Jimmy Ryan + Mark Spencer will be in Montpelier, VT 2/16/13

[SummitSchoolVT]

Saturday, Feb 16th Join Summit School for a rare appearance by two of Vermont's most accomplished and respected musicians - Mark Spencer and lefty mandolin ace Jimmy Ryan.

Their careers took shape in Vermont about 30 years ago as founding members of the seminal punk bands Pinhead and the Decentz. They then formed the group Blood Oranges, an alt-country band from the early 90's. In 1995, Mark Spencer left the band to tour with Lisa Loeb. The group disbanded. Jim Ryan and Cheri Knight have gone on to other musical projects, and the band reunited to record the song "Gathering Flowers for the Master's Bouquet" for the 2003 soundtrack of the Motion Picture The Slaughter Rule.

Mark Spencer is an American guitarist, steel guitarist, engineer, multi-instrumentalist, and musician currently based in Brooklyn, New York. An original member of seminal alt-country band Blood Oranges, he continues to work as an in-demand band member and sideman with a diverse range of new and established musical artists. He has toured with Wanda Jackson, Lisa Loeb, Jay Farrar, Freedy Johnston, Tammy Faye Starlite and others. He is currently a member of the band Son Volt, and appears on their latest release American Central Dust as lap and pedal steel guitarist, keyboardist, background vocalist, and engineer.

Most noted for his left-handed imaginative mandolin playing, Jimmy Ryan’s old-timey voice and masterful songwriting reflect a seasoned musician indeed. He began his professional music career with a traditional bluegrass band Pine Island, but he is probably best known for founding and fronting the bluegrass tinged rock band, The Blood Oranges in the late 80’s. "Years before anyone had invented the label 'alt-country,' The Blood Oranges helped pioneer the style, with Ryan as lead singer and songwriter," claims Miles of Music.

WORKSHOP - 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. $35.
SHOWCASE - 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. $10.

WORKSHOP + SHOWCASE $40

HELD IN MONTPELIER, VT, SATURDAY, FEB 16TH AT MSAC, 58 BARRE STREET (JUST OFF MAIN). REGISTER AT SUMMIT-SCHOOL.ORG, OR AT THE DOOR.

[journeybear]

Nice to see this. I'm a big fan of Blood Oranges, mostly due to Cheri Knight (put out two excellent solo albums, then went back to flower farming) and Jimmy Ryan (whose contributions to Cher's second album "Northeast Kingdom" were among the first really impressive electric mandolin turns I remember hearing), and count myself fortunate to have seen them at a reunion gig in the late 90s, Lonesome Brothers opening, at some pretty nondescript roadhouse bar in western Mass. In retrospect, one hell of a show. Odd to learn that I probably saw Mark when I saw Lisa Loeb, though I wouldn't have known. Good to see he is in Son Volt; good for him and them.

Here's Jimmy (maybe Mark too, not sure) backing up Cheri:




I am not familiar with the song they did for that movie (or the movie, either), though I see it has been recorded by some greats - The Stanley Brothers, Kitty Wells, alone and in a duet with Hank Williams - and almost incredibly, performed once by Grateful Dead, on St. Stephen's Day 1969.




Good luck with this event. Oh, and BTW & FWIW, when cribbing from sources like wikipedia, it would be nice to give them credit. Not that too many care ...