I live in what is known as The Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, New England, in the northeastern USA. I've been a musician for almost 50 years, starting out in the school band when I was 9, taking up piano shortly thereafter and then other instruments as time went on. I played keyboards and guitars and harmonica in rock and blues bands, majored in composition & theory and piano performance in college. I've played everything from rock and blues; ragtime and jazz; to classical and contemporary chamber music.
Despite my many interests, the sound of pure 'folk' music (people's music, not the label) is what really moves me. I first heard Woody Guthrie when I was about fifteen and was taken in a way that hasn't truly happened since. And while I've studied, learned and loved other forms of music over the years, nothing gets me like that unadorned sound that comes straight from the heart and the soul. The origin doesn't matter - Appalachia, the British Isles, Pakistan or anywhere else, it's that sound that I've never gotten over.
I've always been fairly obsessive about whatever type of music has caught my ear, and I think that's how I've been able to cover as much ground as I have. That said, I'm no longer a professional musician, and my scatter-shot approach has probably kept me from being really good at any one thing (other than piano, which I don't play as much anymore). I've had a lifelong fascination with musical instruments of all sorts, which is why I can play so many but only a handful at all well.
My current fixation is with Irish/Celtic traditional music. I've played some piano accordion for about 12 years, but became more interested in recent months. At the same time, something Irish caught my ear, and I've been off on that tangent of late. I've dabbled in concertina in recent years, and now realize that button box is what I should play if I'm interested in learning ITM.
I've no illusions about playing - I'm a long way from sessions or any such thing (though I have worked up some tunes on piano accordion), but I'm looking forward to learning more Anglo concertina and button box (when I soon acquire one), and seeing where that takes me. In the meantime I'm enjoying exploring my newest interest.
Tunes in Rolf Gidlow's tunebook: 39
| The Joyce Collection | February 6th 2009 |
| Paolo Soprani Folk II | October 27th 2008 |
| Tunes | Agree with TiTor | November 9th 2009 |
| Recordings | Other tunes in "Jackie Daly's"? | June 16th 2009 |
| Discussions | The Joyce Collection | February 6th 2009 |
| Discussions | Re: Paolo Soprani Folk II | October 28th 2008 |
| Discussions | Re: Paolo Soprani Folk II | October 27th 2008 |