D-Squared

One of the benefits of my part-time job is that I get to listen to Bob Edwards (of NPR fame) on Sirius XM Radio. The other day I heard his interview of Bela Fleck, the banjo player who burst on the scene with Newgrass Revival years ago and has been re-writing the banjo rulebook ever since.

The interview had less to do with Bela’s ability to play jazz, Bach, and previously unimagined improvisations on an instrument usually associated with people who are missing teeth than it did with the origin of the banjo itself. Having spent several years touring and playing to hundreds of thousands of school kids where we inquired at every show whether anyone could identify what continent the banjo originated on and never received the correct answer – I’ll grant that I have more than a layman’s interest.

The banjo comes from Africa, at least the precursors to it’s current form did and it came across the Atlantic with folks who were brought to this country as slaves. So Bela decided to go to Mali, Uganda, Tanzania and The Gambia to explore the origins of his chosen instrument and in the process he discovered a plethora of banjo-like instruments and some astonishing musicians and music.

He has documented his musical journey in a film, Throw Down Your Heart, and the soundtrack CD includes some astonishingly beautiful indigenous music recorded in the field with 21st century sound equipment. Bela accompanies many of these pieces and the result is not unlike Paul Simon’s Graceland, David Byrne’s Rei Momo, or Ry Cooder’s Buena Vista Social Club although the results seem even more organic.

The CD is currently available and the film is being screened around the country. He is also organizing a US tour for some of these amazing musicians. If you are a banjo fan, I don’t see how you can live without this record. If you are a world music fan, a folk music fan, if your musical taste extends beyond the pap of American Idol, it is you will love this music. It is haunting and rhythmic and rooted to the earth.

Check it out at www.throwdownyourheart.com and discover a world smaller and even more vibrant than you imagined.

Spring took one look at winter
Then crawled back in her hole
It’s wet and it’s cold out there
I just don’t want to go
Let somebody else be in charge
Of making the wildflowers grow
They still lie waiting
But the Rockabye tree is
All covered in snow
And when the bough breaks
The baby’s bound to go
Down to the mud and the blood
And the tears that flow below
They still lie waiting
Spring nestles quiet in her keep
Where the roots run dark and deep
Spring is fast asleep

I confess, having grown up amidst citrus orchards in Phoenix, Arizona, that the scent of orange and grapefruit trees in bloom make me horny. It is the smell of love to me. I don’t recall ever actually having made love in an orchard but I did a lot of early, hopeful exploring there and that’s almost more potent.

I was tutored in love by amazing women. I realize that we were often learning the mysteries together but they taught me to see in the dark. I have no idea what they learned from me, you’d have to ask them.

Man offers the seed of creation, woman nurtures seedlings that produce fruit and this is the magic that turns the world. It’s also what most songs are about.

God spoke to Adam
And God spoke to Eve
God spoke to the Virgin Mary
He said, y’know girl you just gotta believe
God must’ve talked a lot back then
But he don’t say boo to me
I still lie waiting
But love speaks softly
When it calls you by your name
It’s so easy to miss the meaning
Or pretend it’s just a game
But if you refuse to listen
You’ve got only yourself to blame
Love still lies waiting
While Spring turns over in her sleep
Her dreams are fairy green
But it’s only a dream

I am lucky that my wife grew up in the same town, had some of the same experiences, and responds similarly to the olfactory cues of citrus blossoms. I am even luckier that, when the women of my past show up, my wife shows them love and respect for their contributions to the man I became. Of course, she also knows I have great taste in women.

Twice this March, women who have been exceedingly important in my life reappeared. One at the Desert Botanical Garden’s Chihuly exhibit, the most astounding union of art and nature I have ever personally witnessed. I thought the same thing the first time I ever saw her. The other one showed up at the Glendale Folk Festival where I sang this song, Spring, the best song I have ever written. The blossoms were just opening and the smell nearly knocked me down. So did she.

Down by the hard road
Where the wildflowers grow
I look at them in wonder
Even though I know
Someone planted them here
Not so long ago
They still lie waiting
Waiting for a footprint
Waiting for a sign
Waiting for a raindrop
Or a little ray of sweet sunshine
Or maybe a bee will fly by
At just the right time
They still lie waiting
Spring yawns and peaks out of her hole
Looking for her shadow
Did she see it?
I don’t know

I am the groundhog’s shadow who learned to sing and I owe debts I cannot repay. I am a lucky little rodent.

The Glendale Folk and Heritage Festival kicks off Saturday and Sunday, March 21-22, 10 AM-5 PM, at the Sahuaro Ranch Park, 9802 North 59th Avenue in Glendale, Arizona.

Sahuaro Ranch Park Historic Area is an old Valley fruit ranch and vegetable farm featuring 13 original buildings, a rose garden, barnyard and historic orchards adorning the 17 acre park. This weekend it will play host to over 150 folk musicians performing, jamming, and conducting workshops at 9 different venues on the site, including D-Squared playing at 10:30 AM on Sunday in the Fruit Packing Shed.

In addition to performances of everything from folk to bluegrass, gospel to contemporary singer/songwriter, from celtic and blues to cowboy poetry and storytelling – there are workshops on ukulele, banjo, musical saw, spoons, concertina, dulcimer, guitar, songwriting, harmony singing, percussion, childrens’ music, Woody Guthrie, Stephen Foster, and American belly dancing. Ample opportunities exist for unscheduled performers to play at open sessions as well as jam and network with other players, so bring your instruments.

The Phoenix Folk Festival was held for many years at Encanto Park and organized by our friend Lon Austin. Phoenix lost interest when Lon retired from Parks & Recreation, so he has moved the festival to The Sahuaro Ranch Park which looks like an even better venue. This unique festival also includes family entertainment, historic site tours, blacksmith demonstrations, a children’s stage and activity area and much more. Food and snacks will be available for purchase. Admission is FREE!

So we invite you to join us for one of the best weekends to be outdoors in the Valley. I can smell the orange blossoms. Chuck Pyle, Sue Harris, Phil Shanks, Bill Burke, Fred Coon, Joe Bethancourt, Annie Moscow and many other old and new folk friends will be there too.

You can look this event up at GlendaleAZ.com (click on “Parks & Recreation” in QuickLinks, then “Glendale Folk & Heritage Festival”) for more details, including performance and workshop schedules (although you won’t find us on the schedule, we were last minute additions). You can also call 632.930.4200.

A pagan spiritual born on the Great Plains.

You are lost on your way unto glory
Shorn like a lamb in the cold
Where no angels dare trumpet their story
For the depth of the night is untold

Oh the path lies in beauty before us
Feathered wings whisper softly in flight
We are guiding your way through the forest
We’re the shadow that cries to the night
Who, who, who, who, who
Who, who, who, who, who

Do not question the fate that has brought you
In this darkness there’s nowhere to hide
We are sent by the ones who hath wrought you
Entrusted with your final ride

Oh the path lies in beauty before us
Feathered wings whisper softly in flight
We are guiding your way through the forest
We’re the shadow that cries to the night
Who, who, who, who, who
Who, who, who, who, who

With talons of steel we will hold you
You’ve no need to fear the fall
Let the breadth of the nightwinds enfold you
It’s just your turn to answer the call

Oh the path lies in beauty before us
Feathered wings whisper softly in flight
We are guiding your way through the forest
We’re the shadow that cries to the night
Who, who, who, who, who
Who, who, who, who, who

You can play a sample of  El Dia de los Muertos/Owlsong:

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