201. Interview with Maggie Delaney-Potthoff, Madison, Wisconsin (05:43)

Date:
2020-09-02
Main contributors:
Maggie Delaney-Potthoff
Summary:
Maggie Delaney-Potthoff (Madison, Wisconsin) Founding member of Harmonious Wail, Maggie Delaney-Potthoff is a vocalist extraordinaire whose percussive instrument of choice is a cardboard box (but who can also rock almost any household object). Harmonious Wail plays Americana-infused Gypsy Jazz. Along with her illustrious yet humble artist bandmates, she vows that every performance is played from the heart and infused with a perfect balance of inspiration, emotion, wit, and storytelling. Presently, the group celebrates ten recordings and over thirty years of existence. Their music has been played in films and they have received the 2017 Musicnotes Outstanding Musical Career Achievement. Award and the 2020 18th Annual Independent Music Awards Acoustic Song category for “Move.” Maggie’s captivating voice captured voters’ hearts and made her the 2020 AARP Superstar recipient. She also teaches voice. In this interview you will hear her talking about her teaching. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/02/2020.

202. Interview with Mercedes Mendive, Elko, Nevada (06:14)

Date:
2020-10-07
Main contributors:
Mercedes Mendive
Summary:
Mercedes Mendive (Elko, Nevada) Accordionist Mercedes Mendive is the daughter of Joe and Veronica Mendive. She attended schools in Elko and has lived in Reno, as well as eleven years in Miami, Florida. Her father was one of her greatest influences beginning at a very young age, when the sound of the accordion was constantly present in her world. Mercedes' musical journey has taken her to prestigious accordion festivals in Texas, Orlando, Florida, Miami, as well as festivals in California, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and all over the state of Nevada. Mercedes was invited to perform in July 2016 for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival while accompanying the Elko Ariñak Basque Dancers (Basque Dancers of the Great Basin). One of Mercedes' latest endeavors is the Ariñak Project that she co-founded during the summer of 2016 with lifelong friend and fellow dancer/musician Janet Iribarne. Their focus is to elaborate on the Basque culture not only with traditional dances, but with new dances, new music, instruments, language, and songs. Most recently, Mercedes was a featured performing artist with her band, Melodikoa, who performed throughout the prestigious 2018 National Cowboy Gathering in late January/early February in Elko, Nevada, titled Basques and Buckaroos.  Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 10/07/2020.

203. Interview with Mary Flower, Portland, Oregon (05:04)

Date:
2020-10-12
Main contributors:
Mary Flower
Summary:
Mary Flower (Portland, Oregon) An internationally known and award-winning picker, singer/songwriter, and teacher, the Midwest native relocated from Denver to the vibrant Portland, Oregon, music scene in 2004. She continues to please crowds and critics at folk festivals, teaching seminars and concert stages domestically and abroad, that include Merlefest, Kerrville, King Biscuit, Prairie Home Companion, and the Vancouver Folk Festival, among many. A finalist in 2000 and 2002 at the National Finger Picking Guitar Championship; a nominee in 2008, 2012, and 2016 for a Blues Foundation Blues Music Award; and many times a Cascade Blues Assn. Muddy Award winner, Flower embodies a luscious and lusty mix of rootsy, acoustic blues guitar and vocal styles that span a number of idioms – from Piedmont to the Mississippi Delta, with stops in ragtime, swing, folk and hot jazz. Flower’s twelve recordings, including her four for Memphis’ famed Yellow Dog Records—Bywater Dance, Instrumental Breakdown, Bridges and Misery Loves Company—show a deep command of and love for folk and blues string music. For Flower, it’s never about re-creation. Her dedication to the art form is a vital contribution to America’s music. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 10/12/2020.

204. Interview with Luis Herrera, Fillmore, California (06:12)

Date:
2020-09-08
Main contributors:
Luis Herrera
Summary:
Luis Herrera (Fillmore, California) Luis Herrera is brother number two in his family band, Hermanos Herrera, a musical group consisting of five brothers and their younger sister. The group plays various styles of traditional Mexican music such as son huasteco, son jarocho, and norteña music. They have shared their music with a wide audience, performing throughout the U.S. and Mexico at world-renowned venues, and shared the stage with Los Tigres del Norte, Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano, Linda Ronstadt, Los Lobos, Intocable, Julieta Venegas, and Banda el Recodo, to name a few. In 2015, Hermanos Herrera joined the nationwide campaign to encourage Latinos in the United States to attend and graduate from college. Through their music they have raised over $100,000 for the community and have assisted in countless fundraising and community service events, educating children and assisting those in need. Hermanos Herrera continue to promote cultural awareness and appreciation of their Mexican heritage with musical presentations and workshops at both the elementary school and collegiate levels. They released their ninth recording, Ayer, Hoy y Para Siempre in April 2020. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 09/08/2020.

205. Interview with Queen Quet, Georgia Sea Islands (05:52)

Date:
2020-10-14
Main contributors:
Queen Quet
Summary:
Queen Quet (Georgia Sea Islands) Queen Quet Marquetta L. Goodwine is a singer/vocalist, author, computer scientist, lecturer, and cultural historian. She is the founder of the premiere advocacy organization for the continuation of Gullah/Geechee culture, the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition. Queen Quet was the first Gullah/Geechee person to speak on behalf of her people before the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland and was also one of the first of seven inductees in the Gullah/Geechee Nation Hall of Fame. In 2008, she was recorded at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France, at a United Nations Conference in order to have the human rights story of the Gullah/Geechee people archived for the United Nations. She worked with US Congressman James Clyburn to ensure that the United States Congress would work to assist the Gullah/Geechees. Queen Quet then acted as the community leader to work with the United States National Park Service to conduct several meetings throughout the Gullah/Geechee Nation for the Special Resource Study of Lowcountry Gullah Culture. Due to the fact that Gullah/Geechees worked to become recognized as one people, Queen Quet wanted to ensure that the future congressional act would reflect this in its name and form. As a result in 2006 the “Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Act” was passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by the president. Queen Quet has appeared in numerous documentaries and films, and in print and other media. She uses her voice and vocal performances as healing arts. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 10/14/2020.

