| David Reed Solo | TuTu Much | Tamboura | Dry Ducks Records | Booking Info |
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Latest Print That's News to Fit! IN 2013, Tamboura Productions celebrated twenty-four years of creating ways to accommodate the diverse demands and shifting sands of the musical marketplace by providing distinctive, diverse and high-quality artistic entertainment at affordable rates for music lovers of all ages. SINCE 1989, Tamboura has claimed the enduring reputation for being the one and only folkrockin' reggae/calypso beach party dance band in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts...and way beyond. Little did we know at the time what a journey we'd begun, taking us through time and space to venues throughout the Northeast USA, the Caribbean, Italy, Switzerland, England...even Bulgaria! WE INVITE YOU to peruse the pages of our website. Get acquainted with us by listening to Audio & Video Clips from our musical artists, viewing our travels and adventures in the Photo Gallery, visiting our General Store for recordings, hand-made shakers and cigar box instruments. Or, read some of David Reed's (mostly) light-hearted stories and essays in our Journal. Better yet, come on out to a live show! We believe you'll enjoy what you find under our big red umbrella and hope you'll come back for more! THANK YOU for supporting Tamboura Productions over the past 24 years! For almost three years, Dr. Easy has been sneaking down into the woodshop and foolin' around with David's tools and nicking as much of David's decorative wood as he dares to use on his cigar box instruments. Over the years Dr. E's amassed quite the collection of used cigar boxes, cookie & candy tins, funky hardware, used plumbing parts and whatever interesting things that catch his fancy. He thinks they're interesting, but you should watch this video and reserve your own judgement as to that! To date, Dr. E has made over 85 instruments from all this junk: 3- and 4-string cigar box guitars, cookie tin banjos and ukeleles, calabash diddly-bows (and a banjo!) and even a bass out of an old mahogany silver service box. Once, when he discovered that the carpenter renovating David's bathroom had tossed out some finished birch plywood and shower board scraps, he gathered them up and made a cool wooden cajon and bongo that he regularly beats the daylights out of! Dr. Easy has been bugging David to make a video of his creations for many moons. So this year while he was sequestered in his Shackteau in the USVI for several weeks, David got to work on said video. Using iMovie, he mounted a rather steep learning curve, gathered a number of photos of the Doctor's CBGs, recorded a soundtrack using just a pair of CBGs, a detuned acoustic guitar (for a bass!) and a drum loop; and then he dubbed in the narrative voiceover. "Looks pretty OK, meh-son," quipped the Doctor upon seeing his work for the first time as a video montage. "But don' go lookin' for no Oscar. Or nah money from me!" Thanks, Doc.  Six string banjoist and self-proclaimed founder of the 'reggae banjo', Banjo Buoy, attempts to join Bun E. Twinkle's new reggae band. He tries to convince her that her band really needs the wonky new sound of the reggae banjo, but finds Bun E. to be a hard sell. But Banjo Buoy can be very convincing as you shall see in this cartoon from Noodlicious Productions. We can't say for certain, but this cartoon seems to have Dr. Easy's mark all over it. What do you think?  CONNECTICUT'S PREMIER music venue, the Victorian-era Infinity Hall, recently headlined NY State's up and coming singer/songwriter, Fred Schane, whose personal, often quixotic, humorous songs captivated the rapt audience who made their way to Norfolk, CT on a recent, uncharacteristically balmy, December evening. Fred's songs ranged from introspective paeans to love lost, ukelele hip-hop, a weird Bahaman vacation, to a rastafarian who'd lost his ganja. WHILE MANY OF his songs were delivered in a solo format with just voice and guitar (or uke!), much of Schane's 90-minute program was accompanied by the duo of seasoned veteran musicians that included the songwriter's multi-talented sister, pianist Cathy Schane-Lydon (who also doubled on uke) and David Reed, who backed the songwriter with his pulsing percussion and bass.  KOKO & THE SUNSHINE BAND is a popular West Indian quelbe, or "scratch band", group from the island of St. John, USVI. Here they are performing for the 20th Annual Folklife Festival recently held at the Annaberg ruins near Maho Bay. Notice that the percussionist, Wesley (left), is playing a pair of genuine RattleCaps made by David Reed hisself! The man obviously knows what de riddim needs! You, too, can shake it (almost) like Wesley...just go to our Dry Ducks Records General Store page and order a RattleCap or two for your own self! 
David Reed Helps Celebrate Max Creek's 40th ONE OF THE COUNTRY'S most legendary and beloved jam bands, Max Creek, were still rockin' hard in April, 2011, as they celebrated forty years of stirrin' up the rock 'n roll jam. As a founding member of the band back in 1971, David Reed was invited to join his old high school pal and first Max Creek drummer, Bob Gosselin, along with original bassist and current MC member, John Rider, for a lively set of musical reminiscences. Among the tunes they selected to play before an enthusiastically adoring crowd of 400 "Creekers" at The Old Well in Simsbury, CT were "July" (a John Stewart-penned chestnut Reed still keeps in his solo set-list), "Crystal Clear" (a Rider original), and "Wreck of the Old '97" (both tunes added to Reed's solo repertoire since the reunion!). Later in the set, the original trio was joined by current keyboardist Mark Mercier (who replaced Reed when he left the band in 1976) and guitarist Scott Murawski (who once was a music student of Reed's and can sometimes be found moonlighting with members of the Allman Bros. Band, Phish and Jeff Pevar!) for a rousing version of Paul Simon's "Diamonds On the Soles of Her Shoes" and Reed's chicken-pickin' barn-burner, "Back Porch Boogie Blues" (a tune covered by Phish...see "A Real Phish Story" in the TamPro December 2008 WebJournal). and that you'll continue to support LIVE MUSIC in your community!
 
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"GUITARS, BANJOS & HARPS...Oh, My!"
Sometimes occasions arise where a full band might be just too, too much. You know, such as at a family Bar-B-Q, house concert, fine restaurant, coffeehouse, rodeo, etc. (Forget the rodeo). You can always turn to the beachy-keen raggy blues, funky tunes and original music of that eclectic songster/guitarslinger/sailor kinda guy, David Reed to add that special musical je ne sais quoi to your event.
