village dudes

THE VILLAGE DUDES

Nov. 5, 8:30 p.m. Outpost in the Burbs coffeehouse at the First Congregational Church, 40 S. Fullerton Ave., Montclair Tickets $20 Call (973) 744-6560

from: http://www.dailyrecord.com/entertainment/entertainment3-villagedudes.htm

Four styles merge in one group

By Robert Hicks, Special to the (NJ) Daily Record

From left, Rod MacDonald, Frank Christian, Jack Hardy and David Massengill have combined their experience and musical abilities to form the folk group Village Dudes.

Strong songwriting has always been at the heart of folk music. Throughout the East Coast folk revival in the '70s and '80s to contemporary times, emerging songwriters in the metropolitan New York area have met and developed their songs at Jack Hardy's Songwriters Exchange in Manhattan.

Many of the songwriters who emerged from these informal gatherings went on to successful solo careers. The discipline of writing one song per week, performing it before one's peers and receiving constructive criticism proved invaluable to these emerging songwriters.

Now four of these veteran songwriters - Hardy, Rod MacDonald, David Massengill and Frank Christian - have come full circle after two decades of successful solo work to return to group dynamics in a newly formed folk quartet, The Village Dudes. Nov. 5 the group will debut at Outpost in the Burbs in Montclair.

"I think each of us are strong songwriters. We each have distinctive approaches to songwriting. I think you'll find very few groups who will bring as diverse and as broad a spectrum of songwriting as this group," MacDonald said as the band rehearsed its new songs and some new arrangements of older material at Hardy's apartment in Manhattan.

Christian will play lead guitar accompanied by Massengill on Appalachian dulcimer and MacDonald and Hardy on guitar, mandolin and harmonica on most songs.

The idea for the project dates back to their years performing at Fast Folk shows at the Bottom Line in the early '90s in New York. It wasn't until two years ago, though, that the feasibility of such a group project finally came to light in the mind of MacDonald, who left New York in 1995 to care for his ill parents in Del Ray Beach, Fla.

"We've all been friends for a long time, and we all came to the Village at the same time and worked our way up through the clubs. It's a reunion in a way for us all to get back together. We've all played each other's music for years. This is the first time we've actually done it in a formal way," MacDonald said.

"Like everything else in life, there were a million reasons not to do it and only one way to do it - to do it - so why not. At this point in my career, I do things for the fun of it," Hardy added.

All have written new songs for the group. MacDonald has contributed a finger-picking, ragtime gem that looks at the war on contemporary terrorism in a song called "Terror Is a Very Magic Word." In keeping with his autobiographical approach to songwriting, Massengill has reflected on the seeds of his romantic spirit in his song "My First Kiss." Christian has written a history of unions and steam locomotives in his song "End of the Line," and Hardy has looked at one's knowledge of an old lover comparing it to the lover's current state and ideals in his love song "The Lady Turned Away."

"Each of us brings a different dynamic to the group. We'll do a mix of our new songs as well as some old ones. We'll also do some songs by other people who aren't in the group," MacDonald said.

"We all have different musical backgrounds. I think the mélange is interesting," said Christian, a Newark native who has spent most of his career as an accompanist and songwriter.

Among the songs not penned by group members are Dave Van Ronk's "Another Time and Place" and Paul Siebel's "Tomorrow's Train." The late Van Ronk was a maverick, yet highly influential songwriter in the Village throughout his career. Siebel, who emerged as an influential songwriter in the '70s, is perhaps best known for his songs "Louise" and "Anyday Woman," the latter popularized by Bonnie Raitt.

"We like to honor other songwriters and some of the traditional songs, too," Massengill said.

Group dynamics also afford the opportunity to explore vocalization differently from their solo careers. MacDonald's tenor voice will be featured as lead on some songs. Other songs will call on the deep baritone of Massengill. Hardy's mid-tenor and Christian's tenor-baritone voices will take the lead on still other songs. With such a wide vocal range, the group also plans to make ample use of vocal harmonizing in all its songs.

"We're trying not to sound like anyone else," MacDonald said. "I think it's just a feeling that we have an experience to share with other people. There's something that we have as longtime friends and musicians that we can explore in a productive way."