Ash Grove (music club)

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Coordinates: 34°05′01″N 118°22′02″W / 34.08349°N 118.36733°W / 34.08349; -118.36733
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The Ash Grove was a folk music club located at 8162 Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, California, United States, founded in 1958 by Ed Pearl and named after the Welsh folk song, "The Ash Grove."

In its fifteen years of existence, the Ash Grove altered the music scene in Los Angeles and helped many artists find a West Coast audience.

Ian and Sylvia, Kathy and Carol, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, New Lost City Ramblers, The Weavers, The Greenbriar Boys, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Lightnin' Hopkins, John P. Hammond, Luke "Long Gone" Miles, Barbara Dane, Holly Near, Arlo Guthrie, Rising Sons, Mance Lipscomb, Guy and Candie Carawan, John Jacob Niles, Bukka White, Howlin' Wolf, Johnny Shines, John Fahey, Willie Dixon, Lonnie Mack, Kris Kristofferson
, and Country, featuring Michael Fondiler and Tom Snow. Country's performance was hosted by Mick Jagger. Michael and Mick Jagger were old friends.

Lou Gottlieb, Alex Hassilev and Glenn Yarbrough
; quoting from the back cover of the album, "You leave the Ash Grove convinced your friends were right. This group IS great." Lee Shito, The Billboard

"A university of folk music"

Folk singer Ross Altman likened the Ash Grove to a "West Coast University of Folk Music."

Byrds Chris Hillman and Clarence White met at the Ash Grove while both were in high school. They then played there with The Byrds on May 23, 1969.[4]

While the club was best known for "folk" or "roots" music, such as bluegrass and blues, Ed Pearl also featured socially committed jazz and rock artists, such as Oscar Brown Jr., Chuck Berry, James Booker and Jackson Browne. And, long before there was a recognized "world" genre in the music industry, the Ash Grove provided a venue in Los Angeles for such diverse performers as Ravi Shankar, Mongo Santamaría, Miriam Makeba and the Virgin Islands Steel Band.

The Ash Grove also became associated with the cultural and political ferment of the 1960s. In the coffee house tradition, Pearl encouraged an occasional mix of music with poetry, lecture, film or comedy.

Rowan & Martin and Steve Allen brought their comedy and commentary to the Ash Grove. Luis Valdez's El Teatro Campesino performed, as did Dr. Demento, poet Charles Bukowski and artists campaigning against the Vietnam War, such as Jane Fonda
.

Attacks and closing

When travelers returning from Cuba gave talks or showed Cuban films, the Ash Grove became the target of angry demonstrations and threatened violence by Cuban exiles. A series of fires, including what patrons believed was an arson attack, led to the club's demise in 1973.

Following the military coup in Chile that same year, Pearl lent his expertise to Los Angeles solidarity activists, helping them set up major concerts for such Latin American nueva canción groups as Inti-Illimani, Quilapayún, Los Parra and Los Folkloristas, as well as the first-ever Los Angeles concert by Catalan singer-songwriter Joan Manuel Serrat. These events were part of the gestation of world music in Los Angeles.

Legacy

Some 3,000 hours of recorded live performances at the Ash Grove have survived.

In a way, the Ash Grove was a victim of its own success[

Radio Homogenization
.

After the Ash Grove closed in 1973, LA Times music critic Robert Hilburn wrote its obituary, which included an anecdote about the club's influence on the Rolling Stones: "On his way out of the Ash Grove one night, Mick Jagger, a frequent visitor to the club, shook Pearl's hand in gratitude. He simply wanted to thank Pearl for all the entertainment – and no doubt musical education – the club had given him." And, Hilburn concluded, "The Ash Grove's contribution to this city's musical heritage was invaluable."[5]

In 1974, the Los Angeles branch of the New York City-based comedy venue, The Improv, opened in the former Ash Grove space, where it established its own reputation and prominence, up to this day.

In 2015, a series of Ash Grove-branded musical events, including a 57th Anniversary Concert, was held at the Improv, under the guidance of Ed Pearl, celebrating the Ash Grove's history and legacy in its original venue.[6] Featured performers for these events included Claudia Lennear, The Chambers Brothers, Roy Zimmerman[7] and Jackson Browne.

Two other notable musicians -- brothers Dave Alvin and Phil Alvin -- have often discussed the formative experiences they had at the Ash Grove.[8][9] The title song of Dave Alvin's 2004 album Ashgrove sets his memories and the club's history to music.

References

  1. ^ [1][dead link]
  2. ^ "Jackie and Ry at The Ash Grove". Dec 17, 2009. Retrieved Aug 10, 2021.
  3. ^ Linda Ronstadt interviewed by the Los Angeles Times music critic Robert Hilburn (need date of article).
  4. ^ Moseley, Willie G. (October 2002). "Chris Hillman: Bluegrass, Bass and Back Again". Vintage Guitar Magazine.[permanent dead link]
  5. ^ Robert Hilburn, Los Angeles Times, December 15, 1973
  6. ^ "57th Anniversary Show". Ash Grove Music. 2016-01-18. Retrieved 2018-07-22.
  7. ^ "The Chambers Brothers and Roy Zimmerman". Ash Grove Music. 2016-01-19. Retrieved 2018-07-22.
  8. ^ Siegmund Cuda, Heidi (June 30, 1996). "Rising from the Ash's Ashes". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 12, 2021.
  9. ^ Dougherty, Steve (May 29, 2014). "A Torn-Up Band of Brothers, Finally on the Mend". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 26, 2014.

External links

  • Official web site ashgrovemusic.com expired on 09/02/2016 and is pending renewal or deletion.

34°05′01″N 118°22′02″W / 34.08349°N 118.36733°W / 34.08349; -118.36733

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