Music at the Martin

CeCe Gable and her Jazz Trio

CeCe draws the listener into her captivating world of song with an incredible depth of emotion. She swings with rhythmic passion and also has the ability to caress a ballad with effortless interpretation. Influenced by many of the women and men of jazz, she offers her own voice on jazz standards and the American Songbook. She shines on any stage whether she is accompanied by a solo pianist, a trio or an entire orchestra… you’ll find you cannot get enough of this jazz experience.

Well known to audiences up and down the Pacific Coast and throughout the western states, CeCe Gable is rapidly becoming one of the premiere jazz singers in the region.

A native of Barberton, Ohio, and a graduate of Kent State University, CeCe lived in Winnemucca for a few years while she was working as an artist in residence in Winnemucca schools. While she was in Winnemucca she primarily taught dance and creative movement to budding young artist’s. CeCe now makes her home in the Reno/Tahoe area as a performing and recording artist.

A consummate jazz cabaret performer, she has sung in jazz clubs throughout the United States and Europe including New Orleans, Las Vegas, Palm Springs, Fiji, Munich, Athens and at New York City’s Iridium with Les Paul.

She has presented the works of George Gershwin, Thelonious Monk, Stephen Sondheim and Kurt Weill to rave reviews in a variety of venues. According to Metroland (Albany, NY), CeCe Gable is a performer who exudes warmth, sophistication, a generous stage presence and rare versatility. A unique, compelling performer with a style and sound all her own, CeCe has been compared to the song stylists of the ’50’s with a contemporary twist.

Admired as a “quiet surprise” by audiences nationwide, CeCe has become known for delivering an honest performance and has prompted more than one audience member to say “When you sing I see the music flow through you and I believe you.”

Richard Feldman, stage director and arts critic for The Record (Troy, NY) asserts that “CeCe Gable is one of those rare performers whose mellow vocals, stylistic sophistication, diversity of material and intimate delivery combine perfectly to convince us that she’s singing to each of us…personally.”

David Jacobs-Strain

David Jacobs-Strain, a consummate finger-style and slide guitarist, plays in the blues tradition but isn’t from it. You’ll hear echoes of Skip James, Charlie Patton, Tommy Johnson, and a song or two by Fred McDowell or Robert Johnson in his solo performances. But as a modern roots singer-songwriter, “I come from the language of the country blues, but it’s important not to silence other influences,” he says.

His obsession with sound serves a deeper purpose than a mere desire to display technical wizardry. “For me, there’s something about rural blues that has a transcendent quality, a wide open sound. Think of the rhythm of a train. There’s a cross between spiritual and secular music in Fred McDowell. Compared to commercial electric blues, the Delta blues are more interesting modally and have a spiritual depth to them. You can also hear anger, humor, and empathy. I’m going after the texture, the tone and feel of that.”

“I’ve always been drawn to the trance-oriented, heavier, Delta blues—to the driving, passionate, raw, distraught sound of somebody like Son House,” he says. “When you’re in the flow of the music, there’s an ecstasy to it. Of course, when I was 12, I thought I knew what Robert Johnson’s ‘Come on into My Kitchen’ was all about.” The 24-year-old Jacobs-Strain has refined his youthful expression of raw energy, passion, and technique into powerful, nuanced performances.

He grew up in Eugene, Oregon, in a community that was centered on cultural change and environmentalism. He sees a distinct connection between the principles embodied in his upbringing and the democracy of the blues. “I’m really into hand-made culture—and real people making real music. The voice. One guitar. Even at their simplest, the blues have always been a vehicle for expressing your own situation, whether as an individual or a community. There’s such power in that.”

Jacobs-Strain is a veteran of the national club and festival circuit. He’s been billed with T-Bone Burnett and Bob Weir, and has opened for acts such as Los Lobos, Lucinda Williams, Taj Mahal, Etta James, Boz Scaggs, and the Blind Boys of Alabama. By the time he was 19, he had played at the Philadelphia Folk Festival and MerleFest. His other festival credits include the Strawberry Music Festival, the Newport Folk Festival, the Telluride Blues Fest, the Vancouver Folk Festival, the Montreal Jazz Festival, and the Lugano Blues to Bop Festival in Switzerland. He’s also served as faculty at guitar workshops, most notably at Jorma Kaukonen’s Fur Peace Ranch. In 2008, he was chosen by Boz Scaggs to open his summer tour.

“How do you continue to find inspiration in sound? Why does a certain musical phrase grab you by the hair and heart and brain? How do you continue to make it new? How do you honor the people who poured themselves into the music in the first place?” Jacobs-Strain asks. Whenever he strives to answer these questions, you’ll want to be there to listen.

