Sandy Paton, RIP

Sandy Paton, a well-regarded traditional folk musician, and founder of Folk Legacy Records of Sharon CT, died yesterday after years of suffering with emphysema.

I didn't know Sandy well, though I met him several times. I knew his music, and the music he played and produced with his family, and of course I knew the many classic traditional and contemporary recordings he produced with Gordon Bok, Bill Staines, Cindy Kallet and the trad folk supergroup, Bok, Muir and Trickett.

I came to know Sandy's music, and Sandy's label through Bill Domler who recruited me as a folk DJ at WWUH. Bill loved the Patons, and their music, and was so inspired by their album of singalong traditional folk, The Golden Ring, that he started a coffeehouse, The Sounding Board, which still runs strongly, three decades later. The Patons played the Sounding Board annually.

The music Sandy and Caroline played and recorded was real, honest-to-god folk and traditional music. Music that had been passed down through generations, hand to hand, until all the burrs had been worn off. Sandy played and preserved the music with a nerdy passion, that we promoters and seekers of edgy, electrified and singer-songwriter type folk music would sometimes scoff at. I confess to a bit of scoffing myself, but I've grown (or grown up) to believe and understand, that without "nerds" like Sandy, we wouldn't have the rich reserve of folk songs and tunes that each successive generation seeks out to learn, love and perform.

Sandy's Folk Legacy label, like folk music itself, has survived the fashionable ups and downs of pop music and sustained an evergreen catalogue of folk songs. What Sandy, and Caroline, have done, and have left us, is important, though not necessarily sexy enough to command headlines.

Sandy left this old world a better place than he found it, and not much higher praise could be given to anyone who has finished trodding its dusty paths.

Stephen Bruton, RIP

From Jenni Finlay:

The Austin music community is mourning the loss of a capital city legend this Saturday.
Friends say Stephen Bruton died in Los Angeles Saturday morning after a two year bout with cancer.

Bruton produced acclaimed albums for Alejandro Escovedo, Marcia Ball, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Hal Ketchum, Storyville and Chris Smither.

According to the artists’ website, Bruton was a songwriter, singer, recording artist, record producer, actor, collaborator, and something of a raconteur and provocateur.

Bruton grew up surrounded by music in Fort Worth. His jazz drummer father ran a record store where he was weaned on the musical classics from blues, country, jazz and pop to classical. “He always said, if you’re going to listen to music, listen to the best music,” recalls Bruton.

“The thing about Fort Worth is that there was no scene there,” Bruton explains. “No one was looking at Fort Worth, believe me. But there was great music there and always has been. It’s always been black guys and white guys playing together. There was this great exchange of music.”

Bruton’s songs were recorded by many well known artists who also became his friends, such notable artists as Kris Kristofferson, Bonnie Raitt, Hal Ketchum, The Highwaymen, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Little Feat, Jimmy Buffett, Patty Loveless, Lee Roy Parnell and Martina McBride.


His most recent screen role included Man Of The House with Tommy Lee Jones, and he’s been seen in such films as Convoy, Songwriter, Heaven’s Gate, Miss Congeniality, Sweet Thing and The Alamo as well as the TV movie A Seduction In Travis County, the miniseries Amerika and the series Matlock.

Bruton had been battling cancer but met the challenge with dignity and fervor. “I had a bout with throat cancer that took most of the year. I've had 2 follow ups that have been pronounced "clear". Let's let that suffice instead of the long winded version…”

His long career was something of a love relationship with Bruton, “I’ve got no complaints. I get to do what I love. How many people can say that? And that’s worth more than anything. I’d be doing it anyway. And I’ve been very fortunate to do what I do for a long time.”

Hartford for Hartford's Paul Lemay

The Hartford Courant noted Paul Lemay's passing today with a great photo online.

As Kevin Lynch noted in a comment, Paul didn't create the fiddle contest because he loved fiddle music. He created it because he loved people.

In fact, Paul did love music - blues and jazz and folk. But he absolutely adored the late John Hartford. So here's a little Hartford for Hartford as it memorializes Paul Lemay.

Matt Nozzolio, RIP

Middletown resident, MDC spokesman, and accomplished bluegrass dobro player Matt Nozzolio died unexpectedly Sunday after a solo musical performance in New Haven.

More info at his website.