The Putah Creek Crawdads have been delighting audiences with their enthusiastic delivery of old-time folk music for over forty years. Best known to regional audiences for playing at county fairs, farmers’ markets, festivals, and barbeque joints, in recent years the Crawdads’ schedule has expanded to include concert dates from Arkansas to Hawai’i.
On Friday, January 23, 2009, the Crawdads will celebrate the release of their new CD “Going Back” with a concert at The Palms Playhouse in downtown Winters.
The Crawdads—Chip Northup, lead vocals and guitar; Cap Thomson, banjo and vocals; Marc Faye, upright bass and vocals; Ray Coppock, guitar, harmonica, and vocals; Wayne Ginsburg, mandolin and vocals; and Kate Laddish, fiddle and vocals—all hail from Yolo County, and their string-band arrangements of folk classics like “Angel Band” and newer fare such as “Bottle of Wine” are as genuine as the county’s soil is rich. With influences including Woody Guthrie, The Kingston Trio, Kris Kristofferson, Scottish balladeers, and the Stanley Brothers, the Putah Creek Crawdads play old (and old-sounding) music in arrangements that are both true to the songs’ roots and with an energy and verve that brings a solid freshness to each selection.
The four original Crawdads (Coppock, Faye, Northup, and Thomson) have been playing music together since 1965. What started as several friends getting together informally with guitars, banjo, and bass in hand became incrementally more formalized over the next few years. Although the “details have been lost in the mists of time” as one Crawdad recently put it, the original group of friends soon found themselves in the position of being a “band” but having no name; “Putah Creek Crawdads” was chosen because of their proximity to Putah Creek and the band’s enjoyment of folk favorite “The Crawdad Song” (now the first song on the new album).
Fast-forward several decades, and the original four are still going strong and have been joined by “recent” (in Crawdad parlance, this means “within the last ten years”) additions Kate Laddish and Wayne Ginsburg.
A hallmark of any Crawdads performance is how much fun the musicians are clearly having: in many ways, this is still a group of friends who get together to play music with each other, and that feeling spreads to those who are listening.
“We know we’re really reaching an audience when the little kids start dancing, or when people spontaneously start singing along,” said Laddish. “Seeing someone’s eyes light up and having them join in makes us feel great, and I think that comes right back out the in music.”
Keith Little (David Grisman, Dolly Parton, Ricky Skaggs, Peter Rowan, Claire Lynch, Rose Maddox, Vern & Ray, Emmylou Harris) and Jim Nunally (David Grisman, Due West, John Reischman and the Jaybirds, Dix Bruce), both legends in California bluegrass circles and beyond and each the recipient of multiple Grammy certifications, will open the Palms show. Little, who produced and played on the Crawdads’ latest CD, and Nunally, who was at the technical helm for the album, will also join the Crawdads for several numbers.
The CD release concert at The Palms starts at 8 PM (doors open at 7:30 PM) on Friday January 23. Tickets are $15; a list of ticket outlets is available at The Palms' website (palmsplayhouse.com).
For more information, visit putahcreekcrawdads.com, palmsplayhouse.com, jimnunally.com, and keithlittle.com.
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