Welcome to the Southwest Pickers!
The Southwest Traditional and Bluegrass Music Association (aka The Southwest Pickers) is a nonprofit, volunteer-run organization established in 1981 to preserve, promote and strengthen traditional, acoustic music, particularly Bluegrass and Old-time, in New Mexico. The Soutwest Pickers sponsor concerts, workshops, and jam sessions throughout the year in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, and every August, we present the annual Santa Fe Bluegrass and Old-Time Music Festival, three days of concerts, contests, pickin’ and grinnin’. On this site, you can find information about the festival, upcoming events, local bands, and membership. If you haven’t already, please join our fine organization to get discounts on concert tickets and to help us support traditional, acoustic music in New Mexico.
Contact Us
E-mail
Mail@SouthwestPickers.org.
Our mailing address is:
SWT & BMA
PO BOX 90145
Albuquerque, NM 87199
Announcement
36th Annual Santa Fe Bluegrass and Old Time Music Festival
August 27 – 29, 2010
Santa Fe County Fairgrounds
Event Hours:
Friday, August 27th 6:00 pm – 11:00pm
Saturday, August 28th 9:00am – 11:00 pm
Sunday, August 29th 9:00 am – 4:00pm
Southwest Pickers announces the 36th Annual Santa Fe Bluegrass and Old-Time Music Festival, to be held the weekend of August 27 – 29 at the Santa Fe County Fairgrounds, 3229 Rodeo Road in Santa Fe, NM. This celebration of traditional acoustic music will include a mix of national, regional, and local performers, as well as instrument contests, jam sessions, free camping, and activities for the entire family.
This year’s festival will feature The Kenny & Amanda Smith Band. Winners of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s prestigious Emerging Artist of the Year award in 2003, the Kenny and Amanda Smith Band combines gutsy, heartfelt vocals, brilliant instrumental talents and a powerful, contemporary sense of song choice into one of the most compelling new sounds in bluegrass today. Originally from Nine Mile, IN, Kenny Smith is widely considered one of the most important and influential flatpicking-style guitarists of his generation. A two-time IBMA Guitarist of the Year award winner, his professional credits include 6 years with the popular Lonesome River Band and an exceptional solo CD, Studebaker, released on Sugar Hill Records in 1997. Born in Davisville, WV, Amanda Smith grew up singing in church choirs; she started playing guitar in high school, and soon discovered bluegrass music through female artists such as Claire Lynch and Rhonda Vincent. She met her future husband, Kenny, at a Lonesome River Band concert, and they recorded a debut CD, Slowly But Surely, in 2001.
Sharing top billing at this year’s festival are The Orpheus Supertones, one of the best-kept secrets in traditional old-time stringband music. The band features Walt Koken, fabled in song and story for his fiery fiddling and hot banjo picking. Koken was the founder of the famous Highwoods Stringband and an inspiration to banjo players and fiddlers worldwide. With Walt are fiddling genius Clare Milliner, banjo picker and singer extraordinaire Pete Peterson, and traditional singer and guitarist Kellie Allen. The Eureka Times Standard said: "The band displays a familiarity that draws the audience in right off the bat... but don't be fooled by the just-folks, easy demeanor. These people are take-no-prisoner, downright hot musicians." Bluegrass Unlimited said: “The Orpheus Supertones have captured the essence of early country music.”
In addition, The Badly Bent will be joining the festival from Durango, CO. Winner of the prestigious 2005 Band Competition at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, this innovative bluegrass band relies on its driving instrumentation and harmonious vocals. Further rounding out this year’s bill is Bayou Seco of Silver City, NM. This duo, comprised of Ken Keppeler and Jeanie McLerie, has collected music from older, traditional American musicians for most of their lives. Bayou Seco focuses especially on Cajun music from SW Louisiana as well as traditional Hispanic, Cowboy, and Tohono O'Odham music from New Mexico and Arizona. Ken and Jeanie will be accompanied by long time pals Scott Mathis and Linda Askew of Albuquerque. Also appearing will be a number of regional and local bands including: The Squash Blossom Boys, The Mullany Family, Unstrung Heroes, The Family Coal, The Duke City Swampcoolers, Breaking Blue, Buddy and Tina Wright, The Love Buzzards, Coyote Crossing, Young Edward & more!
