House concert with Frank Ferrel and Janine Randall 10 April

Wed Apr 15 00:26:28 ADT 2009

[A typographically richer and therefore more readable version of this
posting is available at
      <http://homepage.mac.com/vicmf/ne/2009/10_apr/10_apr.html>
along with photos taken at the concert.]

This past Friday, Val and John Mann hosted a house concert featuring
Frank Ferrel [1] and Janine Randall at their home, Thistle and Pine
Farm, outside Bowdoin (Maine), presented by Phill McIntyre, founder of
the Skye Theatre [2] and responsible for its amazing stream of concerts
presenting the finest Celtic music and musicians from the world over. I
learnt of the concert through Phill's mailing list, which you can join
by visiting the Skye Theatre's web site. Frank and Janine gave a concert
at the Skye on Thursday, but since I was planning on being in Boston on
Saturday, Friday worked better for me than Thursday, so I asked to
attend the house concert instead.

Val and John's hospitality was superb and I enjoyed meeting and talking
with them both. John is the author of the book "Ulster Scots on the
Coast of Maine" and chairman of the Maine Ulster Scots Project [3] and
consequently a fascinating person from whom to learn about the history
of their settlement of and impact on Maine.

The venue is a lovely panelled book-lined study that easily held both
the performers and thirty attendees; overflow seating was available
outside in the living room, where the sound was said to be excellent,
allowing for a total audience of about forty-five; the concert was sold
out. I sat in the study, where the acoustics were superb and the setting
delightfully intimate--what a great spot for a concert! Other concerts
there are planned for the future.

Advertised as an evening of great "craic" and _blether_, the
reminiscences of both Frank and Janine as the concert progressed told a
story of another place and time, that of the Boston musical scene
centred around Dudley Street and in house parties such as those at
Johnny Muise's (Janine's father). I had previously known of Frank only
through his CD, "Boston Fiddle: The Dudley Street Tradition", recorded
in Cape Breton in 1995 with Hilda Chaisson-Cormier on piano and J. P.
Cormier on guitar, and through his celebrated compositions, of which the
jigs "Spin-N-Glow", "Boston Life", "The New Stove", "The Canadian Club",
and "Compliments to the Boys of the Lough" (all found in Buddy
MacMaster's recordings) are probably his best known tunes in Cape Breton
circles; he has written many others, a number of which appear in the
three tune collections he has released. In Frank's description, the
Dudley Street scene was a rich mix of Cape Breton, Acadian, and local
Irish musicians whose music filled the dance halls and the street itself
as it wafted out of the dance hall windows. Its heyday began in the late
1920's and ended in the early 1960's; it was a time when the music of
those legendary Cape Breton fiddlers Angus Chisholm and Bill Lamey, and,
when he was visiting, of Winston "Scotty" Fitzgerald, was frequently
heard at dances and pub sessions there and at house parties elsewhere.
Tommy Doucet (from Digby and Concession on the Nova Scotia mainland) and
Alcide Aucoin (from Chéticamp) were two of several exponents of the
Acadian style that were also active in that scene. Frank came to Boston
as this scene was winding down, but he had studied the recordings of the
fiddlers he admired and knew the music well by the time he arrived in
Boston, where he was stationed at the Charleston Naval Shipyard during
the 1960's and took an active part in the music scene of that day.[4]

He began the evening by playing selections from Winston "Scotty"
Fitzgerald's repertoire; the first was "Highland Jigs" (track 2 of the
compilation CD of Winston "Scotty" Fitzgerald's music, "Classic Cuts")
and the second was "Antigonish Polkas" (track 19 of that CD). Then came
some hornpipes and reels, including the "Cottonwood Reel" and the
"Wildcat Reel", played by both Winston "Scotty" Fitzgerald and Angus
Chisholm. Then came a fine Cape Breton set starting with a slow air,
continuing with a strathspey, and ending with some reels; all were tunes
I know but can not name. That was followed by a set of jigs. To
illustrate the difference between the Irish and the Cape Breton styles,
Frank then played the same reel twice, once in each style. Next came a
set including the tunes "Taxi Driver" and "Johnny's Party", both of
which Frank wrote in honour of Johnny Muise. Next, he played Elmer
Briand's "Beautiful Lake Ainslie" followed by a strathspey and two
reels. Lastly, he played strathspeys that are very popular for
step-dancing. An hour and twenty minutes had elapsed from the beginning
of the concert and, while a fair amount of reminiscing occurred between
the sets, there was also a lot of very fine music as well, nicely played
by Frank with fine accompaniments by Janine.

After a break for leg-stretching, refreshments, and conversation, the
concert resumed with Frank's "Spin-N-Glow" and the traditional jig
"Squirrel in the Tree". Next came a set of New England dance hall tunes,
the first of which was "Lady Bartlett's Whim", a New Hampshire reel
dating from at least 1798, that Frank played a cappella. Then, Frank
gave us a set characteristic of Tommy Doucet's playing consisting of the
"Maple Leaf Two-Step" and the "Pointe-au-Pic" reel. The fourth set began
with Dan Hughie MacEachern's "Trip to Mabou Ridge", and continued with
"The MacDonald March", "Maid in a Box", and the "Millbrae" reel. For a
change of pace, Frank played a cappella a pipe tune on his fiddle in
such a way that the fiddle sounded very like a bagpipe--something I had
never seen nor heard done and an incredible performance, complete with
marching feet--even though, in the end, the imitation was not perfect,
it was still something I'd not have thought possible at all. Next came a
trio of hornpipes, the second of which was the "Golden Eagle" and the
third of which was the "American Rifle Team", the latter a tune with an
interesting history (see the tune's description in "The Fiddler's
Companion" [5] for details). The concert closed with a set of reels in
A. After a prolonged standing ovation, Frank gave us a few bars of "Pop
Goes the Weasel" and then launched into another set of reels. How
quickly the second half of the concert, not much shorter than the first
half, had passed!

After a chance to catch their breath and retrieve their instruments,
Frank, several fiddlers (including our hostess), and a couple of
guitarists sat down for several sets of tunes in the study. Some players
didn't know all the tunes, but all of the musicians knew some and their
playing was very listenable: these folks know the music very well and it
was a pleasure to hear them play.

My thanks go to the musicians for providing a wonderful evening of music
and history, much of the latter quite new to me; to my hosts for
providing a great venue for house concerts and their fine hospitality
and interesting conversation; and to Phill McIntyre for attracting
Celtic musicians of the highest calibre to eastern Maine. What a
privilege it must be to have high-quality concerts of traditional music
constantly available with only a short drive needed to attend!

[1]	<http://www.frankferrel.com/>
[2]	<http://www.necelticarts.com>
[3]	<http://www.maineulsterscots.com/>
[4]   	I would like to acknowledge discussions with Marcia Palmeter and
  	later e-mail exchanges with both Marcia and Dave Palmeter that
	were very helpful to me.
[5]	<http://www.ibiblio.org/fiddlers/ALL_AMU.htm#AMERICAN_RIFLE_TEAM>