Southern Wisconsin Bluegrass Music Association Inc., Newsletter May/June 2011

Fireball Mail

• Hi! From John Fabke

• More fiddle music from Bob Westfall

• Story behind the most famous labor song

• Upcoming shows/jams/open mics

Inside this issue:

Note from John Fabke

3

Angeline the Baker music and tab

4

Halleljulah, I’m a Bum! by Wayne Erbson

5

Tony Rice at SOH 6

Northwoods Blue-grass Festival

7

Gourd Banjo Workshop in July Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands at GDF

8

Member band info/schedules, jam/open mic dates

10-12

Bluegrass Highlights

Tim O’Brien and Bryan Sutton per-formed to a full house at the elegant Stoughton Opera House, March 25. Tim’s smooth vocals and impeccable timing on the fiddle and mandolin coupled with Bryan’s incredible guitar work held the audience spellbound.

The Claire Lynch Band charmed the audience on March 26 at the spacious Sutter Photography Studio with an evening of sweet sounding ballads, bluegrass stan-dards, a little bit of swing and a showcase of the band’s unique individual talents. Mark Schatz (bass) hamboned, clogged and sizzled on clawhammer banjo. Jason Thomas tore it up with fiddle tunes from Nova Scotia and Matt Wingate wowed folks with his rendition of Church Street Blues. But Claire’s beautiful voice and the band’s tight harmonies are what won people over.

Banjo master Bill Evans blew into town on March 6 for a day of SWBMAI sponsored events. Bill conducted a banjo work-shop focusing on back up techniques for jamming at Lane’s Lutherie and Violins and took us on an historical journey of the banjo at the High Noon Saloon. Bill featured four banjos playing songs and telling stories relevant to the era of each instrument. The banjos he used were a1933 Gibson Gra-nada Mastertone Banjo, a William A. Boucher minstrel banjo replica made by George Wunderlich, a Pennsylvania Gold Tone cello banjo (new), and a Bart Reiter Whyte Laydie Banjo, circa earl 1990s.

The West High Mandolin Club was thrilled to receive three mandolins set up by Lane Venden and donated by SWBMAI. The Mandolin Club meets weekly to pick, have fun and bring blue-grass into the next generation. And these guys are good!

Page 2 Fireball Mail

Fireball Mail is published bi-monthly: January, March, May, July, September, and November. Please send advertising inquiries, articles, calendar information, photos and letters to : Southern Wisconsin Bluegrass Music Association, Inc. P.O. Box 7761 Madison, WI 53707-7761 Attn: Fireball Mail E-mail: cherney@uwalumni.com Deadline for submissions is the 10th of the month preceding the month of publication.

Proud supporter of WORT 89.9 FM Every Tuesday For the Sake of the Song 9:00 am - noon with Jim Schwall Every Wednesday Back to the Country, 9:00 am - noon with Bill Malone Every Friday Mud Acres Bluegrass Special, 9:00 am - noon with Chris Pow-ers

The Southern Wisconsin Bluegrass Music Association, Inc. is a non-profit educational organization devoted to the preservation and promotion of bluegrass music, and supported by volunteer efforts. The SWBMAI mission as stated in the by-laws: 1) To promote bluegrass music and musicians 2) To bring together persons of all ages who enjoy singing, playing and listening to bluegrass music 3) To hold regular bluegrass jam sessions 4) To publicize information about bluegrass concerts and festivals 5) To help younger persons obtain instruments and instruction in bluegrass music 6) To introduce bluegrass music to new listeners. The Southern Wisconsin Bluegrass Music Association, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational organization, devoted to the preservation and promotion of bluegrass music and supported by volunteer effort. SWBMAI Board of Directors President – Julie Cherney, 608-244-2184, cherney@uwalumni.com Vice-President – Jim Hodges, 608-884-4278, thumbpik@charter.net Secretary – Dave Goodwin, yellow.rock@yahoo.com Treasurer – Jon Peik, jrpeik@yahoo.com Attendant Board Members: Jim Knobloch, knobhill@chorus.net Larry Schultz, 608-798-4884, lwschultz@tds.net Bruce Brechtl, bjmjbrec@charter.net Webmaster (non-voting board member) – Scott Knickelbine, swbmai@gmail.com Membership Chair – Larry Schultz Other Member Volunteers: Dave Nance, Bill Malone, Catherine Rhyner, Ellis Bauman, Mary Helmke Contributing Writers: Bob Westfall Wayne Erbson John Fabke Johanna Fabke Dave Goodwin Board Meetings The board meets monthly. If you would like to attend, contact a board member to determine the date, time and location as they are subject to change. Board Meeting Minutes The Southern Wisconsin Bluegrass Music Association, Inc. board meeting minutes are available on line at www.swbmai.org/swbmai-board-minutes/. If you would like minutes mailed to you please send a stamped self-addressed envelope to SWBMAI, P.O. Box 7761, Madison, WI 53707.

