“Some people think the accordion is a joke
or passé;
had they been sitting where I was,
they would know how it can paint pictures and stir emotions.
We heard mischievous playing, banter and quotes … and serious, virtuosic
playing,”
– Pamela Espeland, MinnPost.com, in attendance in 2010
For those who need more accordion music in their lives, Crossings has the cure. Four virtuosos of the instrument come to the Crossings stage Fri., Jan. 27, at 7:30 p.m.
Performing in turns and sometimes together, Dan “Daddy Squeeze” Newton, Dee Langley, Gary Powell and Bob Walser will delight audiences with music from around the world – from Cajun to Zydeco, Tex Mex to Irish.
Dan Newton has been a full-time performing musician since 1980 and a resident of the Twin Cities since 1987. He spends most of his time playing accordion with his fabulous group, “Café Accordion Orchestra,” performing French, American and Latin ballroom dance music. He frequently appears as a guest on Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion.
Winner of the 2011-2012 McKnight Artist Fellowships for Performing Musicians administered by MacPhail Center for Music, Dee Langley first played the accordion at the age of four. She has toured in Europe and made guest appearances with the Minnesota Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.
Gary Powell hails from downstate Illinois and has performed music since he was 9 years old. His main instrument is the diatonic button accordion but he also plays fiddle and a rock-solid rhythm guitar. He plays in Minneapolis with “The Bone Tones,” and “The Faux Playboys.”
Bob Walser received his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies. He has presented Folklore In Action folk music and dance programs as an artist-in-residence in schools across the USA. Formerly music coordinator in the education department of Mystic Seaport Museum in Mystic, Conn., he also served as consultant to the education division of the National Park Service at Hyde Street Pier in San Francisco.
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