The fourth annual Oldtone Roots Music Festival, September 6-9, 2018, Hillsdale, NY

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The fourth annual Oldtone Roots Music Festival

September 6-9, 2018
Cool Whisper Farm, 1011 County Rt 21, North Hillsdale, NY, 12529
http://www.oldtonemusicfestival.com/
https://www.facebook.com/OldtoneMusicFestival/

Invite friends/share the event - https://www.facebook.com/events/140739196643996/

The 2018 Line-up

Anna & Elizabeth, Cedric Watson, Hubby Jenkins, Mike Bub in the Lineup for Oldtone This Year

Hillsdale, NY, April 11, 2018 The Oldtone Roots Music Festival 2018, September 6-9, 2018

Cool Whisper Farm, 1011 County Rt 21, North Hillsdale, NY, 12529.

Oldtone Productions continue their  carefully curated old-time music line up with the return of some Oldtone favorites and some exciting new folks. Roots music fans will be delighted to hear that the Appalachian Mountain duo Anna & Elizabeth (recently featured in the New Yorker) will be bringing their harmonies and their art to the Hillsdale festival. Also new this year are Oldtime Blues artist Hubby Jenkins (Carolina Chocolate Drops), Creole artist and former member of The Pine Leaf Boys Cedric Watson, well known upright bass player Mike Bub (Del McCoury band). Other new artists include Five Mile Mountain Road (bluegrass), cajun fiddlers Joel Savoy and Kelli Jones, roots trio Pete’s Posse, and the Balkan Romani Gypsy duo Eva Salina and Peter Stan.

The returning lineup makes up Oldtone’s core, with some of the most exciting roots artists today. The Oldtone host band, is the well-known Foghorn String Band from Portland, OR, Oldtone’s favorite Cajun band Jesse Lege and the Bayou Brew will be returning to the Main and Dance Stages, as will the old time darlings Bill and the Belles. Bill and the Belles are the house band for Farm & Fun Time which is hosted by Radio Bristol producer and house band-leader Kris Truelsen, (the show is hot in the Roots music world right now). The Down Hill Strugglers are also making waves, and band member Jackson Lynch recently played the Half Moon with his band Jackson and the Janks, the Hudson hot spot that Oldtone partners with for their SuperTone promotional shows. Nora Brown, the young up and coming roots banjo player captured the festival’s hearts and minds last year with her appearance on the “tweener” stage and has a place on the Main Stage for 2018.

Oldtone organizer Kip Beacco stated; “I can’t begin to tell you about all the amazing artists we’ve got coming this, year, it’s breathtaking.”

“Oldtone is the good ol’ days. I have never had such fun playing music as I did in the dancing tent in the Oldtone Country Revue - the smell of sawdust from the freshly built stage, the twinkling lights, and the warm summer air on our skin as dancers twirled and two-stepped by. Oldtone is a dream.” stated singer Lauren Ambrose. 

"My apologies to all for not being able to save the festival as originally envisioned."

The text and images below were copied from "New England Folk and Folklore", a Facebook group I run. See the second paragraph for the reason the word folk in the title is in quotations.

Jeff Boudreau shared Russ Smith's photo.

12 hrs · Arlington Heights, MA

"It's official. As I feared, the Sandywoods suits and ties have officially rescinded their earlier decision to permit an outdoor weekend folk festival to be held in the beautiful Sandywoods fields in Tiverton on May 23-24. To avoid having to pay for liability insurance, they have instead arranged for a new group of outside organizers to put on a one-day indoor concert on Saturday the 23rd, to take place entirely inside the Sandywoods hall. They are inviting all 16 acts that were booked to play the weekend festival (8 bands per day), including the headliners, to instead perform inside the hall, all on the same day. It's not clear if this new "festival" will still be pay-what-you-can. My apologies to all for not being able to save the festival as originally envisioned."
Russ Smith, 6 hours ago
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152698881962441&set=a.10150095520087441.272185.652522440&type=1&theater

Russ and I disagreed over the use of the word "folk" in the festival's title (my take, from the announced artists, is it was an acoustic pop festival). But it's sad when good efforts fall by the wayside.

