Bluegrass & Old Time Music

[Old San Antone]

The Doc Watson Family has released two recordings of old time music, featuring Doc with his extended clan.  Very good mountain folk music, not exactly bluegrass.  I actually prefer old time to bluegrass, if only slightly, since old time music is less about the virtuosic technique of the players and more about presenting the old songs in an authentic style.  Also, I prefer clawhammer, open-back, style banjo to the Scruggs (fast) three-finger technique on a closed (resonator) back banjo.

Someone told me that the real difference between old time and bluegrass is (of course this is an over generalization, but offers a simple distinction) bluegrass is performed by professionals on a stage for a paying audience whereas old time is played by amateurs on a porch for their friends and family, for free.

[Gurn Blanston]

The Doc Watson Family has released two recordings of old time music, featuring Doc with his extended clan.  Very good mountain folk music, not exactly bluegrass.  I actually prefer old time to bluegrass, if only slightly, since old time music is less about the virtuosic technique of the players and more about presenting the old songs in an authentic style.  Also, I prefer clawhammer, open-back, style banjo to the Scruggs (fast) three-finger technique on a closed (resonator) back banjo.

Someone told me that the real difference between old time and bluegrass is (of course this is an over generalization, but offers a simple distinction) bluegrass is performed by professionals on a stage for a paying audience whereas old time is played by amateurs on a porch for their friends and family, for free.

I don't know much about traditional style, although I can well imagine that I would enjoy it. That distinction is not lost on me! I also prefer clawhammer banjo, although there is nothing bad I would ever say about the Scruggs style, for certain. I've seen some frailing style banjoists that were phenomenally good, even if they weren't playing 'Foggy Mountain Breakdown'. 

Doc Watson is a classic, nice link.  Last year I read this biography:

[asin]B0089YLKVW[/asin]

Well written and enjoyable to read.

I put this on my wish list. Looks interesting.

[Old San Antone]

There is a great series, which originated as a televised documentary from the UK.  Subsequently six volumes each with multiple CDs were released: The Transatlantic Sessions.



The productions comprise collaborative live performances by various leading folk, bluegrass and country musicians from both sides of the North Atlantic, playing music from Scotland, Ireland, England and North America, who congregate under the musical direction of Aly Bain and Jerry Douglas to record and film a set of half-hour TV episodes.

This series celebrates the process of transplanting Scots-Irish music in America, mainly the Appalachian mountains, and the quality of the musicians could not have been better.  It is a treasure trove of fantastic music played by the best interpreters in the world.

Mary Black with Aly Bain and Jerry Douglas

https://www.youtube.com/v/apOFrP3XbFM

[Gurn Blanston]

There is a great series, which originated as a televised documentary from the UK.  Subsequently six volumes each with multiple CDs were released: The Transatlantic Sessions.



The productions comprise collaborative live performances by various leading folk, bluegrass and country musicians from both sides of the North Atlantic, playing music from Scotland, Ireland, England and North America, who congregate under the musical direction of Aly Bain and Jerry Douglas to record and film a set of half-hour TV episodes.

This series celebrates the process of transplanting Scots-Irish music in America, mainly the Appalachian mountains, and the quality of the musicians could not have been better.  It is a treasure trove of fantastic music played by the best interpreters in the world.

Mary Black with Aly Bain and Jerry Douglas

https://www.youtube.com/v/apOFrP3XbFM

I can see me picking up a couple of the DVD's of that. I've always known that bluegrass and traditional music have their roots in Celtic/Gaelic folk music, in fact I have seen the Chieftains playing bluegrass(!), but this looks like a systematic effort to bring all that forward and show it. Thanks for this.

[Old San Antone]

High Atmosphere: Ballads and Banjo Tunes from Virginia and North Carolina is a 1975 compilation album released by Rounder Records. The album is composed of Appalachian folk music recordings gathered by musicologist John Cohen in North Carolina and Virginia in 1965.



Some really great stuff on this compilation: Wade Ward, Roscoe Holcomb, Frank Proffitt, Clarence Ashley, Doc Watson, Dock Boggs, and many more old time musicians.

https://www.youtube.com/v/ojKV3V378ZA

I can see me picking up a couple of the DVD's of that. I've always known that bluegrass and traditional music have their roots in Celtic/Gaelic folk music, in fact I have seen the Chieftains playing bluegrass(!), but this looks like a systematic effort to bring all that forward and show it. Thanks for this.

