Tony Furtado & Luke Price
Friday, December 12 Doors open at 7, music at 7:30
“Very few musicians of any stripe so personify a musical genre as completely as Tony Furtado embodies Americana roots music.
“Tony is an evocative and soulful singer, a wide-ranging songwriter and a virtuoso multi-instrumentalist adept on banjo, cello-banjo, slide guitar and baritone ukulele who mixes and matches sounds and styles with the fl air of a master chef (he’s also an accomplished sculptor, but that’s another story). All the music of America is in Tony’s music. Relix hit the nail on the head when writing of Tony: ‘True talent doesn’t need categories.’
“A native of Pleasanton, California, who now makes his home in Portland, Oregon, Tony Furtado took up the banjo at age 12, inspired by the “Beverly Hillbillies” television show and a sixth-grade school report. He first attracted national attention in 1987, when he won the National Bluegrass Banjo Championship in Winfield, Kansas. Not long after that, Tony opted for the life of a full-time professional musician, joining Laurie Lewis & Grant Street. A second victory at Winfield, in 1991, bookended his years with Grant Street.
“In 1990, Tony signed a recording deal with Rounder Records. Beginning with “Swamped” in 1990, he recorded six critically acclaimed albums for the label, collaborating with master musicians such as Alison Krauss, Jerry Douglas, Tim O’Brien, Stuart Duncan, Kelly Joe Phelps and Mike Marshall. During this period, Tony also performed and recorded with the band SugarBeat and the Rounder Banjo Extravaganza with Tony Trischka and Tom Adams.
“Beginning in the late 1990s – influenced by such musical heroes as Ry Cooder, David Lindley and Taj Mahal – Tony added slide guitar, singing and songwriting to his musical toolbox and began leading his own band. He is a tireless road musician who performs in a dizzying variety of formats: solo, duo or trio, or with a full five-person band. He especially values the opportunities he has had to tour with such legendary musicians as Gregg Allman and with such esteemed slide guitarists as David Lindley, Derek Trucks and Sonny Landreth.
‘I love playing live,’ Tony says. ‘All my energy is focused on the love of playing music and rolling with the moment. It’s a give and take from the audience to the stage and back. And the music that is created is something that otherwise might not occur without that flow.’ — Jon Hartley Fox
Luke Price is a multi-instrumentalist known for his balance of taste, rhythm, and technical ability. At the age of 7, Luke began competing in fiddle contests, winning the National Title at ages 12 and 17. Since then, he’s won numerous awards, including Fiddlers’ Frolics and the Grand Master Fiddler’s Championship. In 2014, 2015 and 2017 he was National Old-Time Fiddling Grand Champion. Luke got a B.A. at Berklee College of Music and moved to Portland, OR. He records and performs with his band LOVE, Dean and collaborates with a host of other musicians, in addition to teaching fiddle and jazz violin at Lewis and Clark College.
Here’s a link to a tune; and here’s another.
Magnificent Marin Marais
Saturday, December 13 Doors open at 7, music at 7:30
Three of the Bay Area’s outstanding early music performers play 17th- and 18th-century trios from one of early music’s stellar French composers. Derek Tam, harpsichord, Frederic Rousselet and David Miller, violas da gamba, bring outstanding technical mastery and sensitive interpretation to the exquisite acoustics of the Fifth Street performance space. Don’t miss this concert.