Good Ol' Persons

**AlanN** · Feb-13-2011, 4:28pm

Recently seeded the mp3 player with the 2 1980's studio albums

I Can't Stand To Ramble
and
Part Of A Story

Forgot how good these are. Terrific songs, harmonies and JR on mandolin. Itzbin Reel is taken at a slower pace than I pick it. I like it there. I think there was a live recording done, too, with Blue Night, some others. Are there any other recordings that this particular band did back then?

**R. Kane** · Feb-13-2011, 4:42pm

Good n Live is available on iTunes. None of the others, though.

**Spruce** · Feb-13-2011, 5:27pm

Originally Posted by AlanN

Are there any other recordings that this particular band did back then?

There are lots of good live soundboards kicking around of that particular band....
Not sure where you might find those....

I remember going to see them just about every week in the 70's at a pizza joint...
They ripped...

The original band had Laurie Lewis onboard too...

Man, I miss those days....

**mandopete** · Feb-15-2011, 9:12am

FWIW I have been bugging the Wintergrass people to stage a Good Ol' Persons reunion gig. John Reischman told me that it's entirely possible and that the only tricky part is to get Sally Van Meter.

My understanding is that Kathy Kallick owns the rights to their old recordings, you might contact her. I know we have a neat live collection CD at the radio station, along with some vinyl.

**AlanN** · Feb-15-2011, 9:39am

That band had a real niche, very much was of the California bg sound back then. I remember there was a later version of the band that toured, I caught them at the Salem County fairgrounds, Brandywine Bluegrass Festival in S. Jersey, probably 1996 or so. Todd Phillips was on bass then. Talking to John, I told him I had caught the TRU at The Bottom Line in NYC in 1981. He said that was the first time he had played in the Big Apple.

Long ago and far away...

**SternART** · Feb-15-2011, 10:15am

Yeah..... I feel more like I do now, than I did back then. (frankspeak)

**AlanN** · Feb-15-2011, 10:37am

A cool number they did was 'You Don't Miss Your Water...', start off in '3' time, then kick into bg time. John's solo on the fast part was, in a word, awesome.

**journeybear** · Feb-15-2011, 10:43am

Long ago and far away is right. I remember the fiddler Kevin Wimmer from well before he joined Good Ol' Persons, when I attended his senior recital at Wesleyan on the advice of Stacey Phillips, who had been tutoring him (so to speak) on the nuances of playing fiddle, as different from violin. For a year or two after that he played in a six-person band around CT with other people who had been in the same Wesleyan program, some of whom (the mandolin player, for instance) had built their own instruments. (My interest was mostly focussed on the banjo player, who had a nice clawhammer style and was seriously cute to boot.) When Kevin left only to resurface later in Good Ol' Persons on stage at Winterhawk during the time when I went there every year, it was one of those "Hey! I know that guy!" moments I'll always remember. To learn now of the other members of that band (I recognized Laurie Lewis, but didn't know of John Reischman's existence until I joined the Café) and the high regard they and the band itself command is very gratifying, to think of how far someone I knew back in the day travelled. This was all back in the early to mid-1980s. Nice to be reminded of this all these years later.

**Potosimando** · Feb-15-2011, 11:01am

I have a Good-ol'-Persons CD titled "Anywhere the Wind Blows" (Kaleidoscope K-38) , recorded from Feb. thru May 1989. The CD lists the above "I Can't Stand to Ramble" (Kaleidoscope F-17) and "Part of a Story" (Kaleidoscope F-26 and C-26), as also available. I was told that "Anywhere the Wind Blows" was GOP's last album and that very few copies were ever distributed because of a fire or something that destroyed most of the CD's early on (I don't have any idea how much truth there might be to that story however).

**AlanN** · Feb-15-2011, 11:04am

My intro into the stylings of JR (likely same for many) was his work on the 2 Rice records Backwaters and Still Inside. He literally burst on the scene then, right in the midst of Dawg music. His playing was subtle, hip and sparkling sounding. Not quite as strident or forceful as Grisman (which was great in its own right), but rather sophisticated and complex. JR was the perfect mando guy for Tony on those recordings. And his North Of The Border recording is still very much listened to today.

**Spruce** · Feb-15-2011, 12:15pm

Man, what a hotbed for California bluegrass in the Bay Area back in the 70's, with some incredible musicians playing every night at places like Paul's Saloon and the aforementioned Red Vest Pizza Parlor.
Hard to imagine the intercom shouting "PIZZA ORDER NUMBER 65!!! over an amazing John Reischman mandolin solo......

I ran into Kathy and her family over in Hawaii last summer, and we had a great time talking about those days in the 70's....
We all met up to go see an amazing evening of music with Ledward Kaapana at a little microbrewery just east of Honolulu, which reminded both of us of the Red Vest days...
Here's a shot:

**journeybear** · Feb-15-2011, 9:44pm

That is quite a tease. I'm sure a lot of folks here know who all of them are, but I don't, not on sight. Care to share?

Further research turned up the name of the band Kevin was in before Good Ol' Persons - Little City String Band. He left before they recorded, apparently. That may have been named for a previous name for Middletown, where Wesleyan U. is located. They also played Cajun music as The Swampstompers. That was after Kevin had left and been replaced by Sandol Astrausky. Amy Davis, the banjo player I mentioned, is now in NC, playing in The Hushpuppies. And I just found out Sandol is living in my old home town in RI.

