Frank Hamilton School is excited to bring you the Good Time Eclectic Bluegrass of Smokey's Farmland Band!
Smokey's Farmland Band blends musical influences ranging from bluegrass to gypsy jazz to Cajun, creating a progressive sound they like to call "Goodtime Eclectic Bluegrass". While they enjoy venturing outside the realm of the traditional, they still respect the roots of bluegrass, and retain the energy and twang of mountain music. A typical set features original tunes, good ol' pickin numbers, and some unexpected covers too. It all comes together in an exciting genre-bending style that keeps listeners on their toes, and on the dance floor!
$10 Adv – $13 Door
Doors @ 7 PM
All ticket sales are final. No refunds.
Smokey’s Farmland Band is based in Atlanta, but named after a 200-acre farm near the town of LaFayette in northwest Georgia. Smokey Caldwell's farm is the focal point of the cavers who explore the magnificent underground caverns of neighboring Pigeon Mountain and is a popular venue for music festivals. Smokey's Farmland Band was formed in 2004 when friends who played music and camped out together on Smokey's land decided to collaborate and further their music. Ian, Justin and Jared played enough music up there that folks on the farm started calling them Smokey's Farmland Band [SFB].
In November of 2005, Trey Gibbs heard these guys picking on a porch in the Atlanta neighborhood of Cabbagetown during the Chomp and Stomp Chili Cook-off and Bluegrass Festival. Everyone started jamming and before long the festival crew invited them onto the stage for a 45 minute set. Rurik Nunan joined on fiddle in 2007 right when the band's repertoire began to broaden from traditional bluegrass music. During the winter of 2008 the band developed a focus on original music and began to incorporate their songs into their performances. By 2009 they had enough songs rehearsed to begin recording a CD at Namaste Studios. Their first album, "80 Mile Getaway", has 11 original songs and was completed in winter 2010. SFB has completed two other CDsl. "Live Positive", was completed in 2013, and an EP titled "Paradise" was released in early 2014. Paradise features songs written and sung by our dear friend Nate Olive. As of 2014, Kenny Lambert has taken over fiddle duties.
Smokey's Farmland Band blends musical influences ranging from bluegrass to gypsy jazz to Cajun, creating a progressive sound they like to call "Goodtime Eclectic Bluegrass". While they enjoy venturing outside the realm of the traditional, they still respect the roots of bluegrass, and retain the energy and twang of mountain music. A typical set features original tunes, good ol' pickin numbers, and some unexpected covers too. It all comes together in an exciting genre-bending style that keeps listeners on their toes, and on the dance floor!
Among many accomplishments, SFB has opened for Willie Nelson at a sold out House Of Blues New Orleans, Sam Bush at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, and recently shared the bill for Del Yeah! with The Del McCoury Band, Emmitt-Nershi Band, The Freight Hoppers, and numerous Atlanta area bluegrass bands. SFB has traveled to Colorado, DC, NYC, and even St. Croix USVI for performances, winning new fans at stops along the way. Their music is dedicated to the festival experience, camping and dancing in community, out of the way places that retain their beauty, live performance, and people who appreciate getting back to the farm from time to time.
Smokey's Farmland Band is...
Trey Gibbs — Vocals, Mandolin
Ian Newberry — Vocals, Guitar
Kenny Lambert — Vocals, Fiddle
Justin Roberts — Vocals, Upright Bass
Jared Womack — Resophonic Guitar
Smokey's Farmland Band Official Site
Smokey's Farmland Band on Facebook
The Frank Hamilton School is modeled on the Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago. Founded by folk musicians Frank Hamilton and Win Stracke, the School opened in the Old Town neighborhood of Chicago in 1957. It began modestly by offering guitar and banjo lessons in a communal teaching style and hosting performances by well-known folk musicians. As a teaching and performing institution, the Old Town School of Folk Music launched the careers of many notable folk music artists. Currently the school has an enrollment of about 6,000 students per week, 2,700 of them children.
Win Stracke was a classically trained singer and Frank Hamilton, a young multi-instrumentalist and teacher of folk music; Frank had previously studied under Bess Lomax Hawes, daughter of folklorist John Lomax. The two met at the Gate of Horn nightclub in Chicago where they were both performing. Together Frank and Win developed a classroom technique based upon traditional oral and folk teaching methods: listening, watching, trial and error, and playing by ear. Where other music schools taught sight reading and performance, Win and Frank wanted the Old Town School “method” to retain its emphasis on participation and development of aural skills.
“We wanted to make music accessible to everyone, we wanted to bypass the formal educative type of note-reading you’d get in a music academy and emphasize the social aspects of music. We wanted to see involvement by people who wouldn’t normally think they had musical talent, and bring out whatever they had,” says Frank Hamilton, once a member of the iconic folk group, The Weavers. Frank is an Atlanta resident, and a key player in the establishment of the new Frank Hamilton Folk School.
Throughout its existence, the school in Chicago focused on offering both instruction and performance with many performing musicians also acting as teachers and mentors. It also proved a rich ground for collaboration. The late 1960s was a “golden era” as several musicians associated with the Old Town School rose to national prominence, including Roger McGuinn of The Byrds, Steve Goodman, John Prine, and Bob Gibson.
Today, the Old Town School has grown immensely and continues to offer music, dance, art and theater classes and performances for adults and children at two locations, plus children’s classes in some suburban branch locations. Atlanta’s Frank Hamilton Folk School offers music classes in several instruments at the Epworth at Candler Park UMC. Atlanta Area Friends of Folk Music, the parent organization for the Atlanta school, also holds its monthly coffeehouse concert, “Fiddlers Green” at the same location.
Frank Hamilton School Official Site
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