Wednesday, January 28, 2014
7:00 PM at the Martin Hotel

Purchase your $10 tickets Now! On-line from The Martin Hotel or you can also buy them at our walkup outlets: The Martin Hotel, Nature’s Corner, and Global Coffee.

In these parts of the United States, it’s not at all unusual to encounter singer songwriters performing odes to cowboy life. It’s a bit more unusual to come across those who sing from experience, as Mike Beck does.

A regular at the annual National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko. Beck is renowned internationally for both his horsemanship and musical ability. Western Cowboy magazine has even placed two of his compositions on a list it titled “The 13 Best Cowboy Songs of All Time,” putting him in the company of heroes such as Ian Tyson, Lucinda Williams, Tom Russell and Gene Autry, the original singing cowboy.

Beck’s sixth album, TRIBUTE, was created as a celebration of horses and their unique bond with humans. Its 11 cowboy themed Americana tracks range from folk balladry (“20 Bucks a Gallon”) to bluesier tunes and honky tonkers, each imbued with the trail dust and vast vistas of his beloved American West. Beck’s signature Fender Bender shows up on the tracks “Don’t Hurt My Heart” and “Amanda Come Home,” the latter one of two songs paying homage to military veterans. The other is a cover of Wilbert Harrison’s “Let’s Work Together,” made famous by Canned Heat and Bryan Ferry.

Beck’s guitar playing has earned him comparisons to Stephen Stills, and praise from no less a legend than Woody Guthrie contemporary Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, who says of Beck’s picking skills, “Mike Beck plays the guitar like a Byrd. His strings do things that mine could never do. They obey the slightest finger touch commands like a fine reining horse.”

Born and raised in Monterey, Calif., Beck attended the Monterey Pop Festival at 13 and liked what he heard, so he picked up a guitar and never looked back. He honed his songwriting skills and warm, engaging stage presence while riding the ranges of California, Nevada and Montana as a working cowboy. Today, he splits his non touring time between Monterey and Austin, Texas, sometimes performing with the Bohemian Saints, his Byrds /Burrito Brothers/ Stones influenced guitar band. While on the road, he also conducts horsemanship clinics, using techniques he learned from Tom and Bill Dorrance, Ray Hunt and others.

Beck recently helped develop a groundbreaking horsemanship program for the Joyful Horse Project, an Austin based non profit equine rescue group. Pairing combat veterans with horses undergoing rehabilitation from abuse or neglect, the program helps both to heal. Beck is donating all proceeds from sales of TRIBUTE to this new program.

Visit Mike online http://www.mikebeck.com

The Boise Cello Collective brings quartet of coolness to Winnemucca
7:00 PM, Saturday, January 3, 2015
Purchase your tickets Now! On-line from The Martin Hotel

The Boise Cello Collective takes the stage at the Martin Hotel in Winnemucca on Saturday, January 3.

Winnemucca audiences enjoyed the works of one member recently when the Langroise Trio toured through Northern Nevada.  Sam Smith will be joined by Jake Saunders, Stephen Mathie and Shea Kole for this Boise Cello Collective trip through the high desert.

Boise Cello Collective has been performing for about three and a half years, playing nontraditional venues, on street corners, farmers markets, arts shows, street fairs, and anywhere they find they can bring music to the people.   The collective has appeared with as few as two and as many as 14 musicians.  While they started out focused on performing classic pop & rock tunes they soon added tunes from the Great American Songbook, arranged music from some of today’s more experimental and progressive rock groups, and have recently begun to include contemporary classical pieces in some of their performances.

Jake Saunders, apparently the driving force behind the Boise Cello Collective, contends that this musical experience is an evolutionary exploration of the unfolding musical conversation taking place among a large open group made up of Idaho’s preeminent cellists.  Jake says “We are mostly just having fun and enjoy playing for the people”. Since its inception, Boise Cello Collective has presented two world premieres, including a quintet for piano and cello quartet by Dave Earnest in January 2014 and “eMerging” by Evan Ware for cello octet in November 2014.”