Page 3 Southern Wisconsin Bluegrass Music Association Inc., Newsletter

Hi Folks, I recently received a nice email update from my old friend (and new SWBMAI president) Julie Cherney. Julie had written to see if I might be willing to write a short article to share some details about my experiences here in Nashville with the readers of the Fireball Mail… My wife, Shauna, and I recently relocated from Poynette, WI down to Nashville in the fall of 2010 so I could take two different internships as part of my work towards a Master’s Degree in Library and Infor-mation Science. As some of you might know, I’ve been working through my various classes for about a year and a half so far and I’ve been focusing my academic efforts on a track within the MLIS pro-gram to become an archivist. I’ve always had a strong interest in American traditional/folk/roots music so I’ve also been trying to spe-cialize in archival work that relates to these musical styles. My degree program requires a professional internship experience so when it came time to hunt for a site for my internship, I thought that it might be fun and interesting to look for an experience at an archives that had an outstanding collection of roots music related items. My first choice location for such an internship was the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee. So, I contacted the Hall of Fame last spring, applied for the internship, and was accepted for the position. My internship at the CMHF was in the “moving images” depart-ment of the archives. Despite my connection with that portion of the archives, the majority of my work was related to audio rather than video or film collections. My main responsibilities for my work in-volved processing collections of recordings. The basic task of proc-essing involves organizing a collection of materials within an archive (perhaps box of “stuff” that has been donated), finding out what is in the collection and then describing it so a finding aid can be created. Once these steps have been completed, a researcher can search for materials within the catalog and finding aid that relate to research they are doing. The fun part of this job is going through the boxes of stuff to find out what all is there! My first project involved listening to a number open reel tapes that had been donated to the Hall of Fame from someone in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This series of tapes had been recorded at the Cimarron Ballroom in Tulsa. This famous venue had been the home base for Leon McAuliffe and his Cimarron Boys for a number of years. McAuliffe had earlier gained fame as one of Bob Wills’s out-standing steel guitarists in the Texas Playboys. The Cimarron Ball-room was also the site for an important performance by Patsy Cline in 1961. Our hope was that when we began listening to the tapes we might find some wonderful live recordings of the Cimarron Boys or even if we were lucky, something from Cline’s performance. Unfortu-nately, the collection ended up being hour after hour of air checks of classical music that had been broadcast from Tulsa. No Patsy Cline, no Leon McAuliffe…The effort was worthwhile though as the archi-vist needs to assess a collection to determine if there is anything of value or not in that big box of stuff. In this case, we did not need a collection of classical music in a Country music museum. My second project was much more satisfying. In this case, I was again working with another tape collection but this one had come to the archives as a gift from Ranger Doug Green and we knew there

