SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL

Mary McCaslin's Roundup

August 6, 2009

WESTERN MUSIC COMES TO FELTON

Since taking over the running of their Crockett, Texas family ranch in 1983, the Gillette Brothers, Guy and Pipp, have found that diversification is not only necessary, it keeps things interesting. They have continued their involvement in the cattle business and are also in the music business, both as performers and running the Camp St. Cafe.

The resurgence of interest in cowboy music and poetry in recent years has allowed the Gillette Brothers to combine their life long interest in the history and music of the west with their musical experience. They have played every major cowboy poetry gathering and festival in the U.S., have played abroad, and have recorded six albums of traditional cowboy songs interspersed with a few originals. Their most recent, Many Long Miles to Ride, was released in 2006. This recording explores the Celtic roots, country blues, minstrel and medicine show songs that influenced cowboy music. There is a lot of clawhammer banjo on this recording. Strictly speaking, clawhammer (or frailing, as it also called) is not authentic to the music cowboys played in the 1800s and early 1900s. The banjo technique then would have been more primitive, often a “finger-style,” but not like modern bluegrass banjo. Clawhammer is a pre-bluegrass style, but the polished clawhammer playing we hear today would not have been heard back then. In the notes for the song Diamond Joe, Guy and Pipp mention that their arrangement for the song was inspired by the first chapter of Jack Thorpe’s book Pardner of the Wind, Banjo in the Cowcamps. Thorpe was the first known collector of cowboy songs.

There is a compelling edge to Guy and Pipp’s singing style. Their performances and choice of material lend authenticity to their music. Real cowboys did not sit around the campfire singing only cowboy ballads. They sang pop songs of the day, blues, Celtic songs, minstrel pieces and whatever they felt like singing. There were no rules. Only in fairly recent times have “cowboy singers” pretty much exclusively performed western songs and ballads. But yet, if one were to spend time with modern working cowboys it would quickly become apparent that they listen to anything from rock, pop and country to folk and even classical music.

On their Many Long Miles to Ride CD the Gillettes perform the old ballad, Oh Bury Me Not, which is based on a poem called The Ocean-Buried. The melody and cowboy lyrics were added later, but according to the notes in the CD booklet, the song was over-done to the point that it was “prohibited.” They do the song beautifully, but have also found lesser known, but equally good versions of some of the traditional songs they perform. This, among other things, sets them above many other cowboy performers.

Another accomplishment is their involvement in having a statue of Blues Legend Lightnin’ Hopkins erected in Crockett.

The Gillette Brothers perform this Sunday night at Don Quixote’s Music Hall, 6275 Highway 9 in Felton. The starting time is 7 p.m. Call 603-2294.

LOSS FOR THE LOCAL MUSIC COMMUNITY

Last week our music community lost a giant. Randall Kane, former owner of the Catalyst nightclub, passed away at home in Corralitos.

Randall was a beloved curmudgeon, whose impact on the local music scene was incalculable. He brought many big name performers to play at the Catalyst and was known to help out struggling painters and other visual artists through purchasing their work, often displaying it at the Catalyst.

My husband, Greg Arrufat, has posted an on-line memorial to Randall at www.marymccaslin.com/rpk.

Contact Mary McCaslin at roundup@marymccaslin.com