A weekend of harmony singing, a house concert and more!

On the weekend of Feb. 11–12 Val Mindel, Emily Miller and Jesse Milnes will be giving a country harmony workshop in Baltimore, focusing on American traditional and early country (old-time, bluegrass and gospel) singing styles that feature three-part harmonies.

Details:

The workshop is divided into two sessions; you can do one or both. Single-day participants are encouraged to come on Saturday, when basics are covered. Because space is limited, preference will be given to two-day participants. Some singing experience is important. Songs and parts will be taught by ear.

Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.: Repertory and the basics of making up three-part harmony, using songs that range from easy to challenging, including some work in smaller groups. The focus is on crossing harmonies and other interesting ways to make use of three voices.

Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.: We’ll carry on the work of the day before, tackling new songs (including a session specifically aimed at singing country and honky-tonk material) and looking at ways to solve some common arranging issues.

The Teachers:

Val Mindel, Emily Miller and Jesse Milnes count up almost 100 years of American traditional music between them. Val and daughter Emily have been singing together for all of Emily’s life and have been teaching together for the past 14 years, giving harmony workshops across the US and abroad. Their specialty is the tight harmony so prevalent in early country music. Jesse, an extraordinary fiddler, guitarist and singer and son of West Virginia musician and folklorist Gerry Milnes, has also been making music all his life. He and Emily perform as a duo and are part of the Sweetback Sisters, a popular country band heard on such national venues as Mountain Stage and A Prairie Home Companion. Jesse joined Val and Emily on their 2007 album “In the Valley” (www.valandemmy.com). The Sweetback Sisters’ new album, “Looking for a Fight” (www.thesweetbacksisters.com), was released in 2011 on Signature Sounds. They are currently touring in the US and Europe. Val has played with a number of bands, including the West Coast’s Any Old Time String Band, and is frequently on staff at music camps across the US, including the Augusta Heritage Center, Village Harmony and Allegheny Echoes. She teaches regular classes in country harmony at Jalopy music school in Brooklyn, New York.

Where: TBA (in Baltimore—we will send out the address to attendees)

Cost: Workshop fee is $100 for the weekend; $60 for one day.

To reserve a space email Genie Moore (geniemoore@me.com) or Val Mindel (vmindel@gmail.com). Once you’ve reserved a space, you’ll confirm by sending a check for full amount made out to Val Mindel; Genie can give you the address of where to send the check, and where to come for the workshop once space is confirmed. Checks won’t be cashed until after the workshop. Space is limited to 20 (plus organizers); reservations are a must.

On Saturday night, Feb. 11, 7:30 p.m., there will be a house concert with Val, Emily and Jesse at venue to be announced, followed by an old-time/country jam session for those with unstoppable energy.

Starry Mountain Singers

Friday the 13th is your lucky night!

Just wrapped up a rehearsal with my better two-thirds, Kathy and Patty, and now it's on to my beer course! But first...

A reminder that a week from today is Friday the 13th, and that is the very day that you'll fall in love all over again with the Starry Mountain Singers!

And guess who else?
Orfeia!


And there's more?
The Shapenote Sisters!


The purest of instruments is the human voice and on May 13, three groups will make it clear. Starry Mountain Singers have a devoted following for their energetic renditions of traditional music from Appalachia, early New England, American gospel, Bulgaria, Caucasus Georgia, and Corsica. Orfeia is an all‐woman Slavic chorus whose repertoire includes ancient and modern adaptations of Bulgarian folk songs, sublime Slavonic, Georgian and Sephardic chants, and playful love songs from throughout the Balkans. Finally, the Shapenote Sisters are charming emissaries of Sacred Harp, a uniquely American tradition of participatory “singings,” who also like to dip into early country, old‐time and other sister‐style harmony.

$15 general/ $10 CA members and students
The Shapenote Sisters and Orfeia open the show.
More information: (410) 276-1651
www.creativealliance.org

Having a Blog

Rule #1 - If you have a blog, you must update your blog with regularity. It need not be every day. It need not be every week. But it better be more than one time in a year.

Rule #2 - If you have failed at updating your blog with any regularity, refrain from apologizing for your absence. It just draws attention to how lame you are.

Rule #3 - Use said blog to promote the projects for which said blog was created to promote. Do it, goofball.

Hi friends!
Long time, no see.
So sorry for how terribly long it's been since Ye Olde Lily & Thorn blog as been updated. Woe is we. Just a quick update for now, since I'm clearly too busy to offer much more than the most meager update.

