Here’s the songs on which the Paint Branch Ramblers rambled, branched, and/or painted on June 6, 2009, at the 2nd Annual Food & Wine Festival at the National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland (just across the Potomac from D.C.). The line-up included Peter Jensen on the violin, Mike Paul on guitar, Ryan Jerving on jug and cümbüş, Bob Smith on guitar, and Susan Johnson on autoharp and washtub bass.
SET #1
First Round Polka
Soldier’s Joy
Red Clay Halo
Boat like Gideon Brown
Kentucky Waltz
Blackberry Blossom
Good Morning Irene
Old Brown’s Daughter
Haste to the Wedding/The Musical Priest/Whiskey Before Breakfast
Two More Bottles of Wine
If I Lose
SET #2
Your Cheatin’ Heart
Heyse Latke/Jerusalem Ridge
I’ll Fly Away
Wagon Wheel
Jackknife/Down Yonder
Blue Ridge Cabin Home
Throw the First Stone
Old Homeplace
Three Nights Experience
Ham Beats All Meat
Last Call Waltz
SPECIAL IN-OFFICE PERFORMANCE For Food & Wine Festival staff and volunteers
On June 6, 2009, the Paint Branch Ramblers will bring their special blend of old time, bluegrass, and jug music to the National Harbor to kick off the 2nd Annual Food & Wine Festival.
We promise you’ll get your fill of songs about eating and drinking, and songs about sailors who eat and drink. And we promise you the return of our of our prodigal rambling boy from Milwaukee, Ryan Jerving, who is currently trying to figure out the best way to bring a jug, washboard, and washtub bass through carry-on.
The National Harbor is located in Oxon Hill, Maryland, just a water taxi ride across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. The festival runs both Saturday and Sunday, June 6 & 7, and, according to the event’s web site, “celebrates the chefs’ use of local, fresh and responsibly sourced ingredients from both land and sea, which inspire their creativity and protect the environment.”
As this post is being typed, the sun is just setting on Riverdale, Maryland — the last Maryland sundown that Rambler juggist, banjo ukulelist, and cümbüşcü Ryan Jerving will see before getting on that old turnpike tomorrow for a drive to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
It’s also the the sundown that brings in Hanukkah. And what better way to bring in Hanukkah than with the Ramblers’ own “Heyse Latke Kalte Latke / Jerusalem Ridge,” as recorded live at our show this past December 6, 2008 at the Home Grown Coffee House in Accokeek, Maryland. So here it is, and mazel tov, whether the constellation under which you stand is in Maryland or Milwaukee:
As you listen, you’ll hear Ryan on the cümbüş, Mike Paul and Bob Smith on the guitar, Peter Jensen on the violin, and Susan Johnson switching from autoharp on “Heyse Latke” to washboard on “Jerusalem Ridge” (even her wastub bass makes a guest appearance — listen for the sound of the broomstick neck clattering to the floor in the background on “Heyse Latke” in the section after the vocal). Incidentally, you can hear the collection of recordings for the whole 2 set show at the post that immediately precedes this one.
And if you just can’t get enough of “Heyse Latke,” check out the blog of the Viper over at http://viperblog.wordpress.com/, where Ryan has posted the first of 8 straight entries he’ll be posting over the holiday, featuring the lead sheet, the cheat sheet, and rare scratch track and rehearsal recordings of the song.
Here’s what we played on Saturday, December 6, 2008 at the Home Grown Coffee House in Accokeek, Maryland. We had a great time playing, though our voices were all a little raw after a long day that included trying to get an extra practice in earlier in the day to make sure our epic and rather pointlessly elaborate (but fun!) arrangement of “Tribute” worked out. But thanks to all the volunteers there who always make the Coffee House a fantastic experience for the musicians who play there, with a special shout out to Ryan Jerving’s kinfolk: Joe, Michelle, and Colin Buckingham.
And thanks in particular to Alex Naar who should get some kind of medal for his work in doing the sound for a band that requires mic’ing various combinations of washtub bass, fiddle, washboard, two guitars, two ukuleles, autoharp, jug, and a strange Turkish banjo-mandolin-bedpan thing.
Songs marked as links will take you to an mp3 recording from the performance.
On Saturday, December 6, the Paint Branch Ramblers will be playing at the Homegrown Coffeehouse on the grounds of the National Colonial Farm in Piscataway Park in Accokeek, Maryland. (See here for directions.) Doors open at 6:00 p.m. and the Ramblers will play two sets starting at 7:00 p.m.
The Homegrown Coffeehouse is a great Accokeek institution that gets put on 6 or so times a year, entirely booked, staffed, and run by neighborhood volunteers who also cook the soup, desserts, and coffee that will be available for sale. Drinks are B.Y.O.B.
This will be the last public Ramblers show to feature the Milwaukee-bound ukulelist and cümbüş player Ryan Jerving, who will also play a special between-set set as The Viper.
