37 Hours on the Road

Maps, Shubb capos & Blue Chip guitar picks: "Tools of the Trade"

This weekend we made a quick trip to New Jersey and Maryland. We were only gone for 37 hrs, but we covered over 700 miles! Driving through a couple of disaster areas, over flooded waterways, through driving rain, power outages, and hurricane force winds. Here's how we spent our 37 hrs on the road. 14 hrs driving, 5 hrs setting up/breaking down, 8 hrs sleeping, 6 hrs visiting our friends Joe and Dottie in Bethlehem, PA, 1 hr lost to the spring ahead time change, and 3 hrs of playing music. All in all a pretty typical two days on the road. Those three hours of playing and our visit were great. Two good sized and attentive audiences, despite the nasty weather, in Chester, NJ, and Hagerstown, MD.

Next weekend it's another quick road trip. This time we will be heading north to Walpole, MA, and Pomfret, CT. Friday night we will be at The Dog Rock Coffeehouse in Walpole and Saturday night at The Vanilla Bean Cafe in Pomfret. Try and catch a show and say hey to the Travelin' Homies if you can. This weekend will close out a month that saw The Homegrown String Band visit 6 states: NY, NJ, CT, PA, MA, and MD.

Road tip of the day: Shubb Capos, Blue Chip Picks, and Rand McNally Atlas—don't leave home with out 'em!

Photo by Rick Jackofsky

Celebrate Your Unikewity

Unikewity is a word that originated in the mind of "The Amazing Annalee." It has come into such common use that it has become an accepted part of The Homegrown String Band lexicon.

Unikewity - (yoo nuh kyoo uh tee) n. [Annalee-ism.] The special quality that makes you, you, the part of you that is extraordinary, one of a kind, unique.

While our "unikew" sound can be attributed, in part, to our unique instrumentation and quirky personalities, it is also the result of the constant  balancing act necessary to keep varied audiences (and ourselves) interested and entertained. We try to keep our music fresh but still rooted in the sounds of traditional American roots music. Our influences include all the indigenous American musics (blues, jazz, bluegrass, rock n' roll) as well as the traditional folk musics of Europe and Africa that combined to give birth to American music. Sometimes our eclecticness (I think that's another new word) can surprise and confuse people (see my "Hard to Describe" blog), but it is really just a continuation of an American tradition; people from different backgrounds and cultures each adding something of their own to the melting pot of American culture.

Old, New, Borrowed, Unikew
The Homegrown String Band - Something Else!

Hometown Homegrown FREE Long Island Show

Help us lose those mean old winter blues!
We will be doing a FREE show at the

Port Jefferson Public Library

2pm Sunday February 28th

100 Thompson Street
Port Jefferson, NY 11777

(631) 473-0022

The Homegrown String Band

Diggin' the Snow

Took a Break From Shoveling to Take a Few Photos
&
Play a Few Tunes

Life is Hard, But It's Good!

Click to listen to "Life is Hard" and other Homegrown ditties! 

Photo by Rick Jackofsky 

Hard to Describe

Post modern, neo traditional, psychedelic, acoustic, oldtime, family style, high energy, string band music?

The music of The Homegrown String Band doesn't fit neatly into any radio station format or record store bin. While we play traditional music and instruments, our music is not frozen in some bygone time. The tradition of American roots music is a tradition of change and we are carrying on that American tradition by using the tools at hand and borrowing from various musical genres to create something new and unique. Newsday reporter Paul Vitello once described our music as "hard to describe." Hard to describe is one label that we are more than happy to wear. We certainly are a "Unikew" bunch that stands out in a crowd. Sometimes it is hard to convince promoters who book specific genres to take a chance on something a little different, but when they do The Homegrown String Band's high energy original and eclectic sound is always enthusiastically received by folk, blues, and bluegrass audiences around the country.

Photo by Rick Jackofsky

Interview with Erica Jackofsky

HGSB fiddler, Erica, is the featured designer on today's Knit Picks Knitting Community Blog. In the interview she discusses how her approach to knitting is influenced by her musical background.

Visit Erica's knitting website Fiddleknits.com

The Family & Friends Plan

In the past week we've had some musical guests visit the old home place. This past Sunday, and then again on Wednesday, we were graced by the presence of two fine young musicians who joined us for dinner and an evening of jamming.  Annalee's friend Tim sat in on bass while Erica's pal Chris got us rockin' with some awesome percussive patterns. Sounded pretty good. Starting to think that maybe some Homegrown Family & Friends shows could be happening in the not too distant future. You never know.