Russ Smith

It's official. As I feared, the Sandywoods suits and ties have officially rescinded their earlier decision to permit an outdoor weekend folk festival to be held...

See More

Like · Comment

• 

  Jeff Boudreau "RIP Sandywoods Folk Festival. Killed off because Sandywoods Farm, Inc. didn't want to write a check for liability insurance. Or, to quote the board's gobbledygook official statement, "the original festival plans for a two-day outdoor event were modified due to concerns of the Sandywoods Board with complications associated with adequate liability coverage."
  Russ Smith, 2 hours ago
  https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152699327067441&set=a.10150095520087441.272185.652522440&type=1&theater
  

  
  

  

  Russ Smith

  ok official statement, "the original festival plans for a two-day outdoor event were modified due to concerns of the Sandywoods Board with complications associated with adequate liability coverage."

  12 hrs · Like · Remove Preview
• 

  Jeff Boudreau Here's the official Sandywoods Center for the Artsannouncement: "Music Festival at Sandywoods
  Tiverton, RI. – The Sandywoods Folk Festival will be held at the Sandywoods Center for the Arts on
  Saturday, May 23rd beginning at 11:00am and ending at approximately 10:00pm.
  The original festival plans for a two day outdoor event were modified due to concerns of the Sandywoods Board with complications associated with adequate liability coverage.
  All the performers scheduled for the original festival event will be invited to play at the Saturday concert date. The Sandywoods Board apologizes for the delay and confusion that accompanies its decision not to hold a two day festival and for any disappointment of the performers and fans that were looking forward to an outdoor event. Any supporters who donated funds to support the outdoor festival will have their donations returned upon request. Otherwise, the funds will be used to support the May 23rd event.
  All other previously scheduled concerts and events at the SCA will go forward as scheduled.
  The Board of Sandywoods wishes to acknowledge the work of Russ Smith, who has done so much to establish, organize and promote the arts, entertainment and the many programs and events offered at Sandywoods. Russ remains a valuable member of the Sandywoods community and we hope and expect he will lend Sandywoods his talents in the future. His recent resignation has been accepted with great regret.
  Please visit www.sandywoodsmusic.com and www.sandywoodsfarm.org for future updates and contact sandywoodsmusic@gmail.com for additional information. And thank you for your support of the Sandywoods Center for the Arts."
  Source: https://www.facebook.com/sandywoodscenterforthearts?fref=ts
  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  Sandywoods Music

  music venue

  SANDYWOODSMUSIC.COM

  12 hrs · Like · Remove Preview
• 

  Jeff Boudreau And from the Sandywoods Folk Festival page: "Music Festival at Sandywoods
  Tiverton, RI. – The Sandywoods Folk Festival will be held at the Sandywoods Center for the Arts on
  Saturday, May 23rd beginning at 11:00am and ending at approximately 10:00pm.
  The original festival plans for a two day outdoor event were modified due to concerns of the Sandywoods Board with complications associated with adequate liability coverage.
  All the performers scheduled for the original festival event will be invited to play at the Saturday concert date. The Sandywoods Board apologizes for the delay and confusion that accompanies its decision not to hold a two day festival and for any disappointment of the performers and fans that were looking forward to an outdoor event. Any supporters who donated funds to support the outdoor festival will have their donations returned upon request. Otherwise, the funds will be used to support the May 23rd event.
  All other previously scheduled concerts and events at the SCA will go forward as scheduled.
  The Board of Sandywoods wishes to acknowledge the work of Russ Smith, who has done so much to establish, organize and promote the arts, entertainment and the many programs and events offered at Sandywoods. Russ remains a valuable member of the Sandywoods community and we hope and expect he will lend Sandywoods his talents in the future. His recent resignation has been accepted with great regret.
  Please visit www.sandywoodsmusic.com and www.sandywoodsfarm.org for future updates and contact sandywoodsmusic@gmail.com for additional information. And thank you for your support of the Sandywoods Center for the Arts."
  Source: https://www.facebook.com/sandywoodsfolkfestival?fref=ts
  To which Russ Smith replied:
  "It's official. As feared, the Sandywoods suits and ties have officially rescinded their earlier decision to permit an outdoor weekend folk festival to be held in the beautiful Sandywoods fields in Tiverton on May 23-24. To avoid the cost of insurance, they have instead arranged for a new group of outside organizers to put on a one-day indoor concert on Saturday the 23rd, to take place entirely inside the Sandywoods hall. They are inviting all 16 acts that were booked to play the weekend festival (8 bands per day), including the headliners, to instead perform inside the hall, all on the same day. It's not clear if this new "festival" will still be pay-what-you-can. Apologies to all for not being able to save the festival as originally envisioned."
  