would be some good music on the tapes. Doug got this collection from an audio engineer on the WGN Barn Dance that had taped a number of the shows during their final years (1964-68). The WGN Barn Dance was the last gasp of the old National Barn Dance that had been on WLS in Chicago for many years earlier. I spent many hours in the Hall of Fame studio listening to Bob Atcher, Arkie the Arkansas Woodchopper, Bob and Bobby Thomas, the Johnson Sisters, Johnny and Lino Frigo, the Sage Riders and others who were part of the shows weekly cast. (perhaps some SWBMAI members will remember having listened to these shows when they originally aired). My processing of the tapes (38 hour and half per-formances) involved listening to and recording all of the perform-ers, names of songs, commercials and news headlines. I really en-joyed listening to all of the great Midwestern flavored music and comedy and I felt lucky to have had the opportunity to learn more about a show that had such a strong impact on country music in Wisconsin in the past. I am still an intern at the Hall of Fame but have switched my project from audio to photographs. I’ve been scanning a large col-lection of 1950’s photographs that were taken by Nashville pho-tographer Elmer Williams. Mr. Williams took a huge number (3000 +) of candid photographs of country singers, sidemen, DJs, an-nouncers, engineers, producers, and music business people. I’ve been fortunate to see some really amazing shots of folks like Patsy Cline, Owen Bradley, Roy Acuff, Hank Garland, Chet Atkins, the Louvin Brothers, Salty Holmes and others. This semester, I’ve been doing more archival processing at my new internship site at the Center for Popular Music at MTSU in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The CPM is in some ways almost more interesting than the Hall of Fame in that their collections contain not only country music but important collections of gospel, rock, blues, bluegrass and other forms of American popular music. My main work this semester has been processing a large collection of materials related to African American gospel quartets of Tennes-see and Alabama. I’ve also been trying to have some fun down here as well. I’ve been playing some Cajun music once a week with a really fine ac-cordion player named Paul Gregoire at a restaurant called Bro’s. (best Cajun food in Nashville!) I’ve also been hitting the weekly, Wednesday night jam at the 5 Spot here in East Nashville. If you’re planning a trip to Nashville and want to go to a jam, this is the one! There are a lot of world class musicians in the neighborhood so it is not uncommon to see some of your heroes out tipping a few beers and playing some great music in the jam circle. I’ve tried to stay in touch with folks back in Wisconsin but for those I’ve been in poor touch with, I hope this update gives you an idea of the work I’ve been doing. Feel free to drop me a line if you have any questions or if I can offer any help relating to archives, old country music etc. I also love seeing folks from back home so feel free to drop a line if you are making the trip to Nashville. I’m happy to help you out if I can. Take care! John johnfabke@hotmail.com

Note from John Fabke via Nashville

Southern Wisconsin Bluegrass Music Association Inc., Newsletter Page 5

With the ongoing anti-labor union struggle in Wisconsin, let’s take a look at one of the most notable labor songs of all time, “Hallelujah I’m a Bum” and the man who wrote it,” Harry McClintock, whose nickname was Haywire Mac. Mac’s life reads like the pages of a dime novel. Born October 8, 1882, he ran away from home when he was still a boy and joined the circus. Yielding to his itch to roam, he worked as a railroad man in Africa, a seaman, and a mule-skinner in the Philippines. In 1899 he worked in China assisting a newsman reporting on the Boxer Rebellion. Landing back in the States, he railroaded, became a cowboy, a drifter, a jour-nalist, a recording artist, a playwright and sang on street corners with his guitar as he bummed his way around the country. He later wrote that “anyone who can sing never has to go hungry.” Sometime after 1905, McClintock joined the I.W.W., which was short for the Industrial Workers of the World, better known as the Wobblies.” McClintock was said to be the first singer to publicly perform Joe Hill’s song “Preacher and a Slave.” He later appeared in a number of “B” westerns, mainly as a villain, and had his own radio show. Along the way, he took pieces of earlier hobo songs and composed “Big Rock Candy Mountain,” which eventually be-came a hit on the soundtrack of the Coen Brothers film, O Brother, Where Art Thou. According to Mac, in about 1897 he composed the lyrics of a song he called, “Hallelujah on the Bum,” which he set to the tune of an old hymn entitled, “Hallelujah, Thine the Glory,” which is sometimes referred to as “Revive Us Again.” Mac learned the hymn as a boy choir singer in the church of his hometown of Knoxville, Ten-nessee. The song fit McClintock to a T, because he could frequently be found bumming around the country. It became a favorite of the hobos and was frequently sung in hobo camps, or “jungles,” as they were sometimes called. Mac later fought in the Spanish-American War, and

