Mike & Ruthy (wrap-up)

By Greg Pool
Host, TreeHouseConcerts.org

Here's a wrap-up of the visit by Mike & Ruthy to Tree House Concerts (pictures and after-show interview/encore):



* The duo was our 51st house concert since 2003 and only the fifth time a fiddler has taken the stage.

* We missed Mike & Ruthy when they were last out in Carmel Valley in 2010 at another house concert, but their original band, The Mammals, has been on our Wish List since we started our house concert series.

* We caught them on the last leg of an all-California tour that included four house concerts but started at the Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley.

* The night before our concert they were in Lemoore playing on a flatbed trailer for a stage.

* We joked about it the podcast, but Mike & Ruthy were very fortunate to be sent an original set of unreleased lyrics written by Woody Guthrie. They added the music and turned it into "My New York City" for the album My Name is New York audio book and music CD with 16 Woody Guthrie songs, including "My New York City."

* Mike asked if we knew his bass player, Jacob Silver, or drummer, Robin MacMillan. Both played on their "My New York City" track, and both grew up in Carmel Valley. Here's what the Monterey County Herald wrote about them in 2010.

* Mike was excited to make it home to Woodstock NY after this tour to start playing in his adult hockey league. I told him I had the same problem, but in an adult soccer league.

* Here's a video of Mike & Ruthy doing "Dust Bowl Blues" off their 2009 album, Waltz of the Chickadee.

* Mike & Ruthy were the first house concert guests to connect with me on Instagram (mikeandruthy, ruthyuke and mjmjr_).

* One of our regulars, JP Mosoff, wore a Playing For Change button on his jacket that night. What an amazing idea!

Tracy Grammer (wrap-up)

By Greg Pool
Host, TreeHouseConcerts.org

Here's a wrap-up of the visit by Tracy Grammer to Tree House Concerts (pictures and after-show interview/encore):



* Tracy was our 50th concert in the ten years we've been hosting concerts in our home.

* It was an unusually warm afternoon, so we held the concert in the backyard. Normally that's only in summer and with a larger band and a lot more foliage.

* Tracy was in town as the Wednesday night music guest for those attending classes at Esalen.

* Next week she'll play one of our favorite venues, the Freight and Salvage in Berkeley.

* In the after-show podcast, Tracy played "Crocodile Man" (Dave Carter), her newest song, "Hole," and "The Mountain" (Dave Carter).

* Juliet and I found Tracy through the late Dave Carter, whom Tracy performed with from 1996 until his untimely death in 2002.

* Juliet and I met in 2003 using Match.com. I sent her the lyrics to Dave Carter's "Gentle Arms of Eden" when Juliet had mentioned she like Kate Wolf. She remembers growing up seeing Kate, even once in her kitchen when Kate visited Juliet's mom. Now my daughter will tell the same story about seeing Tracy!

* Dave Carter's music has been a huge influence in our lives. I first saw Dave and Tracy in 1998 at the New Folk songwriting competition at the Kerrville Folk Festival. They opened with "When I Go" and followed with my all-time favorite Dave Carter song, "The River Where She Sleeps."

* The same day Tracy performed we learned Texas lost one of its legendary singer/songwriters in Steve Fromholz, which we found out from Robert Earl Keen. Fromholtz was one of the three judges in 1998 at that Kerrville New Folk songwriting competition, which include Betty Elders and frequent visitor to our house, Keith Greeninger.

* Tracy told a very funny story about playing in Hiroshima, Japan, that included not recognizing her biggest fans and some of the best players and singers in the country. Yes, she's big in Japan.

* Our chickens even made into Tracy's Instragram feed. For the record, that's Caramel (l) and Hawkeye.

* Tracy has been on our wish list since we started in 2003, along with Dave Carter. As long as Dave is still booked, we'll keep them there. It'll be worth the wait.

Carolyn Sills (wrap-up)

By Greg Pool
Host, TreeHouseConcerts.org

Here's a wrap-up of the visit by Carolyn Sills to Tree House Concerts (pictures and after-show interview/encore



* Our last concert of the year featured a local 40's and 50's singer, Carolyn Sills, from Santa Cruz, where she has performed as Patsy Cline.

