Red House Records Blog Cabin

Danny Schmidt

Danny Schmidt is coming into town on Saturday for Red House Barnfest.  A true road warrior, Danny has built a cult following across the US and UK with a relentless tour schedule.  His Red House debut Instead the Forest Rose to Sing was highly lauded for it’s lyrical genius and stellar production.  With a new recording on the horizon and his performance at Barnfest only days away, we wanted to ask him a few questions about his writing process, a bit about the new record and what we would call him if we were to take him bowling.  Along with the stellar line-up, Danny is yet another reason to make it to Red Wing on Saturday!

1.  It’s been two years since your Red House debut Instead the Forest Rose to Sing.  What can we expect from the follow-up you’re currently recording?

Not two years, yet . . . but it will be by the time it’s released in February.  I’m excited about the new album.  We’ve almost finished the recording, and I think it sounds really great, sonically.  It’ll be, by far, the sparsest record I’ve made thus far.  We decided to keep it stripped down and completely acoustic and leave the songs as naked as possible.  So, I’d say this album will be more for the song lovers and less for the lush music lovers.

Grayscale, mostly.

Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, Townes Van Zandt.  Greg Brown.  I love the writers.

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The stage at Hobgoblin Music. Photo by: R.L. Stryker

Imagine yourself laying on the green grass of this hill underneath the Minnesota sun, breathing in the fresh air, working on your tan while you listen to some of the best singer/songwriters in the world!  Ahhhhh……

Well, you can do all this on Saturday, August 7th at Red House Barnfest at Hobgoblin Music in lovely Red Wing, MN.  It’s a full day of music with an all-star line up that includes Pieta Brown, Storyhill, Ruth Moody (of The Wailin’ Jennys), Cliff Eberhardt, ‘Spider’ John Koerner, Danny Schmidt, and Carrie Elkin.    In addition to these top-notch acts we’ve added the “Minnesota Songwriter Spotlight” that will highlight Minnesota songsters Erik Koskinen and Brianna Lane.  For only $25 (advance) that’s one of the best deals in town!

This year we’ve expanded the concert so we can bring you more music and more fun for you and your family.  If you get hungry Pig’s ‘n’ Wings Barbeque will be on hand with their mouthwatering BBQ sandwiches as well as the Red House staff’s favorite mobile taco truck Border Tacos.  Tickets are available at www.redhouserecords.com/barnfest.html.  You can also visit the fine folks at the Electric Fetus in Minneapolis, The Ginkgo Coffeehouse in St. Paul or Gary and Eve at Hobgoblin Music in Red Wing to purchase tickets in person.  For only $25 you get 8 great acoustic, roots and blues musicians and fun for the whole family.

So forget the yard work, pack your sunscreen, load up the car, leave the dog at home and come hang out with us at Barnfest!

Red House Barnfest

Saturday, August 7th – 1:00 pm to 7:30 pm

Hobgoblin Music – Outdoor Amphitheater

920 Highway 19 – Red Wing, MN

Tickets: $25 adv./$30 at the gate

www.redhouserecords.com/barnfest.html

The best in Americana, roots and blues featuring: ‘Spider’ John Koerner, Danny Schmidt, Ruth Moody (of The Wailin’ Jennys), Cliff Eberhardt, Storyhill, Pieta Brown, Carrie Elkin and the MN Songwriter Spotlight: Erik Koskinen & Brianna Lane.

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A couple weeks ago The Pines were one our acts that made their way up to the Winnipeg Folk Festival.  This was their first time at the festival and their three performances turned more heads to their distinct sound.  Below are a few of Benson Ramsey’s thoughts on their trek up north.

The Pines

It seems like a dream to me now….

For our first outing in Canada, I couldn’t drum up a better setting than the Winnipeg Folk Festival.  We arrived on the Thursday night of the festival.  After checking into the hotel and taking the shuttle over to the festival grounds, about a 45 min ride, we got there just in time for the Avett Brothers.  We listened for  awhile as we got our bearings and ran into our good friend Ruth Moody.  Then we waddled around and found a spot off to the side to watch the great Levon Helm Band.

The sky to the northwest was still glowing at a 11pm when he took the stage.  It was a memorable evening of music and festivities for sure.

We played three times in as many days.  Everyshow had it’s own thang.  The first was just us (me, David, Michael on banjo, J.T. on drums).  The set was an hour or so and we pulled songs off of both our Red House releases.  It was a clear warm summer day and it felt good to play and be apart of the whole shabang.  One thing I did notice, not just with us but over all was that you could play a quiet pretty song, at most big outdoor things like that those softer ones seem to get buried alive.  So that was nice and just goes to show how cool our friends to the north are.

