” Here Comes Brady Rymer and the Little Band That Could” is here and we couldn’t be more excited! Thank you so much to our families, our friends, and our wonderful fans for the support! We are thrilled to be playing these new ones for you and can’t wait to see you at the record release shows coming up! Come up and say hi and don’t be shy! post your thoughts on the blog! we can’t wait to hear from you!
love and music!
We are SO excited for the march 4th release of our new CD! We can’t wait to share it with you !!! Be sure to come to our record release party on March 15th in NYC! We love you, and can’t wait to play some of the new ones for you!
Peace and rock and roll and hugs
As the new year approaches we have been thinking about the great time we had in 2007 and we know in our hearts that 2008 will be even better! what do you all hope for in the new year? Let us know!!!! we’d love to hear about it!
Brady and the band
can’t wait to play again for our loving crowd at the South Orange Performing Arts Center tomorrow! have no fear! the snow will turn to rain and we will all be cozy, singing, dancing and having a fun dry time inside!! see ya there!
From our home to yours, have a wonderful Thanksgiving and we can’t wait to see you all soon! love, Brady and the Little Band That Could
ok folks..if you ever find yourself driving from Houston to Dallas, make sure you get off at exit 164 in Centerville. There you will find yourself in ” the jerky capital of the world!” owned and operated by Dudley ” woody” Wood ! of Woody’s smokehouse fame. Nitrates galore but oh so yummy! the Texas shows were wonderul! there is nothing like playing in front of a lion’s cage which we did at the Dallas Zoo! So great to see you all dancing and singing with your children! That’s what we love to see!
I don’t care how cloudy and drizzly it is, Seattle is a warm and loving place! thanks for coming out and a big big thanks to Brady’s wonderful extended family who took a LONG drive down to Seattle to hear us play! A big hello to you Oliver!!!! We played in a large pavillion that looked a lot like an airplane hangar! great job with the sound, Doug! Next stop? ROCHESTER! look out!!!! love, Claudia Mussen
We’ve been having so much fun flying around the country and playing for old and new fans! some highlights for me so far? well, my brother Matt who plays fiddle sat in with us in Boston and Brady’s brother Scott sat in with us in Atlanta this past weekend! It’s so much fun to see you all hoola-hooping at the shows and getting your groove on with some rather fancy dance moves! much love, Claudia
The sun has finally come out after 3 days of rain!
One of those days was Sunday the 27th – Brady Rymer’s Family Jamboree! A day of music from The Little Band That Could, beautiful Elizabeth Mitchell and her family, and Hayes Greenfield and his incredible jazz trio, Jazz-A-Ma-Tazz—along with arts & crafts, North Fork food, wine, hula hooping, a kids’ short film festival, scrabble and more, and it was all, you guessed it, OUTSIDE!!! In a lovely spot—an open field framed on three sides by vineyards – fully ripened, deep purple grapes hangin’ low…
Everything was set. We, along with our partner, friend and agent John Waldman, and our entire family had worked so hard getting ready – the stage was up, the sound was crankin’, tents were staked (luckily we had planned a 40’ x 60’ shade tent, which would later prove indispensable), all the volunteers and events were in position, tumbling mats were out, food was grilling and wine was pouring.
The rain started around 10:30 that morning and didn’t let up all day. In fact, it only got worse. There was a moment when we thought we would be playing to ourselves… then, miraculously, cars started coming down the lane and into the vineyard. To our Field of Dreams.
So what’s a little rain. We had a truly incredible, never-to-be-forgotten day, thanks to the beautiful resilience, warmth and spirit of everyone who came. The musicians were game – the volunteers were game – the vendors were game – and so many intrepid fans, young and old, braved the wind and water to join the party. We had the time of our lives.
Hayes Greenfield and Jazz-A-Ma-Tazz started the day off; they moved under the tent because of the rain, but that just made things even more intimate. Hayes was wonderful! Encouraging the crowd to sing along –“louder!” he shouted, pacing back and forth with his saxophone in his hand, his trio was boppin’ that tent – and just thru a little makeshift amp brought in last minute. He cut through the rain and cold nip in the air, and warmed up the crowd. Elizabeth Mitchell and I joined him for his last tune, then out swirled the two hula-hoopers from Groovehoops. Malcolm and Cat arrived in cool costumes, put on some greasy, old funk music and did their thing! It was inspiring, joyful, sexy, flowing and amazing – perfect for the kids (and also for the grownups, once the wine started flowing!) At this point I really wanted to show my gratitude and appreciation, so I bought everyone at the party (over 21 that is) a glass of wine! I have to say, it was a really fun thing to do – you all should try it sometime.
