Double Decker String Band--LOCATION CHANGE (Special Event)

ST. MARK PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

on Old Georgetown Road, just off of I-270The concert will start at 8:30 pm to allow folks who go to the previously announced venue a chance to get to the new place.Celebrating the release of their newest CD! "The Rest is Yet to Come" "These folks sound so authentic they should be dead ... and that'sincredible."

-- Matt BrownJoin the very much alive Double Decker String Band as they celebrate therelease of their 6th album: The Rest is Yet to Come. There is adelicious irony in having a brand new digital recording of "...voicesthat sound as though they were lifted intact from old 78's..." (RichardHarrington - The Washington Post), but where better to hear one of thecountry's best old-time bands than in one of their rare live concerts!The Double Decker String Band has been playing and singing old-timemusic under that name since 1977. The band's major inspiration comesfrom vintage recordings of the Southern string bands who dominated thecountry music industry in the 1920's and 1930's. Sources include theGeorgia Yellow Hammers, Carter Brothers and Son, and the Alabama Shieks.All of the members of Double Decker are vocalists and versatileinstrumentalists, allowing the band to employ a wide variety of vocalarrangements and instrumental lineups. You'll get a good taste of that diversity at the upcoming concert,including a wide range of traditional styles on banjo, guitar, fiddle,and vocals. In a fresh and playful manner, Double Decker presentsold-time tunes and songs ranging from sentimental to silly, sacred tosecular. Their music is always approachable, authentic, and inventive,freed by their incredible grounding in the tradition.The band's members (Bill Schmidt, Craig Johnson, Bruce Hutton and JohnBeam) are dispersed throughout Maryland and down to North Carolina, andthis 4-piece powerhouse of a band performs irregularly, making theirFSGW concert a special treat. Other appearances have included TheSmithsonian Institute, the Brandywine Mountain Music Convention,Merlefest, the Library of Congress, and Garrison Keillor's "A PrairieHome Companion." With many of their earlier albums now out of print, anew CD will be a welcome souvenir of a delightful evening."Double Decker mixes vintage material:? turn-of-the-century rags, hell-for-leather fiddle tunes, mountain ballads, country blues, a bit of Victorian popular...? Good singers and fine performers on a variety of instruments, they know the roots of their music, credit even its most obscure creators, and bring a loving attention to detail to performance.? Yet all is done with so much zest and self deprecating humor that one forgets that one might learn something."

-- Joe Wilson, National Council for the Traditional Arts