where he taught many of his fellow soldiers to sing “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum.” In 1908 “Hallelujah, I’m a Bum” was printed in the I.W.W. Industrial Union Bulletin, which sold for ten cents. It’s sometimes called “The Bum Song.” Hallelujah, I’m a Bum Oh, why don’t you work Like other men do? How in the hell can I work When there’s no work to do? Hallelujah, I’m a Bum Hallelujah, bum again, Hallelujah, give me a handout To revive us again. Oh, why don’t you save All the money you earn? If I did not eat I’d have money to burn. (Chorus) Oh, I like boss He’s a good friend of mine; That’s why I am starving Out on the bread line. (Chorus) I can’t buy a job, For I ain’t got the dough, So I ride in a box-car For I’m a hobo. (Chorus) Whenever I get All the money I earn, The boss will be broke, And to work he must turn. (Chorus) Wayne Erbsen is an author, musician, recording artist and radio host. He is president of Native Ground Books & Music http://www.nativeground.com/ Write or call for a free catalog of bluegrass and old-time music song-books, and instruction books for banjo, fiddle, guitar and mandolin by emailing banjo@nativeground.com or (828)299-7031

Hallelujah, I’m a Bum By Wayne Erbsen

“Anyone who can sing never has to go hungry.” - Harry McClintock

Fireball Mail

Www.swbmai.org

Tony Rice returns to the Stoughton Opera House Friday, May 6, for what will assuredly be an astounding performance. Tony Rice spans the range of acoustic music, from straight-ahead bluegrass to jazz-influenced new acoustic music, to songwriter-oriented folk. He is perhaps the greatest innovator in acoustic flat-picked guitar since Clarence White. Over the course of his career, he has played alongside J.D. Crowe and the New South, David Grisman, led his own groups, col-laborated with fellow picker Norman Blake, Peter Rowan and recorded with his brothers. With grace, technical skill, and exquisite taste and timing, Rice is still growing. The Current Tony Rice Unit line-up: Tony and Wyatt Rice, guitars; Rickie Simpkins, fiddle; Josh Williams, mandolin; Bryn Davies, bass. For more information, go to www.stoughtonoperahouse.com.

Tony Rice Unit at Stoughton Opera House, May 6

Stoughton Opera House 381 East Main Street Stoughton, WI 53589 608-877-4400 Ticket Box Office

Are you just starting out on a bluegrass instru-ment? Or maybe you’ve been playing awhile and always wanted to jam in a group but don’t know where to begin? The Southern Wisconsin Blue-grass Music Association sponsors instructor-led bluegrass jams every Tuesday evening and is a great way to learn how to jam, learn new songs, hone your skills and make great friends! The environment is friendly and is a great springboard for future musical endeavors. Many a jammer in these groups have gained confidence to go on to form their own groups and perform in, gulp!, public! So take the next step and see where this musical journey may lead you!

Instructor-led Jam Classes; A Great Way to Get Started Schedule: Every Tuesday; Instructor-Led Jam Classes at Wil-Mar Center 953 Jenifer St., Madison, WI. 2nd Tuesday at Indie Coffee, 1225 Regent St. Madison SWBMAI spon-sored Instruction: 1st Tuesday Jon Peik 7:30 pm; 2nd Tuesday with Chris Powers 7:00 pm at Indie Coffee; 3rd Tuesday with David Nance 8:00 pm; 4th Tuesday with Catherine Rhyner and Mary Helmke 7:00 pm; 5th Tuesday with Guest Instructor 7:00 pm. $5.00 instructor donation. (Info: SWBMAI-jamclass@gmail.com)

The Southern Wisconsin Bluegrass Music Asso-ciation, in conjunction with BratFest, will be organiz-ing a bluegrass event at this year’s BratFest, Memo-rial Day weekend at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison. BratGrass - A Bluegrass Celebration will start at 5:40 pm and run until 9:00 pm on Sunday, May 29th. Current schedule includes SWBMAI member band Northern Comfort, along with several smaller acts and solo artists. There will also be a jam session that will take place on the stage, so be sure to bring your instrument and join in on the fun.

