My old friend, the Polish country singer-songwriter Michael Lonstar is currently teamed up with American Ray Scott on an eight-concert tour with appearances in Poland, Czech Republic, Germany and Denmark. Upcoming gigs can be seen on Ray Scott's web site.
They are playing clubs, festivals, including the Mragowo Country Piknik in Poland; the Good Old Western festival is Vsetin, CZ, and the big Silkeborg festival in Denmark -- and even, emulating Johnny Cash - a prison, as Polish TV reports here in a piece that also reports on Mragowo :
Fresh sets of strings for my guitars, equipment check, set lists with the charts and respective keys, last double-check phone calls and e-mails... Start packing for the road. Not just A road... ... a "HIGH ROAD" 2013 TOUR with awesome RAY SCOTT! Eight shows in four countries: Poland, Germany, Denmark and Czech Republic - festivals, club dates and even two prisons - plus one live radio appearance and nearly 7.000 kilometers to cover. I anticipate the meetings with my old road-tested friends and die-hard fans. I also hope for making new friends and fans. There's so much music, stories and emotions to share with all of you! And there's Ray Scott... It's an honor, a pleasure and a challenge to share stage with one of the damn best country singers / songwriters on planet Earth...
The itinerary includes Mragowo Country Piknik, then 2 prison shows, next - Langenau, Germany, next - layover in Prague and on to "Good Ol' Western" festival in Vsetin, next - back to Warsaw via Cracow, and then - Silkeborg, Denmark.
OK. I lost track of things. The annual Country Music Messe in southern Germany, this year in Bayreuth, snuck up on me -- it's this weekend. That is, today and tomorrow.
My friend Willie Jones, who's based near Munich, and his German band are playing both days. And Michael Lonstar, from Poland is also on the program, along with several other folks I've met, photographed, interviewed and video'd over the years, like Daniel T. Coates, who has long been based in Germany but hails from my own home state, Pennsylvania.
I've never been to the Country Music Messe in southern Germany -- it's a spin-off of the event that is held every winter in Berlin, which I've attended several times.
Lots of artists go and perform on three (simultaneous) stages, both for the public and for booking agents, festival organizers, et. al. who come to size up acts for the coming year.
Meanwhile, dozens -- scores? hundreds? -- of stands sell country music and wild west stuff, ranging from CDs and DVDs to clothing, housewares, hobbyist supplies, and lots of kitschy tschachkas. Many people who attend are hobbyists of various stripes who dress up to fit the mood and theme. Lots of line-dancing.
Here's some video I shot at the Country Music Messe in Berlin, in 2010
And of course in 2008 -- Don Jensen sang his iconic "Sauerkraut Cowboy" onstage at the Berlin Messe...
Michael Lonstar and Dorota Krawczyk at the Peter Dula tribute. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber
By Ruth Ellen Gruber
This week I was in Kosice, in far eastern tip of Slovakia, to attend the annual concert and awards event held there to honor the memory of local son Peter Dula, a Slovak country singer who died of cancer in 2009 at the age of only 28. He had been diagnosed ten years earlier while in the U.S. playing hockey for a junior league in Boston, then got into country music while undergoing cancer treatment back in Slovakia.
I never met Dula (though we were friends on Facebook), but he was a friend of several of my friends in the central European country scene. Dula had fronted the band Veslari -- "The Rowers," Slovakia's oldest country music band, since 2004. With Dula singing, the band won a Slovak Grammy and other numerous awards including the best European country band of 2007. They also played at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville in 2007.
After his death, Dula's friends in the country music scene over here decided to honor his memory by each year passing on his guitar to a chosen artist, who would be its custodian for the following 12-month period, creating a sort of "Wayfaring Guitar" as a living memorial.
The guitar is handed over at a concert event where awards are also handed out, inducting chosen artists into "Peter Dula's Country Music Hall of Fame."
This year the awards went to my Czech friends Robert Krestan and Lubos Malina, and their band Druha Trava -- I worked with the band on their latest CD, Shuttle to Bethlehem, which features Robert's original songs sung in my English translations.
The concert -- which lasted four hours -- was held in a big theater-type hall in some sort of anonymous facility (a driving school?) on the southern edge of Kosice. The theater was packed, and the atmosphere was good: not raucous, like a German or Polish country crowd; not "tramp" like the Czech bluegrass crowd can be. There was no bar in the place -- so no one was drunk, either! And the only person in a real cowboy hat was Lonstar. (Several of us wore cowboy boots, though....)
