Look at our Great New Stage Sign!

The very talented Morgan of Grayscapes created a fabulous new stage sign for us! We'd been looking for something fun and creative that we could have up on stage with us and she created exactly the right thing. She's a talented artist, creating original art and works on special request commissions too. If you're interested in seeing her pieces or having her create something special for you, you can reach her here. Thanks Morgan!

Where has your Graymatter tee been this summer?

So our Graymatter tees have been backpacking and fishing in the gorgeous Adirondacks, taken a swim in the Hudson River, traveled to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Ohio, felt the cool breezes of Lake Ontario in Lowville NY, enjoyed the sun on the Jersey Shore, enjoyed the desert in Reno Nevada, and the beautiful mountains in Truckee California. Where has your Graymatter tee been this summer? Send us your photos!

 

 

 

Festival for the Eno

Graymatter is pleased to be invited to perform at the Festival for the Eno this year. It's the 35th annual event, held every 4th of July weekend, and for two days brings together 65 musical acts on 4 stages, beautiful crafts, demonstrations, kid activities, food trucks and vendors, a beer garden and ample opportunity to play in the beautiful Eno river.

The Eno River Association puts on this fun event as a fundraiser and 100% of the proceeds of the ticket sales go towards their good works. What do they do? The association focuses on land protection, advocacy, education, and land stewardship. They also hold guided nature walks for all ages and fun summer nature camps for kids. This event is not only important for raising funds so they can continue their work, but it's a way to celebrate the beauty of the Eno and the surrounding watershed, and protecting the area for future generations. The association was formed in 1966 and currently protects 6,900 acres, most of which is in the Eno River State Park, along with other parks and natural areas. It also owns 259  protected acres and hold conservation easements on an additional 828 acres. For more information on the weekend festival go to www.enoriver.org/festival. For more information on the association you can visit www.enoriver.org.

5K Run for the Children

The Prestige Foundation is a Burlington based mentoring group and they are hosting a charitable run in May. Their project aims to take high school students from Alamance County to work in Sam’s House Orphanage in Nepal for a month over the summer. Through exposure to a third world country and service to those in need, Prestige hopes to equip the students with the skills necessary to affect change in their own community. The first annual Run for the Children will also serve as a way to promote cultural and religious tolerance while reminding participants that unity and brotherhood are principles that transcend belief and background. The gathering spot for the 5K run/walk will be at Company Shops Co-op in downtown Burlington and the race will begin at 9am. Following the race, Graymatter will perform for participants of the race and other Active Streets goers. It’s going to be a busy day in downtown Burlington and Graymatter is pleased to help Lester and Keegan Pace with their charitable cause and to help the kids in Nepal. 100% of the donations cover the cost of transportation to and from Nepal as well as full expenses of the students. ***follow-up: over $7500 was raised! 

Scrapbook Update!

Have you checked out our "Scrapbook" page lately? Dave's been doing a great job and creating some fabulous art for us! Click here to see what he's been up to!

Meet Rogue Band of Youth!

It's our pleasure to introduce you to Rogue Band of Youth! Out of Carrboro, NC comes this trio (and sometimes with two additional musicians sittin' in) of inspiring singer/songwriters. With two EP's already under their belt, "Wide Eyed Waltz" and "Infinite Bliss," this month they're releasing a self-titled, full length LP of original music and it's fabulous. We're thrilled to have been invited to celebrate their CD release by sharing an evening with them at Doodad Farm in Greensboro, NC.

Rogue Band of Youth has been getting some really great notices in the press this year. The Daily Tarheel calls their harmonies "masterful," Resound magazine touts their harmonies as "flawless" and Indy Weekly describes the band as a "folk-derived, harmony-heavy trio" and their music as "adorned with textural swooshes and orchestral swells."


So meet Patrick, Chloe and Jack (with Joe and Brad sitting in on bass and drums.) They're going to be doing some more touring in the near future and gaining more and more fans along the way. Give them a listen. We know you're going to love them as much as we do! Learn more about them, hear, download and purchase their fabulous music and find out where you can catch a show at http://roguebandofyouth.bandcamp.com/.

Meet Driftwood!

If you don't already know Driftwood then we're very happy to introduce you! We got to know this band from Binghamton, NY a little over 2 years ago when they first came to perform at Doodad Farm in Greensboro, NC. We became instant fans, a friendship has grown and they've become a part of the Doodad family here. Their Reverbnation page classifies them as folk/indie/acoustic but you've really got to throw newgrass into that mix and a touch of rock n' roll too. They give a high-energy performance that just doesn't quit.

Driftwood plays a house concert in Greensboro, NC

This past year they built a successful Kickstarter project in order to produce their fantastic third cd.  With the help of friends and their loving community in NY, they were able to put together a video of one of the songs from that album and we were excited to see that CMT picked it up.



We were very excited to join Driftwood for a combined mini-set at a packed house concert in April of last year and have had opportunities to jam with them from time to time when they're here.

Driftwood and Graymatter join forces for a super fun mini-set!

Members of Driftwood and Graymatter, along with James Olin Oden and Bill Mitchell
jam late into the night on the Doodad Farm stage.

So meet Claire, Dan, Joe and Joey. Driftwood travels up and down the east coast, playing venues and festivals, earning more and more fans as they go. Give them a listen. We know you're going to love them as much as we do! Learn more about them and find out where you can catch a show at www.driftwoodtheband.com.

Graymatter performs Barry's song "Doodad Farm" with help from Driftwood and with a joyful audience singing along.

"why don't we?" - back stage recording

Introducing a new series: Graymatter Back Stage Recordings. Here is our first in the series. It's Dave's song "Why Don't We?" with tasty ragtime guitar pickin' by Dave, 2nd acoustic guitar by Barry, electric guitar riffin' by Brad and brush drum by Bev, with Brad and Bev joining in on the vocals. Enjoy!