In addition, there is still room on the schedule for other bands to participate. Bands are asked to donate their time, however the BratFest organizers are fur-nishing food and drink tickets to all participating bands. If you’re interested in performing, please e-mail Dave Goodwin (yellow.rock@yahoo.com). So mark your calendars and join us at BratFest at 5:40 pm on May 29th for “BratGrass - A Bluegrass Celebration.”

Bluegrass & Brats at Madison’s BratFest By: Dave Goodwin

Fireball Mail Page 8

Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands to headline GDF by a grant from the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission. A special project this year is a new cd, Steam and Steel, featuring Laurie Lewis’s band and her arrangements of train songs written by Ken Ho-

jnacki of Madison, a long-time Mid-Continent volunteer. Ken’s songs highlight his intimate knowledge of railroad lore and long experience as a locomotive engineer at the museum in North Freedom. You can hear samples of the music and see accom-panying photos at the museum’s web-site, http://www.midcontinent.org/. The cds are being sold through the museum and all proceeds will benefit the restoration of the museum’s steam locomotives. Laurie Lewis will offer a vocal

workshop on Sunday afternoon, August 21, and her band will play a show at the High Noon Sa-loon on Sunday night. Schedule details will be posted on the Mid-Continent website as they are finalized. Further information: Johanna Fabke – 608.838.3112 or jbfabke@aol.com

Laurie Lewis and the Right Hands will headline the fifth annual Gandy Dancer Festival on Saturday, August 20 in Mazomanie. Originally conceived as a one-time event celebrating bluegrass music and promoting Mid-Continent Railway Historical Soci-ety’s effort to restore Wis-consin’s fish car, Badger 2, the festival has become a popular family-oriented festival and now has a permanent home in Mazomanie. Above the Town will per-form on the main stage and lead an afternoon bluegrass jam. Rounding out the music line-up are The Kristy Larson Honky-Tonk Trio, The Avenue Sizzlers, The Dang-Its, and The Ken Lonnquist Trio, who will do a set on the main stage and two shorter programs planned especially for kids. Admission to the festival is free, but donations to help keep it that way are warmly welcomed and are tax-deductible. The festival is supported in part

Jeff Menzies, the world's premiere craftsman of gourd banjos, will hold an intensive workshop in Madison, July 25th-29th. The workshop is hosted by the Wisconsin Vet-eran’s Museum. Jeff Menzies has been teaching art/sculpture and making gourd banjos for more than ten years. He has built ban-jos for Mike See-ger, Mary Cox and other old-time banjo play-ers. Jeff conducts gourd banjo making workshops all over North America and continues to get return students, year after year. This one week intensive workshop will offer each student a thorough experience in creating a gourd banjo. All materials and tools will be pro-vided. Jeff will demonstrate each and every process in great detail. Emphasis will also be placed on the

health and safety aspects of operating power and hand tools. No musical background or previous

wood working ex-perience is required Each student will complete a fully finished and profes-sionally set up gourd banjo of their own design and creation. If you love old-time banjo, gourd instruments, or gourd art in general, you won’t want to miss this opportu-nity to study under one of the acknowl-

edged masters of the art. Where: University of Wisconsin-Madison Wood-working Shop, 7th Floor Mosse Humanities Build-ing Corner of Park and University Tuition: $625 (includes materials and tools.) Deposit: $125 nonrefundable deposit to secure a spot in the workshop.

