Folk Music Old and New
Davey O is an award winning singer-songwriter from Western New York; Cap Cooke grew up out that way but has been a local performer in the Finger Lakes for nearly a decade. Cap will play a set of rousing banjo tunes, old time country blues and folk songs while Davey O. will showcase his own original music which draws from the same deep well of American folk music. They met many years ago at a small music shop out in Western New York where Dave used to work. Cap bought a whole lot of strings and picks from Dave and now they reunite on April 29 to share the music they’ve each been working on since those early days.
Cap Cooke performs timeless folk songs, country songs, blues songs, novelty songs, and rousing banjo numbers in his own honest and unpretentious style. Cap was born and raised in Grand Island, New York, where he began picking the banjo at age 13 after hearing a John Hartford record. He moved to the finger lakes region in 2013, and has been absorbing the rich musical traditions of the area ever since. He’s played in numerous regional bands including The Mount Pleasant String Band, The Finger Lakes Bluegrass All-Stars, The Flywheels, The Hilltoppers, Chad Darou and Stealing Time, The Rosebud Ramblers, as half of a duo with Sam Schmidt, and enjoys playing solo whenever he gets the chance. From Grange halls to hotels, square dances to barrooms, churches to distilleries, bluegrass festivals to cattle auctions, his picking and singing has been enjoyed by many all over the region. He now resides in Ulysses with his wife, Cady and their young son.