[Triangle Folk] John Dee Holeman with Billy Stevens in Durham on Saturday March 26

[folk-announce at rtpnet.org]

Dear Friends and Members of the Triangle Folk Music Society,

Last week we sent you an announcement for the John Dee Holeman concert March 26, 2005.

We have since received more information about the performers from Billy Stevens who will be accompanying John Dee Holeman.  We think you will find it worthwhile reading and we hope that it inspires you to come to the concert.

Just as a reminder the details of the concert are:

John Dee Holeman with Billy Stevens
 
Saturday,  March 26, 2005   8 pm
Durham Friends Meeting House
404 Alexander Ave., Durham  (next to Ronald McDonald House) or see location on our website
$12 door, $10 advance and TFMS Members
Reservations: 403-2013  or folk at trianglefolk.org
 
More information is available at:
 
www.trianglefolk.org 
 
www.musicmaker.org


Durham Blues with John Dee Holeman and Billy Stevens

At age 75, John Dee Holeman is among the last of Durham's great blues songsters. Playing both acoustic Piedmont-style guitar as well as electric rhythmic blues, John Dee's repertoire ranges from Blind Boy Fuller to Muddy Waters, from Brownie McGhee to Jimmy Reed. 

A native of Timberlake, NC, John moved to Durham in the early 50's, learning guitar from an older generation that included Thomas Burt and Arthur Lyons, both of whom were directly influenced by Durham greats, the Reverend Gary Davis and Blind Boy Fuller. A veteran of rent parties, drink houses and backyard barbecues, not to mention international tours, folk and blues festivals, and Carnegie Hall performances, John's soulful voice and tasteful guitar have won him both National Endowment for the Arts and North Carolina Heritage Awards.

Billy Stevens has known and performed with John Dee since the late 70's when he operated the Triangle's first nightspot to feature local blues artists, Durham's Sallam Cultural Center. A veteran of the local music scene for almost thirty years, Billy plays harmonica with John Dee's Piedmont blues tunes, morphing into his one-man rhythm section for the  uptempo electric blues. Using his custom array of keyboards, harp and drum machines, Billy has toured for the US State Department to over fifty countries worldwide, performing and lecturing on the evolution of blues and rock 'n' roll. To supplement their performance, Billy engages John Dee in an insightful dialogue, revealing the influences and experiences of a historically significant contributor to North Carolina's cultural heritage.


John Dee Holeman
Biographical sketch

John Dee Holeman was born in Hillsborough, North Carolina, in 1929. He grew up in tobacco country, in Orange County on the Person County line. His was a farming family and, like so many, they had an old gramophone that he listened to as a child. He was exposed to live music by his uncle and a cousin, both Piedmont style guitarists, but he was never allowed to mess with their instruments. He got his first guitar around 1942 and learned to play by listening to 78s. He'd keep himself awake all night, practicing while tending the heaters in his father's tobacco barn, trying to duplicate the sound of those old recordings. On hearing John Dee play later in life, his uncle and cousin both got excited at his style, saying, "If we had taught you how to play the guitar, you'd never have sounded like that!"

In 1954, John Dee moved to Durham, home to numerous prominent first generation bluesmen such as Blind Boy Fuller, Reverend Gary Davis, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, and the brothers, Willie and Richard Trice. All of them had significant recording careers, helping to establish the reputation of the Piedmont blues, second only to its more famous cousin in the Mississippi Delta. In Durham, John Dee met, played with, and learned from many lesser known contemporaries of the originators of the style. Men such as Thomas Burt, who was born in 1900 and renounced the banjo for guitar around 1908. Like so many Piedmont musicians, Thomas played mostly at corn shuckings, barn raisings and ice cream socials near his home in Creedmoor. 
Although he played on the streets of Durham alongside Reverend Gary in the 1930s, he never played for white audiences until the 1970s.

Arthur Lyons was another veteran of early Durham's vibrant music scene. 
Starting out on the streets next to Blind Boy Fuller, Arthur later played in one of Durham's early gospel bands, the Deluxe Jubilee Quartet. John Dee began performing with Arthur when he first moved to town. They formed one of

Durham's few blues bands (most Durham bluesmen performed solo or with a single accompanist), performing regularly at Sam Lindsey's City Newsstand on Main St. in downtown Durham. They were accompanied by a blind piano player, Blind Sammy, who played the xylophone, surely a sight to behold. John Dee also played with Richard Trice, who later renounced the blues for spirituals after losing both legs to diabetes. John was still a young man when Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Chuck Berry made their names, and their electric blues became a natural channel for his musical expression.

John Dee is a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship and a North Carolina Heritage award. He has performed in Carnegie Hall, at the National Folk Festival, and has toured internationally for the United States Information Agency. A heavy equipment operator for some forty years, John Dee has played in Europe, Asia, Africa and throughout

North America, bringing Durham's music to diverse audiences for close to half a century.