Northern Current is back for another year of live music on Labor Day weekend. The annual free festival takes place on Sept. 3 at Riverside Park in Saranac Lake. The celebration gets underway at Noon and runs until 9:30 PM.
Located at the base of Lake Flower, Riverside Park provides a picturesque setting for the event. The festival looks to celebrate the beauty and richness of Saranac Lake and the surrounding Adirondack Mountains. Northern Current is focused on enriching the cultural and artistic diversity of the town by presenting a diverse set of performing artists. This year’s lineup features offerings of Rock, Blues, R&B, Afrobeat, Americana, Old Time Folk, Jazz, Country, and more.
www.northerncurrentadk.org
Headlining Northern Current is Canadian outfit Bywater Call. The group’s blend of rock, blues, and R&B results in a soulful and powerful sound. Standout vocalist Megan Parnell fits perfectly with the cascade of horns and noisy guitars that usually features in Bywater Call’s music. Together the group has carved out a lane somewhere between Southern Soul and modern blues-rock.
Local bands High on the Hog and Midnight Stargazers will open up the festival. Other New York acts include Afro-funk outfit Kaleta & Super Yamba Band and Americana pairing Richie & Rosie. The festival will also feature Huntress & the Holder of Hands, The Soggy Po Boys, Badenyah Drum & Dance, and DiTrani Brothers.
In addition to live music, Northern Current boasts a designated “kid zone,” merchandise, and local food vendors. The event is scheduled to take place rain or shine. Visit here for details and information about the event.
The View Center For Arts and Culture in Old Forge has been attracting visitors to the Adirondacks since it was founded in 1951. This summer, the organization has once again put together a diverse and enticing set of summer performances.
The View Center’s free “Concerts in the Courtyard Series” is one of the various programs and events that attendees can enjoy during the summer months. Now in its fourth season, the series is focused on highlighting local and regional artists. Concerts are scheduled for every Wednesday from June 28 to August 3. The performances will run from 5 PM to 6:30 PM and will take place at the View Center courtyard.
As part of its mission, the View Center aims to continuously explore and exhibit the ever-changing nature of art. This year’s series bolsters a variety of different artists from a wide array of genres. Concert-goers will be able to enjoy folk, rock, pop, blues and jazz offerings.
In addition to the free concert series, there will also be a handful of paid performances by several talented musicians. Pianist Ben Cosgrove will perform at the first of these events scheduled for July 2.
Ben Cosgrove
Along with the plethora of live music events this summer, the View Center also exhibits and displays impactful visual art. The View Center acts as a community space, dedicated to being an inspiring artistic force in the area. The organization offers numerous classes and opportunities for those in the surrounding area in an attempt to excite the next generation of artists.
Saranac Lake’s Music on the Green concert series is back for another year of summer programming. Located in the picturesque Adirondack Mountains, Saranac Lake has been hosting the concert series for a decade.
Music on the Green runs from July 5 through August 9 and takes place every Wednesday evening from 7pm to 9pm. All the concerts are held at Riverside Park and are free to the public. The series aims to shine a spotlight on Saranac Lake’s downtown and arts scene.
Since its inception in 2013, Music on the Green has brought 60 different music groups from various genres to the mountains. This year artists from all over New York and Vermont will make their way to Saranac Lake to share offerings of rock, jazz, soul, country, and more.
Summer Lineup:
July 5: Los Blancos- a roots and blues group from Syracuse
July 12: Fenimore Blues- a blues and rock outfit based out of Saratoga Springs
July 19: Freight- an Ithaca alt-country group
July 26: Mo’ Mojo- a zydeco band looking to channel the spirit of New Orleans
August 2: High & Mighty Brass Band- a groovy Brooklyn jazz brass ensemble with hints of hip-hop
August 9: Mal Maïz- Vermont musicians with a unique take Cumbia and other Latin sounds
On Saturday, Aug. 19, the third annual Open Sky Music Festival will take place at Lake Placid Center for the Arts (LPCA).
From 12-10 p.m., experience a day of fun, food, and music featuring everything from bluegrass to rock, pop, and blues. The festival is completely outdoors and is open to all ages.
The first Open Sky Music Festival was held in 2021 and continued into 2022. Incredible headliners are scheduled to perform on the mainstage and local favorites on The North Country Stage. Among the high-profile acts, Martin Sexton is scheduled to perform. Sexton grew up in Syracuse, and since the moment he picked up a guitar, has been hooked ever since. Sexton tours with what Rolling Stone calls his “soul-marinated voice,” acoustic guitar, and a suitcase full of heartfelt songs.
The LPCA has been a premiere destination for New York arts festivals for more than 50 years, since 1972. Against the backdrop of the Adirondack Mountains, audiences will have a great view to look at while watching the talented performers. LPCA is home to robust arts education programs, beautiful visual art galleries, and meaningful services to artists and fellow arts organizations. The center is the perfect destination for a weekend trip with the little ones, and or a quick day trip with your group of college friends. LPCA provides visitors with food and beverages from a number of vendors.
Festival passes for the Open Sky Music Festival at Lake Placid Center for the Arts start at $75 and go on sale on March 29 at 10 a.m. From March 29-31, LPCA members can purchase early bird passes for $50. Click here for more information.
“The Little Mermem” from the 2021 Open Sky Music Festival
If you’re in New York and looking for traditional folk music, you might be surprised to find roots closer to home than you thought. While the genre is often associated with the South, in reality, Upstate New York – particularly the Adirondacks – is home to a vibrant past of traditional music composed of folklore, work songs and rich oral traditions.
