Playing for the Fall Frolic at The Nature Station at LBL

Last Saturday (November 6th), four members of Red River Breeze played for the Fall Frolic at the Nature Station at LBL. Members were: Byron Dumas (fiddle), Melanie Beck (fiddle), David Magers (guitar) and Stephanie Taylor (hammered dulcimer). This is (if we remember correctly) our fourth year to play for this event - and as it usually is in November - it was a cold day! Several of us were recovering from colds and flu so the Nature Station folks were sympathetic and we got to play INSIDE this year! Yes, hearing the music waft through the trees of the station is really cool.... well, actually it's really COLD. Most of the folks who came out to the Fall Frolic seemed to appreciate being inside in the warm - as much as we did. We had a great audience for both performances and we had a really great time. The impromptu percussion band that Stephanie and Byron organized with member participation for one of our tune sets was a blast - there were some terrific drummers sitting in the audience! Thanks, as always, to the great job Cindy Earls of LBL does to make us feel welcome and appreciated. And equally, thanks to the great folks at the Nature Station!

Time to Book Red River Breeze for your Holiday Events!

It's been awhile since I've posted anything about Red River Breeze....and I have been terribly remiss about it. But the long hot summer is pretty much past us and it's time to start thinking about booking us for your holiday events! The band's traditional music and sound is perfect for Christmas music - and we are already rehearsing the traditional carols, tunes and hymns we love to play at this time of the year. Check out our schedule on this blog and contact me, Stephanie Taylor at 931-801-0251 or steph2stepper@aol.com, to book Red River Breeze for your seasonal event!

Playing for Jefferson Davis Birthday Celebration in Fairview, KY

On Saturday, June 5th 2010, David Magers, Melanie Beck, Byron Dumas and Stephanie Taylor played at the Jeffereson Davis Monument Park in Fairview, KY for the Jefferson Davis birthday celebration. This was a weekend long Civil War re-enactment with a Civil War Ball held Saturday night. It was a beautiful day - although at times a bit warm - but it's always fun to attend events like this and experience a slice of living history!

The monument is definitely impressive - if a touch unnusual when you first see it from a distance traveling across the farm lands of Kentucky!



Here are some of the re-enactors that attended including, I believe, the newly crowned Miss Confederacy (there is a pageant held as part of this event also!). The definitely look serious in their roles!



Stephanie and David arrived in the early afternoon to provide background music and drum up interest in the Ball that evening. Thankfully, there was a nice large and shady pavillion to play in. The Stage where we played that evening is behind me.



These are particularly interesting shots of a soldier and two woman taken by David over my hands on the dulcimer.

Melanie and Byron arrived in the evening for the Ball. Here is a shot of the dance caller (holding the broom) giving the dancers instruction in doing the Broom Dance. I enjoy playing for this particular dance because it's a lot like playing Musical Chairs and I get to arbitrarily stop the music when I want - and then watch the guys (or girls if it's their turn) scramble for a new partner and try not to end up dancing with the broom!

The four of us had a great time playing at this event and look forward to doing it again next year! (All photos were taken by David Magers.)

Logan County Art and Film Festival Rescheduled, May 22nd

We will be playing in downtown Russellville, KY tomorrow from 3:00 to 4:00 pm for the Logan County Art and Film Festival. This was the festival that was rained out several weekends ago - the day before the Great Flood of 2010 began in Nashville and started heading downriver to Clarksville and other Tennessee and Kentucky communities sitting on the Cumberland and Red Rivers. For a few weeks, I wondered if being named Red River Breeze was a good thing! Because this festival had to be rescheduled, only three of us will be there - Steph on hammered dulcimer, David M on guitar and Melanie on fiddle - but despite being small, we will be musically mighty! We have performed as a trio before and it works! The beauty of Red River Breeze is that we can be so amazingly flexible - and we then produce music in the true spirit of traditional live music - always somewhat different in wonderful ways everytime we play together! We hope you can come on out to Russellville for this festival. The folks in Russellvile are very warm and friendly and their town is a truly nice place to be!

We will be at The Looking Glass, Friday April 23rd...

And if the weather cooperates, we will be playing at the Logan County Art and Film Festival in Russellville, Kentucky at 3:00 pm on Saturday, April 24th. We have played at this wonderful little festival for the last three years and are looking forward to it again this year. But, the weather man is already calling for severe storms on Saturday - never a good thing when they start alerting us 3 days before.... So, stay tuned!