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  Sandywoods Music

  music venue

  SANDYWOODSMUSIC.COM

  12 hrs · Like · Remove Preview

It is interesting that two days after the "suits'" announcement the festival is still being promoted on its Facebook page as "pay-what-you-can outdoor folk festival".

It gets deeper, On Sunday, April 12 Russ Smith, former Sandywoods employee and festival rganizer, has posted to his Facebook page an open letter to the hired artists:

Russ Smith

9 hrs · Tiverton, RI · 

An open letter to the many fine performers who were scheduled to play at the Sandywoods Folk Festival:

"I am writing to you because you are (or at least were) scheduled to play at the May 23-24 Sandywoods Folk Festival, which was to have been a two-day, family-friendly, outdoor music festival held in the beautiful hilltop fields at Sandywoods Farm in Tiverton, RI. Planning for the festival began in earnest last year, not long after we held a Pete Seeger memorial concert up in the fields.

We secured a state arts grant, held fundraisers, and put together a great lineup of 16 acts, including you.

It pains me to have to tell you that the Sandywoods Farm, Inc. board of directors has, at the eleventh hour and after festival planning and preparations are 90% complete, chosen to drastically modify the festival by: (a) moving it indoors to a hall that only seats 150; and (b) shrinking it down to a single day. The board released this statement on April 8th:

"The original festival plans for a two-day outdoor event were modified due to concerns of the Sandywoods Board with complications associated with adequate liability coverage."

It goes without saying that I am completely 100% opposed to what the board has done. I have in fact resigned my position as program coordinator at Sandywoods in response to their decision.

To kill a long-planned outdoor weekend folk festival over concerns about the cost of additional liability insurance is unfair to the many music fans who were looking forward to attending, and is disrespectful to you, the performers. I am quite sure that many of you passed up gigs in order to keep your commitment to the festival. And I know that each and every one of you generously worked with me to keep festival expenses as low as possible.

In my opinion, Sandywoods Farm, Inc. should be held responsible for paying all musicians the agreed-upon performance fees and stipends, regardless of whether you are able and willing to play at the board's new, one-day, indoor "festival" on the 23rd. (If I'm reading the board's official statement correctly, it sounds like they will allow all booked performers to play in the hall on Saturday, including any Sunday musicians who can magically alter their touring schedule and show up in Tiverton a day early.)

Although Sandywoods Farm, Inc. continues to refer to the May 23rd event as the "Sandywoods Folk Festival," local supporters of the planned festival know that this is a far cry from what we had worked for, planned for, and hoped for: a glorious weekend of music and fresh air up in the hayfields, with kids and dogs and frisbees, and local farmers and artists selling their produce and crafts, and of course all of you folks sharing your talents on stage. I'm really sorry I couldn't save the festival. I fought hard for it, but I just couldn't win."

Sharing the news, I do not want to get into the legalities, but I find nothing to disagree with.

4th anniversary of WGBH killing the peoples' music

Today we mark the fourth anniversary of the day the peoples' music died on so-called pubic radio WGBH, Boston. WGBH management terminated "Folk on WGBH" and "Blues on WGBH" at the end of November, 2009, betraying its public mission as well as all members of the folk and blues communities.

