Posts filed under 'FJ Issue 3'
Back in issue 3, we ran a great article by Harold Fethe about Gamble Rogers, the singer/songwriter who tragically died while trying to save a drowning swimmer. Sadly, that issue is sold out but Harold has allowed the Gamble Rogers Memorial Foundation to post his article on their website. And even better, he’s added a few photos we didn’t have room for. And make sure you scroll all the way to the end for the previously unpublished story of how some of his friends made Rogers, as Fethe described it, “A Vessel for the Styx.”-MJS
July 9th, 2007
In issue 3, I reviewed Rock ‘n’ Roll Arrives…, the Bear Family box-set of Bill Haley’s early recordings. One thing I discovered was that although Haley was a member of a band called the Down Homers, he left before they recorded. I was poking around the web looking for more info about the Down Homers and I ran across this site devoted to Vogue Records, a label the produced picture discs in the 1940s, including the Down Homers two 78s. They have a good page devoted to dispelling the urban legend that Haley appears on the records, along with images of practically every Vogue record ever produced.-MJS
October 24th, 2006
The Mandolin Cafe has posted audio files from the panel discussion from 2006’s LoarFest West, which I covered in the third issue of the FJ. There’s some fascinating info here, so if you have any interest in old mandolins, you should set aside a couple of hours, head on over and listen in.-MJS
September 19th, 2006
In our third issue I wrote about Loar Fest West, a one-day celebration of the work of Lloyd Loar that was part of the Super Grass Bluegrass Festival. It was heaven for an instrument geek like me and I’d highly recommend it to anyone who wants to gain a deeper understanding Lloyd Loar and his influence on the development of the modern mandolin. I see here that they’ve announced the 2007 lineup, so you might want to start making plans now.
On a sad note, Charlie Derrington, who was one of the panelists at the roundtable discussion this year, was killed in a motorcycle accident on August 1. You can read more about the tragic circumstances, and the memorial fund set up to help his family, here.-MJS
September 8th, 2006
In our third issue I wrote a review of Bear Family’s box-set of Bill Haley’s pre-”Rock Around the Clock” recordings. One thing I learned from the extensive liner notes was that Bill Haley’s first professional gig was at Booth’s Corner Farmer’s Market, Pennsylvania, in 1943. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the Market is still a going concern more than five decades later.-MJS
September 8th, 2006
Harold Fethe wrote a very moving story about the singer/songwriter Gamble Rogers for our third issue. If you want to learn more about this remarkable man, you should head over to Gamble Rogers.com, which includes rare photos, some of Rogers’ stories and some streaming song clips. You might also want to check out the Gamble Rogers Folk Festival, which will be held in St. Augustine, Fla. in May, 2007. (I mentioned this in an earlier post, but Fethe just released his debut CD, Out of Nowhere, which features the legendary Johnny Frigo on violin.)-MJS
August 18th, 2006
We’ve completed our third issue and it’s our favorite to date. Singer-songwriter Guy Clark is our cover story. Inside are interviews with Bill Collings of Collings Guitars, Bob Taylor (on his new R. Taylor guitars), banjo legend Wade Mainer and much, much more. It’ll show up in most stores around the first week of August but subscribers should be getting their copies even sooner. As always, if you want to collect each FJ, the best way is to subscribe. We’ve already sold out of issue one!
July 9th, 2006
