Fletcher Bright (fiddle), above, and Bill Evans (banjo) will celebrate the release of their duo album, “Fine Times at Fletcher’s House,” on Saturday, Aug. 3.IF YOU GO• What: CD release concert for “Fine Times at Fletcher’s House” with Fletcher Bright and Bill Evans• When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 3• Where: Barking Legs Theater, 1307 Dodds Ave.• Admission: $15• Phone: 423-624-5347• Website: www.barkinglegs.orgTRACK LISTING• 1. “Yellow Barber”• 2. “Two O’Clock”• 3. “Polly Put the Kettle On”• 4. “Scott No. 2″• 5. “Blackjack Grove”• 6. “Whitehorse Breakdown”• 7. “Da Slockit Light”• 8. “Daley’s Reel”• 9. “Northern White Clouds”• 10. “Blue Ridge Reel”• 11. “Greasy Coat”• 12. “Fiddler’s Dream”• 13. “Abe’s Retreat/Fine Times at Our House”• 14. “Liverpool Hornpipe”• 15. “Going Back to Israel”• 16. “St. Anne’s Reel/Angeline the Baker/Soldier’s Joy”
The violin has been used in ensembles for seemingly every style imaginable, from rock and jazz to swing and classical, there’s something beautifully simplistic about the sound of an old-time duo of fiddle and banjo.
In a move that hearkens back to the days when these two instruments alone could constitute a “band,” local fiddling guru and philanthropist Fletcher Bright joined forces last year with California-based five-string banjo player Bill Evans. In December, Evans traveled to Bright’s Lookout Mountain home, where they spent two days laying down about 20 tracks that rollick across the musical spectrum, from old-time to Irish to bluegrass.
Culled down to a final group of 16 tracks, the result of that session, “Fine Times at Fletcher’s House,” will make its Chattanooga debut Saturday, Aug. 3, in a CD release party and concert at Barking Legs Theater. The event also will include a special guest appearance by bluegrass band The Dismembered Tennessseans, which Bright has led for 68 years since founding it as a student at McCallie School in 1945.
“[The album] is a broad brush of a lot of different tunes. I brought him back to basics on the banjo, you might say,” Bright says. “I understand that not everybody cares that much for fiddle and banjo, but if they like it, they can get it in a big dose here in one sitting.”