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HTMA President’s Notes
January 2019
Dear Friends,
I enjoyed meeting with members for our
December meeting and our December 18th un-
coffeehouse. That last was a little more
adventurous than planned. Stephanie
Timberlake expected us to go to the old
Churst, like all other coffeehouses this year,
and I thought we were going to the Trillium
Room, as we have the past four or five
Decembers due to a conflict with the Sanders
Family Christmas play in the church. This
year there was no Christmas play, so the
church was available. Shortly after I opened
the door to the Trillium Room our set-up
activities were interrupted by a remarkably
loud security alarm siren. A bit later
Stephanie showed up to shut off the alarm,
and I had to apologize for all the trouble.
After that excitement we were able to move
over to the church and have a very pleasant
evening.
The first quarter HTMA Membership meetings will be held at 1:30-4:30:
January 20th February 17th March 17th
Please check the HTMA website to verify meeting locations, as they may vary
HTMA Coffeehouses are scheduled for
7:00 at Burritt Museum’s Old Church.
Tuesday January 29th
Dennis Parker and Cindy
Musselwhite Tuesday February 26th
Honeysuckle Blue Tuesday March 26th
Ricky Taylor and the Storios
Volume 53 – Issue 1 www.huntsvillefolk.org Winter 2019
CONTENTS
Page 1 – President’s Notes
Page 2 – Upcoming Events
Page 3 – January 29th Coffeehouse
Page 4 – February 26th Coffeehouse
Page 5 – March 26 Coffeehouse
Page 6 – Lynne Edmondson Introduction
Page 8 – Holly Races the Muse
Page 9 – Membership/New Members
Page 9 – Upcoming Coffeehouse Openers
Page 10 – New Webmaster!
Page 11 – HTMA Classifieds
1 Lynne Edmondson, NEW HTMA President
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(Continued on Page 3)
HTMA Executive Board
President -
Lynne Edmondson [email protected]
Vice President & Public Service Chairman
JIM ENGLAND
256-852-5740 [email protected]
Secretary/Treasurer
PAT LONG
256-539-7211 [email protected]
Publicity Chairman
BOB HICKS
256-683-9807 [email protected]
Performance Chairwoman
KAREN NEWSUM [email protected]
Operations Chairman
GEORGE WILLIAMS
Webmaster/
Chris Kidd [email protected]
Acting Newsletter Editor
Jerry LeCroy (Position open!)
The leadership of HTMA invites YOU to be an active part of our great organization, whether you play an instrument, or want to share in any other way, we welcome you and thank you for your support!
Schedule of Upcoming Events Please see following pages for more details on
upcoming meeting, coffeehouse, and retirement
home gig dates.
The first quarter HTMA Membership
meetings will be held at 1:30-4:30:
January 20th February 17th March 17th
(Check the website for the latest meeting locations)
First Quarter Coffeehouses will be at the
Burritt Museum Old Church, 7:00-9:00
Tuesday January 29nd
Tuesday February 26th
Tuesday March 26th
Please contact Jim England if you would like to
be notified of upcoming retirement home gigs.
For more information about HTMA or current
events, you can visit our website at
www.huntsvillefolk.org
You can join up or renew membership using PayPal
at
http://www.huntsvillefolk.org/paypal.htm
2 Rick Taylor and his Storios are the feature artists for the March coffeehouse Photo courtesy J. LeCroy)
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[President’s Notes, Continued from Page 1]
These two events were my last as HTMA’s
lame duck president, and I am happy to
be able to introduce our new president,
Lynne Edmondson, latter in this
newsletter.
Jerry LeCroy
The January 20th HTMA
Coffeehouse will feature
Dennis Parker and
Cindy Musselwhite
3 Dennis Parker and Cindy Musselwhite (photo courtesy C. Musselwhite)
A chance meeting at an old, country
Alabama church back in April 2013
brought Cindy Hoyle Musselwhite and
Dennis Parker together and they have
been making some sweet music together
ever since.
