Brother and Sister harmony. Gospel music like you never heard it before. Modern old time Appalachian mountain style country music. "The Crying Kind" CD release show, my first ever record, is all that and more.
Sister Annie Elizabeth plays fiddle, mandolin, and uke. I'll be whompin' the banjo and pickin' guitar. But that doesn't tell the story all the way, no you gotta hear the two of us sing together to get the whole picture. It just doesn't sound like this much in the big city.
Queen Michelle Jordan opens the show with her joyful, soulful, one-of-a-kind way with singing and song.
Brother Goat, aka Wil Hendricks, joins us on accordion, bass, and vibes.
East Bay Church knows how to party, that is no joke newbies, so this is one you will not want to miss.
I'm proud of the music on "The Crying Kind." I love having a chance to share it with you.
Annie and Wayne Haught serve up some old-time gospel music with a twist.
Petaluma musician Annie Haught performs with her brother, Wayne, at a concert celebrating the release of their first CD, “The Crying Kind,” on Aug. 27.
Mohawk Blade
By ROBERT FEUER,
FOR THE ARGUS-COURIER
Published: Saturday, August 20, 2011 at 5:00 p.m.
Last Modified: Friday, August 19, 2011 at 4:20 p.m.
Annie Haught, appearing with her brother Wayne at the Kuder Art Studio on Aug. 27, describes their songs as “music for people who have been wounded by the Christian church” or “gospel with a twist.”
Facts
ANNIE AND WAYNE HAUGHT CD RELEASE SHOW
What: Annie and Wayne Haught CD Release Show. This sister and brother duo will be harmonizing, with Annie on mandolin and fiddle and Wayne on guitar and banjo.
When: 7 p.m. Aug. 27
Where: Kuder Art Studio, 1625 Spring Hill Road, Petaluma
Tickets: $10
Information: www.waynehaught.com or call 479-3925
Religious references are prevalent, but this music helps her heal from her fundamentalist upbringing, including involvement in a cult, where “It's all about going to the altar and crying and giving yourself to Jesus,” Haught says.
The event, billed as a CD release show, celebrates their recording, “The Crying Kind.” The duo will be harmonizing on a mix of Wayne's originals and covers, with Wayne on guitar and banjo and Annie on mandolin and fiddle, with a dash of ukulele.
“It's definitely mountain music, with an old-timey flavor,” she says, tracing its roots back to Britain, Ireland and Scotland.
Haught lived much of her life in southeast Ohio, across the Ohio River from her ancestral home in West Virginia. She recalls small towns with frontyard vegetable gardens of tomatoes, squash and sweet corn, with fresh apple pie cooling on a counter. Her grandmother sang, and Haught still uses the German fiddle her grandfather played in 1910.
“It's old and I like the sound of it,” she says.
Her parents encouraged her to take up classical piano as an 8-year-old, but she dropped it for folk music when given a $13.95 Silvertone guitar at age 14.
“Folk music for me was definitely my roots,” she says.
She admired Joan Baez, but also rock 'n' roll bands such as the Beatles and the Kinks.
After her high school days, where Haught sang in the choir, as well as played horn in the marching band, she left for college in North Carolina, where she thought of becoming an opera singer, but became more influenced by local mountain music.
She came to Berkeley in 1978, where she backed up Irish fiddlers, drifted around, and went to nursing school, she says. She's been working as a neo-natal intensive care nurse for 21 years.”
Haught's varied musical background included discovering punk rock and New Wave in Berkeley, a stretch from the Irish music she played, but she says, “I saw a connection in the harmonies.”
She followed a boyfriend to Petaluma in 1990 and never left. She now resides in a comfortable, pink house on a quiet street.
“I adore Petaluma,” she says. “It's my adopted hometown. It's friendly and has a beautiful climate. I learned to play fiddle here. It has this sustainable sensibility, where people garden. You can go out and there's farms, yet there's still good restaurants.”
In 2004, Haught played mandolin in the band, Chicks with Picks, a group she started with two other women. Currently, she plays exclusively with her brother, but would like to do a solo album someday. “I've been singing all my life,” she says, “I can sing anything I want to.”
The duo's music contains a lot of Jesus imagery, Haught says. “It's part of the fundamentalist Christian culture, but it's more like talking about it, more like healing from it. I consider myself spiritual, but I wouldn't say we're Christian at all. I feel like it's all the same thing if it comes from a love place,” she says.
Here's Sister Annie backstage at the Marin County Fair Fiddle Contest on July 2nd just moments before walking out to whomp on her three tunes in the Open Division. Me backing her up on guitar of course. Nothing quite like the sweet anticipation before blasting off.
Our first ever County Fair of any kind appearance and there was big prize money on the line. Not that we were looking to win any cash, no buddy, we were happy to just take in the scene and do our best - all dressed up in cowboy clothes. Especially enjoyed the under-18-year-old contest prior to our division. Those grade school kids know how to stomp out a tune or two for sure.
Well we didn't take the Blue Ribbon. Or the Red. There were some really great young fiddlers showing out, especially that talented White family brother and sister combo, and it was fun to hear them all. No, we didn't win a ribbon for fiddling this time, but the judges did award the Haughts the Green Ribbon Special Award. What for? Most entertaining . . . and it came with prize money of $50! Not bad for an afternoon at the County Fair.
This will be a hoot and more as long time friend and venerable community activist Johnny Tango celebrates his birthday with the release of his Tango CD. I'll be doing some songs, Sister Annie will do some songs, a bunch of other cool people will play, sing, read poetry . . . and John and I will do together one song by Jagger/Richards . . . which one of us is Mick? Come out and see for yourself.
