the dotmatrix project

Read this list of folks right here, and see if “singer/songwriter” comes to mind:

Johnny Cash
Bob Dylan
Neil Young
John Denver
James Hetfield
Joni Mitchell
Carly Simon
Tori Amos
Ray LaMontagne
Laurelyn Dossett
Matty Sheets
Conor Oberst
Ani Defranco
Amy Winehouse
Harry Chapin
James Marshall Owen
Scott Avett
Lily Allen
Ryan Adams
Jeff Tweedy
Dan Fogelberg
Dolly Parton

For me, there’s a few in there where the phrase singer/songwriter sticks out to me like a black turtleneck sweater.

John Denver. Joni Mitchell. Cat Stevens.

The others, not so much. But I found most on a wiki list of singer/songwriters.

Johnny Cash? Come on. Singer/songwriters don’t flip the bird at Columbia Records.

They whine about it.

And that’s the basically the idea I’ve been carrying around about the singer/songwriter genre for a few years now.

The switch flipped a few years back. Precisely the moment when, sitting in the home studio office of an LA-based music producer, the man said in a very kind, very matter-of-fact way, something like, “We’ll try and make your songs sound a little less singer/songwriter.”

My brain did something like:

Singer/Songwriter: Bad
Metallica: Good (for your reference)

And for the last two years, I’ve tried shaking the term off like, well, a tight black turtleneck, throwing as many musicians and arrangements and Garage Band beats as I could at songs to take them out of the coffee shop and into the coliseum.

I wanted my songs to flip you the bird. Not sing about them.

Dammit.

Recorded a bunch of songs in a studio with some fine musicians. And when I heard the playback the first few times, realized the songs I’d worked so hard to write, were now so far away from the original purpose, far from anything I could ever duplicate live.

Far from tunes that literally stood naked in front of you. Not the first blush of love, naked, when everything sounds like a pop song, new, and not yet overplayed. The naked-in-the-bright-light, when every thing about the person is real with flaws and missteps and wrong notes. That kind of naked.

Being naked in front of people takes a lot more courage than flipping somebody the bird.

So I took the term, singer/songwriter, back.

Took off the black turtleneck.

Realized again it takes a kind of unordinary courage to be a singer/songwriter.

Where you have to sing the notes – not scream – into the mic.

Where melody can’t hide inside some refrigerator-sized amplifier.

Where the singer, songwriter alone has to fill the room.

That unordinary courage is what you’ll see this week at the dotmatrix project with the singer songwriter performances of Kristen Leigh, Morgan McPherson and Randy Furches.

Authentic, real and naked.

Dress appropriately.

Live at the dotmatrix project
Thursday, June 25
at the Green Burro

Bart Trotman’s footage from INVISIBLE’s month long show at the Second Street Gallery in Charlottesville, VA.

Photo by Mark Smith

James Marshall Owen can’t turn a gig down. If he’s already got a date on the books, he’ll say no. Otherwise, he’s on it like Mick Jagger on a mic.

He’s a bone’ fide Buster Dilly, master collaborator and pinch-hit guitar slinger. Call him when your bass player gets sick. Call him when you’ve got a super fantastic gig, with no one to play with, and you need someone to wear a sharp suit, a tie, and learn the tunes on stage and kick. that. set’s. ass.

That said, I’ve always wondered about the equipment Marshall throws in his knapsack to head out the the door and catch the bus, or a quick hitched ride to the latest musical emergency. Usually, he plays whatever is available. But his preference? That’s what I wanted to know.

He plays three instruments: Guitar, bass and banjo. His main money-maker is a work-in-progress electric built by both factory and artisan hands.

You know what? I’ll let Marshall tell you the rest (you can also hear it yourself when Marshall plays the dotmatrix project this Thursday with Eating the Invaders and The Subterranean Bums).

John Leonard via the dotmatrix project

Main electric instrument: 1995 Yamaha Pacifica “112″

It’s the Strat-style six-string, with a Rose Wood fingerboard, brass nut, and a custom-made maple flame wooden pick guard. Gael carved that for me.

This guitar is kind of an ongoing project. I’d like to refinish it and replace the remaining plastic parts with rosewood to match the fingerboard.

Every time I break a string, it’s at the bridge (aka saddle), where there are tiny (invisible to MY eye) burrs.

