Community News

     Jay Ungar and Molly Mason will bring their consummate musicianship, warmth and wit, and clear love of music that has delighted audiences world wide to Oswego's Music Hall Saturday, March 22 at 8:00 p.m.

     Jay and Molly have become one of the most celebrated duos in the American acoustic music scene. You may be familiar with them from NPR programs like A Prairie Home Companion, or soundtracks from movies such as Brother's Keepers, or the haunting music composed and performed for Ken Burns' PBS documentary The Civil War. Their powerful melody, Ashokan Farewell, went on to win a Grammy and an Emmy nomination, took on a life of its own, and is played by fiddlers and classical musicians and worldwide.

          "Jay Ungar and Molly Mason play music from the heart which reminds us of the best in all of us" --Ken Burns, producer of PBS' The Civil War

     Jay and Molly make music that is simple and overwhelming . . . joyful and full of feeling . . . an apotheosis of American traditional music" -- Garrison Keillor, host and creator of A Prairie Home Companion.

     Another critic raves about Jay and Molly, saying that they "complement each other like a finely crafted fiddle and bow." How fortunate that these musicians met each other -- with their enormous talent on violin, mandolin, guitar, banjo, and piano. He was a Brooklyn kid, and she grew up in Washington State. He was raised on pop music of the 1940s and '50s. She liked traditional fiddle music and '30s and '40s tunes. He hung our in Greenwich Village coffeehouses and roamed North Carolina and Tennessee, seeking out traditional musicians. She played gigs on the West Coast and loved Swing and jazz. But meet they did--by chance--at a rural New York club in the 1970s.

     Their careers intertwined a bit, and, a little after Jay began his Ashokan Fiddle & Dance camps in the Catskills (a center for fiddlers, guitarists, mandolin players, percussionists, dancers, dance callers and instructors), Molly signed on as a partner. Their early band, Fiddle Fever, recorded two classic LPs, now available on CD as The Best of Fiddle Fever (Flying Fish Records). Many recordings and collaborations later, married since 1991, they are still an artistic force. One example from 2002: Jay and Molly produced, arranged and performed on A Song of Home, a collaborative recording for RCA, with flutist Sir James Galway, mandolinist Peter Ostroushko and bassist Steve Rust. Now, with Relax Your Mind (Angel Records), Jay and Molly, with their band Swingology, take a slightly different direction: American dance music with a focus on country blues and swing. Included are more of the beautiful waltzes that have become their signature pieces.

     Check out some of Jay & Molly's music on youtube.com, then come and catch the wonder of their evocative and infectious music in a live performance at the Music Hall on March 22.

     The venue is the McCrobie Civic Center, 41 Lake Street, Oswego. The atmosphere is intimate with candle-lit tables surrounding a small stage. Desserts, snacks, popcorn and beverages are available for purchase. Tickets can be purchased on-line at http://oswegomusichall.org/ or at the river's end bookstore, 19 West Bridge Street in Oswego. Holders of tickets purchased before 1 pm on the day of the concert will have preferred seating. After 1 pm, seating will be general admission. Ticket prices for this event are $18 if purchased in advance and $22 at the door. Children 12 and under are half-price; under 5 is free. For the best deal-- lowest ticket prices and prime seating-- Season Passes are available and may be purchased at any show. For information contact Membership Secretary, Carol Forrest at 343-2988.

     The Music Hall's next concert, April 5, will feature Run Boy Run, a five-piece band that thrives on the tension between music of the traditional Appalachian South and our 21st century. The Music Hall has been run entirely by volunteers from its inception over 36 years ago. Volunteers can earn admission to shows through different tasks. Music Hall concerts are made possible in part with funding by the NYS Council on the Arts. For more information call 315-342-1733 or access the Music Hall website: http://oswegomusichall.org/