Berea College student Jake Krack, a
young fiddler from West Virginia who plays old time Appalachian music,
is featured in a documentary airing on public television stations throughout
the United States on Wednesday, October 27, 2004 at 10 p.m. EST (locally
on KET1, channel 13).
“Soundmix: Five Young Musicians,” profiles Krack and
four other teenage musicians with deep connections to American musical
traditions. Each story explores the music, mentors, communities and
cultures that fuel the passions of these young players. The program
includes hometown profiles and scenes from a workshop where the musicians
meet for the first time and share their musical styles.
The one-hour special premiered on PBS Oct. 7. An advance on-campus
screening took place Sept. 30 that included a brief performance by
Jake and fellow members of the Berea Bluegrass Ensemble, the College
band Jake performs with.
Jake, a Berea sophomore from Nicut, W. Va., is a seasoned performer
and recording artist, who at age 19, has already notched a lifetime
of achievements. He’s won places in many of the top mountain
fiddle contests; recorded or played on eight CDs; appeared on radio’s “A
Prairie Home Companion” and “Mountain Stage;” performed
at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., and been featured on CNN
and in the ”New York Times.
This summer he won the 33rd Annual 2004 Mt. Airy, N.C. Fiddlers
Convention-Old Time Fiddle Contest; and with the "Whoopin Hollar
Stringband, won the 69th annual Galax Fiddlers Convention in Galax,
Va. and placed second at the Appalachian Stringband Festival in Clifftop,
W.Va. Last summer, he performed at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival
in Washington and also won the 68th Galax, Virginia fiddle contest.
In 2002, in Charleston, W. Va., he took first place in the 26th annual
Vandalia Gathering fiddle contest for fiddlers under the age of sixty,
becoming the youngest contestant ever to win this award, and also
in 2002 won the Mt. Airy, N.C. Old-Time Fiddle Contest.
Jake started playing the fiddle when he was three years old. When
he was 11, he and his family moved from Indiana to West Virginia
so they could be closer to the late master fiddler Melvin Wine, Jake's
long-time mentor and friend. In West Virginia, master fiddlers Lester
McCumbers and Bobby Taylor have also mentored Jake. Jake has studied
with these fiddlers as part of the Augusta Heritage Center Folk Arts
Apprenticeship Program.
"When I started learning I made a promise to Melvin, I've now
made a promise to Lester and Bobby, that if they teach me, and they've
taught me for free, then I will preserve it and keep it going and
pass it on to somebody else who's younger," says Jake.
Jake's father makes all of his fiddles—including Jake's first
one made out of cardboard. Jake's mom, an old time guitar player,
practices and performs with Jake. They play together at festivals
and local old time jams where musicians young and old come together
to celebrate the unique music of the region.
At Berea, Jake leads a well-rounded life. His job in the College’s
Labor Program is at Woodcraft. In addition to performing with the
Berea Bluegrass Ensemble, led by Al White, veteran performer and
guitar teacher at Berea, Jake is a member of the College’s
Ultimate Frisbee Team. He is also scheduled to perform at this year's
Additional information is available at Jake’s website, www.jakekrack.com
In addition to Krack, "Soundmix" introduces Troy "Trombone
Shorty" Andrews, a jazz horn player from New Orleans; Hovia
Edwards, a Native American flute player from the Shoshone-Bannock
Reservation in Fort Hall, Idaho; Camilo Molina Gaetan, a Latin drummer
from New York City; and Gabrielle Athayde, a classical cellist and
rock 'n roll bassist from the San Francisco Bay Area. Mentors featured
in the program include trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, the late old time
fiddle legend Melvin Wine and master Latin drummer Louis Bauzo.
Accompanying the broadcast is a website that includes lesson plans
for middle- and high-school music and social studies classes. This
resource for schools can be found at www.freerangeproductions.org.
"Soundmix: Five Young Musicians" is a Free Range Productions
project produced by Pamela Benson and Claudia Mogel. Major funding
for the project was provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
Diversity Fund, with additional funding from the by Native American
Public Telecommunications (NAPT). Additional outreach funding was
provided by Latino Public Broadcasting (LPB).
For more information about Jake, contact Julie Sowell, (859) 985-3028
or Jay Buckner, (859) 985-3023
For more about “Soundmix” and additional photos visit
www.freerangeproductions.org or contact
Claudia Mogel, Producer
(718) 625-1356
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