Anyway- our second show was one i’ll never forget.  It was a workshop with Pieta Brown and Bo Ramsey.  Folks might think we get to play together all the time but sadly we don’t get to all that much.  But it felt like home on that stage and the way everyone played on all the songs made one big sound.  When we play together it feels like a mystery slang way of talking.  Pieta’s “Other Way Around” was right on and Bo’s version of Jesse Mae Hemphill’s “Jump Baby Jump” was off-the-hook.

The third show was another workshop with a songwriter from Boulder, CO, Gregory Alan Isakov and the legendary (drum rolllllll) Hot Tuna.  This was freaky cool.  The workshop thing in wild.  Everyone just took turns playing a song.  It was fun and strange to sit and listen to these folks and get to play songs with them.  Overall- Winnipeg feels a bit like the last stop on the train.  Sort-of the end-of -the-line before the north pole and I dig it.  And it’s gonna be tough not to compare every festival from now on to the Winnipeg Folk Fest- they got it goin’ on and I am thankful to have been there for sure.

-Benson Ramsey, July 2010

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Red Horse featuring Eliza Gilkyson, John Gorka, and Lucy Kapalansky

What happens when three good friends who just happen to be three of the most prolific folk songwriters in music today get together?  Red Horse. The new folk super-trio comprised of Lucy Kaplansky, Eliza Gilkyson, and John Gorka is their fantastic new album featuring stunning harmonies and simple acoustic production.

We sent them a few questions to get under the hood of Red Horse and learn about their collaborative process, the recording sessions and how much fun making this album was.  Hope you enjoy and don’t forget to pick up a copy of the Red Horse the album today! www.redhouserecords.com

ELIZA:

No hidden meaning there, for me anyway, I just like horses, the name had a nice visual for me, simple, and then of course there is the word play on the “Red House” label connection for these 3 artists…hey, it was John’s idea…( I blame John!) Plus it was better than “White People with Problems” (my suggestion).

This whole idea was just a whim..based on a desire to have fun with two of my most favorite performers in the world. We thought it would be fun to do some shows and that evolved into a recording project. I think Lucy’s husband Rick had the idea to record. I think I had the idea to do the shows. I think John had no idea whatsoever.:)

LUCY:

JOHN:

2.  How did you go about choosing the songs?  How did you all decide on the cover tunes?

ELIZA:

I liked the idea of going back deeper into the catalogs and choosing songs that were ripe for a makeover. I had always wanted to do a more gritty production on “Walk Away From Love”, and Lucy and John both chose more obscure songs of mine that benefited from new interpretations. I went way back into John’s catalog for “Forget to Breathe”, though I stayed close to the original structure and just added a cool hymnlike guitar part. Lucy’s song “Promise Me” jumped out and demanded that I give it a shot.

As for the cover tunes, of course they had to have great harmony potential , but it was also our chance to round things out in terms of balancing the various moods of the whole recording, so we chose with that in mind as well. That was the hardest part for me actually, til I found that old Neil Young song. I used to sing it way back when, and it was fun to record-it’s a deceptively simple sounding song with a very inventive and original chord progression and melody, and the harmonies are really fun to sing. Plus Mike Hardwick played a killer twang and thump Gretsch guitar solo on it.

LUCY:

We each chose a cover we wanted to do, and ran the idea by the others.  In my case, John and I had sung “Wayfaring Stranger” together at a gig in November, and he suggested we do that one. I thought it was a great idea.

JOHN:

I think we each considered what batch of songs would get along with us and each other.  I think.

3.  You all covered a couple of each other’s songs on this album.  Why did you choose the songs you did?  What were your initial reactions to hearing your song(s) interpreted by the others?

ELIZA:

Normally artists do their own material on projects like this, so we thought it would add a new twist and challenge for us to cover each other’s songs. It really changed the recording landscape, and I think was the most satisfying part in the end. Choosing was a process we each came to separately, searching though the material til a song resonated personally-you have to be able to step into the character and make it your own. I was thrilled to hear their versions of my songs, just thrilled, I like them better than my originals. It breathed new life into them for me.

LUCY:

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Yesterday we were happy to learn that Ruth Moody’s solo album The Garden received the award for “Best CD/Vinyl album cover illustration for a solo recording” from Canada’s visual communications magazine Applied Arts.  The beautiful and intricate cover illustration and design was done by Ron Sawchuk who has also been the mastermind behind The Wailin’ Jennys’ album covers.

It’s good to see that there are still folks out there that appreciate good album cover art.  In a time when most covers are reduced to the size of a thumbnail, details become lost, and the artform of the cover seems less important.  It would be easy to brush off this importance with a cynical grumble, but to do that is foolish.  In some ways, the cover art is more important than ever now, even with the growth of the digital music world.

