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About String Fever

Join NCPR each week for the best acoustic and bluegrass music in the North Country.

Barb HellerHost Barb Heller says:

Welcome to String Fever! I’m so glad you’re tuned in!

If you are a long-time listener, you know that you can expect to hear what’s happening in our regional bluegrass scene. If you are a first-time visitor, let me tell you a little more about String Fever:

It’s all about the music - and the players.

I welcome live soloists, bands, and co-hosts in the String Fever studio – especially if you have an upcoming gig in our listening area! You can reach me anytime via email (barb@ncpr.org), or by calling the station toll-free at 877-388-6277. If you have a gig in the region please email me the details for inclusion on String Fever – and include a copy to calendar@ncpr.org too!

In my opinion, there’s nothing like live music, but I strive to make String Fever your weekly nearly-as-good-as-a-live-gig Bluegrass Café… and I hope that you’ll hear something on the air that inspires you to seek out the live, in-person version of it; whether it’s a bluegrass festival, concert or workshop.

So… until we meet in person at a gig, festival, concert or fundraiser….Happy listening!

See you on the radio,
Barb

String Fever with Barb Heller

String Fever with Barb Heller
airs Thursdays from 3-5 pm

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String Fever (latest edition)
The best in bluegrass each week. Here's your place to listen to the latest edition of String Fever, hosted by Barb Heller, anytime you want. This edition is the lead segment of this stream. This archive will only be available until next week's show is posted. (Updates Thursday at 8 pm.)
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Three Songs from the String Fever Radio Jam







 Featured on String Fever
Show             
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String Fever Radio Jam 2011 Hour 2
(03/03/11) Grab the sheet music from the String Fever website and play along. Songs this hour include Road to Boston, Will The Circle Be Unbroken, The Westfalia Waltz, Angelina Baker, Old Joe Clark, Dark Hollow, St. Anne's Reel and Goodnight Irene.

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String Fever Radio Jam 2011 Hour 1
(03/03/11) Grab the sheet music from the String Fever website and play along. Songs this hour include Libert Two-Step, Black Velvet Waltz, Wabash Cannonball, Soldier's Joy, Orphan Girl, Cock of the North, Devil's Dream, Arkansas Traveler and Take Me Back To Tulsa.

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Singer-songwriter Mark Elliot on String Fever (Hour 2)
Mark Elliot
Mark Elliot
(09/23/10) Nashville-based singer-songwriter Mark Elliot gave a brilliant performance on String Fever with Barb Heller. This is the second hour of the program. The North Country's own Roy Hurd, an old friend of Mark's, joined in the lively conversation between songs.
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Singer-songwriter Mark Elliot on String Fever (Hour 1)
Mark Elliot
Mark Elliot
(09/23/10) Nashville-based singer-songwriter Mark Elliot gave a brilliant performance on String Fever with Barb Heller. This is the first hour of the program. The North Country's own Roy Hurd, an old friend of Mark's, joined in the lively conversation between songs.
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Three fiddlers celebrate old tunes
(06/09/10) Sisters Gretchen and Rebecca Koehler, and Don Woodcock are out with a new album of old time fiddle tunes. They all grew up in musical families surrounded by the rich traditions of North American fiddle music. Their new cd is called, The Fiddlers Three, and we'll listen again to their conversation with Barb Heller, host of String Fever.

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String Fever "Play Along with the Radio" Jam (Hour 2)
(01/07/10) This was a special "Play Along With the Radio" edition of the program, featuring a live jam band in the studio. We provide the downloadable accompaniment and the sheet music, you can play along at home. This second hour includes the following tunes: Old Joe Clark, Smash The Windows, Star of the County Down, Devil's Dream, Soldier's Joy, and Wabash Cannonball.

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String Fever "Play Along with the Radio" Jam (Hour 1)
(01/07/10) This was a special "Play Along With the Radio" edition of the program, featuring a live jam band in the studio. We provide the downloadable accompaniment and the sheet music, you can play along at home. This first hour includes the following tunes: Arkansas Traveler, Cock of the North, Fisher's Hornpipe, Flop Eared Mule, Garry Owen/Haste To The Wedding, I'll Fly Away, Irish Washerwoman, Keep On The Sunny Side, and Off She Goes.

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Pat Donohue on String Fever
(03/26/09) String Fever host Barb Heller chats with Pat Donohue, the lead guitarist in Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, from the A Prairie Home Companion radio show. Pat is traveling to Saranac Lake on Sunday for an appearance at BluSeed Studios at 7 pm on April 5.

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Playing music along with the radio
(02/20/09) Yesterday afternoon on String Fever, the first-ever on-air jam session was held live in our studio. It was a chance for musicians at home to play along with the radio, complete with downloadable sheet music from the String Fever website. The entire program will be posted later this morning on our website, but we thought we would give you a taste of what listeners heard yesterday. Here's the first tune of the jam session, "Liberty."

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String Fever "play along with the radio" Radio Jam
Members of the <em>String Fever</em> Jam Band in the NCPR studio.
Members of the <em>String Fever</em> Jam Band in the NCPR studio.
(02/19/09) String Fever host Barb Heller welcomes a whole slew of traditional musicians into the studio to perform standards and favorites. To encourage the radio audience to play along, all the sheet music was posted online. You can download this audio and play along yourself. Recordings of your home session may be posted on the String Fever page.
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Program Playlists

Recent Playlists


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from the String Fever Radio Jam 1/7/10



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Finding Music

You can find or special order any of the music heard on this program from local music stores, including:
Northern Music & Video, Potsdam: 315-265-8100
Strawberry Fields, Potsdam: 315-265-7700
Ampersound, Saranac Lake:
518-891-3114
Peacock Music, Plattsburgh:
518-561-0555

Bluegrass links:

Festival Finder | Ottawa Valley Bluegrass Music Association
or call the International Bluegrass Music Association Festival Hotline at
1-888-600-IBMA.