Live At the Grafton

David G. Bragman teaches banjo, guitar, singing, and sound recording. He has been on the staff of the Old Town School for almost 20 years and started studying at the school in 1971. David performs with Brushfire, the Dime Store String Band, David & Marian, and many other bands. He runs Schu-Man Studios and is a radio host at WLUW 88.7 fm.

Gunnar Jebsen is BandBoxBuster. In addition to traditional banjo, he plays advanced compositions like those of Bela Fleck, and also employs looping and modified instrumentation to create his unique songs.

Jason McInnes uses his guitar and banjo to support his reinterpretation of folk traditions. His songs and stories are powerful, yet tender; uniquely his, yet as old as time. He has been a faculty member at the nationally recognized Old Town School of Folk Music since 2003, where he has created several programs to support multi-generational music-making.  Jason founded the Young Stracke All-Stars in 2008, which consists of young musicians ages 9 to 13.  The group is named after children’s music and education pioneer, Win Stracke.  Jason founded the group to provide a link between master musicians of the past and young audiences of today.

Ted and Marcia Johnson discuss the history of the Old Town School of Folk Music, talk about their relationship through music, and play some great tunes. This is really special--and fun!--episode.

Interview starts with Paul talking about growing up in New York and meeting some of the members of the 60s folk revival like Dave Van Ronk. We then talk about Paul cutting his teeth in Chicago with players like Detroit Jr., The Black Lone Ranger, Lefty Dizz, Harmonica Hinds, Dave Myers, and Honeyboy Edwards.

One of the most underrated songwriters in American music, Chicago-native Steve Dawson has been helming influential rock band Dolly Varden since the early ’90s, producing humane and hooky solo records, collaborating with his wife Diane Christiansen and digging into soul on side projects. His newest venture is Funeral Bonsai Wedding, a jazz-folk collaboration that flashes with the vibraphone of Jason Adasiewicz on impressionistic but memorable arrangements that recall the best of Tim Buckley or Astral Weeks-era Van Morrison. Those may seem like lofty notices, but Dawson has a way with melody and image that live up to them.

"Bucky" Halker is an American academic, music historian, labor activist, singer and songwriter who specializes in American folk music. Halker is best known for his work on labor protest songs, Illinois folk music, and his involvement with the preservation of Woody Guthrie's musical legacy. He is a recipient of the American Folklife Center's Archie Green Fellowship.

Mark Dvorak is a modern day troubadour who has never stopped performing, writing and recording. He has been called "a folk singer's folk singer" with an "encyclopedic knowledge of traditional songs." His song writing has been called "wondrous" and "profound."

Since 1981, Mark has performed in nearly all the United States, and has visited several countries in Europe. Though he often appears on festival stages and in theaters, he is also at home in a more intimate setting. 

His concerts are a mix of the familiar and the new, traditional folk and standards from the American songbook. He plays authentic country blues guitar and picks great old-time banjo. Mark enjoys involving his audiences in sing-along songs, just like The Weavers used to do, and he mixes in his own well-crafted and often poignant originals. 

Andy Cohen grew up in a house with a piano and a lot of Dixieland Jazz records, amplified after a while by a cornet that his dad got him. At about fifteen, he got bitten by the Folk Music bug, and soon got to hear records by Big Bill Broonzy and the Jim Kweskin Jug Band, both of which reminded him of the music he grew up to. At sixteen, he saw Reverend Gary Davis, and his course was set. He knew he had it in him to follow, study, perform and promote the music of the southeast quadrant, America’s great musical fountainhead. Although he’s done other things, a certain amount of writing and physical labor, from dishwashing and railroading to archeology, playing the old tunes is what he does best.  This interview/performance was attended a well-sized and appreciative crowd of old friends and admirers.

Old Lazarus' Harp is a collective of some of the best folk acts in Chicago: Spitzer Space Telescope, Can I Get An Amen, Glass Mountain, Honey Hole Johnson and their friends. Every OLH show is a fiery resurrection of traditional folk songs. Covering everything from old time fiddle tunes to medieval ballads, Old Lazarus' Harp keeps folk music raw, wild and raucous. We interview three members: Mareva Lindo, Emily Nott, and Spitzer Space Telescope.