Matt Connarton Unleashed: Granite State Blues Society

0:00 Speaker 1: But see we have Charlene Leboor and Debbie Madison from

0:03 Speaker 1: Granted State Blue Society.

0:05 Speaker 2: Welcome, Hi, thank you.

0:07 Speaker 1: And we were actually kind of bonding off air over

0:10 Speaker 1: we have some well a mutual friend of ours, Nick David,

0:13 Speaker 1: and we're going to play actually at the end of

0:15 Speaker 1: our segment, we're going to play something from his band.

0:18 Speaker 1: But I've known Nick for a very long time. But

0:23 Speaker 1: the way that I originally met Nick, it was not

0:25 Speaker 1: through the music scene. I used to do Gcundeau and

0:29 Speaker 1: I met him at a Gkundeau class that we were

0:32 Speaker 1: both participating in, so you know, we would spa and

0:34 Speaker 1: wrestle and all that. So that's how I originally knew Nick.

0:37 Speaker 1: And then it turned out, you know, I learned he

0:38 Speaker 1: was a musician. But I haven't seen Nick in a

0:41 Speaker 1: very long time. But you both were saying that he's

0:44 Speaker 1: a good friend to the Grandit State Blue Society, and

0:47 Speaker 1: that does a lot.

0:48 Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely, he's a great guy. He's very supportive and

0:52 Speaker 2: friendly with the Granite State Blue Society.

0:54 Speaker 1: Excellent. So what is that? What is the Granted State

0:56 Speaker 1: Blue Society.

0:58 Speaker 2: We are a registered nonprofit here in New Hampshire five

1:01 Speaker 2: oh one c three and we work to promote the

1:04 Speaker 2: blues and keeping the blues alive up here in the

1:06 Speaker 2: great Granite State outstanding.

1:10 Speaker 1: What do you what do you both do? I mean,

1:12 Speaker 1: do you do you each have specific duties or are

1:15 Speaker 1: your partners in this.

1:16 Speaker 2: Or yes, we have partners. We have a board and

1:22 Speaker 2: we all work together cohesively as one unit to promote

1:26 Speaker 2: shows in the local area. Ten shows. We do visibilities

1:30 Speaker 2: for the Granite State Blue Society to help keep give

1:34 Speaker 2: some visibility to make sure the Granite State Blue Society

1:37 Speaker 2: is people know that we exist.

1:39 Speaker 1: Yeah is what? Well, let me ask this, so when

1:44 Speaker 1: did this start? How long has the Grandite State Blue

1:46 Speaker 1: Society existed?

1:48 Speaker 2: We were incorporated I believe back in two thousand and

1:51 Speaker 2: two when they joined the Blue Foundation, which is the

1:53 Speaker 2: parent the umbrella organization for all the Blue Societies all

1:59 Speaker 2: over the world.

2:00 Speaker 1: Okay, wow, so there's a global organization that's interesting.

2:04 Speaker 2: It's headquartered down in Memphis, Tennessee.

2:06 Speaker 1: Okay, okay. And then for the Granite Blue Society, where

2:10 Speaker 1: both of you involved right from the beginning.

2:12 Speaker 2: No, okay, No, I've been involved with them for maybe

2:17 Speaker 2: like seven years. Uh uh. And then I've risen up

2:20 Speaker 2: to the leadership position, and Debbie.

2:24 Speaker 3: I think it's been five years for me five years.

2:26 Speaker 1: Yeah, what what brought you each into this? I mean,

2:31 Speaker 1: do you have did you have prior backgrounds?

2:34 Speaker 4: Uh?

2:35 Speaker 1: In the music industry? Are are you? Are you musicians

2:38 Speaker 1: or what? I'm curious to know what brought each of

2:40 Speaker 1: you into, uh into wanting to do this and and

2:43 Speaker 1: uh uh doing these events where there's an event coming

2:46 Speaker 1: up too that we're going to talk about in a

2:47 Speaker 1: moment that's next weekend. But I'm curious to kind of

2:50 Speaker 1: know what, uh what brought each of you into getting

2:52 Speaker 1: involved in this. Well.

2:54 Speaker 2: I ran into John Mann and Rock sand Man at

2:59 Speaker 2: the Auburn and started talking to them. We were out

3:02 Speaker 2: there for a blues jam and I found out about

3:04 Speaker 2: the Granite State Blue Society through them. They told me

3:08 Speaker 2: about the International Blues Challenge down in Memphis. So my

3:12 Speaker 2: husband and I decided we were going to Memphis that

3:14 Speaker 2: year because I love the blues, we both do yea

3:17 Speaker 2: And from there, I sat down in a club in

3:20 Speaker 2: Memphis and I sat down next to Audrey Fraser, who

3:23 Speaker 2: was the current president of the Blue Society, and I said, Wow,

3:26 Speaker 2: I didn't know this existed and I would really love

3:29 Speaker 2: to be involved. And that's how I became a board

3:32 Speaker 2: member of the Blue Society.

