Contra Pulse

See and hear Peter Siegel in action:

• His website
• His show Live from Brattleboro is every Sunday evening at 6 p.m. Eastern. is available for watching on Facebook and YouTube. (Older episodes on YouTube are here)
• The Gaslight Tinkers live at the Iron Horse in 2013
• Playing and singing with Pete Seeger in 2012
• With Susan Conger, Susie Secco, and David Kaynor playing at the John C. Campbell Folk School Dance Musicians’ Week in 2009
• The Beverwyck String Band’s album is elusive right now — if you know of a way to purchase or listen to it, please let us know!

Some people mentioned in this interview:

• Julie and Mary Cay Brass discuss other aspects of the Greenfield Dance Band in their conversation in Episode 14
• Jay Ungar and Molly Mason make the magic happen at Ashokan
• Lyn Hardyis still performing and is also a luthier
• Susan Conger
• Here’s an interview with Guy Bouchard. Thirty Below no longer exists, unfortunately…
• Sue Songer was awarded CDSS’s Lifetime Contribution Award in 2019
• Garrett Sawyer runs Northfire Studio in Amherst, MA.

Some musical groups mentioned in this interview:

• Jim Kimball is still running the Geneseo String Band at SUNY Geneseo
• You can learn more about Wild Asparagus from Julie’s conversations with David Cantieni (Episodes 7 and 8) and George Marshall (Episode 13)
• Here’s a video from Ashokan with members of Nightingale and Wild Asparagus jamming together
• The Mammals
• Peter mentioned Garrett’s band The Alchemystics; here’s what they sound like
• Here’s Ann Percival’s swing band, The O-Tones, performing “Let’s Get Away from it All”

Some dances and events mentioned in this interview:

• Learn more about the Clearwater Festival on their website
• The Old Fiddler’s Convention in Galax, VA
• Ashokan Northern Weekhappened virtually this summer
• You can read more about the environmental education programming at Ashokan here
• Julie mentioned drawing on David Kaynor’s ideas when starting the BIDA dancein Cambridge, MA
• Dance Musicians’ Week at the John C. Campbell Folk School also happened virtually this summer

Some odds and ends mentioned in this interview:

• At the beginning of the interview, Peter was riffing on “John Henry.” Here’s a recording of Pete Seeger singing it.
• Listen to Woodie Guthrie singing and playing “This Land Is Your Land”
• Here’s La Bottine Souriante playing both "Hommage à Edmond Parizeau" and "Dédicado à Jos"
• Here’s a YouTube video to give you an idea of what Soca Calypso sounds like
• PVPA is the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts charter school in South Hadley, MA
• Peter mentioned using the New England Dancing Masters material in his teaching. Mary Cay Brass talks about this in Episode 14

The intro and interstitial tracks from today's episode are Bonnie Isabel Robertson/John Howat's from the Greenfield Dance Band's album High Clouds, Rolling Ridge/Flying Home To Shelley from Airdance's Flying On Home, and Iles de la Madeleine from Mary Cay Brass' album Green Mountain.

See the Contra Pulse website for transcripts and more.

And the Country Dance and Song Society for information about Contra and English country dance across the continent.

See and hearMary Cay Brass in action:

• The 2011 Village Harmony Teen Residential Ensemble performing Macedonian songs and dances, with Mary Cay Brass on piano accordion
• A 1996 recording by Ray Sebold of the Greenfield Dance Band (David Kaynor, Mary Cay Brass, Roger Kahle, Michael Kerry, and Susan Waters).
• A clip from a 2003 Airdance concert set
• Her recordings and books are available on:
• Her website
• Great Meadow Music
• The CDSS store
• Bandcamp (a Village Harmony recording of songs she collected in the Balkans)

Some dances and events mentioned in this interview:

• The Brattleboro Dawn Dancesare still happening twice a year in non-COVID times.
• The DownEast Country Dance Festival
• The Fiddle Tunes Workshop
• Festival Mémoire et Racines
• The Sage Gateshead still runs Folkworks summer schools in Durham, UK
• The Old Songs Festival in Altamont, NY
• The Sidmouth International Festival that Mary Cay mentions no longer exists in the same form, but the Sidmouth Folk Festival still happens in Sidmouth, Devon, UK in non-COVID times.
• Alasdair Fraser’s Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddle Campis at Camp Campbell in Boulder Creek, CA
• Village Harmony

