Buckwheat Zydeco, Chris Smither, Andy Friedman and The Primate Fiasco will perform on Saturday.
Buckwhear Zydeco will perform on Saturday in Ashfield.
The Ashfield hills will be alive with the sound the music of Buckwheat Zydeco, Chris Smither, Andy Friedman, and The Primate Fiasco as they perform during the first WinklePicker festival, Friday through Sunday.
“Buckwheat Zydeco is coming to party,” Zydeco said. “So people ought to bring two pairs of shoes because they might wear one out!”
Make that two pairs of winklepickers. “Yeah!” he exclaimed with a laugh.
Winklepickers are a style of shoe or boot worn from the 1950s by British rock and roll fans. The long pointed toe was called the winkle picker toe because in England periwinkle snails or winkles are a popular seaside snack eaten using a pin or other pointed object to carefully extract the soft parts from the coiled shell. From that comes “winklepickers” as a humorous name for shoes with a pointed tip.
“We liked the sound of the word, and because winklepickers are rock-and-roll shoes, the name relates to music and a good time,” said Nan E. Parati, owner of Elmer’s Store and an event organizer.
“I love the sound of the word!” Smither said of the festival’s name.
In addition to the music, WinklePicker festival will offer food, art, workshops, parading and dancing New Orleans-style.
WinklePicker music on Saturday incudes:
-- Mardi Gras Kids Music Camp (for children age 10-15) at Elmer’s Store, 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
-- Matinee concert at 3 p.m. with folk/blues singer, guitarist and songwriter Chris Smither with artist and songwriter Andy Friedman to open at the Ashfield Town Hall;
-- Mardi Gras Ball with accordionist and zydeco musician Buckwheat Zydeco and the Mardi Gras Kids Music Camp WinklePickers at Ashfield Town Hall, 7 p.m., and
-- After-party with The Primate Fiasco at Elmer’s upstairs, 9:30 p.m.
Smither of Amherst, whose albums include Lost and Found, Time Stands Still, Leave the Light On and Train Home, grew up in New Orleans and is pleased to help convey at the festival a sense of what that Louisiana city is about, a place where “there is never a sense of urgency.”
A songwriter, he’ll perform songs about “all the big stuff” like life, love, hate and existential angst, much of it whimsical. “I think even (French existential philosopher and novelist Jean-Paul) Sartre had a sense of humor,” said Smither who has lived in Paris.
He also writes “dead serious” songs and happy songs and those about observations about people. The latter, he said he hopes “make people look at (themselves) from a humorous point of view.”
Smither’s songs are a way for him to express his feelings, “the best way to avoid feeling depressed that you’re along in the universe,” he said, saying such a view does not upset him. “A lot of people get upset by that fact. That’s what makes them turn to religion.”
Smither, who performs just under 100 shows a year, has a longstanding friendship and working relationship with Bonnie Raitt, a singer, songwriter and guitarist; she recorded two of his songs including “Love Me like a Man.”
Buckwheat Zydeco, who won a Grammy Award for Best Cajun and Zydeco album for Lay Your Burden Down, lives in Louisiana and does about 200 shows a year. He said it’s the energy of his music that keeps people listening. “People come out to have a good time,” he said. “If it’s freezing up there (in Ashfield), they’ll warm up” at the show.
His other albums include Jackpot! and Trouble.
His music combines accordion and washboard with high energy. “People need to be energized,” he said. “These are hard times…. You have seven days in the week to go around moping. Why not take one day off and get excited? It’d be good for people!”
During the festival there will be Cajun and Creole cooking classes with Chef Michelle J. Nugent, food director at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. She has been featured in the PBS Great Chefs of New Orleans series, received the Guardian of the Tradition award from the Southern Foodways Alliance in 2005 and named one of City Business magazine’s Women of the Year in 2008. She has also been involved with the national anti-hunger/anti-poverty group Share Our Strength.
The festival weekend will also include an exhibit saluting Mardi Gras culture and costuming by some of the best costumer makers in New Orleans on display at the Ashfield Congregational Church throughout the Winklepicker festival weekend.
For more information, visit www.winklepickerfest.com