Born and raised in the foothills of the
Appalachian Mountains in North Georgia,
Cindy grew and developed as a musician
and performer playing alongside her three
siblings as a member of veteran bluegrass
group, The Hoyles. The Hoyles were
inducted into the Atlanta Country Music
Hall of Honor in 2014. Cindy grew up
performing at many of the well known
southeastern bluegrass festivals alongside
many of her bluegrass heroes. Cindy and
her four children toured Europe,
performing in nine countries. During this
time the family band received many
accolades including the audience
popularity award for The European World
of Bluegrass and were featured on the
cover of European Bluegrass
Magazine. Cindy is featured on The
Musselwhite Family's Handing Down
Tradition CD playing guitar and mandolin
as well as on Bluegrass According to The
Hoyles CD playing mandolin
alongside Jerry Douglas, Buck White and
Randall Collins.
A Grammy winning artist with Ricky
Skaggs for the Bluegrass Rules Album
(guitar, mandolin and vocals), Dennis has
also played professionally with Leann
Womack, Tracy Lawrence, Joe Diffy, and
Mark Chestnutt among others. Funny,
engaging with raw humor and full of
stories from the road, he wows his
audiences with his humble approach to
everything he does. He's equally at home
playing blues, soul, country, gospel, pop
and contemporary Christian. Dennis is a
master at multiple instruments to include
the fiddle, banjo and mandolin, but he
favors the guitar. A state contest winner
on Fiddle, banjo and guitar he has won
multiple other contests in many states.
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instrumentals. You don’t want to miss this
show!
4 Rick Russell and friends at the November coffeehouse (photo courtesy J. LeCroy)
5 Solid Blue band at the October 2018 Coffeehouse (photo courtesy J. LeCroy)
6 Solid Blue band at the October 2018 Coffeehouse (photo courtesy J. LeCroy)
7 Honeysucke Blue
Our February 27th HTMA
Coffeehouse will feature
Honeysuckle Blue
Honeysuckle Blue is a unique duo that performs a wide variety of crowd-pleasing music – Modern and Classic Country, Pop, Southern Rock, Blues, Rock, Folk, Bluegrass, award-winning originals and a little bit of everything else. Ashley Rose Kent and Mala Patterson, both from north Alabama, consider themselves musical sisters. Ashley and Mala usually play the
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guitar, banjo, violin/fiddle and mandolin during their performances; but they also play the bass, ukulele, lap dulcimer, piano, washboard, spoons and even a cup! You never know when Ashley or Mala will start to clog and buck dance during a show. Separately, Ashley and Mala have performed at a variety of venues, including Dollywood and Silver Dollar City, and events, such as the Strawberry Festival in Plant City, Florida, and Panoply, in over twenty states. Together, they have performed at the Smithsonian-affiliate Museum of Appalachia; Rock City; Strawberry Festival in Moulton, Alabama; Lincoln county fair in Tennessee; Nashville’s Opry Mills; “Cooper and Company” morning television show; and many other art shows, events and venues. Audiences of all ages connect with these dynamic ladies’ playful sense of humor and love of music and dance.
8 Rick Russell and his very large band opened the November coffeehopuse. (photo courtesy J. LeCroy)
9 Shane Adkins at the November 2018 HTMA coffeehouse . (photo courtesy J. LeCroy)
Our March 27th HTMA
Coffeehouse will feature Ricky Taylor and the Storeos
Ricky j Taylor is an award-winning
singer/songwriter who toured with
bluegrass great Claire Lynch prior to
forming his band: The Live Roots
Ensemble based on his original songs.
In 2017, he was nominated Best Male
Solo Act in the Rockin' City by
HuntsvilleMusic.com and is a member of
the Last HonkyTonk Music Series. In
addition, Ricky fronts bluegrass band:
Walker Street Opry (bluegrass band)
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and The Lost Troubadors from the Ford
Galaxy. He tours regionally with his
bands, as a solo artist and with Songs &
Stories.
Christy James is the former co-producer
of Listen to Your Mother national
storytelling show: "Listen to Your
Mother," and a professional storyteller
who has performed live at Tenx9
Storytelling Nashville, Zanies, Douglas
Corner, Huntsville Strings Shop and
tours with Songs & Stories. She and
fellow "Storio," Melissa Ford Thornton
are at work on a new podcast: Tree of
Trust, featuring True Stories on Tough
Topics Told with Respect and Hope.
