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NEW CD OUT NOW
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NEW CD OUT NOW:
'Hits of Hank Williams' - Blue Grass Boogiemen
This album is the last in a series of Dutch artists covering American
countrymusic icons, initially put out by the Dutch 'Starsound' label (which
no longer is in business; fortunately the CRS label was willing to release
this one). A few years ago Starsound Records owner Ruud Pennings asked us to
do a 'Hits of Hank Williams' cd for his project. Though at first we thought
that an album featuring only somewhat more obscure numbers instead of hits
of 'the Hillbilly Shakespeare' would suit us better, we simply just couldn't
resist the offer. Hence often covered favorites as 'Jambalaya (on the
bayou)' and 'Cold, cold heart' couldn't be left out (we already recorded
'Your cheatin' heart', 'Move it on over', 'A mansion on the hill' and 'I'm
so lonesome I could cry' for previous albums), but that didn't matter to us
at all; we're all huge Hank Williams fans and to us all of his songs are
hits.
As a matter of fact, ever since we started playing together, Hank's songs
have been an integral part of our repertoire. We've even done many Hank
Williams tribute shows, playing his songs exclusively. And folks who know
us, know that almost every after hours jamsession we're involved in, sooner
or later evolves into a celebration of Hank's work. So, to say the least, we
love his music, on and off stage, and we're convinced of the fact that the
world can never have too many albums with Hank's songs, whether they're
well-known hits or not.
Of course Hank Williams wasn't a bluegrass artist, but his songs are very
suitable for and often covered in the genre. Notably 'Father of Bluegrass'
Bill Monroe himself recorded some of Hank's songs (they even co-wrote one,
entitled 'I'm blue, I'm lonesome') and many other bluegrass greats followed.
But the music of Bill Monroe and that of Hank Williams have more in common.
Both men were no strangers to that feeling called the blues and both men
wrote and sang about it in their own uniquely intense and inimitable ways,
resulting in what we think is some of the most passionate, heart-wrenching
and soulful music ever recorded. Indeed, 'blue and lonesome'.
Yet another similartity between the music of Bill Monroe, bluegrass, and the
music of Hank Williams is that both have stood the test of time. This is
proven by the the fact that nowadays their appeal still seems to be as big
as ever, but to an ever growing audience, more diverse than ever before. And
both Williams and Monroe, as they have done since the beginning of their
careers, continue to inspire artists all over this world even after they
themselves have left it years ago (Hank in 1953, Bill in 1996).
Needless to say, to us it was quite a challenge to record this album. To
interpret these classics and do them justice by trying to make them our own,
yet fully retain the respect and traditions of the music we love, was not,
and in our opinion wasn't supposed to be, easy. But we think we did the job
and hope that you'll agree.
So making this album truly was a labor of love. But how did we go about it?
Well, first we decided to only use songs Hank actually wrote, then everyone
of us suggested a few and together we made a selection. When we started
arranging them we obviously tried to convert most of the songs into
bluegrass. A few others though, we tried to keep somewhat closer to the
original. Some we changed around altogether. But, with the exception of
'Let's turn back the years' (which is rewritten into a tribute to Hank) and
'Cajun baby' (which Hank did write, but as far as we know never actually
recorded) we always tried to stay true to what we think was the essence; the
meaning of the words and the overall feeling of the songs.
It became quite an eclectic mix with styles ranging from bluegrass to
country to rockabilly to cajun. Our friends Joost and Mark of the Dutch
cajun band 'Captain Gumbo' helped us out to add some cajun-flavor to 'Cajun
baby' and 'Jambalaya (on the bayou)' with their 'tit fer and French
accordion, but the rest of the songs are all played with the traditional
bluegrass line up of banjo, fiddle, guitar, mandolin, upright bass and some
dobro here and there. It just goes to show how well Hank's songs work in
some of the different types of music we enjoy, and enjoy to play.
We truly hope you too will enjoy our versions of these 'Hits of Hank
Williams'.