Lonstar, a young Polish singer named Dorota Krawczyk, and a Slovak band led by local singer Laco Sasak performed during the first half of the show. A mix of U.S. songs, and traditional-style originals (sung in English, Polish and Slovak) -- concluding the set with a Slovak version of the song "Cowboy's Gone," which Lonstar wrote in memory of Peter Dula. All the while, pictures of Dula were projected onto the rear of the stage.
Druha Trava was the headline act and played the second half of the show. I've seen them perform a lot, but I've never seen such an enthusiastic audience -- whooping and stomping and cheering, etc. Pretty wild. DT hadn't performed in Kosice in years, and it was as if the audience was just hungry for the music.
At the end of the show, the awards (framed citations) were present, and Peter Dula's wayfaring guitar was handed over into the care of DT.
Then, as the closer, Robert, joined by the other artists, sang the folksong "Wayfaring Stranger", with Dula's picture as a backdrop, which seemed the right way to end the show.
I've been on the road on a very busy trip through central Europe and have had little time to post. But I did get to meet up with my Polish country singer/songwriter friend, Michael Lonstar, in Warsaw.
Lonstar and I met originally nearly 30 (yikes!) years ago, when I was a correspondent in Warsaw for United Press International -- he remembers us sitting at a party and talking about the Texas swing group Asleep at the Wheel (the Wheel's frontman Ray Benson is an old friend of mine).
In Warsaw, the weather was lovely and we sat outside at one of the city's plethora of sidewalk cafes and restaurants. He told me about some of the conflicts in the Polish country music world (rivalries, rival festivals, etc).
And he gave me a copy of his new CD, which was recorded in Nashville. It's called Michael Lonstar & (the Duets) and features traditional country-style duets with various other artists, such as the American Billy Yates and German Mandy Strobel.
I look into the somewhat distorting mirror at the Country Music Messe in Berlin. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber
By Ruth Ellen Gruber
As I'm currently at the annual Country Music Messe in Berlin, Germany, country music is on my mind... and here's a nice, long piece in Billboard magazine about the Austin, Texas-based Western Swing band Asleep at the Wheel celebrating its 40th birthday.
NASHVILLE (Billboard) - When Asleep at the Wheel frontman Ray Benson started a band in Paw Paw, West Virginia, in 1970, he had no idea that 40 years later he would still be at the helm of one of America's most adventurous musical outfits.
During a four-decade career, the band has earned nine Grammy Awards, launched a critically acclaimed theatrical production, performed with everyone from Willie Nelson to President Obama to the Fort Worth Symphony, released more than 25 albums and had an airport roadhouse named after its frontman.
"At times it feels like it was yesterday and at times it feels like a hundred years ago," Benson says. "If I look back to 1969 when I quit college and said, 'This is what we're going to do,' it's hard for me to believe that it all happened way beyond my expectations."
I've know Ray since we were teenagers in suburban Philadelphia: he went to Antioch College for a bit while I (and Ray's brother) were at Oberlin, and we had a memorable time once hitch-hiking back to Philly together. We two hippies got a ride with a truck-driver who claimed to be "Col. Frank Savage" -- or General Frank Savage -- who was actually a character in the movie and TV show "Twelve O'Clock High". He scolded Ray when he said 'damn" or "hell" or something, telling him "not to use language like that in front of a lady" (i.e., me). He didn't like the fact that I was hitch-hiking (even if accompanied by a 6'7" man) but told me my Daddy should rest easy because Col (or Gen.) Frank Savage would take good care of me during the drive.
Ray Benson and me in Interlaken, Switzerland during the Trucker Festival, 2004
I've seen Ray and the band perform many times over the years, most recently in Craponne, France in 2008 during the Country Rendez-vous festival. And I wrote a profile of him at that time -- click HERE.
Ironically, the fact that I knew Asleep at the Wheel became a factor, many years later, in my connection to the country music scene in Poland, and with Michael Lonstar -- whom I saw last night at the Berlin Messe.
Michael remembers that we first met in December 1982 at a party in Warsaw, where I was the UPI correspondent. I have to say that I don;t recall the occasion -- but Michael remembers that we "were sitting in the kitchen on stools, and we were talking about Asleep at the Wheel."
Just heard from my friend, the Polish country singer Michael Lonstar, whom I have written about several times on this blog. We'll be meeting up tomorrow and over the weekend at the Country Music Messe in Berlin, where he will be performing (among dozens of other bands).
In past posts I've mentioned his song "What's This Country Thing," responding to skeptics who are turned off the by the rowdy Sauerkraut Cowboy get up that many country fans here affect.