3:33 Speaker 1: Okay, okay, and what about you, Debbie?

3:35 Speaker 5: And for me, I've had a lifelong love of the

3:38 Speaker 5: Blues and approximately five years ago I met Charlene and

3:43 Speaker 5: the former president Audrey okay, and they sort of reeled

3:46 Speaker 5: me in.

3:47 Speaker 1: Okay, how did they like? How did they reel you in?

3:52 Speaker 1: And like what did it? Like? What was it did

3:54 Speaker 1: they have to talk to you into getting involved or

3:56 Speaker 1: was it something that you kind of jumped at.

3:58 Speaker 3: Like I was willing from the start?

4:02 Speaker 1: Yeah.

4:02 Speaker 2: Yeah, I think a lot of it comes from our

4:05 Speaker 2: love of the Blues, the people that are involved with

4:08 Speaker 2: the Blue Society, including our wonderful sponsors that we have.

4:14 Speaker 2: It's just that there is a very solid core group

4:17 Speaker 2: of people in New Hampshire and in the New England

4:20 Speaker 2: area that just love the Blues and it's just a wonderful,

4:23 Speaker 2: big blues family. We are very supportive of each other

4:28 Speaker 2: and that's kind of how it runs.

4:30 Speaker 1: Yeah, and the Blues is so foundational to everything, like,

4:34 Speaker 1: you know, all the you know, absolutely, I always kind

4:38 Speaker 1: of think of it as as people are blues fans

4:40 Speaker 1: who don't necessarily realize that they are. Because if you're

4:43 Speaker 1: a fan of rock music, yes, you know, any any

4:45 Speaker 1: kind of any genre or subgenre of rock music. I

4:48 Speaker 1: mean they're all started, you know. And same with country

4:51 Speaker 1: and same with hip hop and everything. It all goes

4:53 Speaker 1: back to the same thing. It all goes back to

4:55 Speaker 1: the blues.

4:56 Speaker 2: Yes, you're absolutely correct.

4:58 Speaker 1: You know. Without the blues, I mean we might I'll

5:00 Speaker 1: be listening to I don't I don't know what we'd

5:01 Speaker 1: be listening to, Pat Boone. Maybe, I don't know.

5:05 Speaker 2: We're listening to classical music.

5:07 Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess, yeah, And not that there's anything wrong

5:09 Speaker 1: with that, but but without the blues, you don't have

5:13 Speaker 1: everything else. Tell us about the event that's coming up August.

5:17 Speaker 2: Third, that's our annual Blues festival and it is a

5:22 Speaker 2: fundraiser for New Hampshire's children's charities. Since the inception of

5:28 Speaker 2: this it has always benefited the New Hampshire Children's charities,

5:32 Speaker 2: typically the Webster House here right here in Manchester, New Hampshire. Okay,

5:36 Speaker 2: this is a one day festival, rain or shine. The

5:39 Speaker 2: weather forecast for next week looks absolutely beautiful and it's

5:44 Speaker 2: out in Mason New Hampshire at the Range. Nicole Riggio

5:48 Speaker 2: has been hosting us for four years. This is our

5:51 Speaker 2: fourth festival and it's We've got our two Blues Challenge

5:57 Speaker 2: winners from last year. Nick Spencer, who who is a

6:00 Speaker 2: young man who plays guitar, sings and plays harmonica. He's sixteen.

6:07 Speaker 2: I think, well, excuse me, he just turned seventeen and

6:09 Speaker 2: he's heading off to Berkeley College of Music in the fall.

6:13 Speaker 1: Good for him.

6:13 Speaker 2: Yeah, he's a very talented young man and I'm very excited.

6:17 Speaker 2: We are all very excited to see where this takes him.

6:20 Speaker 2: And the One Time Band who you listen to on

6:23 Speaker 2: the intro with John Brockler and Paul Galucci, they will

6:28 Speaker 2: be playing our festival as well. We have the Diego

6:32 Speaker 2: Mango Band. They're from Western Massachusetts and he was at

6:36 Speaker 2: the International Blues Challenge this year as well. We have

6:42 Speaker 2: Cheryl Arena featuring the wonderful lovely Queen of the Blues,

6:47 Speaker 2: Tony Lynn Washington. And we have the Knickerbocker All Stars

6:53 Speaker 2: are coming up and we have Nick David Wicked lowdown Outstanding.

6:59 Speaker 1: So we're going to do something we were talking about

7:01 Speaker 1: this off air. We're going to do something special for

7:03 Speaker 1: our listeners. So if they want to go, they have

7:09 Speaker 1: to so they can contact you. How should we through

7:11 Speaker 1: social media? Would that be the best way?

