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Tuesday, February 11
James Leva & Memory Theatre
with Jeff Kazor & Lisa Berman
Freight & Salvage, Berkeley
8 pm (doors at 7:30) - $15.50 advance / $16.50 door
Advance tickets available now. All ages.
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James Leva, master fiddler, singer, and banjo player in the old-time Southern mountain tradition, joins the SFBOT Festival for an evening's exploration of the roots and future trajectory of Appalachian music with his trio, Memory Theatre. A compelling performer of the old songs, as well as a songwriter who captures the spirit of the old-time genre, James studied with the great masters of the mountain tradition, including Tommy Jarrell and Fred Cockerham. James will also be giving a Old-Time Fiddle Workshop during the festival.
Well-known to fans as the "Leva" of the duo Jones & Leva, James had previously played fiddle with Plank Road, and was a founding member of the Freewill Savages (a band Jerry Douglas characterized as “The perfect marriage of Ralph Stanley and the Sex Pistols.”).
Leva steps out into new territory with Memory Theatre, named for his 2001 Copper Creek recording. The trio features former Heartbeat Rose Sinclair on high-energy banjo and accordion (find out more about Rose Sinclair's Clawhammer Banjo Workshop) and pure mountain harmonizing, and former Hix guitarist Gary Wright with rock solid old-time rhythms and riffs from various African traditions. Together they nudge mountain music into the new century with daring rhythms and contemporary harmonic sensibilities, creating an evening of rich, evocative music, deeply rooted in the past and facing the future.
The old-time duo of Jeff Kazor & Lisa Berman will open the evening, with an intimate set of songs rarely heard in the context of their full band (The Crooked Jades).
Artist Link