Concert in the Park on August 5
Ragtime and contemporary roots music will fill the air at the St. Johns City Park Performance Shell Aug. 5 when the internationally known trio My Sweet Patootie takes the stage in the weekly Concert in the Park series. The show begins at 7 p.m.; no admission charge.
Founded in 2007 by Canadian Folk Music Award winners Sandra Swannell and Terry Young, My Sweet Patootie delivers tight harmonies, monstrous guitar, sizzling fiddle and percussion together in one perfect package. Paul Clifford completes the trio during the group’s North American tour.
The band takes its name from a slang term of endearment meaning a “hot dame” or a “sassy sweetheart” that was popular in the 1920s. Several ragtime titles from the jazz-age reference the expression including “Sweet Patootie Blues” by Arthur “Blind” Blake in 1928, who was well known for his complex and intricate finger picking.
The name was chosen by Swannell and Young to capture the vintage flavor of the band’s music as well as the satirical edge in much of their song writing. From original swing to funky fiddle-tune arrangements to exquisite ballads, My Sweet Patootie has been cited by music critics as having “two parts exemplary musicianship and one part vaudeville comedy” in a “must-see” show.
The trio has performed thousands of shows including theatres, festivals and clubs in Canada (Ontario, Manitoba and British Colombia), the United States from the Eastern Seaboard to the Midwest, and the United Kingdom. My Sweet Patootie is played regularly on CBC, NPR, and BBC Radio. They have performed live-to-air concerts on the nationally-syndicated WFMT “Folkstage” in Chicago, IL; WVBR’s “Bound for Glory” in Ithaca, NY; and BBC’s “The Drift” in Blackburn, Lancashire.
Concert in the Park is sponsored by the Clinton County Arts Council (CCAC) and the City of St. Johns. The St. Johns Lions and Lioness Club staff a concession stand each week offering light refreshments; all concerts are held rain or shine.
For information on Concert in the Park visit the CCAC web site, http://www.clintoncountyarts.org/ and check out the St. Johns City Park Performance Shell page on Facebook.