Original Show Bill

“This is an invitation to listen in on some of Columbia’s music.

I’m playing Bluegrass this night,  partly to get my jollies, but also to celebrate the life and influence of Bill Wells —  a good friend and mentor. Bill’s birthday would be Wednesday the 19th,  were he still with us.

I’ll be joined by Jamie Ford on Mando, Tom Coolidge on guitar, Kristen Harris on fiddle, George Fulton or Chris Paget on Bass, and host of The Bluegrass Sound on NPR, Dr. Larry Klein on Dobro!

I am very stoked to be playing with these folks, and hope it’s a fitting tribute to Mr. Bill, as well as enjoyable for all you guys listening.”  — Chris Lawther

Michele Patterson’s In the Moment:

Five Star ***** Kicks Off the Official Woodshed Fall 2012 Season

The final preparations were being worked out these last few minutes before Five Star took  the internet airwaves.  The various band members were tuning up, finding discrete corners away from any extraneous noise so that they could hear any potential sour strings.  The Woodshed Fall 2012 Season was about to begin, and what a beginning it was!

Chris Lawther organized this gathering of musician friends, and from the first sound-check song they played, I knew this was going to be an incredible evening.  He gathered an impressive group together  to pay tribute to Bill Wells of Bill’s Pickin’ Parlor, a local legend who shaped a generation of bluegrass pickers in the Midlands of South Carolina. Bill passed way last year, but the 19th of September would have been his birthday. Chris decided to pay tribute to his friend and mentor.

Tom  Coolidge, a mainstay in the local music scene, brought in his guitar.  Chris Paget of Whiskey Tango Review played a gorgeous full-sized upright bass that he named “Bertha” which is so tall that he had to tilt it in order to clear the beams of the Woodshed.   Sitting on a folding chair, wearing a baseball cap and playing the dobro was  Dr. Larry Klein, the host of NPR’s show Bluegrass Sound .  As he played, the other musicians looked at each other with that knowing look that says, “this is great!”  Kristen Harris could have beat the devil out with her amazing fiddle playing, and Jamie Ford lent his sweet mandolin picking to the group.

More and more folks gathered around to listen to Five Star at the Woodshed. We have now come up with the name “The Woodshed Termites” for those folks who come in person to hear the bands as they are recorded at The Woodshed.   I think this name is going to stick! By the time the band had finished playing, there was a nice group of about 15 people assembled, so when Chris Lawther did the audience participation song “Shout”  to conclude the evening, he had many eager participants.

Some notable Woodshed happenings this evening were:

• The return of Kyle, who lent his voice on the microphone when the air became stagnant. He also is famous for reminding Patrick to hit ‘record’.
• Chris Paget discovered that the Woodshed itself makes a good bass stand. He can literally wedge the headstock of his upright bass underneath a beam and walk away from it, and there it sits, gleaming in the low light. The Woodshed is kind to instruments.
• Bentz Kirby is a fabulous assistant when I am trying to determine the title of the song the band is playing but either didn’t announce or muttered into their shirt collar just before picking.  Much thanks to you, Bentz!

Please contact me if you know the titles to tracks 4 and 10. Thanks so much!

Track 1, Blue Ridge Cabin Home

Track 2, I Hear You Call Me Darling

Track 3, Take Me In Your Lifeboat

Track 4,  Needs Title/Jamie Ford, vocals

Track 5,  John Hardy

Track 6, Darling Corey

Track 7, Clinch Mountain Backstep

Track 8, Green Pastures (Woody Guthrie)

Track 9, How Mountain Girls Can Love (The Stanley Brothers)

Track 10, fiddle tune (need title)

Track 11, My Sweet Love Ain’t Around (Hank Williams Sr.,  Bill Monroe version)

Track 12, Your Love Is Like A Flower  (Flatt and Scruggs)

Track 13, Pike County Breakdown

Track 14, These Old Blues

Track 15, Black Muddy River (Garcia/Hunter)

Track 16, It Takes A Lot To Laugh It Takes A Train To Cry  (Bob Dylan)

Track 16,  This Old Church

Track 17, Red-Headed Boy

Track 18, My Home’s Across The Blue Ridge Mountains (Earl Scruggs)

Track 19, Shout