Ian Murray Photography

Sliding into Belchertown

A real gem slides into Western Mass : 'Slide Sessions North' at the Black Moon.

Writing and Photographs by Ian Murray

Every so often you stumble upon a gem in the most unlikely place.  Tucked away in the small Western Massachusetts town of Belchertown, up a set of winding stairs above a Dunkin Donuts is a small bar where Joe organizes music seven nights a week.  On a good day it takes a two hours of uninterrupted  driving to get there, so what was it that dragged me away from my evening armchair to brave  the rush hour traffic and endure the three hour trip to Joe's place,  The Black Moon Music Lounge?

Well, I'll tell you, it had something to do with a Gene Autry Melody Ranch Guitar circa 1940's, more than one National Steel Guitar, a couple of Dobros, and a mandolin all liberally laced with some fine finger picking and rich vocals.

I was enticed to Belchertown by the prospect of seeing four masters of the slide guitar performing together in a very intimate setting as part of the Slide Sessions North concert series.

 

Jim Henry opened the set with a rousing version of Doc Watson's Deep River Blues which quickly  had the crowd whooping and hollering as each performer took their turn improvising a solo.  The sheer power and tightness of the playing indicated that we were in for a very special night indeed!

Jim Henry

Next up Cliff Eberhardt made his Gene Autry Melody Ranch guitar sing as he dragged the steel slide up and down the neck. The way he managed to get such a bluesy and full sound from this old Sears and Roebuck guitar was magical.

Cliff Eberhardt and his 1940s Gene Autry 'Melody Ranch' Guitar

Abbie Gardner from Red Molly was equally adept on the Dobro and her  cover version of Lucinda William's "Can't Let Go"  showcased her fine singing voice and vibrant presence.

Abbie Gardner

What can you say about Brooks WIlliams' guitar playing that hasn't already been said?  Placing his tall body on the small chair he was almost forced to double up his lengthy legs as he swayed back and forth and was very animated whilst providing some scintillating accompaniment. 

Brooks Williams almost bends double and sways as he plays.

 When his turn came he gave us a real treat in his playing of "61 Highway" from his "The Time I spend with You" Album and later joined Jim Henry in a wonderfully delicate and moving rendition of "I think that it's going to work out" harking back to their duet album "Ring Some Changes".  A rocking version of "How Long Till I'm in My Baby's Arms was a real crowd pleaser.

 

Abbie Gardner watches intently as Brooks takes up the music

The whole band provided a fullsome,  mellow soundcape  for Jim's rich and tuneful voice on "Ruby (the girl with the flaxen hair) which has acquired a variety of names over the years but is probably best known as an outstanding track on his 1999 Album "The Way Back".  And his voice was even more mellow on a stirringly bluesy version of "St James' Infirmary".

Jim gets his guitar ready for St James' Infirmary

Laurie MacAllister of Red Molly joined the band in a surprise guest appearance for a couple of numbers including some beautiful harmonizing with Cliff on his soulful version of "Love Slips Away",  from  his "School for Love" Album.

Laurie Macllister from Red Molly puts in a surprise appearance.

All four performers showed their amazing talents and really got the crowd bouncing during Cliff's hard driving version of Dylan's "Down in the Flood (Crash on the Levee)" .

By the time I left the Black Moon,  the fog had settled thickly and wrapped itself around the trees, giving the landscape an other-worldly look that  seemed  totally in keeping with the out of this world playing of these four excellent musicians.   The journey home seemed to fly by as the tunes of that night's performance lingered in my head.

If you missed this show you have an opportunity to catch Abbie and Brooks William's again in New York City on Oct 1st.  Details Below.

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Thursday, October 1st, 2009 9:30 PM

The Slide Sessions w/ BROOKS WILLIAMS!
Googie's Lounge above The Living Room
154 Ludlow St
New York, NY
http://www.livingroomny.com/googies.html
Price: $5
"WOW! I can't believe we get to have the one and only BROOKS WILLIAMS jamming with us on this one! Please come down and check it out. He's amazing" - Abbie Gardner.

You can also catch Abbie and Laurie playing with Carolann Solebello as the magnificent "Red Molly" at several places around the country - check out their calendar here.

Cliff's schedule of concerts can be found here:

Brooks schedule of concerts can be found here:

Jim, of course can be found playing with his partner Tracy Grammer and with other musicians, his schedule can be found here

The Black Moon Music Lounge has music seven nights a week and more details can be found here.

Ian Murray is a professional photographer who can be hired for head shots, protraits, publicity photographs and event photography.  More details can be fouind on his web-site

 

Signature Sounds 15th Anniversary: Great music and very wet photographers.

 

 

Richard Shindell

In addition to being an avid and passionate photographer I have a deep love of music, especially when it's live!   Some of my favorite artists inhabit the folk world and at this time of year they pop up at many of the festivals that thankfully still occur around the country.

This year I was  blessed to have the opportunity to be a photographer at the Green River Festival in Greenfield MA where Signature Sounds Records were celebrating 15 successful years in the recording industry by bringing together the cream of their recording artists for a stellar 6 hour concert.  This was one I couldn't miss!

As usual I arrived very early  and was content to wander around the grounds which were still empty of fans but surrounded by a vast circle of local artisans, food vendors and non-profit organizations who were busily raising their stalls and setting up for business.  Talk among the stall-holders  was definitely focused on the weather. The sky was ominously dark and distant rumbles of thunder were clearly giving cause for concern.

Darryl Ballou a very fine cabinet-maker from Turner's Falls  was justifiably worried in case the rain came and he couldn't protect his beautifully designed carpentry.

