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FOR BROADCASTERS

     Lexington, KY - You should forgive Ed Commons if it takes a little longer than usual for the Red Barn Radio creator, director and executive producer to return calls this week. Commons has two "scrambles" on his plate - a live broadcast of his old-time and bluegrass oriented radio show on Wednesday evening, and the launch of a two-weekend bluegrass festival starting on Friday.
    Its 9th season is turning to be a pivotal year for Red Barn Radio, taped weekly on Wednesday evenings before a live audience at ArtsPlace on Mill Street in downtown Lexington. "We've finally reached a point where we have a little traction," noted Commons as he rushed to prepare for not one, but two major events coming in only days.
    "We have been getting some very good press with a few of the acts that have come to our show. That is really helping move us along - the awareness of what we're doing. The biggest thing that has happened was our new partnership with WEKU and their support of us. Not only their ideas, but just having someone to bounce things off of who is 'in the biz' who can give us advice."
    It's that partnership that brings us to Wednesday evening -as in, tomorrow- when Red Barn Radio, hosted by Brad Becker, goes live on WEKU with a "special" broadcast from the ArtsPlace performance hall. Featuring the supercharged bluegrass band Hog Operation from Louisville, and Red Barn's special guest for the evening, Mike Mitchell form Floyd Virginia, the music will begin at 7 p.m., and an hour later, at 8 p.m., the program will go on the air "live."
    Admission is $8 with tickets available in advance through the Downtown Arts Center box office, $10 at the door for tomorrow night, only.

Red Barn Radio rolls into MoonDance

    No sooner will Commons call Wednesday night's show a "wrap" than he and his crew will be turning their attention to something of a "dream-come-true" that he has shared with LexArts CEO Jim Clark: the notion of hosting an Arts and Heritage festival.
    It all came together after LexArts recently signed-on as Artistic Manager of Beaumont Circle's new as Artistic Manager of Beaumont Circle's new MoonDance at Midnight Pass amphitheater. The venue, situated in the circular greenspace surrounded by the big southside suburban development, seats up to 1,200 people on lawn chairs or blankets that they bring.
    In the early stages of Beaumont, developers Tim and Andy Haymaker had envisioned a community feature, but they wanted something more than a fountain, clock tower or a park. They commissioned a poll to see what people in the neighborhood would like and were surprised to find that a majority wanted some type of band shell. Lexington architect Clive Pohl was asked to research some ideas. Pohl, who had designed a floating stage for the Seattle Symphony Orchestra as his master's thesis, went to work. His goal was to create a space and buildings that will indicate to people driving by that "this is a place where things happen."
    In short order, things have begun to happen.
    In its initial phase, the festival launching Friday and Saturday at MoonDance focuses on live performance by a full slate of such Kentucky groups as Howard's Creek, Karly Dawn & Little Sarie Band and the Lucy Becker Trio. "They're Bluegrass, they're NewGrass, they're Old Time, so it's an interesting mix that people can hear in a short period of time. It's not a bluegrass festival in the sense that it's just one bluegrass group after another," said Commons.
    The festival continues Oct. 15 and 16 at the same location and is the first production under LexArts management. "I see this as having a neighborhood feel to it," noted Commons. "We're not trying to compete with anything else that is going on - there is a lot happening. But I think it's another alternative in this city."
    Commons said he and Clark hope to build on this year's programming and in future years expand it with features for children, teaching elements and art exhibitions. "The venue cries for great stuff to happen there," he said.
    Red Barn's Bluegrass at MoonDance is scheduled for October 8-9, 6-10 p.m.; October 15, 7-10 p.m.; and October 16, 6-10 p.m. Tickets are $15/night, $20/one weekend pass. For more information, call the LexArts Box Office, 859.225.0370, http://lexarts.tix.com, or visit the Downtown Arts Center at 141 East Main Street.

October 4, 2010

2010 is Shaping up as "The Year" for Red Barn Radio

As Kentucky as bourbon, basketball and horses

Red Barn Radio brings the world Kentucky talent

By Robbie Clark

Wildcat Weekly, Lexington, Kentucky

Of the music you listen to today, none is as faithful to its origins or as steeped in tradition as bluegrass music. It’s the only unspoiled form of music, and no matter how musicians’ styles and tastes have changed through the years since Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys started strumming on a regular basis down at the Grand Ole Opry back in 1939, not much has really changed.

You can’t say that about jazz or R&B, and you certainly can’t say that about country or rock.

