Considered a master of America roots music, Scott Ainslie brings a wealth of personal and musical history to the stage. With expertise in Ragtime & Delta Blues – and the banjo and fiddle traditions of the Southern Appalachians – in Ainslie’s hands the African and American roots of the music come alive in an engaging mix of history, stories, and song.
A musician all his life, Ainslie took up guitar at age 15 about five weeks after hearing Virginia Bluesman John Jackson play a couple of songs in the middle of one of Mike Seeger’s concerts in Alexandria, VA in 1967. A Phi Beta Kappa and honors graduate of Washington & Lee University, Ainslie also studied with elder musicians on both sides of the color line – in the Old-Time Southern Appalachian fiddle and banjo traditions, as well as with black Gospel and Blues musicians.
He transcribed the original recordings and published a book on Delta Blues legend Robert Johnson, Robert Johnson/At The Crossroads (Hal Leonard, 1992), and has an instructional DVD on Johnson’s guitar work, Robert Johnson’s Guitar Techniques (Hal Leonard, 1997). Ainslie has six solo CDs to his name and maintains an active recording, performing and teaching schedule that carries him around the country, to Canada, and to Europe. He has received numerous awards and grants for his work documenting and presenting traditional music. These include grants from the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency in Washington DC) and from the Folklife Section of the North Carolina Arts Council. Ainslie was presented with the annual Independent Weekly Triangle Arts Award; the National Slide Guitar Festivals’ Living Heritage Award; and the 20th Annual Sam Ragan Fine Arts Award from St. Andrew’s Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, NC.
As a traditional musician with expertise in both the Southern Appalachian fiddle and banjo tradition, and Piedmont and Delta Blues, Ainslie has specialized in performing and presenting programs on the African roots of American music and culture in community and educational settings. He joined the prestigious North Carolina Visiting Artist Program and took the first of his many Artist-in-Residence positions in a dramatically racially segregated community in eastern North Carolina in 1986.
Peppered with humor and stories, Ainslie’s teaching concerts help students and teachers learn to listen for the musical building blocks that continue to influence the music they hear all around them today – contemporary Rock, Bluegrass, Country, Gospel, Metal, R & B, and Hip-Hop. Question and answer periods are welcome at the end of each performance.
info@loydartists.com
http://cattailmusic.com/
16 Santo Lane, c/o Loyd Artists, Au Sable Forks, NY 12912
518-647-5916
888-230-9661
Call & Response: African and American Musical Traditions – In a program of spoken words and live musical performances, diverse audiences of all ages will sing and clap with Scott Ainslie through a survey of the hidden history and the dynamic interplay of more than a century of American and African musical traditions.
Across the Color Line: The African South – In this varied program featuring the calabash gourd banjo, diddley bow, and guitar, Ainslie tours the music of the American South where European and African musical traditions cross-pollinated to make the powerful hybrids that have long dominated popular music in our nation and, subsequently, the world. Suitable for all ages, this is a tour-de-force in Southern musical traditions that exposes their roots from the Scots-Irish fiddle tunes of the Appalachians to the musical traditions of West Africa.
Before Rock ‘n’ Roll – Where did our music of today come from? This program will help teachers and students explore the music that came before today’s Rock ‘n’ Roll. With interactive call & response singing and syncopated hand clapping, Ainslie leads a fast-moving tour of early spirituals, work songs, East Coast Ragtime, and Delta Blues. Playing fretless gourd banjo, one-string diddley bow, acoustic and slide guitars, he encourages guided, appropriate participation and makes the learning fun.
Susan Lounsbury, Loyd Artists
518-647-5916 (SL)
info@loydartists.com
Available year-round with routed dates at several times during the school year.
Available for day time student concerts and evening family concerts
Artist will provide sound in most cases; 8′ x 8′ space with outlet accessible
In schools, libraries, theater, centers
$650 for one performance / $1,100 for two in the same day
SL2 = Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
SL4 = Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
R7 = Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.
From the Social Studies 3-5 Standards:
4.C.1 = Understand the impact of various cultural groups on North Carolina.
8.C.1 = Understand how different cultures influenced North Carolina and the United States.
From the Arts Education, Music Standards:
CR.1 = Understand global, interdisciplinary, and 21st century connections with music.