View Full Version : where is dewie farmer
anyone know how to track down dewie farmer? I have one of his old mandoins and wanted to ask him a few Questions about it. (hope i spelled his name right)
f5loar
Apr-02-2004, 10:35pm
Dewey Farmer (the man who showed Big Mon over a 1000 new licks) lives in Kannapolis, NC. He has owned dozens of mandolins, mostly F5's over the years. Which one did you get? If you can't find him through information contact me offlist. isenhour@vnet.net
GTison
Apr-04-2004, 3:05pm
what's the story there? 'bout him showing monroe licks etc. I've heard that referenced before. care to enhance the rumor??
f5loar
Apr-04-2004, 9:05pm
If you have ever heard Dewey pick in person you know it's no rumor. Many have taken the Monroe style to new levels but Dewey did it first.
GTison
Apr-04-2004, 9:23pm
how old is he?
f5loar
Apr-06-2004, 7:40pm
He's timeless therefore ageless but if I had to guess he's in his 60's.
Brian Aldridge
Apr-06-2004, 7:45pm
I bought a cassette of Dewey from Harry West, and I have to say, Dewey is bad to the bone.
GTison
Apr-06-2004, 8:52pm
when did Monroe get his licks from Dewie? in the 30's,40's or 50's? How'd they meet?
f5loar
Apr-09-2004, 12:02am
If you know your Monroe you know his style changed about every decade. That's because of Dewey who first meet Monroe in the mid 50's. You can start to hear his enfluence on Monroe's style with Bluegrass Stomp and Bluegrass Twist. Songs like Dusty Miller, Kentucky Mandolin,Big Sandy River,and Tombstone Junction, Southern Flavor have Farmer licks all in them. Few mandolin players have been allowed on stage with Monroe. Dewey is one of the few. This reminds me of the joke about the guy next to the Pope. If I'm not mistaken, Farmer was also a big enfluence on John Duffy. His break on "Bottom of the Glass" is pure Dewey.
Dewey put the core in hard-core.
GTison
Apr-09-2004, 11:41am
That is very interesting! ... do you have suggested listening for him.
since most of those tunes you mentioned above are very classic the influence must be very broadbased. I'd love to hear him and compare. who did he play with in the 50's. I guess he never quit his day job or he'd be well known.
mandoJeremy
Apr-09-2004, 3:07pm
Here in North Carolina Dewey is quite well known! The dude can play. I remember a jam backstage at the Old Rock School with me, Wayne Benson, and Dewey and I know I learned a few licks!
f5loar
Apr-09-2004, 10:55pm
Alan sure nailed Dewey on the head! Hard Core bluegrass from the roots. I never saw him break a string. Amazing to see him live. Very few avaiable recordings as most all are long out of print. I never felt his recordings captured the raw grit Dewey shows live. He has been in hundreds of bands since the 50's and even has headed up his own band Powder Creek after the rare instrumental Roland and Clarence White wrote. You got it he even showed Roland a lick or two. Monroe got so jealous of Dewey when he joined forces with exBluegrass Boy Carl Story in the early 70's that he insisted Story let him go as Dewey was showing up Big Mon at all the festivals they appeared together at.
It was a young David Grisman who quitely studied Farmer at the world famous Union Grove Contest in the mid 60's. From this Grisman was able to piece Farmer licks together in to what would a decade later turn out to be Dawg music. Dewey may be the last of the great mandolin power hitters of our time.
One of his recordings is called the Old Red Barn and has a nice cover shot of him holding a gorgeous 26 F-5. All instrumental, it features good local musicians like Ken Poovey and Wayne Winkle. He out-Monroes Monroe on Southern Flavor - you talk about ancient tones, this stuff is pre-Cambrian...
and btw, f5loar, Powder Creek was written at a rest stop on the NJ Turnpike, bet you didn't know that!
Christian
Apr-11-2004, 3:40am
Yes Alan, this is surely one nice mandolin. Same Factory number as Bobby Osborne's or the Fern in Gruhn's book (Acoustic Guitars pp 90). I remember reading somewhere that Dewey aquired it from Harry West, and he choosed from several mandolins, including a couple of Loars. he liked that one the best.
Do you know if the Red Barn record is still available and if we can order it somewhere? maybe directly from Dewey?
Christian Seguret
f5loar
Apr-11-2004, 8:12pm
Dewey no longer has the '26 Fern.
He's playing a new Gibson "Dewey Farmer" signature model Fern. I think he still has a CE Ward custom F5 too.
If you are lucky enough to get ahold of one of Dewey's mandolins it's got the mojo in built in.
He's broke in more F5s than Clinton has interns.
GTison
Apr-13-2004, 9:12am
I tried to do a search but didn't come up with much as far as listening material. does anyone have any live tapes they'd like to trade for? I got some stuff to trade. monroe,Mccoury, etc.audio and VhS.
f5loar
Apr-13-2004, 10:23am
Dewey for obvious reasons does not allow tape recording of his live shows. There might be a few bootlegs floating but quality would be poor. You could probalby give Harry West in Statesville, NC a call and see if he has any of Dewey's CDs left in his store. Harry to my knowledge is the only authorised dealer for CDs by Dewey other than from
Dewey direct. Harry does mail orders.
Dewey told me one time he practices 4 hours a day on just licks. I believe it!
AlanN
Apr-13-2004, 10:34am
Hey Tom, going to Denton this year?
f5loar
Apr-13-2004, 7:24pm
It's like the next weekend after MerleFest this year so I won't make it this time but I bet Dewey Farmer will be there with his F5 in tow. He was there last year and showed me a few licks in the parking lot.
MerleFest is so big it whips me out and it takes me a month to get over the ringing of banjos, mandolins and guitars in my ears. Let's do Galax this year!