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The Horse Flies are an American alternative rock/folk band, founded in the late 1970s in Ithaca, NY under the name 'Tompkins County Horseflies' by husband and wife Jeff Claus and Judy Hyman, Richie Stearns and John Hayward. [1]
The four original members of the Horse Flies emerged from the old-time music scene and, in collaboration with percussionist Taki Masuko and keyboardist/accordionist Peter Dodge, would develop their unique sound by twining old-time fiddle tunes with modern art/alt rock influences and world folk music traditions.
Songs by Claus and Stearns included surreal elements that simultaneously evoke Appalachian imagery and the alienated perspective British and American indie rock bands of the 1980s. [2] This link was perhaps most explicit in their reworking of the Cramps' "Human Fly," the title cut of the Horseflies' first album. [3] Claus's homage to their adopted hometown of Ithaca, New York, "I Live Where It's Grey" recalls early Talking Heads and Devo, but the mechanical precision is executed on traditional acoustic instruments. Stearns' adaptation of the lullaby "Hush Little Baby" transforms it into a series of heartfelt promises from someone who has little, but offers everything.[ citation needed ]
Their second album, "Gravity Dance (1991)," threw the musical balance greatly over to the rock sensibility. [4] Claus's "Sally Ann," later re-recorded by Natalie Merchant, retains the band's connection to Appalachian balladry, while Stearns' "I Need a Plastic Bag (to Keep My Brains In)" and Claus's "Life Is a Rubber Rope" are more nearly "New Wave" pop songs.
Hayward, the band's original bassist, died of cancer in 1997. The last Horse Flies recording featuring Hayward was the serendipitously recorded "Live in the Dance Tent," which was taped "from the board" at the 6th Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance in July 1996. [5]
According to its liner notes, the sessions that form the basis of Two Traditions (2000) were recorded soon after the Live in the Dance Tent performance in an effort to capture some of the energy and beauty of that evening. After Hayward's death, the tapes for the sessions went into producer Jim Roberts closet until 1998. At that time, Roberts added some interstitial material and released the album as a fusion of African and Appalachian traditions in 1999. It was mixed at Pyramid Sound in Ithaca with engineer Alex Perialas. It includes renditions of well known old-time tunes like "Ride Ol'Buck," "Jimmy Sutton," "Emory Bailey," and "John Brown's Dream as well as various originals collaborated by on by Jim Roberts. Judy Hyman, Richie Stearns, Chad Crumm, Ricky Simpkins and Nancy Sluys.
Heartbroken after Hayward's death, the remaining band members put the Horse Flies on hiatus, eventually reemerging publicly under the name Edna's Driveway in 2003 with bassist June Drucker and keyboardist/accordionist Rick Hansen. Not long after, the band reclaimed their name, and the Horse Flies toured Europe and played festivals in the United States.
The Horse Flies' current lineup features:
In 2008, the band released Until the Ocean, the first album to featuring its current line-up, again reinventing their sound. [6] Until the Ocean features a return to the band's acoustic roots while expounding upon their alternative rock and world music sensibilities. The album features Claus's "Build A House and Burn it Down", a roots-based pop song, and Stearns' "Veins of Coal", a ballad with Appalachian-echoes, as well as Doc Boggs's "Drunkard's Child" and the old-time number, "Cluck Old Hen."
In 2000, 2004, and 2010, Hyman and Stearns toured with Natalie Merchant and performed on Merchant's The House Carpenter's Daughter and Leave Your Sleep albums. The House Carpenter's Daughter features Claus's song, "Sally Ann". [7]
Ithaca-based Hyman, Claus, Hansen, and Olsa also play in A Boy With A Fish. [8]
Stearns has released albums titled Solo, on which he plays banjo, tenor guitar and sings in his back yard, and Missing (2011). He has also released "Tractor Beam" and "Nowhere in Time" with Rosie Newton as Richie and Rosie. [9] Missing was recorded in large part with the Evil City String Band, [10] with whom Sterns regularly plays.
Boston-based Masuko is an active performer, dance accompanist, clinician, and teacher, who frequently collaborates with the vocal ensemble Tapestry, the Zamir Chorale of Boston, Le Bon Vent, and Claire Ritter, among others). His newest project, Telltale Crossing, will release their debut album, featuring performances by Stearns and Peter Dodge, in 2019.
Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the United States Appalachian region. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Bluegrass has roots in traditional English, Scottish and Irish ballads and dance tunes, and in traditional African-American blues and jazz. Bluegrass was further developed by musicians who played with Monroe, including 5-string banjo player Earl Scruggs and guitarist Lester Flatt. Monroe characterized the genre as: "Scottish bagpipes and ole-time fiddlin'. It's Methodist and Holiness and Baptist. It's blues and jazz, and it has a high lonesome sound."
