Saturday, February 20, 2010 Slim's 333 11th Street San Francisco, CA map www.slims-sf.com Show 9:00 pm
Peter Rowan, Grammy‐award winner and five-time Grammy nominee, is a bluegrass singer‐songwriter with a career spanning over five decades. From his early years playing under the tutelage of bluegrass patriarch Bill Monroe, Peter’s stint in Old & In the Way with Jerry Garcia and his subsequent breakout as both a solo performer and bandleader, Rowan has built a devoted, international fan base through his continuous stream of original recordings, collaborative projects, and constant touring. The Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band consists of dyed‐in‐the wool traditional players with over 100 years of combined live gigging experience. Joining guitarist Peter Rowan are Jody Stecher on mandolin, whose recordings have been Grammy finalists, Indy Award winners, and perennial favorites; Keith Little on banjo,a nationally acclaimed bluegrass musician, recording artist, and composer who has been an important member of many national touring bands (Country Gentlemen, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Lonesome Standard Time),and is also a featured member of the David Grisman Bluegrass Experience; and Paul Knight on bass who has been playing with Peter Rowan in various configurations for over 15 years. His driving acoustic bass has been part of recordings and live performances with a wide range of musicians including Jim Lauderdale, Laurie Lewis, and Crooked Jades. The ensemble has graced the stages of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Grey Fox, Merlefest, Rothbury and numerous other festivals, entertaining audiences with original songs executed in vibrant harmony.
Eric & Suzy Thompson have devoted their lives to the pursuit of weird and obscure old-time American music — warped fiddle tunes in odd tunings, cinematic ballads, country blues songs that contain mysterious metaphors, early Cajun music with incomprehensible French lyrics and backwards chords. They’ve recently harvested a new crop of old music on their CD "Dream Shadows." Using fiddle, mandolin, guitars, Cajun accordion, banjo (and the occasional odd instrument such as the ten-stringed cuatro) they bring these early 20th century sounds right into the present day. Eric’s picking on guitar and mandolin is a model of tone and tastiness, and his relaxed, down-home singing evokes Mississippi John Hurt. Suzy is known for her bluesy fiddling (which appears on two of this year's best acoustic blues CDs, "Texas Sheiks" by Geoff Muldaur & the Texas Sheiks, and "Garden of Joy" by Maria Muldaur) and her strong, straightforward and soulful vocals. Suzy & Eric are the driving force behind the Berkeley Old-Time Music Convention, and are veterans of dozens of bands: Todalo Shakers, Any Old Time, Black Mountain Boys, Bluegrass Intentions, California Cajun Orchestra, and many more. In recent years, their musical collaborators have included Geoff Muldaur, Jim Kweskin, Jody Stecher, Del Rey, Laurie Lewis & Tom Rozum, Steve James, and Alice Gerrard, among others.