If you would like to learn more about the Boise Cello Collective – and hear some of these dynamic symphonic strings in action, visit them at http://www.reverbnation.com/boisecellocollective or on their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/BoiseCelloCollective

US National Fingerstyle Champion Chris Proctor
Steel String Guitar For the New World

7:00 PM, Thursday, November 6, 2014

Purchase your tickets Now! On-line from The Martin Hotel

One reviewer recently tried to capture the essence of Chris Proctor’s music: “What to call his unique melange of styles? There’s an aspect of Americana in the echoes of Appalachian and old-timey styles that are apparent in just about every track, but there are also elements of jazz, Celtic folk, and a dash of blues in here somewhere. What Proctor does is create guitar music that reflects the whole heritage of the instrument and still has his own distinct stamp — a tall order, but he’s up to the job”

Critics also call his guitar playing “breathtaking,” “haunting,” and “rich.” Guitar magazines describe his compositions as “spectacular,” “elegant,” and “exquisite,” and praise his twelve-string work as “revelatory.” Media reviewers trace the roots of his style to folk, jazz, pop, and classical music, categorize his playing as “Baroque Folk,” “New World Steel String,”  “Solo Guitar Orchestra,” “Instrumental Americana,” and compare him to Leo Kottke and Michael Hedges.

These luminous and diverse quotes reveal the breadth and depth of Chris Proctor’s music- his solo, 6 and 12-string  guitar concerts and recordings. Two additional comments typify the first-time listener’s reaction: “Wow- I didn’t know that acoustic guitars could sound like that,” and, ” It seems as if there are three guitarists up there on stage, not just one.”

Here’s more of what critics, listeners, presenters and concert audiences say about Chris Proctor:

•     He is an acclaimed composer of original music and a wonderful arranger for the 6 and 12-string guitars.
•     He is a performer with a gift for communicating the tremendous variety, vitality, and accessibility of his music.
•     His amazing variety of guitar sounds and textures, and the rich tapestry of bass, melody, and inner voices, bring an orchestral quality to his music that surprises and delights audiences who haven’t heard him before.
•     His compositions and arrangements shine with folk, jazz, pop, classical, and ethnic influences.
•     He is a superlative workshop, master class and residency/outreach leader,  author of numerous instructional articles in the guitar press, and producer of two world-class instructional videos for 6 and 12-string players.

Ten CDs on Flying Fish, Windham Hill, Rounder and Sugarhouse Records, his victory in the US National Fingerstyle Championship, his books, DVD’s, videos, magazine articles, and endorsements all testify to Chris’s standing as one of the elite solo guitar composers, arrangers, and performers of the day.

Easy Rollin’ Old-Time Country
7:00 PM, Friday, October 17, 2014

Purchase your tickets Now! On-line from The Martin Hotel

The Caleb Klauder Country Band represents the best of the Northwest music scene. Caleb has been touring nationally and internationally for over 15 years and has been involved with some of the region’s most iconic bands, such as Calobo and The Foghorn Stringband.

Today, leading with vocals, guitar, and a mandolin, Caleb hosts some of the northwest’s best singers and players creating a honky-tonk band that stands out as a totem in the country music scene. The band performs Caleb’s praised original songs right alongside classics from George Jones, The Louvin Brothers and Dolly
Parton, all at once sounding timeless, fresh, and alive. There is a drive to his music that makes it unique and captivating. This is country music made for people who want to have fun and who want to dance, harkening back to the old dance hall days when people of all walks of life came together to simply dance, socialize, and enjoy
live music.

Band members include Jesse Emerson on upright bass, Ned Folkerth on drums, Reeb Willms on vocals and guitar, Russ Blake on pedal steel and electric guitar, and Sam Weiss on fiddle, all of whom contribute to the vibrant northwest music
scene in various other bands. Raised on Orcas Island, Washington and now living in Portland, Oregon, Caleb is a true north westerner, yet his maternal family roots lay in East Tennessee. His mother, originally from Knoxville, moved her family out west when Caleb was only a year old. These deep family roots contribute to Caleb?s music, tapping into old memories to bring you the strong singing and spirited attitude that give his music an edge that is both cutting and sweet.

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Roots and Blues
7:00 PM Friday, September 19, 2014

The $15.00 tickets are now on sale at Nature’s Corner, Global Coffee, and The Martin Hotel. You can also buy them online at themartinhotel.com.

David returns to the Martin for what we believe is his sixth show. He’s played solo, he has been accompanied by kora player Peter Joseph Burtt, he once brought a small trio that included Joe Walsh’s rhythm team of bassist Kenny Passarelli and drummer Joe Vitale. It has been a great, great show on each occasion. Friday he will be accompanied by master harmonica player Bob Beach and we’re expecting a terrific evening!

