Focus On Folk
The Ann Arbor Folk Festival promises to be an extravaganza of major
traditional and contemporary artists, as well as notable up-and-comers.
whom Grisman calls "the greatest living exponent of
Jewish music in America."
It was Statman's work in klezmer music that got
Grisman interested in Jewish music. "[Andy] made a
lifelong pilgrimage into Jewish music and mastered
the mandolin and the clarinet. He studied with
[master klezmer clarinetist] Dave Tarras.
"I was never what you would call an observant
Jew,'' recalls Grisman, who celebrated his bar mitz-
vah. "I've always felt strong cultural roots. I always
wanted. to do something with Jewish music and
Statman was my entrance into Jewish music.
"I feel like there's always been an influence of
Hebraic melodies in my music that I write. I write a
lot in minor keys," he observes. Then he jokes, "I
blame my Jewish background for that."
`Boo!'
• Left to right: David Grisman: An influence of Hebraic melodies.
The Austin Lounge Lizards, featuring Oak Park native Boo Resnick, top. (Don't make fun of his name. The Oak
Park native holds a history degree from the University of Michigan.)
Lucy Kaplansky: Psychologist/singer.
AUDREY BECKER
Special to the Jewish News
IIE
aking its 25th appearance on
Saturday, Jan. 26, at Hill Auditorium,
the Ann Arbor Folk Festival, a fund-
raiser for the nonprofit acoustic music
venue the Ark, this year features headliners includ-
ing Nanci Griffith, Doc Watson and David
Grisman, Greg Brown, Lucy Kaplansky and the
Austin Lounge Lizards.
The returning co-emcees of this year's festival are folk
performer Matt Watroba, producer and host of Folks
Like Us on WDET, and blues instrumentalist Robert
Jones, host of WDET's Blues From the Lowlands.
Planning the festival's 25th anniversary has made
her nostalgic, says Linda Siglin, co-founder, with her
husband Dave Siglin, of the Ark. "It obviously gets
you thinking about how time passes. It's like a good
marriage; it sort of creeps up on you."
The Siglins, intending this year's festival to be special,
are bringing to the stage a long list of favorite performers,
including Jewish artists David Grisman, Lucy Kaplansky
and Boo Resnick of the Austin Lounge Lizards.
The spirit of the festival itself is special, notes
Siglin. • "The interaction, that's what I look forward
to. The performers watch the other performers, so
you get a heightened performance from [each of]
the artists. People tend to give brilliant performanc-
es, stunning performances."
This year, Siglin points to headliner Nanci Griffith
as a special treat. "[Griffith] can knock a song
dead," she exclaims.
Newer artists always show up on the bill. Says Siglin,
"The wonderment of it is that you can still discover
brand-new people and get re-energized, maybe even get
excited about something you never even liked before."
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2002
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And local performers are represented, too, empha-
sizing the importance of the local community.
In addition to her excitement about the perform-
ers, Siglin really glows when talking about the audi-
ences who have come out to support the Ark, one of
the country's top venues for folk music.
"We wanted this year's festival to be special for the
fans that have been coming over the years," she says.
"The camaraderie the audience shares with the event
has always been gratifying to the Ark. Without it,
the Ark simply wouldn't be here."
Dawg Music
David Grisman, mandolin virtuoso and musical inno-
vator, has been a crucial element in the development
of acoustic music over the past several decades. His-
famous nickname, "Dawg," given to Grisman by long-
time friend the late Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead,
is now the moniker of Grisman's innovative music
style, "Dawg Music" — a blend of various influences
from swing, bluegrass, Jewish music and Latin jazz.
The musician will perform with the legendary
Doc Watson, who virtually invented the idea of
playing traditional mountain fiddle tunes on flattop
guitar, and brought Appalachian folk music to the
nation's concert halls.
Grisman — whose friendship with Jerry Garcia
was the subject of last year's intimate film documen-
tary Grateful Dawg — continues to bring acoustic
music to audiences with Acoustic Disc, a label he
launched in 1990.
Among the nearly 50 . release5 from Acoustic Disc
over the past 10 years is a project called "Songs of
our Fathers," which features Jewish traditional music.
"Songs of our Fathers" developed from a partner-
ship between Gr.fs`man and protege Andy Statman,
The Austin Lounge Lizards' current release, Never an
Adult Moment, is the latest in their series of idiosyn-
cratic "bluegrass-intellectual-ironic-redneck-philo-
sophical" tunes. Songs on their latest release include
"Forty Years Old and I'm Livin' in My My Mom's
Garage," "Rasputin's HMO" and
"Asheville/Crashville."
With literate lyrics that scrutinize and satirize politics,
love, religion, and culture, the Li7nrds include Conrad
Deisler, lawyer, on acoustic lead guitar, Richard Bowden
on mandolin and fiddle; Tom Pittman on banjo and
pedal steel guitar; and Boo Resnick on bass.
"I've found that Jewish melody and harmony are
similar to the blues in a lot of ways — minor
modes, bent notes, soulful interpretation," explains
Resnick, who also sings.
The musician, who grew up in Oak Park and
attended the University of Michigan from 1968- _
1972, joined the Lizards in 1995. His father—
whom Resnick credits with a "marvelous baritone'
— has been a cantor for about 50 years, singing at
many area synagogues, including Temple Israel in
Detroit and, most recently, Beth Israel in Windsor.
His Jewish background has definitely affected the
way Resnick approaches music, he says. "I just love
klezmer music.
"We do a song by Emily Kaitz called `Suzie
Rosen's Nose,' which is about a Jewish princess who
gets a nose job. It's a very funny song, and of course,
I'm the only one in the band who could pull it off.
"I promise, it's not offensive." Resnick jokes, "...
unless you listen to the lyrics."
In a previous group — an oldies rock band —
Rsenick was called upon to lead "Hava Nagila" at an
occasional bar mitzvah or Jewish wedding. "I'm the
Jewish ambassador for my bands," he says.
Because of his Ann Arbor past, the folk festival is
special to Resnick. "Every time we play the Ark, I'm
just flooded with all kinds of memories," he says.
"I love to walk around campus whenever I get the
chance, and get all sentimental about my college
days. Believe it or not, I still have some brain cells
left that can remember what it was like back then."
Dr. Lucy
Lucy Kaplansky, who grew up in a Reform Jewish
home, began her career in the early '80s Greenwich