Dewey Presents: An Evening with Aaron Jonah Lewis

Workshop: 5:30pm-6:30pm
Concert: 7:30pm-9:00pm

Dewey Hall, 91 Main Street, Sheffield, MA 01257

Workshop Fee: $25
Concert Tickets:$20
Workshop + Concert:$40

For more info: deweymemorialhall@gmail.com or 413-429-1322

Old Time Fiddle by Ear Workshop:
In this workshop Aaron Jonah Lewis will teach old time fiddle by ear. The old time fiddle styles of the Appalachian mountains are characterized by their syncopated bowing patterns and driving rhythms. The workshop will be spent discussing musical and technical aspects and learning a tune. This workshop is for people who can already play their fiddle/violin, but will be taught by ear so you don’t need to read music.

About the Aaron Jonah Lewis: Virtuoso banjo player and fiddler Aaron Jonah Lewis has been elbow-deep in traditional American music since their first lessons at the age of five with Kentucky native Robert Oppelt. Their concerts take audiences on a journey through the back roads of American old time and folk music, with detours through ragtime and early jazz. Lewis has taken blue ribbons at the Appalachian String Band Festival in Clifftop, WV, and at the Old Fiddlers Convention in Galax, VA, the oldest and largest fiddlers convention in the country. They spend most of their time teaching, touring as a solo performer, with the Corn Potato String Band, the Lovestruck Balladeers, and other projects. Lewis has appeared on dozens of recordings from bluegrass and old time to traditional jazz, contemporary experimental and Turkish classical music projects. They have taught workshops at the the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow and at the English Folk Dance and Song Society in London. They also play and teach banjo, mandolin, and guitar and are currently based in Detroit.

As a banjoist, Lewis explores some interesting veins in the roots of Old Time, Bluegrass, Ragtime and Jazz music through their newest recording, “Mozart of the Banjo: The Joe Morley Project.” This project is devoted to the music of the great English prodigy and virtuoso composer Joe Morley (1867-1937), who wrote a significant body of great banjo pieces in a technique that people today call “classic fingerstyle.” Greg Adams, Archivist at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, says, “Lewis is one of the few performing musicians with the facility to build compelling musical bridges between the printed banjo music and techniques of the 19th century and the instrument’s journey into recorded sound by the turn of the 20th century.” Other musicians featured on the album include banjoist Ben Belcher, pianists Tessa Hartle and Kevin Allswede, Grace van’t Hof on ukulele and Rachel Pearson on bass. The album has been released on Tiki Parlour Recordings in early 2020.

Aaron Jonah Lewis is passionate about sharing early fingerstyle banjo music. They bring light to the fact that classic banjo was the most popular form of music a hundred years ago, though today it’s almost entirely forgotten. They are “trying to keep (classic banjo) alive and spread it around, as it’s a delightful style that brings joy and connects us to the depth of our shared American history.”

Dewey Presents events are supported in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council through grants from the local cultural councils of Alford-Egremont, Sheffield, Mt. Washington, and New Marlborough Local Cultural Councils.

Tickets:
https://secure.givelively.org/event/dewey-memorial-hall-inc/an-evening-with-aaron-jonah-lewis
Facebook Event (workshop): https://fb.me/e/2vNk5Kza6
Facebook Event (concert): https://fb.me/e/2lyagTWLM
Dewey Hall Website Links: https://www.deweyhall.org/dewey-hall-calendar/2022/4/22/aaron-jonah-lewis-fiddle-workshop
https://www.deweyhall.org/dewey-hall-calendar/2022/4/22/dewey-presents-aaron-jonah-lewis-concert
Youtube Videos: https://youtu.be/zEV7JySyyaA
https://youtu.be/lZIFB2XW7Pw