Melissa Ford Thornton is a storyteller,
poet, lyricist and music publicist. Her
work has been published by Silver Birch
Press and regularly appears in
Authentik Magazine. She also is a
frequent guest on WLRH Public Radio's
Sundial Writers' Corner. Melissa has
performed live at Arc Stories in
Birmingham, Tenx9 Storytelling
Nashville, recently placed 2nd at the
Moth StorySlam in Nashville and tours
with Songs and Stories. "An Elegant
Dispute of the Accidental," a collection
of her poetry and prose, was published
in December.
About HTMA’s New
President! By Lynne Edmondson
I began playing violin in the grade
school orchestra. My parents never
provided me with outside lessons, so my
instruction was limited, and after grade
school I did not continue in the
orchestra. I did keep the family violin.
Fast forward to my graduation with a
PhD in health education and an empty
nest household. I wondered, what
should I do to keep busy now? And
decided, now would be a good time to
pick up the violin again. So I began to
play. But at the same time life happens,
I was working, my mother passed away,
I wanted to dance, I had shoulder
surgery, I broke my wrist (during a
dance performance—audience thought
it was part of the show), I needed to
tend to our farm and all the chores. But I
persisted and made slow and steady
progress reading music and playing with
a strings group, Consort l'ancienne. I
retired as full professor almost 3 years
ago but felt that I needed to finish some
professional activities that were in the
works; so I completed the last of my 18
peer reviewed publications and became
the National Dance Standards Writing
Chair for 2017-2018. I expanded my
cashmere and fiber activities. I
expanded my playing to include
improvisation and picked up the
mandolin. I strive to improve intonation,
speed, memory, technique; but I love it.
I credit my music teacher and friends
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who allow me to play with them with
helping me improve, yet remain true to
my own style and favorite genres.
I agreed to become president of
Huntsville Traditional Music Association
beginning 2019. I won’t even try to fill
Jerry LeCroy’s shoes, our shoe size is
not the same! But I hope you join or
renew your membership for 2019. Then
join us for the monthly Coffeehouse
Concerts: Tuesday night at Burritt Old
Church, HTMA Monthly Meeting- Jam:
Sundays at Huntsville Public Library,
much appreciated Retirement Home
Performances, and 1st Wednesday at
the Lone Goose Saloon: Traditional &
Folk Acoustic Jam. Huntsville Traditional
Music Association (Huntsvillefolk.org) is
a not-for-profit organization; offering
opportunities to play, volunteer, listen
and learn. I hope you continue to keep
traditional music vibrant in North
Alabama.
Lynne Edmondson
11 Karen Newsum at the 2018 Burritt Gazebo concert
(photo courtesy J. LeCroy)
10 Former HTMA Webmistress Jeri-Ann Ray Payne, seated, playing an HTMA Coffeehouse
in 2017. New Webmaster Chris Kidd with mandolin.(Photo courtesy J. LeCroy)
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Holly Races the Muse
VL Halterman
2018
A drop of a phrase
The pluck of the lute
Many forms open the gates,
For fireflies to dance in another’s
light.
Holly races the moon.
The universe laughs with tears from
Parnassus.
Shining reflections,
From nine outstretched hands.
Their Laurels float through ethereal
fingers, onto Terra Firma.
The dust in my eye, becomes clay.
Holly races the moon.
Take these sounds and forge into
unforgotten.
Before they’re swallowed by
Leviathans,
or returned to blue refuge.
Holly races the Muse.
In addition to being an accomplished poet,
Larry Halterman is also a terrific HTMA
volunteer. He has taken on the chore of
delivering HTMA PA gear to our
coffeehouse gigs.
12 Christmas 2017 in the Old Church
(photo courtesy B. Cassells)
HTMA Membership
Your membership dues serve an excellent
purpose, and are much appreciated. You
can renew on-line at:
http://www.huntsvillefolk.org/paypal.htm
or by sending a check made out to “HTMA”
to Treasurer Pat Long, 414 McClung
Avenue, Huntsville, AL 35801.
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Upcoming HTMA
Coffeehouse Openers
By Jerry LeCroy
The HTMA Coffeehouse continues to be a
terrific opportunity for members to get a
chance to come out and play a few tunes in
front of a friendly and appreciative audience.