Newer artists’ songs, like the Old Crow Medicine Show’s “Big Time in the Jungle,” hearken back to music created by Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt, both of whom played in the Blue Grass Boys, back in the 50s when bluegrass music was first beginning to be called bluegrass. Chris Thile’s intricate mandolin work is reminiscent of David Grisman’s playing on the Grateful Dead’s “American Beauty,” though nearly four decades have passed between the two.

The music, through the years, has remained rural and bucolic and is heavily influenced by its oral traditions. Songs are passed down and learned, not simply recorded in a studio behind soundproof glass and mixing boards.

Each song has its own story. Even if the singer didn’t write the song, they still probably have a yarn to spin as to how the song came to find them. This exchange is sometimes as important as the song itself.

Enter Red Barn Radio.

The brainchild of Ed Commons and Marilyn Myers, this live locally syndicated production yanks folk from the hills, off the street and out of taverns and puts a microphone in front of their face for the world to hear the talent that saturates the soil of Kentucky.

“Ninety-nine percent of the artists we feature on our show are Kentucky artists,” Commons said.

But the hour-long show isn’t simply a recorded concert broadcasted by a select few radio stations throughout the country and Canada. There’s also an interview portion, where the show’s host, Brad Becker, allows the musicians to remain true to the oral traditions of bluegrass music as they discuss their music and their relationship with it – a sort of “porch to the stage with a microphone” metamorphosis.

“The show’s about the musicians, it’s about their history,” Commons said. “It’s not about their new CD.”

Past guests on the show include nationally prominent acts such as J.D. Crowe & the New South and local flavor artists such as Charlie Whittington, as well as a slue of artists brimming with talent most people haven’t even heard of. Becker picks the talent that will appear on the show, and though sometimes an artist will approach Red Barn Radio, most guests are chosen by word of mouth.

In total, Commons and crew produce 26 shows a year, with special Christmas and New Year’s episodes. Artists perform in front of a live audience, which could be two to 20 people, in ArtsPlace, and the interview portion is recorded prior to the performance. The show’s announcer, Tom Brown, and Commons then record the introduction and transitions at a later time.

Though the show is captured before a live audience, Commons uses his discretion when manipulating the final product to fit into one of three 59-minute packages. Sometimes the interview is chockfull of intimate moments; sometimes it isn’t very fruitful. Sometimes an artist may stumble through a song; sometimes the entire performance is a pristine performance. Either way, Commons uses his discretion when editing the final product.

“We slice and dice the hell out of it,” he said. “It’s all done on computers.”

Red Barn Radio’s next recording will be its 100th episode. This number of shows, with a vast majority being dedicated to Kentucky musicians, is indicative of the quality of talent hiding out in the state.

“I think it’s rewarding to have that many artists of quality that we’re able to do that many episodes,” Commons said. “And we still have the Louisville area and Western Kentucky to explore.”

Strangely enough, unless you attend the live taping (or download a show from the program’s Web site, (www.redbarnradio.com), you aren’t going to hear Red Barn Radio anywhere in the Lexington area. No local radio station really has a format that jives with the program.

And that’s essentially the root of Red Barn Radio’s problems, according to Commons, little to no exposure. Red Barn Radio doesn’t receive any funding, and they don’t charge anything for admission to their recordings, so money for advertising is scarce.

In all, only about half a dozen stations carry the program throughout the country and one station carries the program in Saskatchewan, Canada, at 5 a.m.

“I got an email from a lady in Canada who said she gets up at 5 a.m. so she can hear Red Barn Radio,” Commons said. “It’s those few contacts that make you want to go on.”

Red Barn Radio’s slow take off isn’t a result of pushing a poor product. Common’s feels that the package that comes out of ArtsPlace each week is something truly Kentucky in every aspect of the production.

“I’ve always felt a Kentucky product is very saleable on a national level. We are harvesting a national product,” he said. “We’re helping create and perpetuate the Kentucky aura that goes with bourbon and horses. Those traditions fit into our product.”

With this line of thinking, James Clark, president and CEO of LexArts, has invited the Red Barn Radio crew to participate in April’s Best Of the Bluegrass festival. LexArts is organizing the event, which takes advantage of visitors coming to the area for Keeneland by exposing them to the region’s unique culture, this year, and Clark felt Red Barn Radio would make an ideal addition to the festivities and believes the program serves as a valuable venue for local talent.

