tennessee Jamboree host Elmer Longmire, longtime singer and rhythm guitarist with the Blue Valley Boys; Pitney Seiber, multi-instrumentalist, sky high tenor singer, onetime member of the New River Boys and the Blue Valley Boys.
Tommy Phillips and The New River Boys, with Wade Hill
Performing on the Community Stage at 12:30 p.m.
Starting in the mid 1960s on WLAF's Tennessee Jamboree, the New River Boys trio of Tommy Phillips, Pitney Seiber and Eugene McGhee literally ran onto stage for each performance, took to the mics, leapt forward with mountain-made bluegrass music and never looked back. In the 1970s Elmer Phillips joined the group on bass and filled out the classic lineup. Seiber eventually left the band and moved for a time to South Dakota. Tommy Phillips and McGhee kept the band going with a variety of new, young pickers, sometimes including banjo journeyman Wade Hill. In 1975 Phillips led the group on their first LP, "Aunt Dinah's Quilting Party," on the June Appal label. More membership changes followed, but to the present Tommy Phillips’ relentless drive to perform has kept the band active and energized. During the past decade, expert banjoist, guitarist, and vocalist Brian Phillips, Tommy’s son, joined the group, along with bass player Irv Bunch and multi-instrumentalist Jay Lloyd.
Charlie McCarroll
Performing on the Community Stage at 1:30 p.m.
Seventy-six year old Charlie McCarroll is a strong and powerful fiddler specializing in the repertoire of his father, the great Kingston fiddler Jimmy McCarroll, playing in a style only slightly more modern. Charlie has been featured on WBIR’s Heartland Series and on WDVX’s Music of the Cumberland Trail. His vast storehouse of tunes, earned through diligence, in face-to-face interaction, is beginning to thrill and fascinate followers and students of old-time fiddling. He remains ever ready to put his breakneck, hard-driving facilities to the test. Charlie says, “Daddy played a little different than me. He never did learn none of that grass.” Bobby Fulcher and Tony Thomas will join McCarroll.
One Way Flight Gospel
Performing on the Community Stage at 2:00 p.m.
Doris Johnson and Betty (Muse) Johnson met while just children on Walnut Mountain. Doris, in fact, recalls hearing Betty and the other Muse children singing from across the ridge. Music was all over the Muse household, as Betty’s father, Zie Muse, and aunt, Stella, were both well-known area fiddlers. Doris and Betty eventually married but have been making music together for over forty years. In the 1960s, they helped form the Walnut Mountain Boys, a bluegrass group and frequent performer on WLAF’s Tennessee Jamboree. Over the years Doris and Betty have also played with the New River Boys, Dusty Valley Bluegrass, and Solid Faith gospel. For the past decade they have led One Way Flight Gospel, one of Campbell County’s favorite bluegrass gospel groups. Suzanne and Brett Chambers join them in the group.
A Tribute to Jim Fagan
Performing on the Community Stage at 11:30 a.m.
For twenty-five years Jim Fagan was East Tennessee’s quintessential classic country singer and songwriter. During the 1960s, 70s, and early 80s Fagan was a regular performer on local radio shows, stage shows, in honky-tonks, and at country music clubs throughout the region. To many, his stage presence was rightly magnetic. But his songwriting—clever, distinctive, often ahead of its time—was what set Fagan apart most of all. Across scores of songs he explored rich themes of working class life, including truck driving, drinking and bar rooms, love and heartbreak, and morality, all with sensitivity, a touch or more of humor, and an always compelling storytelling insight. His most successful songs included “Diesel On My Tail,” recorded by bluegrass stars Jim and Jesse, and “Leaning A New Way of Life,” released by Grand Ole Opry legend Hank Snow. Through all his songwriting achievements, Fagan remained rooted in East Tennessee--in Clinton specifically, where he operated a popular recording studio and served as a mentor to dozens of upstart country singers and pickers. Today, for the first time since his death, members of Fagan‘s longtime band and musical circle reunite to pay tribute to an East Tennessee original. Featured performers will include: Pandora Burnett, Kenny James, Ed Worley, Joshua Davis, Dale Evans, David West, David Farmer, Rodeo Rowdy Cope, Ken Bonham, and others.
Gloryland Boys
Performing on the Community Stage at 2:30 p.m.
Since their beginning in 1972, the Gloryland Boys have stayed one of Campbell County‘s most beloved and dedicated Southern Gospel groups. Over the years the group has provided inspirational and expressive musical testimony at countless church services, religions events, and concerts. They have also recorded several LP records, and later cassettes, that display an eclectic country, quartet, and Texas-swing influenced style. No matter the venue or project, the Gloryland Boys always provided both singing and playing that demonstrated the deep talent in Campbell County‘s gospel music community. Never “showmen‘, the Boys total purpose was a spirit-filled musical experience. Core members over the decades have included Donnie Boston, Ralph Lee, Ralph Richardson, Ronnie Henderson, Robert Dykes, Bobby Powers, and Johnny Dabney. Though the group has been somewhat inactive in recent years, several longtime members reunite today for this special gospel celebration.
Rickard Ridge House Band
Performing on the Community Stage at 4:50 p.m.
These folks have been playing old-time country and gospel music all over East Tennessee for many years. They now play regularly at Rickard’s Ridge, here at Cove Lake State Park. The group includes: Turner (TC) Collins, Claude McCoy, Fred (Red) Harrison, Doyle Sowers, Sue Plapp, Ron Goins, Buzz Feldman, Hugh Spradlin, Jerry (Chicken Man) Isaacs, and John Overton. For this event they will be joined by 12-year old fiddler, Marissa Colters, and 14-year old vocalist, Katelyn Parker.