"Americana is the categorical term most often applied to the music of Bill Frisell... a guitarist who has delved deeply into bluegrass and old-timey country music. But there has always been a cool, hard glint to his interpretive process; his improviser's instinct can undercut even the most nostalgic reverie. It's when Frisell works with this tension that his music really crackles."--New York Times

Now admired for their hauntingly penetrating vision and stark observational poetry, the studio portraits of everyday citizens Mike Disfarmer took in a small Arkansas town in the 1940s and 1950s crackle with their own tensions. Frisell's aptitude in balancing telling details with evocative atmospherics makes him an ideal candidate to conjure up Disfarmer's own outsider spirit and hard-scrabble subjects. Violinist Jenny Scheinman and lap steel guitar player Greg Leisz join Frisell for compositions that draw in part on traditional Ozark fiddle music (Disfarmer was an avid fiddler himself). Projected images of Disfarmer's portraits will further illuminate Frisell's musical perspectives on this fascinating character.


About Mike Disfarmer
Despite his eccentricities and antisocial attitude, Disfarmer made his living shooting portraits of the citizens of Heber Springs. During the WWII era, his customers often came to have their pictures taken as a kind of Saturday night going-to-town entertainment. They routinely met with lengthy ordeals as the cranky Disfarmer fussed until he felt it was the right moment to capture their likenesses with his antique glass negative camera, framing them as timeless specimens against a ratty, masking tape-patched backdrop.

Following his death in 1959, hundreds of his glass negatives were discovered in his dilapidated studio. New prints were struck from these negatives in the early 1970s and sent to the editor of Modern Photography magazine. They were subsequently published and exhibited at the International Center of Photography in New York, causing a sensation for their hauntingly penetrating qualities, formal elegance, and stark observational poetry. Since then interest in Disfarmer's work has grown and has included the recent exhibitions of a newly assembled body of original Disfarmer photographs at Edwynn Houk Gallery and Steven Kasher Gallery in New York.

WexMix
Come early for a festive WexMix reception. WexMix membership package with 2 concerts tickets is just $75. Call the ticket office at (614) 292-3535 for details.