String Theory Media

hearing differences: my TEDx Nashville talk

Happy to say that TEDx Nashville has posted the video of my talk there from March 31. The theme of the day's events was "Making A Difference," so I pulled together some ideas I'd been sketching for some time into a talk I called "Hearing The Difference: Accidental Lessons in Listening." I was motivated by my belief that for young people growing up outside of musically inclined families, our culture, media and schools offer up very few if any opportunities for discovery of our aural universe and engaged ways of listening to music, the world and each other. In coming days I'll post some of the other lessons in listening that I couldn't squeeze into this talk. In the meantime I hope you enjoy this and if you do, please share it with friends. 

 

I'd also love to hear from you about your own epiphanies in listening. It would be great to compile them one day into a book.

help casey driessen get his kicks with fiddle sticks

Some time last year I got a call from my friend Casey Driessen, one of the most innovative fiddle players in the world and a key instrumentalist in modern bluegrass and fiddle jazz. He invited me into a project that he was cooking up, and we got together to shoot the Kickstarter pitch video here. 

If you don't have four minutes to spare, Casey is raising funds for a year-long adventure wherein he's going to pair his percussion-heavy chopping fiddle style with leading drummers. He and a series of drummer/percussionsts will meet up and 48 hours later see what kind of track they've been able to compose and produce. And yours truly will be there to film the collaborations and post short films about each one. This is exactly the kind of searching, visionary project we exist to document, so thanks to Casey for the confidence and the leadership. We both hope you'll contribute and share to make this fascinating project come to fruition. 

 

music and my daughter: when the roses bloom in dixieland

She really blew my mind a few nights ago. But let me build up to it.

The family spent Easter weekend in Atlanta seeing sights and eating good Asian food. After we got home and unpacked and FongChong had changed into her pajamas, she came down to my studio while I was getting my hands back around my guitar after the break. And lately, at last, she’s taken a bit of an interest in my folkie world, so I opened up my old notebook of hand-transcribed tunes and started singing perhaps the sweetest song in the whole thing, “When The Roses Bloom In Dixieland.” Nobody murders anybody, which is a relief. A guy sets off for the North to make some quick money and begs his girl back in Tennessee to wait for him so he can marry her and "buy a little cabin home for two." And the hook line, "when the roses bloom in Dixieland, I'll be coming home to you," is easy to sing. So FongChong made a good stab at singing it with me. She actually stuck with it for a while and let me guide her through the key line over and over while she struggled with the rapid flow of words. I really pushed her on diction. She has a hard time finishing words, so ‘roses’ becomes ‘rose’ and ‘bloom’ becomes ‘bloo’. ‘Dixieland’ is hard for her because our X sound just isn’t in Chinese, but we actually figured out a way for her to say the X sound, thanks to the song. This was the dreamed of master plan all along.

hot doc(s) alert: folk on film

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I'm a champion of filmmaking to tell music stories. So a cluster of upcoming docs about or driven by the roots music revival feels like a gold rush. I've just donated to the Kickstarter campaign of filmmaker Anna Schwaber for her ambitious and exciting Porchlight Sessions film. It's a portrait of bluegrass in all its "big tent" glory. The vibe struck by the trailer seems to me just right, acknowledging that tradition and change can and must coexist. And she seems to get the story straight from a huge variety of artists. I'm really looking forward to see this when it premieres at the Nashville Film Festival.

Then there's this interesting feature following Mumford & Sons, Old Crow Medicine Show and others on a tour by vintage train. The homage to the wonderful 1970s film Festival Express is explicit. The new-era take on the American musical odyssey by rail was made by Emmett Malloy, known for his acclaimed White Stripes documentary Under Great White Northern Lights. Also at the Nashville Film Festival.

Big Easy Express Official Trailer from S2BN Films on Vimeo.

Another film looks back at the life of one of the most influential figures in the modern day roots music movement - John Hartford. It rapped its successful Kickstarter last fall and is in its final stages of editing. Entitled John Hartford, Oh Yeah!, it tells the story of the witty and unique multi-instrumentalist, historian, singer, songwriter and river boat pilot who died of cancer in 2001. Talk about a guy who could preserve tradition while stirring the pot, Hartford was an architect of newgrass, even though he wasn't really trying to invent a new branch of bluegrass. If this film can capture even 20% of his lovely, quirky personality, it will be amazing. 

