| Saturday & Sunday |
June 13
&
June 14
|
| 2:00 PM |
The performer(s) for this weekends shows: |
Peter McLaughlin |
and |
Earl Edmonson
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Peter McLaughlin
Peter McLaughlin is an acclaimed acoustic guitarist, songwriter, vocalist, performer, recording artist and music instructor located in Tucson, AZ. He plays many genres and styles, and specializes in acoustic flatpicking and fingerpicking techniques. He was born in Washington DC, and his family's roots are in Scotland and England by way of Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina. Early on, his parents, Bill and Nancy McLaughlin, brought music into the lives of Peter and his brother David. They were introduced to all types of music, had a family band, and were surrounded with love and encouragement.
Peter started playing the guitar at the age of eight and was very soon jamming at bluegrass festivals and fiddle conventions. He lived in Denmark in the early 70s, and attended a Danish high school. In 1974, Peter moved again, this time to attend Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, where he played with Tom Rozum (mandolin, fiddle, and vocals), Roger Smith (bass and vocals), John Zarske (rhythm guitar and vocals), and Frank Dedera (banjo) in the group Flying South, an acoustic string band specializing in bluegrass and early swing era jazz. A later incarnation of Flying South included Kirby Mittelmeier (mandolin and vocals) and John Willis (bass and vocals).
In 1983, Peter moved to Tucson, where he played music with banjo player Ross Nickerson in various bands, including the 1988 Telluride Band Contest winners, The Titan Valley Warheads, who Peter still plays with on occasion.
In 1991, Peter had the opportunity to reunite with his long-time pal, Tom Rozum, and joined Laurie Lewis, touring nationally and internationally for six years as guitarist and harmony vocalist with her band.
In 1992 Chris Brashear moved to Tucson. He and Peter struck up an immediate and lasting friendship and a strong musical bond and began performing and recording together.
In 1996, Peter released his first solo album, a CD entitled Cliffs of Vermilion, produced by Laurie. She, along with Tom, Chris, brother David, father Bill, and others appear on Peter's stellar debut CD, which is on Dog Boy Records.
In 1999 when Chris recorded his first solo CD, Wanderlust, an excellent new bluegrass band formed out of that project when producer, Jody Stecher, along with Bluegrass Boy banjo picker, Bob Black, bassist, Forrest Rose, Chris and Peter started Perfect Strangers. Their self-titled CD, released on Rebel Records in 2003, was also produced by Jody.
Since the late 1980's Peter has performed off and on with Bob Meighan, Earl Edmonson, Kirby Mittlelmeier and Brian Davies in a band affectionately known as The Dreadnutts. In 1991 they won the Telluride Bluegrass Band Contest.
In 2011 Peter's current band, The Sonoran Dogs, was formed out of a tour with the late Japanese guitarist, Maro Kawabata. The "Dogs" continue to perform regularly at various festivals and concert venues. Their first CD was released in 2014 on Dog Boy Records.
In 2013 Peter was inducted into the Tucson Musicians Museum.
Click here for a link to Peter's music page to listen to samples of his Cliffs of Vermilion cd.
Click here for a YouTube video of Peter along with Chris Brashear and Todd Phillips
Click here for a YouTube video of Peter and friends playing So Long Arizona at Studio 55 Marin.
Click here to go to the artists website
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Earl Edmonson
Earl Edmonson has been playing music since his early teenage years when he took up harmonica and guitar. Originally influenced and inspired by the diverse music scene of the 1960’s, Earl plays folk, blues, bluegrass, country and Americana music that features heartfelt and soaring vocal interpretations, harmonica, and fingerpicked, flatpicked, and slide guitar, with influences such as Doc Watson, Robert Johnson, Leo Kottke, Ry Cooder, Tim O’Brien, Steve Earle, Gillian Welch, and Roy Bookbinder, among others. In addition to being an experienced solo performer, Earl has blended his talents with those of others in a variety of duos, trios, and bands. These include the trio Woodrose, an Arizona favorite during the 80’s, the Meighan-Edmonson-McLaughlin Band (Best Band at the 1991 Telluride Bluegrass Festival, the same year that Earl won first place for Fingerpicked Guitar at Telluride), and for the last twenty-five years, the Titan Valley Warheads, winners of numerous awards including Best Band at Telluride (1988) and multiple Tammie awards for Best Bluegrass Band. As a member of these last two groups Earl has opened shows for groups such as Alison Krauss and Union Station, Ralph Stanley, Laurie Lewis and Grant Street, and the Subdudes. He has also backed up Tom Paxton on two Arizona tours on vocals, guitar, harmonica and mandolin. He has played numerous venues throughout Arizona and New Mexico, and performed solo at the 2002 Tucson Blues Festival to an enthusiastic audience. In addition to live performances Earl has recorded with a number of Tucson’s most notable artists, including Travis Edmonson, Stefan George, Lisa Otey, Gerry Glombecki, Way Out West, and The Titan Valley Warheads, as well as producing his own solo project, “Nightsounds”.
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For the past two years, the Arizona Folklore Preserve has collected donations to support the International Western Music Association (IWMA) Youth Chapter. During that period we have given the group over $7,000 as well as a number of donated musical instruments. This year we hope to raise our total donations to over $12,000.