The title of this post says it all — this is Bob Smith testing out the new Line6 TonePort UX2 hardware and GearBox software we used to record our practice on November 20, 2008. The acoustic guitar run through a direct line, most likely run through the “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” setting under the “Heavy Guitar” menu.
As a bonus, here’s the vocal intro that we usually use to go into “Down Yonder,” the Jeffrey Frederick song “Jackknife” from the Have Moicy! album he did with Michael Hurley, Peter Stampfel, etc.
The site of Ryan Jerving's lunch, Friday, November 14, 2008
Rambler Ryan Jerving is on the road this week for a conference in Nashville. Here’s what he has to say:
“Aside from making the rounds of great places to eat like the Pancake Pantry (great buckwheat pancakes), the Elliston Place Soda Shop (see image at right), Rotiers (fried pickles), and with luck Arnold’s Country Kitchen tomorrow for some classic Tennessee meat-and-three lunch, I’ve also been keeping an eye out for celebrities. The CMAs were going on the night he arrived, which means that Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon, and Lil Wayne should be around here somewhere.
“So far, my best luck came earlier today while I was taking a long walk up and 17th and 16th Avenues between Division Street on the north and Wedgewood Avenue on the south (where I saw the Belmont University building that hosted the town hall presidential debate earlier this year). This is basically the area known as ‘music row.’ But while the big guns like Sony and RCA have fancy office buildings in the section north of Chet Atkins Place, when you get south of that you’re in a pretty modest, leafy, Magnolia-lined neighborhood of 1920s Craftsman bungalows that now serve as offices of small music publishers, or the offices for lawyers for music publishers, or the offices of the managers for lawyers for music publishers. It was very cool to see all the signs and, since this was post-CMA, all the special banners they had out congratulating their clients.
“Anyway, near the beginning of this walk, I was approaching one long-but-low building that had a sign reading ‘Ray Stevens Publishing.’ I walked around the corner, and saw an older gentleman get ought of a pick-up truck that I was pretty sure was Ray Stevens. So when I got back to my hotel room I made sure a) Ray Stevens was still alive (he is), and b) that he’s still in business (he is). In case you’re not sure what that business is, I’ve embedded a video below of 1974 classic bluegrass novelty number, ‘The Streak.’ Wikipedia tells me that this song hit #1 on the Billboard chart that year, preceding Grand Funk Railroad’s ‘The Loco-Motion’ and preceding Paul McCartney and Wings’s ‘Band on the Run’ in that slot.
By the way, the guy I saw was fully clothed, right up to his trucker’s cap.
Here’s the set list from the show that the Ramblers played to close out the annual Boo-Grass Festival and Chili Cook-Off at the Good Deale Bluegrass Shop (655 Deale Rd., Deale, Maryland) on Saturday, November 1. The band consisted of Susan Johnson (and for the first time, her washtub bass was mic’d, with amazing results), Peter Jensen, Mike Paul, Bob Smith, and a guest mandolinist to be named later.
I’ll Fly Away
In the Pines
Jerusalem Ridge
Three Nights Experience
Ashokan Farewell
Red Clay Halo
Haste to the Wedding / Musical Priest / Whisky Before Breakfast
The Paint Branch Ramblers will bring their old-timey spin to the Boo-Grass Festival and Chili Cook-Off at the Good Deale Bluegrass Shop (655 Deale Rd., Deale, Maryland) on Saturday, November 1. The whole event run from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., with the Ramblers playing at approximately 5:30 p.m.
Here’s the complete line-up:
11:20 a.m.
Deale Dance Conservatory with a number performed by Hank Williams song (with “scary” number by kids)
6:45 p.m.
Final drawing announcements, cook-off winner announcements
The drawing mentioned above is for a BR70 Blueridge Guitar (retail value of $850.00) or $500 cash, with proceeds to support the free Friday Night Jams at the Good Deale Bluegrass Shop. Raffle coupons are $5.00 and more details are here.
The Paint Branch Ramblers’ participation as the “pet” band for Riverdale Park’s Sunday, October 26 11th Annual Howl-o-ween Pet Costume Party — has it really been 11 years? That’s 77 years in dog time, you know — was most notable for the fact that Rambler Mike Paul’s own pooch, Willie, took the prize for “Most Precious.”
And if you take a look at the picture below you’ll see why. Pictured are (starting clockwise from dog): Willie, Mike Paul, Susan Johnson, Ryan Jerving (as a Palm Beach Rambler), Bob Smith, and Peter Jensen. Not pictured are Willie’s prizewinning wranglers, Katherine and Harper Baer.
Willie and the Poor Boy Ranglers, Riverdale Town Center, October 26, 2008
Our set list for the show was a truncated version of our Oktoberfest set list from two nights previous (thus giving us the proverbial “three nights experience”). We had worked up a version of “Old Shep” for the occasion — think Old Yeller in 3 verses — but thought better of it.
On Saturday, December 6, the Paint Branch Ramblers will be playing at the Homegrown Coffeehouse on the grounds of the 