Small world indeed! Sometimes I love the internet, when it helps sort out longstanding mysteries, find long lost friends, and turn up fascinating information like that. Well, to me anyway.

**worldviewman** · Jan-11-2012, 9:52pm

Originally Posted by Spruce

There are lots of good live soundboards kicking around of that particular band....
Not sure where you might find those....

I remember going to see them just about every week in the 70's at a pizza joint...
They ripped...

The original band had Laurie Lewis onboard too...

Man, I miss those days....

_________________________

Was that at the Red Vest Pizza Parlor in El Cerrito? My wife and I would make the trek from Fremont regularly to catch them along with some other great Bay Area bands of that era - great stuff!

**Ivan Kelsall** · Jan-12-2012, 1:24am

As a rider to this thread,who were the members of the Grant Street String Band back in the early '80's ?. I saw them at a Bluegrass Festival over here in the UK. Now,the LP info.names these members :- Laurie Lewis / Beth Weil / Greg Townsend / Tom Bekeny & Steve Krouse ,but when i saw them they had a Banjo player with them & i always thought that it was Keith Little. Did Keith Little ever play with TGSSB ?,
Ivan

**Cornelius Morris** · Jan-12-2012, 9:57am

Rutabaga Boogie!

**Paul Kotapish** · Jan-12-2012, 1:55pm

Originally Posted by Ivan Kelsall

Did Keith Little ever play with TGSSB ?

Keith did play banjo with Laurie and Grant Street for a while in the early '80s. Laurie is still on Grant Street--we were neighbors for a long while when I lived around the corner--but the band has evolved into the "Right Hands," with Tom Rozum, Chad Manning, Andrew Conklin, and Patrick Sauber (with occasional subs from Todd Phillips, Craig Smith, and Scott Huffman)--great players all.

Bought my first F-5 at the Fifth String when they had a shop next to Paul's Saloon back in the '70s. We were busking our way down the coast and stopped in San Francisco to hear some of the great bands. The Good Ol' Persons were playing Paul's Saloon and we got there early, so I stopped into the Fifth String and dropped every penny I had--and then some--on one of Stan Miller's original rosewood F-5s. Great trip!

The Bay Area had a bunch of wonderful bluegrass and old-time bands going in those days, and was (and still is) a hugely influential scene for strong women fronting bands and writing their own material. Any Old Time String Band had some great players, for example, and the Arkansas Sheiks were another all-star string band of the era.

Any Old Time:

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L to R: Valerie Mindel, Suzy Thompson, Sue Draheim, Genny Haley, Kate Brislin

Arkansas Sheiks:

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L to R: Tom Marion, Michael Drayton, Josie Mendelsohn, Hoyle Osborne, Karana Drayton, Laurie Lewis, Tony Marcus, and Kate Brislin.

**Ivan Kelsall** · Jan-13-2012, 5:19am

Hi Paul - Many thanks for that. I'm certain that it was Keith Little who was playing Banjo when i saw them back then.They played the Edale Bluegrass Festival,in Derbyshire UK ,always held on the first full weekend in June - it was snowing !. Don't forget the Vern Williams band with whom Keith Played for quite a while.One of the finest 'trad.'bands from CA,
Ivan

**mandopete** · Jan-13-2012, 10:30am

I saw Keith playing with Kathy Kallick years ago up in Canada in a group called "The Little Big Band" with John Reischman and Todd Phillips. This was about the time that Todd Phillips released his Bill Monroe tribute recording. I thought that was a great line up!

**AlanN** · Jan-13-2012, 10:40am

I remember that band. So many small permutations of who played with who back then. They were all great.

**mandopete** · Jan-13-2012, 12:19pm

Originally Posted by AlanN

So many small permutations of who played with who back then. They were all great.

NorCal Bluegrass Mafia!

That was the first time I heard John play Cat's Eye and Big Bug.

**AlanN** · Jan-13-2012, 12:36pm

Cat's Eye.

Whazzat?

**mandopete** · Jan-13-2012, 3:49pm

Originally Posted by AlanN

Cat's Eye.

Whazzat?

Never heard that one? It's on North of the Border.

**AlanN** · Jan-13-2012, 4:42pm

Ah, thanks. Then I need to dig that out of the pile and listen again.

**Paul Kotapish** · Jan-13-2012, 7:07pm

Originally Posted by Ivan Kelsall

Hi Paul - Don't forget the Vern Williams band with whom Keith Played for quite a while. One of the finest 'trad.'bands from CA

Absolutely, Ivan. Vern (and Ray, too) was the true vine for sure. And there were plenty of other great bands from that era--High Country (still going strong), Phantoms of the Opry, Done Gone, Old and in the Way (if only briefly), Blue Flame String Band, and loads more, plus individuals like Jody Stecher, Eric Thompson, et al, who moved in and out of various bands at the time.

**Ivan Kelsall** · Jan-14-2012, 12:59am

I saw Butch Waller & High Country over here many years ago.I think they played the Abergele (in Wales UK) Bluegrass Festival in 1991.Tom Beckeney was with them as was Larry Cohea on Banjo & Jim Mintun on Dobro. It was the first time i heard the song 'Cold Rain & Snow'. Jim sang it & although i've heard Del McCoury's version of it many times since,Jim Mintun 'nailed it' totally.I'm pretty sure that Butch Waller's brother was in the band as well - a great weekend !,
Ivan