Whereabouts of Bob and Melody Thomason

Subject: Whereabouts of Bob and Melody Thomason
From: pyewacket
Date: 11 May 03 - 02:58 PM

Can anyone please help to locate a source of Bob and Melody's CD's?
They have a website listed at http://www.hornpipe.com/hp/thomason.htm
but there is no response to either their phone number(now unlisted) or their P.O.Box. I talked to "Warren May" this year at Berea Kentucky and he said that a few years back Bob had been in and played some of the mountain dulcimers Warren makes, but he has not seen or heard from him since. I have Bob's "Wayfaring Stranger" and "I'll Fly Away" on one CD.
I would love to obtain more of his CD's but cannot establish any link to communicate with him. Any help would be much apprreciated.
Thank you.

Subject: RE: Whereabouts of Bob and Melody Thomason
From: katlaughing
Date: 11 May 03 - 04:38 PM

Here is a nice articale baout them with a complete discography for the time. You might ask Dick Greenhaus, owner of the Digital Tradition and Camsco Music if he can find a CD for you - that's his specialty - finding hard to get. You give him the names from the discography and i"ll bet he can find something for you.:-)

Bob & Melody Thomason
Modal Strains of a "Mountain Romance"


by Jill Adams-Lacey
A Mountain Romance, the latest recording (1994) of Bob and Melody Thomason, is an apt title. It's a simple blending of the many talents of this north Georgia mountain music couple. Their music is central to their marriage. Both of them sing, and Bob accompanies them on his self-made lap dulcimers, as well as frailed banjo and guitar. The arrangements they deliver are worth archiving for posterity's sake, but the Thomasons are not doing it for posterity. They're doing it for now.

The singing comes straight from the hills, without apology. Folk hymns share a mixed repertoire with early country ("Railway to Heaven"), Stephen Foster classics ("Hard Times, Come Again No More") and mountain masterpieces ("Shady Grove" - played at near warp speed on the banjo).

"'Folk music,'" Melody opines, "is such a big term." She shakes her head slowly and smilingly puts aside any analysis of what they're up to. When all is said and done, it's simple enough. "I love old hymns, and I just love to harmonize!"

Bob does, too. Listen to their a capella early American hymns like "Brightest and Best" or the haunting, traditional shape-note tune "Warrenton." "Come, Thou Fount of every blessing; tune my heart to sing Thy praise. . . ." Melody's voice sweetly renders the lead. Bob adds modal alto harmony on the chorus: "I will arise and go to Jesus; He will embrace me in His arms. . . ."

The sound is plain as a bald mountain, but riveting. You don't want it to end. . . .


College Courtship, Continuing Romance
Bob is from Westminster, a village in the northeastern corner of South Carolina. Melody, daughter of a music teacher, is from Homestead, FL. They met at Clemson University, where he was studying agricultural education, she sociology. It was, indeed a mountain romance.

And it continues, enveloping Bob's full-time music career. He's known nationally as the wearer of several hats: performer, story teller and dulcimer maker extraordinaire. He was named 1986 southeastern dulcimer champion at the Mountain View, AR, competition. By that time, he'd begun building dulcimers himself to sell at his Helen, GA, dulcimer shop. This month (March 1996) he's building Number 0700. His instruments are being played by dulcimists across the country, most of whom discovered him at one of the many festivals at which he's appeared, or by word of mouth.

Bob averages making 30-60 news dulcimers annually (he built 110 one year). His "line" consists of exactly one hour-glass, "Kentucky-style" model, which "sort of evolved" after experimenting with different scales and body depths. "It's been best for me, focusing on just one model, because I'm only a part-time maker."

He builds only a four-stringed instrument. His intent: to produce a high-quality dulcimer "in the affordable range."

"I use mostly Appalachian hardwoods - maple, cherry, walnut, butternut, sassafras and occasionally wormy chestnut, when I can get it." A Thomason dulcimer costs a flat $300 with case and instruction book.

He credits Bob Mize of Tennessee and Furman Thornton of Georgia as his primary dulcimer making mentors. Overall, he points out, "dulcimer makers are buddies. We don't see each other as competition. We swap wood, swap stories. And I've found that to be true of folk musicians in general."

When he's not in his shop, his time is spent performing. Elder Hostel venues have become his favorites. "It's great fun," he notes. "That generation turned the corner on modern times. They're 99-percent positive. There'll never be another generation like that one. They're my favorite audience - they and third-graders. But actually, I'll play for anybody who'll listen - and some who don't."

He also teaches dulcimer, at Elder Hostels, schools, camps and elsewhere. He's been an instructor at Mountain View's Ozark Folk Center and has taught as far away as Maine. But, he says, "I make most of my living within an hour or two of home. That makes it nice."

Over the years, Bob has worked in Irish, bluegrass and stringband groups. "There are beau-coups of great musicians in our county, of every kind: blues, Celtic, bluegrass. They're incredible."

Today, however, he prefers to work either solo or with Melody, a public school special education teacher who joins him onstage as often as she can. "My family liked to sing when I was growing up," Melody says. "I'm so used to singing harmony, sometimes I don't know what the melody is."

The Thomasons have a daughter, Laurel, 15, and a son, Andrew, 13.

Besides their joint cassette, Bob has five solo dulcimer-based recordings. The complete index:


Discography
A Mountain Romance (1994) (cassette only)
Homespun Dress; Little Birdie; Hard Times; Brightest and Best; Railway to Heaven; Sorrow in the Wind; Shady Grove; Warrenton; Storms on the Ocean; Beautiful Star


Riders in the Sky (1992) (cassette only)
Riders in the Sky; Lorena; Down Yonder; Maggie; Falls of Richmond/Boatin' Up Sandy; Bridget O'Malley; Ashokan Farewell; Red-Haired Boy/Quince Dylan; Waltzing Matilda/Tennessee Waltz; Smash the Windows; Shenandoah; Joe O'Dowd/Swallowtail Jig; Be Still, My Soul


Hearthside Christmas (1990) (casette only)
Christmas in Kilarney/I Saw Three Ships; O Come, Immanuel; Infant Holy, Infant Lowly; Angels We Have Heard; Hark the Herald Angels Sing/First Noel; O Little Town of Bethlehem; Silent Night; Silver Bells; Conventry Carol/Shepherd's Carol; Deck the Halls/Bring a Torch; We Three Kings/God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen; Lo, How a Rose/Of the Father's Love Begotten


I'll Fly Away (1989) (CD or cassette)
I'll Fly Away/Uncloudy Day; Amazing Grace; Simple Gifts/How Firm a Foundation; Be Thou My Vision; On Jordan's Stormy Banks/Brethren We Have Met; Holy, Holy, Holy; Shall We Gather at the River?/When the Roll Is Called; Sweet Hour of Prayer/Just as I Am; Life's Railway to Heaven; My Jesus, I Love Thee/Fairest Lord Jesus; My Shepherd Shall Supply My Need


Wayfarin' Stranger (1988) (CD or cassette)
Wayfarin' Stranger; Boatman; Canadian Waltz; When She Cam Ben/Lark in the Morning; What a Friend We Have in Jesus; The Ash Grove; Danny Boy; Haste to the Wedding; Noveau Noelle/Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence; A Mazurka; Harvest Home; Maggie in the Woods/Western Country


There Is a Season (1985) (cassette only)
Boys of Blue Hill; Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring; Greensleeves; Mississippi Sawyer/Spotted Pony; Beauty in Tears; Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus; Morning Has Broken; Boys of Wexford/Dennis Murphy's Slide; Carolan's Welcome/Star of County Down; Green Willis; A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

Subject: RE: Whereabouts of Bob and Melody Thomason
From: pyewacket
Date: 11 May 03 - 04:58 PM

Subject: RE: Whereabouts of Bob and Melody Thomason
From: pyewacket
Date: 11 May 03 - 05:04 PM

Dear Kat:
Thank you for your response. I have checked out Camsco Music and they only list a "Thomasson" but I will give them a call next week and inquire further. The CD that I have is delightful and I surely would like more.
Pyewacket

Subject: RE: Whereabouts of Bob and Melody Thomason
From: katlaughing
Date: 11 May 03 - 09:38 PM

You're welcome. It is best to call Dick at Camsco, or send him a PM here, at the Mudcat, as it is impossible for him to keep everything listed on the website, plus he knows where to find the unusual which wouldn't show up on the website, too. Good luck!

Subject: RE: Whereabouts of Bob and Melody Thomason
From: IvanB
Date: 12 May 03 - 12:17 AM

Bob self-produces his cassettes and CD's on a fairly small scale, so Dick may not have them readily available and may not have the info to get them. If not, Bob and Melody regularly teach a course in Elderhostels sponsored by Dalton State College in Georgia. You might contact Carol Burton, the Elderhostel Coordinator there and see if she could give you Bob's email address or, alternatively pass yours along to him for him to get back to you.

Carol Burton's email

Subject: RE: Whereabouts of Bob and Melody Thomason
From: pyewacket
Date: 12 May 03 - 01:11 PM

Dear IvanB:
Thanks so much for your interest and your recommendation. I have explained the situation to Carol Burton in my recent email and I am hoping for the best.
I will keep you informed of further developments.