Gourd Banjo Workshop by Jeff Menzes in July

Just fill out the form below and send it in with the appropriate amount. Memberships are active for a year from the day you renew or sign up for the first time. Expiration dates are listed on the address label of your hard copy of Fireball Mail. If you receive your newsletter elec-tronically, you may contact our membership coordinator, Larry Schultz, at lwschultz@tds.net, to find out your expiration date. Thank you in advance for your support. Membership subscriptions make it possible to advance the mission of SWBMAI: 1 ) To promote bluegrass music and musicians 2) To bring together persons of all ages who enjoy singing, playing and listening to bluegrass music 3) To hold regular bluegrass jam sessions 4) To publicize information about bluegrass concerts and festivals 5) To help younger persons obtain instruments and instruction in bluegrass music 6) To introduce bluegrass music to new listeners.

Southern Wisconsin Bluegrass Music Association Inc., Newsletter Page 9

Www.swbmai.org

Don’t Forget to Renew!

Above the Town – Jerry Loughney; 262-510-1128, jerry@abovethetown.com Alzen Family Bluegrass Band – Brad Alzen; 715-749-3977, bwalzen@pressenter.com Art Stevenson & High Water – Art Stevenson; 715-884-6996, artstevenson@tds.net Big Cedar – Marty Burch 262-338-6954 or Keith Keehn; 262-338-0538, mdrbears@aol.com The Burie Family -Tiffany Burie; tiffburie@yahoo.com Cream City Bluegrass and Gospel Music – Harvey Riekoff; 262-497-3024, tjbanjo@wi.rr.com, http://creamcitybluegrass.net Down from the Hills – Pat Downing; 608-527-2472, down-home@tds.net, http://personalpages.tds.net/~downhome eleike – Michael Bell; 608-238-2223, mike@michaelmbell.net, www.michaelmbell.net/eleike-presskit.htm The Front Porch Boys – Tom Nowlin; 262-719-2991, dr_geo_@yahoo.com, www.frontporchboys.com The Henhouse Prowlers – Ben Wright; 773-263-5793 promotion@henhouseprowlers.com The High 48s – Eric Christopher; 651-271-4392, eric@thehigh48s.com Kettle Moraine—Barry Riese; 608-241-0420, barryriese@yahoo.com Kristy Larson Honky Tonk Trio – Kristy Larson 608-255-4427; larsonk@chorus.net, ww.kristylarson.com

Liberty Bluegrass Band – , Jeff Couillard (414-690-0059) www.libertybluegrass.com Mad City Jug Band—Beverly Hills (608-698-7637 ) Marty Marrone & Tangled Roots – Marty Marrone; 651-295-1376, marty@tangledrootsbluegrass.com Monroe Crossing – Art Blackburn; 763-213-1349, art@monroecrossing.com New Bad Habits – Chirps Smith; chirpsdot@aol.com Nob Hill Boys – John Fabke; 608-635 8961; johnfabke@hotmail.com, www.nobhillboys.com Northern Comfort – Tony Hozeny; 608-215-7676, thoz-eny46@sbcglobal.net Oak Street Ramblers – Jeff Schoen; 608-669-3991, kunklej@gmail.com Old Cool – Dan Hildebrand; 608-836-3045, danraster@gmail.com, www.oldcoolmusic.com ‘Round the Bend – Fred Newmann; 608-238-6863, fnew-mann@wisc.edu Spare Time Bluegrass Band – Bobby Batyko; 608-575-9945, batyko1@tds.net SweetGrass – Trent Cuthbert; 608-658-6353, sweetgrasspickin@gmail.com, www.myspace.com/sweetgrasspickin Truman's Ridge – Bruce Wallace; 815-603-1441, trumansridge@yahoo.com Turtle Creek Ramblers - Ross Thompson; (815 335-1389) Wooden Bridges Bluegrass Band— Mark Thone; martinman272@aim.com