Here is a video of him singing the song at last year's Messe (taken from Lonstar's myspace page):
A British country music fan with a "God Bless Texas" tattoo, whom I met at the Equiblues rodeo and country festival in France. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber
By Ruth Ellen Gruber
In the London newspaper The Independent, a "former cynic" named Simmy Richman asks the question "Will the movie Crazy Heart persuade Britons that there's more to country and western music than line dancing, Garth Brooks and rootin', tootin' Nashville?" His answer? Essentially, he hopes so, because he himself has seen the light -- and before the movie came out.
In it, Richman tells about his own "conversion" to country fan -- which entailed overcoming the stereotypes associated with the music, and which -- as I have written on this blog -- are widespread. His admission is almost like the confession of some secret vice at a 12-step program meeting.
It is the butt of musical jokes, but here's the punch line: my name is Simmy Richman and I love country music.
(See my posts about the Polish country singer Lonstar and his song "What's This Country Thing", in which he tries to explain the country western phenomenon to a skeptic. The gist of the song is Lonstar's answers to a "lady" who asks the question, "What's this country thing" -- i.e. what is the appeal of country music. In Europe, where hardcore fans often dress up in wild west attire -- and drink a lot... and line-dance a lot..., country music is often scorned by the mainstream. Lovers of pure American country music are sometimes embarrassed by the raucous "scene" -- such as that associated with the trucker festivals and other big events, where a carnival atmosphere can prevail. )
From Richman's article:
"The main hurdle I have to overcome is getting over the word 'country'," says Paul Spencer, curator and organiser of Maverick, the UK's only festival dedicated to this music. "Like 'folk', it's a word with negative connotations, but this music is an authentic combination of folk, gospel and the blues and, apart from the DJ Bob Harris, it gets no exposure in the UK." To combat this, Spencer sells his festival by emphasising the intimate setting, the good-natured vibe and its dedication to "roots" music. "Children love to see real musicians playing real music, and I want people to come and give themselves to me for the weekend and trust in my judgement about the acts I put on, many of whom they may never have heard of.
Is Maverick the only country music festival in England? There are certainly bluegrass festivals in the U.K. Check out the web links -- such as Country Music in Britain. A lot of the music Richman likes falls under "alt.country" or "americana" -- see the Americana UK web site for listings. There are clubs and saloons all around the country, plus local artists. And big name groups also perform.
And let's not forget that, back in the heyday of the 1970s and 1980s, there were huge country music festivals featuring Johnny Cash and other legends that filled Wembley Stadium in London.
Me and Lonstar at the Berlin country music fair, Feb. 2008
By Ruth Ellen Gruber
The Polish country artist Michael Lonstar has posted an interesting account on his website wrapping up a busy November/December -- and demonstrating the wealth of country and western events that take place, even in the autumn, in countries including Germany, Poland, and Lithuania.
Lonstar posts videos of these events, as well as photos.
Peter Rowan at Dobrofest in Trnava, Slovakia, 2005. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber
The American folk legend Peter Rowan, currently on a short tour mainly in the UK, headlines the festival. Also featured are the veteran Polish country music singer Lonstar (about whom I have written on this blog), the British New Essex Bluegrass Band (one of the winners of last summer's European Bluegrass Festival in La Roche sur Foron, France) and the Russian group Country Saloon.
Lonstar reports that in September he concluded a tour pegged to his latest CD, "What's This Country Thing."
Twenty four concerts all over Poland and abroad: Cologne and Wittenberge in Germany, Piestany in Slovakia and Visaginas in Lithuania, among many others. In their number – big international festivals, songwriter recitals, club dates and acoustic “unplugged” performances at the meetings with his fans.
When the smoke cleared and the results were revealed at the award-granting ceremony, the famous formula “...and the winner is... “ was followed by the name “Lonstar!” four times, as the recipient of awards for the Artist of the Year, Best Male Vocalist, Song of the Year and Best Album.
The very title, “What’s This Country Thing”, due to its reflective and provocative lyrics of the respective song has gained the status of the cult definition of country music in Poland’s country music fan circles. Thank you fans for your continuous support!
Roland Heinrich at the Country Music Messe, Berlin, 2008. Photo (c) Ruth Ellen Gruber
I had a hard choice for this weekend -- whether to attend the annual Country Music Messe (Fair) in Berlin, a noisy extravaganza of scores of bands, which I have attended I think four times in the past, or to try something new -- the European Bluegrass Summit in Buehl, Germany, a meeting gathering about 30 promoters, entrepreneurs and musicians from a variety of countries to discuss the state of bluegrass music in Europe.
