Since forming in 1968, the Tannahill Weavers have grown into one of the world’s premier conduits for traditional Scottish music. On the road six months of the year, an active touring schedule lets the band spread the sounds of Scotland—and often puts them in interesting, unexpected situations. While preparing for another U.S. tour at his home in the Netherlands, guitarist and singer Roy Gullane recalled two of those most interesting times.
For one show,the band
The Tannahill Weavers
decided to drive from the north of Scotland all the way to Vienna. But a planned rest stop in Stuttgart, Germany turned into an all night party when they happened into Scottish folk singer Hamish Imlach.
“By the time we got to Vienna, we were shattered.” Tired and with little time before the show, Gullane couldn’t find any sort of dressing room. “I found a room somewhere behind the stage to change my clothes, but couldn’t find the light switch. Undeterred, I carried on with the task, and had just wrestled my pants off when a door burst open, the lights went on, and hundreds of people started pouring past me. I was in the foyer.”
And then there was the festival in Germany with the 7:30 a.m. sound check. Continue reading »
Pastor Paul Adefarasin of House on the Rock church led The Experience, and Lagos, Nigeria certainly shook the night of December 4. Lasting from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., the fourth annual interdenominational gospel concert drew over 450,000 people. Local guitarist and minister Will McFarlane traveled over the Atlantic to be one of the many. McFarlane has spent the past decade in the area, but he spent years before backing up Bonnie Raitt and as part of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section.
Even with his solid résumé, McFarlane was surprised to be invited to the concert. “They called me out of nowhere, just a week in advance. I drove to Washington, D.C, to get my visa in a day, which was a miracle in itself.” He was recruited into a band that was half Nigerian and half American, including the likes of Phil Driscoll and Chester Thompson. With a little bit of time to practice, the group tackled the stage for an hour, starting around 1 in the morning. “The approach in Nigeria was just grab a hold and hang on. [laughter]” So what’s it like to play in front of almost half a million people? “It changes your body chemistry. [laughter] I mean, you could only see about the first quarter of a million. People were jumping and moving. It was just unbelievable.” Continue reading »
Keegan DeWitt on Islands: It’s this exploration of what it means to be young and in love and lost, and at the same time, trying to discover what things you’re bringing into your life.
Keegan DeWitt draws on his background in theater and acting to convey moments of poignancy in his music. Rather than creating entire film stories, he constructs song scenes that look for the poetry of everyday life. DeWitt is probably best known at this point for scoring independent films or playing with local act Roman Candle, whose members include his sister and brother-in-law, Timshel and Skip Matheny.
DeWitt’s now on his own, touring with what he considers his first real album, Islands. Driving through rural Virginia, DeWitt spoke with The Independent about poetry, past relationships and growing up. Click here to download “Telephone,” from Islands.
INDEPENDENT WEEKLY: How has your background in film influenced your songwriting? KEEGAN DEWITT: It’s about moments rather than a story. It’s about concentrated, small moments and the emotion of those moments rather than, “So-and-so graduated college and now they’re doing this or whatever.” It’s an entire song that’s an abstraction of what it’s like to ride in the car next to somebody you’re in love with while they’re sleeping at the window, or something like that. Instead of gearing toward telling stories in one way, I tell them in a very different way that’s more about the things that people aren’t saying, and the smaller moments rather than the larger moments. Continue reading »
The Black Lips, Gentleman Jesse and His Men, The Moaners
Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro
Wednesday, March 4
Dem Lips
Starting with the third song of its set, “O Katrina!”, and continuing throughout The Black Lips’ Cradle spree last night, a band member would shout “magic time,” and the venue would transform: Red-and-white liquid kaleidoscopic lighting flooded the stage, making the grill of guitarist Ian Brown, aka Ian St. Pe, reflect into the audience as massive amounts of smoke rose from the stage. Continue reading »
Dr. John & The Neville Brothers
Memorial Hall, UNC-Chapel Hill
Tuesday, Feb. 24
The eye sockets of the skull perched atop the grand piano glared at the sold-out, seated audience in Memorial Hall last night. Dr. John spent his Mardi Gras away from his New Orleans home to be in Chapel Hill, and, although it had been showered with beads beforehand and encouraged to get up and dance, most of the crowd sat quietly and tapped its feet as Dr. John led his band onstage.