“Any chance a performer can be treated as a professional musician is benefiting,” Clark said. “It’s very important for artists to feel respected in their hometown.”

LexArts also allows Red Barn Radio to use ArtsPlace free of charge. Red Barn Radio’s program during the Best Of the Bluegrass will take place at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 12, in the Downtown Arts Center. Admission will be $10, and PlaidGrass will be performing. Other recordings take place at 8 p.m. in ArtsPlace on Wednesday evenings. Check the show’s Web site for listings.

Originally published: Issue 75 - March 23, 2006

Red Barn Radio

A Jewel in the Heart of the Bluegrass

If you find yourself looking for something to do on otherwise slow Wednesday nights this fall and you appreciate high quality live music, do yourself a favor and make plans to spend an evening at Arts Place and check out Red Barn Radio’s series of live broadcast recording sessions.

Red Barn Radio was founded by Ed Commons six years ago and since that time has hosted dozens and dozens of the finest

Bluegrass and Old Time bands playing the circuits these days.

Founder Commons acts as the show’s Producer and Director and handles the soundboard duties as well. He’s been involved in audio production for years and operated a location audio service and recording studio in Pittsburgh before he made the move to Lexington.

Once in Lexington, Commons founded an independent record company which recorded folk, blues, jazz, and rock. Not one to merely sit behind the soundboard, Commons also has played keyboards, acoustic bass, and carried vocals at various times in his career.

While catching up with Commons recently, I asked him if Red Barn Radio has a specific mission or goal behind its efforts. He noted three specific goals behind his efforts, to-wit:

--To broadcast American Grassroots music with an emphasis on the music of Kentucky.

--To give artists a platform from which they can connect with a large listening audience.

--To give the listeners an opportunity to learn about the people, places, and history behind the music.

Check, check, and check.

While some live radio broadcasts have a tendency to rely on the personality of the host to carry the momentum of the broadcast forward, the folks behind Red Barn Radio clearly want to remain in the background in order to keep the focus of the shows on the musicians, their musicianship, and their backgrounds.

Stated succinctly by Commons, “Brad Becker, as host of the show, Tom Brown, the “voice” of Red Barn Radio and me as the technical supervisor and Producer are only there to glue the performance together and present these individuals and groups in the best possible light.”

The performers who have set a spell at Red Barn Radio include some of the biggest names in Bluegrass and acoustic music such as J.D. Crowe, Billy Renee and the Cumberland Gap, Art Stamper, Don Rigsby, Jim Hurst, Phil Ledbetter, the Grascals, and Daniel and Amy Carwile.

In addition, Red Barn provides a venue for lesser known bands from around the region who according to show host Brad Becker “work their jobs all day and play music evenings and weekends.”

Show host Brad Becker, who has done stints both as a player and a music journalist, has been with the program for two years and has helped shape the show so as to include a little more emphasis on the stories musicians have to tell, and how they came to the music.

When asked what makes Red Barn Radio’s content unique, Becker noted: “We do sometimes get carried away with geeky instrument talk. For these players, though, their instruments are like lovers, or even family members. Really appealing and poignant, I think, is the reverence players of traditional music have for the elders of the tradition, and also for the instruments they preferred-- Gibson F5 mandolin (Monroe), Martin D-28 (Clarence White, Tony Rice).”

Red Barn Radio is also unique in that it takes place in a small, intimate setting in which audience members often get a chance to mingle

with the performers after the shows. Regarding the proximity of the performers to the audience, Becker noted “[o]ne thing lots of folks love about attending Red Barn Radio programs is watching expert players working those instruments. And front row seats are about ten feet from their sound holes!”

Given the nature of Red Barn Radio as an ongoing artistic pursuit, I was curious to find out if there were any changes in terms of the types and styles of performers one can expect in the upcoming season. In this regard Commons noted that Becker is trying to balance the season with traditional as well as newer sounds that are outgrowths of acoustic and bluegrass roots.

Becker for his part notes that he is particularly interested in the old-time string band music revival currently taking place which he describes as “similar to what was going on in the 60’s and early 70’s when young people became sick of highly produced country and bluegrass music.”

Thus while Red Barn Radio shows will largely be steeped in the Bill Monroe and Stanley Brothers traditions, Becker intends to bring in old-time music that initially paved the way for Bluegrass and also bands that are taking Bluegrass in new and different directions.

For September, Red Barn’s lineup features four distinctly different styles of music and can be seen as cross-section of what you can see there throughout the year. Starting off the successive Wednesday night performances on Wednesday, September 5th, Brian McGee and the Hollow Speed take the stage.