Sourdough Slim with Robert Armstrong

During the Winnemucca Ranch Hand Rodeo

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

Ramblin’ Jack Elliott

THE TUESDAY NIGHT LIVE SHOW IS SOLD OUT.

PLEASE JOIN US ON MONDAY NIGHT 01/25/10 AT 7:00 SHARP FOR A SPECIAL SCREENING OF THE DOCUMENTARY “THE BALLAD OF RAMBLIN’ JACK”.
FREE OF CHARGE!

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.

“Nobody I know—and I mean nobody—has covered more ground and made more friends and sung more songs than the fellow you’re about to meet right now. He’s got a song and a friend for every mile behind him. Say hello to my good buddy, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott.”
– Johnny Cash, The Johnny Cash Television Show, 1969.

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 four Grammy nominations and the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album, for South Coast (Red House 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 seventy-seven, 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 in at the Martin Hotel in Winnemucca on January 26.

The Gillette Brothers

Guy and Pipp Gillette are on their way to the Cowboy Poetry Festival in Monterey California, from their home in Crockett Texas, and they are going to make a stop for a show in Winnemucca on December 8.

The last time the Guy and Pipp Gillette were at the Martin they shared the stage with Don Edwards and Pop Warner, but this time they will have the place to themselves. They perform a mix of traditional cowboy songs, and songs reflecting the celtic roots, country blues, minstrel and medicine show songs that influenced cowboy music. For me it is always worth the price of admission just to watch and hear Guy play the rhythm bones, musical bones they make from cow ribs.

They have played at major events and venues around the country including: The 2008 Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington DC, The National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, NV, The Monterey Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival in Monterey, CA, The Santa Clarita Cowboy Poetry & Music Festival in Santa Clarita, CA, The Willow Tree Festival in Gordon, NE, The Arizona Cowboy Poets Gathering in Prescott, AZ; The Cherry Blossom Festival in Macon, GA; The National Arboretum in Washington, DC, The Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Cody, WY, and The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, OK, The Museum of South Texas in Edinburgh Texas.

In August 2005, the Gillette Brothers traveled to Japan representing the State of Texas at the World Expo – Aichi/Nagoya, performing their music at the US Pavilion. In October 2008, the Gillette Brothers toured Somerset, England for two weeks, performing in village halls and the Bridgewater Arts Center.

They have demonstrated chuckwagon cooking at the Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City; the Ranching Heritage Museum in Lubbock, Texas; The Museum of South Texas in Edinburgh Texas; Dalton Days in Longview, Texas; and the Cherry Blossom Festival in Macon, Georgia.

Their cooking has been spotlighted in Persimmon Hill, the magazine of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum; The National Cowboy Hall of Fame Cookbook by B. Byron Price; A Taste of Texas Ranching by Tom Bryant and Joel Bernstein; and the Spirit of the West: Cooking for Ranch House & Range by Beverly Cox and Martin Jacobs.

The Gillette Brothers were recipients of the 2009 AMERICAN COWBOY CULTURE AWARD for western music from the NATIONAL COWBOY SYMPOSIUM & CELEBRATION. They were awarded the 2003 and the 1998 Will Rogers Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Advancement of Contemporary Cowboy Music Best Duo/Group by The Academy of Western Artists. They have also received the National Cowboy Symposium’s American Cowboy Culture Chuck Wagon Award.

The Gillette Brothers run The Camp St. Cafe & Store in Crockett, Texas a live music venue, much like the Martin Hotel, that has featured some of the top performers in the country.

They were also instrumental in getting a life-sized statue of Blues Legend Lightnin’ Hopkins erected in Crockett.

Saul Kaye

Our friend Saul Kaye, from over in the “Bay Area”, is coming back to Winnemucca. Saul is a guy we really admire. He is a very gifted musician, a great songwriter, has a wonderfully warm stage presence, and each time he has come to the Martin he’s brought a strong band and a wonderful groove. It is very easy to tell that Saul Kaye loves what he is doing.

Now, the interesting thing is, Saul is coming this time to play a solo show. He has been moved to create a whole new suitcase full of blues tunes around his Jewish Heritage, and he’s coming to Winnemucca to try them out on you.

We hope you will join us.

$10 Tickets are on sale now at The Martin Hotel, Nature’s Corner and Global Coffee.