Whether you purchase vinyl, cassette (they are still being produced), CDs, or digital the cover is the first thing you see.  It may not be the determining factor on whether you buy an album or not, but it can certainly determine whether some one even picks up your album to look at it or not.  Maybe you’re cruising the racks at your local music shop and you reach for an unfamiliar album solely because you think its cover looks cool.  Or maybe you even skipped over a CD or two because it didn’t catch your eye.  And now with the resurgence of vinyl a great cover not only catches your eye, but it slaps you across the face.

In an industry that is in constant flux, we take great care and pride not only in the music we put out, but also in the packaging.  We see it as part of an art form unto itself.  To toot our own horn a little, we’ve been pretty lucky to have put out some great album covers over the years.  Check out some of our more recent covers!  You can see more great covers in our on-line store at www.redhouserecords.com.

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Pieta Brown, Eliza Gilkyson, John Gorka, Bo Ramsey, and Lucy Kaplansky

Summer is here and so are the artists!

Every now and again an artist will drop by our offices when they are in town. A couple weeks ago there was a perfect storm here at Red House and 5 of our artists dropped by for a visit!

Eliza Gilkyson, John Gorka, Lucy Kaplansky (Red Horse) and Pieta Brown & Bo Ramsey.

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Pieta Brown just returned from a 28-date North American tour opening for Mark Knopfler.  We asked her if she would share her thoughts on this experience and what it was like opening for one of her musical heroes.  Pieta was kind enough to provide not only her reflections on the tour, but some great behind the scenes photos.  Her latest album on Red House, One and All is available now!

Here’s Pieta’s song “Other Way Around” from that album.

Pieta and Bo at soundcheck/ photo credit: Guy Fletcher

Spring has landed here on the plains and the Lilly Of The Valley is already fading into yellow.  Got home last week from 5 weeks out on the road opening shows for Mark Knopfler and his killer band.  I went in…went out.  Got some serious schooling.  I went up…down…wrote a new song.  I drove my ass off.  And so on. I even slept some!

The tour…especially the music…was grand.  I’m still reeling.  I’ve still got “a high temperature…” to quote Bo Ramsey quoting Little Walter.  And as Tim O’Brien (multi-instrumentalist in Mark Knopfler’s band on the North American Tour….and artist in his own right!) wrote in a quick email after we all got home about a week ago, “I’m feeling like my whole system got realigned and now I’m resetting it to my regular world. Some of it may never go back. Maybe a good thing.”

I was honored to get the call to open the shows for Mark Knopfler…as I have a vivid memory of finding a tape cassette when I was a kid…living between divorced parents.  I remember finding that tape…putting it in the tape player…and playing it over…and over…and over again.  I eventually wore that tape out.  It was a Dire Straits tape.  I was way too young to drive, but I would make all the grown-ups play the tape on all the journeys…across town…out in the country.  There was something in Mark’s voice and in the voice of his guitar that was hypnotic and comforting at the same time.  I was completely into it.

Bo Ramsey, Mark Knopfler, and Pieta/ photo credit: Guy Fletcher

Now 20 some years later I still am.  Seeing and hearing Mark Knopfler and his band play live so many nights only deepened my respect for him as an artist and musician.  And it made me hope that when I’m 60 I’m as badass and as tuned in as Mark is.  And as steady.

Mark had an 8-piece band!  A mystic orchestra!  And the sweetest management and production crew you could ever meet…they were all men.  Most (not all!) of them 20+ years my senior. And they treated me like a queen.  And like a friend.   And I reckon that is the best you can hope for as a woman out on the road!  Or anywhere for that matter…

As for my own shows, I had my best friend in the world, Bo Ramsey with me to maneuver down the crowded highways.  Bo and I had a few magic sets.  Many solid ones.  A few rough ones that luckily got lost in the shuffle.  Most of the crowds were listening crowds…which really knocked me out.  There were a few rowdy crowds out there on the East Coast, but it wouldn’t have felt too rock-n-roll if there weren’t a few of those…and even the rowdy ones treated me pretty kindly. I played a lot of new songs from One and All…and I played a lot of the less new songs.   I sang a couple of songs I have never sung before…and may never sing again.  I tried to figure out how to sell CDs from stage…still not sure I figured that one out.  Marketing and playing music don’t go together very well in my head.  ”Shut up and play your guitar. Just sing the songs.” That makes more sense to me. But Mark’s fans were sweet! And they bought a lot of my CDs!