13 All the usual HTMA suspects performing for residents at Regency
Nursing Home in September 2018. L-R Bill Nuessle, Collier Rawls, Jim England, Jerry LeCroy, James Smith, and Barney (Photo courtesy J. LeCroy)
Jerry and Brandy Cobb will open our January
coffeehouse. Jerry Cobb is a prolific
songwriter, and plays on some interesting
instruments. Brandy will be singing and
playing violin.
Don and Kay Corder will open the February
coffeehouse. Don’s repertoire runs largely to
Townes van Zandt and John Prine tunes, and
Don and Kay will show the audience some
terrific harmonies.
The March coffeehouse will open with
longtime HTMA favorite James Smith, “the
Autoharp Man”. Not sure if James will actually
play his autoharp, but it will be a un
performance.
If you have any interest in opening one of the
coffeehouses after January, please contact
Karen Newsum, so she can work you into the
schedule.
14 Rick Russell playing at the 2018 Burritt Gazebo concert (Photo courtesy J. LeCroy)
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15 Flea Market fiddles in Paris
(Photo courtesy john LeCroy)
Introducing HTMA’s
new Webmaster -
Chris Kidd My career began in a double-wide trailer on
the outskirts of Augusta, GA working for
W67BE, a low powered TV station. The year
was 1987 and my first official client was James
Brown, the Godfather of Soul. (oh yes . . . I
have stories. Buy me a drink next time you see
me and maybe I’ll tell you a few.) I moved
around the country working for several
broadcast television stations until eventually
landing in Huntsville in 2001 as the General
Sales Manager at WAAY-TV. In 2008, I left the
TV station and began working for a local
public relations firm and now handle the
marketing duties for several clients throughout
the country (mostly doctors & lawyers).
My musical tastes are varied. I remember road
trips as a kid listening to my parents’ 8 track
tapes including artists like: Johnny Cash, Merle
Haggard & Bob Dylan. As I grew older my
interests leaned more towards rock & roll and I
played in bands and traveled the college-town
circuit as the opening act for some of my
favorite artists of the day. While pursuing my
career in TV, music took a backseat until very
recently. I now play guitar & mandolin in a
few different bands and try to get out to as
many HTMA jams as my schedule will
allow. My interest in bluegrass & mandolin is
relatively new and I’ve enjoyed the challenge
of learning a new instrument & genre.
16 Bill McCampbell playing at the 2001 Burritt Gazebo concert
(Photo courtesy J. LeCroy)
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Do you have an item for sale? Are you looking for an instrument? Are you wanting to acquire, trade or sell musical gear, recordings, books,
get something repaired.... Do you need music lessons? Are you wanting to join or find a new group or band member? This section of our
newsletter is for members to place ads for services or instruments or anything related to music. It will be updated for each newsletter. If
you have an item or advertisement you would like to be published, please send an EMAIL (preferably before the fifteenth of the month) to
[email protected] (Jerry) to have your listing included in the upcoming newsletter. In your email, fully describe what your offering or
looking for, and how you want users to contact YOU, via email, phone or both, etc. Once your listing or item is no longer active, please also
email [email protected] for removal of your listing. Please note that HTMA makes this service available to aid our users in
finding, trading or selling music items and services only - and we are not responsible for the completion or non-compliance of any
transactions between members.
Free to a good home – HTMA is retiring a couple old microphone stands. The stands are Hercules
and work okay, but the plastic is getting a bit sticky. Call or email Jerry if you’d like these items.
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Vance Sheffield has a number of copies of two LPs that HTMA [then the Huntsville Association of Folk
Musicians or HAFM] recorded in the early 1970s. Vance also has some records produced by TennVale in the
same time period, with collections of tunes by a number of country fiddlers of that era, and other LPs recorded
at the Galax convention. All of the albums came from the estate of Doug Crosswhite, owner of Tennvale
records and the engineer of the 1 & 2 HAFM albums.
The price for the HAFM albums is $15 per set for the AL 1 & 2 albums, free shipping, and $10 each for any
other albums, free shipping. Payment can be made through Paypal at [email protected] or they can send
a check to:
Helen Sheffield,
PO Box 1342
Killen, AL 35645.
Phone #256-757-8370, Vance or Helen.
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