7:13 Speaker 2: I think social media if you would message us on

7:16 Speaker 2: our Facebook app and that would work.

7:18 Speaker 1: So if you're the first one, you got to be

7:21 Speaker 1: the first ones? Is it to? What are we doing?

7:24 Speaker 1: Two tickets?

7:24 Speaker 2: Two tickets will give a pair of tickets.

7:27 Speaker 1: To get a pair of tickets, you have to message

7:29 Speaker 1: the Grandit State Blue Society through Facebook and say that

7:34 Speaker 1: you heard this conversation here on this You got to

7:38 Speaker 1: say the name of the radio show that you're at

7:40 Speaker 1: it on and the name of the station WMNH ninety

7:43 Speaker 1: five point three FM. But if you offer that information,

7:47 Speaker 1: the first one to do that to message on Facebook

7:50 Speaker 1: the Granite State Blue Society will get two tickets. Complement

7:53 Speaker 1: theory to this amazing event. And by the way, where

7:57 Speaker 1: is Mason Exactly? What is it near?

8:00 Speaker 2: So I guess depending on where you would be driving from,

8:03 Speaker 2: it's down near the Massachusetts border. It's south of Amherst. Like,

8:11 Speaker 2: oh I go one on one, yeah, yeah, Route thirty one.

8:14 Speaker 2: Oh okay, I buy Mananak water. You just follow that

8:17 Speaker 2: down maybe ten miles and it's on Turnpike Road. It's

8:21 Speaker 2: pretty easy to find.

8:22 Speaker 1: Okay, okay, yeah, so be the first ones to message

8:27 Speaker 1: Granda State Blue Society on Facebook mentioned this conversation on

8:30 Speaker 1: this radio show on this station. And you can get in,

8:34 Speaker 1: you can you get your two tickets. And now you said,

8:38 Speaker 1: this is the fourth one.

8:40 Speaker 2: The fourth one that we've held in Mason at the Range.

8:44 Speaker 2: Prior to this, it was in New Boston at the

8:46 Speaker 2: four Each Fairgrounds.

8:49 Speaker 4: Oh okay, okay, many many, many years. So talk to

8:52 Speaker 4: me about putting this together. I assume this is probably

8:55 Speaker 4: something that you're and I just know from my own

8:58 Speaker 4: experience in doing answer promotion and being involved in annual events,

9:03 Speaker 4: I assume this is something that you're doing some planning

9:06 Speaker 4: for the entire year, right, because something that people outside

9:10 Speaker 4: of the business don't know or who've never done any

9:13 Speaker 4: kind of production of an event like this, an annual event,

9:15 Speaker 4: and this is a big event. You know, you've got

9:17 Speaker 4: a lot of artists plan on. This is how much

9:19 Speaker 4: work actually goes into it. And it's not you know,

9:22 Speaker 4: it's not a matter of you know, you contact a

9:24 Speaker 4: bunch of bands and they're all just going to show

9:26 Speaker 4: up and you know, and it's a quick easy this

9:28 Speaker 4: is this is complicated stuff, right, This is a lot

9:31 Speaker 4: of work.

9:31 Speaker 2: Yeah, and we it does and we plan, like we're

9:35 Speaker 2: already talking bands for next year's festival. We've already got

9:38 Speaker 2: some in the in the queue for next year. We

9:41 Speaker 2: do start talking about this and it's kind of we

9:46 Speaker 2: are going to be in a little hiatus, I think,

9:48 Speaker 2: you know, September, October, November, but we have to do

9:50 Speaker 2: a fundraiser for our Blues Challenge winners this year, and

9:54 Speaker 2: then we just start planning again for next year's festival.

9:58 Speaker 2: And it is a lot of work. And we do

9:59 Speaker 2: have a board number Rachel Bernard, and she has been

10:02 Speaker 2: a fantastic asset for our board in terms of her

10:07 Speaker 2: knowledge about how, like you said, how all of these

10:10 Speaker 2: things come together. Yeah, and you know, many hands make

10:13 Speaker 2: light work.

10:14 Speaker 1: Yes, yes, how many people are on the board we

10:18 Speaker 1: have six? Six okay? And how do you how do

10:24 Speaker 1: you in terms of deciding who's going to play at

10:27 Speaker 1: the festival, because I assume you probably have a lot

10:30 Speaker 1: of submissions, right or people who contact you who say, hey,

10:33 Speaker 1: I've got a blues project we'd love to play.

10:35 Speaker 2: Yeah, it kind of it works that way as well.

