My name is Donald Teplyske, and I try to keep this blog of sorts as active as possible.
I am a freelance roots and bluegrass writer with reviews and features appearing regularly in The Red Deer Advocate and The Lonesome Road Review http://lonesomeroadreview.wordpress.com. Until it’s demise this year, I also wrote for the fine publication Bluegrass Now for seven years, writing numerous reviews and a few features, one of which- on Dale Ann Bradley- was the cover story. I am honoured to be a member of the large Polaris Music Prize voting group. This is a group of music writers, journalists, broadcasters, and such charged with the responsibility of listening to, nominating, and eventually shortlisting the ‘best Canadian album of the year.’ So far, those I back haven’t fared so well, but I’ll keep advocating for the roots music albums I believe are worthy of consideration.
I am also the talent booker for the Waskasoo Bluegrass Music Society (www.waskasoobluegrass.com). Please contact me at fervorcoulee@shaw.ca if you have a project I should consider for review.
I live and write in lovely Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. My listening is all over the place- in one two weeks period this past summer, and just to provide some perspective, has included albums from Gary Numan, Chad Vangaalen, Colin Hay, The Inmates, Ian Dury & the Blockheads, Peggy Seeger, The Kinks, Kansas, Tom Russell, Mark Erelli, Chumbawamba, Tony Rice, King Harvest, It’s A Beautiful Day, Pete Townshend, Son of Dave, Gene Watson, Dave Davies, Billy Bragg, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Robin & Linda Williams, Kane Welch Kaplin, Drew Emmitt, Blue Moon Rising, Handsome Family, Johnny Cash, The Who, Rae Spoon, Jann Arden, Steve Earle, Thin Lizzy, and Hard Ryde. Yes, I spend much too much time listening to music. But, it is what I do when I’m not teaching, eating, or sleeping. I am most attracted to music that hits me in the belly…and that is a fairly large target but little hits dead center.
What I always come back to is roots music: classic folk singers, blazing bluegrass pioneers, Texas singer-songwriters, real blues music, modern acoustiblue innovators, striped down reworkings of rock staples, country singers from when country singers sang country, music from the land of the Scots, ‘world’ music (whatever that is), Americana…these are the musics I love. And they are the music I choose to write about.
I hope I’m able to add something to your day- a gravel road you can embark down while exploring your own musical journey.
I want Fervor Coulee to be a place where I can share my writing and thoughts about roots music. Some of the writing will be material published elsewhere, and some of it will be exclusive to the site. I have eight years of writing in my archives, and I hope to add-over time-some of the sharper pieces I’ve written to this site. For those interested in additional bluegrass reviews, many of my older reviews are available on the www.waskasoobluegrass.com site under the CD Reviews button.
I deliberately do not use a ‘rating’ system for my reviews. I have done so in the past, but have found that it is hard to be consistent and make the ratings mean something. I am in the process of revising an older system I found some what valuable, and therefore may be adding a five-point scale at some point in the future. [Revised note: Nah, ain't gonna do it. I do like the Paste 100 scale, but even that seems sticky. Should that reissue of Jesus of Cool be a 83 or an 84? Hmmm...]
About the name: Fervor was the name of the first Jason & the Scorchers album…alright, the first nationally released Jason & the Scorchers album…and was a significant album for me on first listen. As far as I can tell, when I first heard the album at work (ROW Entertainment, Edmonton) my music path was forever altered. Coulee, is a coulee and I was raised-for a while- near one. Fervor Coulee.
