Special Events
The Reel World String Band
Monumentally influenced by traditional and old-time music with a touch of country, swing, blues, and jazz, Reel World's soulful songwriting and instrumental virtuosity make for American roots music with a rare fire and authenticity. With Sue Massek on banjo, Bev Futrell on guitar and harmonica, Karen Jones on fiddle, Elise Melrood on piano, and Sharon Ruble on bass, the band brings together classic fiddling, bluegrass harmonies, and a keen eye for lyrical detail.
The Reel World String Band will perform for your listening and dancing enjoyment at the 2006 Annual Meeting.
"You don't see many people up on stage who've got fire. But you girls have got it. Lord, you girls are good!" Lily May Ledford, Coon Creek Girls
"The Reel World String Band is dedicated to continuing traditional old-time Appalachian music, but they weave the times with words of women's rights and coal miners' struggles." Ms Magazine
"The Reel World String Band is ideal for dancing and just generally letting loose the spirit" The New York Times
The Reel World String Band is celebrating its 29th year of performing. The year the Reel World released its first album, the "Bluegrass Extravaganza" tour was set up with the Osbourne Brothers. The band was compared to the "Go Gos" in the L.A. Times as one of the few bands comprised of all women, still a novelty in 1981. But as time went on, the band was less a novelty act and more a mainstay of American folk music as the band appeared at almost every big folk festival in the United States and Canada. In 1980, the band was back in the NYC area playing at the Lincoln Center. They returned in 1985 to share the stage with David Bromberg after both had appeared at the Philadelphia Folk Festival. In 1991 the band toured Italy, playing in city centers and town squares as part of a US tour that also featured Lionel Hampton. The tour was sponsored by the Coop: an Italian cooperative of retail stores.
The individual members are as diverse as the musical styles they encompass. With the energy of an old-time dance, the tight vocal harmony of Bluegrass singing, the infusion of American jazz and blues styles and lyrics that reflect the politics of a changing South, Reel World is an undeniable force in the folk music scene.
In the band's 25th anniversary release of Mountain songs: Reflections, a CD compilation of the vinyl years, 1981-1984. Fiddle and banjo songs abound, but there are also gems like Evergreen from the 1981 recording dedicated to the International Ladies Garment Workers of Olive Hill, Kentucky. Cranks Creek extols the rising up of a community in Harlan County, Kentucky, against the floods of destruction caused by strip mining and mountain top removal. Other cuts are traditional gems like Sally Ann and Banjo Pickin' Girl and original compositions dedicated to the women pioneers within the family tree of the band members . . . and the list goes on.
All in all, Reel World String Band is the essence of Appalachian grit.
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