Last weekend, David M and Stephanie went to Chicago for a couple of days of sightseeing and then went to a hammered dulcimer festival in Monee, IL with Ken Kolodner as the instructor. It was a great day of workshops with a concert and jam in the evening. David and Stephanie even got to perform two Red River Breeze pieces of music in the evening concert! Here's a photo of part of the jam - imagine up to 17 hammered dulcimers as well as other acoustic instruments (fiddle, guitar, mandolin...) playing at the same time! Ken Kolonder is the gentleman on the left (he is an amazing performer as well as instructor), Stephanie in the back and fellow hammered dulcimer player Donna Woerth on the right. David's dulcimer is on the front of the picture with the fancy green handled hammers - he was taking the photograph so he doesn't appear... but he was there!

We will not be at The Looking Glass this Friday, April 16th....

Due to other committments and scheduling conflicts, Red River Breeze will not be performing at The Looking Glass this Friday, April 16th. Look for us at The Looking Glass next Friday (the 23rd) as well as at the Logan County Art and Film Festival in Russelville, Ky on Saturday, April 24th at 3:00 pm.

Spring is here and our schedule is filling up! Hope to see you at some of our performances soon!

Playing For Civil War Days in Cadiz, KY - Saturday, March 20th

Barely a week before this event, I (Stephanie) got a call from "a friend of a friend" to please contact Gary Polete of the Cadiz Merchant's Association as they were in dire need of live music for their Civil War ball being held the Saturday night of their three day Civil War re-enactment festival and had not been successful in locating a group. So I did - and after directing Gary to our website, he said we would be "perfect".... Well, I wasn't entirely certain of that - after all we are a Celtic band, not a Civil War era band AND we had never played for folks dancing, but I decided it sounded like a new adventure. To add to the situation, most of the band was going to be unavailable that day to participate because of prior committments. So - this became a job for me (hammered dulcimer), David M (guitar) and Byron (fiddle). One week later, and several "new" tunes learned (Dixie WAS a requirement!) as well as research from the web and Dixie (who has played for Civil War dances), we were ready....

David M and I went to the festival earlier in the day to play background music for the festival goers at the Cadiz park where the event was held. David was the photographer so he never shows up in the pictures - but he was there... he has the bruised guitar fingertips of non-stop playing all day to prove it!



At 2:00 pm, the main road in Cadiz, KY was blocked and the battle was on. Luckily, we were far enough from the big cannons being fired that we were not deafened.



Always, the children are the most fun to interact with. And they are never afraid to try out the dulcimer if given even half the chance. The two littlest ones are brother and sister, the older girl is their cousin. They all got a chance to play and had a blast doing it!



By 5: 00 pm, Byron was able to get away from his day's committment and join us for a little playing outside before moving to the ball location. By this time, I was definitely about played out and the dulcimer was woefully out of tune - sunlight and wind are both not great for large wooden instruments covered in strings! But, noone had complained about the tuning and folks still seemed to enjoy it.

By 6:00, we moved to the Cadiz, KY VFW - and I TUNED.... Then it was time to start playing for the Civil War Ball at 7:00. David's presence is seen - if only by his empty chair as he takes the picture while Byron and I are tuning.

And, what a great crowd - and lots of pretty Civil War era ball gowns complete with hoop skirts. I'm not sure I could play music in one of those dresses! Linda Fritz was the dance caller and she was gracious in her help to us on tune types and tempos for each of the dances. She even wants us to play for another Civil War ball coming up soon in the area....!

Dances included the Grand Marche, the Virginia Reel (which goes on a very, very long time.... one gets quite familiar with the tune when it's repeated 30 times....!), the Waltz, the Broom Dance, and the Patty-cake Polka. My favorite was the broom dance - couples dance until the music stops and then everyone grabs another partner - the odd person out dances with a broom. It was great fun to have the power to stop anytime, anywhere and see folks scurry!

Our thanks to the folks in Cadiz, Ky for welcoming us and letting us have so much fun with them - even if David's fingers are still sore. And the Merchant's Association folks purchased quite a few of our CDs to sell in their shops downtown - so thanks for that also!

