Musical
groups being the chameleons that they are, it should come
as no surprise to anyone that Two Far Gone is actually...too far
gone. Mike Pereira joined Dave Howard and me and solidifed the
groove earlier this year on upright bass and mandolin. Then Dave
departed, and now Kathy Camille-Garrenton has added her wonderful
voice and rhythm guitar to the group, which is now known as the
Kerry Kean Trio (at least until we come up with a name that we
all like, and that says something about who we are). We're playing
a brand of "anything-goes-if-we-like-it" Americana,
with elements of country, swing, blues and bluegrass. It's somewhat
similar to what Two Far Gone played, with a strong emphasis on
three-part harmony. We recorded the video above at the Barking
Spider in early December, and I'll post more samples of the group
as time permits. The Schedule page
lists where we'll be playing, so come on out and give a listen
- we'll all have a great time!
Like
any habit that's hard to kick (and a whole lot better for
me than some!), I'm back in a bluegrass band again. I've joined
Top Rail Bluegrass, a band that's been around in different forms
since 2003. Jim Gornall plays bass, Jeff Gell is on banjo and
mandolin, I'm on guitar and we all sing. The last couple of gigs
we've added Jimmy
Haynes on mandolin. I'm having a ball playing with these guys,
and I see a lot of possibility for the band. The next gig is September
17 at the Johnny Appleseed Festival in Brunswick, see the schedule
for details.
2011
Kent State Folk Festival: I've finally finished the workshop
schedule for the 2011 folk festival (September 24). I'm really
excited about this year's lineup; we've added an extra room and
a number of new workshops. More of them are interactive than ever
before, including a two-part hands-on songwriting workshop directed
by Laurie Caner and Kathy Johnson, a community sing with Matt
Watroba, WKSU's new folk DJ, and group lessons on mandolin, banjo,
ukulele, guitar and lap dulcimer. We've got classes in hula dancing,
clogging, contradance, and several classes aimed specifically
at performing and aspiring musicians on music business, injury
prevention, maintaining your string instrument, and of course,
performances by many of the best musicians in the region and beyond!
And best of all, IT'S ALL FREE! So put it in your calendar, Saturday,
September 24 from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm is the day. And I didn't
even mention all the great evening festival perfomances! The workshop
schedule is available here:
Too
Far Gone (formerly Two Far Gone) has made a key addition,
with Mike Peirera joining Dave and Kerry on upright bass. Mike
is from Cleveland where he plays mandolin with the Silver String
Band, and we didn't even know he played bass until he sat in with
us one night at the Barking Spider. He provided such a solid beat
we immediately recruited him! Watch for us soon in a venue near
you.
Workshop
redux: The Summit County Songwriters Circle has invited me
to reprise the workshop I presented at the KSU folk festival last
year. It's called "Chord Progressions Demystified",
and it's an explanation of how harmonic structures and the major
scale work together. This basic musical knowledge is important
for anyone who wants to write songs or improvise, and can also
help in understanding, learning and anticipating chord changes
in any kind of music. The workshop takes place on Monday, January
17 at 7:00 and is free and open to the public. Directions and
more are available on the SCSC website at www.songwritersummit.com/
2010 Kent State Folk Festival: I was asked to direct the workshops
this year at the KSU folk festival, and I think they're pretty
well set. The festival runs from November 17 - 20, 2010, with
the workshops happening on Saturday afternoon, November 20, from
11:00 am to 5:00 pm. If you've attended the workshops before,
you'll find much that's familiar as well as a few new wrinkles.
If you've never been, well, you've just gotta come! We've got
five rooms plus the Kiva filled with some of the most talented
local and regional musicians you'll ever hear. Some of the workshops
are educational, some are interactive, and others are just some
fine players doing what they do best, making great music. Come
listen, dance, learn and have fun!
2011
Kent State Folk Festival - September 20-24
2011 workshop schedule: coming soon! 2010 workshop schedule
Tour
Update: Things are slowly coming together for the May/June
tour. I'm actually going to be on the road more than I thought
originally, starting in Knoxville, going out to the west coast
and back through Colorado. I have a few anchor gigs scheduled
and some more tentative, to be (hopefully) filled in with lots
of coffee houses and other small venues. Anyone who has suggestions
for places to play on that approximate route, please let me know.
