Old-Time Music
What am I calling old-time music? When I use the term, I mean the traditional
folk music of the Southern Appalachians. This music wa based on fiddle music
of the British Isles mixed with the influences of black musicians, both slave
and free. The fiddle came over from Europe with the emmigrants, the banjo came
from Africa in primitive form and was refined and developed in the US cities
starting before the Civil War. The Civil War spread the banjo and the minstrel
tunes popular in that time into the remote Appalachian mountains, where they
were adopted. The guitar came somewhat later, around the turn of the century.
Prior to radios and recordings, people made their own music. A good
fiddler was highly respected and prized in the community. Old-time
music was dance music; it was also parlor music, as well as ballads,
accompanied or unaccompanied. It was not concert music. Each region,
even each county, had unique styles. Until the advent of recordings
and radio, the tunes and songs were passed by oral tradition.
With the advent of radio, records, and the music industry, the diversity began
to decline and fewer and fewer people learned to play this music. The music
was preserved only in pockets and by a few individuals and families such as
the Hammons
family of Pocohontas County, West Virginia. The last generation of people
who knew this music well was born around the turn of the century or slightly
before. The next generation often considered this music "ignorant"
and preferred commercial music such as that turned out by Nashville. With the
birth of the "folk revival" around 1960, many young people, mostly
from the cities, but also many from the Appalachian region, came to realize
the value of this traditional music, and sought out the old people to learn
their songs and tunes, which many of the old people (for example, Tommy
Jarrell, Clyde
Davenport, and the Hammonses)
were happy to impart. Photo of Sherman Hammons (left) courtesy
Dwight Diller.
Today, the old-time community is not large, but it is vital. It is not a community
of fans as much as participants. This is not to say that musicians of exceptional
skill are not admired. But almost everyone in the community plays some kind
of instrument and is a musician. Most of them are surprisingly dedicated and
adept at their music. The major community activities are festivals and teaching
workshops. The major festivals are held during the summer. Clifftop
is my personal favorite, held at Camp Washington Carver near Clifftop, WV, on
the first weekend of August each year. Most of the best younger players of old-time
music and many of the older ones are present. The setting is very nice (although
there is often rain) and there are many opportunities to jam as well as contests.
Another well-attended festival is held in Mt.
Airy, NC, the first weekend in June. The
oldest festival, held at Galax, VA, comes the week after Clifftop. Other
smaller festivals abound. Favorites of mine include the West
Virginia Folk Festival, which has been going on for decades, in Glenville,
WV. It is held on the 3rd Weekend in June (2 weeks after Mt. Airy). One festival
with a web page is the Lake
Genero Old-Time Musicians' Gathering.
The music is passed on at workshops, where those who want to learn the music
or improve their skills can be taught by very accomplished musicians in the
tradition, both young and old. The most famous of these is the Augusta
Heritage Center at Davis and Elkins College, Elkins, WV. Others are Fiddle
Tunes, Port Townsend, WA, and the Swannanoa
Gathering, in Asheville, North Carolina. Mars
Hill College, near Asheville, NC, also has workshops, as does Jay
Ungar's Ashokan Center
in New York.
Those who remember the Tennessee Banjo Institutes and play the banjo will
want to check out the Maryland
Banjo Academy. This has been put together by Nancy Nitchie of Banjo Newsletter
(see below). It will be held in November at Buckeystown, MD, near Washington,
DC.
Old-time Music on the Web
Periodicals
- The Old-Time Herald
- This quarterly periodical serves the community with feature
articles on musicians, controversies, techniques, instrument
maintenance and repair, reviews of recordings, and schedules of
events, among other things. It is published and edited by Alice
Gerrard. It is a must for the old-time musician. Their web site
contains sample articles and reviews.
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- Banjo Newsletter
- Although 75% of the material here is for bluegrass banjo players,
it is an invaluable source for us clawhammer players, being the only
thing there is. There are regular columns pertaining to clawhammer
banjo playing. The web site contains some past articles, indexes, and
other information in a nice format.
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- Fiddler Magazine
- All types of fiddle music.
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Organizations
- American Folklife Center
- The Folklife Center is part of the Library of Congress and has the mission
of preserving and fostering traditional American music. It also maintains
an archive of old
recordings accessible to the public.
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- Appalachian Music Archives
- Web page from East Tennessee State University.
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- Brandywine Friends of Old Time
Music
- Philadelphia area group of old-time music folks.
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- Appalshop
- Media arts center for Appalachia
Old-Time Music Pages
- Joe Bethancourt's Home Page
- Good banjo stuff here! Includes serial number listings for many old banjo
companies.
Clawhammer.com- Everything clawhammer.
- David Lynch's Old-Time Page
- Contains many links as well as biography material on several old-time fiddlers,
some of which I've linked to here also (see below). Very nicely done!
- Old-Time Music on the Web
- More links brought to you by Toby Koosman.
- Odell McGuire's Home
Page
- Very individualistic and interesting page from this Virginian.
Musicians
- Sheila
Adams
- A good banjo player and singer of wonderful ballads (many learned from her
grandmother, Dellie Norton) from Sodom, NC.
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- Dock Boggs
- Legendary banjo player. He had a unique 3-finger old-time bluesy style..
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- Clarke Buehling
- Clarke plays minstrel and "classic" styles and makes gourd banjos
in Arkansas.
