Originally released by Folk-Legacy Records in in 1976, Harry Tuft’s
Across the Blue Mountains is a collection of traditional and new folk songs in the spirit of the folk revival. First an important figure in the Philadelphia folk scene of the late 1950s, in the 1960s in Colorado Tuft went on to establish the Denver Folklore Center, one of the city’s most significant venues for folk music, welcoming the likes of Doc Watson and Leo Kottke. On
Across the Blue Mountains, Tuft plays arrangements that sound both traditional and contemporary, inspired by trends in fingerstyle guitar playing from the 1970s. Highlights include a gorgeous 12-string rendition of The Mermaid (Child 289) featuring Ed Trickett, and a version of Lord Gregory (Child 76) taught to Tuft by the great Karen Dalton.
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• Rock artist Dante Mazzetti performs at 5 p.m. More info: bandsintown.com.
• The Beatles tribute band Studio Two will play at 5:30 p.m. Tickets: ticketweb.com.
• Multi-genre, multi-instrumentalist musician Stephen Saletta performs at 6 p.m. on stageit.com.
• Country artist Cory Jackson plays at 6 p.m. More info: bandsintown.com.
• Rock band Moon Taxi performs at 6 p.m. More info: bandsintown.com.
• Swallow Hill Virtual Live will host “Open Stage: Share Your Tunes” on Zoom at 7 p.m. Tickets: swallowhillmusic.org.
• Join folk singer Raye Zaragoza at 7:30 p.m. More info: bandsintown.com.
Thursday-Friday
Friday
• Pop singer Sub Urban will perform at 11 a.m. More info: bandsintown.com.
“Oh, Lord, I ve got some singing to do,” Joe Hickerson croons comfortably, without instrumentation, from his kitchen table.
The fridge behind him is covered with photos and magnets, and he peers into his computer’s video camera toward an online audience of about seventy people attending a recent Friday night Old-Fashioned Hootenanny hosted by Swallow Hill Music over Zoom. He pauses to explain how he learned Oh, Lord, I ve Got Some Singing to Do in 1957, during his days at Oberlin College.
He and the others gathering online for Swallow Hill s hootenannies are carrying on a tradition that began in 1962 at Harry Tuft’s Denver Folklore Center. Along with selling guitars, Tuft created a meeting ground for the folk-enthused that’s outlasted nearly six decades of changing venues and business iterations with only the latest hootenannies taking place online. But despite the newfangled setup, sincerity shines through as musicians and students gather to share what they love