ESIINTYJÄT

ERNIE THACKER & ROUTE 23:

Ernie Thacker Story
Though he’s still a young man, ERNIE THACKER has quite a record of accomplishment in bluegrass, including a six year stint with Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys and appearances on both the Grammy-nominated The Stanley Tradition and its IBMA award-winning successor, The Stanley Gospel Tradition. Now, Ernie Thacker, with a recording contract with the respected Doobie Shea label, the Virginia singer is set to bring his music to the national bluegrass circuit and fix his name firmly in the memory of fans and critics alike.



Born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, Thacker nevertheless has deep bluegrass roots, including a family connection to Dickenson County, Virginia, where he moved as a teenager. By then he was already a serious mandolin player and singer, and it wasn’t long before he came to the attention of Ralph Stanley. Impressed with the young man’s talent, Stanley invited him to travel with the Clinch Mountain Boys, and eventually made him a member of the band – first as mandolin player and then, in 1989, as lead singer and guitarist. His appearances with Ralph, both on stage and on recordings (including 1993’s Grammy-nominated Saturday Night, Sunday Morning) earned him the praise of fans and critics alike; Bluegrass Unlimited said that his singing "captures the flavor of the fine, mournful Clinch Mountain vocalists of the past," while deeming his performances on guitarist James Alan Shelton’s Blue In The Blue Ridge "especially impressive." In 1994, he struck out on his own in partnership with another Clinch Mountain Boy to form the Ernie Thacker-Junior Blankenship Band, recording two well-received albums including 1995’s Tennessee Blues – "[it] should please just about everyone in the audience," BU said – for Copper Creek Records and working successfully in the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana-Virginia bluegrass festival circuit.

"Ernie has a great voice, and a special feel for traditional bluegrass and the Stanley sound," says Doobie Shea’s Tim Austin, who with Dan Tyminski is co-producing the singer’s debut for the label. "With first-rate material from writers like Keith Tew, Ronnie Bowman, Jerry Williamson and Junior Sisk, and guests like Dan Tyminski, Ben Isaacs, Ron Stewart and Adam Steffey on board, I think he’s going to open a lot of eyes."

Yhtye esiintyy Ruotsinpyhtäällä 10.6., 11.6. sekä 12.6.
 
ERIK HOKKANEN & LUMISUDET:



Erik Hokkanen
If you spend any time at all in Austin Texas checking out the vast and diverse music scene, you will undoubtedly encounter Erik Hokkanen, one of the area's most colorful and distinguished players. A third generation Finn raised in Florida, Erik relocated to Texas in the early eighties and rapidly built a reputation as a stunning fiddler, multi instrumentalist and performer. The "Texas Tornado" drove Austin audiences berserk on a regular basis with the high octane shows by his band The Offbeats. In 87 fate stepped in and delivered Erik to the Finnish homeland where he became literally an overnight sensation, gigging around the country in major festivals and local clubs with some of the top players in just about every known field of music. For many, that summer of '87 still ranks as one of the most magical events in Finnish musical history. Return Finnish tours in '88 and '89 introduced Erik to an even greater set of musical collaborators and projects leading to the formation of his band Lumisudet(Snow Wolves).

At home in Texas during the nineties, Erik remained a regular feature of the exploding Austin music scene, gigging and recording with his own bands including the Mad Cat Trio (featuring Danny Barnes and Mark Rubin of Bad Livers), Snow Wolves (the local version featuring his Austin buddies)and the aptly named Baby Gorillas, or as hired hand with other Austin groups and musicians such as Bad Livers, Don Walser and Junior Brown. Erik was also involved with Norwegian Texan songwriter Erik Moll, gigging and making one album.

Erik's visibility increased even more with the release of several movies that featured his music or playing, for example DOA, Michael (starring John Travolta), Texas Chain Saw Massacre 3 and The Newton Boys.Erik's roots continued to beckon and he returned to Finland twice in the nineties. In '94 he flew to Helsinki and recorded the Kaustinen Texas album with his trusty cohorts Lumisudet, comprising members of Finland's top folk music groups JPP, Aldargaz and Helsinki Mandoliners.

In 1998 Erik returned to Helsinki where he was given a Professor of Music post at Sibelius Academy Folk Music Department and it was during this time that he and Lumisudet reconvened for a second album. Once again featuring the cream of Finnish folk and roots players, In the Heart of a Waking Dream is a brilliant display of skills, energy, diversity and melodies. For Hokkanen officianados, this will surely be regarded as the zenith of his career. Erik returned to Texas after the '98 Lumisudet sessions and created the project Erik and the She Wolves featuring the Tosca String Quartet, a female foursome that now perform with David Byrne. Today,

Erik plays electric guitar and fiddle in his new band, Hip Replacements, a gypsy surf outfit that can be seen Tuesdays at Flipnotics cafe in Austin. He continues to pop up in music joints all over the city with any combination of gypsy surf swing hillbilly lunatic fringe fiddlin' and pickin' combos. Bruno Grozniak

Erik Hokkanen recordings:
Erik and the Offbeats (1987)
Blue Corn (1989)
Erik & Erik (1992)
Earth Swing (1994)
Kaustinen, Texas (1995) - Erik Hokkanen & Lumisudet (Finland)
Swing the Night Away (1996)
Barnes, Hokkanen and Rubin - aka Mad Cat Trio (recorded 1993/released 1998)
Scout Fiddle Blues - Souvenir Album (1999)
Erik and the She Wolves (recorded 2001, released 2002)
In the Heart of a Waking Dream (recorded 1998, released 2002) - Erik Hokkanen & Lumisudet (Finland) Erik & The Hip Replacements - Gypsy Twang (2003)

Erik Hokkanen & Lumisudet are:
Erik Hokkanen:vocals, fiddle & guitar
Petri Hakala:mandolin & guitar
Arto J?rvel?:fiddle & percussion
Tapani Varis:double bass

Yhtye esiintyy Ruotsinpyhtäällä 10.6.