2018 Red Wine Party report

Red Wine perform at their 2018 Bluegrass Party – photo © Stefano Goldberg

Our Italian friends with Red Wine hosted their annual Bluegrass Party in their home town in the northern seaside city of Genova.

Mandolinist Martino Coppo sent along this report from the November 17 concert, which is always a major event on the Genoese fall calendar, with photos by Stefano Goldberg, Giovanna Cavallo, and Paola Zucchi.

“It’s been a very special Bluegrass Party for Red Wine this year, celebrating not only the 10th edition of the event and the 40th anniversary of the band, which was started in 1978 by banjo player Silvio Ferretti and guitar player Beppe Gambetta, but also introducing to its Italian audience the brand new CD, Carolina Red, recorded and produced by the amazing Jens Kruger at his beautiful Double Time Studio in Wilkesboro, NC, in February 2018.

Most of the 13 new songs on the new album have been presented in the show, ranging from originals penned by band members or friends writers like Shane Sullivan, Gary Ferguson, Si Kahn, Chris Brashear and Christoffer Olsson, to some covers from Norman Blake, Tom Petty, Michael Hearne and Susan Gibson, including a rendition of La Canzone dell’Amore Perduto (The Song of Lost Love) by the late genovese Fabrizio De Andrè, one of the most popular Italian songwriters of all times, beautifully sung in Italian by one of the special guests of the Bluegrass Party 2017 edition, Kathy Kallick.

On stage the band has been joined by many new and old musician friends who came to celebrate and helped to present some of the new and the old songs: Michele Maisano, Paolo Bonfanti, Stefano Cavallo, Pierrette Berentzen, Charlie Risso, Paolo Ercoli, Fabio Consani, Francesco Bellia and Roberto Bongianino, while genovese artist Roberto Zizzo was live painting on stage beautiful choreographies in real time.

At the end of the show the band has surprised the audience by singing Un Ponte è Solo un Ponte (A Bridge is just a Bridge), a moving new composition by band’s friend Silvano Chidda about the August 2018 tragic collapse of the Morandi motorway bridge in Genova, which has caused 43 victims and literally divided the town in two, creating serious and long term damages to its already fragile economy.”

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About the Author

John Lawless

John had served as primary author and editor for The Bluegrass Blog from its launch in 2006 until being folded into Bluegrass Today in September of 2011. He continues in that capacity here, managing a strong team of columnists and correspondents.