An Elk River Boy made good

Buckeye Harmonica Festival

This was my second year at Buckeye Harmonica Festival, which is held each April in Columbus, Ohio. It's a good chance to see what's new in the harmonica world, representatives of the various harmonica makers, especially Seydel, Suzuki and Hering (although I didn't see Hering this year) are there each year.

As a harmonica technician, the table I most enjoyed was the Buckeye Harmonica club table, where, and this is my assumption, club members donate items to be sold to raise money for the club. I love wood-comb harmonicas and I bought an old wood-body Hering chromatic there for five dollars. It was marked “parts only,” which I considered a personal challenge.

The problem with this harmonica was the threads were stripped on the metal insert that the mouthpiece screw goes in. It's almost impossible to drill something hard like metal when surrounded by something soft like wood, the drill bit wants to slide off the metal and into the wood. I was able to remove the insert by drilling around it and taking it out from the side. Now, I'm gluing wood into the part I've drilled out and I'll have a new mouthpiece screw going into that. It's going to be a very good chromatic harmonica for five dollars.

Most people go to see old friends and maybe make a few new ones as well. One of the most interesting old friends is “Smokey” Joe Leone. He smokes cigarettes made from tobacco he grows in his garden, but that's not how he earned his nickname. He is a retired Pennsylvania state trooper.

Joe, the son of a diplomat, has been playing harmonica since he was a child growing up around the world. In Joe's day, there weren't guys like me available who repaired harmonicas and had there been, there wasn't really money for that anyway. So when a reed failed, Joe either replaced it with a reed from another harmonica he had laying around or made it himself. I've actually got a reed he made from a .38 Special cartridge casing and a windsaver (the ever-so-vital air valve for chromatic harmonicas) he made from magnetic recording tape. He also once made a reed out of a razor blade, but says that project was more trouble than it was worth. One of the things I enjoy most about Buckeye is talking to these old guys about how they used to do things.

Joe played on stage at Buckeye 2007, but unfortunately, didn't have an opportunity to play on stage this year, although his performance the previous year were extremely well received. Hopefully, he'll be on stage next year. Joe isn't hard to find, however, he spends most of his Buckeye time in the hotel lobby giving impromptu and informal harmonica workshops for beginners.

Joe isn't the only one who offers free advice and instruction at the festival. A trip to Buckeye, if you're willing to listen, can help any player graduate to a higher level of playing.

On Thursday night, I listened to the Buckeye Harmonica Band, Harmonica Junction and Hoosier Harmonicas. It's great to see how those harmonica trios, quartets, etc. work. There aren't many of them left and the number is constantly declining. It's something you ought to see while it's still around.

That was followed by the Buckeye Blues Review with Teeny Tucker, an EXCELLENT blues singer, and Dave Gastell on harmonica. It was also a pleasure to see the great Jimi Lee and Rupert Oysler.

The harmonica community is really two separate communities, the old-time and jazz musicians, and blues musicians. I enjoy both, but the older jazz guys typically don't enjoy blues playing very well and a lot of blues players feel the same way about the old-time and jazz. The Thursday evening line-up may have been scheduled to bring those two groups closer together, I don't know, but Tucker and the Buckeye Blues Review followed the harmonica trios. As the blues review began, many, with some exceptions of the old-time and jazz fans filed out. I think it sent the wrong message. There were exceptions, of course. It might be a better idea to separate genres by time or stage next year.

Other performances throughout the event included: The Buckeye Harmonica Club Band, Harmonica Junction, Hoosier Harmonicas, The Kromatics, Sandy German, The Hot Shots, Chris Bauer, The HARPbeats and others. There were also open-mic events and numerous workshops, plus the Jazz Cabaret, a jam for jazz musicians to try out their skills with others.

I went to a blues jam Thursday night. We sat in a circle taking turns with solos while Jimi Lee backed on guitar. All said, it's certainly worth a relatively short drive to Columbus. Wouldn't miss it for the world next year.

On a related note, harmonica virtuoso Jason Ricci will be playing at The Front Row in Parkersburg 9 p.m. May 29.

Here is a video of Seydel Rep Rupert Oysler on a Low C 1847 Harmonica at Buckeye: