NEW
ALBUM OUT: http://www.hunterrobertson.com/ifyouframe.html
4 November 2009- I'll be performing and doing banjo workshops at the Sweet Sunny South Old Time American Music Festival next September (2010 that is. Weekend of the 10th to the 12th) in Hastings, East Sussex, England. Get you banjos sharpened up! - Dj Duclock interviewed me for his site, learn all my deepest thoughts about the weather, motherhood and the economy. Ok, really we just talked about music (and a little weather). - There are a bunch of videos up on youtube from my performance at Moseley Folk Festival earlier this year, here's 'Old Joe Clark': 21 October 2009 A review from Tony Spadaro, aka Old Woodchuck, over at Rocket Science Banjo: “If
You Want To Go To Sleep, Go To Bed”. Is the title of the new
cd
by banjoist Hunter Robertson and fiddler Casey Joe Abair. And it is
obviously a work that involved a lot of late nights for a long time
before any recording equipment was ever set up. When the players know
each other well, and have put in many hours together, fiddle and banjo
duets can catch fire, producing an event that is more than the sum of
the two instruments. Abiar and Robertson obviously know each other well
and know how to throw ideas back and forth in a way that brings the
listener a new insight into the music. If that all sounds a bit
“classical”, well perhaps it is. The banjo fiddle
combination is does not have the full sound of a string band, it is
more like a chamber group, where the communication between instruments
and players is more important than a full group sound. Listeners can
really hear the two instruments because they differ in range, timbre,
attack, sustain, and so many other ways. It is almost as if the fiddle
and banjo go so well together because they have so little in common.
Banjo and fiddle is also one of the most exacting and dangerous combinations to record. Unlike a full band, fiddle and banjo will not cover mistakes for each other. Each player is fully responsible for every note he produces. This is not music for players who need the safety net of guitar and bass. The selection of tunes is heavily weighted toward the old tunes played with the fire and enthusiasm they really deserve but seldom get these days, but there are some less common tunes that work beautifully in the duet setting. their “The Devil’s Dream” is from Hobart Smith and very different than the one I play. It is actually considerably more “band” friendly and the tune is closer to John Brown’s Dream. “Fort Smith Breakdown” doesn’t show up on many jam lists but is a super tune from a 1920s recording by Luke Highnight’s Ozark Strutters. Here Robertson is playing a fretless Harmony ResoTone in Old G (gDGDE) tuning. “Run Slave Run” uses the same tuning and probably the same banjo. “Hog Eye Man” aka “Sally In The Garden” is frequently played crooked, but Abair and Thompson seem to have found a whole new crooked way to do it. I’m going to try it out, but I won’t attempt to show it to my jam groups. Some of the selections are great “trance” tunes where the two instruments seem to float around the melody passing it back and forth until you feel it has been the background music to your entire life. I was very surprised to read that “Tater Patch” and “Sandy River Belle” were each only about four minutes, as was their rendition of “Sail Away Ladies” The album is Yodel-Ay-Hee number 74, and you can order it direct from Hunter Robertson’s website: http://www.hunterrobertson.com where you can also watch videos of Abair and Robertson, and even buy a copy of Robertson's solo album “Hunter Robertson Sings Songs For The Masses.” 8 October 2009 A couple of reviews have come out for If You Want to Go to Sleep, Go to Bed recently: From Gadaya over at Times ain't like they used to be: "Here's
a quick review for an excellent new cd i received a few days ago. Under
the evocative title "If you want to sleep, go to bed" (A saying by
banjo-player Charlie Lowe, who was a major figure of the Round Peak
old-time musical tradition and who liked his music fast...) it contains
almost exclusively fiddle and banjo duets by two young musicans, Casey
Joe Albair and Hunter Robertson. The fine art of fiddle and banjo duets
is the core of american old-time music and the two musicians gives us
an excellent and energetic selections of instrumental tunes, some
well-known, some more obscure, along with a few old-timey songs sung in
the expressive and rough vocal style of banjo player Hunter Robertson.
The contrast with the delicate voice of his wife Fereale who join him
on three numbers makes a delightful combination (it reminds me of some
Blind Willie Johnson numbers where the rough street singer sings with a
woman).
An elegant and tasty packaging along with some fine liner notes (the source and tunings are provided for each track) to boot makes this cd a must-have for every fan of authentic and deep appalachian old-time music. -Go to Hunter Robertson's website to hear some samples of it. You can order the cd directly from the website or from various places like ITUNES, AMAZON, ELDERLY..." And from Rambles.NET, by the ever astute Jerome Clark: "The
title quotes the wisdom of old-time banjo player Charlie Lowe of North
Carolina. The message: if you don't like lively music, get lost. Though
Lowe is long gone, Casey Joe Abair (fiddle) and Hunter Robertson
(banjo, lead vocals) carry on the fiery tradition of Southern mountain
music. Neither man, however, is a Southern musician. Abair hails from
Vermont, where the California-born Robertson was living when this was
recorded. Since this past May he has resided in France.
Robertson's music came into my life with his striking Songs for the Masses (a tongue-in-cheek title if ever there was one). I reviewed it in this space on 5 July 2008. Masses was not just another accomplished oldtime-revival album but something that sounded as if delivered intact (but for the rare electric guitar) from some remote provincial outpost in the 19th century. I marveled at what I called its "almost skinless sound." The vocals conjured up "a 200-year-old ghost ... accidentally captured on the tape as, otherwise inaudible, it sang to Robertson's playing of an old tune." This was the sound of American folk music, one surmises (we can't know for sure, of course), as it was before the advent of recording equipment. If You Want to Go to Sleep, Go to Bed is not that sort of album, except perhaps on those occasions when Robertson sings in the sort of choked rasp that made Masses feel so eerily out of its era. Abair & Robertson's atmospheric reading of "In the Pines" (accompanied by Fereale Robertson's disembodied harmony singing) captures something of the not-of-this-earth sensibility of Robertson's previous disc, and it owes nothing to the Louvin Brothers, Bill Monroe or Lead Belly. Mostly, though, the two have moved the music into the 20th century: not the fiddle/banjo duet itself, which goes back to what the antique song calls "the good old colony times," but to the precision and tonality of more -- relatively -- modern approaches. Some of this survives in its native form in Appalachia, and you can still hear it on stages of Southern fiddle and folk festivals. Abair & Robertson do what they do very well. The 17 cuts consist of genre standards ("Old Joe Clark," "Ducks on the Millpond," "Bonaparte's Retreat" and the like), but the arrangements are distinctive and the melodies are not always the familiar ones. From the evidence of Masses it was clear that Robertson's knowledge of traditional music is encyclopedic, and I presume Abair's boasts comparable pagination. Their music is bright, vivid and lovely. If you find yourself nodding off through Sleep, see your doctor." 6 October 2009 My recent show at Walthamstow Folk was a lot of fun. First of all, my host and the organizer, Russ Chandler (being a fellow banjo player) and I spent the afternoon talking shop and examining his beautiful classic banjos. We eventually made our way to the pub for the show, which was a nice format, with people doing floor spots before I played and at the intermission - a very civilized practice. The music was excellent and it was almost as if I was attending a concert myself! The people were participants rather than simply observers, getting up on stage and playing and singing and joining in on other's choruses. Pete Stanley came down and played a couple of tunes, one on a minstrel style banjo he had made and another on a gorgeous Clifford Essex. If this was typical of British folk clubs I'll be looking forward to doing more gigs in them. September 10 2009 Moseley Folk Festival was grueling to get to (as I was coming from France) and fun to play at. A beautiful place and a lot of good music. I even got to hear Jethero Tull soundcheck - unfortunately I had to leave before they played! Thanks to the guys working it for all the coffee and Indian food. And thanks to Mike Cummins for the photograph below. Below that, some photos from July 30th at the La-Roche-sur-Foron Bluegrass Festival, taken by my lovely wife, Fereale. Also a fun gig - nice audience and bluegrass groups from Hungary, Russia and France (just on the Sunday, others from various disparate places over the following days). Here's a video from there of 'Last Chance'. July 25 2009 ![]() I'm pleased to announce the release of a new album, Casey Joe Abair & Hunter Robertson If You Want to Go to Sleep, Go to Bed (Yodel-Ay-Hee 074), an album of old-timey banjo & fiddle duets - traditional American music from the Appalachians. It comprises 17 traditional songs and tunes, learnt from a variety of sources - mainly musicians long gone. Follow the link to listen to some tracks, get more information and of course, to buy it. You can also get it from CDBaby or Menzies Stringed Instruments. Elderly Instruments and County Sales will also have it in stock shortly, as well as iTunes, Rhapsody, Amazon, and other purveyors of fine mp3s. June 19 2009 So,
I've been back
long enough now from Holland to gather my thoughts and more
importantly, get some pictures from The European World of Bluegrass 2009.
