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 Rob Ickes and ResoSummit are pleased to announce that the first Houston Caldwell Scholarship is awarded to Bea Brackin, age 17, of Dalton, Georgia.
This scholarship, established to honor the memory of Houston Caldwell, covers the ResoSummit registration fee ($420) for a young dobro player, age 18 and under. Additional support provided by an anonymous donor underwrites the housing and meal costs for the scholarship recipient.
ResoSummit, now in its fifth year, will be held in Nashville from November 10-13. It is “total dobro overload” by design, featuring a stellar lineup of more than ten faculty members, two resonator guitar luthiers, and 100 participants from around the world, with three days of workshops plus evening performances at The Station Inn.
Bea Brackin’s music background includes piano and flute. She often listened to her older sister’s recordings of Nickel Creek and Alison Krauss. About a year and a half ago, she tagged along to her father’s demo session where dobro player Megan Lovell (Larkin Poe, The Lovell Sisters) laid down a dobro track for one of the songs. Her father tells us: “Bea was hooked. She asked me to buy her a dobro but I thought it was just another fad so I said no. So she sold a flute of hers on eBay, found a dobro at a local pawn shop, got a DVD from Netflix, and the next thing I remember is hearing a slow version of Cripple Creek being played in our living room.”
That convinced her father that the dobro was more than a passing fad for Bea, so he arranged for her to take dobro lessons from Megan Lovell. She plays dobro in her church’s youth worship band, and she listens to and absorbs “all things reso” on YouTube, Pandora & the online dobro forum, ResoNation. Bea tells us:
I love the dobro because it is such a versatile instrument and very vocal. I enjoy bluegrass as well as new grass music, and hope to grow as a better player in many different styles of music. I hope to learn a lot more technique and ways of playing at ResoSummit. I believe that being around others who share my love of this instrument will give me new insight in how to play. I am so honored to receive the Huston Caldwell scholarship, and I am incredibly thankful for this chance to grow as a dobro player!
Bea sent in audition videos playing the Josh Graves classic, Flatt Lonesome, and a Tut Taylor tune, Reso Fandango, that demonstrated her great affinity for the dobro.
Like Houston Caldwell, Bea is a very involved, active and community-oriented teenager, and she will be able not only to benefit personally from the ResoSummit experience, but also to contribute to the remarkable sense of community and shared purpose that always arises at ResoSummit. In doing so, she will also help us all remember and honor Houston Caldwell, his many accomplishments and contributions, and most of all, the tremendous spirit and energy he shared with so many during his life.
More information about ResoSummit *
More information about Houston Caldwell
Rob Ickes and Jim Hurst will be performing in Greensboro, NC on Saturday, Feb. 12, and will be teaching a dobro and guitar workshop that afternoon.
Workshop details:
3-hour workshop on Saturday, Feb. 12, 2011, 12:00 Noon till 3 PM. Location: String Studios, 604 South Elam Ave., Greensboro, Scott Manring's great teaching space. Cost: $80.
Instruction details:
Rob will teach a two hour class for dobro players; max of 10 in the class. Jim will do likewise for guitar players. For the last hour, the two groups will come together for a Q&A/demo session with both Rob and Jim directing the class.
Performance details:
This special performance will be held at Mack and Mack, a great clothing design studio in downtown Greensboro, at 220 South Elm Street. Time: 8:00pm. Tickets ($20).
ResoSummit 2011 will take place Nov. 10-13. Registration opened on Jan. 17 exclusively to those on the ResoSummit email list, and sold out that day.
Every year, we are able to extend offers to many people on our wait list, so if you are interested in attending, we encourage you to sign up for the wait list. To make sure you get the first call for registration in future years, sign up for our email list.
The USA Fellows program awards a $50,000 grant to fifty artists each year in the disciplines of music, theater arts, visual arts, dance, literature, media, crafts/traditional arts, and architecture/ design. United States Artists was formed in 2005 with seed funding from The Ford, Rockefeller, Rasmuson and Prudential Foundations, with a mission “to invest in America’s finest artists and illuminate the value of artists to society.”
USA Fellowship nominations are made by an anonymous group of arts leaders, critics, scholars, and artists chosen by USA. An expert panel for each discipline then chooses the USA Fellows to be recommended for approval by the USA Board. Previous USA fellows from the field of music include Michael Doucet, Bill Frisell, Ali Akbar Kahn, Terry Allen, Lionel Loueke, violinist Leila Josefowicz, jazz musician Muhal Richard Abrams, and interdisciplinary artist Meredith Monk.
Katharine DeShaw, USA Executive Director, described the 2010 recipients as follows: "Chosen for the caliber and impact of their work, the USA Fellows for 2010 hail from 18 states and Puerto Rico, range in age from 32 to 71, and represent some of the most innovative and diverse creative talents in the country."
Ickes is the first artist with roots in bluegrass music to be named a USA Fellow. His work spans multiple genres, and Ickes plans to use his fellowship to continue to explore "the vast musical potential that the dobro has to offer," and to raise the visibility of the instrument.
2010 Fellows | Rob's USA Profile
ResoSummit 2010 was truly Total Dobro Overload. Or, as one participant wrote in the survey, "Best. ResoSummit. Ever."
Check out the highlights here.
news archive of older news
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United States Artists
At quick glance, you might think this is an instructional DVD, but it's not entirely. It's a jam with Andy Leftwich on mandolin for ten tunes and the remainder are with jazz pianist, Michael Alvey. The range of music encompasses traditional fiddle tunes to jazz standards. Ickes expands the reach of resonator guitar as no other exponent of that instrument has done so far. His harmonic development tied to his melodic explorations on classic jazz and well-worn country favorites displays his limitless vision for the instrument.