October Low-Down

After a busy summer it was time for Dehlia to get to work in finalizing the live cd that they CLAIMED they had been working on all spring. Well it’s not a lie, folks, the boxes just arrived on the porch any with the finished product and we’re excited to share it!

The back story: beginning in February we enlisted the help of Russell Anders, a talented Asheville-area sound engineer that as an added bonus serves the role of a general balm for pre-gig jitters and other sources of anxiety. Whether it was the details of his plans for a flea market music tour or his marketing idea of baby chick paperweights, he always had a way of shifting the focus from our VERY IMPORTANT live CD to something inane, hysterical, or, at the very least, distracting.

We recorded shows at the Down Home in Johnson City, TN, the Mockingbird in Staunton,VA, and at the Grey Eagle right here in Asheville and pulled our favorite tracks from each show. If you were there, maybe you’ll hear yourself, so you’ll definitely want to check it out when we release the CD on November 2^nd! You will be able to get an advanced copy at The Pisgah Brewery in Black Mountain where we will play with a few other bands on Oct. 23^rd. On November 5^th—we’re having a party at a great new West Asheville venue, the Get Down, located on Haywood Ave. near Patton. (Formerly Cowboy’s Nightlife; currently our favorite neighborhood dive bar with such wonderful owners and character!) We’re charging $5, and throwing a party to celebrate our live album release! If you can’t make the show, you can visit our website, www.dehlialow.com, to preview a few of the tracks. The CD will be available for online purchase, on CD Baby and iTunes soon so don’t hold back…order your very own copy!

Other big news is that we’re honored to be included in the Merlefest Benefit Compilation CD through Festivalink.net benefiting the Bluegrass Trust Fund. We’re on the same CD as the Kruger Brothers, Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers, Doc Watson, the Duhks, and Sam Bush! Here is the link to that CD: http://flink.livedownloads.com/show.asp?show=5496

We sincerely hope you will help us celebrate this new project by coming out to say hey sometime in October or November!

Our Merlefest Cabin Stage Set is availble through Festival Link!

You can now get our Merlefest debut, recorded live on the Cabin Stage on CD, or MP3's at Festival Link! We're so excited about this! http://flink.livedownloads.com/show.asp?show=5272

Dehlia Low-Down ::: July 2010

Sitting here listening to the sounds of mid-summer, rain and morning birds and kids playing outside, the Tour de France on television, still-cool breezes coming through a half-opened window, the whir of the ceiling fan. It just goes so quickly, each year more quickly, but this year especially quickly as we voraciously tear through our summer calendar seeing lots of different towns, meeting new fans, friends, and fellow musicians along the way. We’ve enjoyed performing close to home recently in anticipation of our big road trip this month to Colorado!

Fourth of July weekend was a blast, beginning with our Second Annual Gerton Bluegrass Show, where we tried and hopefully succeeded in following the marvelous time we had last year! The Laughing Waters Retreat Center was an incredible venue complete with, yes you guessed it, a gurgling creek running behind the building that cooled beer very nicely. The Hickory Nut community wasted no time in hitting the dance floor and we thoroughly enjoyed seeing all of you a second year in a row! Let’s keep it up!

Dehlia Low made a sentimental appearance at the first Shindig on the Green of the season during the holiday weekend as it returned to its downtown location on the Roger McGuire Green in Asheville. Thanks to the Folk Heritage Committee for their continuing support for our group, going back to our very first performance ever as a band! It’s always a pleasure to reconnect with the folks at Shindig, and they work very hard to keep the event going each year and for good reason…the crowds swelled to an estimated 8,000 enjoying mountain music and dancing.

Finally, the WNCW 21^st birthday jam was a very interesting, hilarious, and exciting opportunity for us to appear at some great regional venues (Handlebar and Orange Peel!). DL appeared with an eclectic mix of bands that included some local favorites like Will Straun, Billy Sewell, and Eliza Lynn as well as rock and blues acts from outside the region. DL did some unprecedented things like playing with a drum set and filling the swaying-snapping-tambourine shaking-backup section to a heartfelt rendition of “The Weight” (incriminating pictures available on our Facebook page). Many thanks to the fine folks with Delta Moon and Gandalf Murphy for the great time, and of course, to our favorite radio station WNCW and all the sponsors of the show!