* It was also a chance to have my friend, Charlie Wallace, play dobro. Our only other chance was back in 2005, when I almost got him to play in the band Camp Danger, who opened for Sherry Austin.

* Carolyn's band also featured Jerry Logan on bass and Carloyn's husband, Gerard Egan on guitar.

* Charlie plays guitar and pedal steel but used his lap steel last June for a project I'm working on called "Birdie In The Hole," about the CSUMB Men's Golf team winning the 2011 NCAA National Championship.

* If you were admiring Jerry's bolo tie, it's probably because he made himself! And like a dork, I forgot to ask him what kind of stone it was (I'm a recovering geologist), but I'm guessing from the purple red color that it was either amethyst or garnet.

* We had a couple of six year-old girls in the house, and the first few songs got their attention before they went off to play. My daughter came out, though, when Carolyn dedicated and sang "Mele Kalikimaka," which I had been working on this week on the ukulele for the big 1st Grade holiday party.

* It probably helped Carolyn's dedication that I was wearing my only "cowboy" shirt, which was decorated with the islands of Hawai'i.

* Below is a video of "Tacos, Enchiladas and Beans," the old Doris Day song, which Charlie introduced as the "the three wise men," just to fit it into the holiday spirit. If you watch this video in YouTube (click the YouTube icon in the bottom right), you will find a "snow" icon to let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Keith Greeninger & Dayan Kai (wrap-up)

By Greg Pool
Host, TreeHouseConcerts.org

Here's a wrap-up of the visit by  Keith Greeninger & Dayan Kai to Tree House Concerts (pictures and after-show interview/encore

* This concert was entirely because Juliet wanted both Keith and Dayan to play our house in celebration of our seventh wedding anniversary. Some of you may remember when I proposed at a house concert in 2004!

* We've had Keith at our concert series twice before, once in 2005 when we lived in Pacific Grove and then again in 2009 when we started up our concerts in Carmel Valley Village.

* Dayan was a real bonus. He grew up in San Juan Bautista but had recently moved up to eastern Washington, so he's been a little harder to book. Now he's back in the Monterey Bay area, and it was a real treat to have him join Keith.



* We also had a surprise visit from Steve Uccello's on bass. He was high school buddies with Dayan, and he's also a graduate of the music program at Cal State Monterey Bay.

* It was a busy and fulfilling night, because there was such a demand we actually booked Keith & Dayan to play two shows for a total of 80 guests in Carmel Valley Village.

* The second show was later that evening, just down the road but still in the Village. Our friends Laura  & John Siletto hosted and drew from their circle of friends.

* I grew up with Laura in Monterey, and she was responsible for me booking The Rayburn Brothers back in 2009.

* And since we've recorded two podcasts with Keith, he was gracious enough to give up the after-show interview and encore to Dayan and Steve. You can still hear Keith in the background on that third song, belting it away. But as this performance shows, Dayan is good enough to book solo.

* Here's a video from the afternoon show, and here's the original video Keith talks about.

Direct link

Molly's Revenge (wrap up)

By Greg Pool

Host, TreeHouseConcerts.org

Here's a wrap-up of the visit by Molly's Revenge to Tree House Concerts (pictures and after-show interview/encore):

* This was the lads' second visit to our concert series. They were only our fifth concert back in 2004!

* Although their music is upbeat Celtic, they're all living in and around Central California. Stuart Mason (guitar, mandolin) is down in Los Osos. David Brewer (pipes, whistles) is in Boulder Creek. Pete Haworth (bouzouki) is in Soquel. And John Weed (fiddle) is living right here ... in Carmel Valley!

* John and Stuart are also in the trad band Little Black Train and play around California a bunch.

* This was a special afternoon, because Pete recently announced his retirement from the band. This 2011 tour will be his last, so we were lucky to have seen him in his youth and prime. Thank you, Pete!

* One of the funnier moments was when the band egged on the crowd to "like" their fan page on Facebook so they could exceed 1,000 likes. They were already at 982 ... and it worked!

* If you are transfixed with the female singer on their latest cd "Aged 10 Years" then you've just experienced the amazing Moira Smiley.

* We were back and forth all week on whether an unusually cool June rain would force us inside, but despite the hazy sun we had a wonderful time in the back yard. Where did our summer go?

* Here's a glimpse of the band at the end of their second set: