We are so excited that our brand new release, Waterbound, arrived in yesterday to the island! The recording features new originals as well as some old favorites performed by Gary Mitchell, Fiddler Dave Tweedie, Gerald Hampton & Kim France, plus a special guest appearance by Sarah Osborne playing claw hammer banjo and raising the rafters with lead vocals on Cindy and I've Been Working on the Railroad. Lou Castro also makes an appearance with some tasty guitar on Weeping Willow Blues by our friend Catesby Jones (Kitty Mitchell adds a sweet vocal harmony to that song as well). To take a listen to tracks and read more, order your own copy or download it from iTunes, visit this link to our website.
We are also knee deep in preparation for the Ocrafolk Festival and for the start of our summer season at Deepwater Theater on School Road. Hope you can come and see us!
Molasses Creek soundchecking up at the OBX Community Forum
Hello there fans!
Molasses Creek will be giving two performances this weekend! Friday, March 15, between 2 & 6 PM ~ Molasses Creek at OBX Taste of the Beach BBQ Showdown, at the Southern Shores Marketplace, Kitty Hawk, NC. For tickets and more information about the weekend festival, visit http://www.obxtasteofthebeach.com/home.htm
Saturday, March 16, 6:30 PM ~ Faces of Compassion Gala and Auction for the Hospice of Jacksonville. Event is at the Infant of Prague Parish Hall, 214 Marine Blvd., Jacksonville, NC. For more information visithttp://thefoundationforhospice.org/.
Also if you traveling to Ocracoke for Easter weekend, Friday, March 29, Ocracoke Alive will be hosting Philip Howard with an OcracokeSquaredance at the Ocracoke Community Center. On Saturday, March 30, Molasses Creek will be in concert at Deepwater Theater on Ocracoke.
It has been a blustery February on Ocracoke Island, NC, as to be expected. Islanders have also been a wee bit more isolated than usual. Early in the year, the ferry channel in the Hatteras-Ocracoke inlet filled in enough that that route was shut down for almost a month while a new/temporary channel was dredged. The temporary route is a little bit longer, so the northern ferries have been running every 1.5 hours instead of the usual on-the-hour plan. Recently, a noreaster came through and took out dunes in Hatteras and flooded the S-curves (even Manteo had quite a bit of flooding). The route heading north of Buxton has been treacherous for the past week as a result.
All this means more traveling to the mainland via the Swan Quarter and Cedar Island ferries, even to go to appointments up the Outer Banks. The third week in January, Molasses Creek zipped around to to play at the Outer Banks Forum for the Lively Arts, at the grand auditorium at First Flight High School in Kitty Hawk. The packed out concert hall and enthusiastic audience really got our blood pumping. We were able to take that excitement and energy back home to plug into our new recording! Thanks so much to all of our fans up there for joining us, and to the Kastens and all of the great friends at the Outer Banks Forum. They put on quite a season! Here are some pictures
Gary
Gerald
Louie!
Marcy
What is this? Musical ninja?
Back on Ocracoke, Fiddler Dave had the rare treat of a tour of the Ocracoke lighthouse while assisting the administrator of the Ocracoke Preservation Society (his wife, Amy Howard) and Clayton Gaskill in a film project. Here are some pictures.
From the outside. A beautiful day!
For holding the fuel
Up the stairs!
Up into the top
A shot of the lens
And the source of light (the bulbs are designed to rotate automatically if one burns out).
From the top!
Any now, back down!
Behind the Scenes at Work on the New Molasses Creek Album at Soundside Studios!
Marcy lays down a vocal track while Gary mans the command center.
Usually, it takes us 6-8 months of studio work to put together a new recording. We start with a long list of songs that we are considering for an album, and gradually shave these selections down as we see how they develop.
Sometimes we record pieces that came from past seasons' repertoire. This has a couple of advantage in that everyone has generally worked out their parts (we hope) and the arrangement has settled organically. The disadvantage is that it can be harder to think fresh about a song with a predetermined arrangement. Also when releasing a new project, the artist wants the audience to be excited about taking a CD home with them. . . meaning that the ensemble must be committed to playing CD pieces live for a couple of seasons. If you like to change the songlist each year, as Molasses Creek does, then you have to be careful how many past season's pieces you are putting on a new project, if you are not planning to include them in future live shows.
Many bands create a recording with completely new material and then do an "album release tour" to support the new project. The advantage of this scenario is that the material will have a fresh spark, and you will be excited about performing it. The disadvantage is that this process can take more studio time (and cost) because you are developing ideas as you go. Also, a lot of arrangements mature and settle as a result of playing pieces live for a season. At the end of this trial time in front of a audience, we have distilled the essence of a piece and usually play it a little different from when we first start.
In spite of all these heady decisions, time marches on and the new album is due in May at the beginning our Ocracoke season whether we like it or not!
Here is a list of the potential songs for Molasses Creek's 13th CD! We'll tell you more about them in later blogs.
Nevertheless
Tico Creeko
Ehringhaus Blues
Something Worth Having
Joe Bell Flowers
Roseville Fair
My Window Faces the South
Five Minutes
King’s Shilling
Tennessee Stud
Galway Girl
Oh Death My Friend
Waterman
Fiddler Dave and son, Lachlan, after some intense recording sessions. Time for a vacation?
February is Traveling Time if you live on Ocracoke Island
Every community has it own particular rhythm. If you live in a seasonal beach destination, then chances are that summertime is your period of most intensive work. The Ocracoke season runs from Easter to Thanksgiving. December brings a lot of community holiday events, which leaves January and February as your best options for family vacations and traveling.
Last month Fiddler Dave, Amy Howard, and son, Lachlan traveled to the Pacific Northwest to visit Amy's mother Julie and husband Gary in beautiful Bellingham, WA. On the way to the airport in Raleigh, the family visited the NC Museums of History and Natural Sciences in Raleigh, and caught a performance by the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.
Philip Howard as a WWI soldier at the Museum of History
Lachlan Howard feeling slothful
Tigers & lions at the circus. Not quite as amazing as the trained housecats in ring #1.
Once out in the Northwest, they took care of priorities!
Donuts and a Rocket?!! Awesome combination!
A rockslide last year uncovered the first footprint ever found of a Diatryma
A mammoth molar (you should have seen the size of the dental pliers!)
Around Bellingham Bay . . . very different from the sandy shores of Ocracoke, NC
Amy shows off a sweatered tree outside a Bellingham Quilt shop.
A visit to the Taylor Shellfish Farm south of Bellingham
While in the area, Fiddler Dave, Amy and Lachlan traveled to the Taylor Shellfish Farms and were given a tour and shown one of the critters being farmed in the area. The clam is called a geoduck (pronounced "gooey-duck") which translates from the native Washington people to mean "dig deep." Burrowed deep in the mud, the shell at the base only protects the vital innards, while the tip of the siphon or "neck"is just above the sea-bottom so that it can suck in plankton and get rid of wastes. The neck is the edible part. Some of these geoducks have been recorded as living in excess of 100 years! For more details visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoduck.
A farm raised geoduck at the Taylor Shellfish Farms
The family also traveled to Vancouver, BC for sightseeing. Vancouver has the second largest Chinatown in North America. During their visit, they happened upon a huge New Year's celebration with dancing dragons, martial artists, and . . . bagpipes?!
Peaceful Sun Yat-Sen Garden in Chinatown, Vancouver, BC.
Amazing where they will plant trees nowadays . . .must be long roots!
Skiing at Mt Seymore near Vancouver
Amy, David, & Lachlan also traveled to the Vancouver Aquarium, where they were able to see couple of Beluga whales and brilliant jellyfish.
While Dave and family were in the Pacific Northwest, Gary was working on the new recording, and Gerald was repairing instruments, Marcy attended a quilt retreat at Rosemary’s Quilt Shop in Highland, IL (http://rosemarysfabricnquilts.weebly.com/index.html)
She made this connection when three Molasses Creek fans who have been visiting Ocracoke and the Deepwater Theater for years found out that Marcy is a quilter. They (Margie and Jim Allen and Margie’s sister Diane Dalton), too, are quilters and invited Marcy to join them for their annual pilgrimage to Rosemary’s Fabric and Quilt shop and she did this February! It was a long weekend filled with quilting, shopping for fabric, eating and pajama-wearing fun!
Marcy has also been awarded a Writing Fellowship Residency at the Hambidge Center in the mountains of Georgia! She’ll be working on her book-in-progress for the last two weeks of March. An exciting honor! Go Marcy! www.hambidge.org.
That's about all for now. Here is a link to a Youtube video we just received of a performance/residency that we did at the Towson High School in Baltimore, MD last year. What fun!
If you are traveling to Ocracoke for Easter weekend, Molasses Creek will be doing a show on Saturday, March 30 at Deepwater Theater at 8 PM. Hope to see you out on the road!
Gary, Fiddler Dave, Marcy, Lou & Gerald
Molasses Creek
UPCOMING SHOWS
Friday, March 15, between 2 & 6 PM ~ Molasses Creek at OBX Taste of the Beach BBQ Showdown, at the Southern Shores Marketplace, Kitty Hawk, NC. For tickets and more information about the weekend festival, visit http://www.obxtasteofthebeach.com/home.htm
Saturday, March 16, 6:30 PM ~ Faces of Compassion Gala and Auction for the Hospice of Jacksonville. Event is at the Infant of Prague Parish Hall, 214 Marine Blvd., Jacksonville, NC. For more information visithttp://thefoundationforhospice.org/.
April 6, Saturday ~ James City County Rotary Club concert series presents Molasses Creek at the Kimball Theater, Williamsburg, VA. http://www.jccrotary.org/
All natural fireworks at the Nature Trail on Ocracoke!
Although it has turned cold these past few days, this winter has been pretty mild so far. Many of our plants think it is spring!