Béla Anton Leoš Fleck is an American banjo player. An innovative and technically proficient banjo player, he is best known for his work with the bands New Grass Revival and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones. Fleck has won 14 Grammy Awards and been nominated 33 times.
The term American folk music encompasses numerous music genres, variously known as traditional music, traditional folk music, contemporary folk music, or roots music. Many traditional songs have been sung within the same family or folk group for generations, and sometimes trace back to such origins as Great Britain, Europe, or Africa. Musician Mike Seeger once famously commented that the definition of American folk music is "...all the music that fits between the cracks."
The House Carpenter's Daughter is an acoustic album by Natalie Merchant. It consists of both traditional songs and cover versions of contemporary folk music. It was released on August 12, 2003 via her web-site and on September 16, 2003 in stores. It was produced by Merchant and released on Myth America Records, her independent label.
Old-time music is a genre of North American folk music. It developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dancing, clogging, and buck dancing. It is played on acoustic instruments, generally centering on a combination of fiddle and plucked string instruments, most often the banjo, guitar, and mandolin.
Boredoms is a rock band from Osaka, Japan formed in 1986. The band's sound is often referred to as noise rock, or sometimes Japanoise, though their more recent records have mostly featured repetitive minimalism, ambient music and tribal drumming.
Chinese Work Songs is the 13th studio album by the American rock band Little Feat, released in 2000.
Old Crow Medicine Show is an Americana string band based in Nashville, Tennessee, that has been recording since 1998. They were inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on September 17, 2013. Their ninth album, Remedy, released in 2014, won the Grammy Award for Best Folk Album. The group's music has been called old-time, folk, and alternative country. Along with original songs, the band performs many pre-World War II blues and folk songs.
Appalachian music is the music of the region of Appalachia in the Eastern United States. It is derived from various European and African influences, including English ballads, Irish and Scottish traditional music, hymns, and African-American blues. First recorded in the 1920s, Appalachian musicians were a key influence on the early development of Old-time music, country music, and bluegrass, and were an important part of the American folk music revival of the 1960s. Instruments typically used to perform Appalachian music include the banjo, American fiddle, fretted dulcimer, and guitar.
The Duhks are a Canadian folk fusion band, formed in 2002 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Featuring banjo, fiddle, guitar, percussion, and vocals, The Duhks blend folk music together with various Canadian and American traditional styles, including soul, gospel, old-time country string, and zydeco. The band also commonly plays traditional Irish dance music, integrating Latin-influenced percussion as well as often Celtic- and Cajun-influenced fiddle-playing.
Bruce C. Molsky is an American fiddler, banjo player, guitarist, and singer. He primarily performs old-time music of the Appalachian region.
Beecher Ray Kirby, better known as Bashful Brother Oswald, was an American country musician who popularized the use of the resonator guitar and Dobro. He played with Roy Acuff's Smoky Mountain Boys and was a member of the Grand Ole Opry.
The Carolina Chocolate Drops is an old-time string band from Durham, North Carolina. Their 2010 album, Genuine Negro Jig, won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards, and was number 9 in fRoots magazine's top 10 albums of 2010.
Riley Baugus is an American old-time guitarist, banjo player, fiddler, singer and instrument builder from North Carolina.
Freelance Whales is an American indie rock band which formed in Queens, New York, United States, in 2008. The band consists of frontman Judah Dadone and bandmates Chuck Criss, Jacob Hyman and Kevin Read.
Claire Ritter is an American composer and pianist working in a style that fuses jazz with classical, new music, and occasionally other world music cultures.
William Currie "Willie" Watson is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, banjo player, actor and founding member of Old Crow Medicine Show. His debut solo album Folk Singer, Vol. I, was released in May 2014; its follow-up Folksinger, Vol. 2 was released September 15, 2017 on Acony Records. He has appeared at the Newport Folk Festival and other major music festivals. He currently resides in the Woodland Hills district of Los Angeles.
Pharis and Jason Romero are a Canadian folk music duo, most noted as two-time Juno Award winners for Traditional Roots Album of the Year. They won the award at the Juno Awards of 2016 for their album A Wanderer I'll Stay, and at the Juno Awards of 2018 for Sweet Old Religion.
"High Flying Bird" is a song written by American folk and country singer-songwriter Billy Edd Wheeler, and first recorded by Judy Henske in 1963. It was performed and recorded by many musicians and groups in the mid and late 1960s, and was influential on the folk rock genre.
Jake Blount is an American musician, scholar and activist based in Providence, RI. He is a multi-instrumentalist and vocalist who draws upon old-time, bluegrass, and blues influences. He specializes in the traditional music of African-Americans. He is also a founding board member of Bluegrass Pride. Blount's debut solo album, Spider Tales, debuted at #2 on the Billboard Bluegrass Chart.