Book a Member Band

Front Porch Boys

The High 48s Old Cool Sparetime Bluegrass

Band

Jam and Open Mic Events May/June EVERY MONDAY Bluegrass, Folk & Traditional Country Jam and Open Mic, Dry Bean Saloon, 6:30 - 10:30 pm, 5264 Verona Rd., Madison, WI Host: Dave Bacholl (Info: 608-906-6036) EVERY TUESDAY Instructor-Led Jam Classes at Wil-Mar Center 953 Jenifer St., Madison, WI. 2nd Tuesday at Indie Cof-fee, 1225 Regent St. Madison SWBMAI sponsored Instruction: 1st Tuesday Jon Peik 7:30 pm; 2nd Tues-day with Chris Powers 7:00 pm at Indie Coffee; 3rd Tuesday with David Nance 8:00 pm; 4th Tuesday with Catherine Rhyner and Mary Helmke 7:00 pm; 5th Tuesday with Guest Instructor 7:00 pm. $5.00 instructor donation. (Info: SWBMAIjam-class@gmail.com) 1st & 3rd THURSDAY Apple Holler Bluegrass Jam & BBQ, 6:00 - 9:00 pm; Apple Holler Restaurant, 5006 S. Sylvania Ave., Stur-tevant, WI (Info: www.appleholler.com or call 1-800-238-3629) 1st FRIDAY Kenosha Folk Hootenany, 7:00 - 10:00 pm, Anderson Arts Center, 121 66th. St., Kenosha WI 2nd FRIDAY Ron's Old-Time Jam, 1:00 - 4:00 pm, State Bank of Cross Plains, Black Earth Office (lower level meeting room), 1030 Mills Street, Black Earth, WI. Host: Ron Poast (Info: 608-767-2553 or www.ragtime88.com/swotfa ) 3rd FRIDAY Crossroads Open Mic, 7:00 - 9:30 pm, Crossroads Coffeehouse, 2020 Main Street, Cross Plains, WI. Host: Joe Snare (Info: 608-798-2080 or joesnare@tds.net ) 2nd & 4th FRIDAYS Prairie Bluegrass Jam - 6:30 - 8:30 pm, Westside Community Service Building, 2598 W. Main Street, Sun Prairie, WI; May 13, May 27, June 10, June 24, July 8, July 22, & August 5; Host: Scott Baumann (Info: 608-469-2829 or scott.baumann@us.gt.com )

1st SATURDAY Waukesha Church of Christ, 1:00 - 4:00 pm, 2816 Madison St., Waukesha, WI. Host: Pastor Greg (Info: 262-470-3644) Riley Tavern, 2:00 - 5:00 pm, 8205 Klevenville-Riley Road, Verona, WI. Contact Bruce Nichols, 608-273-4807 2nd SATURDAY R.H. Landmark Saloon, 3:00 - 6:30 pm, 138 S. Main St. Jefferson, WI. Host: Tony Hozeny (608-215-7676) in memory of John Short Spring Green General Store, 3:00 - 6:00 pm, 137 S. Albany St., Spring Green, WI. Host: Paul Bentzen, Doug Lloyd and Michael Connors (Info: 608-588-7070) 1st SUNDAY Fritz's Orfordville Bluegrass Jam, noon - 6:00 pm, American Legion Hall, Highway 213, Orfordville, WI. (Info: Fritz at 608-214-4286 or the American Legion at 608-879-2013.) Life Spring Coffee Shop, 1:00 - 4:00 pm, 7578 Hwy 51, Minocqua WI. Host: Rich Gadow (Info: 715-588-9498) www.headforthedome.com 2nd SUNDAY Hazelhurst (Yawkey) Town Hall, 1:00 - 5:00 pm, Hwy 51, Hazelhurst, WI. Host: Keith Justice (Info: 715-356-3793) BBMA Bluegrass Jam, 2:00 - 5:00 pm, Borders Books, 8705 N. Port Washington, Fox Point, WI. (Info: 414-540-1427 http://badgerlandbluegrass.org) Bluegrass/Old-Time Jam, 6:00 – 10:00 pm, Shari's Chippewa Club, 106 W. Main Street, Durand, WI. Round robin style, all acoustic, all ability levels. Host: East Hill Bluegrass Band. Info: (715) 672-8785. 3rd SUNDAY Lake Country Jam,1:00 - 4:00 pm. Good Harvest Market, 1850 Meadow Lane, Pewaukee, WI. www. goodharvestmarket.com 4th SUNDAY Attic Acoustic Jam, 2:00 - 4:00 pm, The Attic Books & Coffee, 730 Bodart Street, Green Bay, WI. (Info: 920-435-6515 or www.theatticbooks.com ) Www.swbmai.org

