Concerts

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SANTA FE BLUES
MICHAEL TARBOX
SIERRA LEONE'S REFUGEE ALLSTARS
RALPH STANLEY & THE CLINCH MOUNTAIN BOYS
AFRICAN DRUMMING IN THE SCHOOLS

SW Roots Music & KSFR public radio are proud to present Santa Fe's first-ever blues fete
SANTA FE BLUES

T-Model Ford at the 2001 Thirsty Ear Festival.
Photo by Jennifer Esperanza.

Saturday, March 27, 2010
Santa Fe Brewing Company, Santa Fe
A whole day of blues, special brews, and BBQ starring T-MODEL FORD & GRAVEL ROAD, SOUL KITCHEN, JAKE LEAR, MARC MALIN & HARMONICA MIKE COUNTRY BLUES REVIEW.

SCHEDULE
4:00 doors open
4:30-5:00 Harmonica Mike Handler & Marc Malin
5:30-6:30 Jake Lear
7:00-8:00 Soul Kitchen
8:30-10:30 T-Model Ford & Gravel Road

TICKET OPTIONS:
1. $23 advance, $28 door. General Admission. Tickets at Lensic Box Office, 988-1234, or at Santa Fe Brewing Co.
2. $150 reserved table (comes with 4 tickets and a table on the floor near the stage). Limited availability. Call 473-5723 to reserve.
3. SW Roots Music members call 473-5723 at least 3 days in advance to reserve discounted tickets.
BUY TICKETS ONLINE

WE'RE BROADCASTING LIVE!
KSFR Santa Fe public radio (101.1 FM) will be broadcasting live from the SF Brewing Company on Saturday, March 27 at 7pm. So please join us, in person or on the air, for an evening of great blues.

T-MODEL FORD
Along with label-mates R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough, T-Model Ford was a central player in the blues revival of the 1990s. Led by the great Mississippi-based Fat Possum Records, this invasion of crusty old men focused on raw, one-chord Technical prowess took a backseat to personality, and T-Model's got it in droves. Born James Lewis Carter Ford sometime between 1921 and 1925 in Forest, Mississippi, T-Model worked various blue-collar jobs, spent much of his time in jail for various offenses (including a stint on a chain gang for murder), and didn't even pick up a guitar until he was in his fifties. Blending traditional Chicago and juke joint styles with an almost punk-like rawness, T-Model has been playing of late with Seattle-based rock band Gravel Road. We haven't worked with T-Model since the early days of the Thirsty Ear Festival; so it feels particularly good to welcome the Taledragger back to Santa Fe.

JAKE LEAR

"Take the intensity of Stevie Ray Vaughan's scorching guitar technique and apply it to Bob Dylan's stark, earnest songwriting, and what you now have is the music of bluesman Jake Lear," writes Elmore Magazine. Lear, who was born in Vermont and raised on blues and country music, spent his entire adult life playing in various East Coast blues and rock bands, including a lengthy apprenticeship in New York City clubs such as the Knitting Factory, the Bitter End and CBGB. He spent the last year playing to thousands on Memphis’ renowned Beale Street, honing the hard-hitting blues on which he is building a growing national reputation. Lear’s second and latest full-length release is Lost Time Blues.

SOUL KITCHEN

Perhaps NM's most popular blues outfits, Soul Kitchen's straight-up blues wanders somewhere between Saturday night revelry and Sunday morning redemption. The Albuquerque-based group features vocalist extraordinaire Hillary Smith, winner of Albuquerque Magazine's 2009 Best Vocalist award; well-regarded guitarist Chris Dracup; and journeyman Tommy Elskes, who recently had one of his songs covered by Lyle Lovett.

MARC MALIN & HARMONICA MIKE COUNTRY BLUES REVIEW

This Santa Fe-based duo has been together for about 6 months, but have combined playing experience of over 50 years. A blend of folk, Americana and country blues, the duo plays both original material and tasty covers. Malin is the also the lead guitar player in the Rattlerz, and Harmonica Mike sits in with a range of NM bands. During their energetic shows you are likely to hear guitar, dobro, banjo, harmonica, cajon and the occasional kazoo.

Tarbox Ramblers frontman
MICHAEL TARBOX

Saturday, April 24, at 7:30
GiG Performance Space, 1808 Second St., Santa Fe
"A force of nature." —Washington Post

TICKET OPTIONS:
1. $15 advance, $20 door. General Admission. Tickets at Lensic Box Office, 988-1234. or
BUY ONLINE
2. $100 VIP PACKAGE. 2 tickets, artist CD, acknowledgment from stage. Helps fund K-12 programs. Call 473-5723 to reserve.
3. FREE for SW Roots Music members. Call 473-5723 at least 3 days in advance to reserve.