David Jacobs-Strain is a fierce slide guitar player, and a song poet from Oregon. He’s known for both his virtuosity and spirit of emotional abandon; his live show moves from humorous, subversive blues, to delicate balladry, and then swings back to swampy rock and roll. It’s a range that ties Jacobs-Strain to his own generation and to guitar-slinger troubadours like Robert Johnson and Jackson Browne. “I try to make art that you can dance to, but I love that darker place, where in my mind, Skip James, Nick Drake, and maybe Elliot Smith blur together.” His new album, “Geneseo,” speaks of open roads, longing hearts and flashbacks of Oregon– a record of emotions big and small, and lyrics that turn quickly from literal to figurative. “I’m fascinated by the way that rural blues inscribes movement and transience. The music that frees a singer keeps them on the run; there’s a crossroads where a thing can be enchanting but dangerous; damaging but beautiful.”

David began playing on street corners and at farmers markets as a teenager, and bought his first steel guitar with the quarters he saved up. Before he dropped out of Stanford to play full time, he had already appeared at festivals across the country, often billed as a blues prodigy, but he had to fight to avoid being a novelty act: “I wanted to tell new stories, it just wasn’t enough to relive the feelings in other people’s music.”

David Jacobs-Strain has appeared at festivals from British Columbia to Australia, including Merlefest, Telluride Blues Festival, Philadelphia Folk Festival, Hardly Strictly, Bumbershoot, and Blues to Bop in Switzerland. He’s taught at Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peace Ranch, and at fifteen years old was on the faculty at Centrum’s Blues and Heritage workshop. On the road, he’s shared the stage with Lucinda Williams, Boz Scaggs (more than 60 shows), Etta James, The Doobie Brothers, George Thorogood, Robert Earle Keen, Todd Snider, Taj Mahal, Janis Ian, Tommy Emmanuel, Bob Weir, T-Bone Burnett, and Del McCoury.

Cowboy Classics
7:00 PM, Saturday, September 13, 2014

The $15.00 tickets are now on sale at Nature’s Corner, Global Coffee, and The Martin Hotel. You can also buy them online at themartinhotel.com.

From classic Sons of the Pioneers and Gene Autry tunes to contemporary Ian Tyson and Tom Russel masterpieces, the Old West Trio delivers folk harmony and Somther’s Brothers style humor.

Presenting spot on renditions of some of the greatest western tunes of all time, the Old West Trio take the stage at the Martin Hotel on Sept. 13.

This dynamic group balances silver-screen harmonies and newly minted cowboy classics with a dose of humor. The trio earned the Will Rogers Award for 2011 Best Western Music Duo/Group of the Year (Academy of Western Artists). Members are Steve Ide (rhythm guitar), Leslie Ide (upright bass), and Steve Johnson (lead guitar).

It ain’t where you’re from that counts, it is where you’re going. – RJE

Ramblin’ Jack Elliott is going to make another visit to the Martin Hotel in Winnemucca. We’re thrilled to have one of the most mythical characters in American music visit our cozy little venue once again.

Jack Elliott set off sparks in London when he traveled there in 1955. The young musicians in England were just starting to investigate American blues and traditional country music. Into their midst fell an guitar playing cowboy. Jack showed up in this world of proper gentlemen in his boots, his jeans, and wearing his Stetson. He could play flawlessly in the styles they had only heard but never seen. Jack’s time in England and Europe helped prime the British Invasion that shows up on our shores 10 years later…

Music at the Martin
with
Ramblin’ Jack Elliott
7:00 PM
Saturday, August 23, 2014

One of the last true links to the great folk traditions of this country, with over 40 albums under his belt, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott is considered one of the country’s legendary foundations of folk music.

Purchase your tickets on-line from the Martin Hotel

Long before every kid in America wanted to play guitar — before Elvis, Dylan, the Beatles or Led Zeppelin — Ramblin’ Jack had picked it up and was passing it along. From Johnny Cash to Tom Waits, Beck to Bonnie Raitt, Ry Cooder to Bruce Springsteen, the Grateful Dead to The Rolling Stones, they all pay homage to Ramblin’ Jack Elliott.

In the tradition of roving troubadours Jack has carried the seeds and pollens of story and song for decades from one place to another, from one generation to the next. They are timeless songs that outlast whatever current musical fashion strikes today’s fancy.

“His tone of voice is sharp, focused and piercing. All that and he plays the guitar effortlessly in a fluid flat-picking perfected style. He was a brilliant entertainer…. Most folk musicians waited for you to come to them. Jack went out and grabbed you….. Jack was King of the Folksingers.” – Bob Dylan, Chronicles: Volume One

There are no degrees of separation between Jack and the real thing. He is the guy who ran away from his Brooklyn home at fourteen to join the rodeo and learned his guitar from a cowboy. In 1950, he met Woody Guthrie, moved in with the Guthrie family and traveled with Woody to California and Florida, from the redwood forests to the Gulf Stream waters. Jack became so enthralled with the life and composer of This Land Is Your Land, The Dust Bowl Ballads, and a wealth of children’s songs that he completely absorbed the inflections and mannerisms, leading Guthrie to remark, “Jack sounds more like me than I do.”

In 1954, along with folksinging pals Frank Robinson and Guy Carawan, Jack journeyed south through Appalachia, Nashville and to New Orleans to hear authentic American country music. He later made this the basis for his talking song, 912 Greens.

In 1955 Jack married and traveled to Europe, bringing his genuine American folk, cowboy and blues repertoire and his guitar virtuosity, inspiring a new generation of budding British rockers, from Mick Jagger to Eric Clapton.

When he returned to America in 1961, he met another young folksinger, Bob Dylan at Woody Guthrie’s bedside, and mentored Bob. Jack has continued as an inspiration for every roots-inspired performer since.

Along the way he learned the blues first-hand from Leadbelly, Mississippi John Hurt, the Reverend Gary Davis, Big Bill Broonzy, Brownie Mcghee and Sonny Terry, Jesse Fuller and Champion Jack Dupree.

He has recorded forty albums; wrote one of the first trucking songs, Cup of Coffee, recorded by Johnny Cash; championed the works of new singer-songwriters, from Bob Dylan and Kris Kristofferson to Tim Hardin; became a founding member of Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue; and continued the life of the traveling troubadour influencing Jerry Jeff Walker, Guy Clark, Tom Russell The Grateful Dead and countless others.

In 1995, Ramblin’ Jack received his first of five Grammy nominations and the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album, for South Coast (Red House Records). Jack was again recognized with a Grammy Award for best Traditional Blues Album in 2009, for A Stranger Here (Anti-Epitaph Records).

In 1998, President Bill Clinton awarded Jack the National Medal of the Arts, proclaiming, “In giving new life to our most valuable musical traditions, Ramblin’ Jack has himself become an American treasure.”

In 2000, Jack’s daughter, filmmaker, Aiyana Elliott produced and directed The Ballad of Ramblin’ Jack, her take on Jack’s life and their fragile relationship, winning a Special Jury Prize from the Sundance Film Festival.

Through it all—though agents, managers, wives and recording companies have tried—Jack resisted being molded into a commercial commodity. He played his shows without a written set list or including any songs that did not ring with his gut feeling of what mattered to him.

Ramblin’ Jack’s life of travels, performances and recordings is a testament to the America of lore, a giant land of struggle, hard luck and sometimes even of good fortune. Ramblin’ Jack takes us to places that spur us on to the romance and passion of life in the tunes and voices of real people.

At eighty three, Ramblin’ Jack is still on the road, still seeking those people, places, songs and stories that are hand-crafted, wreaking of wood and canvas, cowhide and forged metal. You’ll find him in the sleek lines of a long haul semi-truck, in the rigging of an old sailing ship, in the smell of a fine leather saddle.

BETTER YET, FIND HIM AT THE MARTIN HOTEL IN WINNEMUCCA ON August 23.

A Tasty Bluegrass/Newgrass Stew
7:00 PM, Thursday, August 7, 2014

The $15.00 tickets are now on sale at Nature’s Corner, Global Coffee, and The Martin Hotel.  You can also buy them online at themartinhotel.com.

Since Frank Solivan left the cold climes of Alaska for the bluegrass hotbed of Washington, D.C., he’s built a reputation as a monster mandolinist — and become a major festival attraction with his band, Dirty Kitchen. Solivan and banjoist Mike Munford (2013 International Bluegrass Music Association Banjo Player of the Year), guitarist Chris Luquette (IBMA Instrumentalist of the Year Momentum Award winner) and doghouse bassist Dan Booth simmer a bluegrass/newgrass stew from instrumental, vocal and songwriting skills so hot, they also earned 2012 and 2013 Best Bluegrass Band honors from the Washington Area Music Association. It flavors every note of their new album, On the Edge, which Engine 145 dubbed, “a fine sophomore release from one of the most exciting bands in bluegrass today.”

