A Legendary Acoustic Duo Comes to Sag Harbor

[caption id="attachment_73512" align="alignnone" width="800"] Mandolinist Mike Marshall and violinist Darol Anger.[/caption]

By Annette Hinkle

Over the last couple of decades, Shelter Island’s Tom Hashagen has been instrumental, so to speak, in bringing traditional music to the East End.

First under the auspices of the Shelter Island Historical Society, and then for Sylvester Manor, he has organized popular bluegrass and roots music concerts at Shelter Island School and more traditional music offerings on the Sylvester Manor property. The talent he has brought to the small island is impressive, and many of the young musicians that have performed there have gone on to become big names in the world of traditional music.

Now, Hashagen is branching out by bringing the music to Sag Harbor.

On Friday, October 13, two acoustic legends — mandolinist Mike Marshall and violinist Darol Anger — will perform in concert at Bay Street Theater. Unlike many of the groups Hashagen has booked in the past, this duo is not up and coming. Rather, they have arrived and their reputation is firmly cemented in the hall of fame of acoustic music.

Marshall, a founding member of groups including The Modern Mandolin Quartet, Montreux, Psychograss, Choro Famoso and The Anger Marshall Band, has been a key figure in the acoustic music realm for more than 40 years. Nominated for his third Grammy Award in 2014, he draws on American roots, European classical and world music for his inspiration. He shares his knowledge with through his own on-line music school in which he teaches hundreds of mandolin players around the globe.

Anger is a longtime collaborator with Marshall. He’s also a composer, producer and educator and has been instrumental in the evolution of the contemporary string band.

Over the years, Anger’s bands have included the Turtle Island String Quartet, Republic Of Strings, and Montreux. He was also a member of the David Grisman Quintet and has performed and taught all over the world, but is based in Boston where he is an associate professor at the Berklee School of Music.

While Hashagen has brought many musicians to the East End, the Mike Marshall and Darol Anger concert at Bay Street is the first presented by Tom and Lisa Music, a production entity created by Hashagen and his wife, Lisa Shaw. Both are musicians and have been performing together for years, but along the way, Hashagen has learned about the production side of the business and what it takes to put together a concert.

Like many of the shows he organizes, this one began with a phone call.

“I got a call from an agent at Myriad Artists in North Carolina,” says Hashagen. “They’ve handled several acts we’ve used at Sylvester Manor. She said Mike and Darol would be in Madison, Connecticut in October, do you think you could use them at Sylvester Manor?”

“At the point, we were all booked there, but I thought, why not bring these guys here and self-produce?” adds Hashagen who admits that his wife approached the idea with a bit more trepidation.

“I tend to be full steam ahead on stuff like that,” he said. “Sometimes to my detriment. Lisa is sitting back to see how this goes.”

“Everything is on us,” he says. “We’ve rented the theater, brought in the band, got insurance, green room supplies, publicity — all that is stuff we’ve never had to do with our own money before.”

But with this duo, Hashagen is willing to put his money on the line. over the years he has seen many South Fork residents travel to Shelter Island for bluegrass and roots concerts, which is why he’s excited to bring Marshall and Anger to Bay Street Theater.

“This will be just Darol and Mike. The simplicity of their performance is the charm of this duo,” he said. “They’re so intimately connected with their virtuosity, it's really something to see on stage.”

“After playing together for almost 40 years, they communicate through their instruments in a genre they invented,” adds Hashagen. “They are boundary stretching artists and not satisfied with camping in any one place. They are continually looking to go in different directions in music. Because they are such accomplished artists, they trust their own instincts and feed off each other.

“It’s wild to watch.”

Hashagen has played mandolin for years and often during concerts, he climbs up on stage to join in a final number with the musicians he books. But he doesn’t think he’ll be in any shape to get up on stage with Marshall and Anger this Friday.

“I would be terrified,” he says. “My knees would be knocking if that happened.”

Tom and Lisa will, however, take the stage to open the show with some of their original music, along with a song by a familiar South Fork name — Jeff Bragman, attorney and Democratic candidate for East Hampton Town Board.

Hashagen explains that he and Shaw met Bragman one night while they were playing a set at Baron’s Cove.

“Jeff said, ‘I like the way you play, here’s a CD we made,’” recalls Hashagen. “Lisa said, ‘I like this song.’ So we added some nuanced chords, including some minor 7s, and built on the harmony. We played it for him — and we’re gonna play it on Friday.

“It’s called ‘Small Town.’”

Mike Marshall and Darol Anger perform at Bay Street Theater on Friday, October 13 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 to $35. To purchase, visit baystreet.org or call (631)725-9500.