Music's boys of summer are such ballpark hits they're ... Clearing the
bases

Entertainment
John Sinkevics / The Grand Rapids Press

22 August 2004
The Grand Rapids Press

Copyright (c) 2004 Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All
rights reserved.

Bob Dylan. Willie Nelson. Minor-league baseball parks. Summer sunshine.
Fiddle music.

It's hard to get more American than that.

"There's something about the super Americana of beer and hot dogs and
watching the sun go down," said Elana Fremerman, violinist for Hot Club of
Cowtown, a jazz and Western swing trio opening for Dylan and Nelson on
their August tour of 22 ballparks.

The tour rolls into Fifth Third Ballpark in Comstock Park on Tuesday.

"We're a great band to have joined them on the tour: It goes with American
ballparks, and it goes with an American tour. It's ageless music."

Of course, touring with a pair of much-lauded, influential American artists
has a considerable upside, especially when you're part of a little-known
acoustic trio that's just started to generate a music industry buzz.

"It's as great as it could possibly have been. We're having a totally
incredible time," Fremerman said in a recent phone interview from a
Tennessee tour stop.

"We have been made to feel very, very welcome -- personally by Bob Dylan
and Willie Nelson, and by everybody on the crew. It's the greatest way to
make a living that there is."

Playing a half-hour set before Nelson takes the stage, Fremerman, guitarist
Whit Smith and standup bass player Jake Erwin have used their mix of jazz,
Western swing and original songs to "whip up" fans on a tour that's drawn
hefty crowds and earned rave reviews while hitting small towns from
Fishkill, N.Y., to Brockton, Mass.

It's one of the few bright spots "in a summer season that's having a
difficult time" on the concert front, said Jerry Mickelson, co-owner of
Chicago's Jam Productions, which assembled the tour.

While many arena tours have struggled to sell tickets, the Dylan- Nelson
shows have sold out some smaller markets where minor league teams prosper.

"It's real," Mickelson reasoned, citing its relatively cheap $45- 46
tickets and free admission for those younger than 12 with a paid adult
ticket. That's helped attract a wide range of ages to the shows.

"It's like the crowds you see at an actual ballgame," Fremerman noted.
"It's different than an audience you might see at a nightclub on a Thursday
night."

Mickelson said the idea of playing minor league cities surfaced in 1997,
when Dylan ended up playing a sold-out concert at a baseball stadium in St.
Paul, Minn.

When Mickelson and others floated the concept of a more extensive tour of
ballparks earlier this year, Dylan "loved the idea, because Bob likes to
play alternative venues. He doesn't like to play the same venues."

And midway through the unusual road trip, Dylan and Nelson have been
"having a good time," Mickelson reported. "They've appreciated what's been
happening. It's been a positive experience."

That's certainly true for Fremerman and the rest of Hot Club of Cowtown, a
band that started playing its unique brand of swing, folk, jazz and fiddle
tunes eight years ago in San Diego, Calif. Since then, the trio has
released five CDs, including last year's live "Continental Stomp" which has
become its best-selling album.

The trio already has sold "tons of CDs" on the tour, which began Aug. 6,
and Nelson has invited the band to open for him on a September swing
through California.

The gigs have helped expose diverse crowds to material Fremerman said
already appeals to a "broad swath" of music lovers, whether standards from
the 1930s or new instrumentals that are "decidedly non-Western."

"If you do something that you love, other people will love it, too,"
Fremerman suggested. "We've picked something that's obscure and off-center,
but you hear it and anybody can relate to it. It's almost like everybody
has this in their musical memory, but you don't remember it until you hear
it."

The ballpark concerts are awash in musical memories, considering all the
classic songs performed by Dylan, 63, and Nelson, 71, whose songwriting
spans more than four decades.

Fremerman said she's watched intently just offstage as the singers have
performed.

"They're absolutely comfortable in front of a large audience," she said,
calling Nelson "the consummate connector with his audience."

"It's so amazing, and his voice is just fantastic. It sounds just like it
always has. If anything, it's more refined and deep and expressive."

As for Dylan, "His band is incredible, and they look really snazzy. I think
his singing and performing are fantastic. He's got a lot of style."

It's all left Fremerman -- who started out by playing fiddle for tips as a
high-school kid in Kansas City -- a bit awed by serving as a leadoff hitter
for these highly revered musical sluggers.

"I try not to think about that too much," she said, "because I might get
paralyzed with fear or something."