The Sidetrackers at the ESRM - July 19th

Dakin Morehouse (WCA member and (President of the ESRM0 sent me this announcement.

“Songs and Stories of the Great Catskill Moutain Railroads - The Sidetrackers”

Sunday
3-5pm July 19, 2009
Empire State Railway Museum
Phoenicia, NY

Merging their fascination with railroading with American folk music, on July 19 from 3-5 pm, the duo band “The Sidetrackers” will relive the days when the Catskills railroad was alive with hobos, heroes and villains. Performing at the Empire State Railroad Museum in Phoenicia, NY, songs and stories will include the history of the region where locomotives from the Ulster & Delaware, Catskill Mountain and other railroad companies passed through the region.

Both performers have a long history performing regional folk music. Ira McIntosh’s mother is a folklorist-ethnomusicologist and Jim’s great-grandfather was a fireman on the U&D Railroad. Together they play a variety of instruments including guitar, mandolin, harmonica and bass.

The event will be on July 19th from 3-5pm at the Empire State Railway Museum. located in Phoenicia, NY.

This concert is part of the 2009 Hudson River Quadracentennial Celebration organized by the Heritage Folk Music, Inc., a not-for-profit group that highlights regional and historic folk music, folklore and oral history of the Catskill Mountains and Hudson River Valley. Admission is $8.00. For more information, please contact Bob Lusk at (845) 594-4412.

(This concert is made possible in part by a grant from the New York State Quadracentennial Commission.)

Further information:

Ira McIntosh is from Bovina, a Catskill Mountain town that the railroad never quite reached (the roadbed was built but the rails haven’t come yet). He lives two-thirds of the way up Delaware County’s highest peak with his wife and two magnificent children. As the child of a folklorist/ethnomusicologist and a Catskill Mountain woodsman, Ira spent his early days simmering in the good old time heritage of the region. In 1954, Ira’s mother and grandfather rode on the last passenger train over the U&D rails from Stamford to Oneonta. (845) 676-4727

Jim Donnelly was born in Kingston, New York where he’s been crazy about trains since childhood. Mischievous Jim is a published poet and an exciting performer of all sorts of music from Hudson River folk songs and traditional Irish tunes to rock and roll. Jim’s great-grandfather was a fireman on the U&D Railroad and later on the Wallkill Valley line. (845) 266-5734

Fifty-four years later, in December of 2008, “The Sidetrackers”, each with their youngest child, were among the first riders to enjoy service over a long-unused stretch of U&D trackage thanks to the people of the Catskill Mountain Railroad who work very hard to make that experience available to folks in our area.