Here are some links we'd like to share with you. You can
also find more links to cool sites by going to
the
Songs and Tunes page linked to Our CD page. Of
course, this is only a sampler-- there are so many great sites
out there that it would take our whole website just to cover
them all!
|
| Dr.
Joan Dickerson |
A virtuoso of the "classic" style
5-string banjo (the most popular form of banjo music from
the 1880s to the advent of the Jazz Age featuring period
"pop," ragtime and light classical pieces) and the early
jazz style 4-string plectrum banjo. As an African American
artist/educator, she shares the rich heritage of this
American instrument with roots in West Africa through
performances and workshops. Using several different types
of banjos, Dr. Dickerson explores the history of the
instrument from its slave origins on through to the
Ragtime Era and the Jazz Age in her "edu-taining" program
Sounds of the Banjo. She works with Gillygaloo's
Shlomo Pestcoe in the
Friends of the Akonting
Center, the North American support group for a Gambian grassroots folk
arts institution seeking to preserve and perpetuate the rich variety of
different ethnic string
instrument traditions in the Senegambia region of West Africa. |
| Maeve
Donnelly |
One of Ireland's finest traditional fiddlers.
She's also a school teacher and a mom. Maeve dropped us
a line a while back to let us know how much she and her
family enjoys our debut album, Little Green Thing. Right
back at ya, Maeve! We're big fans of your work as well! |
| Wendy
Gelsanliter |
Wendy graciously volunteered her
estimable talents to sing several beautiful duets with
Suzi on our CD. In addition to being a mom (her daughter
also appears on our album) and educator, she's a
highly-acclaimed children's music performer and
singer/songwriter who has several excellent recordings out
on her own BizzyBum label.
|
| Kate
& Lou Giampetruzzi |
Kate and Lou have been the Big Apple's
"First Couple" of folk music since the early
'70s. Back in the day, Jim Garber (our most excellent
graphics artist/designer) played mandolin in their renowned
old-time string band, The Wonder Beans. In recent years,
Gillygaloo's
Shlomo Pestcoe and our guest harmonica player
Trip Henderson have
often sat in with the Giampetruzzis' latest ensemble,
the Kate & Lou Band. |
| The
Otis Brothers |
For more than thirty years, The Otis Brothers
have been the Big Apple's preeminent interpreters of pre-blues,
early blues and gospel music from the African American
tradition. Their recent critically-acclaimed album,
The Return of the Otis Brothers: Let's Go to Huntin',
showcases Bob and Pat's estimable skills as multi-instrumentalists
and singers. |
| The
Roulette Sisters |
Gillygaloo's new lead singer
Mamie Minch
is also a founding member of an all-girl early blues outfit, The
Roulette Sisters, one of New York City's hottest up 'n' coming acoustic
bands. |
| Shlomo Pestcoe |
Gillygaloo's multi-instrumentalist/ principal songwriter. |
|
Sufferin' Succotash |
Gillygaloo's
Bob Jones and
Shlomo Pestcoe are also members of
Sufferin' Succotash, one of the Big Apple's top string bands which
performs old-time country, early blues, and Louisiana Cajun/Black Creole music
for socializing and dancing. |
|
Suzi Shelton |
Gillygaloo's lead singer emeritus
Suzi Shelton
now pursues a solo career, writing and performing her own original material
geared to younger kids, "The Below 6 Crowd." In the Spring of 2005, she released her
critically-acclaimed debut solo
album, Simply Suzi. |
| Dan
Zanes |
Dan Zanes needs
no introduction to family music aficionados. A former
rock star, Dan has devoted himself to making and promoting
quality grassroots music for the whole family on his
own label, Festival Five. If you haven't already, please be sure to
check out the fun on his various fine recordings. Gillygaloo's
Shlomo Pestcoe makes a guest appearance on Dan's second album,
Family Dance (2001), playing fiddle and
concertina. For Dan's album, Parades &
Panoramas (2004), Shlomo provided 27 historical
photos of folks and their musical instruments from his own
collection and
The Musical
Eye, which he curates, for the
accompanying 58 page booklet.
|
|
| Acoustic
Guitar |
A monthly that is the source for everything
to do with the world's favorite string instrument. |
| Banjo
Newsletter |
Banjo Newsletter, "America's Premiere
5-String Banjo Magazine," is a monthly that was launched
in 1973. Covering all the many diverse styles and traditions
of the 5-string banjo, BN's 32 pages are chockfull of
articles, interviews, reviews and instructional material
as well as lots of tunes transcribed in tablature. |
| Dirty
Linen |
A great bimonthly magazine which covers
all varieties of folk, roots and world music. Here you'll
find reviews of the latest kids' music CDs actually written
by actual kids! |
| Living
Blues |
A bimonthly magazine that has been covering
the blues scene since 1970. It's been referred to as "the
definitive blues magazine." LB offers in-depth articles
on the roots and history of this great American music
as well as the latest on contemporary blues scene. |
| Old-Time
Herald |
A fine quarterly which serves as the printed
voice of the old-time country revival. It features excellent
articles on the music's history and roots as well as news
and information on contemporary old-time musicians and
music-making the world over. |
| Sing
Out! |
Sing Out!, "The Folk Song Magazine,"
has been around since 1950, started by folk legend Pete
Seeger and friends. It's a quarterly that strives "to
preserve and support the cultural diversity and heritage
of all traditional and contemporary folk musics, and to
encourage making folk music a part of our everyday lives."
SO! features very informative articles, reviews and regular
columns with lots of transcriptions of songs and tunes.
