The long-awaited retrospective album by The New Bremen Town Musicians, ”When Time Was Young,” is finally here. Banjo Dan and Willy’s family band offers a fascinating mix of folk, country and international songs, along with some great gospel quartets on this double CD featuring 24 live and studio performances from the 1980s and 1990s. Take it from the Times Argus, this is “one of the best vocal albums released in a long time by Vermonters.” Seven Days says, "... one of the finest Vermont folk records of the last 20-ish years." Order now!
Teardrops Will Kiss the Morning Dew: Need FlashPlayer
Mandolin master Willy Lindner offers a heaping helping of original bluegrass-inflected songs and instrumentals, supported by a terrific cast of pickers and singers including fiddle legend Jon Glik, Plowboys, and super-talented family members. Available now!
Sample track: Breakfast Need FlashPlayerReviews:
- "Life, Still, With Mandolin is a truly beautiful record that cuts to the core of what it means to be in the company of people you love." Seven Days (Burlington, VT)
- "Mandolinists will love Life, Still, With Mandolin. Willy Lindner is arguably the best bluegrass mandolinist in Vermont, and perhaps northern New England." The (Barre-Montpelier) Times Argus
It's a venerable tradition as old as American music itself...
Two fellows with a mandolin and guitar, a musical teamwork built of habit, their voices fused in the special blend produced by kinship. They were called "brothers duets," and during the 1930s and ’40s it was the predominant format in country music, practiced by now-legendary teams of brothers on radio stations and stage shows throughout the countryside.
In Vermont, Dan and Willy Lindner, The Sky Blue Boys, have revived the tradition. Following the example of old-time duos such as The Blue Sky Boys, The Monroe Brothers and the Louvin Brothers they have built up a large repertoire of wonderful old ballads, parlor songs, heart songs and sacred numbers. Heeding their own musical instincts they have expanded the instrumentation to include a variety of acoustic instruments and added some newer songs including their own compositions.
Willy and Dan have played together for decades. They formed the celebrated
Vermont bluegrass band Banjo Dan and the Mid-nite Plowboys in 1972 and have
toured and recorded extensively in that context, as well as sitting in on shows
and recording sessions for many of the region's top acoustic musicians. But
never far from their hearts were the sounds they learned to love long ago - the
simple moving sounds of the early "brothers duets."
It's that clean, evocative sound The Sky Blue Boys now recreate for audiences throughout New England...a reminder of things past, and of things constant.
See the Latest Banjo Dan Newsletter for more about upcoming Sky Blue Boys gigs
Albums with cover notes and liner notes:
- Life, Still, With Mandolin, 2011 - Willy Lindner
- When Time Was Young, 2010 - The New Bremen Town Musicians, including Dan and Willy
- Music in the Air, 2006
- The Lindner Brothers - With Friends Like These, 1981
Sky Blue Boys albums are available online at the Northshire Bookstore
For bookings, albums, and information: Dan Lindner, 242 Main Street, Montpelier, VT 05602; 802-223-6965, banjodan@pshift.com . Presenters may also contact NEFA's "Matchbook" site for booking information. Go to www.matchbook.org. Click on "Find an Artist," enter Sky Blue Boys as keyword.
www.SkyBlueBoys.com