Inhabiting a crossroads where Appalachian music, ancient blues and gospel come together in powerful, unexpected combinations, the Tarbox Ramblers are left-field traditionalists whose rough-hewn, direct, old-soul approach makes for startlingly good original songs, as was abundantly apparent when we booked the band for a glorious appearance at the Thirsty Ear Festival in 2005. Robert Plant caught the group's live show and asked them to open his tour dates right on the spot; he later tapped them as backing band for a set with Alison Krauss at The Rock Hall of Fame's Leadbelly Tribute. Tarbox shows are drenched with thickets of gorgeous backwater guitar, waves of percussion in call-and-response drum-and-vocal songs, and timeless lightning-in-a-bottle laments. For his solo gigs, frontman Michael Tarbox strips it down even further, his gritty guitar and sourmash vocals honing in on each song's essence.

West African dance music at its best
SIERRA LEONE'S REFUGEE ALLSTARS

Wednesday, May 5, 2010 at 7:30
Santa Fe Brewing Company, Santa Fe

TICKET OPTIONS:
1. $25 advance, $29 door. General Admission. Tickets at Lensic Box Office, 988-1234, or at the Brewing Co. or
BUY ONLINE
2. $100 VIP PACKAGE. 2 tickets, artist CD, acknowledgment from stage. Helps fund K-12 programs. Call 473-5723 to reserve.
3.SW Roots Music members call 473-5723 at least 3 days in advance for a discount.

Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars are a group of musicians who escaped the horrific violence of Sierra Leone's civil war, landed in a West African refugee camp, and formed a band with humble beginnings that has grown into an international sensation. An unbelievable testament to the human spirit, the journey of Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars exemplifies the universal healing power of music.

Near the turn of the 21st Century, when Sierra Leone's war-ravaged capital was burning, thousands fled to neighboring countries. Among them were Reuben Koroma and Francis Lamgba (Franco) who began making music for fellow refugees in a camp in Guinea. The developing band was able to acquire a rusted-out sound system and beat up electric guitars as they moved from camp to camp playing their uplifting, can't-help-but-dance live shows, which included Black Nature, a teenage orphan with a gift for rap, as well as Abdulrahim Kamara (Arahim) and Mohamed Bangura (Medo), both of whom had had limbs amputated by the rebels. Recognizing the extremely high quality of musicianship, the United Nations was instrumental in financing the band's first studio recordings. The rest, as they say, is history.

Please join us for an uplifting evening of dance music by one of the greatest outfits ever to emerge from West Africa.

The undisputed elder statesman of Appalachian music
RALPH STANLEY & THE CLINCH MOUNTAIN BOYS

Thursday, July 8, 2010 at 7:30
The Lensic, Santa Fe's Performing Arts Center, 201 W. San Francisco
$29-$69 reserved. Tix at the Lensic Box Office 505-988-1234 or online at ThirstyEarFestival.com.
(SW Root Music Members call 473-5723 for discount)

It's been a long time since Santa Fe was treated to the high-lonesome, mournful tenor of Ralph Stanley, perhaps the greatest voice ever to emerge from Appalachia. Indisputably the elder statesman of old-time mountain music—whether singing his signature tune "Man Of Constant Sorrow" or his definitive, a cappella version of "Oh Death," the centerpiece of the O Brother, Where Art Thou? Phenomenon—Stanley is one of the most prolific recording artists in American history. He came to fame playing with his older brother Carter as half of The Stanley Brothers, and later as leader of the Clinch Mountain Boys. He has performed on more than 170 bluegrass, country, and gospel records over the course of six decades. We are proud to welcome back Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys

AFRICAN DRUMMING IN THE SCHOOLS
featuring AKEEM AYANNIYI

In 2010, Southwest Roots Music continues its K-12 music programming by bringing acclaimed Nigerian drummer Akeem Ayanniyi into NM grade schools and to the Thirsty Ear Festival for an interactive program with kids. Akeem heads the Santa Fe-based troupe Agalu, an ensemble from Nigeria that keeps alive traditional Yoruba stories, rituals and mythology through drumming, storytelling and dance. A ninth-generation practitioner of the Yoruba talking drum, Akeem engages students in conversation about the continent of Africa, framed within his own personal story about growing up as a drummer in Nigeria. In addition to stories and song, he demonstrates the traditional talking drum, ashiko, djembe and bata drums, which children have the opportunity to play and experience. A drummer from the age of five, Akeem descends from a family lineage that can be traced back 700 years to the Yoruba deity of drumming, Ayan Agalu. He has toured much of the world and performed at the Smithsonian Institute; the Brooklyn Academy of Music; the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe; Afrikadey! in Calgary, Canada; and the New Mexico Jazz & International Music Festival.

If you are involved with a NM school and would like to enjoy free Southwest Roots Music K-12 programming, please call 505-473-5723.

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