Jan de Mooy and Lilly Pavlak were kind enough to send me some of the
photographs they took. EWOB was a lot of fun, met a lot of
nice
people, saw some beautiful instuments, listened to a ton of
music,
played a little less and generally had a good time. I even took a clog
dancing class with Julie Black,
who also performed a number with me during the concert (there's a
picture below). She performed with me again a few days later at Het
Oude
Raadhuis in Hoofddorp, organized by Pieter Groenveld from Strictly
Country Records. Thanks are due
to the good people that
organized all this, it's quite a production and obviously a labor of
love.
![]() Photograph by Jan de Mooy ![]() Photograph by Jan de Mooy ![]() Photograph by Jan de Mooy ![]() Photograph by Lilly Pavlak ![]() Photograph by Lilly Pavlak February
28th 2009
With my wife and I moving back to Europe shortly, I've been arranging some gigs there. I'll be playing solo May 21-23 at the European World of Bluegrass Festival in Voorthuizen, The Netherlands and May 27 at Het Oude Raadhuis in Hoofddorp, The Netherlands (for reservations +31 (0)23 556 37 07). Also, September 4-6 at Moseley Folk Festival in Birmingham, England. (exact days and times to be announced for the festivals). If you, or someone you know, would like to book a gig around one of those dates (or even for a date that has nothing to do with those!), drop me a line. Not quite a new review, it's actually been up at County Sales for a while:
If you like Old-time banjo picking and
you’re in
the
market for something different, you might try this unusual CD. But be
forewarned: it ranges from the sublime to the bizarre: “songs
for
the
Masses” it definitely ain’t. Mr Robertson is an
excellent
banjo picker;
he also plays 12 string guitar on 4 pieces and his instrumental work is
right on (check out the super picking on SOLDIER’S JOY). On a
couple of
tunes he plays a gut strung fretless banjo, and his 5 original pieces
are interesting and well done. He also plays a fine medley of banjo
tunes that incorporates BONAPARTE’S RETREAT and DUCKS ON THE
MILLPOND
with a couple of others in an impressive 5 and a half minute workout.
The cuts that feature the 12-string guitar (plus one electric guitar
cut) are bluesy, moody, and downright spooky at times. Even a one-man
band piece (YOU GONNA NEED SOMEBODY ON YOUR BOND, with slide banjo,
kazoo, high-hat and bass drum) adds to the overall interest. So what is
so bizarre about all this? Robertson’s voice. It’s
got to
be the
roughest voice we’ve ever heard—in Old-time,
Bluegrass,
Blues or
whatever, and the main question we have is whether it is all a put on.
Perhaps Robertson feels that this will take him back 80 or 100 years in
time to where he would be considered a great find among field recording
folklorists. Or perhaps this is his real voice (a scary thought). We
will gladly leave that up to the listener to decide, adding again that
there is some technically superb, soulful music to be heard here.
Follow that link above and buy a copy. I promise the voice isn't contagious. November 20th 2008 A
new review of Sings
Songs for the Masses from Sepiachord
(from the site: "Sepiachord is the "genre that doesn't exist". It is to
music what "steampunk" is to literature and cinema: something that
looks back to the past to comment on the present while looking sideways
at the future. A cubist aural experience.")
"There's the old adage "Don't judge a book by its cover." The problem with that cliche is this: *That's what covers are there for!* Covers are there to give you some idea about what can be found inside, there to pique your curiosity... I raised an eyebrow when I slipped Hunter Robertson's "Sings Songs for the Masses" from its envelope. Young guy, long haired, holding a baby, fuzzy focus... I estimated that I was in for a listening of homemade but uninventive folk. Something young and soft. How (wonderfully) wrong I was. Hunter's not as young as he looks... at least not in his soul and the music is anything but soft. "Sings Songs for the Masses" is a collection of gritty americana with Robertson's skilled banjo playing as the focus. It's fairly traditional (more than half the numbers are vintage tunes) but this collection never sounds stale. Perhaps that has as much to do with Hunter's gruffy Tom Waits-like voice as it does the energy and vitality of his playing. And it does sound vital. This isn't some stodgy, dusty recreation of old-time field recordings (if it was Robertson probably wouldn't include kazoo in the instrumentation or a greek folk song in the repertoire). Hunter brings youth and energy to these songs, which bodes well for his future outings." September 3rd 2008 - JP Candelier took some pictures of us recently. He's a great photographer and you can see them all here. ![]() ![]() - A couple of new reviews for my album Sings Songs for the Masses: Trad Magazine
review
"If
I hadn't seen the picture of Hunter Robertson on the CD cover I would
have thought I was dealing with an older person. But no, in fact he's a
fairly young man. And that's what is amazing! At times you would think
you were listening to an old 78, but recorded with modern technology.
