Click Banner For More Info See All Sponsors

So Long and Thanks for All the Fish!

This site is now closed permanently to new posts.
We recommend you use the new Townsy Cafe!

Click anywhere but the link to dismiss overlay!

Results 1 to 1 of 1

  • Share this thread on:
  • Follow: No Email   
  • Thread Tools
  1. TopTop #1

    Jim Kweskin and Meredith Axelrod: Authentic Americana!


    When
    Sunday, September 22nd;4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
    Where Occidental Center for the Arts, Occidental
    Cost $25 Advance/$30 at the door
    Event Website Add to Google Calendar
    We are pleased to welcome back Jug Band legend Jim Kweskinin duo with rising Americana star Meredith Axelrod for a Sunday afternoon performance at OCA’s acoustic sweet spot! Founder of the 1960s Jim Kweskin Jug band with musical cohorts Geoff and Maria Muldaur among others, Jim is well known as a singer and bandleader who also created one of the bedrock guitar styles of the folk revival, adapting the ragtime-blues fingerpicking of artists like Mississippi John Hurt to the more complex chords of pop and jazz. He has maintained a remarkably consistent musical vision since his jug band days, continuing to explore traditional folk and blues with the sophisticated sensibility of a jazz musician. He continues to tour solo as well as with many well known musicians, offering an endearing good humor that makes his shows a delight. Jimkweskin.com.

    Chicago native and Bay Area transplant Meredith Axelrod, who last appeared as a soloist on our stage in 2018, is an authentic and engaging multi-instrumentalist and vocalist who delivers heartfelt renditions of ragtime, music hall, minstrel, pop standards, boogie woogie, jugtime, jazz, country, and old time blues from times gone by; bringing her own charm and humor with a large dose of devotion to these American cultural treasures. meredithaxelrod.com .

    Don’t miss this delightful fusion of authentic, engaging songs by the best of Americana talent! $25Advance/$30 at the door. Fine Refreshments include wine and beer. Wheelchair Accessible. Art Gallery open. www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org



    Gimme tha Old time Music
    The Music of the 1920s and ‘30s
    'Bluesy, Jazzy folk music"
    by Jim Kweskin & Meredith Axelrod

    Aug 22, 2019
    by Robert Feuer

    Those of you who remember the Jim Kweskin Jug Band’s early days will fondly recall their upbeat sound, part of the general spirit and clamor of the 1960s. Kweskin, now 79, will be at the Occidental Center for the Arts on Sept. 22, accompanied by Meredith Axelrod, a young woman who has played with Dan Hicks, Maria Muldaur, Geoff Muldaur, Ramblin’ Jack Elliot, and David Grisman. Both musicians will be on vocals, guitar, and banjo, with possibly a jug tune or two from her.

    Axelrod shares Kweskin’s enthusiasm for early American music. Their repertoire, Kweskin says by phone from Boston, is the music of the 1920s and ‘30s, “bluesy, jazzy folk music,” with some standards from the American songbook. Adding jugs, washboards, and kazoos helped create the rural, primitive sound of jug bands. His music, from the beginning, has focused on new arrangements of old songs, while expanding and maturing since the early days.

    Kweskin first heard music on his father’s 78s. “From the time I was a young child I just loved that music,” he says. Decades later, jamming at the legendary Club 47 in Boston, the owner or president of Vanguard Records approached him for a record proposal, if Kweskin could put a band together. “I had a record deal before I had a band.”

    Kweskin met Geoff Muldaur on a co-bill in 1962, where they shared a few songs. A year later, Maria D’Amato, then a member of the Even Dozen Jug Band, saw them play and fell in love with Geoff. She joined Kweskin’s band, shortly thereafter becoming Maria Muldaur

    “The Kweskin Jug Band was communal, it was a family, it was democratic,” Kweskin says. They lived near each other, socialized all the time, and were very close friends. They were innocent, in that they weren’t seeking major careers, just “having fun.”

    Kweskin appeared on many national television shows. On one of three Steve Allen Show appearances, Kweskin joined Allen who was on piano, with another guest, Johnny Carson on kazoo. On a Mike Douglas Show, Kweskin played guitar with Bette Davis on washboard.

    After five years with the Jug Band, as they became increasingly popular, Kweskin says, he gave it up. “It was starting to get repetitious. My creative juices were no longer being excited.” While raising his kids and working in construction, he did only 15-20 gigs/ year during the ‘80s.

    Returning to music with 40-50 shows/ year, he now plays in various configurations – some solo or with Happy Traum, Geoff Muldaur, or Suzy Thompson; also two jug bands, a jazz band, even his granddaughter. “I love playing for people, getting them singing along.”

    Kweskin enjoys the current proliferation of young people’s jug bands, string bands, and old-timey bands. He’s not claiming responsibility for this, but says, “We carried on the tradition. We were probably the longest-lasting and most influential.”

    As of his time in the ‘60s, he’s realistic. “I loved the ‘60s and had a wonderful time, but everyone feels that way about their youth.”

    Last edited by Barry; 09-04-2019 at 01:35 PM.
    | Login or Register (free) to reply publicly or privately   Email

Similar Threads

  1. Music Dan Crary, Bill Evans & Wally Barnick: Americana Masters!
    By Occ Cntr for the Arts in forum Events, Classes and Meetings
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 03-02-2018, 07:00 AM
  2. Thanks Jim Corbett!
    By keb in forum General Community
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 09-02-2015, 11:12 PM
  3. Not Jim Morrison
    By Alias_Temple in forum Poetry and Prose
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 10-10-2009, 07:16 PM
  4. Thanks to Jim and to Shelley!
    By cocreator in forum General Community
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 05-27-2008, 09:09 PM

Tags (user supplied keywords) for this Thread

Bookmarks