The Shapenote Sisters have a couple of shows coming up which I'll tell you all about in future posts (I promise!). For now, mark you calendars and plan to be at:

• The G-spot on April 23rd for the opening of Same River Twice. The Shapenote Sisters will perform, along with Elizabeth LaPrelle, Anna Roberts-Gevalt, and The Manly Deeds.
• The Creative Alliance on May 13th for an A Capella Showcase, featuring The Shapenote Sisters, The Starry Mountain Singers, and Orfeia.

And NEXT WEEKEND... don't miss the Potomac River Sacred Harp Singing Convention in Great Falls, Virginia. I am the Chairlady, which means I get to wrangle everyone involved, talk a little bit, and then run to the kitchen and eat all the delicious food while you all sing your faces off all weekend.

On Sunday afternoon Kathy, Patty and I went to a rehearsal for Hip Hop on the Mountain at the Creative Alliance. It was so fun to be there, going over the order of our set and to turn around to see one b-boy spinning on his head, and to turn some more and see a clogger and a spoken word artist listening to an iPod with a shared set of buds and tapping their feet to the sounds. It was so good to sing loudly and be surrounded by such supportive, genuinely curious folks. This will be an exciting show. Chris Stain and Leon Reid IV began their installation in the gallery while we were there, too, and that should not be missed.


Opening reception for Ain't Goin' Home: Chris Stain & Leon Reid IV is Saturday, May 8th at 7pm.
3134 Eastern Avenue, Baltimore, MD

FUSION 2010/Hip Hip on the Mountain follows at 9pm in the theater.

Check out Lee Gardner's article in the City Paper about my homies and I here!

Carly on the Mountain

I've been playing phone tag with my Sisters and with Shodekeh trying to finagle our schedules so we can *actually rehearse* for Hip Hop on the Mountain. Or Fusion 2010. Or Hillbilly Hip Hop. Or whatever you want to call this totally awesome show we will be doing together on May 8th.


Can I make a request though? Please? The next time I'm invited to perform somewhere can the show title please have nothing to do with mountains? Where, pray tell, do you see any mountains around these parts?

Anyway, I'm looking forward to meeting up with the other performers this evening and also getting some noisemaking in with my girls and Sho.
Wahoo!
Tune in, also, for a story in Ye Olde City Paper. I just got back from a lunch with Lee Gardner, during which he hopefully was able to glean some incredibly insightful kernels of awesomeness from the chomping and slurping.
God bless City Paper on the Mountain.

It's Official!

The Shapenote Sisters now have our very own blog. In this particular incarnation, The Shapenote Sisters are a trio of lovely ladies who enjoy drinking tea together, eating treats from far away places (and Trader Joe's) and singing. We mostly sing shapenote songs (hence our current band name) but we also enjoy some early country, old-time and other sister-style harmonies, so don't be surprised when we sing something else! Dark and haunting is our trademark, but we can make you smile, too.

Photo by the most excellent Michael Patrick O'Leary

Kathy Fahey is are stalwart alto. And sometimes we make her sing bass. She is an incredible artist, working primarily in painting and printmaking. She is owner and artist at 2hawks2fishes through which she sells her prints, t-shirts, bags, cds, and more. You can see her work in galleries and at craft shows around town and beyond. She also plays guitar and will do anything for brunch and a swim. Give her a high five if you can reach that high.

Patty Berry is our tenor (which, in our world, is the melody line). Patty builds houses by day for Habitat for Humanity. She is an incredibly versatile vocalist. Patty can sing the crap out of Toto's Africa and the next minute she'll belt out the Stanley Brothers' Rank Strangers. She, too, is a tea aficionado, and another claim to fame is that she can harmonize on cue, even when I sing in my muppet voice.

Carly Goss is the cranky treble. :) I got my start singing Sacred Harp (shapenote music) about 13 (gasp!) years ago when my gal, Susan Waters, first introduced me to it in the context of a variety of world music traditions. I used to sing Balkan folk music, too, and would love to re-introduce that to my repertoire. I manage an art supply store during the day and I also own and operate Carlybird Weaves, a weaving studio in Woodberry where I create handwoven scarves, cuffs and other works of art. I also teach weaving to adults.

All three of us sing regularly with a fabulous group of Sacred Harp singers every Thursday night at the Cathedral of the Incarnation near Johns Hopkins University. While The Shapenote Sisters do perform, and I have also performed shapenote music with various other groups of singers, Sacred Harp is first and foremost a participatory tradition. We sing for the joy of singing together, for fellowship, for worship, and for fun.