Jody Kruskal

Last year, several of my theater friends told me about a casting call for the popular Netflix show, “Orange Is the New Black.” The producers were looking for a concertina player to perform in the upcoming season #6. I sent in my resume, but never heard back... oh well. As it turns out, I’m a serious fan and now that the new season is up, I watched the whole thing. Wow what a show! Season 6 , Episode 1 is titled “Who Knows Better Than I” and indeed, it does briefly sport a German or Chinese made mother of toilet seat 20 button Anglo at 6:27 for the fantasy “secret agent” number. The box is visible for less than two seconds along with a violin and is not actually played. At least I can’t hear it. The concertina seems to only be there for the visuals at the beginning of this short black and white faux noire segment. Oh my, I coulda been a contender. Shucks!

Btw - if you want to see the liner notes with all the details, just scroll down and expand the page for a full description. Jody

I see that my linked page says that they are all sold out. Never fear, more cds are in the post, so order away in confidence. Jody

I hope you want to buy my new CD. It sounds good. Your very own disc with the audio data, printed liner notes and gorgeous graphic art and packaging could be delivered to your mailbox. If you prefer delivery to your hard drive, downloads are available too, all at: https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/jodykruskal7 Train on the Island Songs and Tunes from the Days of Rail by Jody Kruskal and Friends, American Roots Music, Country Blues, Old-Time and Folk featuring the Anglo Concertina and the Chromatic Autoharp 14 tracks comprising 3 instrumentals and 11 songs. I play autoharp throughout and most of the tracks include concertina. I'm joined by 8 amazing musicians, placing the autoharp and Anglo concertina in a rich musical context. This collection of old American railroad songs and tunes explores the stories of those that built, ran and rode the the rails from the boom days of American expansion in the mid 1800’s to the decline of the primacy of rail transport in the the mid 20th century. As if my magic, once you step aboard a train, you are transported at high speed to another land. The lonesome sound of the steam whistle is a common theme here. Hoboes, adventures, laborers and lovers are tempted by the sound “to hop that freight and ride” as they look for a better life, or try to escape loneliness, regret and heart ache. In these songs they are likely to find bitter disappointment, blood, toil and deadly wrecks... or perhaps, simply the dawning of a beautiful new day. Freight Train Blues Train on the Island Railroad through the Rocky Mountains Reuben’s Train Cannonball Blues I Been Working on the Railroad Walk on Boy All Night Long Mr. Engineer L&N Rag Morningtown Ride Pick and Shovel Jenny on the Railroad City of New Orleans

Hi Wolf, I got it. Sounds like a good idea. Pair away, and I look forward to listening to it.

Such wonderful comments! So insightful. Of course... how you direct your intent during practice, will have a strong impact on achieving your practice goals. Really, it's all in your minds eye and ear as you try to memorize the sequence of patterns that are needed to play these amazing button driven instruments! Still, there is great value in simple repetition. I suggest that you train your fingers to know what to do with a goal of 10,000 hours at the job. If my fingers can be on automatic, then my mind can wander on to more important things.

Oops, not quite. Physical CDs only, so far. The downloads will be ready in a few days. You can read all the liner notes though, and listen to audio samples. It's a process. My presentation went well at the Mountain Laurel Autoharp Gathering CD release party in Pennsylvania last Saturday. Folks were very receptive and curious about the concertina. The cake was sweet and plentiful. On every night of the festival, there was a small but excellent tune session where I mostly played the Anglo with a nice selection of instruments including several autoharps. The folks I was hanging out with were mostly playing American Old-Time with some Irish and celtic bits and a few songs thrown in for spice. I've just written an article to be published next month in Autoharp Quarterly (http://www.daigleharp.com/autoharpquarterly.html) about my recording process and the many parallels between Anglo concertina and autoharp. This was touched on in a previous thread here at c.net and I've had a great time developing those thoughts more fully. When the article is finalized, I'll share it with this community.

Done and ready for sales. https://store.cdbaby.com/Artist/JodyKruskal

I have a new recording available in a few days... Train on the Island Songs and Tunes from the Days of Rail with Jody Kruskal and Friends American Roots Music, Country Blues, Old-Time and Folk featuring the Chromatic Autoharp and Anglo Concertina One year ago I won the Mountain Laurel Autoharp Gathering Cohen/Grappel recording grant and began my autoharp adventure in ernest. This Saturday, June 23 at 11:15 am (EST) you can join me streaming on-line for my CD release party at Concertwindow.com/mlag. An hour on stage at this years gathering will include an interview and live performances of songs and tunes from the cd with guest musicians. There will be cake served after the presentation but current technology does not yet allow you to partake in that part of the festivities, still, I hope you will join me at my party. Check my cdbaby artist page for updates. The recording will be available soon for download and physical cds by next week. https://store.cdbaby.com/Artist/JodyKruskal

How would that work?

I recently took on a local new Anglo concertina student. K and I just did our first lesson today and such fun we had! She claims to know nothing about playing music but out of the blue, bought this cute little red 20 button Anglo from a shop here in New York City. It has no brand but sports shiny silver bits and wooden frames in the bellows. German make, or a Chinese knock off, I suppose. Amazingly... it actually works and cost only $200. The straps needed attention and one note was wonky but we got that sorted, for now at least. When I asked her why she was inspired to purchase this sparkly object, she admitted with a laugh that she admires gypsy punk and has heard some awesome accordion playing... but told me that those boxes they play are too big, heavy and expensive for her... so she thought this pretty thing might make a better introduction to playing instrumental music. She took the concertina home but was at a complete loss about what to do with it. So, after gazing at it for a few months, she found me on the web. She's a go getter, my new student K. To prepare for our session, she went on-line and looked at youtubes about music theory. She self-educated herself with knowledge and vocabulary about scales, keys and rhythmic values. When we went through some of that material at our first lesson, she was already half way there. As for playing, she was a blank slate. Then, when we got to work, she made amazing progress, going from zero to Um Pa with Melody in under two hours! I attribute this to my expert teaching (ahemmm), her impressive native ability and a budding love for her new toy and with any luck, resulting in a life long concertina adventure. K is a very focused lady. She worked hard and I had the gratification of watching her eyeballs float off into concertina gaze... probably for the very first time. What a thrill for us both. Tonight, I wrote her with some post-lesson advice: "Sometimes busy, active people like yourself find it hard to make the time to practice. The best schedule is highly focused practice for 20 min. 3 times per day. That’s an hour. If you can do that five days per week, you will make rapid progress. Short and frequent practice routines make for speedy learning. Playing for one long 5 hour binge, once per week might be fun! Still... while it takes you the same amount of time, it gives you less value". So, what would you say to my new student K about the meaning of focused practice?

I use a tiny drop of Krazy glue or the Locktite equivalent (Cyanoacrylate).Put a drop in the wooden hole and insert the post. Works every time.

Sorry Wayman, I will not be attending the Marlboro Ale this year. My team was not invited and I have to stay home to finish all the tasks needed for the new CD. So many details yet to go. Also, we just got two new kittens yesterday and playing with them is just too much fun!

Oh yes... this album also has guitar, bass, fiddle, mandolin, bells, penny whistle, slide didge, kora and lots of singing!