Manitou Music Festival hosts Ray Bonneville, RFD Boys
From staff reports
The Manitou Music Festival is celebrating its 22nd season of diverse concerts featuring jazz, classical, blues, folk, country, celtic, bluegrass and world music in some of Michigan’s most idyllic settings. The festival showcases regionally and nationally known artists performing in beautiful Glen Arbor.
On Wednesday, July 18 at 8 p.m. the Canadian Blues man Ray Bonneville will perform outdoors at the Studio Stage, located at Lake Street Studios in Glen Arbor. Rain location is the Empire Town Hall.
Ray Bonneville is a Canadian-born, Austin-based singer, songwriter, guitarist and harmonica player, known for his loose, darkly funky blues style. Bonneville has performed with such blues luminaries as B.B. King, Muddy Waters, and Robert Cray, and has quickly become a fixture in the Americana scene since moving to Texas. A world-class guitarist, harmonica player and hard-hitting songwriter, it is no wonder that Bonneville has received rave reviews from blues, jazz and roots critics alike and can count among his fans such artists as Chris Smither, Tim O’Brien and Ray Wylie Hubbard.
Born in French Canada and raised in the United States, he writes from his experience as an immigrant, Vietnam War vet, taxi driver and bush pilot; drawing inspiration from the many places he has called home — Montreal, New Orleans, Colorado, Arkansas, Alaska, Boston, Seattle and Paris, France. Honing his songwriting craft for the last 35 years, Bonneville’s gritty storytelling and deep-grooving blues style has won him much critical attention. In 1999, Ray won the prestigious Juno Award (Canadian Grammy) for his third album Gust of Wind.
On Sunday, July 22 at 8 p.m. the bluegrass quartet, The RFD Boys, will perform outdoors at the Studio Stage.
The RFD Boys are looking forward to visiting with their friends and fans up north and honoring the memory of Dick Dieterle, their founder, fiddler, MC and friend who passed away last February. Come and help them celebrate their 42 years with Dick and also the release of his final CD of original fiddle tunes. The Boys will be joined by David Mosher, a great all-around musician and close friend who worked closely with Dick on his CD.
In October 1969, when the RFD Boys played their first concert together, they were still students at the University of Michigan, and bluegrass was as unknown here as cable TV in the Ozarks. Today it’s as common as e-mail in Appalachia, and the RFD Boys are still going strong. Though they’ve turned their degrees into full-time, offstage careers, their music has taken them all over Michigan and the Midwest, and as far away as Germany, France, and Malta. In the last three decades they’ve shared stages with a who’s who of bluegrass and country musicians, from Bill Monroe and Ralph Stanley to Ricky Skaggs and Randy Travis.
They have originals, like guitarist and lead singer Charlie Roehrig’s “Sit by the River,” a lovely ode to the Charles River, and to his grandfather, who had Charlie convinced it was named after him. It’s been recorded by the Country Gentlemen and even wound up on their “best of” album. Charlie’s heartfelt tenor is perfectly suited to bluegrass, and decades of singing together have blended the Boys’ three-part and four-part harmonies to the smoothness of Kentucky bourbon.
Paul Shapiro, on bass and high harmonies, takes the deadpan lead through the twisted genealogy of “I’m My Own Grandpa.” while Will Spencer fills in on baritone and adds his sparkling banjo and Dobro. And when their voices are quiet, the Boys pump out rousing versions of an eclectic batch of instrumentals. “The Irish Washerwoman” starts out sedately, keeping to the pace at which most Irish bands play it, but speeds up with each repeat, setting new land speed records in every concert. Will’s virtuoso solo banjo version of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” morphs into the old-timey fiddle tune “Soldier’s Joy.”
Although offstage the Boys all live typical modern lives, their music and jokes evoke a simpler time. “Orange Blossom Special,” the granddaddy of all train songs, has been their closer for almost forty years. And while railroads have a precarious place in the American countryside, the RFD Boys — who perform at the Ark, in Ann Arbor every month, show no sign of going away.
Please visit the Manitou Music Festival’s Website for information and tickets: www. Manitoumusicfestival.com. All Tickets are $15 (Children 18 and under are free). Tickets may be purchased at concert venues or by calling the Glen Arbor Art Association (231) 334-6112 or Lake Street Studios (231) 334-3179. The Manitou Music Festival is a presentation of the Glen Arbor Art Association, a nonprofit (501(c) 3) organization.