The Fireball Mail is a publication of the Southern Wisconsin Bluegrass Music Association, Inc. Visit our web site at www.swbmai.org

Send change of address to: Southern Wisconsin Bluegrass Music Association Inc. P.O. Box 7761 Madison, WI 53707-7761 Attn: Fireball Mail

SWBMAI Member Band Schedules – May/June 2011 MAY 4 Truman’s Ridge, 7:30 pm, The House Cafe, 263 E. Lincoln Hwy, DeKalb, IL 7 Oak Street Ramblers, 9:00 pm, The Alchemy, 1980 Atwood Avenue, Madison, WI 13 Kristy Larson Honky Tonk Trio, 6:30 pm, Talula, 802 Atlas Avenue, Madison, WI 14 Turtle Creek Ramblers, 9:30 am, Northwoods Care Centre, 2250 Pearl Street, Belvidere, IL Turtle Creek Ramblers, 11:30 am, The Brick Cafe & Gallery, 615 S. State Street, Belvidere, IL Turtle Creek Ramblers, 1:30 pm, Maple Crest Care Centre, 4452 Squaw Prairie Rood., Belvidere, IL SweetGrass, 10:00 pm, High Noon Saloon, 701 E. Washington Avenue, Madison, WI 16 Oak Street Ramblers, 7:30 pm, The Malt House, 2609 E. Washington Avenue, Madison, WI 19 SpareTime Bluegrass Band, 6:00 pm, The Frequency, 121 West Main Street, Madison 21 Turtle Creek Ramblers, 2:00 pm, NorthPointe Terrace, 5601 East Rockton Road, Roscoe, IL JUNE 1 Truman’s Ridge, 7:30 pm, The House Cafe, 263 E. Lincoln Hwy, DeKalb, IL 4 Truman’s Ridge, 7:00 pm, Community Church of Rolling Meadows, 2720 Kirchoff Road, Rolling Meadows, IL Oak Street Ramblers, 9:00 pm, The Alchemy, 1980 Atwood Avenue, Madison, WI 11 Turtle Creek Ramblers, 9:30 am, Northwoods Care Centre, 2250 Pearl Street, Belvidere, IL

Turtle Creek Ramblers, 11:30 am, The Brick Cafe & Gallery, 615 S. State Street, Belvidere, IL Turtle Creek Ramblers, 1:30 pm, Maple Crest Care Center, 4452 Squaw Prairie Rood., Belvidere, IL Kettle Moraine, 7:00 pm, A Better Buzz Coffee & Road House, 8164 US Hwy 14, Arena, WI 16 SpareTime Bluegrass Band, 6:00 pm, The Frequency, 121 West Main Street, Madison 18 Turtle Creek Ramblers, 2:00 pm, NorthPointe Terrace, 5601 East Rockton Road, Roscoe, IL Truman’s Ridge, 4:00 pm, Genoa Veterans Home, 311 S. Washington Street, Genoa, IL Kettle Moraine, 6:00 pm, Tyranena Brewery, 1025 Owen Street, Lake Mills, Lake Mills, WI Northern Comfort, 6:00 pm, The Frequency, 121 W. Main Street, Madison, WI 20 Oak Street Ramblers, 7:30 pm, The Malt House, 2609 E. Washington Avenue, Madison, WI 23 Northern Comfort, 5:30 pm, UW Memorial Union Terrace, 800 Langdon Street, Madison, WI 24 Truman’s Ridge, 7:00 pm, Andrew Bishop Memorial Park, Wenona, IL 25 Round the Bend, 6:30 pm, Talula, 802 Atlas Avenue, Madison, WI