You're My Home by Billy Joel - From Banjo to Nevah

Hey there … Hal the Nevah prograssabilly Banjo Guy here …

When I first brought "You're My Home", a song by Billy Joel, to a NEVAH practice I hadn't quite worked out the entire arrangement. All I had was an opening lick and an interesting descending chord progression ending. However, as with all the material we choose to perform everyone pitched in an idea or two and before you know it … a Nevah twist.

After we worked out the Nevah Band arrangement I played with my own variation, a really sweet banjo instrumental played on my Stelling Sunflower that sounds flashy, looks harder to play than it is, travels up and down the neck and makes me feel like I have "chops." I find it's fun to play fast, however, when singing it I like to keep a medium tempo.

Below you will find some information about the song and I've included the lyrics. The next time you come to a NEVAH performance, if you'd like to hear our arrangement of the song, let us know. After the show I'd be happy to demo the banjo instrumental version too.

"You're My Home"
music and Lyrics by Billy Joel  (a You Tube link to a 1976 performance by Billy Joel)

"You're My Home" was introduced on Billy Joel's album Piano Man, in 1973. It appeared on four other albums and was covered by several well known singers including Helen Reddy.


When you look into my eyes
And you see the crazy gypsy in my soul
It always comes as a surprise
When I feel my withered roots begin to grow
Well I never had a place that I could call my very own
That's all right, my love, 'cause you're my home

When you touch my weary head
And you tell me everything will be all right
You say, "Use my body for your bed
And my love will keep you warm throughout the night"
Well I'll never be a stranger and I'll never be alone
Whenever we're together, that's my home

Home can be the Pennsylvania Turnpike
Indiana's early morning dew
High up in the hills of California
Home is just another word for you

Well I never had a place that I could call my very own
That's all right, my love, 'cause you're my home

If I travel all my life
And I never get to stop and settle down
Long as I have you by my side
There's a roof above and good walls all around
You're my castle, you're my cabin and my instant pleasure dome
I need you in my house 'cause you're my home.
You're my home.

Bluegrass and Country bars in Tokyo

Hal here, the NEVAH Banjo Guy …

I kiddingly mentioned to the group that one of my goals, for NEVAH, was to get us on tour in countries who appreciate our type of progressive New Grass, Blue Grass Music … Japan just happens to be one of the countries I would like to see us tour.

I personally visited Japan many years ago, I love the people, the culture, the food, Aikdio (the martial art) and was excited to find there is a rich Bluegrass, Country, NewGrass culture throughout the land.
A friend and Teacher of mine … Tony Trischka has toured Japan several times and been well received.

Below is a list of some bluegrass and country bars in The Tokyo Area. Nevah has these on their mailing list and hope that someday we'll get an opportunity to perform at a few of them.

Japanese Bars and Restaurants with Live BG and Country Music

Knowles Benefit - Nevah in concert

Nevah, Maine's newgrass-ish, prograssabilly band, will be performing on Sunday, October 14th - at the Knowles Family Benefit.

Come join us at the NEW … MORITA'S School of Dance Studio in Hermon to help support this family.

For more information please see the poster below …

NEVAH BAND NEWGRASS at The Blue Hill Fair

NEVAH a SMASH HIT at BLUE HILL FAIR

NEVAH, Maine's progressive bluegrass, newgrass, prograssabilly band appeared at the Blue Hill Fair Sept 1, 2012 …

Here are some images of the event that captivated the fair attendees and drew a huge crowd for the hour and a half performance of NEVAH fan favorites including original songs, soon to be featured on the upcoming NEVAH Album …

The day was perfect, the sun was shining, and there was a slight breeze as the Men of Nevah arrived at the Blue Hill Fair Mid-Way stage.

Set-up was a breeze and the sound check went without a hitch … before you knew it was
"SHOW TIME"

Midway Stage at the Blue Hill Fair - as Nevah Set's Up

NEVAH on Stage at the Blue Hill Fair 2012

Phil Pitula Bass & Vocals  & Ed Russell Lead Vocals, Flute & Sax from Nevah 

NEVAH's Larry LeBlanc Lead Guitar & Vocals

Nevah's Banjo Guy Hal Meyers a Singin & Richard Silver Singin and playing Mandolin

Jack Anderson - Pedal Steel, Dobro & Guitar next to Dick Knipping on Drums

Kent Palmer - Making NEVAH sound great!

Nevah's Jack Anderson on Pedal Steel

Ed on FLute and Phil on Bass

Dick Knipping NEVAH's drummer settin' the beat

Crowds gathered around during NEVAH's Show

Sultans's of String in Concert with Abbott Hill Ramblers

Hey fans of NEVAH, Maine's progressive new grass, prograssabilly band …

… this just in from our good friend, Chris Prickitt, of the well known group EVERGREEN:

In Concert

The Sultans of String

Chris McKhool (violin) and Kevin Laliberté (guitar),

with

The Abbott Hill Ramblers

OpeningThursday, October 4

Ridge View Community School

Fern Rd. Dexter

Time: 7:00 p.m.