I don't own any of the videos, but many of them are on YouTube.  I've only listened to the CDs - over 250 songs, really nice collection.  Brings to mind the Haydn and Beethoven Scottish folk song arrangements.  It would be kind of cool to see if any of the songs date back and overlap. 

[Gurn Blanston]

High Atmosphere: Ballads and Banjo Tunes from Virginia and North Carolina is a 1975 compilation album released by Rounder Records. The album is composed of Appalachian folk music recordings gathered by musicologist John Cohen in North Carolina and Virginia in 1965.



Some really great stuff on this compilation: Wade Ward, Roscoe Holcomb, Frank Proffitt, Clarence Ashley, Doc Watson, Dock Boggs, and many more old time musicians.

https://www.youtube.com/v/ojKV3V378ZA



I don't own any of the videos, but many of them are on YouTube.  I've only listened to the CDs - over 250 songs, really nice collection.  Brings to mind the Haydn and Beethoven Scottish folk song arrangements.  It would be kind of cool to see if any of the songs date back and overlap. 

Here are a couple of disks I got to supplement my research on Burns, they have arrangements by Haydn and a variety of others. But they also have fiddle music by Neil Gow, one of the greats of the time (1790's), and a variety of other songs (mainly by Burns) nicely played. Anyway, I haven't had either the time nor the data to do any serious comparative research, beyond saying 'these sound like...' traditional mountain music and bluegrass, plus the limited general knowledge I have about Scots/Irish immigration into the hills (I am Scots/Irish myself, so it is somewhat personal). Anyway, these could be useful to aid to that research. I actually got both of these at BRO...

[Old San Antone]

Here are a couple of disks I got to supplement my research on Burns, they have arrangements by Haydn and a variety of others. But they also have fiddle music by Neil Gow, one of the greats of the time (1790's), and a variety of other songs (mainly by Burns) nicely played. Anyway, I haven't had either the time nor the data to do any serious comparative research, beyond saying 'these sound like...' traditional mountain music and bluegrass, plus the limited general knowledge I have about Scots/Irish immigration into the hills (I am Scots/Irish myself, so it is somewhat personal). Anyway, these could be useful to aid to that research. I actually got both of these at BRO...

Nice.  Something to keep on my back burner.  Since 2017 I've been developing a project that indirectly touches on the colonial settlement of the US, but my focus is the deep South.  Of course, all those folks initially touched land on the Atlantic seacoast, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Virginia and then crossed the Appalachians into Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and then westward.  Louisiana, where I'm from, has a bit of a different history. 

[Gurn Blanston]

Nice.  Something to keep on my back burner.  Since 2017 I've been developing a project that indirectly touches on the colonial settlement of the US, but my focus is the deep South.  Of course, all those folks initially touched land on the Atlantic seacoast, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Virginia and then crossed the Appalachians into Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and then westward.  Louisiana, where I'm from, has a bit of a different history.

My kin, the Sinclair's, McCaffrey's and a few others, actually came in through Quebec and into upper New York state. Probably why they ended up staying in New England. While the other side of the family, the Giroux's, Cadieux's etc, were French Canadian (Breton when they were still in France), and some of their kin split off to Louisiana (Acadia) and became part of that melting pot. When I first moved to Texas and met some Cajuns, I was stunned to hear the fiddling: it was identical to what I used to hear on Saturday nights on the front porch, and shows that those musical roots go back at least to 1800. So there is so much similarity between them all, and that's why the music is so 'homey' if your roots are there. 

[Old San Antone]

My kin, the Sinclair's, McCaffrey's and a few others, actually came in through Quebec and into upper New York state. Probably why they ended up staying in New England. While the other side of the family, the Giroux's, Cadieux's etc, were French Canadian (Breton when they were still in France), and some of their kin split off to Louisiana (Acadia) and became part of that melting pot. When I first moved to Texas and met some Cajuns, I was stunned to hear the fiddling: it was identical to what I used to hear on Saturday nights on the front porch, and shows that those musical roots go back at least to 1800. So there is so much similarity between them all, and that's why the music is so 'homey' if your roots are there. 

