Episode 15 - Peter Siegel

Contra Pulse

See and hear Peter Siegel in action:

• His website
• His show Live from Brattleboro is every Sunday evening at 6 p.m. Eastern. is available for watching on Facebook and YouTube. (Older episodes on YouTube are here)
• The Gaslight Tinkers live at the Iron Horse in 2013
• Playing and singing with Pete Seeger in 2012
• With Susan Conger, Susie Secco, and David Kaynor playing at the John C. Campbell Folk School Dance Musicians’ Week in 2009
• The Beverwyck String Band’s album is elusive right now — if you know of a way to purchase or listen to it, please let us know!

Some people mentioned in this interview:

• Julie and Mary Cay Brass discuss other aspects of the Greenfield Dance Band in their conversation in Episode 14
• Jay Ungar and Molly Mason make the magic happen at Ashokan
• Lyn Hardyis still performing and is also a luthier
• Susan Conger
• Here’s an interview with Guy Bouchard. Thirty Below no longer exists, unfortunately…
• Sue Songer was awarded CDSS’s Lifetime Contribution Award in 2019
• Garrett Sawyer runs Northfire Studio in Amherst, MA.

Some musical groups mentioned in this interview:

• Jim Kimball is still running the Geneseo String Band at SUNY Geneseo
• You can learn more about Wild Asparagus from Julie’s conversations with David Cantieni (Episodes 7 and 8) and George Marshall (Episode 13)
• Here’s a video from Ashokan with members of Nightingale and Wild Asparagus jamming together
• The Mammals
• Peter mentioned Garrett’s band The Alchemystics; here’s what they sound like
• Here’s Ann Percival’s swing band, The O-Tones, performing “Let’s Get Away from it All”

Some dances and events mentioned in this interview:

• Learn more about the Clearwater Festival on their website
• The Old Fiddler’s Convention in Galax, VA
• Ashokan Northern Week happened virtually this summer
• You can read more about the environmental education programming at Ashokan here
• Julie mentioned drawing on David Kaynor’s ideas when starting the BIDA dancein Cambridge, MA
• Dance Musicians’ Week at the John C. Campbell Folk School also happened virtually this summer

Some odds and ends mentioned in this interview:

• At the beginning of the interview, Peter was riffing on “John Henry.” Here’s a recording of Pete Seeger singing it.
• Listen to Woodie Guthrie singing and playing “This Land Is Your Land”
• Here’s La Bottine Souriante playing both "Hommage à Edmond Parizeau" and "Dédicado à Jos"
• Here’s a YouTube video to give you an idea of what Soca Calypso sounds like
• PVPA is the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts charter school in South Hadley, MA
• Peter mentioned using the New England Dancing Masters material in his teaching. Mary Cay Brass talks about this in Episode 14