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At Wolfgang’s Vault, we’re constantly adding new material to our sites, and the Concert Video section is no exception. As a special holiday treat, we’re offering an early glimpse of just one of the incredible new concerts we will be bringing you in 2012, this one from the recently acquired Metropolitan Archive – Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band live at the Capitol Theatre, 1978.
The Bay Area music scene suffered a major loss this weekend with the passing of Warren Hellman, founder and benefactor of the city’s remarkable long-running Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival. In honor of his memory, we are proud to present this inspiring look at the man and his festival by Angela Zimmerman, originally published in Crawdaddy! Magazine in September of 2010.
If you live in the Bay Area, chances are you’re familiar with Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. Chances are you’ve even attended at least once over its 10 years running. It’s hard to disregard a massive, three-day festival that’s six-stages large and hundreds of thousands of attendees deep with a star-stacked lineup that takes place out in the emerald expanse of the Golden Gate Park every first weekend of October—the sunniest, warmest time of the year in San Francisco. Each year, Hardly Strictly features a staggering list of artists, with past festivals including performances by Elvis Costello, Steve Earle, Randy Newman, Jonathan Richman, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Doc Watson, Roseanne Cash, Gogol Bordello, Hot Tuna, the Avett Brothers, Joan Baez, MC Hammer, Los Lobos, and Emmylou Harris, the festival’s reigning matron who has played every year since its inception – hardly strictly all bluegrass. And the festival is entirely, absolutely, free. Read More
The Black Crowes performance at Newport Folk Festival 08 is live at Wolfgang’s Vault. It’s a great, passionate set featuring a stripped down 12-track set that will be a The Black Crowes fan favorite. Enjoy here.
The Robinson brothers, Chris and Rich are brilliant together, and individually as well. Chris is on tour with the Chris Robinson Brotherhood, while Rich is touring in support of his own record: Through A Crooked Sun.
“The sun was a fitting metaphor to examine my life, because in many ways what was going on both nourished me and blinded me at the same time,” says Rich. “I was living this life that was askew. My relationships with the people that were supposed to be my closest seemed damaged. My marriage was not a good fit for either of us and we weren’t facing up to that. Though I love my brother, the fact that my working environment can be challenging has been well chronicled. Nothing was working like it should have been, but by many people’s standards, it was a dream come true.”
Check out more of Rich’s music on his FB page.
Meanwhile – CRB – Chris Robinson Brotherhood is on tour with their own distinctive sound. Check out this Otis Redding cover.
Formed in 1967, Chicago has been a long-term and very prolific band. Much of it’s great history can be found in the Wolfgang’s Vault Archives in audio and in video. When founding member Terry Kath passed, he left a very young daughter. Today she is working on a documentary to help her explore her father’s life and legacy, and you can help.
Michelle Kath Sinclair’s documentary “In Search of Terry” is being funded via KickStarter, a funding platform for artists to be able to develop creative projects without a major corporate entity. Find out more here.
We wish her and the producers much success with this project and look forward to the film she is creating.
Tom Waits has what might be the most exciting release of the year coming out October 24. In anticipation, you may have seen his hilarious “Listening Party” video on his site. Make sure you check out the two songs he has now released there as well: the heartbreakingly lovely ballad Back In The Crowd and the much edgier Bad As Me. Tom Waits=cool!
It’s a great week for new music! Anti-Records has two releases this week we want to note: Marketa Irglova, and Joe Henry.
And our friend Bess Rogers has a new release as well. Here are some samples of what you might enjoy.
Marketa Irglova: she is best known for her part in the Swell Season and in the film Once, now the Academy Award winning singer and songwriter celebrates her first solo release: Anar.
Over Columbus Day weekend of 1992, Bill Graham Presents put on two benefit concerts at the Shoreline Amphitheatre to commemorate “500 years of the survival of the indigenous people of the western hemisphere.”
On Saturday, October 10th, the “All Our Colors: The Good Road Concert” was held in support of The Traditional Circle of Indian Elders & Youth with performances by Santana, the Steve Miller Band, Mickey Hart, Jackson Browne, John Lee Hooker, John Trudell and Graffiti Man, White Boy and the Wagon Burners, and Red Thunder.
He’s a veteran singer/songwriter from Nashville, with seven records released to his credit, yet many of us are just getting to know the man known as the voice of “heartland rock.” You may recognize his song “Even If It Breaks Your Heart.” Let us tell you about Will Hoge.
This week, Will Hoge releases his seventh record, the aptly titled “Number Seven,” via Rykodisc. The new single from the disc is actually the last track, titled “When I Get My Wings.” It weaves together an emotionally poignant story from the vantage of an old man laying his beloved wife to rest after a long and happy life together. The video debuted just last week online, view it below.
YouTube Embed: “When I Get My Wings”
Levon Helm – Dirt Farmer, American Minstrel
Levon Helm with The Band, 1974
He was born to music-lovin’ cotton farmers and grew up in a town called Turkey Scratch, pickin’ up the guitar by nine, blowin’ harmonica by ten; he hit the drum kit at fifteen after seeing Elvis and his band create frenzy with limbs that danced to heart-pumping rhythm.
His palette was formed of African-American minstrels, rhythmic blues and bluegrass, Grand Ole Opry and straight up rock n’ roll. Calling music, “…one of the foods of our lives,” he ate and drank his fill, sharing a table filled with family and friends for more than sixty years.
In 1998, Levon (Lavon) Helm was diagnosed with cancer of the vocal cord and his soulful Southern voice became a whisper. No matter. He could still play drums, calling his drummer’s stool “the best seat in the house.”
The home he created for family was in Woodstock, New York – heritage of his humble beginnings with The Band and Big Pink. He used his house to stage “rent parties” in an effort to pay his mortgage and medical bills. The Midnight Ramble kicked off in the barn at 8:00 on Saturday night and shimmied ‘til midnight, becoming a continued event and one of the most cherished musical venues in the country.
Levon’s Midnight Ramble Sessions rejuvenated a creative spark, inspiring an ode to his family with Dirt Farmer, for which he received a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album in 2008, and Electric Dirt, which won the Best Americana Album in 2010.
“As long as you can keep music a part of your life, you’ve got a hell of a chance!”
For those with a passion for music, it is a vocation that makes most that pursue it self-employed. As Levon would note, “Most of us are self-employed. We get sick too and we have to pay those bills and it’s quite a struggle at times.”
“…Especially with aging musicians – a lot of them don’t have any health care. A lot of musicians really tip their hats to MusiCares.”
Levon’s message of late was keeping his American roots music alive, and passing it on.
“The power of music just kinda kills all those ills; it cures everything and you’ve got more energy just from the music. And, I’ve never seen it fail. It’s good for ya; real good for ya.”
To find inspiration in Levon’s music, we share:
-A video of Levon performing “Rag Mama Rag” with The Band on New Years Eve, 1983
-A video of Levon Performing “Ophelia” at Newport Folk Festival (Newport, RI) Aug 3, 2008
-A Levon Helm Tribute playlist
-A link to MusiCares