This will be the most extensive performance tour I've made since
I used to play with a travelling show band, and that was a loooong
time ago! With any luck, I'll run out of CDs...
I
got another great review on the new cd from FolkWorld:
"A strikingly beautiful rendition of the John Dowland piece
“Flow My Tears” seems to bring out the best of Kean’s
guitar playing, matched only by his original piece “After
the Harvest”, for which Kean won the 2008 Kent State Folk
Festival talent contest..."
Check out this one and many more on the Press
page!
NEW!
Now on MySpace!
(...more "in case that wasn't enough!")
Woodchoppers
Ball - Saturday, December 12 at 7:00 pm I'm not playing in it this year, but one of the best shows
for acoustic guitar fans is Brian Henke's benefit for the Northeast
Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, the Woodchoppers Ball. Featuring
nine top guitarists from around the country and beyond, these
shows are tops in "Wow factor" and support a good cause
as well. More info:
WOW!
Rave reviews and boffo kudos! The New York Times gushes, "One
of the top two or three hundred acoustic guitarists in Kent Ohio..."
Well, OK, not really, but I did get a couple of nice online reviews
recently for the new CD - check 'em out on the new Press
page. In the interest of more shameless self-promotion, I've added
a few of the more complimentary comments folks have sent me (somehow,
the catcalls and scathing remarks have been lost...). If anyone
feels like saying anything else, I'd love to have you add your
glowing review to the New River Guitarism page at CDBaby.
And thanks!
It's
Here! : The new CD is out and available at last! For all who've
expressed interest I appreciate your patience and I hope you find
it worth the wait. The name is "New
River Guitarism" and several of the songs were inspired
by the New River Gorge in West Virginia where I've been going
for years to rock climb, raft and just enjoy the beautiful scenery.
Please check it out, listen to the sample clips here
or on CDBaby and
let me know what you think! The music is all guitar, mostly fingerstyle
and mostly original, with a fiddle tune and a renaissance song
tossed in for good measure. I like it, I hope you will too.
New
combo...Dave Howard and I are working as a duo these days.
Dave is well known around Northeast Ohio as a luthier and guitar
repairman as well as a fine guitarist. He also plays mandolin,
and he and I are doing an eclectic mix of originals, fiddle tunes,
swing, blues and country songs that'll keep you guessing as well
as tapping your foot (multiple feet are also encouraged!). Check
out the schedule page for dates or sign up for the newsletter
for up-to-date info. Also, you can see us on YouTube doing the
traditional "Salt Creek" and
one of my tunes, "One More Tear"
along with a couple of videos of my solo work.
Free!
New Music! "After
the Harvest", performed at the Kent State Folk Festival I was honored as the winner of the Kent State Folk Festival
talent contest this year, and my prize was to open up the Nanci
Griffith show on Saturday night. It was truly a rewarding experience,
and I got some wonderful feedback from my performance. I almost
didn't make it to the contest on time because I was playing in
the Fiddle Tunes workshop in the 4-5 o'clock slot and apparently
the contestants hit the downbeat right at 5 ( I rolled in as #4
was finishing up). Fate was kind, however, and they had me at
the #8 slot, and the rest is (minor) history. I played one of
the songs from the CD I'm currently recording, and here it is
for free download.
Video
on Youtube! The Summit County Songwriter's Circle has put
a couple of videos of yours truly up on the most addictive site
around. If you can take the multimedia onslaught of seeing and
hearing me at the same time, you might want to check them out
(if for no other reason than to see me make funny faces when the
monitors starting fuzzing out in the middle of Just One Dream!)
I'd
like to thank everyone who has supported me and my music. As most
of you know, I've been struggling with tendonitis in my left arm
(guitar elbow?) but we seem to have come to a truce these days,
and I am playing again. So again, thanks for your support and
I hope to be back to what passes for normalcy again soon.
Many
thanks to all those who voted for me in the Folkalley.com Open
Mic contest. I didn't win, but I turned in a respectable showing,
especially for an instrumental. If you haven't been there yet,
Folk Alley is a radio website that plays folk/acoustic music around
the clock, good stuff! Check it out at: www.folkalley.com