C'mon, now, dance with me.
Luckily, a few numbers finally pulled some people out of their seats. Continue reading »
MC Chris [N.C. Comedy Arts Festival]
Cat’s Cradle
Saturday, Feb. 21
During his performance of “Hoodie Ninja” Saturday night, MC Chris commanded the gathered masses to do The Twist. When people on the sides of Cat’s Cradle failed to comply, he called them “30 year olds” and berated them, saying, “Twist in your chairs, you paraplegic bitches!”
Ray Benson’s been playing western swing with his band, Asleep at the Wheel, for almost 40 years. The group’s latest album, Willie and the Wheel, encapsulates the genre’s history, of which Asleep at the Wheel has become an integral part. The record pairs Benson’s band with his longtime friend Willie Nelson, a former western swing singer himself.
Willie and the Wheel, y'all.
With a 14-date tour supporting the album less than a week away, Benson took some time away from rehearsal to talk about western swing, building on a tradition and Willie and the Wheel. The band plays with Willie at Durham Performing Arts Center tonight at 7:30 p.m. Continue reading »
Mark Olson & Gary Louris
The ArtsCenter, Carrboro
Wednesday, Feb. 11
The Jayhawks once again competed against Carolina tonight. Luckily for Tar Heel fans, it wasn’t a repeat of last year’s Final Four drubbing. Though most Carolina fans were suiting up for the big Duke-Carolina basketball game, an early set at Carrboro’s The ArtsCenter by Mark Olson and Gary Louris—founders of alt.country father figures The Jayhawks—drew a solid crowd. Louris and Olson mixed old and new material, setting their jangly folk rock with acoustic guitars and Ingrid Ringvold’s djembe.
Double Barrel Benefit Night One: Bowerbirds, Lost in the Trees
The Pour House, Raleigh
Friday, Feb. 6, 2009
A couple songs into his band’s headlining set at The Pour House Friday, Bowerbirds’ Phil Moore said, “This is what we call a party.” A few cheers followed. “Just continue to party,” he said. “Maybe in a more subdued way,” Moore’s bandmate, Beth Tacular, pleaded from across the stage.
The vibe was happy for the first night of WKNC’s sixth-annual Double Barrel Benefit, but people seemed more interested in hanging out than hearing Bowerbirds. Constant conversation filled the air, delicate vocal harmonies and guitar picking struggling versus the storm. It made for quite the contrast with the set the band played through an actual rainstorm in Duke Gardens this past summer. Continue reading »
Emmanuel Jal raps over light Afrobeat rhythms stripped down to desolate grooves. Gunshots scatter songs, but not because Jal is a gangsta, but because he is a former child soldier of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army. Smuggled out of the situation by a British aid worker, he began to use music to understand his experiences. His yrics tell stories of harsh militaristic life, starvation, disease and extreme poverty. Jal’s mission is to bring world attention to the problems facing Africa.
But not all is doom and gloom: While songs can focus on genocide or have lines like, “Pimps and thieves in Italian-cut suits/ Stop raping Africa like she’s your prostitute,” choirs, soulful singing,and fleshed out rhythms can bring light to the musical landscape. Africa becomes less of an exotic spectacle and more of a source for the shared sorrows and hopes of humanity.
Jal takes the stage as part of “Performances for Peace: A Diary of Darfur,” with the UNC Loreleis, Modern Inversions, Zankiliwa, and EROT. Sponsored by Campus Progress and the UNC Students United for Darfur Awareness Now (SUDAN), the $3 tickets will go to aid refugees in Sudanese camps. See Jal tonight at 7 p.m.
mr. popIToffForUs on "SXSW10 Day 2: Grandmothers and Cooties [Eric Tullis]": yo....mr. tullis makes me wonder how come i have not attended SXSW. sounds like jean grae really sucked! i don't think that asking artists about their grannies is a bad idea, especially since they never rap or sing about them; and we all know they love their grannies. oh, and it sounds like
Cradle failed to comply, he called them “30 year olds” and berated them, saying, “Twist in your chairs, you paraplegic bitches!”
