JOE BETHANCOURT Bluegrass/Old-Time/Traditional/Country/Originals Born: 08/08/46 Currently: PO Box 35190 Phoenix AZ 85069 InterNet: whitetree@locksley.com http://www.primenet.com/~ioseph/index.html Joe was raised mostly in the southern Appalachians, in North Carolina, and absorbed the music almost from the time he could walk. Joe is unusual for this day and age, perhaps because he has devoted himself to the music in which he was raised: The music of the Southern Appalachian and Ozark Mountains of America. In this, he follows the tradition established by such sterling performers as Grandpa Jones, Uncle Dave Macon, and others of the "Old Timey" Country Music era. He doesn't stop at this however! He is equally at home in popular Country music, writes songs about space exploration, and plays Irish, Scots, Bluegrass, Medieval/Renaissance and New Age music with equal facility. He began learning banjo at age 9, after he heard his maternal grandfather, C. H. Burnett, playing fiddle. His first banjo was given him by his grandfather, and was "an old S.S.Stewart." Joe still has this banjo. When his family moved to Phoenix for the final time, in 1961, Joe began learning guitar, hanging around cofeehouses, mariachi bands, bluegrass groups, and a place called "J.D.'s," where he would sneak in to listen to a local guy called Waylon Jennings. With the "folk boom" of the '60's just hitting it's stride, he found that all that music he had learned as a child stood in good stead. His first "real pro" gig, right out of High School, was backing up another local entertainer, Dolan Ellis, on 12-string guitar and 5-string banjo. The Phoenix acoustic scene was active and thriving. Joe hung out with people (then unknowns) like John Denver, the Irish Rovers, and Jim Conner ("Grandma's Feather Bed") and with some of the best in Dixieland and Ragtime. He spent a stint with a local bluegrass band, "Ma Tucker's String Band," playing with Jeff Gylkinson ("The Dillards") and Doug Haywood (keyboard player/songwriter for Jackson Browne). He also worked with noted entertainer Dan "Igor" Glenn in several bands. Joe credits "Igor" with teaching him much about the entertainer's art. In 1968-1969, Joe worked in L.A. as a studio musician, where he made his first record, "The Joe Bethancourt String Concert Album." It was very favourably reviewed by BILLBOARD magazine, and given a four star rating. He has some fascinating stories about the "name" musicians he met while he was there. Joe came back to Phoenix, where he became influential in the original KDKB radio "scene," hosting his own radio show on KDKB, "Folk Music Occasional," with Bill Compton and Dennis McBroom. He was also a regular on the Emmy award-winning "Wallace and Ladmo Show" on KPHO-TV (Ch.5) in the 1980's, and worked with children in the Arizona Commission for the Arts' "Artists in Education" program for about 6 years. For almost 17 years, he was the "house band" four nights a week at a little restaurant at 19th Ave. and Bethany Home Rd, in Phoenix, called "Funny Fellows," playing instruments from his enormous collection of traditional (and not so traditional) instruments.  Joe is a recognized expert at old banjos, and is a walking reference library about the traditional music of America. Some have put him in the top percentile of "old-time" banjo players in the nation. He is also very knowledgeable about medieval and Renaissance stringed instruments, and plays Irish/Scots music very well, too! He is not above using electric instruments, however. His use of the double-neck 6 and 12 string guitar must be heard to be believed .... and who can forget the sythesized bagpipes he will occasionally bring out? Some call him a seminal influence on the acoustic music scene in Phoenix, crediting him for much of their style and technique. He plays no less than 65 different instruments; from his beloved banjos (yes. plural! He has one of the finest collections of antique banjos in the Southwestern United States, and uses them on stage!) to 12-string guitar, all the way to more exotic things like Mando-Cello, Celtic Harp, Lute, Harp- Guitar, and Ozark Mouthbow! The songs range from old ballads and "party" songs that he learned from his family to modern pieces that fit his mood and style, or even Irish and Scots ballads as old as 1000 years! It becomes obvious that this is a consummate