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No upcoming concerts, friends.
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HUGH'S NEWS (2/2/22) |
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Hugh Blumenfeld, Short Bio: A long, long
time
ago, I left the pre-med track to study poetry and poetics. At the time,
I saw it as a choice between treating the body or treating the
soul. I studied and taught literature and creative writing for ten
years - a gypsy scholar going from university to
university. I wrote about how we become drawn to the wisdom of poet
William Blake long before we understand him, about creative writing and
chaos theory, about the Beatles and Orientalism, and I taught
Kepler, Darwin, Einstein, Freud and Rachel Carson as poets. My
students read Martín Espada, Marilyn Nelson, Leo Connellan and Doug
Anderson, poets who were actually alive and magically appeared in
the classroom, and they listened to Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Bob
Dylan, Gil Scott Heron and others (though only Jack Hardy, Cheryl
Wheeler, Andrew Calhoun, Kat Eggleston and Frank Tedesso showed up to
sing). Along the way I started writing songs and eventually left academia to become a full-time singer-songwriter, touring around the U.S. and in Europe for the next decade. I lived in NYC through most of the 80's, and got involved with the Fast Folk scene in Greenwich Village. During that time I worked with many amazing artists including my producer/collaborators David Seitz and Mark Dann; together we made five albums, the first four released on Prime-CD and the last released on Waterbug. I even made a studio recording in Europe, put out by Paul Rostetter on the Swiss folk music label, Brambus. I could never thank these collaborators and co-conspirators enough.I also owe a debt of gratitude to all the club owners and coffeehouse organizers who invited me to play for their audiences, encouraged me in my work, and showed me the most amazing hospitality. Mostly, I am grateful to those of you who came to the shows and listened to my music.
Check out the band: The Faithful Sky!
The Faithful Sky. Jim Mercik, HB, Mark Hall, Jeff Buchbinder
THE LATEST CD: A Children's album for adults. My 7th album, Dad, came out on Waterbug Records, which is now, sadly, defunct. This collection is half children's album, half parents' album. Most of the songs were made up as lullabies & play songs for my boys when they were little, as a way of making it through early mornings & late nights. There may be used copies of this CD around; I believe it can be downloaded at iTunes. Reviewed in Folk Roots (UK).
Earlier CDs & MP3s
Fast Folk
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Remembering Ed Smith and Jim Romanow - two friends whom I feel lucky to have played with for many years. |
It's
been pretty quiet for everyone, strange times. The band was able to do
the first pandemic Bread Box concert of the 2020 at the Shaboo Stage in
Willimantic in September, with our old friends Mad Agnes. The big lawn
was marked up to make a huge checkerboard drive-in theater. We
played the Bread Box again in December 2021, this time back at St
Paul's Church - everyone was masked of course and we played a bunch of
new songs. For details on upcoming gigs
 * * * * * * * OTHER FOLKS FAVORITE (obscure) SONGWRITERS Andrew Calhoun. Prolific songwriter & poet, scholar & presenter of traditional spirituals & Scottish ballads, tireless advocate of other artists. He sings about the redeeming power of love, the endless struggle to be human, in songs that have the purity of water. For about 25
years I've been holding on to a cassette of songs by Brian Anderson. I
met Brian at Kerrville Folk Festival in 1991 and for the next five
years I'd make special trips out to Chicago mostly to see him, Richard
Krueger, Kat Eggleston and Andrew Calhoun. Brian introduced me to The
Charleston, a Cheers-like bar on Chicago's west side, and we shared many gigs there. I
have covered his song "Map to Another World"
for years, thinking I was one of only a handful of people who knew the
song even existed (Brian never toured and the album was never released
on CD). Imagine my surprise when the song turned up on the TV
series Transparent.