This weekend we’ll be appearing alongside Peter Rowan, Tony Rice, and Dailey & Vincent at the White Oak Bluegrass Festival in Cleveland, TN. http://www.whiteoakbluegrass.com/

If you are in the front range area, we will be among you soon and hope to see you at one of our shows! On our way through Knoxville on Monday, you can hear us live on WDVX’s Blue Plate Special. You can listen online at noon at:

http://www.wdvx.com/programs/blueplate.html

We'll be appearing for a concert in the park in Limon, CO on Tuesday in the town square before heading to Boulder Wednesday where we hope you’ll join us for an outdoor house concert/party on July 21st starting at 5:00pm with house band Trailer Grove. Hope you can join us! It will be at a farmhouse at 7648 Arapahoe Rd. in Boulder 80303 (East Boulder near 75th and Arapahoe). Thursday we’ll be in Ft Collins at Avogadro’s Number. Then…hope to catch up with you at Rockygrass…we need your support as we compete in the Rockygrass Band Competition! Before heading home, we’re going to help DL superfans Sue and Paul Raab celebrate their 25^th wedding anniversary at a private event in Boulder…thanks Sue and Paul for helping to round out the trip!

Now that DL travels with several iphones, keep up with our travels on our Facebook page! Until next time…

Anya, and DL

Dehlia Low-Down ::: June 2010

June has been an awesome month for DL so far, starting with a great show at the Reel House Cinema and Draft in Boone! Casey Pond has a revamped the former Dragonfly Theatre now offering good food (featuring my new food fetish, homemade pimento cheese) and beer on draft. They also have great uniforms, and I am treasuring my new Reel House staff shirt (thanks Casey!). We had a great show and got a chance to see some old friends like Matt Davis from the Black Cat, where DL played one of its first shows in 2007! Look for some great music to come through the Reel House this year.

From Boone we headed to Aaron’s hometown Winston-Salem for an appearance at The Garage, which is a very cool venue with good sound and a great sound engineer. Johnson’s Crossroad warmed up the stage and sounded awesome while we hung with Aaron’s friends, family and some old-time-obsessed Kiwis. It was a great turnout with lots of new and old friends. Thanks Winston for turning out even with the downpour!

The Rooster’s Wife was a great way to finish out the weekend. Aberdeen NC is one of those places that is just hot come this time of year. But people love their porch time and relaxing to enjoy roots music. The threat of rain drove us into their indoor concert venue that opens out onto a covered patio and it created an amazing atmosphere for a humid summer Sunday evening concert. They served us home cooked food and people of all ages turned up with their picnics. If you get a chance to attend one of their concerts, it’s worth it, they have a great lineup and atmosphere!

We had a working vacation in Charleston for a couple of appearances at Home Team BBQ with a wonderful guest bass player, Jessica Smith. The ocean was heavenly but Folly Beach parking tickets and sunburns left something to be desired. Finished up the week with a performance in Highlands, NC…thanks to the Dave Landis and Highlands friends for making the PAC concert such a success!

COMING UP for us is the national release of our performance at last year’s Jammin’ at Hippie Jack’s festival. This will air on WCTE Channel 22 out of Cookeville TN and on regional cable and Direct and Dish Satellite throughout middle Tennessee and into Nashville. The program is scheduled to begin Thursday July 1st at 7:30 PM and Saturday the 3rd at 9PM! The remaining affiliates will begin airing in July and continue with individual schedules. To find out if your local PBS station carries the Jammin’ at Hippie Jack’s series, visit myhippiejack.com. There is also information on the website about how to request that your local station pick it up.

LASTLY we hope you’ll join us for our Second Annual Gerton Bluegrass Show on FRIDAY JULY 2ND at 7:30PM! Gerton is located between Asheville and Chimney Rock on Highway 74A at the newly unveiled Laughing Waters Retreat Center! Complete details are available at their website http://laughingwatersnc.com. It is a family-friendly event so bring the kids!

As always, thanks for your support, your attendance, your enthusiasm, your encouragement, and your help in spreading the word about out music to your friends!

Dehlia Low-down (May)::: Home Town Show!

Asheville…we miss you…

…so we’re coming back home this Friday for our annual Grey Eagle show on May 28th! It’s been a busy month full of unbelievable experiences…you can read more about Merlefest and Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival here, but sufficed to say that both festivals were first class. Thanks to all of our old friends who turned out for our sets and new friends we met along the way!

