Sometimes we all just need to kick up our heels and dance, and that is exactly what we did this last Thursday and Friday. Deadwood Revival, a four-piece, progressive old-time jamgrass ensemble from my hometown came travelling through last week, playing one night at a local watering hole and one night at the civic center in a nearby town. Since moving out into the country, evening cultural activities have definitely taken a back burner in life, which I can accept. I would take quiet mornings and songbirds in my field over living in town and taking in more concerts and shows any day. However, I do love live music, and there are some bands I just won’t miss a chance to see. This is one of them. We went both nights.
Deadwood Revival is made up of Jason Mogi on guitar and clawhammer banjo, Kim Trennery on guitar, Julie Campbell on fiddle and Ches Ferguson on bass ukulele. They play a variety of old-time tunes, folk songs, hoedowns, original works and Grateful Dead covers woven together with string band jams in between. Whether they’re playing “Cotton Eyed Joe” or “Brown Eyed Women,” they always get people up and dancing. The Friday night show out in the little town of Drain was all ages, so our kids got to dance the evening away with us. The dance floor was a great mix of all those ages, and an old-timer was kind enough to show my son some happenin’, foot-stomping moves!
Here they are playing a favorite of mine, “Red Rocking Chair” at the Axe and Fiddle in Cottage Grove.
And a handful of links to a few more favorites: Cold Rain and Snow, Little Maggie, and
Now, these are some folks who know how to put on a real hootenanny. In case you’re wondering exactly what that is, Hootenanny, as defined by Wikipedia means, “an Appalachian colloquialism that was used in early twentieth century America to refer to things whose names were forgotten or unknown. In this usage it was synonymous with thingamajig or whatchamacallit, as in “hand me that hootenanny.” Hootenanny was also an old country word for “party”. Now, most commonly, it refers to a folk-music party.” Since this band does such an excellent job of reclaiming old-time folk and Appalachian tunes and “digging them out of the mud” as they say, I think their shows deserve some fitting terminology. So, I am happily reclaiming the word “hootenanny.” Go on and say it. It’s a rollicking good time, folks.
That's great! I really appreciate that music being born, raised, and still living along the Appalachian Mtns. There's nothing better than good ole mountain music.
I love the word hootenanny!! 🙂