10:37 Speaker 2: We do have people that reach out to us, but

10:40 Speaker 2: we always give a slot to our Granite State Blues

10:43 Speaker 2: Society Challenge winners. They will always be on our stage

10:47 Speaker 2: the following year, and then we kind of look around

10:50 Speaker 2: at new acts and people that we've seen. Some people

10:54 Speaker 2: we see in Memphis at the International Blues Challenge, Oh

10:58 Speaker 2: that we would not be able to catch their act

11:03 Speaker 2: if they we didn't go to Memphis. So I would

11:05 Speaker 2: recommend if you want to go to Memphis and you

11:07 Speaker 2: want to get entrenched in a weekend of blues, go

11:11 Speaker 2: to go to the International Blues Challenge right right?

11:14 Speaker 1: Would you say, is Memphis, Tennessee? Is that kind of

11:17 Speaker 1: the mecca for blues right now in the United States?

11:20 Speaker 1: Or are there are there other cities that maybe people

11:23 Speaker 1: wouldn't think of necessarily where there's a really hot blue

11:27 Speaker 1: scene happening.

11:28 Speaker 5: Well, I think Beale Street, Memphis is really the home

11:34 Speaker 5: of the blues, is it, Yeah?

11:35 Speaker 3: But there are many many other places.

11:38 Speaker 2: There's like Chicago blues. I mean we have even locally

11:42 Speaker 2: we have a lot of fantastic clubs. But you know,

11:45 Speaker 2: I think Milford and Manchester we have a pretty vibrant

11:50 Speaker 2: blues community, and I'm apologized if I've left anybody out,

11:54 Speaker 2: But you know, it's like trying to think of everything

11:56 Speaker 2: on the fly. Yeah, but I do. Yes, It's kind

11:59 Speaker 2: of like the mecca. Everybody goes there that wants to

12:03 Speaker 2: get deeply entrenched in the blues.

12:06 Speaker 1: Tell us about the challenge again, the Blues Challenge. I'm

12:09 Speaker 1: curious to learn more about that.

12:11 Speaker 5: Oh yeah, we hold a challenge every year. There are

12:17 Speaker 5: two categories, solo, duo and band group. We also have

12:21 Speaker 5: a youth category as well. Okay, and the winners will

12:25 Speaker 5: go to Memphis to represent New Hampshire in the International

12:29 Speaker 5: Blues Challenge.

12:30 Speaker 1: Oh okay. How many people enter the challenge here?

12:35 Speaker 3: I think we had six bands this year.

12:37 Speaker 2: Yeah, it really varies here to year. We just had

12:43 Speaker 2: it May nineteenth up at the Bank of New Hampshire stage.

12:45 Speaker 2: They were very generous to host us this year. I

12:49 Speaker 2: would also recommend that people check out their website because

12:52 Speaker 2: they do have some blue shows coming up. But we

12:56 Speaker 2: do start making announcements probably in like March of April

13:03 Speaker 2: for next year's challenge will be held. It's typically held

13:06 Speaker 2: in May. Okay. We just ft the bands and make

13:10 Speaker 2: sure they're blues they do have to have some original

13:12 Speaker 2: music as well. It's favored, it's looked upon very favorably

13:17 Speaker 2: by the judges in Memphis, and then we just have

13:22 Speaker 2: a fun day listening to blues.

13:24 Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, uh. Do you know how many artists are

13:27 Speaker 1: involved in the Is it is in Memphis? Is that

13:30 Speaker 1: the international challenge? Correct? Okay, so there must.

13:33 Speaker 3: Be a lot yeah, held every January?

13:36 Speaker 1: Okay, do you know how many? I mean, is it?

13:39 Speaker 1: Is it in the like? How many artists are in

13:42 Speaker 1: that challenge?

13:42 Speaker 3: Is it in the hundred?

13:44 Speaker 1: It is the hundreds?

13:45 Speaker 2: Yeah. The first year I started going, uh, it was

13:48 Speaker 2: It's amazing and you really have to run from club

13:51 Speaker 2: to club and back and forth across the street to

13:53 Speaker 2: catch all the music. And then you start hearing in

13:55 Speaker 2: the buzz on the street like, oh my god, you

13:57 Speaker 2: got to catch these guys, and it's very exciting.

14:00 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, does anybody? Does anybody ever approach the Granite

14:05 Speaker 1: State Blues Society? Who you have to? I don't know

14:10 Speaker 1: if turn away would be the right way of putting it,

14:12 Speaker 1: but something that I've always found kind of interesting and

14:15 Speaker 1: speaking as a musician myself, is blues is one of

14:19 Speaker 1: those genres and like I said, it's also the foundation

14:22 Speaker 1: of everything. But not everyone necessarily agrees on what qualifies

14:27 Speaker 1: as blues. You know. Like, you've got a lot of

14:30 Speaker 1: rock bands that are kind of the blues based, and

14:33 Speaker 1: which is an odd term in and of itself because

14:35 Speaker 1: it's all blues based, right, But you've got some rock

14:37 Speaker 1: bands who have kind of a bluesy sound who some

14:42 Speaker 1: might consider to be blues but aren't necessarily blues. I mean,