If you are here in Asheville, tune in to WNCW 88.7FM (or online at WNCW.org from anywhere) at 4pm on Thursday for a live preview in Studio B of what we will be showcasing at the Grey Eagle. We have a quiver of new songs on tap as well as some of the old favorites. The Grey Eagle show will begin at 9pm and advance tix are $8 ($10 at the door). Visit www.thegreyeagle.com if you want to reserve your advance tix. We hope to see you there and thanks in advance for helping us spread the word!

The Gettysburg Review by Anya Hinkle

Greatest Hits II: Gettysburg

As if Merlefest wasn’t exciting enough, soon after recovering from the Wilkesboro chaos we piled back into the Lowmobile for a trip up to Gettysburg, PA for their semiannual bluegrass festival. By some stroke of luck we were placed within a lineup that was populated with some of our all-time favorite musicians, all scheduled to appear May 16th 2010. As we traveled across the picturesque rolling countryside, feeling a bit haunted by the bloody history of the area, we considered important questions like “what should I say to Allison Kraus if I get to meet her” (the best answer, we decided, was that, well, you say it best when you say nothing at all).

Compared to Merlefest, Gettysburg was more than an order of magnitude smaller in terms of audience, with a single stage and a more approachable, relaxed atmosphere. The festival is a family-run affair, and the Winklemans have been in the bluegrass festival business since 1979. Their brand new stage was beautiful and set at the base of a hillside that made for a natural amphitheater for the audience, seated in lawn chairs. The elder Winkleman explained the history of the property and the festival and festival staff and volunteers provided delicacies like French press coffee and chocolate doughnuts (which were actually provided expressly for Ron Thomason who shared).

Despite the star-studded lineup, the atmosphere was relaxed in the backstage area. We warmed up as Dry Branch Fire Squad played their old favorites and, not wanting to interrupt their awesome playing with our pre-set plucking, we escaped to the campground where the kind folks at C32A took care of us as they have for the Rangers and Shannon Whitworth in past years. The soundman listened to a description of our stage plot like a waiter at a nice restaurant taking orders, no notes needed. We walked up to the stage and everything was in place, line check, then ready to go!

It is always interesting to play in different parts of the country, and I was really interested to watch the faces of the audience as we played. Bluegrass is changing so much and there are so many types of fans that like different types of music: die-hard, straight-ahead bluegrass, progressive slick Nashville bluegrass, experimental adrenaline-charged, jam-oriented music, and slow acoustic country crooning, and combinations of these styles. I honed in on the folks that seemed to be digging the original songs, the gritty singing, and the combination of new and old that we seem to bring together. It’s fun to share what we’re doing with people in a different region, because the southeast, and southern Appalachians specifically, seems to have such a rich diversity of acoustic roots music that people in other regions go nuts over. After an hour long set we left the stage and headed to the merch table and stood there shook hands and signed cds for over AN HOUR. We were absolutely blown away by the line of people that were waiting to talk to us. The people at Gettysburg clearly love the music and are keen to support the musicians.

The most exciting part of the day included meeting and watching some of our favorite musicians of all time. Seldom Scene took the stage and we had the pleasure of a delightful conversation with resophonic guitarist Mike Auldrige who complimented Aaron on his playing and me on my boots. Auldrige assumed the role of being a very down-to-earth mentor and was quite encouraging and inspiring. Then hanging out with Travis of the Stringdusters and watching them put on a great show, as usual. Finally we all took a break in anticipation of Allison Kraus and Union Station’s set in the evening. Jerry Douglas made his way backstage, set his dobro down and pulled out a fat cigar. Stig lit it for him and he and Aaron got to talk dobros. While Aaron was trying to contain his awe and excitement, Jerry asked him if he’d like to play his dobro. The picture is absolutely priceless. Then Ron Block walked backstage and stepped squarely on Stig’s foot, which Stig enjoyed immensely. Finally, Allison appeared in a flowing dress, surrounded by an entourage of people…I don’t know who cause we were all looking at Allison. And then Tony Rice materialized and they all proceeded to the green room.

Watching them perform was just an inspiration, they are so polished, so relaxed, never have to tune, and their sound is SO good, in addition to the music that they are playing. They played a lot of their older stuff that really brings you back. All amazing musicians and people, a pleasure to watch and learn from.

We piled back in the car and headed back down the 81 home, a full 8 hours away. Monday morning rolled around and I headed up to my day job in Highlands, NC, Aaron ran the bush hog at the Biltmore, Stig scraped paint off a fire escape turning his arms black, Bryan returned to his middle schoolers and Stacy to her booking and publicity business. There doing your regular job it was simply hard to believe that 24 hours before we were backstage with Allison Kraus, playing in exactly the same stage as they were, the memory of it like some kind of dream.

