Woody Simmons Banjorama

[Deep River DR1111 (2000) I love the banjo for the same reason I like so many things - it's not obviously cool. No, I feel that playing the banjo must be like being part of a religious order; a calling. No one would suffer the slings and arrows of Deliverance and "Hee Haw" references if they had another choice. Even in a world of oddballs, Simmons is odder still as she plays a much quirkier brand of banjo than I've heard before. You can hear the same stuff you hear in a lot of banjo music - bluegrass, the mountains - but there's also as much Ravi Shankar, symphony orchestra, and Ornette Coleman. Her songs are adventurous, meditative, and best of all, original. With a judicious use of accompaniment, Simmons allows her banjo to hog the spotlight, her fingers flying with the wild abandon of a woman possessed. (JB)  Dirty Linen issue #97 Dec-Jan 2002

Multi-instrumentalist Woody Simmons is best known for her extraordinary modal banjo style, and in the past she has always included a banjo instrumental or two on each of her albums. Banjorama collects some of these, and by adding in new banjo pieces, Simmons has finally created the banjo album that many of her fans have been asking her to put together for some 20 years. Although she has a vaguely traditional and Appalachian feel to her playing, Simmons is not some string band refugee, and there is as much or more Ornette Coleman and Ravi Shankar in these banjo instrumentals as there is, say, Clarence Ashley. The end result is a wonderfully bright, melodic, airy sequence of absolutely lovely tracks, several of which ("Raga Rama," "Banjo Raga," "Ashtavakra's Tune") have a distinct Far Eastern feel. Simmons has an unerring ability to continually suggest traditional modal banjo styles, even as she adds in jazz touches (including a saxophone on "Sally Walks the Dog"), hints at bluegrass (in the joyous, chiming "Trolley Car"), or creates what can only be called her own experimental banjo thing ("Door to the Infinite"). In the end, Banjorama has the feel of a whole work (even though it was recorded in bits and pieces over a 22-year span), a Crescent or A Love Supreme for the five-string banjo, if you will, and once the first notes sound, a completely amazing soundscape unfolds, making this one of the finest banjo albums ever recorded. ~ Steve Leggett

Oregon Mountains
Woody Simmons - Review by Jeff Beresford-Howe

The Internet, the indie movement, major-label greed and Dead- and punk-like do-it-yourselfism have allowed the resurrection of all kinds of recordings, some of them made as recently as a generation ago, that were presumed lost.

Woody Simmons was part of the feminist recording movement of the '70s: people like Holly Near, Cris Williamson, Meg Christian, and lots of musicians and back-up singers who went only by their first (non-patriarchal) name.

A lot of their music and politics sounds kind of earnestly goofy now, but at the time, these women were filling a huge gap. Thoughtful and aware, outside consumer culture, covering a vastly broader range of politics, bodies, sexualities and emotions than any record company would allow, they created a whole community that still thrives. If we'd waited for MCA, RCA and Columbia to do it, we'd still be waiting.

....Simmons, a guitarist, banjo player, singer and songwriter who was probably the most talented, or at least the most musically sensible, of all of them. Her finest album, Oregon Mountains disappeared for years, but is just now available again on a small label in Emeryville, California, which is nestled comfortably between Oakland and Berkeley.

Recorded in San Francisco in 1977, this is the voice of a mature, thoughtful songwriter and singer. "Can't Say Why" is a wonderful love song, a "God knows how that happened, thank God it did" spot-on flight of joy. "Feather in the Wind" and "Oregon Mountains" are two sides of the same coin: the delirious rootlessness of finding new ways to live and the comfort of being attached to a naturally beautiful place. "Goin' Down South" is a fun, flat-out romp. All throughout, Simmons' picking is accomplished and interesting.

30th Anniversary Special Edition - Oregon Mountains

By Mary McFaul - McFaul Management

30 years ago "do it yourself" recording was almost unheard of. Multi-track studios were complex and expensive, not accessible to most unsigned artists. And once the album was finished and pressed, it was impossible to get the record on the radio and distributed to stores without label support. Woody Simmons was among the first wave of talented feminist singer/songwriters who, unable to find a home with the major labels of the day, scraped together their own money, learned to operate recording equipment, and produced their own records. By the late 1970s, there was such a groundswell of independent women musicians and an audience hungry for what they offered, that networks of record distributors, radio programmers, print media, music festivals and concert promoters sprang up to support them. Women’s bookstores added record racks and, noticing the healthy sales, the chain stores started to stock Woody’s LPs along with those of Holly Near, Cris Williamson, Ferron, Margie Adam, Meg Christian, etc. A decade later, The Indigo Girls, Melissa Etheridge and Tracy Chapman would cite some of those mentioned above as their influences and by the late 1980s, the major labels were ready to routinely release records by women who wrote their own songs, played a variety of instruments, produced their own records and controlled their careers. 30 years after Woody found a way to record and release her first record, it is commonplace for independent musicians of all stripes to record their music at home onto their computers and to distribute it world wide on the internet.

Oregon Mountains was first released in 1977 to rave reviews. Primarily of bluegrass influence, the album also contains some of Simmons' jazz, folk and pop inflected music as well as two impressive frailing banjo instrumentals. "Banjo Raga" features the seemingly unlikely marriage of Indian melodies that one might hear played on sitar paired with a more familiar sounding western hoe down. "Suite For Wings" is an elegant, breathtaking piece of work that starts slowly and builds to a dramatic, hair-raising conclusion. Woody’s banjo compositions were years ahead of their time and foreshadowed the work done in later years by Bela Fleck, Tony Trishka, Scott Vestal and the like. In 1988, FRETS Magazine named Oregon Mountains one of 12 landmark banjo albums, chosen "to highlight banjo albums that influenced the evolution of the instrument in other directions".

The title song became a favorite among Woody’s fans well before the album was recorded, prompting Simmons to invite a large contingent of women to sing on the album. Featured in this group are Rhiannon (Alive!, Voicestra), other members of Alive!, Nancy Vogl, (who also toured with Woody in 1978), and members of the Berkeley Women's Music Collective.

Trout Grass

Westfly.com - Scott Richmond

....Trout Grass is not just about the process of turning living grass into a superb trout rod. We hear from the rod builders and anglers about why they love bamboo rods. They have a near-mystical belief that each rod carries the spirit of all who had a hand in growing, harvesting, and crafting the bamboo. It's hard to imagine anyone getting that excited about graphite, but then graphite was never alive.

This video's camera work is first-rate, and Woody Simmons music is spot-on; the banjo melodies twine harmoniously with Yo Qi's traditional Asian music. David James Duncan wrote and delivers the narration in fine style.

Even if you're not part of the resurgent bamboo underground, you'll enjoy this beautifully made video.

Bottom Line: If you're into cane rods, you'll love seeing this forest-to-rod saga. Reviewer Rating: 5

Scott Richmond is Westfly's creator and Executive Director. He is the author of eight books on Oregon fly fishing, including Fishing Oregon's Deschutes River (second edition).

Quotes from past reviews:

"... the talent is staggering..." The Mendocino Grapevine

"... highly professional and musically diverse." The Victory Music Folk and Jazz Review

"... an accomplished musician and composer with...

      a wealth of innovative musical ideas..." The Boston Globe

"...a wonder woman tour de force." The Twin City Reader