Juno Wasn't So Bad

Continuing the current trend of naming storms, our latest winter Nor' Easter was dubbed "Juno." The predicted "Snowpocalypse" wasn't as big or bad as advertised. We did get about two feet of snow along with howling wind and low temperatures, but the snow was the light and fluffy kind and the whole thing was over in about twelve hours. The town spread salt on the roads before the snow started to fall, so there really weren't any accumulations on the roads during the fist couple hours of the storm and the roads were quickly plowed during and after the big event; unlike the 2012 storm "Nemo" where we didn't see a plow for five days.

All told, we spent about four hours shoveling, but only got a mild case of The Snow Shoveling Blues.

Homegrown Three at Crazy Beans

Enough with the ice and snow! Time to get out and make some music. This Saturday night (2/22/14) the Homegrown Trio will be shakin' off  The Snow Shoveling Blues and rockin' the roots of American music at  Crazy Beans  in Miller Place. So come on down, have a nice cup of joe, hot tea, (or a cold beer) and support the local music scene. We'll be playing from 7pm 'til around 9pm.  

Admission is free and easy. (631) 403-4954

Crazy Beans

465 Route 25A

Miller Place, NY 11764

Minstrel Boy Banjo

Last year I used our midwinter downtime to put together my banjo book, Ragged but Right: The Ungentle Art of Clawwhammer Banjo. This year I have kept busy singing the Snow Shoveling Blues while making maple syrup, mead, and hard cider. I also decided to take some time to fix up a couple of old banjos that were in varying states of disrepair.

Yesterday I changed the head and restrung my Minstrel Boy banjo. This banjo, based on a mid-nineteenth century banjo made by William Esperance Boucher, was built in 2003 by Randy England. Randy made these historically accurate instruments to be used by fellow Civil War re-enactors. I played it quite a bit in school programs and fairs that featured Civil War encampments, as well as for a series of shows I did at The Long Island Museum at Stony Brook while they were hosting Jim Bollman's banjo collection in an exhibition entitled "America's Instrument - The Banjo in the Nineteenth Century." Two of the gut strings had broken and the calf skin head had a hole in it that was threatening collapse. I replaced the strings with a set of synthetic "Nylgut" strings and replaced the head with a synthetic "Renaissance" head. I guess it is no longer historically correct but it stays in tune better and should be more durable. I made a quick recording of myself noodling around on this low tuned banjo. I'll need some time to regain the touch required to play these lower tension soft strings, especially the short 5th string.



P.S That's Georgianne accompanying me on rattling silverware, banging pots, and running water.

Nemo

Our Driveway, Garage, & Annalee's Car  - photo by Rick Jackofsky

Well winter is upon us and Winter Storm Nemo has brought us our first significant snowfall since 2011. We got about two feet of wet sticky snow with drifts over three feet deep. Of course it had to come on the one weekend this month that we have a gig. So, as soon as we dig our van out of the snow, I will dig out my old snow shoveling song, The Snow Shoveling Blues. We'll get that polished up for you, and head up to Suffern, NY for our show at 1:30 pm on Sunday, February 10th, 2013 at The Suffern Free Library. Bring your cold feet and aching backs out to this free show and The Homegrown String Band will warm things up for you with some hot pickin' and fancy flatfoot dancing.

Show Rescheduled for February 17, 2013

The Suffern Free Library

210 Lafayette Ave.

Suffern, NY

Snow Shoveling Blues

The record snowfall in January gave me a sore back and a new song.

The Snow Shoveling Blues by the Homegrown String Band
January 29, 2011 - Mineola, NY