Bernie, Bill, and Charlie
Posted on November 24, 2007 by banana
Easily one of my best scores this year were two cassettes by this homegrown basement folk trio out of Peekskill, NY. I met Bernie while hiking the Appalachian Trail this summer, at the Greymoor Monastery for Franciscan Monks. He was painting the shelter they provide there for hikers when I walked up. He had a tape deck playing this gorgeous folk music with great deadpan vocals and heavenly mandolin runs. I was very stoked to sit and have lunch with the guy while he painted and listen to the music which seemed to perfectly fit where I was in time and space. I was almost positive it had to be the radio, like WFMU playing a strange buried Holy Modal Rounders 70s session, or Michael Hurley's lost cousins cutting a home demo. But alas, when I inquired about the tunes, Bernie said it was him, his cousin and a friend. They got together every weekend and spun out these beautiful versions of old favorites with what he described as a very personal approach to the music. They only ever played a few open mics, and the occasional family get together, but had made a few tapes for friends. I asked Bernie if he'd send me one, and sure enough when I got home there it was in my mailbox. I'm sure this is the last place he'd ever expect his music to show up, a chance meeting with a wayward stranger into wayward music, that winds up on the world wide web … a place I don't think Bernie visits, but nonetheless, its here for you to enjoy, which I hope you do.
Riding to the City of New Orleans
Filed under: Country / Blues, Folk
4 Comments to “Bernie, Bill, and Charlie”
Bananarama, See if you can post the guys address or email so we can all get copies.
glad you dig! i am not home right now, but i will try to get the address from somebody there. bernie is a very cool dude, and i’m sure would love to hear from any fans of the music.
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hey banana, the tracks you sent me for this had no corresponding names so I’ll have to sort them out and post them later today…