Hazelnut
Charmaine Slaven and Charlie Beck met while exploring and promoting the old-time music and dance scene in the local Seattle, Washington Area. They continued in the manner for a few years and eventually resettled in the Brasstown, North Carolina area, and, along with daughter Hazel, they immersed themselves in the historic musical legacy of the area. Both are singers and both play guitar and fiddle and they formed this new group to include Matt Weiner on bass and harmony vocals.
While many of the selections here are traditional and instrumental, there are many songs by Beck and a couple from Slaven. Slaven contributes “Freight Train Mama” and “Tied Up In Knots” and the songs from Beck include “Whippoorwill Songs,” “Mama Never Played,” “Nobody Cares,” “Whishing Blues,” and “Railroad Dogs.”
The many traditional selections include “Pond Creek,” “Greenback Dolly-O,” “Roses In The Morning,” “Rose Di Maggio,” and the medley of “Pretty Little Shoes/Cluck Old Hen.” Much of the project was recorded in Seattle in 2017 while mastered in 2021, now releasing in 2022. Most of the selections feature Beck’s claw-hammer style banjo, accompanied by Slaven’s guitar, while the fiddles are featured on the “Pretty Little Shoes/Cluck Old Hen” medley, “Greenback Dolly-O,” “Roses In The Morning,” and the “Irish Waltz,” written by Rhys Jones. Overall, this is a very pleasant project with some nice harmonies.