Travel has been a bit trickier off of Ocracoke Island. A storm this last weekend filled in the channel in the Ocracoke-Hatteras Inlet, and now the ferries can't get through until it is cleared. It should take a couple of weeks. In the meantime, the Swan Quarter and Cedar Island ferries have stepped up their runs to compensate.
The closed channel didn't slow down a huge great white shark, "Mary Lee" that Ocearch has been tracking in Pamlico Sound and off the coast of NC. Read all about her here. To see where "Mary Lee" is now, click on this link to the shark tracking page and select "Mary Lee." Pretty exciting! We'll stay out of the water for the moment. . . it was a little cool for swimming right now, anyway.
Molasses Creek Performance this weekend on Saturday, January 26, Outer Banks Forum, Kill Devil Hills, NC ~ This weekend we will be doing a concert with the Outer Banks Forum for the Lively Arts, at the First Flight High School Auditorium in Kill Devil Hills. The concert begins at 7:30 PM. For more information visit www.outerbanksforum.org/. Hope to see you there!
Molasses Creek rounded out 2012 at our favorite spot, First Night Williamsburg. We swapped off sets with The Company Store throughout the evening, and then rang in the new year with fireworks on the campus of William and Mary.
Here are Amy & Lachlan Howard, and Fiddler Dave having a picture taken in front of the Williamsburg Gaol (Jail). Lachlan is 10th generation descended from William Howard, the quartermaster on Blackbeard's ship (who also visited the Williamsburg Gaol when he was on trial for piracy in Williamsburg in 1718).
When the Williamsburg staff realized our relation to William Howard, they decided they had better put an end to trouble before it started.
After a couple of days rest in Virginia, and a sampling of the local rotten fruits and vegetables, Amy, David & Lachlan made a successful escape back to Ocracoke.
In January, we resumed working on the new Molasses Creek album (#13!) at Gary Mitchell's Soundside Studio on Ocracoke Island. This recording is going to be a lot of fun. We are looking forward to its release at the Ocrafolk Festival in June!
On January 12 & 13, Molasses Creek traveled to the middle of the state for two fabulous shows at Americana Stage in Morganton (sold out!), and The Rooster's Wife in Aberdeen, NC.
Marcy & Lou warming up on the ferry.
On the way to Morganton, Gary Mitchell's expert sniffer detected a nearby bakery. Winding our way off the interstate, we journeyed deep into Old Salem in Winston-Salem.
The C. Winkler Bakery was just unloading goodies from the traditional wood fired ovens, so we stopped in for a sampling. This "professional" bakery was established by the church in 1800 when it was discovered that too many of the Single Sisters were stopping by the Single Brother's bakery to "buy bread."
Gary, Marcy & Lou "buying bread." No really. . . they were!
Loading the bakery over with wood for the next day firing.
This explains those funny pumpernickel rolls that Fiddler Dave found in the street.
We left Old Salem mid-afternoon and arrived in Morganton at the Grind Cafe Coffeehouse, home of the Americana Stage concert series (We swear we weren't just making another stop for coffee!)
The concert took place upstairs in this historic building, in an intimate hall that seats about 75. Twas a great evening of songs and celebration. We even showcased a new version of "Nevertheless" that we have been preparing for the new album. Thanks so much to Clint and Katie Bernard for hosting us at the concert and in their home and letting us play all their fine instruments! Thanks also to our friends at the the Grind Cafe for providing a great location for the concerts. We loved it!
On Sunday we traveled towards Southern Pines, NC, to Aberdeen where Janet Kenworthy and friends and family produce The Rooster's Wife concert series. They have worked hard to create this great listening room . . . and let us tell you, it is a real treat! Beautiful sound, lighting, stage, and wow! What chair selection (highly personalized)!
Gary & Gerald setup sound while Louie contemplates his performance.
After the concert we retired to Janet & Jake's beautiful home up the street, where we wined, dined, and got some great chair massages from Denise. What royal treatment . . . we're moving in next month!
Well. . .back out on the road, things are much different. Here is the reality of band touring.
"Hey! If Fiddler Dave is taking pictures then he is obviously NOT scrubbing the back windshield!"
At least when you live on Ocracoke Island trips have beautiful beginnings and endings.
Returning to the island. . .
That's all for this news report. February we will be focusing on the new album and taking some personal time off from the band. Fiddler Dave, Amy & Lachlan will be heading to the Northwest to visit Amy's mom in Washington state for a couple of weeks. We'll keep you appraised of all the happenings on and off the island. Coming up in March we have a couple of great performances.
All the best,
Gary, Fiddler Dave, Marcy, Lou, and Gerald
Molasses Creek
*** March 2, 2013 ~ Music Across the Sounds, Mattamaskeet High School, Swan Quarter, NC. Molasses Creek joins other eastern Carolina musicians for this community show sponsored by the Beaufort County Arts Council, NC Arts Council, and the NEA. March 16, 2013 ~ Molasses Creek will be performing at a fundraising gala event put on by Public Radio East and the Hospice of Jacksonville, NC. More details TBA.
