Episode 16 - Audrey Knuth

Contra Pulse

The intro and interstitial tracks from today's episode are Yuma and Highland from Wake Up Robin and The Engagement from The Free Raisins.

See the Contra Pulse website for transcripts and more.

And the Country Dance and Song Society for information about Contra and English country dance across the continent.

See and hear Audrey Knuth in action:

• The Free Raisins
• Wake Up Robin
• The Gaslight Tinkers — Peter Siegel talks with Julie about this band in Episode 15 of this podcast. Here she is with them in 2015
• Sign up for her Monday night Tunes and Stuff class
• Audrey, Julie, and Rachel Bell playing in Denver in 2017
• Larry Unger and Audrey playing tunes together
• Audrey and Erik Hoffman playing the Santa Barbara, CA contra dance in 2018
• Audrey, Chris Knepper, Del Eckels, and Christopher Jacoby playing the 2018 New Year’s Eve dance in Sacramento, CA

Some dances and events mentioned in this interview:

• The Honolulu contra dance is no longer at the Atherton, but it still happens during non-COVID times
• The Scout House in Concord, MA hosts a few dances Audrey and Julie talked about:
• Concord, NH area contra dance
• Learn more about the Syracuse [NY] Country Dancers
• Debby Knight runs Roaring Jelly;check out the Roaring Jelly website
• Here’s a 2011 video of a Davis Square pop-up contra
• Learn more about Camp Sturtevant on their website. Don’t worry — there are definitely photos of the donkeys!
• Learn more about Contradancers Delight Holiday (CDH) here
• Learn more about Raindance in Portland, OR
• Fiddling Frog takes place in Pasadena, CA when there’s no pandemic
• Satisfy your curiosity and read about the Hobart, Tasmania contra dance

Some people mentioned in this interview:

• Jeff Kaufman, Audrey’s bandmate in the Free Raisins, has written extensively on his experiences with the band, including a post about the process Audrey described of listening to recordings of the dance they had just played
• Sarah VanNorstrand
• Garrett Sawyer and his studio, Northfire, came up in Julie’s chat with Peter Siegel (Episode 15)
• Luke Donforth is a Vermont-based contra dance caller
• Dana Parkinson is a Florida-based contra dance caller

Some places mentioned in this interview:

• The Hale Koa Hotel in Honolulu
• The Guiding Star Grange #1 in Greenfield, MA has featured in many of Julie’s interviews. It’s a mainstay of the Western Massachusetts contra dance scene.

Some musical groups mentioned in this interview:

• Yankee Ingenuity was Kate Barnes, Cal Howard, Mary Lea, Jack O’Connor, and Tony Parkes. Kate has a little blurb about them on this archived page of her website.
• Crowfoot was Adam Broome, Nicholas Williams, and Jaige Trudel.
• Nor’easter was Max Newman, Cedar Stanistreet, and Julie Vallimont.
• Buddy System is Noah VanNorstrand and Julie Vallimont. Julie and Noah talk about some of their experiences playing together in Episodes 11 and 12 of this podcast.
• La Banane Enchantée was Peter Buchak, Julie Vallimont, and Edward Wallace. Here they are playing in Atlanta in 2012.
• Lissa Schneckenburger talks about her experiences playing with Bruce Rosen as Phantom Power in Episode 10 of this podcast.
• Here’s a video of Notorious playing Red Prairie Dawn for a contra dance in 2012
• Audrey mentioned subbing in on fiddle for Elixir

Some odds and ends mentioned in this interview:

• Check out Emily Rush’s contra dance workouts!
• Reign of Love, by Keith Murphy, is the first tune in this set played in a group led by Becky Tracy
• Turtle in the Grass, by Ari Friedman, is the first tune in this video
• Wing Commander Donald Mackenzie, by Phil Cunningham, is the third tune in this Airdance set, starting at 3:09
• Here’s a group of people dancing La Bastringue
• Here’s a recording of The Road to Malvern, the tune Audrey and Julie agree is too crooked to play for a contra dance — they prefer Red Prairie Dawn (see the Notorious video)
• Here’s the Free Raisins’s (non-crooked) recording of Fleur de Mandragore
• L'ange aux patins, the waltz Julie and Audrey mentioned,is the first tune in this set