Here is a post about Saul’s new music, written by an Actual Journalist:

From the Bohemian.Com:

Jews and the Abstract Truth

Saul Kaye funnels his communions into ‘Jewish Blues’

By Gabe Meline

At age two, Saul Kaye glued his head to the stereo speakers in his family living room, and one could make the argument that he’s never really unglued himself. In fact, as a teenager, his only weekly ritual was tuning into a radio show called The Blues Train , which played Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Son House and other greats from 8pm to 6am while Kaye played along.

Saul Kaye’s new album, Jewish Blues , is the product of two life-altering communions, the first being playing along every week to the radio. His second came at Jerusalem’s Western Wall, where after a period of falling away from his Jewish upbringing, Kaye says, “I went to Israel in my 20s and had a classic ‘wall’ experience. I was at the wall, with my family, and felt a strong reconnection.” <more>

Blame Sally

San Francisco Band Finds Unconventional Success

“…the band has the songs, the chops and the pipes to back up their tough-talking, clear-minded folk rock.” Santa Cruz Sentinel

In these strange times of job layoffs and uncertain futures, the San Francisco band BLAME SALLY is characteristically bucking the trend. Pam Delgado, Jeri Jones, Renee Harcourt and Monica Pasqual hit their stride well after the first blush of youth, watching their audiences grow and their independently-released record sales balloon as they set their own career pace and direction. In the fall of 2008, the mid-life women of BLAME SALLY signed a one-of-a-kind, five-year, three -album recording contract in the mid-six figures with Bay Area Opus Music Ventures, backed up by generous creative and tour support that enabled them to finally become full-time musicians. The ink was barely dry on the contract before BLAME SALLY found themselves in a brand new, state-of-the-art recording studio and in the very capable hands of Grammy-nominated producer, Lee Townsend, (Bill Frisell, Louden Wainwright, Noe Venable, Crooked Still).

The resulting album, Night of 1000 Stars, was released in May 2009. As they have always done, BLAME SALLY uses personal and topical issues to fuel their powerful songwriting and jubilant ensemble musicianship. Whether through the anguished voice of an Afghan war veteran, the cancer survivor finding some humor in new age bromides or the woman who’s passion comes on like a summer thunderstorm, each track on Night of 1000 Stars is rich with authenticity and emotion.

A unique collective of four distinct voices and musical backgrounds, BLAME SALLY has forged a compelling and original sound that has earned the band the well-deserved reputation as “Bay Area phenomenon”. The San Francisco Chronicle raved that BLAME SALLY’s music “…recall(s) the artful romanticism of Jane Siberry, the rich folk harmonies of the Indigo Girls, and the percolating soulfulness of Joy of Cooking.” Poised for greater national attention, they’ve performed for audiences across the US, sharing festival stages with the likes of Los Lobos, Ani DiFranco, Richard Thompson, Roseanne Cash and Greg Brown.

In 2007 BLAME SALLY launched a national radio campaign covering both AAA and Non-Com stations and reached an audience of millions through XM Satellite Radio’s Starbuck’s XM Café where the band’s previous album Severland charted at number one.

BLAME SALLY is already out on the road, touring non-stop, with US and European dates booked through the end of the year.

Shakespeare’s Troupe

At one o’clock in the the morning, all kinds of strange things are going on. This army is about to enjoy some well deserved rations to celebrate their victory, and recover from their defeats earlier this evening, as they often met in pitched battle on stage in Winnemucca for their production of Macbeth. The director and the cast of the traveling Nevada Shakespeare Company stopped briefly for a photo during what seemed to be a re-creation of a scene from the play during their late night dinner at the Winnemucca Inn.

And yes, and the sword fights lived up to their billing, the witches were stunning, the whole performance ran like a watch, and they ALL delivered a terrific performance. They still have four shows on their schedule, and they truly deserve to play to a packed house each night.

Their next show is Friday, October 23 at Piper’s Opera House in Virginia City; and then three performances in Reno at the Laxalt Auditorium, October 29, 30, and 31. ADMISSION: All Reno shows are free. Admission to the Piper’s Opera House show is $15 general and $10 for students and seniors. Tickets will be available at the door. ON THE WEB: www.Nevada-Shakespeare.org

If you are member of the troupe, or were in the audience last night, we would love to hear from you. Leave a comment below, and share your thoughts.

From the Reno Gazette Journal’s Sunday edition, later today:

Shakespeare returns with a vengeance

By Forrest Hartman • forrest@rgj.com • October 18, 2009

Since 2002, Nevada Shakespeare Company has been a scaled-down model of its former self, concentrating on educational outreach programs and small productions requiring only a handful of actors. That changed Friday when the company trotted out its first full-blown stage show in seven years, a touring production of William Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.” more….

“Something Wicked This Way Comes”

mcbethlogo

Great Basin Arts and Entertainment is bringing the Nevada Shakespeare Company’s new production of Macbeth to the Lowry High Theater on Saturday, October 17. Doors will open at 6:00 and the curtain will go up at 7:00 PM for a performance held as a benefit for the BackPack Kids program. All ticket proceeds are going to this worthwhile program of the Winnemucca Food Bank which discretely places weekend food supplies in the back packs of needy elementary school children each Friday.

In celebration of their 10th season, Nevada Shakespeare Company offers an edgy new production of Macbeth, Shakespeare’s popular tale of horror, drawn from Scottish history, with great warriors, witches and ghostly apparitions.

The production is directed by the talented David Weinberg.

“Having Dave as our director is a godsend,” says Cameron Crain, Nevada Shakes’ President and Managing Artistic Director, “his training, experience and insights into the play, as well as our company, make him the perfect fit for this production.”

Mr. Weinberg was born and raised in Reno, and has spent over a decade working and studying theatre in Los Angeles, New York and London. The play also boasts stage combat choreography by Mr. JR Beardsley, an international fight director, and includes several violent fights with a range of authentic-looking broad swords, shields and battle axes.

“This is one of Shakespeare’s bloodiest, spookiest plays, and it’s a perfect thing to present this time of year,” says Beardsley regarding the staging of Macbeth during the Halloween season, “My job is to help recreate the violence of the time period and make it look real and interesting.”

This bloody production promises to be a fresh, dynamic and entertaining event for the Halloween season: after all, Macbeth is filled with sword fights, witches, blood lust, betrayal and justice. Before there was Harry Potter there was Shakespeare! Macbeth will be touring throughout the month of October: 10.16 at the Dayton Valley Country Club, 10.17 at Lowry High School in Winnemucca, 10.23 at Piper’s Opera House, 10.24, 10.29, 10.30 and 10.31 at the Nelson Building in downtown Reno.

Thanks to the Nevada Arts Council’s Stimulus Grant, the Nevada Humanities, the Carol Franc Buck Foundation and the City of Reno’s Arts and Culture program, we have a Reno-born and British-trained director: Dave Weinberg, a British-born Reno-resident playing the lead: Joe Atack, and an international stage and film combat artist conducting the choreography: JR Beardsley. The cast is compromised of local artists from Caron Valley, Carson, Lake Tahoe, Reno, including the amazing Stephanie Richardson as Lady Macbeth.

For details and information contact Cameron Crain, 775.232.4974, cameroncrain@gmail.com or visit www.nevada-shakespeare.org or www.gbae.org.

Tickets are $5 for students and $10 for others, and are available at Nature’s Corner, The Martin Hotel, and Global Coffee. Proceeds from all ticket sales will go to the local Backpack Kids program.

About the BackPack Program

There are children in our local communities that rely on resources such as free or reduced-priced school lunch, during the school year.

The BackPack Program is designed to meet the needs of these hungry children at times when other resources are not available, such as weekends and school vacations.

How the Backpack Program works

Backpacks filled with food that children take home on weekends
Food is child-friendly, nonperishable, easily consumed and vitamin fortified
Backpacks are discreetly distributed to children on the last day before the weekend or holiday vacation

Bluegrass Great James King

The James King Bluegrass Band returns to Winnemucca for a show at the Martin Hotel, at 7:00 PM Tuesday, October 13. Tickets are on sale now at Nature’s Corner and the Martin Hotel.

From the moment you first hear his voice, you know you are hearing bluegrass the way it was meant to be sung. James King sings bluegrass as only a handful of others before him – Carter Stanley, Red Allen, Del McCoury – ever have. Bluegrass Unlimited has called him “the most impressive lead vocalist to emerge in traditional bluegrass this decade”.

Bluegrass lead singing is a delicate balance a singer must have the forcefulness and intensity to cut through the multiple instrumental layers of a bluegrass band, while still maintaining a tender enough lilt to convey emotion and mesh with the instruments and supportive vocalists. Even the most driving numbers require a certain finesse while, conversely, the most eloquent songs demand a firm push. When you consider his mastery of this balance, the high quality of the songs he sings, his top-notch backing band, and his sheer soulfulness, it becomes clear that James King is simply the best lead singer in bluegrass today.

Our old friend Mr. James King is on his way to Winnemucca for another fall visit. I dug my CD’s out this weekend, and once again, James and his band had me grinning and laughing, crying and sobbing, and sitting simply carried away with delight and wonder. If you are a fan of traditional bluegrass music, or a fan of great emotional singing, or a fan of watching a group of musicians locked-in together to take you on a journey, this is a show you won’t want to miss.