If you have attended one of the Back Porch Songwriter Nights that Signature Sounds Recordings Co. hosts a few times a year, then you know the Deep River Ramblers. This is because the local acoustic group that features multi-instrumentalists Jim Henry and Chris Brashear and bassist Paul Kochanski is the house band for these popular shows.
You will also find them playing shows on their own, which will be the case when they perform at Incandescent Brewing in Bernardston on Sunday, Feb. 8 at 2 p.m. This show is part of the brewery’s Sunday afternoon music series. Beyond that, the trio is hosting a new music series at the Iron Horse in Northampton called Happy Valley Bluegrass Church, a morning singalong of which the first is on Sunday, Feb. 15 at 11 a.m.
All three musicians are in-demand sidemen who play with a variety of musical outfits, both locally and beyond. Henry and Brashear have performed and recorded solo as well.
Henry, Brashear and Kochanski first came together in 2019 to play a Doc Watson tribute show at the Parlor Room in Northampton as part of Signature Sounds’ annual Back Porch Festival.
“Chris Brashear, our fiddle and guitar player, actually came up with the idea and approached Jim Olsen (of Signature Sounds), and we played that first Doc Watson show,” Henry said in a phone call from his home in Shutesbury. “It grew from there and we got our name from that show, from ‘Deep River Blues,’ the Doc Watson song.”
At this show, they backed a variety of singers, each taking a turn at the legendary Watson’s material. This show not only launched the Back Porch Songwriter series, but it also launched the Deep River Ramblers as well.
That first show went so well that the three musicians knew that they wanted to continue to work together.
“We had such a great time at that show,” Henry said. “We are such big fans of that repertoire, and after that show we started booking gigs out on the road, including upstate New York.”
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to a number of shows that they had booked. But once things reopened they were off and performing in the Valley and beyond. The Ramblers play a roots and Americana mix that benefits from their superb musicianship, soulful vocals and all the great songs they play. They released an album in 2024 that included a couple of covers alongside originals by Henry and Brashear.
When they play at Incandescent, audiences can expect to hear this mix of material.
“We play all kinds of stuff, some real traditional, some a little more modern, but it’s all acoustic, so it’s all in that vein,” Henry said. “We have such a large repertoire because of all the tributes that we’ve done. Every time we do a tribute show we hang onto a couple of the songs.”
And there have been 14 of these Back Porch Songwriter Nights. To date, these shows have covered the work of Merle Haggard, Lucinda Williams, Paul Simon and others.
The Deep River Ramblers have played all these shows, often including local musician J. J. O’Connell on drums.
The next one in the series is “The Songs of Johnny Cash” and will take place on March 22 at the Academy of Music in Northampton at 3 p.m. — a week before the Back Porch Festival.
Some of the participating singers are the Lonesome Brothers, Steve Sanderson, Lisa Bastoni and others.
And let’s not forget about Happy Valley Bluegrass Church, a project the band members are very excited about. But what exactly is a bluegrass church?
“It is basically a great community sing-along where the audience is the choir,” Henry said. “And the reason we call it church is that it’s 11 o’clock on Sunday morning. And it is a bluegrass church because we’re going to have a fiddle in the band.”
The way this will work is that there will be a large screen on stage displaying the lyrics to easy-to-sing songs. The band will lead the audience in singing songs from a variety of genres and artists including Hank Williams, Gillian Welch, Woody Guthrie, Joni Mitchell, Stephen Foster, The Beatles, Ray Charles and others.
Henry said the idea for the bluegrass church came from a friend of his who experienced one of these sing-alongs when he was out in Boulder, Colorado attending a show at eTown, known for its syndicated radio show.
“They have a theater out there and when he was there, they were doing this thing called the Hippie Bluegrass Church,” said Henry. “That is essentially where the idea for our bluegrass church came from. We are using a different word, but we are expanding the franchise.”
Singer Annie Patterson, author of the famed “Rise Up Singing!” songbook and a member of groups like Dear Ella and Girls from Mars, will join the Ramblers to help lead in the singing.
In addition to the music, each month a poet will be present to read some of their poems, as well as a community-based organization to talk about what they do. In February, the poet will be Jane Johnson and Grow Food Northampton will be on hand to explain what that group does.
“The idea is to make it a real community event,” said Henry. “I really hope people will show up and I hope they will sing because it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
The Happy Valley Bluegrass Church will also take place on Sunday, March 15 and Sunday, April 12.
Admission to the show at Incandescent Brewing has a suggested donation of $5-$10. The Bluegrass Church is $18 advance and tickets are available at ironhorse.org. Tickets for the Back Porch Songwriter Night “The Songs of Johnny Cash” are available at aomtheatre.com.
Susan Angeletti to perform at Incandescent Brewing
There is another show coming up at Incandescent Brewing that I think will be of interest to local music fans. It will be the Roots n’ Blues Trio featuring blues vocalist Susan Angeletti accompanied by Tim Dyer on guitar and Doug Morton on bass. The show will be on Friday, Feb. 13, from 6 to 9 p.m.
Angeletti was a big part of the local music scene until 2015 when she relocated to Florida. She returned in 2022 and is excited to share her powerful voice and passion for blues, soul, and classic rock with Valley audiences.
Right now, she is writing and recording a new album at Mainline Studio in Westfield with Jim Fogarty as engineer and drummer. She is also working with Michael Dermody on guitar, Doug Mortan and Rick Williams on bass, and a few guest musicians.
“We are enjoying the process and excited about the musical progress,” Angeletti wrote in a recent email. “We have soul and rhythm and blues saxophonist and trumpeter Bill Holloman from Connecticut writing and recording horn arrangements and playing Hammond organ parts.”
She will return to the studio in the next couple of weeks with another special guest joining the project.
“Harpman and dynamic frontman James Montgomery will lay down some blues harp on a couple of new songs I wrote,” Angeletti said. “One song is called ‘I Got Blues’ and another is ‘Mississippi Baby.’”
There is no release date yet for the album.
“I’m not in a race anymore to finish things so fast and just want to show my true love for this beautiful music,” she said.
In the meantime, you can catch the Roots and Blues Trio as they take the Incandescent stage for their first time at the venue.
Admission is free, but tips are always appreciated.
Sheryl Hunter is a freelance writer who resides in Easthampton. Her work has appeared in various regional and national publications. She can be reached at Soundslocal@yahoo.com.