I love the pickups; with a humbucker in the bridge position it’s definitely more versatile tone-wise than a Telecaster, which is typically my second choice.

Past loves: A piece of crap Stratocaster Squier

It was a fairly unpopular model they only made for a couple of years. It’s like a cross between a Strat body and a Telecaster neck and electronics. It was a piece of crap but I loved it. That was stolen in the parking lot of a certain 24-hour diner after an Eating the Invaders show at the Green Bean about a year ago.

String gauge: Grimy Ernie Balls or D’Addario’s .012-.056 round wound strings

On both guitars (as well as my hand-assembled Franken/LesPaul Copy, which is currently being rocked by Mike of Our Horse Jethro).

Ernie Balls tend to last pretty decently, but the way I play, pretty much any set of electric strings ends up grimy and too heavily used to stay in tune properly long before I get around to changing ‘em.

In any case, I’ll change around depending on my mood, but aside from being pretty picky about using heavier gauges, I like any old set of strings as long as they’re new. Wait. What?

Ampage: Fender Princeton Chorus 2×10

It’s not that I don’t like tube amps, just don’t have one!

Pedals and effects: Horrible fuzzy

I’ll use a wah or chorus once in awhile but I usually just stick to a 6-band EQ that I kick on for volume boosts or drastic tonal changes mid-song. Oh, I also have a bass distortion pedal; I like using that with the guitar cause it’s a horrible fuzzy sound and there’s a blend knob so you can mix the clean signal with it.

Acoustical preference: A piece of shit and a pawn shop

I swore on a Yamaha FG400 or something like that for years. I bought it for $50 from this guy I knew from a community theatre production we were in; it had sat in his closet for about 10 years, so it looked like shit but turned out to be wonderful.

Last summer, I had some cash burning a hole in my pocket, so I took that guitar to Yesterday’s Music in High Point, which is a fantastic shop run by fantastic people (Paul & Cathy Szydlik) who gave me a great trade-in for a brand-new 2005 Alvarez AJ60SC acoustic-electric.

With maple back/sides and spruce top, it’s a much lighter-sounding instrument than the one I was used to, but it has pretty good balance of highs and lows, and the neck is amazing. It’s as comfortable to play as an electric, but you can still really dig in.

Bass face: a 4-string Schecter custom

Not much to say about this one; I also got it brand-new, though with the scuffs I’ve given it in a year you wouldn’t know it. I don’t know what kind of strings I got for it. Ernie Ball’s medium maybe?

Photo by Julie Welch

Keeping it all together: I play all 3 of those with Eating the Invaders

I don’t change setup much from one group to another, although if I’m gonna use any effects, it’s way more likely to happen with Project Tritium.

Don’t think I’ve used the bass fuzz with ETI (yet). I’ve recorded some electric parts on the Yamaha for Subterranean Bums, but I primarily play acoustic–and banjo.

The loaner: A banjo

My only banjo is an old untunable Sears Silvertone, and Les Paul signed it in Sharpie so I just play whatever banjo Jack Carter or Emily Stewart loans me.

I have no clue about banjo strings at all! It’s the one instrument I’ve never broken a string on. (Knock on wood).

Photo by: Ken Pogs

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Lyrics by Renee Mendoza Haran of Filthybird

I was born to birds
who were singing all of the time.
And I just don’t have time for talking
with singing on my mind.

I was born a bird
and a bird I will die
but I’ll just go on being a bird
singing in the southern skies.

I was born to sing
it’s all I know to do.
It takes all I’ve got
to do the things I know that I should do.

My mother was born to sing
and her mother too
but they lost their voices
singing in a world that was cruel.

I was born to love
even though it hurts.
The straight and narrow path
sleepin’ on the pews of the church.

But none of that was true
except for the part
the part about lovin’,
with all of your heart.

When I hold your hand
I feel you tremblin’.
Like you don’t know what’s going on
and everything you know is wrong.

I know who you are,
You’re a beam of light.
Shining down on me
in the darkest hardest loneliest night

In the southern skies.

Moustache’d friend who
slings coffee and guitar riffs
wears ties. Awesomeness.

Check him out at The Green Bean or this month with one of his (many) bands Eating the Invaders at the May 28th DMP show.

Thursday, May 28, 2009
8:00pm – 11:00pm
The Green Burro
106 W. McGee Street
Greensboro, NC

Photo credit

The way it was told to Cyril Neville, “funk” comes from the West African word “fonk.” It refers to a person who breaks a “positive sweat,” who works hard and takes care of the family. Someone who is a credit to the village is a “fonky” person.