14:45 Speaker 1: I'm trying to think of an example of somebody. It

14:47 Speaker 1: seems like there's it seems like there's even been bands

14:51 Speaker 1: that will put the word blues in their name, and

14:53 Speaker 1: there's any there's an example of that specifically that I

14:57 Speaker 1: it's in the back of my mind. I can't quite

14:59 Speaker 1: it's the tip of my tongue, but I can't quite

15:01 Speaker 1: think of who it is. But not everyone necessarily agrees

15:04 Speaker 1: on what is blues and what is more just blues

15:08 Speaker 1: based rock, you know what I mean? Yeah, do you

15:11 Speaker 1: ever find that where someone approaches you and says, hey,

15:13 Speaker 1: I've got a blues project, and then you listen to

15:15 Speaker 1: their music and you go, ah, this isn't really blues,

15:18 Speaker 1: you know? Does that ever happen?

15:19 Speaker 2: Well, when we do have the Blues Challenge. We we

15:24 Speaker 2: bring in three judges that are have a very strong

15:27 Speaker 2: blues background. None of them are board members. It's very

15:32 Speaker 2: and you're right, sometimes it is subjective. And yes, we've

15:37 Speaker 2: had a couple of people that applied this year that

15:39 Speaker 2: when we vetted the bands, because you don't want country

15:43 Speaker 2: rock up there, and you know, when it's a Blues

15:46 Speaker 2: Challenge and people are coming in anticipating blues. Yeah, so yeah,

15:52 Speaker 2: it does happen, and we very kindly and gently thank

15:56 Speaker 2: them for their interest, but we you know, we want

15:59 Speaker 2: them to make sure they're playing in the blues genre

16:03 Speaker 2: because there would be no point in them, you know,

16:05 Speaker 2: a hip hop singer coming in to compete in the

16:08 Speaker 2: Blues Challenge.

16:09 Speaker 1: Right, right, Matt Kirshner is in the Facebook live chat

16:13 Speaker 1: and says blues traveler. Lol. Yes, that's who I was

16:16 Speaker 1: trying to think of it a perfect example. Yes, yes,

16:19 Speaker 1: blues traveler. And again, you know you hear you can

16:22 Speaker 1: understand why they would call themselves blues traveler, but it's

16:26 Speaker 1: not blues. I mean, he's got a harmonica, sure, but

16:30 Speaker 1: that's but that's not all it takes. Right, And you've

16:33 Speaker 1: probably had conversations similar with with people about that kind

16:38 Speaker 1: of thing, right, Like, this isn't really what we're looking

16:41 Speaker 1: for here, you know.

16:41 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's typically only with the challenge because we

16:46 Speaker 2: want to make sure that listen, I'm not going to

16:48 Speaker 2: be critical critical of anybody, right right. I don't play

16:51 Speaker 2: an instrument, I don't sing, and so I just kind

16:54 Speaker 2: of try to enjoy all of it as much as

16:56 Speaker 2: I can. But we do. We keep our festival in

16:59 Speaker 2: the blues genre. We keep our challenge in the blues genre,

17:02 Speaker 2: and we will promote shows on our Facebook page about

17:07 Speaker 2: blue shows that are coming up, blue sjams. If you

17:11 Speaker 2: know have a blue sjam, send it our way. We'll

17:13 Speaker 2: put it up on our Facebook page and our website.

17:16 Speaker 1: Yeah. Now does a Grand State Blue Society. You've got

17:20 Speaker 1: the annual event? Do you do other events? I mean,

17:23 Speaker 1: obviously you promote other events that people are haven't as

17:25 Speaker 1: you just said, but do you also do other smaller

17:28 Speaker 1: events throughout the year or do you just focus on

17:31 Speaker 1: the one annual event.

17:32 Speaker 2: It's a big lift to pull the festival off the ground,

17:35 Speaker 2: no doubt. Then we move towards our Blues Challenge. We

17:40 Speaker 2: would like to do other events. We've talked about it, yeah,

17:45 Speaker 2: you know, having another something else, but we haven't pulled

17:48 Speaker 2: it off yet, and that's definitely on the back burner

17:51 Speaker 2: for us.

17:51 Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, it's a lot of work and.

17:53 Speaker 2: There's a lot of opportunity. There's so many good blues

17:56 Speaker 2: musicians in this area that we are very for Tonette.

18:00 Speaker 2: You can always find a show.

18:02 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, oh, absolutely absolutely.

18:04 Speaker 5: We also do a couple of fundraisers for our Blues

18:08 Speaker 5: Challenge winners. Oh, help defray their cost to Memphis.