Impressive! Hunter's main instrument is the 5-string banjo, which he
plays to perfection in all the old-time styles: clawhammer, two and
three finger picking. Also the 12-string guitar, which is less common
nowadays. I consider this to be one of the best CDs I've heard
recently. To listen to, first of all, his compositions on the banjo:
"Threw Down" and "Souris Mécanique",
and then his very beautiful version of "Red Wing" on the fretless
gut-strung banjo as well as "Crawdad Hole" on the 12-string, a little
treasure."
"Si je n’avais
pas vu
la photo
de
Hunter Robertson sur la jaquette du CD, j’aurais cru avoir
affaire à
une personne d’un certain âge. Mais non, en fait,
il s’agit d’un tout
jeune homme. Et c’est cela qui est
étonnant ! On croirait
écouter un
vieux 78 tours par moment, mais enregistré avec la
technologie moderne.
Bluffant ! L’instrument de prédilection
de Hunter est le banjo
5 cordes
qu’il joue à la perfection dans tous les styles de
l’old
time :
clawhammer, two et three finger picking. Et puis aussi la guitare douze
cordes, ce qui est moins courant à l’heure
actuelle. Je considère que
ce CD est l’un des meilleurs que j’ai entendus
récemment. A écouter en
priorité ses compositions au banjo :
“Threw down” et “Souris
mécanique”, et puis sa très belle
version de “Red wing” au banjo
fretless à cordes en boyau ainsi que “Crawdad
hole” à la douze cordes,
une petite merveille."
-
Claude Vue
writing for Trad
Magazine (France)
Bluegrass
Unlimited
review
|
H |
unter Robertson is a modern day banjo songster. Sings Songs for the Masses is his first CD, and it’s a solo effort through and through with Hunter playing all the instruments and establishing a wide range of sounds all the while remaining solidly rooted in traditional old-time and blues.
Although his biographical information is sketchy, the cover photo shows a young man and the promotional material states that he has been playing the banjo and 12-string guitar for nearly 20 years. If I had to guess from listening to the CD, I’d say he’s a much older man. His voice is deep and resonant, and his playing is very reminiscent of Doc Boggs and various Piedmont blues players.
The CD opens with “Threw Down,” one of the half dozen original selections on the recording. It is a short drop-thumb clawhammer banjo piece demonstrating that he is a fine player. “She Had Eyes” follows, a tune that could easily have been heard on a plantation well before the Civil War when African American workers could only play music on whatever happened to be around them. Hunter performs on a self-made instrument called an Opus. It is a piece of music remarkably unaffected by modern styles.
We are introduced to Hunter’s singing through his rendition of “Pretty Polly.” His voice would indicate a life surrounded by the horrors described in the old-time classic. “You Gonna Need Someone On Your Bond” features Hunter as a one man band as he supplies slide banjo, bass drum, high hat, kazoo and vocals. He realistically captures the sound that was quite prevalent in many southern towns on court day. Later, Hunter includes “Milo mou Kokkino,” a Northern Greek tune, as part of a banjo medley containing “Bonaparte’s Retreat,” “Ducks on the Millpond” and “Salmon Tails up the River.”
The Ostrich Testimonies tells the story of a living nightmare that happened on the largest ostrich ranch in North America. On Feb. 3, 2002, just outside of Tucson, Arizona, two hot air balloons launched too close to the 1,600 bird flock, resulting in a stampede that killed 800 of the birds. The balloonists trespassed and ran from the scene. So why did the rancher lose the lawsuit? The Ostrich Testimonies is an investigative documentary that reveals a sequence of events more strange than you could possibly imagine.