Of course, the show is written by Jill Soloway, sometimes with her
sister and folk goddess Faith Soloway. How did they hear it? Sadly, Brian died in 2021. Annie Gallup . No one tells a story like Annie, half singing, half chanting - a kind of musical sorcery. On her newest album, Weather, she sings with a string quartet, taking her out of the realm of folk music altogether. Truly inspired. Other favorite songwriters: Greg Brown, Richard Shindell, Dar WIlliams, The Nields, J.P. Jones. Recently departed: Dave Carter, Jack Hardy, Bill Morrissey, Utah Phillips Guilty Pleasures: Fountains of Wayne, Magnetic Fields. GREAT MUSIC WEBSITES Smithsonian/Folkways
- You are crazy if you don't visit this site and download vintage mp3's
from the very earliest recordings of artists like Suzanne Vega, Tracy
Chapman, Nanci Griffith, Lyle Lovett, Shawn Colvin and others - all
captured by Fast Folk Musical Magazine between 1982 and 1996. Susan Forbes Hansen, Long-time host of the Sunday Night Folk Festival (7-10PM) on WHUS, now has a new show on WWUH Friday mornings. She, too, has a blog. Hober Thinking Radio - 24/7 streaming webcast, remarkably consistent - and remarkably, still streaming after years and years. etree.org / Internet Music Archive.
Mother lode of free music, from rare 78's & blues classics to the
40,000 live concert bootlegs by 2000+ artists including Greatful Dead,
Billy Bragg, Billy Bragg, Lucy Kaplansky... also connects to Democracy
Now archives, presidential speeches, and other educational stuff. What
the internet was meant to be. ART & PHOTOGRAPHY
Peter Crowley, is an iconoclastic photographer - for years
he never digitally edited or even cropped any photo. What he wants to
give viewers is what he saw through his viewfinder in that instant of
perceiving and simultaneously creating it.
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For comments, bookings, or to buy CDs direct,
signmail at hughblumenfeld.com or via my Facebook page. |
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Site Credits
website content and design: © 1998-2018 Hugh Blumenfeld
transparent hand graphic: photo & art by Andrea Gaines; computer magic
by Harvee Riggs
three-handed guitar logo art: Mark Bilokur
Hugh's publicity photos: Peter J. Crowley (www.peterjcrowley.com)
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I Will Die In Willimantic (adapted from “Black Stone upon a White Stone” a by Sandy Taylor) Between an ashcan and a broken bottle Waiting for the dawn Dreaming of foreheads and decks of cards And a song that goes on and on CHORUS: I will die in Willimantic I will die in Willimantic I will die in Willimantic Dreaming of ice cream and whiskey Dreaming of ice cream and whiskey I will think of the beautiful words I will say as I am going But no one will stop to listen ‘Cause the game will still be playing CHORUS I will die in Willimantic As the pigeons start to flutter Edging and rustling toward morning Where the poetry’s bound to be better CHORUS I will die - on a Friday With my pockets turned inside out “God how could you do this to me Now I’ll miss the whole weekend,” I’ll shout CHORUS ==================================== Because (from the poem by Sandy Taylor) Because - we snapped the hollow words of our fathers Because - we left the pale tears of our mothers Because hópe - dróve us like ráin through the grásslands cóvered with bones Because - we could see the blue mountains Because - they shone like the face of a lover Because nada and dada rushed on to the sea on a river of mud and blood that we crossed singing that we crossed singing CHORUS: Because - because we know the road is long And we know we can only go dancing and singing part of the way Because - ‘cause every blow has made us strong And we know we can only go marching and fighting part of the way Because - in our hearts is a tiger Because - it is stirring and stretching (its limbs) Because everything under the glorious sun is ours and goes on with us forever CHORUS: Because - because we know the road is long And we know we can only go dancing and singing part of the way Because - ‘cause every blow has made us strong And we know we can only go marching and fighting part of the way Because - because we know we’ll soon be gone And we know we can only go dancing and singing and laughing and drinking and thinking and writing and working and fighting part of the way.... lighting the way  Sandy Taylor & Judy Doyle |
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Smithsonian/Folkways now houses the 