And speaking of "Why Don't We?"... Why don't we get together this Friday night at Turntable in Jamestown for a night of originals?

There's more where "Why Don't We?" came from. Come on out to hear us live with a couple dozen more like this, including original songs by Barry, Brad and Dave! This will include the jazzy "Cloud 9" cowritten by Barry and Brad and "Everybody Knows" cowritten by Brad and Dave way back when hair was long and full, and some of us were still teenagers!

Details and directions here:
https://www.facebook.com/events/283074765167491/

lookin' back

Bev, Barry and Brad grew up playing and singing together, often around the table after dinner was finished. Guitars and other instruments came out and the harmonies began. Dad sat at the end of the table, strumming his guitar and leading the way through Kingston Trio, Peter Paul & Mary, Brothers Four, Elizabeth Cotton, and so much more. Pop, rock, folk, blues, show tunes, Americana, carols - we did them all. One day we'll have to dig through mom's photo albums to get photos of us playing together as little kids. Dave came for dinner one evening when he was 16 years old and he's been singing along with the Grays ever since.

There were many different configurations for performance but at home, it was a big family musical gathering. Above is Dave, Barry and Brad - aka The Passaic River Ramblers - late 1980's.

Dave and Bev performed together all through high school and college and twice were finalists in the Mountaineer Talent Search at ASU. It was a grueling process involving months of performances, but performing at the final in front of 5000 people in a huge booming auditorium was pretty awesome and it did result in private performance at Broyhill Mansion for that famous family.

In the '80's, Dave, Bev and Barry created Gude Studios, creating music for poets and would-be lyricists, producing recordings, some of which ended up being marriage proposals.(and clients reported back: she said yes!)  It didn't pay too well but we created songs for people throughout the US and Canada. It did, however, make enough money for us to purchase our first mics, stands, chords and other gear.

Above, the Passaic River Ramblers perform at one of their spots at the ASU Fall Festival in the early 80's. More "lookin' back" to come as more photos are uncovered!

two brushes with musical history

This summer, Graymatter was twice given the opportunity to share the stage with amazing southern blues musicians who are currently a part of the Music Maker Relief program. It was an honor and most definitely they were memorable evenings.

What is Music Maker Relief?  

The Music Maker Relief Foundation’s mission is to “preserve the musical traditions of the South by directly supporting the musicians who make it, ensuring their voices will not be silenced by poverty and time.” 

In the late ‘80’s, Tim Duffy was an NC college student who set out on a discovery project to find and document elderly blues musicians. He found a hotbed in nearby Winston-Salem but realized quickly that these people were living in the throes of extreme poverty and that their music, along with the musical tradition, was on the verge of being lost. When asked how he could help them they did not ask for money. They asked instead, for a gig. Timothy and his wife gathered together some fellow music lovers and the MMRF was born, based in Hillsborough, NC. Through their efforts they’ve been able to arrange bookings, produce recordings and provide physical and financial support for these important, yet aging, national treasures. They provide help with monthly medical bills, food and emergency needs as well as assistance to develop their material and earn income from performances and royalties.

MMRF works to support the most vulnerable folks, elderly musicians with incomes under $18,000 a year, though the sad reality is that many of the folks they work to support had annual incomes of $7000 to $10,000 before MMRF took them on. The organization focuses on documenting and sustaining artists with traditions in blues, gospel, string band and Native American music.

The first MMRF musician that Graymatter spent an evening with was Ironing Board Sam. Sam was born in Rock Hill, SC in 1939 and began performing when he was 14 years old. He got his nickname while living in Miami in the 50’s because he lacked a stand for his keyboard so at gigs he mounted it on an old ironing board. In the 60’s he jammed and gigged with a very young Jimmy Hendrix in Nashville. Sam created his unique musical instrument by combining two keyboards, threading guitar strings through a wah-wah pedal then into an amp and connecting 60 upholstery tacks to the electronic sensors, all to create a range of sounds for which he was known. Sadly, he took his creation to an electronics technician for an upgrade, only to find that the man found his instrument to be so outrageous that he just threw it out. Sam moved to New Orleans but was chased out by Hurricane Katrina and ended up back in Rock Hill. This is where Music Maker Relief found him. He received help with medical care, car repairs, they provided him with a new keyboard, recorded an album for him and got him some gigs.

Then in August Graymatter shared the stage with Big Ron Hunter. Ron is one of the happiest people we’ve ever met. With an amazing voice and simple style, yet full of warmth and depth, you can’t help but be mesmerized by Ron when he performs. Born in Winston Salem, the son of a sharecropper who taught him how to sing and play guitar when he was quite small.  MMRF schedules gigs for Ron throughout North Carolina, all over the US and he’s even performed in Belgium. MMRF helped him get a passport, has donated guitars to him and recorded his CD.

A documentary was made of Tim Duffy’s amazing project, funded by a grant from Martin Scorsese, Paul Allen and The Blues Music Foundation. It’s an hour-long film but in it you’ll be introduced to characters he met on his journey, including “Guitar Gabriel, a 'homeless magic potion selling' blues genius; Willa Mae Buckner, a snake charming elderly woman taunting delightfully raunchy blues; Beverly 'Guitar' Watkins, a grandmother who continues to tear up the stage and play a killer electric guitar behind her head; Bishop Dready Manning and family churning out homebrewed rockabilly-gospel; Boo Hanks, an 80 year-old bluesman recording an album for the very first time; and blind guitarist, Cootie Stark, mesmerizing crowds world-wide while never failing to find his way home by himself.” It was because of his interactions and partnership with these musicians that Duffy was inspired to create the Music Maker Relief Foundation, so that their stories and their music would not be lost.

You can watch the entire film here.