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RAGGED BUT RIGHT!
TU I5tk Nortk G«or^i\ Folk Festival
ince 1984 the Athens Folk and Dance
Society, in conjunction with the ACC
Leisure Services’ art division, has beer,
bringing the North Georgia Folk Festival to
Sandy Creek Park. This upcoming weekend
marks the 15th such event.
The Folk and Dance Society formed in
1984 as well, and is best known for institu
tionalizing the Athens “hoot,” wherein local
musicians gather to jam informally or listen
to other performances. The society holds a
square dance/contra dance one Saturday per
month at Memorial Hai! on the UGA campus
and promotes other dances and events fea
turing traditional/folk performers from the
culturally rich North Georgia area. Lach
year’s crowning achievement, of course, is
the folk festival. This an event not to be
missed. A few highlights:
Kicking off Friday’s performances are tra
ditional combo Horsefeathers, featuring
local virtuoso string players Edward Hunter,
George Norman and William Tonks. Atlanta
Cajun sensations Hair of the Dog will close
out the night at 9:15 p.m.
Saturday at 2:15 p.m., don’t miss the
gospel steel guitar playing of Central
Florida’s Willie Eason. Recently, Arhoolie
records has been releasing recordings of
Eason and other Florida steel guitar players
who have held onto this driving Pentecostal
tradition, a fixture in certain church denomi
nations in Florida for more than 60 years.
Eason is the oldest performer featured on
“SacredSteel,” a collection Arhoolie released
last year. He is credited with being among
the first to play gospel steel guitar and has
pioneered a sparse style filled with slurred
notes that bark and cajole underneath his
rich voice. His tunes vary from traditional
hymns to self-penned numbers like “Franklin
RooseveL, ^ Poor Man’s ^riend.”
Also appearing Saturday: the legendary
Skillet Lickers, a Georgia institution.
Originally led by fiddler/chicken
farmer/comedian Gid Tanner, this was the
hottest string band of the 1920s, known for
charging through hard-driving numbers that
Durned with the unhinged ferocity of the
best punk reck. Their recordings still haven’t
been ‘opped. This is hard fact, folks!
Over the years, various Tanners have
held onto the Licker name. Gid’s fiddling son
Gordon, who played on the last original
Licker session in ‘34, kept the music and
spirit alive until
his death in the
early 1980s.
Gordon’s son
Phil continues
with a band that,
in his own
words, remains
“hard to classify."
Also of note
Saturday: the
gospel music of
the Bible
Outreach
Mission Singers,
the traditional
Irish music of the
Buddy O’Reilly
Bard and the
blues of Precious
and Tony Bryant.
Aside from
these Main Stage acts, the smaller Campfire
Stage will feature sessions and workshops
by Harvie Sims, a P'edmont guitarist from
Toccoa; music and such from local folk
Renaissance man Art Rosenbaum; stories by
89-year-old Athens guitarist and fiddler Joe
Rakestraw; Celtic-influenced music from
Barry Sell and Susan Staley; and the blues
guitar from Marion Montgomery.
Besides the music, attendees will also get
a first-hand lodk at soap making, the art of
greenwood lathe-turned bowls, quilting, pot
tery, beeswax candle making and legendary
folk artist Howard Finster’s “naive” painting.
Grab a blanket, a banjo, a good pair of
clogging shoes and go!
Bruce Miller
"Georgia Fiddle Players Sis Guest, Ross Brown and Earl Murphy" by Art Rosenbaum
THE m NORTH GEORGIA FOLK FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25
Main Music Stage
7- 7:45 p.m. — Horsefeathers
8- 9 p.m. — String Theory
9:15-10:15 p.m. — Hair of the Dog
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26
Main Music Stage
1-1:40 p.m. — MandoLoar Quartet
1:45-2:10 p.m. — The Foxfire Boys
2:15-3 p.m. — Willie Eason - steel guitar
3-3:15 p.m. — Lifetime Achievement Awards
3:20-3:45 p.m. — Ed Teague and the Georgia
Mountain Boys
3:55-4:25 p.m. — The Melody Men
4:30-4:50 p.m. — The Bullfrog Cloggers with
Dave Swenson Band
5- 5:30 p.m. — The Skillet Lickers — old time
fiddle music
5:35-5:55 p.m. — Bible Outreach Mission
Singers — gospel
6- 6:35 p.m. — Precious & Tony Bryant - blues
•5:40-7:25 p.m. — The Warblers - a cappella
traditional and gospel
7:35-8:25 p.m. — The Buddy O'Reilly Band —
traditional Irish
8:35-9:35 p.m. — Neal Pattman — blues
Campfire Stage
2-2:30 p.m. — Guitar sessions
2:35-3 p.m. — Banjo sessions
3:05-3:40 p.m. — Joe Rakestraw and Pat Shields
— stories
3:45-4:15 p.m. — Heli Willey and Friends
4:20-5 p.m. — Sunny Side Up Band
5:05-5:30 p.m. — Susan Staley and Barry Sell
5:40-6 p.m. — Fiddle sessions
6:05-6:25 p.m. — Harmonica sessions
6:35-7 p.m. — Marion Montgomery - blues
To get to the Park: Folbw Highway 441 North
(toward Commerce) for three miles past the Athens
perimeter-U.S. 10 loop. Take o right on Holman
Road; Sandy Creek Park is one half mile on the
right. For more information, call (706) 613-3620.
Friday, September 25th
The Bean’ry and Essentia! Records presents
An Intimate Evening With Caedmon’s Call.
Caedmon’s Call’s intense acoustic sound with thoughtful lyrics has brought
sell-out crowde from Harvard to Duke, to the University of Texas. Just
before signing to Warner Bros. in 1996, Musician magazine named them one
of the top 50 undsigned bands in America. In 1997, the band’s self-titled
aibum deputed at number one on the Billboard Heatseeker chart and has
sold over 400,000 albums. Despite their success, a Caedmon’s Call concert
is like spending an evening with friends.
Friday, September 25th at 7pm.
' Downtown at the Historic Morton Theater.
Tickets are $10.00 for students, and $12.00 for general admission.
Tickets can be purchased at UGA 5tudent Union, Chi Alpha, UGA BSU, Wesley,
Lemstone Books, or The Bean’ry. For other info call (706) 613-5634.
A coffeehouse production. 1993.
' v -
presents
ALIEN CHIIVIP
E . P . RELEASE PARTY!
The 4C-Watt Club
Wed nesday,
September 30th
*IO P.M.
First 30 people recieve a FREE CD?
SEPTEMBER 23, 1998 FLAGPOLE Bl