Yasmin Williams, Baltimore Creative Alliance, February 5
Say Sister Festival, Creative Alliance, Baltimore, January 10-11
Yasmin Williams, Baltimore Creative Alliance, February 5
Larry joined me for this show supporting Yasmin’s Acadia album, the second time I’ve seen her at the Creative Alliance — the first was in 2021. Yasmin still performed mostly solo with a little help from Amadou Kouyate on drum for one song and some pre-recorded tracks on a couple of others. She proved to be a more mature, self-assured performer but still inventive, playful and evocative on her guitars. She stayed with her acoustic for most of the show, switching to a double-necked electric for one tune. She seems to be doing well, sticking with atmospheric instrumentals while broadening her palette. I wish her well and am happy to have been on her bandwagon for several years. She just got a very nice profile in the Washington Post which I hope lifts her exposure. Yasmin made noises about looking to move to Baltimore; it would be great to have her in the area. Amadou was supposed to open the show on kora but was delayed by traffic and evidently went to the wrong venue. He did an abbreviated couple of solo tunes before the second half of the show. It’s too bad because the little bit he did was nice and there was clear chemistry with Yasmin but it was all cut a bit short.
Say Sister Festival, Baltimore Creative Alliance, January 10-11
This two-day festival celebrating the contributions of female artists in old time, bluegrass and country music was a nice start to a new year of music events. Calling it a festival was a little grandiose (there were maybe 200 attendees) but then it was the first in what the organizers hope will become an annual event. Put together by the folks at Baltimore’s Creative Alliance along with Cathy Fink of the venerable folk duo and Baltimore institution of Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, the program featured Amythyst Kiah, Sarah Kate Morgan (dulcimer), Kimber Ludiker (fiddle) of Della Mae, Cathy and Marcy, Ann Porcella (guitar), Becky Hill (dancer) and Dena Ross Jennings of Imaniworks (cultural curator and instrument maker). The program in particular celebrated the music and legacy of women including Ola Belle Reed, Hazel Dickens, Alice Gerrard, Elizabeth Cotten, and Jean Ritchie. The festival included poster material from I’ve Endured: Women in Old Time Music exhibit at the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol, TN, which Laurie and I visited on our music road trip in 2022.
There were two main concerts: on Friday evening the main women mostly played from their own repertoires, then on Saturday they teamed up to play the songs of the featured historical women. During the day on Saturday there were smaller, more casual performances from Amythyst, Sarah Kate and Cathy, a solo session from Sarah Kate (who has a lovely voice and a winning personality — she and Amythyst seemed to hit it off nicely), a film about Ola Belle Reed (I missed one about Hazel Dickens because I had to shovel snow in the morning), a jam session led by local musical fixture (and good friend of Jenny Beatty’s husband, Yonie), Ken Kolodner (Ken also helps run the Baltimore Old Time Music Festival which I decided to attend with Laurie later this year). There were also a number of more specific musical workshops that I did not attend. Larry joined me for the Saturday evening show and we also enjoyed discovering the nearby Snake Hill bar featuring sausages of all sorts. In all, I enjoyed the performances and friendly atmosphere; I didn’t really learn as much about the different historical women as I’d hoped but there’s plenty of material online to chase down if and when I want to learn more.
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