Suggested Donation   Adults: $8   Students: $3

For further information please call:  924 -6000 or  924-4121

Press Release:
Touring  Sultans of String to Make Dexter Appearance! 
(Abbott Hill Ramblers to Open October 4 Show)

An award-winning duo from Toronto, Ontario, Chris Mckhool and KevinLaliberte (the “Sultans of String”) will be in concert in Dexter onThursday, October 4at the Ridge View Community School.

The Abbott Hill Ramblers will open the show at 7:00 p.m.

The Sultans’ music is an organic mix of rhumba, gypsy, jazz, MiddleEastern, and Spanish Flamenco.The group will also conduct a workshop for students at Ridge View that afternoon.       

Suggested donations at the door are $8 for adults and $3 for students.       
For  more information, call 924-6000 or 924-4121.

NEVAH Appearing at 2012 Blue Hill Fair

NEVAH … 

Maine's Atypical Progressive, Newgrass … Prograssabilly band is appearing at this years 2012 Blue Hill Fair 

This Saturday - Sept 1 from Noon to 1:30 pm 

on the Midway Stage

NEVAH, Maine's atypical, newgrass, prograssabilly band flyer for the 2012 Blue Hill Fair

Make sure you stop by to see us! 

Email us if you don't get a chance to say hello … nevahband@gmail.com

JUST THE BEST BAND IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!! – NEVAH

NEVAH band  - IS JUST THE BEST BAND IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!! (Borrowed from the movie "Cars" - Mater!!) 

We plan to enjoy your music again (as we always do!) this Saturday!! "Break a leg"!!  God Bless

NEVAH Appearing at the 2012 Blue Hill Fair

Maine's progressive NewGrass, Prograssabilly Band will be appearing at the OLD TOWN RIVERFRONT PARK on Thursday 

AUGUST 2nd, 2012

– 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm –

NEVAH - Maine's Progressive NEWGRASS BAND
As seen in the BANGOR DAILY NEWS 7/17/2012

Listed in the Bangor Daily News EVENTS section …

NEVAH - PROGRASSABILLY Music in Portland Maine

NEVAH brought their special brand of "PROGRASSABILLY" music to Andy's Old Port Pub in Portland Maine.

To unofficially help kick-off the Portland Performing Arts and Port Fringe Festival NEVAH performed for three hours at Andy's Old Port Pub. 

Throughout the evening a full house of patrons were thoroughly delighted by the song stylings of  Phil, Ed, Richard, Larry, Jack, Dick and Hal as they wove their way through a wide variety of tunes, including several NEVAH original songs. 

As you can tell by the band configuration, we were squeezed into a very tight space … and it worked perfectly. As Larry put it, "this is the closest we've ever come to performing in a setting that matches Phil's living room".

We knew all was well because at the end of the evening the staff from Andy's Pub asked when NEVAH could return for another performance. Nice!

Good Food, Good Drink, Good Folks, Good Music …

A Good Time was had by all …

Hal

The Nevah Banjo Guy

Portland Performing Arts Festival and Portland Fringe a NEVAH Opportunity

Hey fans of Nevah … this is the Portland Performing Arts Festival and Port Fringe Festival Kick-0ff Week and it just so happens that Nevah is going to be in Portland performing at Andy's Pub … 

NEVAH will be appearing at ANDY's OLD PORT PUB

94 Commercial St, Portland, ME 04101

This Wednesday June 27th

8:00 PM to 11:00 PM


Come in for some "Great Food & Good Fun"

Hope to see ya there!

NEVAH in Concert at BOWMAN BENEFIT

Hellooooo … NEVAH fans, please put June 24th on your calendar and help us raise funds to support the BOWMAN BENEFIT from 6 to 9pm at the Church of the Open Door, Rt 1A in Hampden. 


There will be a tremendous Silent Auction (we're talkin' good stuff), Amazing Desserts, superb camaraderie and a Concert by NEVAH along with the appearance of surprise guests (and we're not letting the cat out of the bag on this one, it's a real surprise).


Check out the Flyer below and call the number listed - 207•356•5166 - if you have any questions.


See you there …


Hal
The NEVAH Banjo Guy

Been a While

We don't want you to think we – NEVAH – have vanished, lost in the Maine woods, so I thought I would send out a quick update on where we will be this summer …

June 24th, 6 p.m. at the Church of the Open Door in Hampden we will be helping to raise funds for some good friends of ours who have had some medical bills to contend with …

June 29th at the Buchanan Alumni Center at the University of Maine we will be ushering in our third Doctors graduating class from their internship at Eastern Maine Medical Center …

July 9th at the Veterans Home in Bangor, our 13th year entertaining those who have served our country allowing us the freedom to play our music …

August 2nd we will be playing in the park in Old Town as part of their summer concert series starting around 5:30 p.m. …

one last venue for now on September 1st at the Blue Hill Fair one of the best in Maine.

