Episode 34 - Amy Larkin
from Contra Pulse Hosted by Julie Vallimont, Amy Larkin
The intro and interstitial tracks from today’s episode are The Brumley Brae/Skippin' Cat, Hangman's Reel, The High Part Of The Road/All The Rage, and Four Potatoes/Catharsis - George Booker, all from Uncle Gizmo’s self-titled album, Uncle Gizmo! Special thanks to Max Newman unearthing his vintage recording of the Uncle Gizmo album. Check out our upcoming live event! Mentors and Inspirations – a panel discussion with Becky Tracy, Pete Sutherland, Rodney Miller, and Kate Barnes. On Monday October 18th at 7:30 Eastern. See the Contra Pulse website for transcripts and more. Or download the transcript directly. And the Country Dance and Song Society for information about Contra and English country dance across the continent. See and hear Amy Larkin in action: This is a video of her playing with Heyday (Amy on fiddle, Shirley White on fiddle, Jonathan Larkin on accordion, George White on guitar) at the Concord Scout House in 2012 Here she is playing twin fiddles with Eric Boodman, backed up by her frequent collaborator, guitarist Benjamin Foss, at the Sandywoods Contra Dance But twin fiddles is nothing compared to this gig with Charlie Pilzer’s superband “Not Enough Fiddles,” seen here playing at NEFFA in 2015 She also plays Cajun and zydeco music with her husband, Jonathan Larkin and their bandmate Aaron Mayo in the Allons-y Band Some other people mentioned in this interview: Did you know that some of the people Amy mentions in this interview have also appeared on Contra Pulse! As mentioned above, Amy was part of Charlie Pilzer’s conglomeration - “Not Enough Fiddles.” Julie interviewed Charlie in Episodes 2 and 3 of this podcast. Two of Amy’s band mates in Uncle Gizmo, Larry Unger and Sam Bartlett, have also been Contra Pulse guests. She also mentions one of her primary musical influences, Rodney Miller, who spoke with Julie in Episode 24 of this show. Finally, as promised in the interview Amy shared her tune list with us! You can check it out here.
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What this episode covers
This episode, Julie sits down with fiddler Amy Larkin of Falmouth, MA - a quintessential part of the New England contra dance scene playing in too many bands and musical groups to count: Uncle Gizmo, Heyday, LocoMojo, Mr. Spanky, to name a few and a Cajun Zydeco band with her husband, Jonathan Larkin. Amy talks about her formative experiences growing up in Lincoln, MA and dancing to callers such as Ted Sannella and Dudley Laufman. And we revisit her days touring with Larry Unger and other bands, talk about her current musical projects, and delve into her thoughts on working with callers and playing for dances. She also shares stories about the Boston-area dances, which have played such a huge role in her life as a musician.
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