I played our set with the Little Band That Could on the main stage. The music seemed to stand up to the rain, and pushed it back a bit; families poured out of the tent into the wet wind, the hula-hoopers passed around hoops, and we rocked, rolled and hooped together for the next 50 minutes. People were huddling together, stayin’ warm, dancing just a little bit harder than usual. Smiling faces peeking out of yellow slicker hoods, kids all slippin and a-slidin’– it was not yer usual show, and all for the better. I couldn’t have loved our fans more, standing out there like that, paying no mind that that their lips were turning a very unusual shade of blue for a late August afternoon. What a beautiful sight from the windblown, soggy stage.
With a rousing “Road Trip,” our first set was done and it was time for everyone to squeeze into the film tent. Our friend and neighbor Hannah Gray curated a group of wonderful kids’ short films by Eva Saks; these were a relaxing, warm break for the kids before Liz’s set.
Elizabeth Mitchell and Family set themselves up under the bigger tent in a semicircle. She was flanked by her daughter, niece, a fiddle player, even more little girls and her husband, Daniel playing an old Gibson guitar (similar to mine!) They started with “I’m So Glad I’m Here” from their CD “you are my flower”—it was absolutely perfect. Liz said, “welcome to the sing-a-long portion of the day. I want this to be about US and not just ME.” With this, she expressed exactly what the day was all about – voices joining together to bring joy. They played a beautiful set showcasing songs from their new CD, “you are my little bird,” just released this week on Smithsonian Folkways Records. What a treat.
We all were soaked anyway, so I paid one more trip out to the main stage for a little dance party wrap-up with the Little Band That Could, Hayes, Liz, Daniel and other guests sitting in. My brother Scott came up and played guitar, helping us all finish the day off with the 70’s radio classic we all know, and our kids now love, “Dancin’ in the Moonlight”!
Our friend and photographer Eileen Duffy, who had been documenting events throughout the day, got everyone to stand in front of the stage for the first Family Jamboree family portrait. The crowd spontaneously began singing that “Na, Na, Na, Na, Hey, Hey, Hey, Goodbye” song – the camera flashed and that was the end of our Jamboree– Baby Woodstock. Just then the skies opened up and it dumped down hard! Everyone started runnin’… the stage crew was scrambling…we all did our best to get out of there and keep our stuff dry. A crazy finish!!
It really was an amazing day – never a negative vibe despite the nasty weather. Things did not play out as planned, but no matter: we improvised, and everyone, really everyone, pitched in. The Riverhead fire marshal; the staff of Martha Clara Vineyards, pourin’ the wine; the security guys; our friend Tom with the ‘58/’68 Dodge panel truck; the musicians; the volunteers of all ages, all of them soaking wet but somehow keeping smiles on their faces; our friends Bonnie and Tom from Riverside Gymnastics, who put out all their tumbling mats and equipment, only to have to pack it all up again; our friend Mona from Putumayo, who handed free CD’s out to families under the tent; Candice and Tina from the Times/Review Papers, giving away shakers they’d made for the kids; Pat, Melissa and Liz, the indefatigable trio from the East End Arts Council, helping the kids make hats and visors in the rain; the Scrabble champions Joe and John (an impressive pair!), giving away Scrabble games to brave challengers; Lorraine from Buoy One Restaurant, her family and crew, feeding wet families; my brother Uncle Scottie tirelessly selling wet tee shirts and CD’s to the crowd.
We look forward to next year, and we can’t stop thinking of new things to bring and ways to improve the festival (let us know what you think!). John, Bridget and I send out our biggest thank you ever to so, so many people – too many to mention here but you know who you are… We could never have done it without you!
We’ll see ya all again next year in the SUNSHINE at Brady Rymer’s Family Jamboree!!
Peace.
It was real nice to get back to Joe’s Pub for some CD Release shows, rescheduled after the Blizzard of 06 cancelled our date there back in February. Thanks to all who took a break from this beautiful May day to rock out for a while with us.
Way back in February, the band watched the snow whip across Lafayette St. from a corner table in a nearby Starbucks, sadly sipping our coffee, so sorry that our show was cancelled. We all kept an eye on the door of Joe’s: any time we spied a family who’d actually braved two feet of snow with their kids to get to the club, Bridget would grab a batch of cupcakes (which we’d made specially for the occasion!), trudge outside, offer them to the fans, and let them know the show had been cancelled.
We had a lot of cupcakes left over, though… boxes and boxes and boxes of them. We left some for the guys at the club to enjoy, but still left with many, many little cakes in the back of our car. It did feel good, driving home from the city that day, in the middle of the blizzard, to know that just in case we broke down or got stranded in the snow, we had sufficient sugary stuff to tide us over in an emergency!