Freak Scene #57: Max Wareham Has Cause to Exclaim on 'Dagommit!'
Plus, a new bar is moving into the Majestic space, and a non-update about the Calvin Theatre.
A Guide to Music in Western Mass. (and sometimes Connecticut)
This week in Freak Scene, we catch up with banjo evangelist Max Wareham, get the scoop on what’s happening in the former Majestic space in Northampton and have a non-update about the Calvin Theatre.
Max Wareham was an instant convert to the banjo.
It was 2008, and the Massachusetts native was burned out on studying jazz guitar in New York, where the relentless competition had stripped away any sense of meaningful expression that Wareham had found in the music. One day he passed by someone playing a banjo on the street.
“It was like being struck by lightning when I heard that sound,” says Wareham, who just released his first solo album, Dagommit!
Maybe it was fate. After what he calls his “banjo epiphany,” Wareham immersed himself in bluegrass, a style that felt welcoming and communal in a way that the New York jazz scene did not. It turns out he had a family connection to the music: his father is a cousin of Peter Rowan’s, a veteran picker who has played with David Grisman, Jerry Garcia and an extensive roster of bluegrass heads on the way to his 2022 induction into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame.
“I decided I would seek out the old master and become his apprentice,” says Wareham, who certainly didn’t lack for confidence. His uncle passed along Rowan’s phone number, and Wareham began leaving weekly voicemails, without considering that such behavior might be annoying. Eventually, Rowan picked up a call.
“We just started talking like old friends,” Wareham says. “He invited me to come out to the West Coast for a month to learn from him. He really got me started on the bluegrass path.”
Rowan’s partner, who is from Japan, was amused by Wareham’s persistence, and named his banjo “Kyu-sen-kai,” which translates to “9,000 calls.” As Wareham improved on his instrument, he dug deeper into the history of the instrument and bluegrass in general, which yielded the 2022 book about one of Bill Monroe’s early collaborators in the 1950s, Rudy Lyle: The Unsung Hero of the Five String Banjo. Wareham is at work on a second book, about Butch Robins, who played with Monroe 30 years after Lyle did.
Occasionally, Wareham would sit in onstage with Rowan before joining his cousin’s band in 2022. Along the way, Wareham was writing the songs he would record for Dagommit! The album has a classic bluegrass sensibility on virtuosic, tightly rendered songs, with Chris Eldridge and David Grier on guitar, Laura Orshaw on fiddle, Chris Henry on mandolin, Mike Bub on bass, Larry Atamanuik on snare drum and Rowan as producer and guest singer.
“The songs on Daggomit! are a mixed bag — some are as much as 10 years old, and some I wrote on the spot while in the studio,” says Wareham, who splits his time between Boston and Turners Falls, where he stays for teaching gigs at Smith College and the Academy at Charlemont. “Working with a band of that caliber, they didn’t care whether they had been practicing the song for weeks or had never heard it before. We didn’t do any more than three takes of any song — they all knew exactly what to do.”
Between playing music with Rowan and researching and writing about some of the most influential banjo players, Wareham has found his place within an ever-growing musical heritage.
“Bluegrass is a lineage and it’s passed down from person to person,” Wareham says. “I see myself as contributing to that tradition by participating in it musically — keeping alive the ways of music-making that the old-timers have shared with me.”
Wareham and his band, the National Bluegrass Team, perform an album release show with Wallace Field April 5 at Whately Town Hall as part of Watermelon Wednesdays (tickets). Yes, April 5 is a Saturday, not a Wednesday.
New Bar Haze Planned for Majestic Space
The former Majestic Saloon on Main Street in Northampton will become a new bar and live-performance space called Haze, after the city license commission last month approved the transfer of Majestic’s liquor license to owner Anja Wood and her business partner, Jonathan Pedigo. At a meeting Feb. 19, the license commission also granted Wood and Pedigo an entertainment license for the space at 24 Main St.
I couldn’t reach Wood for comment, but she told the commission that she is “hoping to bring some more life back into the town.” With a background in food service and bartending, Wood will manage Haze, which will present live music and DJs. Haze also plans to offer small plates, some of which will be prepared elsewhere because the kitchen there lacks a vent hood. The entertainment license permits Haze to operate from 3 p.m.-12 a.m. Sunday through Wednesday, and 3 p.m.-2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. The storefront has a capacity of 49 people, including staff.
Majestic opened in 2019 and shut down last fall after a final Halloween blowout. Though the bar was a magnet for the LGBTQ+ community after the dance club Diva’s closed in 2016, Majestic co-owner Kayla Abney told MassLive that night life in Northampton had yet to recover from the pandemic and that Majestic was often empty without a themed event to draw in a crowd.
