Musicians Lined up For ShowThe guests of honor at the Red Shoes and Polka Dots event will be Ray Sands and the Polka Dots, the delightful polka band celebrating 60 years together.
They will be joined by The Sawtooth Blue Grass Band, Cam Waters, and The Three Altos. Believe us, you're in for a treat. Read about these groups below:
1) Ray Sands and the Polka Dots
Formed in 1949, the Polka Dots began playing popular ballrooms in the Midwest. In the 1950s they broadcast a live radio show every Sunday from the State Theatre in Zumbrota. This year marks their 60th anniversary.
From a July 2009 Kenyon Leader: In 1949, Ray Sands told the Polka Dots — a small band from Zumbrota raising money for a new hospital — that he’d help them out for a couple of Saturdays.
“And 60 years later, I’m still helping them out,” he laughed.
Along the way, Sands has helped the Polka Dots achieve both national and international fame, playing at such venues as the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., the Minnesota governor’s mansion and the International Polka Fest in Germany.
He is, quite possibly, the longest-standing member of the same polka band — ever.
“I guess I don’t know of any other polka band that’s stayed together for 60 years,” Sands said.
In 2000, Sands was inducted into the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame, joining the likes of Bob Dylan, Judy Garland and Prince, to name a few.
2) The Sawtooth Bluegrass Band (from their website):
Defined by the phrase, 'family and friends,' the Sawtooth Bluegrass Band is two sets of teenage brothers that have become fast friends during the last three years of working and playing together. Bluegrass music brought the brothers together, and since then, they have become a tight knit group on and off the stage.
These young men are bringing audiences of all ages to their feet at fairs, festivals, opera houses and charity events across the state and beyond. While older audiences enjoy their classic country and gospel music selections, it's not to say that the guys aren't hip; they also enjoy covering the occasional 70's rock era song and have a number of die hard fans from the younger generation as well.
Tight vocal harmonies and precision picking are getting them recognized. The band has been hired to perform in Branson, MO at Silver Dollar City for the Bluegrass and BBQ Festival two years in a row and has taken 1st place in the 2008 MBOTMA Race for a Place Band Contest.
The group's latest project is their new all gospel CD, which features sacred music originating from a wide array of sources including classic bluegrass gospel, classic country, traditional hymns, band originals, contemporary praise music, and choral music.
http://www.sawtoothbluegrass.com/
3) Cam Waters (from his website):
Cam Waters has spent the last twenty-odd years crisscrossing the country and honing his unique style on the stages of coffeehouses, clubs, concert halls, and festivals. Music writers across the country and in Europe consistently commend his understated, expressive singing and his simple yet inventive fingerstyle and slide guitar playing.
His literate, tradition-based songwriting mixes seamlessly with his arrangements of rural blues, jug band songs, and American folk music. He has appeared in concert with Doc Watson, Dave Van Ronk, David Bromberg, Maria Muldaur, Greg Brown, Spider John Koerner, Roy Book Binder, Steve James, Bob Brozman, Robin and Linda Williams, and many more of acoustic music's most well-respected performers.
http://www.camwaters.com/home.cfm
4) The Three Altos
Rabbi Amy Bernstein, folk singer Sara Thomsen and human sexuality professor Paula Pedersen are the Three Altos.
From the Duluth News Tribune article by Sarah Henning: Bernstein said the first time they sang together, she was shocked three dissimilar voices could blend so well. "It feels like a magical combination," Thomsen said.
In under a year, the trio's audience swelled, bringing in more than 400 people one night. That audience started asking for a CD. And who were the Three Altos to say no?
The trio's first album, "Camaradas," was recorded and mixed over two months at Sacred Heart Music Center.
Most of the songs have a serious bent, whether literally via lyrics or suggested via back story. For example, "Eli, Eli" about appreciating life in the face of adversity, was written by a female Jewish paratrooper who saved many Jewish lives before Nazis killed her, Thomsen said. "It's good music with a message," she said. "People are hungry for that."
The trio members have a tough time putting their work into one genre because, frankly, it can't be shoehorned into one box. Although they realize tucking African music next to Jewish music isn't a chart-topping move, it was what felt right.
"We wanted to celebrate diversity. Not in the cheesy way of tolerance, but really celebrate it," Bernstein said.
They did the same with their album cover, using a photograph of unidentified legs in contrasting footwear to highlight their careers and styles.
"We play on our own awareness of how completely different we are," Bernstein said. "And how fun and beautiful that is."
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/threealtos
And if those four groups aren't enough for you.... there might even be a surprise opening number that will raise the roof and get everyone's blood moving!
But that's all we're saying about that....