“Playing funky dance music is doing the same thing,” Neville said.

Expect that kind of performance from Neville this weekend, Saturday May 9 at the Piedmont Blues Festival. A member of the legendary funk/R&B band The Neville Brothers, Cyril and his family were among the vocal advocates for Hurricane Katrina victims and their New Orleans hometown. The percussionist and vocalist shows a deep affection for the origins of blues and funk, breaking a “positive sweat” for his music and family.

Saturday, May 9, 2009 at 2pm
Festival Park
200 North Davie St., Greensboro
23rd Annual Carolina Blues Festival
presented by YES! Weekly
$18 in advance; $30 at the gate

Produced by the Piedmont Blues Preservation Society, this is the anchor event for the Sixth Annual EMFjazz&blues. Headlining the festival will be Cyril Neville of the legendary New Orleans funk/blues group The Neville Brothers, with special guest Big Chief Monk Boudreaux. Also appearing will be Diunna Greenleaf and the Blue Mercy Band with special guest Steady Rollin’ Bob Margolin, the Nighthawks, Adrian Duke, as well as the two winners of the PBPS Blues Challenge: The Landon Spradlin Blues Band (electric band contest winners) and Greensboro’s Bump & Logie (acoustic solo/duo contest winners).

Flowers from the farmer’s market. Fresh strawberries. A walk in the park. Mama likes to buy local, doesn’t she? How about some fresh local music. We’ve got a few finds and featured artists in the Dotmatrix Project archives with live albums that you can listen to on LastFm, or purchase from Amie Street. And if the live album isn’t ready yet, go ahead and support a local artist and buy it straight from the source.

Your mama would be proud.

Laurelyn Dossett

Aside from her soft soprano and storyteller lyrics, Laurelyn is a mama herself. She raised her 3 young babies until they could get around on their own and then started taking guitar lessons. A student of Greensboro’s own Scott Manring at String Studios, Laurelyn’s music career has taken her far beyond the typical musician’s music career. This month she’ll tour with the North Carolina Symphony; visit Prairie Home Companion with singing partner (and a mother, too) Kari Sickenberger. And next summer she’ll premier a fourth music and play collaboration with Triad Stage’s Preston Lane. Her live show performance at the Dotmatrix Project captures Dossett’s love for North Carolina folklore and captivating songwriting.

Laurelyn Dossett, Live at the Dotmatrix Project on LastFm
Download the album on Amie Street
Or check out her new album, Stages

Jim Avett

Don’t let anybody fool you. Jim Avett was a singer and songwriter long before his boys ever broke a banjo string. The classic country music lover is a fool for a good gospel or country song and spends most of his time these days schooling young musicians on the finer phrases of the craft, passing it on by singing lines and picking melodies from Tom T. Hall and Merle Haggard tunes. Most of the tunes from Jim’s live performance at the Dotmatrix Project won’t go up online due to copyright issues (who wants to piss off Merle Haggard? Seriously). But he does have a gospel album recently released through Ramseur Records that features a few members of his family.

Jim Avett and Family

Rhiannon Giddens

For a young woman, the Greensboro-based musician knows a lot of old songs. The Oberlin trained singer traded in the arias for a banjo and fiddle to form the Carolina Chocolate Drops. The world-touring troupe is an African American string band – a style established here in the Piedmont region. Still, Giddens is a modern woman, too, and is stretching her songwriting skills into a new era: her own. Her Dotmatrix Project album captures the new and the old. The album isn’t ready yet, but you can prime your dear mother’s ears with the next best thing – a Rhiannon Giddens album.

Rhiannon’s album is still in the works (she’s been on tour) but you can hear some of her tracks on Laurelyn’s album
Rhiannon Giddens

Bruce Piephoff

You really can’t talk local music without mentioning Bruce Piephoff. The singer songwriter performed with an impressive line up of musicians for his Dotmatrix Project performance, featuring fiddles, stand up bass, accordions and Filthybird’s lead singer and primary songwriter Renee Mendoza. His live performance isn’t up on Last Fm yet, but Bruce’s prolific career can be heard on his new album, The Chestnut Tree – his 16th – from Flyin’ Cloud Records.

Bruce’s live show isn’t yet available
Bruce Piephoff

The Old Stone Revue

If your mama still likes to yell “Free Bird” at live concerts, this album is for her. Here’s what Last Fm has to say about these boys: “New Grass and Roots music has gained worldwide acclaim in the last decade — from the back porches, to the Ryman Auditorium, Americana is stronger than ever. The Old Stone Revue was formed to carry on the tradition of singer songwriting but not feeling confined to the boundaries of traditional bluegrass and country music. With influences from John Prine, Johnny Cash, and Del McCoury, to Jazz Is Dead, and Gram Parsons, The Old Stone Revue mix traditional bluegrass with country, rock, and soul.”

The Old Stone Revue, Live at the Dotmatrix Project on LastFm
Purchase the live recording on Amie Street
The Old Stone Revue

Found behind a Harris Teeter in Greensboro. Photo by Zoe Alexandra.

Dear Professor Jazz,

Thank you for coming to Greensboro Wednesday and sharing your talents with this city for the EMFjazz&blues festival.

I understand that you’re an accomplished musician. Educator. Professor and Director of the Jazz Program at Duke University. That said, I wondered if you could answer something for me.

When did Jazz get so money?

The last two times I ran into local jazz musicians I was left stung by the slap of money. One said they wouldn’t show up for much without a promised paycheck. Neither would most of his friends.

The other dude asked for a few dollars after what I thought was an impromptu jazz jam. It turned out to be a gig, yes, but I thought they were playing along because they liked the music.

Instead it felt like I’d just invited somebody over to my house for a home cooked dinner, then got stuck with the check.

I get it, though. We all need to get paid.

It just mystifies me that a style of music born out of the brothels and gin houses is now almost entirely confined to refined concert halls and universities, where lanky mop-haired kids develop an elitist attitude to only playing for people dressed in their Sunday best.

More ironic is how a jazz musician can demand big bucks to play a set list full of jazz standards – songs they didn’t even write. Songs written by jazz cats who wrote those tunes years ago, who freely passed them on, and who will probably never see a dollar for it.

Are jazz institutions teaching these lanky kids “no pay, no play?” Because while the rest of the world is struggling to make ends meet, I worry that if these young guns only prime themselves to play the big time, that jazz music will remain a genre experienced only in the museum-like rooms of Carnegie Hall, University stages, and expensive weddings.

That’d be a shame.

Thanks for listening,

Molly McGinn

Not exactly, Yo-Yo Ma the cellist. Rather 100 people dressed like yo’ “ma” in hair curlers and house coats walking down Elm Street with glow in the dark yo-yos tonight at 8 pm.

That Yo-Yo Ma.

It’s all part of a public arts project and collaboration between Elsewhere Artist Collaborative, ArtBeat Greensboro, Monkeywhale and Walker and Dabney Sanders (who sponsored the logo-ed yo-yos).

Want to get in on the glow? Here’s how:

• Meet at Elsewhere Artist Collaborative (map) around 8 pm.
• Dress yourself in the wide selection of house coats, curlers and wigs available at Elsewhere.
• Give yourself a few lessons on the yo-yo.
• Walk down Elm Street to Center City Park at dusk.
• City officials worked together to turn the lights off at the park for a special glow in the dark performance, which will be captured on film by the fine folks at Monkeywhale.

Have fun!

UPDATE: Things didn’t quite turn out as expected. Larry Owens at Center City Park was kind enough to stay late and turn off the lights, but the rain haze and the city’s street lamps actually made the perimeter of the park glow, diffusing any chance of seeing the yo yos glow.

We did yo yo in a nice circle and horseshoe formation, however.

There’s one more Yo! project Saturday night May 9 when a group will yo yo up and down Elm Street and back. We’ll meet again at Elsewhere at 8 pm (see above for directions). Harvey and Carolyn with Monkeywhale will try and see if the cameras aren’t a bit more pleased about that one.

As I left the park, I felt myself craving songs with “Yo.” Rap songs – anything. You Tube only turned up a bunch of Yo! MTV Raps episodes and a drunk Ol’ Dirty Bastard. I wanted something like, “Yo. Yo. Listen to this: Yo.”

No luck.

But I found this song and video by The Osmonds and had no idea how hard the The Osmonds tried to rip off the Jackson 5.

Yo. Checkkit. I think Donnie sings “I used to be a swinger.”