eohippus        all contents copyright 2007 max carmichael why eohippus?         bio         contact
arts portfolio:         visual arts         music         writing         events         design        
music:     evolution & genres back         next

singing

instruments



amadee williamson
with grandson c. v.



miriam makeba

Context & Inspiration

When I was very small, the families of my Scots-Irish great-grandads, Amadee Williamson and Walter Carson, practiced music as a natural part of family life. In the late 70's, I rediscovered that archaic country music through the Stanley Brothers, working it into the repertoire of Terra Incognita and Wickiup.

My Mom and Dad approached music in a more modern way, her studying classical piano and him scatting and jamming on drums in Chicago clubs at the beginning of the bebop era. In the 50's, our house was filled with the international sounds of Miriam Makeba, Harry Belafonte, and Russian folk music. In the early 80's, I jammed with African bandleaders and discovered juju, which inspired the sound of Terra Incognita. In the early 90's, a Yoruba shopkeeper introduced me to the music of Haruna Ishola, which inspired Wickiup.

When I was in junior high, the British Invasion inspired my first rock band. In the "Woodstock" atmosphere of the late 60's, I met my lifelong musical partners John Guffin and Mark Norris. But I lost interest in rock music after 1970, until the punk explosion of the late 70's. Punk was a huge kick in the ass. The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, Public Image, Joy Division, and the Meat Puppets were a few of my favorites, but the most inspiration came from the local scenes in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and other cities.



haruna ishola