Merlefest Musings... by Anya Hinkle

Merlefest…this is the life.

We pulled into Wilkesboro, the band van packed to the gills with instruments, dresses, button down shirts, boots, and anticipation about the long weekend of Merlefest appearances. John Adair and the Merlefest organizers put together a great smattering of sets on some of the best stages for us, including the Americana and Cabin stages, as well as some of the smaller and more intimate stages. We started at North Wilkes Middle School auditorium, perhaps our most challenging sound environment and audience for the weekend. The middle schoolers liked the fast songs and generally enjoyed being out of class for the afternoon, were excited about music and about having visitors, and knew that violins were “fiddles” and that our band was missing a vital component of the bluegrass sound: a banjo! So, basically well-educated kids.

We spent Thursday evening getting our bearings and figuring out that, unlike most festivals where you have long walks to parking, concessions, and stages, that we could simply call a phone number and a golf cart would come whizzing over to drive us where we needed to go! This was quite a revelation and probably the person most appreciative of that service was our bass player, Stig. And I’ll tell you, watching Merlefest from the stage, from backstage, and from the golf cart was an experience I’ll never forget. So many incredible musicians to see, so many music lovers, so many of our die-hard fans, and the circus that it all was absolutely overwhelming and delightful at the same time.

For us, the story of Merlefest was mostly that of getting up early and trying to get awake and together enough to be ready to play and sing before 10am. We’re early risers in general, but it is a challenge to get that focused and sharp so early in the morning! Early sets on the Americana and Austin stages kept us from staying out too late and, although crowds swelled by afternoon, we had great enthusiastic crowds for those early sets as well. Possibly the most fun we had was an afternoon set indoors at the Lounge to a packed audience who either wanted a break from the heat and sun or just really wanted to see Dehlia Low. By the end of the set we were just cruising through and having fun.

All of our sets benefited tremendously from the help of Norm, our sound engineer, from Norm’s River Road House in Nashville who ran sound for all of our sets. Still recovering from a week-long cold and suffering from the residuals, I was amazed that Norm could get the mic just right to help me get the vocals full and strong even though my voice wasn’t at 100%. And the blend that he was able to achieve among our instruments allowed us to play at our best. A good sound engineer is such an important element, and with decades of experience, Norm knows just how to get sound right.

Aside from seeing friends and family who were cheering us on the whole way through, meeting and watching our idols on stage and in the artist hospitality area, and performing with some of the best sound equipment and staff we’ve ever worked with, the true highlight was 30 minutes on the Cabin Stage on Sunday afternoon. This was a set we had been anticipating since October 2009 when John Adair sent us our performance schedule. We had timed out the set to be within the rigid time limit and had been practicing the set for a month.

The Cabin Stage is located adjacent to the main stage with the same audience that occupies a lawn about 2 football fields in size and can accommodate tens of thousands of spectators. The performers on both stages are broadcast onto the Jumbo-tron screen by the main stage. We arrived early and were actually able to do a line check. We hung out in the “backstage” of the cabin waiting for our set, jumped up and down to calm the nerves, ran through some raucous bluegrass standards at top speed, pondered the significance of the “Jerry Douglas Doorway” (did he hit his head there once?), drank water and coffee, (and then of course) visited the bathroom, and finally, FINALLY, it was time to take the stage.

I couldn’t watch the Jumbo-tron and tried to pretend it wasn’t there as we launched into “Yellow Mountain” and I just tried to focus on ANYTHING but the thousands of people milling around on the lawn. Our closest friends had gotten the front chairs and were providing an excellent line of familiar faces and loud, spirited cheering. Sweat poured down our bodies in the hot sun as we squinted at the crowd. I sang my heart out in Ola Belle’s “Undone in Sorrow” just absolutely amazed to hear my own unaccompanied voice wafting across the field, in disbelief: how is this happening? As Aaron and Bryan took out the set with the last notes of “Tellico” I tried to savor the final moments on that stage and performing at such a wonderful festival.

The Cabin Stage performance finished, we floated through the rest of the day just relishing the last of our experience at Merlefest and reflecting on our marvelous fortune of having been asked to be a part of it. For those of you that were there to share it with us, it meant so much to see you there and we sincerely thank you for all the support, we couldn’t have done it without you. Keep in touch!