18:11 Speaker 2: Oh, excellent, forgot about that.

18:13 Speaker 1: Thanks, Yeah, that's that's great. Yeah, and tell us again

18:19 Speaker 1: about you mentioned Webster House earlier. Can you tell us

18:23 Speaker 1: more about that, because you know, certainly living in Manchester,

18:26 Speaker 1: I'm aware of the Webster House. I've heard of it.

18:28 Speaker 1: I don't really know much about it though, and many

18:30 Speaker 1: of our listeners probably don't know either.

18:32 Speaker 2: Yeah, the Webster House. I can't tell you how long

18:36 Speaker 2: they've been established, but it is a home away from

18:41 Speaker 2: home for children who need to be out of the

18:43 Speaker 2: home through no fault of their own. I don't know

18:48 Speaker 2: why they chose that charity way back in the past,

18:51 Speaker 2: but last year we were able to donate over five

18:54 Speaker 2: thousand dollars to them and they were able to purchase

18:57 Speaker 2: a nice, big, brand new, professional, high quality gas stove

19:03 Speaker 2: for their kitchen because they're feeding lots of kids and

19:05 Speaker 2: they do cooking. They teach the kids how to cook

19:08 Speaker 2: and do things like that. Yeah, it's been a it's

19:12 Speaker 2: a really well established children's home here in New Hampshire.

19:17 Speaker 2: I believe this year we are going to bring in

19:19 Speaker 2: the Nashua Children's Home as well as one of our

19:22 Speaker 2: beneficiaries of the festival.

19:24 Speaker 1: Excellent, excellent. Are there other charities involved too or no,

19:29 Speaker 1: we just know we Webster Houses.

19:32 Speaker 2: Webster House has been Yeah, they've been the focus over

19:34 Speaker 2: the years and we've, like I said, decided that the

19:37 Speaker 2: National Children's Home we're bringing them in as well.

19:41 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, excellent. And the number of artists how many

19:45 Speaker 1: did you say? Seven? How many artists are performing at

19:48 Speaker 1: the festival?

19:50 Speaker 2: Oh, I forgot Praccash Slim is going to be there.

19:52 Speaker 2: He was elite the latest edition. Do you have him counted?

19:57 Speaker 1: One?

19:58 Speaker 2: Two?

20:00 Speaker 1: It's a lot.

20:00 Speaker 2: It's a full ding, like six or seven?

20:02 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, excellent, excellent. Has it always been uh? Has

20:06 Speaker 1: it always been that many from the beginning or is

20:08 Speaker 1: this something that's kind of grown over the years.

20:09 Speaker 2: Well, we do try to keep it. It's a one

20:11 Speaker 2: day festival. We try to get the gates open at twelve.

20:16 Speaker 2: The last act will be getting off stage about seven thirty.

20:19 Speaker 2: You brobab in the Mosquitos and the bug start. Yeah,

20:22 Speaker 2: so that's kind We definitely don't want to be there

20:25 Speaker 2: into eight, nine, ten o'clock at night because it's a

20:28 Speaker 2: big lift. Yeah, it's a long day. Yeah, we have

20:30 Speaker 2: a lot of fun doing it. It's very enjoyable and.

20:34 Speaker 1: When it's over, too, it must be kind of a relief,

20:36 Speaker 1: right tremendously but very very satisfying. Yeah, it's cool that

20:40 Speaker 1: you know, you're raising money for Webster Houts with it. Yeah,

20:43 Speaker 1: and that's amazing. Yeah, do you have so there might

20:46 Speaker 1: be people listening who either don't know a lot about

20:51 Speaker 1: blues music or maybe kind of used to be very

20:58 Speaker 1: you know, either listening to it a lot or playing it.

21:00 Speaker 1: Maybe musicians who maybe kind of fell out of it,

21:04 Speaker 1: fell out of the scene a bit. Do you ever,

21:07 Speaker 1: I'm sure you have conversations with people sometimes where you

21:10 Speaker 1: have to kind of direct them at maybe resources to

21:12 Speaker 1: learn about blues artists and and and about the genre.

21:17 Speaker 2: Well, we do have a blues education portion of our

21:20 Speaker 2: Blue Society intro.

21:22 Speaker 1: Okay, that's what I was wondering about. Yeah, tell us

21:24 Speaker 1: about that.

21:25 Speaker 2: So that has Rachel Bernard actually took that over when

21:28 Speaker 2: we lost our one of our board members who was

21:31 Speaker 2: headlining that. She's brought some Jimmy Carpenter into the schools

21:37 Speaker 2: I believe, was it Sohegan or Milford. Jimmy Carpenter's a

21:41 Speaker 2: you can you know more about him than I do.

21:45 Speaker 5: He is a singer and saxophone player. Who I'm sorry.

