The Tremperskill Boys (and Girls)
The Tremperskill Boys will provide the entertainment at Transition Catskills Potluck on Sunday, August 17th at the Margaretville Pavilion from 1 to 3 pm. The band’s combination of good time old-fashioned music and dedication to environmental concerns make them the perfect choice for this occasion. The event is free and open to the public, and attendees are encouraged to bring a dish of local delicacies to pass around and fruitful ideas to share on how Transitions Catskills can work to achieve its goals of making the region more self-reliant and resilient.
The Tremperskill Boys are an old time string band whose core repertoire comes from fiddle tunes now native to the Catskill Mountains. One hundred or more years ago, the Irish and Scottish farmers and laborers of the Catskill Mountains produced a distinctive style of fiddling. Their sound could be described as hard driving northern Appalachian music. This is the music now interpreted by the Tremperskill Boys.
Their sound is zestful, hard driving, foot tapping, and energetic, making sitting difficult and square and contra dancers happy. With humor they admit to being neither all strings nor all boys, which is true, but not foreseen at the bands’ beginning. The Tremperskill Boys come from varied occupations. Each member brings a unique element that blends into an acoustic ensemble with a sound that in turn might seem to come from an Irish Pub, a back hollow of West Virginia, or an old Delaware County Grange Hall. It’s music made to dance to, and audiences throughout the Catskills, from Ashokan Center to The Taste of the Catskills festival to the West Kortright Centre, have found it hard to keep their feet still when the band plays.
Fiddler and dance caller, John Jacobson played music for square dances and other venues for thirty years before gathering musicians to join him as part of The Tremperskill Boys. John grew up learning the Catskill Mountain fiddle tradition played in his grandparent’s kitchen by great uncles and their friends. He began serious musicianship during college years playing local dances, concerts and street venues where open fiddle cases collected the money earned. John’s skill calling square dances has improved and been refined greatly by the teaching of Hilt Kelly, a master performer and teacher, during an intensive workshop organized in part by Ginny Scheer and continuing to play with Hilt and other callers.
In the years since, he has played many of the Grange and Community halls that dot the Catskill landscape with Hilt and his band, the Sidekicks. Previously, John attended numerous Ashokan Fiddle and Dance Camps and workshops. John is a well-known and respected fiddler, singer, song writer, guitarist and also lifelong environmentalist who works for the Catskill Watershed Corporation. An avid fly fisherman and fly tyer he finds little time to fish.
Ginny Scheer, born in Oklahoma, cofounder of Catskill Folk Connection, a leader of the Manhattan Country School, is a flutist and folklorist, educator and mother. She has been a long time fan of both square and contra dances since her college days in the Northeast, where traditional dancing whetted her appetite for the music she plays today. Her flute adds a Celtic element to the group’s sound. Ginny’s ongoing work with Catskill Folk Connection, in part, inspired the formation of this band. Ginny helps supply the phrasing of the band’s melody lines and brings her encyclopedic knowledge of writers, performers, dances, and all things “folklore” to every gig they play.
Amy Lieberman is a young well educated, gifted world traveler, and an avid fan of Phish. She is an early Tremperskill Boys member, and the band’s mandolin player. She recently recalled coming to jam for her first time and two day’s later playing a gig as a bona fide member of The Tremperskill Boys! There’s nothing Amy isn’t willing to learn to grow her musicianship. She travels to camp out at festivals with mandolin greats and comes back to jams with pictures, stories, and new ideas for tunes. Her steadiness on the mandolin and talent on the flute and vocal make her strong presence in the Tremperskill Boys.
John VanBenschoten plays the guitar, banjo, dobro and sings – all very well. If Ed is the “blinker light,” John might be considered the “gas pedal” of the band and also one of the “original Tremperskill Boys.” As John Jacobson, he too plays square dances with Hilt Kelly. He also plays bluegrass with another local band that struts its southern side. His unique sound enhances us greatly. The accordion in his hands has an earthy and ethereal sound, reminding many of their Irish peasant roots, when the interconnectedness of life for man, animals, and Earth were valued.
The Tremperskill Boys will perform on Sunday from 1 to 3 pm. The Pavilion is located in Margaretville in the field behind Freshtown grocery store. For further information see www.transitioncatskills.org or contact Peg Ellsworth at the MARK Project at peg@markproject.org.