Thats all for now, stayed tuned (no pun intended) for more from NEVAH.

NEVAH on MIKE & MIKE Kiss 94.5

NEVAH … actually a portion thereof, will be appearing tomorrow morning from 7am to 9am on the MIKE & MIKE show … Kiss 94.5


Yes … That's tomorrow morning WEDNESDAY APRIL 4TH (it's not April 1st - so you know it's not an April fools joke).


Ed Russell, Lawrence LeBlanc and Hal Meyers will be with Mike Dow from 7 am on until 9 am. Hopefully we will have a surprise guest with us too. But, we don't know if they'll show up, so it will be a surprise if they do appear.


I'm going to bed now - gotta get up real early …


Hal
TNBG (The Nevah Banjo Guy)

NEVAH Draws Record Crowd to Bangor Grange

A BIG THANK YOU TO OUR FANS!

Nevah would like to thank everyone who attended this past Saturday's show - March 17th -  at the Bangor Grange. A fun time was had by all as we performed a wide range of songs along with some Irish tunes in honor of St. Patricks Day. For those of you who have not been to one of our recent shows we've added several surprises to our repertoire, including six original tunes.

According to the Bangor Grange folk Nevah drew the "largest crowd the Grange has ever had for a show and the largest crowd they've ever had for a show and suppah combination." And, I must tell you, the SUPAH was AMAZING!!! It's worth going to one of their suppahs even if you just have dessert. Believe it or not, they served ten (10) different kinds of pie along with incredible corned beef, mashed potatoes, turnips, cabbage and handmade rolls. Yuuuuummmmy!

Make sure to check out the Bangor Granges schedule, in the Bangor Daily News, for their up coming shows. Nevah would especially like to thank Rolf Staples and the dedicated Bangor Grange crew for their hospitality and a wonderful evening.

Check back at the Nevah site, often, as we will be announcing our up coming performances for the next several months. We've already booked the summer concert series in Old Town and the 2012 Blue Hill Fair, with more gigs on the way.

Best regards,

Hal

Nevah Banjo Guy

NEVAH at Bangor GRANGE

Friends and fans of the NEVAH BAND …

SATURDAY AT THE BANGOR GRANGE

MARCH 17th

NEVAH in concert AT 7:00 PM ($7.00)

ST. PATRICK'S DAY GRANGE SUPPAH AT 5:30 PM ($7.00)

– GET BOTH SUPPAH & SHOW FOR $12.00 –

We hope you will come out to catch the show, maybe come early and have a St. Patricks Day Meal

Tell your friends …

NEXT SHOW

Relief in the Cabin

Howdy to you folks out here in blogville.  I'm sitting here thinking about the most recent show we did in Brewer, which we billed as a Cabin Fevah Relievah.  This is Larry (guitar guy) by the way.  In spite of the fact that it had been a little while since we dusted off the old sound system, things pretty much went off without a hitch.  That is, until Phil's guitar cord made such a noise that we thought the entire place had been engulfed in a magnetic field.  Phil said it was his defibrillator, or was it his defibillator, or his fundibulator....We had a great crowd, a full room which we appreciate, and really a wonderful time.

We're always trying to recreate the sound and the feeling we get when we play in Phil's living room, which doesn't always happen.  But surrounded by friends and family, and a few new fans, I think we came pretty close.  A number of songs new to the Nevah repertoire made their debut at this show.  Ed's "A Rare But Serious Side Effect" (replete with an extended reading of possible side effects by Ed) and Phil's "Hometown Open Road" (probably the most rock-oriented song we play now) and Jack's "semi-classical" (truck that is) tune "Semi (Drive, Drive, Drive)" were real highlights of the evening.  "Road Less Travelled" another of Phil's originals featured Hal on "pianjo" - more of a hybrid "style" than a hybrid instrument!  There is truly only one Hal in this world!  Another tune new to the band - "Moonlight and Music" which came to us by way of the Persuasions, featured acapella singing and a tip of the hat to another great musical tradition, Doo Wop.  We in Nevah are true music lovers and try to pay tribute to all of the great musical styles we have heard and have been moved by over the years.  A special moment was when Phil called up his brother Peter to sing "Moonlight and Music" with us.

So gang, that's all the news until the next time we mount the horse and take another trip around the musical carousel.  Stay tuned - we try to make each show different, and we have lots of ideas we have to get through!

NEVAH January 2012 Newsletter

Phil,

Thank you once again … the January NEVAH 2012 NEVAH Newsletter is here!