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Wolf's Page
Michael
“Wolf” Cartusciello has been playing “Old
Time” music since the early ’70s. He started on the
tenor banjo as a teenager(during the '60's folk revival), but was
fascinated with the 5 string banjo, but it wasn’t until he
was working at Point Barrow,
Alaska that
he got started on the 5 string. He learned more in Fairbanks
under the tutelage of Doc. South, a psychiatrist in Fairbanks.
After playing the banjo for a few years, he learned to play the
mandolin because it was easier to carry while traveling. He started out
on the mandolin that his grandfather made for him and then bought a
cheaper mandolin for traveling. He carried and played the mandolin
while in the South Pacific and eventually ended up playing with an
Australian bush band for a few months towards the end of his journey.
Unfortunately a visa extension wasn’t possible so he headed
back to Alaska
where he ended up living in the McKinley
Park
area and sat in with a local band there called
“Slopbucket.”
This
was the band of a banjo player, Ken, that he had met at a festival in New
Zealand while on the way
back to Alaska.
He became the second mandolin player, but was fortunate enough to be
playing with the band when the now famous picture was taken at a
festival in Alaska.
The picture was published in “Funk & Wagnalls New
Encyclopedia, 1986 edition, Volume 10 under the heading of folk music.
Unfortunately the folks at Funk and Wagnalls didn’t know that
the abbreviation AK stood for Alaska
so mistakenly labeled the festival as being in Arkansas.
Here is a link to the photo from page
321 of the encyclopedia.
When,
the then fiddler, Kim was going to visit his wife’s family
in Australia
the band needed a fiddler and Wolf decided to try. The rest is history.
He, along with two other members of Slopbucket, Jack and Ken, traveled
again to the South Pacific and Australia
where they toured as "Sourdough String Band." They played folk clubs
and festivals on the east coast of Australia
and Tasmania.
Since
that time he has played in many bands in Alaska,
North Carolina,
Virginia,
California
and Texas.
Some were festival bands but most were dance bands. The best known in Alaska
were twin fiddle bands with Scott Meyer,
of the Improbabilies
fame. Although he has been playing for over 26 years he still has that
raw old time sound. He says it comes from not practicing.
Some
of the bands he played with are:
Working Class Bush Band, Cairns, Queensland, Australia,
Slopbucket, Bucket, Boys of the Bucket, The Wolf Brothers, The Wolf
Brothers and the Rum Soaked Crooks, Farewell to Ireland, Muddy Roads
Ramblers, Kingsbury Trio, Sourdough String Band (traveling in
Australia) Frost Heaves, Rattletrap, Fiddlin' Wolf and the Campaign
Trail Boys, Grayson Ridge Runners(band in Virginia),and the
Blue Ridge Highbobbers (North Carolina band), SAW, JAW, other festival
bands, Big Ernie’s Armadillo Barn Dance Band, Big Ernie's
Barn Dance Band, Friends of Big Ernie and Trink and the Curmudgeons.
He now splits his time
between Alaska and Texas, where he
plays with the local bands Big Ernie’s Barn Dance Band, Friends of Big Ernie and Trink and the Curmudgeons.
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