Saint Patrick's Day Performance at Fieldstone Place

One of our favorite places to play is Fieldstone Place - an assisted living facility in Clarksville, TN. We play at Fieldstone Place several times a year - and for at least the last two years' St. Patrick's Days. Six members of Red River Breeze performed for residents of Fieldstone Place on the evening of St. Patrick's Day: Stephanie (hammered dulcimer), Byron (fiddle), Melanie (fiddle), David E (mandolin), Dixie (guitar) and David M (guitar). We had a blast and played to a large crowd of residents. We love playing for the folks at Fieldstone Place and it's wonderful to see familiar faces each time we come to perform - so they must like what they hear!

Saint Patrick's Day at Sango Elementary!

Three members of Red River Breeze spent several fun hours playing Irish tunes for two classes at Sango Elementary School in Clarksville, TN. Stephanie Taylor (hammered dulcimer), David Magers (guitar) and Melanie Beck (fiddle) performed first for Ms. Stratman's class first grade class (Melanie's daughter Eme is in this class) and then for Ms. Harrison's kindergarten class. We had a blast and the kids were all wonderful - they listened well, clapped like a drum through our peppy tunes and asked amazing questions every chance they got. And - both classes had gifts to give us when we were done - you can't ask for more than that! Here are some pictures of the classes and their terrific thank you gifts!

This is the three of us playing for Ms. Stratman's class. Someone should have told Stephanie she really looked silly in that green hat! Melanie and David refused to wear their's - and their's weren't as goofy looking!



We each got a beautiful card from Ms. Stratman's class!



This is the inside of the card. Very colorful and very creative work. They made three cards so it's impressive how much effort went into their signatures!



This is Ms. Harrison's class after we were finished playing for them. The very best question of the day came from one little girl who sounded like she is really about 5 going on 35 years old - and these children had lots of questions - was, "How did you get started in music?"... Wow!

From Ms. Harrison's class, we each got these cool gift bags with baked goods inside. Very yummy! Note the class's signatures!

Our thanks to both Ms. Stratman's class and Ms. Harrison's class for being so excited and receptive to our music. It made the day amazing for the three of us!

Our Schedule is Starting to Grow!

In the slow, dark days of winter, we look forward to spring and summer events to play our music at different venues and for more folks! Now it's March and our schedule is starting to get a bit fuller so here's hoping spring really is around the corner! CD sales of our new album, "Morgan's Song" are going well despite the slow winter months and we even sold our first CD on CDbaby..... And, we are working on a new set of "new" tunes - many with a good strong Irish flavor just in time for St. Patrick's Day. Keep checking our schedule for places to see us in the coming months and remember we can be found every Friday night at The Looking Glass on Warfield Blvd, in Clarksville, TN!

Our New CD, Morgan's Song, is available now on CDbaby!

Our new CD, Morgan's song, is now available on CDbaby! If you can't get to one of our performances to purchase the CD, it is available to see the track listing, listen to short snippets from each track and to purchase at: www.cdbaby.com/cd/RedRiverBreeze. We hope you enjoy the music on this CD!

News from January...

January is always a slow month in so many ways.... After the buildup to the Christmas holidays, everyone just needs to take a break for a bit in January. And besides that, in the south, January is one of the two yucky months - February being the other! At any rate, not too much is happening this month for Red River Breeze but we are playing every Friday night at The Looking Glass in Clarksville, TN on Warfield Blvd. Come out and hear some live traditional music if you're in town. You may even hear some of our brand new tunes - we have 39 new pieces we are working on and adding to our repetoire!

Our new CD, Morgan's Song, will be available for purchase on CDbaby very soon. Watch our webpage, http://www.redriverbreeze.com/, or our facebook page or this blog for more info. CDbaby will have snippets of the tunes on the CD available for you to hear, and will manage all of the stocking, shipping, and money stuff for online sales of the CD. The CD is available, of course, wherever we are playing so if you come to hear us, we have them for sale. We continue to get lots of nice comments about the CD....!

Sunday, January 31st, Austin Peay will be hosting a "Haiti Relief Effort for Visitation Hospital" telethon. Red River Breeze is one of a number of musical groups who are volunteering to perform during this telethon - we are tentatively scheduled to play starting at 7:30 or 8:00 pm for about an hour. When I know a specific time, I will post it. You can see the telethon several ways: at Austin Peay's web site (http://www.apsu.edu/), on Charter channel 99, on CDE/Lightband channel 9 and on WAPX-FM 91.9.