busk – Page 3 – Busk Break

Sparrow performs “Power Ballad”

It had been the better part of a year since I’d encountered Asheville-based busker Sparrow, and I was glad to run into her again. Her video had been one of the most popular from the first year of Busk Break, and I genuinely enjoyed listening to her perform. Although she’d seen the video from Halloween the year before, she said she couldn’t recall which song she performed for me. I remembered the tune, but couldn’t remember the name of it. So, after a moment, she decided to go with a song she was almost certain she hadn’t performed for me.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t quite recall how the song she wanted to play went. So, right in front of me, she worked the entire thing out. Continue reading Sparrow performs “Power Ballad”

Caster covers “I Wan’na Be Like You (The Monkey Song)”

If there’s any song that provokes a completely surprised, totally unguarded smile, it’s the “I Wan’na Be Like You (The Monkey Song)” from the 1967 Disney film The Jungle Book. Add a banjo, a kazoo and a young busker just finding his voice, and you have a very light-hearted busking moment on the streets of Asheville. And, more than that, it’s an early glimpse at a performer who was slowly coming into his own. Continue reading

Balkan Death Grip perform “Men Trinkte Mashke”

Matt Heckler and Trevor Grassi lead this incarnation of Balkan Death Grip to hell and back. Well, maybe that’s a bit of a melodramatic way of putting it, but this is a highly melodramatic song. After all, it’s about a man who pays his way by shoveling coal in hell, who plays music that smells of gasoline and who, they say, is around “every time a ship goes down.” It’s also one of the most entertainingly over-the-top tunes ever performed in front of the Busk Break camera. Continue reading

Mister Gunn & The Pistol Packin’ Mamas perform “Caffeine”

It’s not every musician that can write an entirely new song that also manages to feel timeless. That’s doubly true when their chosen genre is the nostalgia-driven jazz, blue and old-time hybrid that has been dominating the regional busking scene for the past several years. I was absolutely certain that “Caffeine” was a cover, like some jazzed-up, long-forgotten companion b-side to Clara Smith’s “Ain’t Got Nobody To Grind My Coffee.” But it turns out that it was written by a guy I’ve known for years. Continue reading

Mister Gunn & The Pistol Packin’ Mamas cover “My Fat Gal”

Filmed on a gray spring day outside the Woolworth Walk, Mister Gunn & The Pistol Packin’ Mamas performed an exceedingly fun take on the Merle Travis tune “My Fat Gal.” In other hands, it’s one of those songs that could be interpreted as insensitive, or even outright offensive. But here, it’s neither. It’s just a great band playing a truly entertaining song. Continue reading

Clarence, Antone and Alex perform “Jitterbug Rag”

In this video, resonator guitar-player Clarence Gallagher, jug player Antone Costa and washtub bassist Alex Brady perform Blind Boy Fuller’s tune “Jitterbug Rag” near Pritchard Park. You may know Costa and Brady from Blind Boy Chocolate & The Milk Sheiks, which have expanded their range well beyond the limits of the Asheville area. The trio only performed in this line up a few times, but gave a truly memorable performance. (Even if the camera was only rolling for a small portion of it.)

How memorable? Well, you may also recognize the image of the three playing as the header image for the site. Yeah, it was good stuff. Continue reading Clarence, Antone and Alex perform “Jitterbug Rag”

Anna Trevor puts a cello spin on “Old Joe Clark”

“It’s really cold in New Hampshire right now,” Anna Trevor explained with a laugh. I’d asked her why she was performing on the streets of Asheville on this chilly, windy winter day in Asheville. “It’s still a beautiful place, and I love it there, but I also love to play music. It’s hard to play music outside when it’s snowing. So, I’ve been traveling around, trying to get down South … as far South as I can.”

In this video, Anna Trevor performs the traditional mountain ballad “Old Joe Clark.” Continue reading Anna Trevor puts a cello spin on “Old Joe Clark”

Sparrow performs “Walt’s Waltz”

I met Sparrow the weekend of the first MoogFest in downtown Asheville. Even on an average weekend, the city could be mistaken for a costume party that had somehow spilled out onto the streets, but add Halloween weekend and a major, national-level electronic music festival to the mix, and the experience began to border on the hallucinatory. Continue reading

Shane Conerty performs “Route 29”

We’ve covered Now You See Them‘s Shane Conerty before, as he’s one of the most active buskers in the Asheville music scene. He’s also one of those rare performers who is perfectly willing to give his all in every song, even if there’s no audience to speak of when he’s playing it.

Here, he performs his recently written original song “Route 29,” which he says was inspired by real-life bus-riding experiences. Continue reading Shane Conerty performs “Route 29”

Jessica Dennison and her ukulele perform “Grave”

In the summer of 2010, New York-based musician Jessica Dennison was passing through Asheville, and decided to give busking a try on our streets. By the time I ran across her, however, the looming clouds and drizzle made it very clear that her next song would be the last in her set. So, armed with her ukulele and charm, she performed her original tune “Grave” for the Busk Break project. Continue reading