| (This is taken from several e-mail messages
from Debra to a friend telling her what she had been up to in the past 30
years.) Debra Molloy Davis | |
|
In 1992, my husband, Robert, my son, Tray, and I moved
to northern Arkansas to the town of Mountain View, the Folk Music Capital
of the World, so that we could focus our lives on music and my husband's
woodcarving business. My husband is a guitarist and does our vocals. I
play pennywhistle and cello. In 1993, we recorded our first cassette tape
and retired it after selling 1,000 of them. In 1999, we formed the group
Irish Blend, and cut a CD, which is selling very well here and is
available in Oklahoma at the Double Stop Fiddle Shop in Guthrie. Our
sound is a mixture of Irish, bluegrass, rock, folk, and old-time music. We
play on Mountain View's town square, which draws tourists from the
world over. I represent a small company in Ireland and sell their whistles
along with our CDs.
We have played stage shows, played at the Arkansas
Territorial Restoration project, played for Civil War reenactments, and an
Air Stream convention. We've also played at the Racquet Club in Fairfield
Bay and for the Governor here in Mountain View and at his
mansion in Little Rock. (No, not in the triple wide--at the mansion!), and
played weekly at a local restaurant until just recently when
Robert's carvings were accepted by Peter Engler
Designs in Branson, Missouri. Robert carves Nativities, Santas, and
angels and will be focusing on meeting Engler's orders, so we
agreed to only play down on the square as time allows since carving for
such a renowned shop is an opportunity not to be
missed.
Playing on the square is very low key and is lots of fun
because we meet people from everywhere and it gives us the
opportunity to help keep the old-time music alive while maintaining
our performing edge. We play for benefits and any worthy cause and
have played for contra dances (sorta like square dances), played for
visiting clogging groups, and play for special dining events (background,
dining music). We have even played for a biker's wedding down on the
square (even their bulldog was wearing a spiked neckband) and played for a
formal wedding at the Blanchard Springs Caverns near Mountain View. We
have played for some Elderhostels, providing information regarding the
influence of the music of the British Isles on the music of the Ozark
region. The folks we've played for were extremely nice and I liked to
jokingly refer to them as Hostile Elderlies.
Robert suffered a severe table saw accident in
October and lost the tip of the middle finger and the mobility of the end
joint of the index finger on his left (chording) hand. Although this was a
devastating, stressful time for our family, through God's blessings and
the constant prayers of friends, including those of the wonderful friend I
have made and who owns this fantastic website, Robert is recovered and is
playing again as well as he ever did. Seeing him play again has been an
inspiration to all who had observed his great talent before the accident
and who feared he would never play again. I knew that he would play again
even though I could see in the eyes of everyone around, including Robert,
that they felt I was deluding myself. I believed and continue to believe
that God would take Robert's life before he would take away his great
talent. Only death will silence the music that lies within him. The
accident has served as a testimonial to the awesome power of God and
the triumph of the human spirit over
Our music is a mixture of Irish, bluegrass, rock, and old time folk music. Our town has the Arkansas Folk Festival which is the 3rd weekend of April and which can bring anywhere from 40,000 to 70,000 people in for that weekend. There are 2,800 residents here, so that gives you an idea of how major an event that is for this little town!! There's another one the last weekend of October, the Beanfest, which draws a ton of folks, too, when the weather holds up. They set up 25 huge iron pots around the courtsquare and have a bean cookoff. Then they judge the beans and feed the beans free to the crowd. After that, they race outhouses around the courtsquare. Only in Arkansas! As they like to say around here---it's a gas. Hmmmm. . . . Debra, a practicing speech-language pathologist in Arkansas can be reached at irishblend@ozarkisp.net "EXPEDITION" ALBUM VINCE GILL---DOBRO BOBBY CLARK---MANDOLIN BOB DAVIS---LEAD AND RYTHM GUITAR DAVE FERGUSON---FIDDLE KEN GRAHAM & DANNY BEAVER---BASS BUDDY WALKER---RYTHM GUITAR | |