21:54 Speaker 1: Oh oh, she's just telling you to make sure you

21:56 Speaker 1: talk directly into the mic.

21:57 Speaker 3: Hell about what I was saying.

22:01 Speaker 2: So Jimmy Carpenter is he plays horn and he went

22:04 Speaker 2: into the school. I wasn't there, but she did get

22:07 Speaker 2: bring him into the school. We've done stuff with Easter Seals,

22:11 Speaker 2: doing a bluesead program with them. I haven't been involved

22:16 Speaker 2: in that. So yeah, you know, it's it's not something

22:20 Speaker 2: I can speak eloquently about. Yeah, there's definitely that portion

22:23 Speaker 2: of what we try to do.

22:25 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, excellent, excellent, are you already? Well? Actually, let

22:31 Speaker 1: me ask it this this way. So what's the best

22:33 Speaker 1: way say to somebody listening who would like to submit

22:38 Speaker 1: something for either for the Blues Challenge in the future

22:42 Speaker 1: or next year's because as you mentioned, you're already you know,

22:46 Speaker 1: And that's how it works, right when you're doing an

22:48 Speaker 1: annual festival, you've you've got to be thinking ahead, way ahead.

22:50 Speaker 1: You're already thinking about next year, right, Yes, So for

22:53 Speaker 1: people who want to submit something, maybe they want to

22:56 Speaker 1: get in, or maybe they just want to get involved,

22:58 Speaker 1: maybe they want to volunteer for the Granted State Blue Society.

23:01 Speaker 1: What's the best way for people to reach out to you?

23:03 Speaker 5: They can check out our website Granted statelu dot org.

23:08 Speaker 5: We also have a Facebook page, So reach out yea much?

23:13 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, excellent, excellent, and are there because obviously, you know,

23:19 Speaker 1: we have people who listen online from other places. I

23:21 Speaker 1: assume there's other variations people. I mean, you probably don't

23:25 Speaker 1: know offhand, but I assume there's other organizations, probably in

23:30 Speaker 1: every state across the country that has some some does

23:33 Speaker 1: something similar to what you do in terms of promoting

23:35 Speaker 1: blues music and educating people on it and festivals and

23:39 Speaker 1: events and whatnot.

23:40 Speaker 2: And if they go to if they go to the

23:41 Speaker 2: Blues Foundation website, they can you know if anybody is

23:46 Speaker 2: listening in from say Illinois, you can find your blues chapter. Yeah.

23:50 Speaker 2: I've been out in Pennsylvania and went to a blues

23:53 Speaker 2: jam and directed a young man to their I said,

23:56 Speaker 2: you've got to find your local blues chapter. You have

23:58 Speaker 2: to go find them and introduce yourself. Most of the

24:02 Speaker 2: states have them, I believe.

24:04 Speaker 1: Yeah. And that's uh. That organization you were talking about too,

24:08 Speaker 1: is international, right, it's.

24:10 Speaker 2: The it's the parent one, the Blues Foundation. They have

24:13 Speaker 2: a website. They are the ones that host the International

24:16 Speaker 2: Blues Challenge.

24:17 Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, so there's no shortage of resources for people, No, absolutely,

24:22 Speaker 1: and where and yeah, wherever you are in the country

24:25 Speaker 1: or in the world.

24:25 Speaker 2: Yeah, right, does that ever.

24:28 Speaker 1: Surprise you when you're you know, in terms of thinking about, Wow,

24:31 Speaker 1: there's actually other countries where they have where this organization

24:35 Speaker 1: is operating, and there's actually blues like it's funny to

24:39 Speaker 1: think about in a way, right, you know, like maybe

24:41 Speaker 1: I don't know France. Is there a blues scene there?

24:43 Speaker 2: Oh?

24:43 Speaker 1: Yeah, probably, yeah, right.

24:45 Speaker 2: There is, there's some. And I remember being surprised the

24:49 Speaker 2: first time I did go to Memphis there were blues

24:51 Speaker 2: players there from Japan. And it doesn't surprise me, honestly,

24:56 Speaker 2: I just never thought about it before, right that you

24:59 Speaker 2: know there and they're from everywhere and they come to

25:02 Speaker 2: Memphis and they just have a blast.

25:04 Speaker 1: Yeah.

25:04 Speaker 2: This year in Memphis it was really cold and icy,

25:08 Speaker 2: it had snowed. Everything was just a mess down there

25:11 Speaker 2: because they can't they're not in New England or.

25:14 Speaker 1: They're not prepared for for anything wintry.

25:16 Speaker 2: And we had We came across a young man, a

25:19 Speaker 2: young couple, they were building a snowman and I did

25:22 Speaker 2: he say they were from France. He said, we don't

25:24 Speaker 2: get snow over there, so it was kind of fun.

