Athens Here We Come

JigTime is very proud to be a small part of this wonderful event happening next week in Athens, Georgia. Athens is certainly a vibrant and happening city. It is a student city and has always had a reputation as place wherereat music would thrive and grow. R.E.M are probably the most famous band to come out of Athens but if you head downtown any night of the week you can hear all sorts of great music from new young bands and seasoned veterans alike. So when we heard that this event was happening we just had to be there.
Below is the press release for the event.

Join us in Athens on Saturday, December 18th at the Seney-Stovall Chapel , for an evening of musical magic with Vassar Clements & His Holiday Band - featuring Mark Van Allen , fiddlist David Blackmon, Percussionist Count M'Butu, Bobby Lee Rodgers , Tyler 'Falcon' Greenewell and Ted Pecchio from The Codetalkers , Banjo man Alan Dalton ; and very special guest, Joe Craven , multi-instrumentalist with the David Grisman Quintet.

Seney-Stovall Chapel was built in 1882 on the historic grounds of the Lucy Cobb Institutes in Athens, Georgia, for community cutural events and completely restored in 1997.

Vassar Clements has been performing, recording and traveling for over six decades, spreading a great deal of joy wherever the road has taken him. Starting out at the age of fourteen with Bill Monroe, touring with Faron Young, and joining up with John Hartford, The Grateful Dead, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and even Widespread Panic in Fall of 2003, there just does not seem to be a place where Vassar's fiddle is not heard. In 1972, he appeared on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's album, "Will The Circle Be Unbroken". (www.vassarclements.com)

Former Atlanta native, Joe Craven, has been multi-instrumentalist with the David Grisman Quintet since 1989. Joe has made music with Jerry Garcia, Stephane Grappelli and Maria Muldaur, among many. His recordings of Camptown, Mo' Joe and his latest, Django Latino, have received rave reviews nationwide. Joe and Vassar Clements have shared a stage on several occasions and their fondness and respect for one another is obvious.
(www.joecraven.com)

Mark Van Allen has performed and recorded with John Berry, Daryl Anger and Vassar Clements, and was former member of Blueground Undergrass. He has also won songwriting awards from The Atlanta Songwriters Assoc., Billboard Magazine and BMI. We are very proud to have him for this show. (www.markvanallen.com)

David Blackmon, a former student of Vassar's, will be performing his own fiddle magic. Touted by many as "Widespread Panic's fiddle player", David was also a member of the Jerry Reed Band from 1981 to 1984. He has shared stages with Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes, Col. Bruce Hampton and a list to long for this page.

Ralph Roddenbery, although known primarily as a solo singer-songwriter, nearly every show finds Ralph with an array of other musicians, including mandolinist Bobby Miller, singer-songwriter(s) Caroline Aiken and Donna Hopkins. Ralph has worked with former REM drummer Bill Berry, and bassist Dave Schools of Widespread Panic among others. Live at Treesound Studios review:
Click here: JamBase | RODDENBERY GIVES IT UP ON LIVE RELEASE

5-string fretless bass player, Tommy Jones, worked a newspaper route from a skateboard in his early teens to buy his first guitar. He has been in Athens since the early 1980's, and was bassist, songwriter and co-founder of the The Dan K. Theory. He has shared stages with Johnny Mosier, Rev. Jeff Mosier, Caroline Aiken and Col Bruce, and plays bass with Ralph Roddenbery.
Special Guest Artists TBA
Produced by CowTrail Productions ©2004

Master of Ceremonies of the night will be Atlanta's own Thomas Helland, known as 'Tdawg' to many; music promoter and founder of Blue Ridge Harvest Fest, Avid music lover and friend to all things 'blue and grassy'. (www.tdawgsproductions.com)

Saturday, December, 18th - 2004
Seney-Stovall Chapel, 201 N. Milledge Avenue - Athens, Georgia
Doors open at 7:15 - Showtime 8:00 pm
Tickets are available by credit card in store at
Junkman's Daughter's Brother, Athens, Ga. 706-543-4998 Advance: $17.50 Door: $20.00
For more information email: HolidayMusic2004@aol.com

Joe Craven will be heard live Friday, December 17th on WUGA, 91.7 fm
on "IT'S FRIDAY", hosted by Program Director, Robb Holmes; 4:00pm.
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Join Joe for his workshop: "RHYTHM; Thinking Outside the Box"
Nuci's Space, Athens, Ga. Friday, Dec. 17th from 7-9:00 pm.
And Meet 'N Greet until 9:30. $10.00 Refreshments included.
This workshop is for all folks, all levels, with an interest in deepening their sense of the time and textures of rhythms as they apply to the instruments they play - or favorite found object; squeeze toys, cake pans, waste cans, martini shakers.

Part of the Holiday Special performance will be included in a compilation CD to benefit Nuci's Space, a resource/support center dedicated to promoting the emotional, physical and occupational well-being of the music community. (www.nuci.org)