Its "Kids Beat" column is a vital forum for
children's music performers and educators. You can also
find Legacy Books online catalog here, "the definitive
mail-order resource for folk music and folklore books."
|
|
| The
Button Box |
The Button Box in Amherst, MA is the
source for all things accordion and concertina. Here
you'll find a knowledgeable friendly staff offering
vintage and new instruments of every description as well
as books, recordings, videos/DVDs and accessories...
everything you need to support your free-reed fixation.
The Button Box is also the place to go for the repair and
restoration of antique accordions and concertinas. They
host the Northeast Squeeze-In, an annual
gathering of free-reed players and aficionados
from around the world. |
| CD
Baby |
Our online distributor and the web's
best source for self-produced, independent recordings
of every kind, including hundreds of great kids' and
family music albums. |
| The
Country Dance & Song Society |
CDSS has been promoting traditional English
and Anglo-American folk dance, music and song since 1915.
Country
Dance * New York is their Big Apple affiliate which
hosts weekly contra and square dances-- as well as English
country dances-- at Metropolitan-Duane Hall, 201 West
13th Street at 7th Avenue in Manhattan. There's "always
a live band and a caller who teaches the dances."
Michael's contra dance bands, Grand
Picnic and Termite's Delight, and one of Bob's many
groups, Contrazz,
often play for the dances at Duane Hall. |
| The
Delta Blues Museum |
A learning/ resource center in Clarksdale,
Mississippi dedicated to perpetuating the rich legacy
of this important African American regional folk tradition.
It's housed in a fully restored railway depot to convey
a sense of the daily life in the Mississippi Delta, the
epicenter of the early blues in the 1920s and '30s. |
| Elderly
Instruments |
Offers an incredible selection of all
types of musical instruments, recordings, books, videos/DVDs
and more at great prices. It's your "one-stop"
shop for all your folk and acoustic music needs! |
| Finale
Note Pad |
A great easy-to-use music notation program
that you can download for free! |
| The
Instrument Encyclopedia |
An online "sampler of some of the
world's most interesting musical instruments." |
| Instrument
Jokes |
"Why are viola jokes so short? So
violinists can understand them." "What do you
call a trombonist with a beeper and a cell phone? An optimist."
Need we say more? |
| The
International Music Archives |
"An educational resource providing
extensive information about the music of our planet…
Within each section you will find information about countries
and regions and their musical styles, plus related sound
samples and photographs." |
| Kid
Mix Radio |
An internet radio station created by a
mom, Kimberly Robasky, to offer free legal webcasts of "music for the families of young children,"
24 hours a day, 7 days a week. |
| Kids'
Music Web |
A free online "directory of kids
music artist web sites." |
| The
Main Squeeze |
A small shop in NYC's historic Lower
East Side neighborhood whose motto is "For all your
accordion needs." Its proprietor Walter Kuhr is a master
and teacher of the piano accordion. His life-long love
affair with "the Stomach Steinway" began in his native
Germany at the age of six, instilled in him by his first
teacher, his mom. He came to the Big Apple in 1988 and has
been spreading the good word about free reed instruments--
or as he puts it, "Anything with bellows."-- ever since.
Walter started the Accordion Nights Concert
Series to highlight the many different styles and forms of
free reed music found in NYC-- everything from avant-garde
jazz and Dominican merengue to "indie pop" and Romanian
Gypsy (Roma). He's the founder and conductor of
The Main Squeeze Orchestra (an 18 piece all-women,
all-accordion orchestra) and leads The Last of the
International Playboys (Walter's Latin Jazz and Swing big band which features
him on accordion and bassoon). |
| The
Mandolin Cafe |
A great online resource for mando-aficionados
with sections on chords and how to play. MC also has a
very nice photo archive called "Mandolin Postcards
of the Past." |
| Mudcat
Cafe |
A cyber center for folk and blues music.
Here you can find the lyrics to hundreds of songs and
a cool kids' section which shows you how to make your
own instruments! |
| The
Music Maker Relief Foundation |
"A nonprofit organization dedicated
to helping the true pioneers and forgotten heroes of Southern
musical traditions gain recognition and meet their day
to day needs. Today, many such musicians are living in
extreme poverty and need food, shelter, medical care,
and other assistance. Music Maker's aid and service programs
improve the quality of recipients' lives. Our work affirms
to these artists that we value the gifts of music and
inspiration they have delivered to the world." |
| Musurgia.com |
New York String Service's cyber "old
curiosity shop" devoted to the purveyance of fine,
rare and peculiar antique and vintage musical instruments
and collectibles. Shlomo is the curator in charge of
The Musical Eye, Musurgia's
collection of antique and vintage photographs, postcards
and other images depicting musicians and their instruments. |
| The
New York Pinewoods Folk Music Club |
A venerable institution that hosts folk
concerts and events throughout the Big Apple. Pinewoods
provides regularly updated listings of folk and world
music events in tri-state area on their website and in
their newsletter. You can also call the FolkFone, (212)
563-4099, for weekly updated listings. |
| PaperClip
Design |
Graphic design for both print and the Web.
|
| The
Puerto Rican Cuatro Project |
A bilingual online resource center devoted
Puerto Rico's national instrument, the cuatro. It features
in-depth articles with great photos and sound bytes about
the history and evolution of the cuatro as well as other
Puerto Rican instruments and musical traditions. |
| World
Music Central |
A very comprehensive online magazine and
resource center for all forms of world music. It offers
three excellent "click-on" glossaries covering
World Dances, Musical Genres and World Instruments. |