entertainer when you hear him shift from a "murder ballad" of the 1870's, played on a 100 year old banjo with gut strings, to a version of the Bill Monroe classic "Uncle Pen" that will bring you right out of your chair with the speed of his Gatling-gun flatpicking on the guitar. The dry delivery of stories of mountain life, his famous "blank look" of astonishment at the punchlines, and his infamous left hand going totally out of control on the banjo will leave you helpless with laughter. And then he picks up the Celtic Harp....and the world goes away! Due to his love of Irish and Scottish music, he has developed a repetoire of Celtic music, both ancient and modern. To "ice the cake," he can even fill an evening with New Age style instrumentals mixed with a sophisticated, cabaret-style bag of songs that would go well with any crowd, using both standard guitars and the odd types, too, such as Harp-Guitar, 10-string Classical guitar, 27-string Lute, Double- neck Electric Guitar, and the Celtic Harp, or even give concerts of Medieval and Renaissance music (he has appeared with the well known period music group "Musica Dolce" on a number of occasions.) He has been called in as a consultant on a book about the history of the banjo in America that is being written on behalf of a major American historical foundation, and is getting some attention on a national level for his songs about space exploration. He was also the Toastmaster at the 1992 ConChord musician's convention in L.A. , and is in great demand at similar conventions. He was also nominated for the (Arizona) Governor's Arts Award, and his recordings are now on file with the East Tennessee State University's Appalachian Archives collection. For an acoustic musician to use a double set of stereo MIDI processors, a guitar synthesizer -and- several other "black boxes" in his shows, and use them expertly and well without compromising the acoustic nature of his performances is something interesting indeed. This is an ENTERTAINER, not just another guy with a guitar ... and an entertainer with a solidly built following in the Valley of the Sun; 30 years of experience, and a reputation as a single act that is unmatched in Phoenix. *  ALBUM CREDITS: SOLO: Who Fears The Devil? (White Tree Productions) (cass.) Celtic Circle Dance (White Tree Productions) (cass.) Naked Banjos (cass.) (White Tree Productions) Old Red Cat (cass.) (White Tree Productions) Our Fathers Of Old (with Leslie Fish) (Random Factors) (cass.) Serious Steel (with Leslie Fish) (Random Factors) (in preparation) Revenge of the Banjo (White Tree Productions) (in preparation) Lock and Load (with Leslie Fish) (Random Factors) (in preparation) That Great Big Way Out There (in preparation) Ballads of Bordertown (in preparation) The Black Book Of Locksley (cass.) (out of print) Arizona Road Song (cass.) (out of print) String Concert (Public) PS 5001 (out of print) ANTHOLOGIES: 357 Miles East Of L.A. (cass.) (Zia) CactusCon Choruses: NASFIC 1987 (cass.) (WailSongs) This Train Is Bound For Glory (Carsten) LC 75-751068 Arizona Sounds KDKB Vol. 1 (Dwight Karma) (out of print) And many, many albums as a sideman..... SHARED APPEARANCES WITH: Ricky Skaggs Seals and Crofts The Beach Boys John McEuen Dave Van Ronk Peter Rowan Bill Monroe Doc Watson John Stewart Dan Hicks FESTIVALS AND CONCERTS: MAJOR CLUBS: Rocky Mt. Bluegrass Festival 1974 Funny Fellows (house musician Flagstaff Bluegrass Festival 1986 for 17 yrs.) Tucson Folk Festival 1988, 1989 Troubador (L.A.) Phoenix Folk Festival 1986,'87,'90, Ice House (Pasadena) '92, '93, '94 Phoenician Resort Hotel Phoenix Pops Orchestra guest soloist Anderson's 5th Estate Phoenix Boys Choir guest instrumentalist Mill Ave. Theater Musica Dolce guest soloist Pioneer Arizona and many others! and many others! COMMUNITY WORK (MUSIC): Artist-In-Education 6 yrs. Grants Panelist - 1989 (Az. Comm. on the Arts) (Phoenix Comm. on the Arts)  NATIONAL CIRCULATION:BOOKS AND MAGAZINES THE CACTUS SANDWICH HOHO!HAHA!HEEHEE!HAHA! Don Dedera, Northland Press 1986 (The Wallace and Ladmo Show ARIZONA HIGHWAYS, May 1984 35 Years of Laughter) STARLOG, January 1982 Richard Ruelas & Michael K Sweeney FOLK MUSIC, September 1978 View Designs 1994 PHONOGRAPH RECORD, May 1976 FRETS, April 1988 ACOUSTIC GUITAR, Jan 1996 BANJO NEWSLETTER, May 1987 INSTRUMENTS AVAILABLE FOR PERFORMANCES (the asterisk * denotes instruments used on a regular basis) 12-string guitar * 5-string banjo (several kinds) * 6-string guitar * tenor banjo harp-guitar 6-string classical guitar * 10-string classical guitar * dulcimer autoharp mouthbow hawaiian guitar * dobro mandolin Irish mandolin mando-cello ukelele tenor ukelele banjo ukelele double-neck electric guitar * psaltery Celtic harp concert harp 6-string bass guitar * bodhran Renaissance lute Elizabethan lute tiple 5-course guitar electric bagpipes Roland GR-1 Guitar-Synth * sitar octave electric guitar bouzouki balalaika erhu biwa The different styles of 5-string banjo available are: Bluegrass style (modern) Open-back steel strings with tone-ring (modern) * Long-neck Seeger-style open-back banjo Open-back steel strings without tone-ring (1900 to 1930) Open-back gut string, fretted (1880 to 1900) * Open-back gut string, flush-fret (1870 to 1880) Open-back gut string, fretless (1860 to 1880) * Mountain style banjo (handmade, circa 1860) * A-scale orchestral banjo (the "Ladies' banjo" of the 1880s) Banjaurine (the middle-sized banjo) Mandoline-banjo (a banjo neck on a mandolin body, circa 1880) Piccolo banjo (the smallest size) Gourd banjo (the earliest form of 5-string banjo) African banjar (the banjo's direct ancestor) Joe also uses at least three and sometimes five different standard 6-string guitars in his performances, due to re-tunings and to his incorporation of acoustic-electric configurations. *  SOME QUOTES FROM THE PRESS: "Bethancourt is a traditional musician and raconteur, or storyteller, whose one man show is an acoustic review thru stringed-music history and a trip thru America's own rural and rustic past...some of the songs are associated with the instruments he uses to play them, but not all are tied into rural and early American traditions." -Tod McCoy: MESA TRIBUNE ".... a consummate acoustic instrumentalist .... his mastery of each instrument is impressive." -Dean Rhodes: PHOENIX GAZETTE " If Arizona wants a .... music laureate, Joe Bethancourt is a leading candidate .... a solidly entertaining troubador...(his) music is all the more special." -Patricia Johnson: ARIZONA LIVING ".... a walking folk music library .... an active reptoire that includes more than one thousand tunes." -Jeff Hood: FRETS "My personal favorite picker is Joe Bethancourt ...." -Don Dedera: ARIZONA HIGHWAYS ".... probably one of the best banjo-pickers in the country .... his voice is as versatile as his manual dexterity.." -Sam Lowe: PHOENIX GAZETTE ".... plays with tremendous proficiency ...." -Jim Zelisko: PHOENIX MAGAZINE ".... an expressive performer .... masterly banjo frailing .... a hit with the audience." -Andrew Means: PHOENIX GAZETTE ".... a gentle man of extraordinary talent .... a virtuoso ...." -James M. Crane: NEW TIMES ".... one to treasure .... the cream of musicians to matriculate from Appalachian ancestry ...." -Sandra Lovejoy: PHOENIX GAZETTE ".... a first-rate comedian .... a lively, enjoyable alternative." -Steve Hallock: PHOENIX GAZETTE "It's refreshing to find a continually popular entertainer such as Joe Bethancourt .... damned entertaining, and very likely a quite unique musician ...." -Joe Kullman: NEW TIMES ".... best singer of this, or any other, year ...." -Kyle Lawson: PHOENIX GAZETTE --------------------------------------------------------------  -------------------------------------------------------------- JOE BETHANCOURT: -------------------------------------------------------------- A nationally known entertainer, with a large following and excellent "name recognition" in the Valley. 30 years of experience and reliability. A repetoire of over one thousand songs, both traditional, popular, and original. A state-of-the-art MIDI-controlled stereo sound system that includes a vocal harmonizer, guitar synth and several digital effects processors, all used to enhance the acoustic performance. A mailing list of over one thousand names, with access to local and national acoustic music publications. A full set of stage lights can be provided with long-term contracts. -------------------------------------------------------------- For bookings contact: Joe Bethancourt - White Tree Productions PO Box 35190 Phoenix, AZ 85069 Internet: whitetree@locksley.com http://www.locksley.com/locksley --------------------------------------------------------------