Another interesting project that's reached its Kickstarter goal but that merits attention as it evolves is Folk To Folk, which documents specific music scenes and the "recent spike in popularity" in folk music. We give them extra props because one of the guys being interviewed is wearing a Music City Roots cap at about 1:25 in the trailer.

There's somethign happening here, and what it is ain't exactly clear, as some folksingers once sang. Every move to document this new back-to-the-people movement in music is welcome. These look like some of the best new looks at a very big and diverse story. 

 

 

coming up: a speech at TEDx nashville

On March 31, I'll be a speaker at the third annual TEDx conference in Nashville. The title of my talk on the TEDx website is "Hearing The Difference: A Life's Journey in LIstening." So now that's up there, naturally I feel the need to change it a little, at least the subtitle. I think I'll introduce it as "Accidental Lessons In Listening." As I've written, the key theme that jumped out at me was that my most profound lessons in hearing the world more completely and listening more actively have come not from muisc teachers but from happenstance encounters with people who taught me unexpected insights into the audio universe. I believe American culture and our education system doesn't do a good job helping us cultivate our most sensitive sense, our hearing. We're constantly being led to more expansive and extraordinary visual experiences (HD! 3D!), and when our vision starts to go, we get glasses or corrective surgery. But we abuse our hearing from youth and assume it's obvious how to use our ears. The moments of surprise in my life where I've been invited to notice something audible that was there all along have been among my most cherished however. Sound and music are central to how I appreciate the world. I'd rather be blind then deaf without a doubt. Moreover, cultivating our ears is directly related to cultivating our ability to listen and empathize, and the world needs a whole lot more of that these days. I've long wanted to organize and share the stories and ideas that will be in this  15 minute talk, and it's an exciting honor to get a chance to put it together. The event is, I think, technically sold out, but apparently a new block of tickets went up for sale this week. I hope to see (and hear) you there in any event. 

 

a face for bluegrass nation

From the boiler room of the IBMA, we emerge to let y'all know that the long-planned BluegrassNation.org is getting pretty close to its beta phase, at which point a limited group of artists, businesses and fans will be able to set up pages. That's also when the thing gets out in the world and all kinds of folderol will ensue, I'm sure. But we'll be mighty happy to have it online and begin its real evolution and development. It's only a platform. The rest is up to bluegrass fans. We hope BN takes a place at the nexus of the many bluegrass news outlets, blogs, festivals, calendars and local associations that make up our proud bluegrass nation.

The news of the week though is we've picked a logo, which is right here, and now that the structural stuff is done, this is setting the tone for the visual design. The logo is by Josh Gibson (a very bluegrass name, no?) from near Roanoke, VA. I have important comments about the logo contest we held in concert with Creative Allies below. But first, some context and background...

music and my daughter, part 6: duets at last

I haven’t posted on FongChong’s journey in ages, but now’s a good occasion, because this week, on Valentine’s Day, we’ll celebrate exactly one year of knowing each other. We’re sure to pull out the pictures and video of that unforgettable Monday in Guangzhou when we trundled off to an ordinary office building and up an elevator with our guide and then held our breath as they brought this little kid wearing a pillowy pink coat out to meet us. To say a lot has happened since then, well…

We’re a no-fooling family now. Aside from her adorably chunky (but effective) English and the fact that she’s CHINESE, you could mistake us for a bio unit. Somewhere between six months and ten months, reciprocity blossomed. Life with FongChong became a two-way street. Give and take was negotiated. Trust grew. And love moved in to stay. We goof off and have mock kung fu fights. She accepts hugs and gives them back. She’s letting me curl up next to her and read aloud. (The Invention of Hugo Cabret is our first big book. To my delight it’s about gears and sprockets and light and design and drawing and the birth of film - just the kind of thing I’d otherwise struggle to present to my little girl in an engaging way. We’re nearly done and it’ll be a treat to see the movie.)

To get properly caught up on the music front, I need to tell the story of the photo I’ve posted here...

building from the roots up

An announcement:  I've hung my free lance above the fireplace and gone to work full time for Music City Roots as a producer and writer. My title, which I'm making up right now, is Senior Producer and Journalist, and all this took effect on January 1, even though I’m still sweeping up the worksite on a few year-end String Theory Media projects. Now that the new year is really rolling, so am I.