"In the Wings in Albany...finalshow"

So here I am at the end of that road with a bunch of fevers…Tim O’Brien gave me banjo fever…Richard Bennett and Mark Knopfler and Bo gave me a bigger guitar fever than I already had.  Guy Fletcher and Matt Rollings gave me key fever. Mike McGoldrick gave me the whistle fever.  Danny Cummings and Glenn Worf gave me shake-it fever.  You put all those guys together and the result is stunning.

And now, down behind the fevers I’m left with a song in my heart that I could never sing. It’s a borderless, ageless song with a thousand voices or more.  And like the Lilly Of The Valley outside in the yard…fading into yellow now…I reckon the song will give way to the wind and the rain and the sun and the dirt and the snow. And with any luck it will come back again and again and again.

-pieta, middle of may, 2010

1. Tim O'Brien-Look Down that Lonesome Road

2. Bo Ramsey-Hate to See You Go

3. Richard Bennett-Saguaro

4. Mark Knopfler-You Can't Beat the House

5. Michael McGoldrick-Waterbound

6 Guy Fletcher-Man In Front of Me

7. Tim O'Brien-Foreign Lander

8. Bo Ramsey-Stranger Blues

9. Richard Bennett-Pink Oleander

10. Mark Knopfler-Piper to the End

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Peter Ostroushko recently performed at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis.  Before the show he had time to answer some questions that will shed some light on what makes this master mandolinist and violinist tick.  His new album When the Last Morning Glory Blooms is out now!

Peter Ostroushko

Five Minutes with Peter Ostroushko

By Brian Corner

What 3 words would you use, MySpace-style, to describe your music?
“For Your Soul”.

What do you have planned for the Cedar show on April 30th?
“Madness, mayhem, and pathos ( in a fun way). I’m playing with my good friends Dan Chouinard on piano and accordion and Sam Miltich on guitar. We did a really fun gig together a few months ago in Zumbrota. Some French. Some Irish. Some Brazilian. Some Ukrainian. Traditional fiddle tunes. Swing music. Of course enough of my original waltz’s to keep the handkerchief’s well used. It was very loose and spontaneous and most of all FUN!”

What have been some highlights of your past year?
“Teaching at the Mandolin Symposium in Santa Cruz, CA. I got to hear some of the best mandolin music on the planet! Going to see the Twins play at the new ballpark. Visiting and recording with two of my mentors, Norman Blake in Rising Fawn, Georgia and Johnny Gimble in Austin, Texas. Seeing my daughter Anna be in the lead role of the Circus Juventas production of “Yulong and the Jade Dragon”. Becoming a faculty member at the Macphail School of music. I love to see those light bulbs go on over the heads of my students”.

What are you listening to now?
“I rarely listen to music when I’m not playing it. I recently drove my daughter down to Florida to check out a college. It was a grueling car trip. 2 and a 1/2 days each way. I listened for about 30 minutes while driving through Kentucky to Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys (his first instrumental recording), and for about an hour while driving through Tennessee I listened to Madagascar guitar player D’Gary and to David Lindley and El Rayo X”.

What are you reading, or what books are near the top of your must read list?
“Currently I’m reading “Matterhorn” by Karl Marlantis. A great book about the Vietnam War. Also I’m reading “Bite Me : A Love Story” by Christopher Moore. A man with a very sick sense of humor that I love”.

Do you have a favorite place you like to go back to regularly, perhaps where you write your music?“Yes. It’s called the automobile. Endless hours driving to gigs without the radio on. I get all kinds of musical inspiration looking out the windshield. When I want to inspire my own well being I go to Prairie Creek Redwood Forest in Northern California”.

Do you have advice for young musicians?
“Yes. First, you need to have a vegetable garden so you can get your hands in the soil. Second, you need to learn how to cook all that stuff that you grow in the garden. These two things will teach you every thing you need to be a contented musician. Without them you better have a plan B”!

What do you now know that you wished you would have known when starting out?
“Well, I’ve always loved gardening and cooking so I’m covered in that department. For the Dylan session I wish I had spent more time playing in the Flat keys. It would have come in handy on that day.”

What’s next for you?
“I have a new CD coming out in May called When The Last Morning Glory Blooms on the Red House label. It’s a beautiful CD of mostly my original waltz’s. I’m also working on a CD for the future with a working title of Mandolin. It’s shaping out to be at least a 3 CD set. With music from around the world and also some classical pieces from Bach, Beethoven, Vivaldi, and Paganini. I’m also returning to the Big Top this Summer to play live music for the Circus Juventas big Summer production. And also continue to teach what I know at MacPhail School of Music.

Thank you very much for your time, Peter!

Thank you to Brian Corner and The Cedar for their support and for allowing us to re-post this interview.

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