25:27 Speaker 1: That's cool. That's cool though.

25:29 Speaker 2: And you said Japan to Japan, Germany, Australia, Korea, Italy, Yes,

25:37 Speaker 2: there's they're they're from everywhere. England, Oh my god. Yeah,

25:41 Speaker 2: there's just amazing, like just sitting here like all the

25:43 Speaker 2: like the Cinelli brothers they were over from I want

25:46 Speaker 2: to say England. They were fantastic. I love them outstanding.

25:51 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's really cool. Yeah, because we think of blues

25:53 Speaker 1: as being you know, well an American, yes, and you

25:57 Speaker 1: know that this is where it started, but.

25:58 Speaker 2: The bluesos are from yep.

26:00 Speaker 1: But music is so you know, a music scene in

26:04 Speaker 1: any genre can happen anywhere, and I think the Internet

26:06 Speaker 1: has a lot to do with that too, you know.

26:07 Speaker 1: I mean certainly, you know, thirty years ago, we wouldn't

26:10 Speaker 1: necessarily be talking about you know, yeah, there's this blues

26:15 Speaker 1: band in Japan right now, you know. But with the Internet,

26:18 Speaker 1: it has made everything, you know, it has made music

26:20 Speaker 1: truly global in every genre, which I think is a

26:23 Speaker 1: beautiful thing. It's a wonderful thing. We're gonna we got

26:27 Speaker 1: to start to wrap up this segment and we are

26:30 Speaker 1: going to play something from Nick David's band. But remind us, oh,

26:35 Speaker 1: actually two things. One we got to remind everybody if

26:38 Speaker 1: they want a pair of tickets, you can get a

26:40 Speaker 1: pair of tickets to the event August third. But what

26:43 Speaker 1: you got to do is contact on Facebook granted State

26:46 Speaker 1: Blues Society, and the first one to do that, you

26:51 Speaker 1: got to mention this conversation on this radio show, on

26:55 Speaker 1: this radio station, and you can get a pair of

26:58 Speaker 1: tickets to the event. What's the official name.

27:00 Speaker 2: Of the event again, Blues on the Range.

27:03 Speaker 1: Blues on the Range, Yes, where.

27:05 Speaker 5: Some people might remember barn Full of the blues. Uh

27:09 Speaker 5: the festival we had before? Oh we moved to the Range.

27:12 Speaker 1: Oh okay, okay, where did you used to do it?

27:15 Speaker 3: New Boston, New Hampshire, four eah Field.

27:19 Speaker 1: Oh oh okay? Why why the move is? Is the

27:22 Speaker 1: uh is the place in Mason just bigger, easier to.

27:25 Speaker 2: Well, you know, the dreaded COVID hit and changed a

27:29 Speaker 2: lot of things. And then when we went back into

27:33 Speaker 2: uh try to go back to New Boston, we were

27:35 Speaker 2: unable to secure that venue for the festival. So we

27:39 Speaker 2: started looking around and came across the Range with in

27:44 Speaker 2: the Cold Geerio and she was She's been absolutely fantastic

27:47 Speaker 2: to us. It's a beautiful little venue out in Mason.

27:50 Speaker 2: Tomorrow afternoon, uh, Frankie Boy in the Blues Express will

27:54 Speaker 2: be playing. She does a Sunday afternoon blues uh thing

27:58 Speaker 2: with the Barbecue Blues. It's bring it, bring a lawn chair,

28:03 Speaker 2: bring you money, sit down, enjoy yourself. Very crazy Sunday

28:07 Speaker 2: until she closes in the fall.

28:09 Speaker 1: Oh outstanding. Okay, good to know, good to know, but yeah,

28:12 Speaker 1: so Blues on the Range. If you want a pair

28:14 Speaker 1: of tickets to that again, contact Granted State Blue Society

28:17 Speaker 1: on Facebook. Mentioned this conversation on this show on this station.

28:21 Speaker 1: Be the first ones to do it though, so don't

28:23 Speaker 1: do not procrastinate, and you can come to this amazing event.

28:28 Speaker 1: And again, where should people go online? What's the website?

28:31 Speaker 1: The main website for Granted State Blues www.

28:34 Speaker 2: Dot Granite State Blues dot org and you can find

28:37 Speaker 2: us on Facebook.

28:39 Speaker 1: Outstanding.

28:40 Speaker 2: Well, we'll be.

28:40 Speaker 5: Selling tickets to the festival advanced sales until Friday, okay,

28:46 Speaker 5: and that those are available at Granted State Blues dot org.

28:50 Speaker 1: Excellent, excellent. Well, listen Charlene and Debbie, thank you both

28:54 Speaker 1: so much for coming in today. This has been wonderful.

28:56 Speaker 2: Thank you so much for giving us the time and

28:59 Speaker 2: hosting us