Some people mentioned in this interview:

• The singer from Québec City Mary Cay blanked on the name of is Gabrielle Bouthillier.Here’s a video of her singing.
• Check out this recording of Bo Bradham playing “Wild Hog in the Woods” and “Pike’s Peak,” found on an archived copy of hiswebsite
• Mary Cay’s new accordion teacher, Sunniva Brynnel
• Andy Davis and Peter and Mary Alice Amidon, along with Mary Cay, make up New England Dancing Masters. They create instructional material grounded in traditional music and dance, like the album Mary Cay mentioned, Chimes of Dunkirk.
• Stéphane Delicqpassed away in 2010, but here’s a video of him tearing it up on the diatonic button accordion in 1993
• Pascal Gemme is a Québécois fiddler best known for his playing in Genticorum
• Susan Kevraisthe caller on Full Swing, the album with dance-length tracks mentioned in this interview
• Mary Lea
• Here’s an interview with Mario Loiselle, the inspirational Québécois piano player Mary Cay mentioned.
• Here’s a video of Bob McQuillen playing in his boom-chuck style
• Marie-Soleil Pilettestepdances with Genticorum starting at 3:31 at Ashokan Northern Week, 2018
• Peter Siegel
• Lissa Schneckenburger spoke with Julie about her experiences playing with the Greenfield Dance Band in Episode 10 of this podcast.

Some places mentioned in this interview:

• Here’s a photo of the Belle of Brattleborofrom an old postcard
• Orchard Hill Breadworks in East Alstead, NH, is a fabulous bakery
• The church in Westminster West, VT

Some musical groups mentioned in this interview:

• Airdancerecordings are available from Great Meadow Music
• La Bottine Souriante
• The Canterbury Country Dance Orchestraalso comes up in Julie’s interview with Charlie Pilzer, which is Episodes 2 and 3 of this podcast (part 1) (part 2). You can also check out Julie’s interview with Dudley Laufman.
• Héritage — we’re still looking for information about this group! Stay tuned, and let us know if you have any.
• Tidal Wave/Raz de Marée
• Le Vent du Nord

Some odds and endsmentioned in this interview:

• The Ethnic Folks Arts Center in New York City that Mary Cay mentioned is now called the Center for Traditional Music and Dance
• Green Mountain is available on YouTube
• If you want to hear more Québécois piano this week, check out Pascal Gemme and Marie-Soleil Pilette’s Fiddle Hell Online Jam from June
• Great Meadow Musichas many fabulous contra dance CDs available, thanks to the efforts Mary Cay mentioned in her interview

The intro and interstitial music from today's episode is Come along Jody and Congress Reel/Fisherman's Island/Return to Milltown fromWild Asparagus.

See the Contra Pulse website for transcripts and morecontrapulse.cdss.org

And the Country Dance and Song Society for more information about Contra and English country dance across the continentwww.cdss.org

See and hearGeorge in action:

• YouTube video ofBuddy Systemand George at Falcon Ridge Folk Festival (Hillsdale, NY) in 2017:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mCc55ocWec
• YouTube video of George Marshall withWild Asparagusat the Guiding Star Grange (Greenfield, MA) in 2012:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-RzSdjufnA
• Wild AsparagusCDs are available here:http://band.wildasparagus.com/music/purchase-music/
• SwallowtailCDs and cassettes are available here:http://www.swallowtail.com/album_order.html

Somedances and eventsmentioned in this interview:

• The Tamworth, NH contra dance is still happening in non-COVID times:http://tamworthoutingclub.org/dances.html
• Some history:http://tamworthoutingclub.org/a-closer-look-at-outing-club-dances.html
• Thecontra dance in St. CroixGeorge talked about has evolved into two dance weeks:
• Tropical Dance Vacation:http://www.tropicaldancevacation.com/
• The Rose CityDance-A-Rama:https://www.dancearama.org/
• Cincinnati’s vintage dance academy:http://vintagedance.net/

Somepeoplementioned in this interview:

• David Cantienialso tells the story of Wild Asparagus’s first tour in his conversation with Julie; check it out here: https://www.cdss.org/contrapulse/podcast/episode-7-david-cantieni-part-1/
• Marianne Taylor’s husband wasConny Taylor; you can read the Folk Arts Center of New England bios of both of them here:http://www.facone.org/about-our-founders.html
• The Square Dance History Project has a series of interviews withLarry Edelmanon their website:https://squaredancehistory.org/exhibits/show/brasstown-interviews/larry-edelman---biography
• Richard Powers, the Cincinnati vintage dance teacher, includes some of his thoughts on social dance on his website:http://richardpowers.com/

Someplacesmentioned in this interview:

• Pinkham Notch, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, where George did trail work:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkham_Notch
• Thebarn in Tamworth, NHwhere George first encountered contra dancing burned down in 2017. The current owners of the property have rebuilt a barn in its footprint:https://www.reservethepreserve.com/the-barn
• A photo from 2017, before the barn burned:https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/conwaydailysun.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/f/b9/fb97dabc-c8c8-11e7-8377-9348a54bdbf2/5a0a28939f9bb.image.jpg?resize=1200%2C900

Check out Noah's Bands Buddy System, The Faux Paws, Wake Up Robin, and Great Bear as well as Andrew and Noah's music.

The interstitial music from today's episode is Mia's Room from Buddy System's album Ride the Wheel. And The Amazing Flying Sebastian from Great Bear's Album Magic Fantasy Dream Dance.

Check out his book of tunes Long Flight Home - Original Tunes by Andrew and Noah VanNorstrand.

And don't forget Cool Hip Dancer!

See the Contra Pulse website for transcripts and more contrapulse.cdss.org

And the Country Dance and Song Society for more information about Contra and English country dance across the continent www.cdss.org

Check out Noah's Bands Buddy System, The Faux Paws, Wake Up Robin, and Great Bear as well as Andrew and Noah's music.

The interstitial music from today's episode is Acorn Stomp – Black Jack Grove from Buddy System's album Ride the Wheel. And The Amazing Flying Sebastian from Great Bear's Album Magic Fantasy Dream Dance.

Check out his book of tunes Long Flight Home - Original Tunes by Andrew and Noah VanNorstrand.

See the Contra Pulse website for transcripts and more contrapulse.cdss.org

And the Country Dance and Song Society for more information about Contra and English country dance across the continent www.cdss.org

Learn more about Lissa's many projects (and download her unreleased tunes) at https://lissafiddle.com/

The interstitial music from today's episode is Rory O'More from her album Dance. Which can also be found at the CDSS Store

See the Contra Pulse website for transcripts and more contrapulse.cdss.org

And the Country Dance and Song Society for more information about Contra and English country dance across the continent www.cdss.org

Episode Notes

Learn more about Kate Barnes at CDSS: www.cdss.org/44-community/lifetime-contribution-awards

The interstitial music for this week is Hell Broke Loose in Georgia from the Latter Day Lizards' album Sleeping on a Rock: www.latterdaylizards.com

You can find Kate's recordings and publications at the CDSS store and here: www.canispublishing.com

See the Contra Pulse website for transcripts and more: contrapulse.cdss.org

And the Country Dance and Song Society for more information about Contra and English country dance across the continent: www.cdss.org

Learn more about David Cantieni and Swallowtail here: http://www.swallowtail.com/David.html

And his band Wild Asparagus: http://www.wildasparagus.com/about.html

The interstitial music for this week's episode is The Baker / After the Bomb / Big Red off David's Album Red Rock

See the Contra Pulse website for transcripts and more: https://contrapulse.cdss.org/

And the Country Dance and Song Society for more information about Contra and English country dance across the continent: https://www.cdss.org/

Learn more about David Cantieni and Swallowtail here: http://www.swallowtail.com/David.html

And his band Wild Asparagus: http://www.wildasparagus.com/about.html

The interstitial music for this week's episode is The Baker / After the Bomb / Big Red off David's Album Red Rock

See the Contra Pulse website for transcripts and more: https://contrapulse.cdss.org/

And the Country Dance and Song Society for more information about Contra and English country dance across the continent: https://www.cdss.org/

Arthur and Julie have a lovely summer-night chat about his early roots, building communities through dance, and glorious New England tunes. And as piano players, they also geek out about piano styles, the difference between acoustic pianos and keyboards, and much more!