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The World
International Blue Grass Band (feat. Arnold) |
<update: nov '07>
Well, Arnold is back from his trip to the planet of Butch Robins. And what a
trip it was! Everything went very well and Robins has pointed out that he
wants him back for every tour he's going to organise for the World
International Blue Grass Band. The point he wanted to make with this group
was showing that bluegrass music is as international as most any other form
of American music, like blues, jazz, rock 'n' roll and also rap, hiphop and
r&b. Well, he succeeded in his mission and everyone was very enthousiastic
about the band and the whole idea behind it. If you want to read more about
his view on this, you can read all about his motivations on
www.worldinternationalbluegrassband.com.
The Boogiemen have been going strong, also with Arnold gone, thanks to Joost
van Es and Jan Michielsen of Four Wheel Drive and Izak Boom, who helped us
out. Thanks a lot guys! Your cheques are in the mail!
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The World
International Blue Grass Band (feat. Arnold)
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Meanwhile we're still busy with the Hank Williams CD. Yes, it takes a while,
but then again, we're nearing the end of one of the busiest years we ever
had in our 17 year span. 2008 looks promising as well so we hope to meet a
lot of you folks down the line.
Thanks also to everyone who voted for us and made us win the Gram Parsons
Award (for best acoustic/traditional country band) for the 8th time!
The Boogiemen are also featured in the new book on 50 years of popmusic in
Utrecht, The Netherlands (www.villa-utapio.nl).
It's a very enjoyable book which comes with two CD's and yes, the Boogiemen
are on there as well.
Finally, the music of the Boogiemen will be featured in a Swiss movie called
'Der Freund' by Micha Lewinsky and Langfilm AG (www.derfreund.ch)
which will be played in Swiss cinemas before too long. So we suggest to all
our friends in Switzerland to go see that movie!
That's it for now. Hope to see you soon and keep those message coming in our
guestbook. We love to hear from you!
Oh, and if you prefer to leave a message with a picture, a videoclip or
whatever you can also visit one of our Myspace-sites:
www.myspace.com/bluegrassboogiemen. See Ya!
<update: sept '07>
did you all hear the latest news? Arnold will be joining another band and the Boogiemen will have to do it without him.....
Nahhh...just kidding, it's not as sad as it sounds. Actually, it's really, really exciting because he's going to join the World International Blue Grass Band, which will be performing at the International Bluegrass Music Association in Nashville, Tn..
If you're not able to be there, don't worry: he'll be back in October and will probably tell us all about it. On the other hand, if you will be there and accidentely will be making some photos (or maybe even a small video), it would be awesome to have a copy for our website! Anyways, let's take some time to properly introduce the band:
The World International Blue Grass Band
The World International Blue Grass Band consists of bluegrass musicians from various countries. Worldfamous banjoplayer (former member of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys) the legendary Butch Robins' idea and his long-awaited dream will finally take place in the fall of 2007. The musicians he chose, with various backgrounds, will unite and share their love for bluegrass music on the stage of the International Bluegrass Music Association festival in Nashville, Tennessee. History will be made by the World International Blue Grass Band in 2007!
Members W.I.B.G.B.:
Butch Robins - New River Valley, VA (banjo, host & m.c.)
Kazuhiro Inaba - Nishinomita City, Hyogo, Japan (guitar,vocals,co-host)
Sean McKerr - Lurgan, Co. Armagh, Ireland (bass, vocals)
Arnold Lasseur - Gouda, The Netherlands (mandolin, vocals)
Hamish Davidson - Melbourne, Victoria, Australia (fiddle, vocals)
Jan Johansson - Skelleftea, Sweden / Raleigh, NC (fiddle, vocals)
The World International Blue Grass Band show dates:
- September 27, 2007 Jefferson Center, Roanoke, VA
- September 29, 2007 Richards, VA
- October 2 - 7, 2007 IBMA World of Bluegrass festival, Nashville Convention Centre, Nashville, TN
contact: Betsy Mabry • B Natural Productions • (540) 616-7195 • betsy@mabryandcompany.com
<update: june '07>
here's a little update. First of all we want to let you know that the book 'Elvis in Nederland' by Rob van Scheers is out and available through www.bol.com. The book looks great and is full of photos and interviews about what the phenomenon Elvis Presley caused in the Netherlands. There's also a little story about the Boogiemen in it. The book comes with a CD on which many wellknown Dutch artists, like George Baker, Bennie Jolink and the Bintangs perform an Elvis-associated song. We were asked to do Bill Monroe's 'Blue Moon of Kentucky', bluegrass style. We think it turned out pretty good and hope you folks will like the result as well.