McGee and Hollow Speed are an Americana band from Ashville, North Carolina. A three-man setup in the traditional old-time format, they claim to play with a “juke joint kick and a rock and roll sneer.”

Originally from Philadelphia, McGee started playing guitar at age seven and formed a punk band a few years later. Eventually becoming enamored with the songs of Johnny Cash and Hank Williams, McGee’s interest segued into the land of traditional country and old-time string band music and the days when songs were about “drinking and death, regret and fear, and anger and love.”

On September 12 th Kentucky Sassafras makes an appearance. Hailing from Gallatin County, Sassafras features the singing and instrumental work of 17 year old Chloe Blayne. From Chloe, the rest of the band members range all the way down to 12 years of age.

All of the members of Kentucky Sassafras play several instruments and the ease with which they switch instruments while performing is more reminiscent of seasoned professionals your average teen band. The secret? They all started playing at very early ages and having been working hard ever since.

Revival Ridge takes the Red Barn stage on the third Wednesday of September. Traveling down from Bellevue, Kentucky, Revival Ridge is a four-man gospel band that features Paul Estep and his son Jonathan. Paul plays guitar and handles lead and tenor vocals while 15 year old Jonathan plays mandolin primarily and sings baritone.

Finally, rounding out the month Hog Operation out of Louisville brings their supercharged style of bluegrass to town. A four-man outfit, Hog Operation brings silky smooth traditional three-part harmonies to the plate and draws from a wide well ranging from the sounds of early Celtic settlers, African American blues, reggae, rock, R & B, and country.

Mark your calendars and get set to take in some of the best music the region has to offer in one of the most intimate settings around. Red Barn Radio on Wednesday nights…there’s nothing else that comes close.

From Nougat Magazine, Lexington, Kentucky

Governor Ernie Fletcher has proclaimed the week of June 21 – 28 as “Bluegrass Music Week in Kentucky”.

“This is a great time to shine the spotlight on bluegrass music,” said Governor Fletcher. “Both the bill and proclamation cement Kentucky as the proud, rightful birthplace of bluegrass music. Not only is bluegrass an art form enjoyed by worldwide audiences, it also has contributed to the burgeoning tourism business in Kentucky, now bringing more than ten billion dollars a year into the commonwealth.”

“Kentucky is home to artists with worldwide careers in bluegrass music,” added Tourism Commissioner Randy Fiveash. “These events help commemorate an important part of our musical heritage, and we’re honored to be the center of this global phenomenon.”

Bluegrass Week in Kentucky Proclaimed

Rhonda McIntyre from WCYO-FM, Richmond KY, with former Governor Earnie Fletcher, and Red Barn Radio's Executive Producer-Director, Ed Commons

Eastern Kentucky University’s public radio station, WEKU-FM, has replaced classical music with talk programming in its weekly, midday schedule (10 a.m. to 3 p.m.). “Our decision to change programming has not been taken lightly,” noted a letter to listeners posted on the station’s website from WEKU manager/director Roger Duvall and assistant manager/program director Keith Nesler. “In August 2009, WEKU added BBC Newshour and Fresh Air with Terry Gross. As a result, we have seen a significant increase in listeners and contributions in support of our news and talk format, while contributions and listening to our classical music have continued to decline.”

The station will, however, seek funding for a new fine arts FM radio station. “Michael Carter will move to mornings on our online stream WEKU Music (formerly WEKU2). We also are dedicating Monday evening to a new program highlighting high-quality performances from local artists and venues around Kentucky (Kentucky On Stage) and will be expanding our operatic offerings from seasonal (the Met) to year-round (NPR’s World of Opera), “ the letter explained.

WEKU rolls out key

programming changes

Lexington-based Red Barn Radio (redbarnradio.com) will join the locally produced WoodSongs Old Time Radio Hour in a Saturday night lineup that includes A Prairie Home Companion on WEKU. Red Barn executive producer and director Ed Commons said the debut, airing at 9 p.m. on August 7, is a retrospective of past shows to familiarize new listeners with the program’s Old Time and Bluegrass music fare. The show is hosted by Brad Becker and is recorded live on Wednesday evenings at Arts Place in Lexington.

Red Barn is also heard on stations in Frankfort, Hazard, Corbin, Barbourville, Middlesboro and Pikeville.

Locally produced radio show

gains WEKU as affiliate