P. O. Box 427
Centre Hall, PA  16828
pennsvalleyhopefund@gmail.com

Harry Smith Festival 2018

Wed, 10/24/2018 - 4:03pm -- hopefund
Date time: 
Sunday, November 4, 2018 - 2:00pm
Location: 
Elk Creek Café + Aleworks, Millheim, PA

The Eleventh Annual Harry Smith Festival Weekend: Nov 3-4, 2018

This will be our 11th year paying tribute to the amazing and oracular Anthology of American Folk Music, the Rosetta Stone of pre-war American Roots Music, and raising money for The Penns Valley Hope Fund, a local grassroots organization providing emergency assistance to local people facing sudden and unexpected need.

The dates are Saturday Nov. 3, and Sunday Nov. 4, 2018 at Elk Creek Cafe + Aleworks in Millheim, PA. Saturday, Nov. 3 the Chicken Tractor Deluxe will be playing an exclusive show at the Elk Creek Café at 8 PM.

https://www.elkcreekcafe.com/harry-smith-fest-sun-nov-4-2pm-2/

The Festival starts Sunday, Nov. 4 at 2 PM with the following lineup:

Chicken Tractor Deluxe

The Chicken Tractor is an old time Country and Americana band based in Central Pennsylvania. We are: Jimmy James Baughman (upright bass, vocals), Nell Hanssen (guitar, trumpet, vocals), Kai Schafft (vocals, clawhammer banjo, and guitar), Gary Gyekis (drums), Dr. Dave Mudgett (pedal steel and electric guitar) and James Maloan (fiddle). The Chicken Tractor plays American Rural Music, drawing from old 78 rpm records, rural church music, mountain murder ballads, classic country and honky tonk, string band and old time music, all run through the cosmic filter of predecessors and inspirants from Lily Mae Ledford to George Jones, and from Hazel Dickens to Hasil Adkins.

Andy Tolins and Friends

Andy Tolins is a guitarist, bassist and vocalist, who also plays dobro, mandolin and table steel. He is an accomplished songwriter, bandleader, and producer; winner of Billboard Magazine’s 1999 Best Unsigned Band award for “High Water” by the Triple A Blues Band. Andy has been performing full time in Central Pennsylvania and beyond for close to 30 years. His focus has been live American roots music, fronting his own blues and bluegrass bands every week (Wednesday and Fridays) at Zeno’s Pub in State College since 1991. He has been lead guitarist and contributing vocalist in the classic rock band “The Screaming Ducks” since 1988. He collaborates often with keyboardist, John “JT” Thompson, performing as “Thompson and Tolins” on the 1st Sunday of each month at Webster’s Cafe and Bookstore in State College. Before forming his bluegrass group “Haystack Lightnin’,” he performed for many years with his late wife, Susan Kemper, in their band “Red Apple Juice”. He loves performing live – building on the club’s energy and vibe, and is always learning to keep it fresh and spontaneous for each performance."

The Delverados

Born as the core of the original Chrome Magnatones, a hard-core rockabilly unit from State College, PA, Dr. Dave Mudgett, Jimmy James Baughman, Sean Hershey, and Alex Lusht pumped out classic and original surf, punk, trash, and twang as the Four Horsemen of the Opossum Lips, playing shows with the likes of Link Wray, Los Straitjackets, and Drive-By Truckers.  Reborn with Chris Coyne on guitar, they mine a wide range of instrumental and vocal American roots music from surf/punk/trash/psychedelic rock to rockabilly to gutbucket blues to old-school country to instrumental pop.  Expect anything from vibey spaghetti western to surf madness to total sonic thunder. Beyond the Chrome Magnatones, the guys have done time with bands like the AAA Blues Band, Box, Kris Kehr and the Stone Poets, Spider Kelly, Chicken Tractor Deluxe, Mountain Minstrelsy, The Dilly Beans, The RailLiners, The Rustlanders, The Jumpin' Mudcats, and others. They will rock your world.

Kris Kehr

Kris Kehr is a long-time full-time musician living with his family in rural Berks County, Pennsylvania. He performs, writes & records music and mainly plays harmonica, 6 & 12-string acoustic guitar, mandolin and baritone mandolin, and electric bass. He has produced or co-produced several studio and live albums of original material for his own Woobie Cat Productions, fronted his own Roots & Blues bands, belonged to several bluegrass groups playing either mandolin, guitar or bass, performed as a side-man accompanist and has done thousands of live shows either as an soloist or with various ensembles. Kris is currently recording new songs and performing either as a soloist or with his folk-rock group Traveling Seeds, and as bassist in the swing group Steppin’ Out! & The Dave Fry Trio.

Jerry Zolten

Jerry Zolten - well-known miscreant, musician, author, record producer, and lately on-screen film roots music guru - is also a longtime fanatic collector of the rarest 78 rpm shellac records...in the Harry Smith mold. He was a principle contributor to Jack "Third Man" White's Grammy-winning albums The Rise and Fall of Paramount Records, Volumes 1 and 2,  a recent guest talking roots music with Nick Spitzer on the syndicated NPR show American Routes, and a collaborator with underground cartoonist Robert Crumb on Chimpin' the Blues, a compilation of rare 1920s and '30s blues and related tracks on 78 rpm drawn from both his and Crumb's collections. An Amazon reviewer writes: "Jerry and Robert have conversations about the selections on this CD that add interesting insight to the musicians and their music. It's great to listen to people so passionate about their interest in this great music from a bygone era."  At this very event - The Harry Smith Festival -  Zolten will be on stage and with BIG sound spinning and talking about actual rare 78 rpm records from his legendary collection!