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2007 Pre-GWMF Concert - February 16
And what a concert it was!
Missing Person Soup Kitchen Gospel Quartet John Lilly Stewed Mulligan
Between acts, Bill Hairston emceed and entertained the audience with West Virginia tunes and storytelling.
Wee Bluet
Wee Bluet is an acoustic band from Morgantown, West Virginia, named after the earliest springtime wildflower to bloom in the Allegheny Mountains. The band plays the traditional music of the British Isles as well as the familiar tunes of Appalachian music. Many of the mountain dance tunes can be found within the reels and jigs of the British Isles.
The Curmudgeonly Old Hickory Winded Frothy Slosh Band
In the late twentieth century, Mark Walbridge and Bob Shank formed a band of called Hickory Wind. They later met Mike Furbee, George Arata, and Myron Bretholz and became members of the Frothy Band. Years later, Bob found Mr. Furbee fiddling with Curmudgeon. The result? These band names were all combined to come up with the current wonderful title. They play old-time celtic original music.
Missing Person Soup Kitchen Gospel Quartet
The members of Soup Kitchen are often amused when listeners describe them as "those people who sing with no music." They sometimes take the opportunity to gently point out that they make music with built-in instruments, their voices. Soup Kitchen's vocal mix of contralto, bass and tenor/baritone makes for an unusual sound. Much of Soup Kitchen's repertoire is made up of songs that folks of another time liked and shared, as well as gospel music.
Visit the Missing Person Soup Kitchen web site for more information.
John Lilly
John Lilly is known for his unique style of Americana, roots country, and traditional folk music. He blends the music of earlier generations with his own colorful vision, punctuated by crisp musicianship, a lively sense of humor, and a little yodel for good measure.
John is also a powerful performing songwriter. In 2005, he won the national Ghost Writers In the Sky songwriting contest, a Chicago-based festival honoring the music of Hank Williams. John is currently editor of West Virginia's Goldenseal magazine and editor of the book, Mountains of Music: West Virginia Traditional Music from Goldenseal.Read more about John at his John Lilly Music web site.
Stewed Mulligan
What can you say about Stewed Mulligan that hasn't already been said?? From the Stewed Mulligan web site: "Stewed Mulligan blends the old backwoods sound with clever Country Rock to create music that could have been birthed in a basement by the illegitimate sons of The Band. If Fat Albert's Junkyard band had an Appalachian bizarro group, they would be called Stewed Mulligan."
Bill Hairston, Emcee
Bill is best known as a singer/storyteller. He has been the Music Coordinator at the Stonewall Jackson Jubilee for the past 33 years. His stories and songs embody the rich Appalachian culture that he was exposed to as a child along the Coal River. Within his interpretations, he frequently weaves the contributions of African Americans to Appalachian history and culture.
See the West Virginia Storytelling Guild for more information about Bill and other West Virginia storytellers.