It's really too bad that these events take place on the same weekend.... this year I opted for bluegrass, just to see something new. (More on the "summit" later.)
"im 13 years old, live in california and i personally LOVE country music (and i mean REAL country). i dont see anything wrong with country music even though growing up in a family who only listened to rap. i just dont understand why some people despise country!"
The replies (and the question) made me think of my friend, the Polish country singer Lonstar, and his recent English-language album called "What's This Country Thing?" -- which is also the name of the title song, the first part of which you can hear on Lonstar's myspace page.
Lonstar performing at the Berlin Country Music Messe, Feb. 2007. Photo (c) R. E. Gruber
The gist of the song is Lonstar's answers to a "lady" who asks the question, "What's this country thing" -- i.e. what is the appeal of country music. In Europe, where hardcore fans often dress up in wild west attire (and drink a lot... and line-dance a lot...), country music is often scorned by the mainstream. Lovers of pure American country music are sometimes embarrassed by the raucous "scene" -- such as that associated with the trucker festivals and other big events, where a carnival atmosphere can prevail. Many country music fans scorn, in particular, local-language country music, sung by local musicians in German, Czech, Polish, French.....
For example, in his book Das Neue Grosse Buch der Country Music (Koenigswinter: Heel, 2005), my friend Walter Fuchs, a staunch country music fan and one of Germany's most serious experts on the genre, wrote:
"[T]hat the German language country song, [. . .] with its interpreters dressed up like cowboys and its partly banal to infantile text has brought the altogether serious German Country Music scene into discredit is undisputed. Numerous friends of country music often do not dare to 'out' themselves in front of their friends for fear of being identified as a fan of German language country songs. [. . .] The German language country song and the original country song from the U.S.A. are worlds apart."
All photos (c) R. E. Gruber.
In his song -- which he sings in both Polish and English versions, Lonstar sets out to show his skeptical questioner that there is more to country music (and "country") than that.
He sings: "you criticize it, saying that it's kid stuff, backward and bad taste, stuff we should grow out of, dirty trash and waste."
"Country's not about a boot or a cowboy hat, you should learn about it just a little more than that. It's a life that prides every word to the music of your laughter, crying, joy and hurt. A friend you can rely on, faithful to the bone. If it feels like home, then it's country.
"Simple man and scholar, granny, dad and son; poor man and a rich man, there's room for everyone. And you insinuate it's isolated, 'cos pearls and swine don't mix. You claim it's a pastime, good for fools and hicks -- which is a lie, 'cos we have loving couples, and the cheatin' wives, those who've just got fired, and those who've won a prize, united in the country music circle, good as daily bread. Why don't you drop this line of accusation, lady, join our bunch instead. And see for yourself...."
This weekend I'm missing (or as it's already Sunday night, I guess I already missed) the annual Country Music Messe, or Fair, in Nuremberg, Germany.
It's a smaller, shorter, sister Messe to the big Country Music Messe in Berlin, in early February, that I have attended for several years. I've written about the Berlin Messe in previous posts and articles (and also radio reports).
Nuremberg started up two or three years ago, and I wanted to go to there this year, to see how this fair differs from that in Berlin. It is smaller, with two rather than three days and three, rather than four, simultaneous stages; but the line-up of acts seems to have been very similar to that in Berlin. Mostly local German groups.
Still, it would have been fun to see friends such as Lonstar from Poland
and David Lee Howard who divides his time between Washington state and Europe.
For several years I've been exploring the imaginary wild west in contemporary Europe -- observing and experiencing the many ways that Europeans embrace the mythology of the American Frontier to enhance, imbue or create their own identities. (Or, indeed, just have fun.) On this blog I will post pictures, stories and links relating to this multi-faceted subculture, from European country music to rodeos, theme parks, round-ups and saloons....
I'm an American writer, photographer, and public speaker long based in Europe. I've chronicled Jewish cultural developments and other contemporary European Jewish issues for more than 20 years and currently coordinate the web site www.jewish-heritage-europe.eu. My latest books are "National Geographic Jewish Heritage Travel: A Guide to Eastern Europe," published in 2007, and "Letters from Europe (and Elsewhere)," published in 2008.
I also am working on "Sturm, Twang and Sauerkraut Cowboys: Imaginary Wild Wests in Contemporary Europe," an exploration of the American West in the European imagination for which I won a 2006 Guggenheim Fellowship and an NEH summer stipend grant. In 2015 I was the Distinguished Visiting Chair in Jewish Studies at the College of Charleston, SC.
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