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- Clyde
Davenport
- Superb presentation by Jeff Titon, illustated by his own photographs of
Clyde, a Kentucky fiddler and banjo player.
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- Dwight Diller
- Dwight's bio, discography, and some tablature, brought to you by yours truly.
Dwight is from Pocohontas County, WV, and is primarily known for his banjo
playing and his "discovery" of the Hammons Family.
- Wayne Erbsen
- Wayne plays many instruments and has books and records for sale, which can
be browsed at his website.
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- Bob Flesher
- Bob makes banjos as well as plays them with a unique style. He specializes
in minstrel playing, but is one of the most technically skilled all-around
clawhammer players you will ever see.
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- Frank George
- Fiddler and banjo player from West Virginia.
- Ed Haley
- Legendary blind fiddler from Logan County, WV. Another David Lynch production.
- Edden Hammons
- Legendary West Virginia Fiddler and member of the Hammons clan.
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- Tommy Jarrell
- Mt. Airy was the home of this famous North Carolina fiddler who has been
one of the most influential on young fiddlers.
- Tom
King
- My memorial page to my friend Tom King, an old-time musician who played
back-up guitar as well as anyone I've known.
- Brad Leftwich
- Young fiddler from Indiana (originally Oklahoma) who learned much from Tommy
Jarrell but has his own distinctive style. Brad also has the best oldme fiddle
instruction tape, which is available from Homespun Video.
- Dan Levenson
- Dan is a fine banjo player from Pittsburgh, now living in Ohio.
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- Emmett Lundy
- Another legendary Virginia Fiddler presented by David Lynch (with sound
clips).
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- Reed Martin
- Reed grew up in Indiana and visited many old-time banjo players in Kentucky
and Indiana. His style is unique and his tune-list almost endless. He also
is a fantastic story-teller. I've tried to get him to write a book.
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- Bruce Molsky
- Originally from New York City, this young fiddler has become one of the
most proficient fiddlers of his time. He has incredible ability to analyze
and pick up various bowing styles. His fiddling can usually be picked out
of a crowd of jammers at any festival.
- Henry Reed
- Influential fiddler from West Virginia. Memorial page by his grandson.
- John Salyer
- Eastern Kentucky legendary fiddlers whose recordings were recently released
by Berea College. From David Lynch.
- Mike Seeger
- Mike Seeger has been enormously influential in old-time music since the
1950s, as a collector and a performer. One of the New Lost City Ramblers.
He now has a web page of his own, with some good stuff on it, sound clips,
etc.
- Rafe Stefanini
- Rafe came to the US from Italy, after having discovered old-time music over
there (!). He is an excellent fiddler and banjo player. Presented by David
Lynch
- Jay Unger and Molly Mason
- Jay is famous for his fiddling on the Ken Burns "Civil War" series
on PBS. He is a good "northern-style" fiddler and his wife, Molly,
is also a talented musician.
- Doc Watson
- Multimedia presentation from the University of North Carolina. Also with
material on Tom Ashley and Gaither Carlton. Also see the home page for the
memorial festival for Doc's son Merle, Merlefest.
- Melvin
Wine
- Melvin is one of the older fiddlers from Braxton County, WV, who plays a
pure style, not influenced by showy fiddlers such as "Fiddling"
Arthur Smith. Melvin's Birthday party is a public celebration every year in
Sutton, WV. The link is for a new book about Melvin.
Dealers & Vendors
- Bernunzio Vintage Instruments
- Large vintage instrument dealer
- County Sales
- "Worlds Largest Selection of Bluegrass and Old-Time Music Recordings."
Well, other than what John Hatton brings to sell at festivals, perhaps.
- Elderly Instruments
- One of the best places to buy instruments, recordings, books and instructional
materials. Their list of vintage
instruments is on-line.
- Fiddletunes.com
- Corsortium of West Virginia musicians with profiles and information on ordering
their recordings.
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- Gruhn Guitars
- Large selection of vintage instruments from this Nashville dealer.
- Lark
in the Morning
- A shop that sells many things folkish, including instrument kits.
- House of Musical Traditions
- Just outside Washington, DC, in Takoma Park, Maryland. Near a Metro stop.
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- Rounder Records
- One of the few producers of old-time music recordings. Their catalog is
on line.
- Mountain Music Video
- Don Patterson has produced some nice videos of Dwight Diller, Sheila Adams,
and of the Clifftop festivals.
- The Banjo Loft
- This is Wyatt Fawley's shop. Wyatt is one of the best inlay men that lives,
and makes banjo necks that are hard to beat. Unfortunately, he claims to be
retired from neck making. You still might find some of his work around though.
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Net Newsgroups
- rec.music.country.old-time
- Through the efforts of Steve
Goldfield, we have our own newsgroup.
- alt.banjo
- alt.banjo.clawhammer
Other Resources
- Banjo-L
- This is a great list for banjo discussions. Clawhammer is getting equal
time with bluegrass, which is surprising. Maybe we are just more gabby. People
like Tom Paley and Sonny Osborne are on this list.
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- Bgrass-l.
- A mailing list for discussion of bluegrass, with some old-time presence.
- Digital Tradition Folksong
Database
- An archive of folk song lyrics and tunes. Many old-time in here. Downloadable
to your PC.
- Fiddle-l@brownvm.brown.edu
- A fiddle mailing list. Covers all styles, not just old time.
- Folkmusic.org
- A folk music resource site.
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Home
Updated 16 Nov 2002