Readers
here probably know of my fondness for the “chestnuts,”
those classic contra dances that have been at the core of the
traditional repertoire. Years ago, I wrote a piece, “So Why Are
They Called Chestnuts?” which was later included in the Cracking
Chestnuts book and which can be
found online.
The person responsible for that term entering our dance vocabulary
was Joan Pelton, who died
on February 15, 2012. She is someone who made a difference.
Joan
Pelton was born in Pennsylvania but moved to northern Vermont in the
1950s where she came in contact with old-time square dances. After
moving to upstate New York, she was involved with the folk scene
there, including the Pickin’ and Singin’ Gathering at the Caffé
Lena and the Fox Hollow folk festival. She played guitar, and appears
as the piano player on the first hammered dulcimer album of Fennig’s
All-Star String Band. After moving back to Vermont, she worked at
Philo Records, an independent record label. In the mid-1970s she
formed Silo, a distribution company that focused on small independent
labels for folk music and, later, jazz, New Age, and children’s
recordings. She was a fixture at many festivals, selling first from
her truck and then from a booth at the Hudson River Revival, Old
Songs, and Falcon Ridge. In 1977, Joan Pelton started Alcazar
Records.
Alcazar
(pronounced Al CAY zar) was a small label with a mission. The liner
notes on the Alcazar Dance Series recordings stated that goal
clearly:
Alcazar as a
corporation is dedicated to the working musicians and callers of the
world. The intent of the corporation is to research, record, and
publish traditional dance music, and make it available to interested
individuals everywhere. We believe that good dance music of all types
can also be good listening music, and that making good dance records
available will foster the tradition of using live music for dancing.
The first
album released on Alcazar was Yankee Ingenuity’s Kitchen
Junket. The company’s second
album was Maritime Dance
Party, featuring the fiddling
of Gerry Robichaud (misspelled on the cover as “Jerry”).Potluck & Dance Tonite,
the third album, featured square dances called by Seattle’s Sandy
Bradley.
Alcazar’s
fourth and fifth releases were the two volumes of New
England Chestnuts, featuring
Rodney Miller on fiddle and his brother Randy on piano, along with
Sandy Bradley (guitar), George Wilson (bass, banjo, fiddle), Steve
Woodruff (button accordion) and Laurie Andres (piano accordion.)
Volume I was released in 1980 and Volume II appeared a year
later.
(The albums have been re-released as a two CD set by Great Meadow
Music #GMM 2005, available directly from the company or through such
organizations as CDSS.)
Rodney
wrote, “I have a letter from Joan Pelton dated Jan. 9, 1980 that
asks us to do the first NE Chestnut lp. Here is a part of it:
Dear Roddy and Randy,
I have spoken with
Randy at length about a proposed record of New England “chestnuts”
(meaning the dances that are still danced in N.E. that have become
traditional. Whatever traditional means)…
In the
1970s, Joan Pelton’s son Jesse started dancing with the Green
Mountain Volunteers, a performing troupe from northern Vermont. Joan
started playing again for dances, which is where she met Randy
Miller. Randy commented, “She’d lean over while a dance was being
taught and she’d say, ‘Boy, that’s an old chestnut!’ in that
inimitable style she had.”