""Rich, engaging new acoustic and bluegrass arrangements...the most sophisticated and moving music of Pettee's career."
-- Independent Weekly, May, 2003 (Durham, NC)
Slippery Hill Bluegrass |
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Review from a Slippery Hill wedding event:
"Charles, I cannot tell you how many compliments I received on [Slippery Hill]. You really set the tone from the moment the guests arrived to ushering them into the reception. Having such a fun bluegrass band to kick off the day was exactly what we needed."
M. Kester, Luna and Charlie Events
Slippery Hill Bluegrass featuring Fiddlin’ Al McCanless
Slippery Hill Bluegrass features Charles Pettee (guitar, mandolin, octave mandolin, vocals), his son Jackson Pettee (guitar, vocals), Piedmont fiddling icon Fiddlin’ Al MCCanless and Jef Walter (upright bass) performing an exciting repertoire that includes Bluegrass, Appalachian fiddle tunes and Americana music, including original pieces composed by band leader Charles during his tenure as a
member of The Shady Grove Band (“One of our state’s musical treasures.” Raleigh News & Observer), and across his 30-year career as a full-time professional musician. Charles has logged nearly 6,000 performances throughout the US, Canada, and Europe, and has released thirteen full length album projects. In addition to performing with a number of groups, he is in demand as a teaching artist in schools throughout North and South Carolina (www.charlespettee.com). Mr. Pettee also offers private instruction in mandolin and guitar, and has led the PineCone Youth Bluegrass summer camps (www.pinecone.org) since their inception 10 years ago.
Fiddlin’ Al McCanless brings 50 years of performing experience to the stage, and is known for his chops as a musician equally at home in Bluegrass, Old Time and Celtic music. He was a founding member of the legendary New Deal String Band. He played many years with the Bluegrass Experience, which won the World Champion Bluegrass prize at the Union Grove Old Time Fiddlers Convention. Al appeared on the first Red Clay Rambler recording on Folkways Records, "The Red Clay Ramblers With Fiddlin' Al McCanless". Al currently plays in the Celtic group Contentment is Wealth, the bluegrass group Hindsight, and, with Charles, in The Merry Gadflies, a string band specializing in songs of freedom, joy and justice. In his spare time Al is a potter and open-back banjo
maker.
Jackson Pettee is not new to the bluegrass scene, having grown up with music in the home all his life, and having performed alongside his father for several years. Jackson has also gained valuable performing experience through his participation as lead guitarist in the University of North Carolina’s “Carolina Bluegrass Ensemble” under the tutelage of Ensemble Director, and renowned performer, Russell Johnson.
Jef Walter of Durham, NC has been a stalwart supporter of folk and acoustic music in the Triangle for the past 20 years as a player, (e.g., weekly gigs with the “Beer and Banjos All-Stars” in Raleigh), as coach for the youth Bluegrass group “The Carolina PineCones,” and as an instructor for the PineCone youth Bluegrass music camps.
Together, Slippery Hill offers a crowd-pleasing mix of vocal numbers, Bluegrass jams, originals, and Americana, that are perfect for cozy winter nights, hot summer evenings, and special events! |
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Charles Pettee & FolkPsalm |
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A Dove on Distant Oaks:
Psalms for the Journey |
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Charles Pettee and
FolkPsalm offer an exciting
and entertaining concert of bluegrass and new acoustic
music featuring Charles Pettee's settings for various
Old Testament Psalms, as featured on the CDs Steady
Love and True Wealth. FolkPsalm features the
talents of renowned professional musicians from NC, (including
Pettee, the longtime mandolinist and songwriter for Flying
Fish recording artist The Shady Grove Band, outstanding
freelance upright bass player, Robbie Link, Steep Canyon
Ranger’s founder fiddler Elizabeth Bahnson, freelance
drummer and vibraphonist for Chapel Hill's The Old Ceremony,
Mark Simonsen, Taz Halloween, vocalist extraordinaire,
fiddling icon Al McCanless, Oxford NC's singer/guitarist
Brian Bolton, and singer Brittany Whitmire), performing
masterfully arranged instrumentals, and intricate harmony
vocals that delight even the most discriminating audience.
FolkPsalm's newest CD is available now.
"A Dove On Distant Oaks: Psalms for the Journey" |
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NOTE: "Steady Love" is now back in print
Video of Charles and Folkpsalm at faithandleadership.com
Watch it now.
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From the Netherlands
to Napa, from Calgary to the Carolinas, The Shady
Grove Band has made a tradition of delighting audiences
with its unique “new-timey” bluegrass sound.
"One of our state's musical treasures," says
the Raleigh News and Observer of The Shady Grove Band,
whose accomplishments in more than two decades of touring
and performing include nationwide appearances on CBS
and NBC television, 13 concert tours of Europe, and
six CDs that have received airplay literally all over
the world. The band is comprised of founding members
Jerry Brown, guitar, vocals), and Charles Pettee (mandolin,
vocals), along with Adael Shinn (upright bass, vocals),
and John Boulding (banjo, dobro, vocals) who together
have entertained countless kids and adults from North
Carolina to the Lincoln Center in New York City.