"I can only assume this has something to do with the almighty dollar. Isn't this supposed to be public radio and aren't we the public. Folk music has been a mainstay on WGBH for as long as I can remember. Acoustic artists are as popular as ever and in some ways even more popular then in days gone by. I don't get it. WGBH should be ashamed of itself. Well, as Ma Joad said, "We're the people and you can't stop us and you can't lick us. We just keep coming, 'cause we're the people." -Jim Kweskin, 11/11/09

You can learn more at WGBH Drops Folk and Blues Programs from this blog.

You can stay in touch with fellow community members and learn what actions you can take to restore the programs through a discussion group.

Remember WGBH's action when you receive that solicitation envelope or phone call or email. Refuse them! Return the envelope marked "refused, you killed the peoples' music." Tell the paid phone solicitor why and ask your name be removed from their call list and database. Remove yourself from the WGBH mailing list. And it would not hurt to write a letter to the WGBH Board of Trustees, tell them public radio and the airwaves belong to the people, not the bluebloods.

Then consider supporting a community or independent college/community radio station where the volunteer producer/hosts, not the corporations that pull WGBH's strings, determine their program content.

Massachusetts community stations:
WBCR-LP, Great Barrington
WCUW, Worcester
WMCB-LP, Greenfield
WOMR/WFMR, Provincetown
WXOJ-LP, Florence

See a listing of others, including independent college / community hybrids, here.

Share this blog post and a related Facebook event with friends.

NPR music has a very twisted sense of history and music genre

"NPR Music" really needs to understand music genre definitions much, much better. Bluegrass is not old-time, and folk revival is not folk! 

In First Listen: Soundtrack, 'Inside Llewyn Davis' by STEPHEN THOMPSON, November 03, 201311:00 PM

...NPR Music claims "The Coen brother's sparked a bluegrass revival with their 2000 film 'O Brother, 
Where Art Thou?'" 

Oscar Isaac (left) and Justin Timberlake in a scene from Inside Llewyn Davis. Both are featured on the movie's soundtrack. Photo by Alison Rosa

NPR music has very twisted sense of music genres.

O Brother was a fictional film which featured traditional, old-time music and popular tunes and songs and tunes...

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Artist	Length
1.	"Po' Lazarus"	traditional	James Carter and the Prisoners	4:31
2.	"Big Rock Candy Mountain"	McClintock	Harry McClintock	2:16
3.	"You Are My Sunshine"	Davis, Mitchell	Norman Blake	4:26
4.	"Down to the River to Pray"	traditional	Alison Krauss	2:55
5.	"I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow" (radio station version)	Dick Burnett	Soggy Bottom Boys & Dan Tyminski	3:10
6.	"Hard Time Killing Floor Blues"	James	Chris Thomas King	2:42
7.	"I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow" (instrumental)	Burnett	Norman Blake	4:28
8.	"Keep On the Sunny Side"	Blenkhorn, Entwisle	The Whites	3:33
9.	"I'll Fly Away"	Brumley	Alison Krauss & Gillian Welch	3:57
10.	"Didn't Leave Nobody but the Baby"	traditional	Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch	1:57
11.	"In the Highways"	Carter	Leah, Sarah, and Hannah Peasall	1:35
12.	"I Am Weary, Let Me Rest"	Roberts (Kuykendall)	The Cox Family	3:13
13.	"I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow" (instrumental)	Burnett	John Hartford	2:34
14.	"O Death"	traditional	Ralph Stanley	3:19
15.	"In the Jailhouse Now"	Blind Blake, Rodgers	Soggy Bottom Boys & Tim Blake Nelson	3:34
16.	"I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow" (with band)	Burnett	Soggy Bottom Boys & Dan Tyminski	4:16
17.	"Indian War Whoop" (instrumental)	Hoyt Ming	John Hartford	1:30
18.	"Lonesome Valley"	traditional	The Fairfield Four	4:07
19.	"Angel Band"	traditional	The Stanley Brothers	2:15
Total length:				61:24

...that was set in the the Great Depression of 1930's in the American deep south. This makes the setting , one decade and some 600 miles to the south of where bluegrass was conceived and born. Thank you for perpetuating the fallacy that old-time music is the same as bluegrass, NPR!