The Vaudeville Cowboy and an Instrument Wizard
7:00 PM, Saturday, July 12, 2014

The $15.00 tickets are on sale now at the Martin Hotel, Nature’s Corner, and Global Coffee. You can also buy them online at themartinhotel.com.

A marvel of musical ingenuity, yodeling cowboy Sourdough Slim and string instrument wizard Robert Armstrong joyously rekindle the country blues, cowboy classics and string band repertoire of pre-WWII America. A fast-paced performance of music and comedy that showcases their seasoned gift for connecting with audiences.

Whether capturing the haunting refrain of a Jimmie Rodgers blue yodel or swinging out a hot novelty number, everyone gets caught up in the fun these two cut-ups have on stage. Long time fans will remember them as founding members of two of California’s favorite acoustic combo’s, “8th Avenue String Band” and “R. Crumb’s Cheap Suit Serenaders.” Between them they share a provocative array of period instruments including: flat-top guitar, national steel, baritone and soprano ukulele, musical saw, accordion, six-string banjo and harmonica.

Well traveled veterans of stages ranging from Carnegie Hall and The Lincoln Center to The National Cowboy Gathering, Strawberry Music Festival and Prairie Home Companion, these modern day vaudevillians capture a sound and moment in time that consistently delights fun loving music fans everywhere they perform.

“First rate entertainment. A delightfully splendid show. . . full of good time music and laughs galore.” – Diane Brinkman, Seattle Times

“You won’t find better authentic Country or Western music being played anywhere.” – David Barnes, British Archive of Country Music

“Much more invigorating than 9/10ths of the stuff you hear from the current cadre of Western revivalists.” – Ronald Lankford, Jr., Sing Out! magazine

“Good stuff!” – Dallas Dobro, Master of Ceremonies, Strawberry Music Festival

Blues Guitar Legend Returns to the Martin
7:00 PM, Saturday, June 14, 2014

The $10.00 tickets are on sale now at the Martin Hotel, Nature’s Corner, and Global Coffee. You can also buy them online at themartinhotel.com.

The great Roy Book Binder is set to play a concert at the Martin Hotel on Saturday, June 14. Something of a national treasure, Book Binder plays blues in the Piedmont style, a very old East Coast tradition based on ragtime and multi-part gospel guitar techniques.

Besides being a musical giant with unexceeded technique, Book Binder is known as a crowd-pleasing entertainer with deft comic timing, an encyclopedic knowledge of American roots music history, and an inexhaustible supply of tales collected over a lifetime of traveling and performing with greats like Brownie McGhee, Sonny Terry, Rock Bottom, Fats Kaplin, Doc Watson, Bonnie Raitt, and Ray Charles.

Book Binder emerged alongside pal Dave van Ronk in the New York City coffeehouse scene of the mid-60s, the beginning of the so-called “folk revival.” And, his repertoire includes “Bookaroo” songs, played in a folk style reminiscent of Rambling Jack Elliot, and Don Edwards.

Book Binder’s real bailiwick, though, is blues in the East Coast or “Piedmont” style, named for the plateau that stretches from Richmond, Virginia to Atlanta, Georgia. The style evolved in the 20s, 30s, and 40s, when ragtime, parlor, and gospel guitar players like Blind Blake, Blind Boy Fuller, and Reverend Gary Davis began applying polyphonic finger-picking technique to the blues. Book Binder perfected his Piedmont technique as Davis’s protégé, working as the blind virtuoso’s driver and side-man during the late 1960s.

Book Binder has recorded eight albums, most in a “hillbilly” blues style that includes plenty of colorful banter between the tracks. Often, the stories and jokes stretch back to Book Binder’s formative years on the road with the Reverend Davis. Though based on old-time techniques, his songs sound fresh and relevant, often featuring original lyrics re-spun to reflect contemporary themes.

Book Binder continues to perform solo shows around the world, the last time we saw him he was about to leave for the Blues Festival in Hell Norway where he appeared along with Ramblin’ Jack and many other greats. He also teaches at MerleFest and the Fur Peace School, and keeps an entertaining travel “blog” on his website, RoyBookBinder.com.

So, if you’re in town over the weekend, don’t miss the chance to see one of the great bluesmen of all time, up close and personal, right here in Winnemucca. The show starts at 7 PM on Saturday, June 14, at the Martin Hotel on Railroad Street.