206. Interview with Rachel Reynolds, Fox, Arkansas (05:54)

Date:
2020-09-11
Main contributors:
Rachel Reynolds
Summary:
Rachel Reynolds (Fox, Arkansas) Rachel is an artist and folklorist with a background in art and cultural policy and arts-focused grassroots organizing in underserved communities. Reynolds received a B.A. in American studies from the University of Arkansas and M.A. degrees in public history and heritage studies from Arkansas State University. She received a fellowship from the Southern Foodways Alliance to document Arkansas barbecue and was in the first cohort of Creative Community Fellows through National Arts Strategies. Her arts- and food-focused project, the Oregon County Food Producers and Artisans Co-Op, has been featured in Mother Earth News, Rural Missouri, Acres U.S.A. and others. In 2015, she founded the #NotMyOzarks campaign to counter anti-racial sentiment in the Ozarks region. Rachel is the Head Project Steward of Meadowcreek, Inc., a land- and art-based incubator in the Arkansas Ozarks, co-founder of the People's Library Project, and the Executive Director of the Arkansas Craft School. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 09/11/2020.

207. Interview with Randy Sabien, St. Paul, Minnesota (05:53)

Date:
2020-09-27
Main contributors:
Randy Sabien
Summary:
Randy Sabien (St. Paul, Minnesota) Randy Sabien has over forty years of performing experience as a contemporary violinist. He also has extensive touring and guesting experience, having toured as singer/songwriter Jim Post’s sideman, doing recordings with Greg Brown, appearing on Austin City Limits with Kate Wolf, guesting on Prairie Home Companion, and doing shows with Corky Siegel. Over the years, he has led his own bands as well, often featuring triple fiddles. Randy founded the string department at the Berklee College of Music in Boston in 1978, and then thirty years later, headed the string department at McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul. He is the author of the ground-breaking jazz method for strings, Jazz Philharmonic, published by Alfred Music. He has recorded a dozen albums to date. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 09/27/2020.

208. Interview with Rickie Monie, New Orleans, Louisiana (05:54)

Date:
2020-09-24
Main contributors:
Rickie Monie
Summary:
Rickie Monie (New Orleans, Louisiana) Preservation Hall pianist Rickie Monie was raised in New Orleans’s Ninth Ward. Monie’s parents played piano in church, and at home they would spin records by Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, Teddy Wilson, and other pianists. Monie’s father began teaching him at the age of eight, and he eventually played piano and organ in church. In 1982, Rickie Monie began to perform at Preservation Hall, where he has remained since. In addition to piano, Monie is also an accomplished clarinetist and regularly plays the organ in churches around New Orleans. As an ambassador of music for New Orleans and the United States, Rickie continues to share his love of music with students of all ages. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 09/24/2020.

209. Interview with Paul Anastasio, Richard, Louisiana (05:53)

Date:
2020-09-04
Main contributors:
Paul Anastasio
Summary:
Paul Anastasio (Richard, Louisiana) Paul Anastasio began studying violin at age nine and soon gravitated to popular and folk music. By his mid-twenties, he had studied with jazz violin pioneer Joe Venuti and had begun performing in Merle Haggard’s band, the Strangers. Later he served four years in the western swing band Asleep at the Wheel and worked for three years with Larry Gatlin and two years with Loretta Lynn. From 1997 to 2006, he traveled to Mexico to study and archived the folk fiddling of southwestern Mexico’s Tierra Caliente, transcribing over 1,000 tunes, which became an ongoing project. Paul has been teaching vintage jazz, swing, western swing, improvisation, traditional country, and Mexican fiddling annually at music camps and workshops across the U.S. He is a musician in Lafayette, Louisiana-based bands including Stop the Clock Western Swing and Runaway Fiddle. Interviewed by Holly Hobbs, 09/04/2020.

210. Interview with Arturo Rodriguez, Seattle, Washington (05:59)

Date:
2020-10-06
Main contributors:
Arturo Rodriguez
Summary:
Arturo Rodriguez (Seattle, Washington) An accomplished musician, author, teacher, and DJ, Arturo Rodriguez has performed worldwide, sharing the stage with such music legends as Tito Puente; Dave Valentin; Paul Horn; Pete Escovedo; Brandi Carlile; Crosby, Stills and Nash, and many more. Never one to stand still for very long, Arturo is both a familiar face and a powerful force on the local Seattle music scene. While moving through the musical boundaries of salsa, rumba, jazz, pop, rock, and even Afro Cuban ritual music, Arturo has an amazing talent for bringing people together. He currently performs with the Rumba Kings and is working on a new album with his new trio, Weave Poetic, a phenomenal performance group fusing Latin and jazz music together with incredible vocal harmonies. All members in the group sing and write original music. Arturo teaches Latin percussion and drum set and helps salsa dancers with their musicality both virtually and live. Interviewed by Raquel Paraíso, 10/06/2020.