Biography

Tim Lake - Jazz with Bluegrass & Blues
Release Date: 1995

Recorded with his trio, The Little Big Band, these performances successfully blend the singer-songwriter and banjo player attributes of Tim Lake and his music. Hailed as one of “the great banjoists of any style” (Dirty Linen — Feb/Mar 1995) and an “especially good lyricist conveying social justice and ecological concerns” (Louisville Music News — April 1996), this recording will appeal both to listeners interested in instrumental virtuosity and fine songwriting. This is his only recording that features standard bluegrass band instrumentation throughout (banjo, guitar, mandolin, fiddle, and bass). Each song flows smoothly to the next while retaining a wide range of stylistic influences and a unique and eclectic banjo style. Thirteen of Lake's best songs to date are featured.

Jazz With Bluegrass & Blues

1. Jazz with Bluegrass & Blues 3:08

2. Everybody Walks With Jesus 2:58

3. I Come From Kentucky 2:25

4. Fire With Love 3:43

5. A Loser’s Attitude 3:35

6. Sheehan’s Smile 2:47

7. Big Old Ambur Oak 3:36

8. If It Weren’t For Growing Up 3:08

9. Conservative Clothes 3:40

10. A Great Country 7:45

11. A Big Fat Blowhard Like You 4:40

12. Home In My Eyes 3:21

13. Are You Happy? 1:42

14. Handel’s Dueling Banjos Con Alleluia Y Sarabande 4:37

All songs, words and music written by Tim Lake and published by Padraig Publishing, ASCAP, 1995. All Rights Reserved.

Musicians:

Tim Lake - 5-String Banjo, Guitar, Piano and String Arrangements on "A Great Country," and Lead and Background Vocals

Ken Holbrook - Guitar, Mandolin and Background Vocals

James Moore - Bass

Donny Moore - Fiddle

Produced, Engineered, and Mixed by Tim Lake for Lake's Sake Productions

Recorded at Pad's Place

Mastered at Masterfonics, Nashville, TN by Benny Quinn

Art direction, graphics and design: Gerald Muir Creative, Safety Harbor, FL

Photography: Lee Thomas, Lexington, KY

Electronics and technical assistance: Bill Johnson, W. H. Johnson Co.

Reviews

“Behold a new leading man of popular balladry: Tim Lake, reared in Kentucky and now likely to become a national phenomenon through the release of ‘Same Old Roadside Inn’ (Rounder). Instantly authoritative, Lake has a bold, resonant, flexible voice. He also wrote all the songs, and they range through lives as different as those of a destroyed guitar picker and a most content long- time lover.”
–Nat Hentoff, Cosmopolitan Magazine – December 1979

Jazz With Bluegrass And Blues, An American Concerto For 5-String Banjo And Orchestra, & Only In The Movies – “Lake continues to challenge the preconceived notions and expectations people fall back on that limit their openness to new and different sounds. In Lake’s musical world, there are no limits and no boundaries.”
–John Lupton, Music Hound – Folk, The Essential Album Guide, 1998



Jazz With Bluegrass And Blues, An American Concerto For 5-String Banjo And Orchestra, & Only In The Movies – “From his early Rounder album through these three releases on his own Padraig label, Lake has continually demonstrated a remarkable breadth of imagination and inventiveness as an instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, composer, and humorist.”
–John Lupton, Sing Out!, Winter 1998



Jazz With Bluegrass And Blues – “Reflects the mind of an artist who is at once a sensitive and compassionate social observer, as well as a joyful and talented musical spirit breaking new ground for a traditional instrument.”
–Eric Souders, Crossroads, March/April 1997



Jazz With Bluegrass And Blues – “He has combined his experience in bluegrass music with classical, jazz, blues, ragtime and folk to create a style he can certainly call his own. He has both technique and fresh ideas. Tim Lake’s recordings give us a glimpse into the mind of one of today’s leading progressive proponents.”
–Ian Perry, Banjo Newsletter, April 1997



“Jazz With Bluegrass And Blues is the perfect introduction to modern folk music to the uninitiated. Fans of Alison Krauss will love this album.”
–Brian Privett, Kentucky Kernel – December 4, 1995



“Jazz With Bluegrass And Blues, and the 13 original tunes show off Lake’s musicianship as well as his talent as a songwriter.”
–Jeff Worley, Ace Magazine – October 1995


About the Artist – Tim Lake

Tim Lake is a singer-songwriter, composer, performer, and teacher who was born in Manhattan, New York and raised in Lexington, Kentucky. Playing banjo and guitar, Tim has been a professional musician for over 40 years, has released eleven albums of original songs, and has performed internationally and across the United States with his group “The Little Big Band.”

Tim received a doctorate in music in 1991 from the University of Kentucky. In 1993, he performed and recorded the world premiere of his doctoral work, “An American Concerto For 5-String Banjo And Orchestra,” with the Atlanta-Emory Orchestra in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1995, his concerto was awarded Kentucky’s prestigious Al Smith Fellowship for music composition and he has also received recognition as a composer from ASCAP’s Standard and Popular Awards panel from 1994 through 2017.

Rounder Records released Tim’s first recording entitled “Same Old Roadside Inn” and in 1993, Tim started his own company, Padraig Records LLC, which has since released seven compact disc/cassette recordings. His recording efforts are very diverse in scope but easily fall within an ‘eclectic folk’ and Americana category in that they are unique banjo related efforts. “Jazz With Bluegrass And Blues” has as its major focus the singer-songwriter and banjo player attributes of his music while the “banjo concerto” and selections such as his banjo arrangement of Beethoven’s “Für Elise” should intrigue classical aficionados as well. The Padraig Records/ Audio Park release entitled “Live In Tokyo, Japan” features two duets with Japanese traditional musicians on shakuhachi and shamisen while “Kentucky Home” is a two CD set that is Tim’s first recording to feature primarily traditional music. He has received acclaim from respected music critics such as Nat Hentoff, Paul E. Comeau, and John Lupton.

Tim’s trio plays an eclectic mix of American music presented in an original show on banjo, guitar, bass, fiddle, and mandolin. The recording “Jazz With Bluegrass And Blues” best demonstrates his live show. A typical performance will take the listener through original songs with thought provoking lyric content, to Classical music on the banjo, to Jazz, and finally, to Bluegrass and Blues.

As a banjo artist, songwriter, and composer of the highest order, Tim Lake has performed his brand of American music with Kentucky style in international music festivals and concerts all over the world, including Tokyo, Osaka, and Yokosuka, Japan; Ambato and Quito, Ecuador; Bø, and Oslo, Norway; Graz, Austria; and Wexford, Ireland. His form of American music, boundless and refreshing, will always be welcomed by world audiences.

Education
D.M.A., University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, 1991.
Major: Music composition.

M.M., University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, 1988.
Major: Music composition.

B.A., University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, 1987.
Major: History.

B.A., University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky, 1983
Major: Music.

Contact Information:

Tim Lake
Padraig Records, LLC
P. O. Box 31
Wilmore, KY 40390
Phone/Fax: 859-858-0118/cell 859-797-6505
web site: www.TimLake.com
email: TimLakePAD@aol.com