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| Interested in booking The Shady Grove Band?
Email us!
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The Gadflies are: – Fiddlin’ Al McCanless, pot-throwing, fiddle bowing maestro of multiple musical styles, co-owner All In One Pottery, Pittsboro, NC – Alex Treyz, outstanding lead and harmony singer, originally from New York, researches public policy at Duke University and is Minister for Congregational Care at Durham Presbyterian Church. – Terry Allebaugh, harmonica master from the hills of Virginia, and servant leader working to end homelessness across the Tarheel state. – Charles Pettee, guitar and mandolin wielding songwriter from Asheville; teaching artist/music educator residing in Chapel Hill, NC – Franklin Golden, bass-thumping, banjo plucking singer and pastor of Durham Presbyterian Church.
Definition of a “social gadfly” from Wikipedia: A gadfly is a person who interferes with the status quo of a society or community by posing novel, potentially upsetting questions, usually directed at authorities. The term is originally associated with the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates, in his defense when on trial for his life.
Fiddlin’ Al says, “We ain't Martin Luther King, just a bunch of friends who like to pick and sing. And are looking for a better way. And would like to see a little more compassion trickling down from the hallowed halls of Washington, DC.
Interested in booking The Merry Gadflies?
Email us!
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Chuck and the Waggin'Ears |
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For close to 20 years, Chuck
and the Waggin'Ears have delighted audiences at clubs,
festivals, and special events with their blend of traditional
bluegrass and original compositions. In addition to Charles
Pettee on mandolin, guitar and voice, the group features
the talents of the legendary Fiddlin' Al McCanless (current
fiddle player for the group CelticJam, and formerly with
the Red Clay Ramblers), and the outstanding John Boulding
(currently banjo and dobro player with The Shady Grove Band).
Chuck and the Waggin'Ears have the spontaneity and joy of
good friends making the music they love, combined with the
stage presence and audience appeal of the seasoned professionals
that they are.
Untied Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County has voted Chuck and the Waggin'Ears "Presenting Artist of the Year 2007-2008"
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Charles
Pettee |
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“On ‘It’s All in Your
Mind,’ Charles Pettee has fashioned a CD that
draws on bluegrass, folk, blues, and even mandolin orchestra
traditions to create a musically rewarding work. Backed
by the always creative Jack Lawrence on guitar, Tony Williamson
on mandocello, and a group of other talented musicians,
Pettee captures many elements of musical Americana to
create his own vision here that will ring deep chords
with many listeners. . . Special note should go to the
recording quality, which captures and reproduces the acoustic
sound of the instruments very well and places them in
an un-muddied mix that allows the listener to really enjoy
hearing each note. . . this is solidly played, musically
arresting acoustic music. . . [Pettee has] built a CD
that will stay in the minds of many listeners for a long
time.”
(Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine, 1997)
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Click on image to listen to CD on YouTube
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"Wiffer Creek is North Chatham singer-songwriters Charles Pettee and
Doug Bremseth, who've played acoustic music together (mostly
bluegrass-based) for nearly a decade. Bremseth relocated
here from Fresno, Calif., to take the banjo seat with
Chapel Hill's The Shady Grove Band, for which Pettee served
as mandolinist, co-lead singer and chief songwriter for
20 years. Physical problems forced Doug to give up the
five-string, but he continues to sing, write and play
guitar."
(The Independent Weekly, 2002)
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Discography
Charles Pettee and FolkPsalm, "A Dove On Distant Oaks: Psalms for the Journey,"
Ears to Hear, 2014
Charles Pettee and FolkPsalm, "The Way Of Manna,"
Ears to Hear, 2009
The Shady Grove Band, "Back In Circulation,"
2008
Charles Pettee and FolkPsalm, "True Wealth,"
Ears to Hear, 2005
Charles Pettee and FolkPsalm, "Steady Love," Ears
to Hear, 2003
The Shady Grove Band with Franklin Golden, "Cotton Patch
Gospel" cast recording, Mojo Productions, 2002
Wiffer
Creek "Wiffer Creek," BWR Records, 2001
The Shady Grove Band, "Out of the Blue," BWR Records,
1998
Chuck
and the Waggin'Ears, "It's All in Your Mind,"
Waggin'Ear Productions, 1996
The Shady Grove Band, "Chapel Hillbilly Way,"
Flying Fish Records, 1994
The Shady Grove Band, "Mulberry Moon," Flying
Fish Records, 1990
The Shady Grove Band, "On the Line," Flying Fish
Records, 1987
The Shady Grove Band, "Shine On Me," Blue Ridge
Records, 1984 |
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