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Event
Aaron Keim and James Hill in Concert
What: Aaron Keim and James Hill in Concert
When: Thursday, September 15, 2011, 7:30 pm
Where: Agate Alley's Laboratory, 2645 Willamette St Eugene, OR
Admission: $13.50 adv, $15 door
Contact info: Mike Meyer mmeyer@efn.org
Website: http://www.ukulelejames.com
Tickets available at www.brownpapertickets.com
Aaron Keim has a habit of getting himself into situations that he is not ready for. Then, when the heat is on, he lives up to these high expectations and explores his new path. This has lead him to a diverse and fulfilling career as performer, writer/scholar, teacher and luthier and gained him a reputation as a true renaissance man
As a performer, Aaron is mostly seen touring with indie folk string band Boulder Acoustic Society. On the side you can also see him in Flatfoot, Swing State and The Quiet American; playing Americana, trad jazz and jug band music. Although trained on the french horn in college, Aaron has taught himself to play the string bass, guitar, banjo, steel guitar and ukulele since 2000. In 2005, Aaron and Nicole released "Born in the Country Raised in Town," which features their diverse folk/blues/jazz tastes. In 2010, Aaron released "The Quiet American," which was recorded on wax cylinder!
Aaron honed his writing skills while working on his master's degree in music history at CU-Boulder. His specialty is depression era string bands and roots music culture. You may have read some of his work in Fretboard Journal, Old Time Herald, Pow'r Pickin, Fret Knot Magazine and Uke Mag.
While teaching public school orchestra fresh out of college, Aaron taught himself how to repair the musical instruments that the budget left behind. His interest in repair and lutherie has led him to start Beansprout Banjo Company, www.thebeansprout.com. When Aaron is on the road, he often teaches workshops on ukulele, old time banjo, fingerstyle guitar and string bass. When he is home, he pays the bills teaching lessons to people eager to learn from his diverse knowledge.
Besides Beansprout banjos and ukes (which he builds) Aaron plays Mike DaSilva ukulele's, Myamoe ukuleses, an OME Juniper banjo and an old Kay bass.
James Hill
We're in the midst of a revolution, albeit a small one. The ukulele, embraced by mainstream media from Oprah to American Idol, has returned from pop culture exile and become a tonic for modern malaise the world over. It's a beautiful thing.
But what now? What now for someone like James Hill who, since the release of Playing it like it isn't... in 2002, has made it his mission to convince skeptics of the beauty, versatility and appeal of this chronically underestimated instrument?
For starters, True Love Don't Weep, his first full-length collaboration with cellist Anne Davison, abandons the "bet-you-didn't-think-I-could-do-that" subtext of his earlier work to follow a muse that seems unfettered by supply and demand and uninterested in ukulele evangelicalism. Cello, banjo, bouzouki, fiddle, voices, winds, brass, bells and music boxes entwine with ukuleles of all shapes and sizes through twelve tracks that resonate with folk, old-time, gospel and blues influences. True Love Don't Weep isn't a campaign for the ukulele, just an offering of beautiful, sweetly sorrowful music. From the heart-rending Ev'ry Night to the cathartic Obedience Blues to the slightly demented Duke's Alley Rag, the duo assisted by a handful of talented friends weaves a broad tapestry of vivid colour and emotion.
Fret-burning, uptempo cuts like Ode to a Frozen Boot, Richard's Reel, and One More Lie to Love show why Canadian Folk Music calls James "truly amazing... a serious virtuoso upon the instrument." But it's the meditative introduction to Sakura, Sakura, the sweet vocal harmonies of Because, and the haunting chorus of Oh! Susanna that explain the three-year gap between True Love Don't Weep and James' "tour de force" [1] third album A Flying Leap. After all, it takes time to dig deeper and True Love Don't Weep certainly comes from a deeper often darker place.
So how does a kid from Canada become what the Honolulu Star-Bulletin calls a "rare peer" of Hawaii's premier ukulele players? Nearly three thousand miles east of Honolulu is James' hometown of Langley, British Columbia, where ukulele instruction has been mandatory in many schools since the late 1970s and where James was introduced to the ukulele at the age of nine. To his fourth grade classmates, the ukulele was a means to an end, a way for them to dip their toes into the vast ocean of music. For James, the uke was a sea of possibilities unto itself and inside its tiny wooden shell he saw his life in music. He was hooked.
During his teenage years he honed his skills as a key member of the renowned Langley Ukulele Ensemble under the direction of Peter Luongo. In a full-circle plot twist, James also a passionate teacher recently co-authored the Ukulele in the Classroom method book series with J. Chalmers Doane, the trail-blazing teacher who pioneered the use of ukuleles in Canadian schools.
These days, James' music is heard frequently on CBC and NPR National radio. He has made TV appearances on The Tony Danza Show, MTV, Urban Rush and Studio 4 with Fanny Keifer, and has shared billing with Jerry Douglas, Robert Cray, Lyle Lovett and countless others.
Since turning heads with his early recordings, concerts tours throughout North America, Europe and Asia have broadened James' musical tastes and horizons. And while the sense of budding world-weariness that pervades True Love Don't Weep might seem contrary to the ukulele's reputation as a pocket-sized ray of sunshine, the album a snapshot of two artists coming into their own radiates a deep caring for music and a certain faith in the ukulele as a four-stringed life-raft for uncertain times
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LocationAgate Alley's Laboratory
2645 Willamette St
Eugene, OR 97401
United States
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| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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