By Sarah Mansheim
One of two final performances in the 2014-2015 Mainstage Performance series, Carnegie Hall brings to the stage Jayme Stone’s Lomax Project featuring Tim O’Brien on Saturday, May 2, at 7:30 p.m. Concert goers may enjoy food and beverage before the show in the Mainstage Lounge. The Lounge, hosted by Hill and Holler Bicycle Works, will be open from 6:45-7:25 p.m. and will reopen at intermission. Tickets for the Lounge may be purchased for $5 at the door or in advance.
Focusing on songs collected by folklorist and field recording pioneer Alan Lomax, Jayme Stone’s collaboratory brings together some of North America’s most distinctive and creative roots musicians to revive, recycle and re-imagine traditional music. The repertoire includes Bahamian sea chanties, African-American a cappella singing from the Georgia Sea Islands, ancient Appalachian ballads, fiddle tunes and work songs collected from both well-known musicians and everyday folk: sea captains, cowhands, fishermen, prisoners and homemakers.
Stone’s new album was released on Borealis Records on Mar. 3, 2015. Since that time it has received rave reviews. “This project is not about the collector – it’s about the songs and the way Stone and his musical team take them to new, often harmonious, heights.” —CBC MUSIC
Stone is a Toronto, Canada native, and says the Lomax Project is two years in the making. Stone is a banjo player, who usually plays more contemporary work. He told the Mountain Messenger that the traditional music he discovered through Lomax’s work, has been a “kind of a homecoming” for him.
“I’ve brought together some of my favorite musicians to rework and re-imagine some of the songs,” Stone says. Re-imaginings include some changes to the music and even to the lyrics. The entire project suited him, he says, not only because of his love of traditional music, but because of the enormity of the collection Lomax left behind. Over 17,000 recordings are housed in the Library of Congress.
Stone’s tour is supporting his new album, Jayme Stone’s Lomax Project. He says the album will feature the musicians who are travelling with him on tour along with many others. The album includes a 60-page booklet filled with photographs from Lomax’s travels that have been archived along with the music in the Library of Congress.
Appearing in concert with Stone for the May 2 performance are Tim O’Brien and Margaret Glaspy on vocals and guitar, Joe Phillips on upright bass, and Brittany Haas on fiddle.
To purchase concert tickets, call 304-645-7917 or visit www.carnegiehallwv.org. Ticket prices for this performance range from $25-$35 with discounts available for members, seniors, students and military.
Carnegie Hall’s 2014-15 arts programming is presented with financial assistance from the West Virginia Division of Culture and History, and the National Endowment for the Arts, with approval from the West Virginia Commission on the Arts.