 

Tristan Clarridge of Crooked Still

 

(http://www.artisandesignsdtb.com/)  Jay from Pierce Bros Coffee was however totally unconcerned by the threat of heavy weather and was just happy to be there and was clearly looking forward to the coffee being ready! (http://www.piercebroscoffee.com) I had to admire his spirit.  I wasn't sure that the weather was going to hold for much longer and the activities hadn't even begun.

Still,  I had the rainproof covers for my camera and my bag so the only thing that was going to get wet was me and I'm English and supposedly impervious to rain!  The thought of six hours or more standing in the rain didn't exactly deter me but I will admit to being less than happy at the prospect.  I could however, be cheerful about the grey cloud cover which was providing wonderfully diffused and even light conditions.

Soon the rain came in a brief but violent shower and I was grateful for the shelter of the Green River Clean-up crew's tent. Thanks Guys!  If you would like to join them on October 4th they are having their annual river clean-up day.   Contact David Boles at 413-773-7560 or through their site at http://www.deerfieldriver.org

 

Erin McKeown

After the brief but intense shower the rain held off for a while and the concert got underway with a superb house band which  included David "Goody" Goodrich on Guitar. Tracy Grammer and Jim Henry ably led the band in a couple of numbers and then there was a surprise appearance by the wonderful Erin McKeown who certainly livened up the audience who had begun flooding in.

 

Mark Erreli

Mark Errelli continued to keep the beat going with a lively and intense set and then the rains came again and this time it wasn't a shower. 

 

A stoic crowd braves the rain

Incessant rain means just one thing "Cover the Camera" ; soon all the photographers were reaching for plastic bags and camera covers.

 

Photographer Jake Jacobson uses the traditional method to protect his camera.

The show continued with the crowd actually swelling despite the rain.  Great performances by Kris Delmhorst, Jeffrey Foucault, Peter Mulvey and Caroline Herring were follwed by Richard Shindell and Chirs Smither doing extended sets.

I was massively impressed by the sound technicians and stage management who flipped the settings between acts in a totally seamless and swift fashion. I swear it was probably longer but the changeovers seemed to take less than a minute - Great Job Rocky and the Sound Team!

Flora Reed accompanied Kris Delmhorst on Stage.

 

As the evening wore on,  the lighting became an issue.  The stage lighting was a horrendous tungsten yellow that was fairly weak. As darkness began to set in I had to gradually pump up the ISO setting on the camera.  At the end of the night it became a real challenge to capture the performers. The lighting for artists like Chris Smither was a narrow beam at the front of the stage which only lit his face when he leaned forward. At the same time there was strong lighting hitting his guitar thus making a well balanced shot practically impossible. Timing of each shot became critical and with the darkness I was forced to use settings as high as ISO 25000 (yes that's twenty five thousand) on the Canon 5d MkII.  As usual the trusty 70-200mm Canon did its job remarkably well.  There were times when I wanted to resort to a wider lens but with my bag securely covered I didn't want to risk exposing everything to the rain which continued incessently.

Chris Smither after some tweaking in photoshop

 

By the end of the night I had to settle for high ISO and live with the potential for noisy images.  Biggest challenge of all was Crooked Still who performed in their wonderfully energetic manner, moving in and out of the lighting and dancing behind the multitude of mikes,  stands and cables.  Again timing was crtical.

 

Greg Liszt of Crooked Still

There are more photos from this wondeful night in the Album entitled:

Signature Sounds 15th Anniversary which you will find in the column on the right.

A big thank you to Jim Olsen and the team at Signature Sounds for keeping the music alive!  http://www.signaturesounds.com.   Check them out they have some awesome artists! 

Thanks also to the terrific bunch of performers who made it a very speacial night. A Huge thank you goes to Jeff Martell for being so gracious with the phoitographer's pass and to Rocky the stage manager for all his patience and craftsmanship. Finally my hat goes off to all the event photographers who braved several hours in the rain to get the shots that matter!  

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Ian can be hired for Artist Publicity work, Portraits and Events. You can contact him at 781-340-0564 or through his web-site at : http://www.ianmurrayphoto.com.

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Jacob's Farm Strawberry Festival

Yesterday was a fun day at Jacob's Farm, Norwell MA.  A crowd of around 100, mostly children,  spent a couple of hours playing games and eating strawberry shortcake.  It was an opportunity to shoot some photographs of friend's children having fun, so out came the trusty Canon 5D MkII and the workhorse 70-200mm IS Lens. 

The children provided a whirlwind of activity especially with the hula-hoops, and swings. Everything was fast moving and hectic and called for swift response from the camera.  Fortunately it  was cloudy and bright, with great diffused light, so there were no harsh shadows to deal with.

 

Setting the camera to Aperture mode  so that I could control the depth of field allowed me to slightly soften the background while maintaining a fast shutter setting with the camera at ISO 400. This image of Bella was shot at f4 for 1/1250 sec to get the crisp sharpness as she twirled.

The next challenge was the swing. Lot's of movement and the requirement to maintain the camera's focus point on the face of the girls as they swung back and forth.

Setting the camera to AI Servo and multiple shots enabled the camera to automatically maintain the focus point as the girls moved towards me.  The knack was to focus sharply on their eyes when they were almost stationary and then let the camera do the work (Thankyou Canon!).

 

 

 

 This image of Bella and her friend was shot at f2.8 for 1/2000 sec. Both images were cropped in

Photoshop CS4 and then post processed using On-One Photo-Tools Pro 2.0 to slightly boost contrast and color tone

Although the day event lasted less than a couple of hours there was ample opportunity for photography. The tally of usable images for the event was 57.

Additional images in Mono can be viewed in the Jacob's Farm Galleryto the right.

Ian is always available to create stunning portraits, headshots, publicity materials or to photograph your wedding or event.  You can contact Ian at:

[email protected]

Special Offer: Book a portrait session for June or July and get $100 voucher for your future use or to give to a friend.  Call 781-340-0564