A FREE In-Store "Parlor Guitar" Concert by JOEL MABUS

Saturday , October 08, 2005
02:00 pm
Location: Elderly Instruments
in-store performance (free)

Joel Mabus's most recent free Elderly in-store concert--to celebrate the October 4th release of his latest CD--is unique in several ways. First, he'll be performing pieces solely from the new album, Parlor Guitar. Second, it's an instrumental performance, in which he'll showcase fingerstyle "parlor guitar" music. Third, Joel will follow the in-store concert with a related "Fingerstyle Parlor Guitar Workshop" on Thursday, November 17, for intermediate-level fingerstyle players. Fourth, despite his ever-growing popularity and nationwide success as an old-time fiddling frailing fingerpicking flatpicking poet, singer/songwriter, and politically-attuned folky (whew), he hasn't forgotten his roots. [Check out the wonderful old family photos at www.joelmabus.com--and the attached elderly Elderly photo from his website.]

Parlor Guitar offers a variety of parlor-era pieces, music from the late 19th and early 20th century, familiar instrumental numbers ranging from the sentimental to the sacred, recorded by an acknowledged master of fingerstyle guitar: "You Made Me Love You," "Ida (Sweet as Apple Cider)," "Swanee," "I'm Just Wild About Harry," "Annie Laurie," "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Glowworm," "In the Garden," "Aura Lee," "Santa Lucia," "Believe Me, If All Those Endearing Young Charms"....and many more sweet old tunes! You'll hear Joel playing the grand music of great composers Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, Al Jolson, Irving Berlin, and other early notables.

We'll have detailed information on the two-hour workshop here on this website by mid-September, so if you're interested in attending the workshop, look here for specifics--and attend the free concert, where Joel will play the tunes he'll subsequently teach in the workshop.

More about Joel's "not having forgotten his roots," mentioned above. Check out the photo appended to this article on Joel's in-store. That's Joel in Elderly's old East Lansing store, circa 1975, playing a Gibson mandocello (photo by Elderly Catalog Production Supervisor Steve Szilagyi). Joel's no stranger to Elderly; in fact, he's an Elderly staple. He worked in the store in 1975, served as the store's senior instructor for 25 years (teaching many, many area musicians), and has offered numerous and varied workshops at Elderly and around the country. By our count, Parlor Guitar is Joel's 17th recording, and we greatly appreciate his willingness to offer yet another free in-store concert at Elderly. Thanks, Joel.

"Joel is one of those quintessentially Midwestern American artists. He...has a style we will always associate with Will Rogers or Mark Twain, and a great sense of humour which compliments, rather than contradicts, some very serious material.... He has perfected the art of being entertaining without pandering, he teaches without lecturing, and does it all with great style." - Vancouver Folk Festival

Check out recordings we carry featuring Joel Mabus