Dave Ruch, a Buffalo-based musician, music educator and folk music archivist/historian has been delving deep into the history of traditional music of the Adirondacks for the past 30 years. As he explains, the Adirondacks, with its great wilderness and rural flair provided a perfect breeding ground for the diverse style of music that originated there.
Lumber workers gather, dancing and making music in the Adirondack camps for entertainment | Photo from woods.tauny.org
The Roots of Adirondack Music
Traditional music as it is commonly known is a genre of music specific to a certain region and local people or culture. It is typically anonymous music, passed down orally and serves as an expression of the life of people in that given community. Traditional Adirondack music in particular is further characterized by a few key elements as Ruch explains.
“So much of it goes back to work in the woods, lumbering being one of the main occupations there throughout the 19th century and into the 20th,” Ruch said. “That was a real fertile ground for this music to spread and be used. “
As he continued, very often logging operations would be deep in the woods and the lumber companies would have to build temporary housing units for workers to live in in the forest. By Ruch’s count, anywhere from 30-50 guys crammed into these small living spaces for an entire winter, working 6 days a week. Additionally no booze was usually allowed on the premises.
Workers in the Adirondack lumber camps pose for a picture | Photo from New York Heritage
“Singing and entertaining each other became really the primary form of entertainment for a lot of these guys,” Ruch said. “It was a living tradition as well, so they’d be making up new songs about somebody who died on the log drive or to complain about the boss.”
Adirondack music was also greatly influenced by the influx of Canadians and Irish immigrants who went to work in the iron mines and lumber camps. These influences found their way into the Adirondacks in a variety of unexpected ways.
“I was working on a project several years ago and I ended up finding at least one song that a man up in Wilmington, NY had been singing and he was the only person to ever be found in America that was reported to know and sing that song,” Ruch recalled. “It’s been recorded 20-30 different places in Atlantic Canada but it had only been found once in America and that was in that Northeastern corner of New York State. That song followed the people as they migrated.”
Through the Generations
While Adirondack music might seem like a thing of the past, its oral traditions trickle downward through the subsequent generations of music makers. Ruch said what makes this music special is that unlike other regions of New York, the Adirondacks seems to be the only place where you can still find people today who have a direct link to this old music.
Don Woodcock, pictured with his fiddle in hand | Courtesy of TAUNY Archives/Martha Cooper
Ruch has talked visited and befriended many of these multigenerational musicians who carry on family legacy and traditions. One such example he cited is Don Woodcock, a musician in St. Lawrence who holds the tile of “Grand Champion Fiddler of New York State.” Woodcock’s father played the fiddle for square dances and had learned such songs from older musicians. Decades later this combined knowledge was all passed down to Don. In some cases, Ruch said these songs don’t even have names, Woodcock simply knows them as “The song my dad always started the square dances off with.”
“He didn’t learn out of a book and he didn’t learn it because he wanted to learn about local music, he‘s what you’d call a tradition-bearer,” Ruch said. “He’s a living link to this old music that predates radio and T.V. and goes back to a time where people entertained themselves and their neighbors with this traditional music.”
Change and Loss Over Time
With each song passed down through the generations, the music of the Adirondacks changes as well.
Ruch cited another musician by the name of Ermina Pincombe who took her Grandma’s a cappella version of a song called The Lumberjack’s Alphabet – complete with a lumberjack term for every letter of the alphabet – and set guitar chords to the music, based on her own taste for the country and “hillbilly” music that came into the home via 1930’s radio.
Ermina Pincombe and Dave Ruch smile for the camera | Photo courtesy Dave Ruch
“A hallmark of all traditional music is that because there’s no known author and no one set way to do it, people feel pretty free to change a couple words or sing it to a different melody that’s okay, ” Ruch said. “An aspect of the tradition is that it can completely evolve and usually does over time.”
While Adirondack music continues on, there is an innate risk with the oral tradition. If not enough people carry on the songs, it can be lost forever. Ruch hopes to carry on the legacy of mountain music by sharing these types of songs and stories. As he explained, it’s not just a matter of educating people from across the country, it starts in his own backyard.
“The folk audiences will often say ‘we knew about music from Kentucky and the Ozark mountains but we had no idea there was this music from New York’ and I tell them, ‘well people in New York don’t realize there’s anything either.’”
A Night of Adirondack Music
For those interested in learning more about traditional Adirondack music, Ruch is hosting a show titled, “An Evening of Music and Stories from the Adirondacks and the Erie Canal” on January 18th at the Sportsmen’s Tavern in Buffalo, NY.
Dave Ruch pictured performing traditional Adirondack tunes on the banjo | Photo courtesy Dave Ruch
Ruch will be performing the traditional songs he has learned by talking with musicians in the region and sharing the stories behind the music and its creators. While Ruch’s talks are typically reserved for classrooms, historic societies or libraries, he said the cozy and casual environment of the bar will make for a nice change of pace.
“It’s always nice to bring it out where ordinary people are and you get to do it with a beer in hand,” Ruch said. “People really love the stories and love to learn the background of the music as much as they love the music itself.”
Ruch will be performing at the Sportsmen’s Tavern on 326 Amherst St in Buffalo, NY at 7 pm on Jan. 18.
You can buy tickets for the event here and learn more about the history of Adirondack music on Ruch’s website on traditional arts in Upstate New York (TAUNY) here.