Furthermore, we're still working on the 'Hits of Hank Williams'-CD for Starsound Records. There'll be some wellknown hits of Hank on it, but also some lesser known material. We tried to arrange those songs in a way they'd suit us best and judging by the way things sound right now it's going to be quite an eclectic mix, ranging from straight bluegrass to country and even some cajun and rockabilly-flavoured stuff thrown in. All acoustic though. It'll be a while before the whole thing will be ready and out but we'll keep you posted about that.
So, now we're in the middle of what's going to be one of the busiest periods of our 16-year span as the Boogiemen. We hope to meet a lot of you folks down the road! Meanwhile, keep those messages in our guestbook coming! The guestbook was out of order for a while, but now it's working again and we love to hear from you!
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<update: jan '07>
The year 2006 was a really good one for us, as it was a year in which we performed at, apart from the many trips abroad (Ireland, Denmark, Norway, Germany, France, Ireland, Belgium and Switzerland), a lot of great shows in our native Holland.
The highpoint without any doubt being one of Holland's biggest festivals 'Lowlands', where we played alongside acts such as Iggy Pop and the Original Stooges, Muse, Massive Attack, Fun Loving Criminals. 'Blue Grass Boogiemen verpletteren Lima-tent' is what VPRO's 3voor12 wrote, which means as much as 'Blue Grass Boogiemen shatter Lima-tent', which was no exaggeration we can state in all modesty. Many people who saw us (including the soundguy of the festival) told us afterwards, or wrote in our guestbook (thanks!) that they had never experienced such an overwhelming reception by an audience in their lives.
To us also it was quite a surprise. We finally put bluegrass music on the map there and proved that this type of music also can work very well on big pop/rockfestivals, as long as it's being played with the right energy and enthousiasm it deserves. Just like our friends of the Hackensaw Boys, who proved that their brand of acoustic music also is very suitable for such a festival.
As opposed to anyone who thinks bluegrass isn't suitable for mega-festivals and big stages (as if anyone would be able to decide where bluegrass does or doesn't belong), we want to reach as many people as possible. We're actually quite happy to play those big stages and festivals, because there we also reach a lot of folks who have never heard of this music. Judging from all the messages we got after Lowlands, it seems we won quite a few souls there for this music. And at 'Noorderslag' (another quite important festival in Holland) we got the same reception. Thanks to everybody who was there and cheered and shouted for more! We'll never forget this.
In 2007 there's also a few things to look forward to (sorry to our friends in the States, no trips across the deep blue planned this year). In March the recording of our addition to Starsounds series 'Hits of...' will be recorded. Starsound asked us to do a Hank Williams CD. Apart from some of his best known songs there'll also be some lesser known material selected for this CD. We sure hope you'll like the result.
In April a reprint of the book 'Elvis in Nederland' by the well known Dutch writer Rob van Scheers will come out, and a CD comes with it on which many famous Dutch artists (ánd the Blue Grass Boogiemen) perform an Elvis-song. Of course we recorded Kentucky's official State Song 'Blue Moon of Kentucky'; one of 'The Father' Bill Monroe's best known (if not thé best known) songs which Elvis covered for his first Sun-single. We hope you'll like the result.
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Also,'Gutsman de
Voorstelling' will be playing all over Holland throughout 2007. This
is the theatre-danceshow which we made the soundtrack for. We recently saw the
show and were really impressed. Already we had some folks inquiring after the
soundtrack, but right now it's not available on CD. We're still negociating
and hopefully it'll be available in one form or another before too long.
We're also working on a programme about Bluegrass music for schools. We
recently did such a show when we were invited by the Insula College in
Dordrecht. It was quite an experience, but we managed to keep the attention of
the 15-year olds and judging to the messages we got afterwards we also won a
few souls for the music. Hopefully we can get more schools interested and
start that Monroe-doctrine in schools all over the country. Next thing you
know, there'll be Bluegrass in the Top 40!
All the best for 2007 everyone and hopefully we'll see you somewhere down the
road!
