Free Indeed Bluegrass. Inside this Issue: Note from the Editor

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1 Volume 44, Issue 1 Huntsvillefolk.org January 2008 Free Indeed Bluegrass Free Indeed Bluegrass will perform at the January Coffeehouse on Thursday, January 17, It will be in the Old Church at Burritt on the Mountain. Free Indeed Bluegrass is a bluegrass/gospel group composed of Jason Smith on banjo; Caren Lawrence on mandolin; Nathan Lawrence on guitar; Jesse Smith on bass; and Ray Lindsey on vocals. They have been performing together for over five years. They are noted for beautiful four part harmonies on gospel standards as well as for touching original material. We are fortunate to have this opportunity to enjoy their music. You can learn more about them at their web site: Note from the Editor Our newsletter is an important part of our organization, and I invite every member to contribute ideas and/or articles any time you want to do so. You can reach me at sylvia.s.williams@pobox.com or or 1334 Columbus City Road, Scottsboro, AL I hope to hear from you soon. And thanks to all of you who have contributed! The Huntsville Traditional Music Association meets on the third Sunday of each month. Our next meeting is on: Sunday, January 20th, 2:00-4:30 PM In the Huntsville Public Library Auditorium 915 Monroe Street, Huntsville, AL Inside this Issue: Page 2: HTMA President s Notes Page 3: Notes from the Berry Patch Pages 4-6: December Coffee House Page 7: Calendar of Events for December; Mr. Bill s Gigs; HTMA Officers and Committees 1

2 HTMA President s Notes January 2008 I hope that everyone in the HTMA family had a great holiday. We had some time to visit with our family, and some time to spend at home, which is unusual in my household was a great year for the Association, with a great coffeehouse series, and a couple of very nice concerts. We have made several changes in the executive committee, electing Jim England and me as executives. Steve McGehee and Lou Beasley have taken over as chairs of the performance committee, to give long-serving chair Jim Holland a muchdeserved break. Staying on for 2008 are Pat Long, secretary-treasurer, Sue Charles, publicity chair, and George and Sylvia Williams, as operations chair and newsletter editor, respectively. All of those folks who are serving as committee chair positions need help, none more than Sue Charles, who is wrestling with huge work responsibilities in her new job. If you have any time to help out on any of the committees, please give Jim England or me a call and we will connect you to the right committee. Did I mention that we really need a new webmaster? HTMA works as an organization because of the hard work performed by our volunteer management team, and any member can contribute to our success. What other help do we need to get the year started off right? I think that Steve McGehee has done a good start booking coffeehouses - we are now booked through April. Please call Steve, or shoot him an , if you know of someone that you think would be a good fit to play at one of our coffeehouse events. We all know great musicians - let's invite them over for a visit! This past year we made some improvements to the HTMA sound system that George Williams delivers to all of our events, adding some new high quality microphone stands and a few more microphones, so that we now have enough mikes for pretty much any group. I'd be very happy to see someone donate a hard-disk audio recorder that George could use to record our events - my experience when I was running HTMA sound was that our tapes of coffeehouses were often the only recordings that members had of themselves playing. It would be nice to be able to burn a CD for our guests or members when they perform. The biggest news I have for this new year is that Pat Long and I have worked over this past holiday to complete the IRS form 1023 we need to submit to request HTMA to be considered a c charitable non-profit. We have drafts of the application out for review now, and hope to submit it to the IRS by the end of this month. This is a huge step, and follows up on Pat's filing letters of incorporation with the state last year. Legal status as a non-profit corporation will make donations to HTMA tax deductible, will allow us to join other non-profit organizations, like the Arts Council, and will open the door to grants and other opportunities. All of those things will let HTMA produce better music, and bring more people in to enjoy and appreciate the traditional and folk music that we love. Best wishes to you and yours for the coming year. And one last request. It looks as if I will be writing this column monthly for awhile. If you get an idea for a good topic to cover in the president's notes column, please send it too me in an . Our whole organization is really an experiment in collaboration - why not make the newsletter column a joint effort, too? 2 Jerry LeCroy

3 Notes From The Berry Patch I try to stay away from serious talks about a man s religions and politics, unless there is a good story involved. The other day, a friend and I had a discussion about whether the Democrats or Republicans were the best at stealing elections. He argued for the Republicans. I said the Democrats were hard to beat and told him a long story as proof. I now attempt a short version of that story: His parents named him Coke. He came from circuit-riding Methodist stock, got an education the hard way, and became one of the best governors his state ever had. In 1948, he almost made it to the United States Senate. Almost. That is when the election stealing happened. His home state was solidly in the Democratic camp. Winning the primary nomination assured victory in the general election that followed in November. When the primary votes for the Senate seat appeared to be finally counted, it appeared that Coke had won the nomination by a very narrow margin. But then it was reported that an additional 200 votes had been found for his opponent, just enough to give his opponent the margin of victory for the Democratic nomination as United States Senator. Coke knew he had been robbed and did his best to right the wrong. After much trouble, not to mention possible gun-play, Coke was finally able to see the poll list and tally sheet of those that had voted in ballot box thirteen, the box in which the additional 200 votes had been mysteriously found. Cokes examination of the tally sheet and poll list showed some amazing things: The original total of votes, written in black ink, read 765. When seen by Coke, the 7 had been changed, in blue ink, to read 9, making a revised total of the 200 votes needed to steal the election. But there was more, much more. The poll list showed, in black ink, the names of the first 765 people that had voted in box thirteen that day (but not how they had voted). When viewed by Coke, 200 additional names appeared at the bottom of the list, all 200 names had been written in a different handwriting, in blue ink. Most amazing, all 200 names at the bottom were listed in exact alphabetical order. (The odds of 200 people appearing to vote in exact alphabetical order equaled one in several thousand billion.) After the stealing was done, Coke s opponent, with a margin of eighty-seven more votes, went to the Senate, and then on to the President s chair. (A clever lawyer that represented his opponent in the election dispute was later appointed by the opponent to the U. S. Supreme Court.) Coke did his best to right the wrong, but his best was not good enough. This true story in not an endorsement of either political party, both sides have done their share of stealing votes. There will be some important elections in So my friends select your candidate and vote. At the same time, pray that all legal votes will be correctly counted, and none other. (Several of the 200 people whose names appeared at the bottom of the poll list for ballot box thirteen had been dead for years.) Happy New Year! Joe M. Berry 3

4 December Coffee House Despite an unscheduled change of venue to the Trillium Room - which was lovely, with a fire burning cheerily and with mantle decorated for Christmas - the member performance Christmas Coffee House was a beautiful and often moving tribute to Christmas and the holidays. The program began auspiciously with an outstanding performance by the multi-talented Bill McCampbell, who played Lo, How a Rose Ere Blooming on the autoharp, then followed with a haunting and beautiful Oh Holy Night on the harmonica. It set the tone for the rest of the evening. Ian Panton, playing the fiddle and mandolin, and Dave Shepherd, playing the guitar, gave us three medleys of 5, 5 and 6 songs each, mixing rousing and happy songs like Deck the Halls; God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen; Jingle Bells; and We Wish You A Merry Christmas with such beautiful carols as Bleak Midwinter; Away In a Manger (European version); The First Noel; Oh Come, Oh Come Emanuel; and What Child Is This. Their arrangements were impelling and often unique; and the playing was heavenly. If you were not there to hear them, you missed a really good chance to get the Christmas spirit. Dave Shepherd and Ian Panton Next to play and sing were George and Sylvia Williams, who performed three very old carols: I Saw Three Ships; Joseph Dearest, Joseph Mine; and Gaudete. They sang the refrain to Gaudete in Latin, but sang the verses in English to bring attention to the beautiful words. Bill McCampbell George and Sylvia Williams 4

5 Our beloved story teller, Joe Berry, was next on the program. He told us the moving and amazing story of Silent Night, from its inception to its growing popularity to the present time, when it has become the most cherished carol of all. Joe told the story in his inimitable way, and held the audience in the palm of his hand, as always. Ken Hinkle Joe Berry Ken Hinkle revved up the pace with Jingle Bell Rock, then changed pace with a song that many of us had not heard for a long time, Christmas In Old Shanty Town. Ken can always come up with a song that is almost forgotten and should not be - it is part of his special talent. Of course, there is the not-small matter of his guitar playing that we all look forward to, as well. Jerry LeCroy and Danny Charles stepped outside the box with their beautiful rendering of Hot Buttered Rum. It was a warming experience, indeed. They brought the audience to tears with a most moving performance of John McCutcheon s Christmas In The Trenches, a song based on a true story about soldiers at Christmas time in World War 1 calling a Christmas truce from the trenches. Sue Charles then joined Jerry and Danny with her autoharp to play and sing The Cherry Tree Carol. Sue s singing and playing were perfectly suited to this song, and she and Jerry sang a wonderful duet. Jerry LeCroy and Dan Charles 5

6 Sue Charles and Jerry LeCroy James Smith Sue Charles James Smith, The Autoharp Man, lived up to his reputation as a true showman and artist with The Marvelous Toy and Christmas In Killarney. He also sang Beautiful Star of Bethlehem, in an impromptu duet with Dot Waugh, which brought down the house. Then he told the story behind Go Tell It On The Mountain (he s also quite a storyteller) before performing it beautifully. Dot Waugh and James Smith Many thanks are due to all the performers, and especially to Lou Beasley for his excellent work both in organizing this coffee house, and acting as MC for the program. Lou s knowledgeable commentary on the various instruments added significantly to our enjoyment of the evening. This was a feast of many kinds of Christmas music, and once again showed how talented and how varied our HTMA members truly are. We are all blessed with the joy of music and with the joy of making music. What more appropriate time to share our blessings than Christmas time? 6

7 Calendar of Events for January January 17 - January Coffee House - Free Indeed Bluegrass will be performing at 7:00 PM in the Old Church at Burritt on the Mountain. For more information on all HTMA meetings, concerts, coffeehouses, and other events, visit our website at Mr. Bill s Gigs January 2008 Nursing Home Gigs Nursing Home Gigs are on Saturdays at 3:00 pm unless otherwise noted. January 19 3:00 Whitesburg Manor 105 Teakwood Dr. Huntsville January 26!!!!!!!!!NOTE: 3:15 Regency 2004 Max Luther Dr. Huntsville If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact Bill McCampbell at or mccampbellwm@bellsouth.net HTMA Officers & Committees President: Jerry LeCroy jelecroy@knology.net Vice President: Jim England jengland@knology.net Secretary/Treasurer: Pat Long plong@hiwaay.net Publicity and Outreach Committee: Chair: Sue Charles scharles32@mchsi.com Lou Beasley lrbeasley@mchsi.com Public Service Chair / Pres. Emeritus: Bill McCampbell mccampbellwm@bellsouth.net Performance Committee: Co-chairs: Steve McGehee catwithnotail69@aol.com and Lou Beasley lrbeasley@mchsi.com Jerry Lecroy Newsletter Editor: Sylvia Williams sylvia.s.williams@pobox.com Operations Committee: Chair: George Williams george.p.williams@pobox.com Jerry LeCroy Steve McGehee 7