Calvin Theatre Update
Checking in on what’s happening with the Calvin Theatre reminds me of Chevy Chase’s bit on “Weekend Update” on the first season of Saturday Night Live:
Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead, and the Calvin Theatre is still closed.
Not to wade too deeply into local politics, but in this story about Northampton Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra running for reelection, she counted among her accomplishments the reopening of Iron Horse last May. So, if she gets credit for the Iron Horse, who’s on the hook for the Calvin (and Pearl Street) remaining shuttered?
Back Porch Postscript
A huge thank-you to the kindly Back Porch Festival folks who sorted out a ticket mishap at the Academy of Music Sunday after the person in the box office gave me a look as though I had just passed a soiled diaper through the window. The show was worth the hassle.
The last time I had seen Lucinda Williams was in 2018, before she had a stroke in 2020. While she moves slowly and looks frail these days, her voice is fully intact. She sounded great through a set that went nearly two hours, and played a bunch of songs I don’t remember having seen her perform live before, along with some essential numbers from her catalog, including “Joy” and “Drunken Angel.” Her performance of “Essence” had a sultry, seductive feel that echoed the album version, while “Real Life Bleeding Fingers and Broken Guitar Strings” had a big, open-hearted rock ’n’ roll vibe — appropriate, given that the Replacements inspired Williams to write the song.
Opener Fantastic Cat did what they call their spayed-and-neutered set, without electric guitars or drums. They more than made up for it with vocal harmonies on songs from the group’s two albums. Each of the foursome — Anthony D’Amato, Brian Dunne, Don DiLego (an Adams native) and Mike Montali — is a fine singer in his own right, and they demonstrated how well they harmonize together. “Later On” and “Fiona” were particular highlights, as was the band blanking on the exact date of their upcoming show at the Stone Church in Brattleboro. “Just go to Brattleboro and wait for us to get there,” D’Amato joked. (The show is May 6, and tickets are here.)
Speaking of the Back Porch Festival, mark your calendars: next year’s fest is already planned for March 27-29.
Upcoming Concerts
Tree House Brewing in South Deerfield hosts Rhett Miller and Josh Rouse April 22 inside (tickets), and reality TV contestant-turned-country singer Chase Rice, with the excellent Wade Bowen, Aug. 14 outdoors (tickets).
Good luck choosing between that and Toad the Wet Sprocket, who play Westville Music Bowl in New Haven Aug. 14 (tickets). Just kidding — you don’t have to choose, because Toad the Wet Sprocket are at Tree House Aug. 18.
The Iron Horse hosts the Wild Feathers April 23 (tickets), Dean Wareham (formerly of Galaxie 500 and Luna) June 6 (tickets), jazz keyboardist John Carroll Kirby June 25 (tickets), Sandra Bernhard July 26 (tickets), Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy Aug. 9 (tickets) and Fred Eaglesmith & the Velvet Frogs Oct. 17 (tickets).
Sun Ra Arkestra perform May 18 at the Academy of Music (tickets).
Joan Osborne plays April 12 at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls, where she’ll perform the songs of Bob Dylan along with her own tunes (tickets). Roomful of Blues are there May 9 (tickets).
Trevor Hall plays July 15 at College Street Music Hall in New Haven (tickets).
LOUD Weekend, Bang on a Can’s Summer Music Festival, returns to Mass MoCA in North Adams July 31-Aug. 2 (more information and tickets are here).
Frank Turner’s show May 19 at the Space Ballroom in Hamden sold out so fast they added a second the same day, and it’s also sold out. Dean Wareham (no relation to Max) is there June 3 (tickets), though, the Native Howl play June 8 (tickets) and Hurray for the Riff Raff are there July 25 (tickets).
De La Luz Sounstage in Holyoke hosts Reverie Road March 24 (tickets), Club d’Elf March 28 (tickets), Moonlight Benjamin March 30 (tickets), Bia Ferriera April 5 (tickets), Happy Valley Guitar Orchestra April 6 (tickets), Lizzie No and Kimaya Diggs April 13 (tickets), Bab L’Bluz April 18 (tickets), the Cleveland collective Mourning [a] Blkstr June 4 (tickets) and Buckwheat Zydeco Jr. July 5 (tickets).
Shelburne Springs, a boutique hotel and bar in Shelburne Falls, hosts the Periscope Jazz Collective Saturday, March 15, Holyoke blues band Electric Delta April 5 and Eric Gaffney April 25. More info here.
More Watermelon Wednesday shows in Whately: Cory Pesaturo & Natalie Tenenbaum March 18, RASA String Quartet April 30, Bruce Molsky and Ale Moller May 21, Hot Club of Cowtown July 16, Solas July 24, Brittany and Natalie Haas Aug. 6, Caleb and Reeb Aug. 13 and Tannahill Weavers Oct. 1. Check here for full details and tickets.
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