There will also be a barn dance on Saturday evening featuring music by the Orpheus Supertones and Bayou Seco.
Free dry camping is available on-site at the Santa Fe County Fairgrounds.
Tickets
Advance tickets are available at The Candyman at 851 Saint Michaels Dr. in Santa Fe and at Apple Mountain Music at 10301 Comanche Rd. NE in Albuquerque. Click here to visit our website's ticket page.
For mail orders send check or money order to:
SWT & BMA
PO Box 90145
Albuquerque, NM 87199
Advance Tickets
3-Day Pass $35
2-Day Pass (Friday / Saturday) $30
Saturday Pass $25
At the Gate
3-Day Pass $45
2-Day Pass (Friday / Saturday) $40
Friday Pass $20
Saturday Pass $30
Saturday Dance Only $10
Sunday Pass $15
This project is made possible in part by New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs and the National Endowment for the Arts, and is partially funded by the City of Santa Fe Arts Commission and the 1% Lodgers' Tax.
For additional information, contact Eric Carlson at (505) 984-3297, carlson@cybermesa.com or visit www.southwestpickers.org.
Calling New Mexico’s Acoustic Musicians!
The third annual New Mexico Women Author’s Book Festival is taking place this October 2nd and 3rd in downtown Santa Fe at the New Mexico History Museum. During this free event, over 100 women authors will read from their works and over 3,000 people are expected to attend during the two days.
Festival Organizers are looking for 10-12 acoustic acts to perform Saturday or Sunday inside the New Mexico History Museum. Solos, duos, trios and quartets are encouraged to apply. Acts featuring women performers are also encouraged to send in audition materials. The performance area will be upstairs, with some seating and will be acoustic with no p.a.system. (this is due to noise restrictions in the building.) The performance area has very bright sound and will attract people coming from the café and the exhibit areas. A small stipend ($50.00 per act) is available for each act to help defray travel costs.
Acoustic acts from around the state are encouraged to apply. Sets up to 50 minutes in length will be booked and the stage will be open from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 pm both days, with the last set ending by 4:50 p.m. Artists are welcome to bring their CD’s to sell during and following their sets, on the day of performance.
Please submit audition materials no later than September 1 to:
Amy Bianco c/o MNMF Shops
P.O. Box 2065Santa Fe, NM 87504-2065.
For more information call (505) 982-3016 x 21 or e-mail rosahill@qwest.net
Our Next Concert
Jeff and Vida Band
Friday, September 17, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Covenant Presbyterian Church Hall
9315 Candelaria Road NE
Albuquerque, NM 87112 | Click for Map
Admission
$ 10 Southwest Pickers Members
$ 15 Non-Members
Children 16 and under free!
No advance ticket sales
Tickets available at the door
Jeff and Vida’s nine years of performing and songwriting, have seen them delve into many different genres of music; country, honky-tonk, rockabilly, even a little rock and roll. But throughout their career, which has included four critically acclaimed albums, literally thousands of live shows in the U.S. and Europe, and a move from New Orleans to Nashville, bluegrass has remained a key influence in their style and sound. Nowhere is this more evident than on their new CD, Selma Chalk.
The new record features thirteen original songs, a stellar band, and an enigmatic name. Inside the CD jacket, selma chalk is defined as “an impurity in the most fertile soil of the South”. Intentional or not, the title seems an apt metaphor for the music contained within- an outsiders’ take on fertile traditions of Southern and Appalachian string band music. Indeed, a number of tracks do fit neatly into what might be called a ‘traditional bluegrass’ sound. More often than not however, the record bends bluegrass instrumentation around material that's a little edgier, a little bluesier and a little rougher than your typical bluegrass album.
“they continue to shape some of the most potent, bluegrass-influenced sounds around.” “in Vida Wakeman they have one of THE contemporary Americana vocalists” Whisperin’ and Hollerin’ (UK)
“There’s no holding back Jeff Burke on the mandolin, and the players on banjo, fiddle and other instruments are some of the best you’ll hear anywhere...the virtuoso playing isn’t standard - it’s dazzling” Music News Nashville
“Jeff & Vida make music that is real and true. Theirs are the songs you long to hear late at night on the interstate, in poolhalls and smoky whiskey bars.” New York Times Magazine