To say I’m excited about this would be a ridiculous understatement. When show creators Todd Mayo and John Walker looked me up a few years ago out of curiosity about live radio production in the golden age of WSM, it was like so many conversations that seem promising but don’t go anywhere.  Except this one did. I knew after our first meal together that these were exceptional guys with great ideas and a commitment to good entertainment in and of Nashville that rivaled those who founded Music Row. They kept me in the loop through a Plan A collapse and a Plan B revival, and they graciously asked me to be part of their crusade to present authentic music in a cool setting, with a reach to the world. They got the show launched on WSM in the auspicious month of October (that’s when WSM went on the air in 1925) and negotiated brilliantly through the crazy Gaylord divorce and the happy WRLT marriage. They found sponsors in a tough economy and now we’re partnered with a remarkable bunch of companies and brands that fit our values and our spirit like almost none other could (and yes, I’ll name and thank them: Nissan, Griffin Technology, The Nature Conservancy, Whole Foods, Ascend Federal Credit Union, Vietti Chili and Ole Smoky Moonshine. Love ya lots)

We’ve staged 101 shows, and I’m proud to say the only ones I’ve missed came during our trip to China to meet and adopt our daughter and one week when I was out working on a film. It’s been a life’s dream to be part of something this good and good-hearted, with people of this caliber. And to think  that we’re expanding and investing more in our vision of Americana music with new outlets and media is just kind of awesomely nuts. So I say to y’all now: please get the fever or get out of the way.

 I'll be pushing forward on three fronts in our campaign to turn every American into a fan of their own indigenous music...

Bluegrass Nation: an overdue update

Last Spring, I described here that the International Bluegrass Music Assn. was working on Bluegrass Nation, a new social platform for bluegrass music and media, and then last Fall, we sketched some details for attendees at World of Bluegrass. At that point, we had just identified a developer, but it took  more time to nail down the plan and the budget and truly get started. Now, I’m happy to say, it’s on. We’re meeting weekly to structure and refine the idea so that it can do the most good for the most people. We’ve had many conversations with interested parties about what they’d like to see, and we’ve gamed scenarios for what the page/news service/sharing tool will look and feel like. Our guy is Ryan DeRose, web guy out of the fascinating and dynamic Charlottesville, VA music community, recommended to us by banjoist and bluegrass uh, activist(?) Chris Pandolfi of the Infamous Stringdusters, who are sporting a new DeRose-designed, socially-enabled website.

The very latest is that we’ve launched a logo contest for the site through Creative Allies.

warren hellman, bluegrass and philanthropy

The Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park is one of the greatest events I’ve ever experienced. (Here’s what I wrote about my visit in 2006.) It’s remarkable for so many reasons, chiefly in that it was and remains free to the public, a gift to the city of San Francisco and the nation by financier and philanthropist Warren Hellman, who died Sunday at age 77.

All I ever heard about Hellman was that he was an unusual guy and a mensch to folk and bluegrass musicians. The artists and sidemen I know who’ve played HSB often say it’s their favorite festival of the year, because of the lineup, the setting and the respect Hellman paid the musicians at all levels. There was just something about Warren Hellman, beyond his being staggeringly rich, but I didn’t know what that was until I read this marvelous obituary and appreciation in The Bay Citizen. The takeaway:

"A rugged iconoclast whose views on life rarely failed to surprise, Hellman was a lifelong Republican who supported labor unions, an investment banker whose greatest joy was playing songs of the working class in a bluegrass band, and a billionaire who wanted to pay more taxes and preferred the company of crooners and horsemen who shared his love of music and cross-country 'ride and tie' racing."  

Hellman’s life was just amazing. You should read the details. But what blows my mind, is that in these times of 1%ism and cultural strife, it takes an “eccentric” billionaire from San Francisco to highlight a puzzling and unfortunate thing: American wealth (about which I’m basically ambivalent) isn’t trickling down to American roots music and the whole Americana scene. This estrangement doesn’t speak well of Hellman’s class, because I think there’s a case to be made that whither goeth a nation’s music, there goeth the nation. And while some view Americana as just another musical format/genre/category, the more appropriate way to see it is good cells in our cultural bloodstream. Bluegrass and folk music was a great 20th century profusion of humanity and freedom that could keep us sane and connected in the chaotic 21st, if we can stay connected with it. American roots music’s fine art pinnacle is jazz, which has issues and struggles of its own, and American roots music has many branches. But let’s call what Hellman cherished and supported bluegrass, hardly strictly speaking, and let’s agree that bluegrass is NOT flush with resources from our country’s patrons of arts and culture.