Proceeding on this faulty foundation, NPR Music infers a movie about a country blues and folk revival artist, Dave van Ronk, will cause new interest in folk music. Here we go again. Dave Van Ronk played country blues music and was a member of "the great folk scare", meaning he was a folk revival artist.

As purported subject matter experts, NPR Music does not understand music genre definitions very well and as a result, intentionally or not, confuses the general public. Here are generally accepted definitions of the genres:

Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. Bluegrass was inspired by the music of Appalachia.^[1] It has mixed roots in Irish, Scottish, Welsh, and English^[2] traditional music, and also later influenced by the music of African-Americans^[3] through incorporation of jazz elements.Immigrants from the United Kingdom and Ireland arrived in Appalachia in the 18th century, and brought with them the musical traditions of their homelands. These traditions consisted primarily of English and Scottish ballads—which were essentially unaccompanied narrative—and dance music, such as Irish reels, which were accompanied by a fiddle.^[4] Many older Bluegrass songs come directly from the British Isles. Several Appalachian Bluegrass ballads, such as Pretty Saro, Barbara Allen, Cuckoo Bird and House Carpenter, come from England and preserve the English ballad tradition both melodically and lyrically.^[5] Others, such as The Twa Sisters, also come from England; however, the lyrics are about Ireland.^[6] Some Bluegrass fiddle songs popular in Appalachia, such as "Leather Britches", and "Pretty Polly", have Scottish roots.^[7] The dance tune Cumberland Gap may be derived from the tune that accompanies the Scottish ballad Bonnie George Campbell.^[8] Other songs have different names in different places; for instance in England there is an old ballad known as "A Brisk Young Sailor Courted Me", but exactly the same song in North American Bluegrass is known as "I Wish My Baby Was Born".^{[9]Continued at} http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluegrass_music

Old-time music is a genre of North American folk music, with roots in the folk music of various cultures of the Ireland, Britain, Africa, and Continental Europe. It developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dancing, flatfoot dancing, buck dancing, and clogging. The genre also encompassesballads and other types of folk songs. It is played on acoustic instruments, generally centering on a combination of fiddle and plucked string instruments (most often the guitar and banjo).Continued at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old-time_music 

Country blues otherwise known as acoustic blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) is a general term that refers to all the acoustic, mainly guitar-driven forms of the blues. It often incorporated elements of rural gospel, ragtime, hillbilly, and dixieland jazz. After blues' birth in theSouthern United States, it quickly spread throughout the country (and elsewhere), giving birth to a host of regional styles. These include Memphis, Detroit,Chicago, Texas, Piedmont, Louisiana, West Coast, Atlanta, St. Louis, East Coast, Swamp, New Orleans, Delta, Hill country and Kansas City blues.^{[1][2]Continued at} http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_blues

Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers. It has been contrasted with commercial and classical styles. One meaning often given is that of old songs, with no known composers; another is music that has been transmitted and evolved by a process of oral transmission or performed by custom over a long period of time.Starting in the mid-20th century a new form of popular folk music evolved from traditional folk music. This process and period is called the (second) folk revival and reached a zenith in the 1960s. This form of music is sometimes called contemporary folk music or folk revival music to distinguish it from earlier folk forms.^[1] Smaller similar revivals have occurred elsewhere in the world at other times, but the term folk music has typically not been applied to the new music created during those revivals. This type of folk music also includes fusion genres such as folk rock, folk metal, electric folk, and others. While contemporary folk music is a genre generally distinct from traditional folk music, in English it shares the same name, and it often shares the same performers and venues as traditional folk music. Even individual songs may be a blend of the two.Continued at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_music

Hey NPR Music, bluegrass is not old time, and folk revival is not folk! 
And NPR Music needs to revisit its own mission statement...
The NPR Mission
The mission of NPR is to work in partnership with Member Stations to create a more informed public — one challenged and invigorated by a deeper understanding and appreciation of events, ideas and cultures.
...to remind itself to write articles that better inform and educate, rather than mislead, the public.