Thanks for this - I was not aware that any Scots-Irish came through Canada, but it makes sense since Canada was part of the Commonwealth.  I have listened to plenty of Cajun fiddling, and really enjoy that music, and have relatives in Lake Charles and Lafayette - we're Sicilian, not Cajuns - but everybody down there parties the same.

TD

Dewey Balfa & Friends



One of my favorite fiddle recordings from Louisiana.

[Gurn Blanston]

I don't know if there is a better Bluegrass band still playing (they are, aren't they?) than the Del McCoury Band. This is a perfect example of what I was talking about earlier, just trolling around on Youtube until I run across something to love.

On another tack, more technical, IMO this 5 man setup is the perfect balance in a Bluegrass group. Guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle and Bass. The jams are spread out evenly, and the sound is just about perfect. Opinions on that?



https://www.youtube.com/v/UxjUk8jrwVI&t

[Old San Antone]

I don't know if there is a better Bluegrass band still playing (they are, aren't they?) than the Del McCoury Band. This is a perfect example of what I was talking about earlier, just trolling around on Youtube until I run across something to love.

On another tack, more technical, IMO this 5 man setup is the perfect balance in a Bluegrass group. Guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle and Bass. The jams are spread out evenly, and the sound is just about perfect. Opinions on that?



https://www.youtube.com/v/UxjUk8jrwVI&t

This very afternoon I was thinking of posting about the McCoury band.  A while back Ronnie and other members would play every Monday at a Nashville club, the Station Inn and it was a real treat.  I agree that their line-up is classic, and they have specialized in the "one mic" approach, where they perform with a single microphone, and as the solos progress they do a complicated choreography moving back and forth in front of the mic.

The Streets of Baltimore is one of their best, IMO, albums.



They also collaborated with Steve Earle on one of his records.


Great stuff!

[Ratliff]

Does Man of Constant Sorrow from the film, "Brother, Where Art Though" by the fictitious Soggy Bottom Boys count?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDDEqgmGIVg

[Old San Antone]

Does Man of Constant Sorrow from the film, "Brother, Where Art Though" by the fictitious Soggy Bottom Boys count?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDDEqgmGIVg

Yep!  This thread is for Bluegrass AND Old Time music, which "A Man of Constant Sorrow" falls into.  Dan Tyminski is super fantastic, was a member of Allison Krauss's band for a while and sang it for the movie soundtrack.  I just wish he would record more on his own.  He is a fantastic singer and guitar player.  Ralph Stanley also made the song somewhat of a regular thing he performed throughout his career.

[Gurn Blanston]

This very afternoon I was thinking of posting about the McCoury band.  A while back Ronnie and other members would play every Monday at a Nashville club, the Station Inn and it was a real treat.  I agree that their line-up is classic, and they have specialized in the "one mic" approach, where they perform with a single microphone, and as the solos progress they do a complicated choreography moving back and forth in front of the mic.

The Streets of Baltimore is one of their best, IMO, albums.



They also collaborated with Steve Earle on one of his records.


Great stuff!

Thanks, I've been wanting to get an album but didn't know which. This looks like a start. Yeah, it's interesting to watch them shuffle back and forth to take their turn at the mic. They are really pros at it, I could easily see some bands giving up and saying 'shit, we need us another mic or two!' 

[Old San Antone]

Bruce Molsky

He's a self-described "street kid" from the Bronx who bailed on college and big city life for a cold-water cabin in Virginia in the 1970s. His mission?  To soak up the passion that was dramatically upending his parent's life plan for him  – authentic Appalachian mountain music – at the feet of its legendary pioneers, old masters who are now long gone.

Today, Bruce Molsky is one of the most revered "multi-hyphenated career" ambassadors for America's old-time mountain music. For decades, he's been a globetrotting performer and educator, a recording artist with an expansive discography including seven solo albums, well over a dozen collaborations and two Grammy-nominations. He's also the classic "musician's musician" – a man who's received high praise from diverse fans and collaborators like Linda Ronstadt, Mark Knopfler, Celtic giants Donal Lunny and Andy Irvine, jazzer Bill Frisell and dobro master Jerry Douglas, a true country gentleman by way of the Big Apple aptly dubbed "the Rembrandt of Appalachian fiddlers" by virtuoso violinist and sometimes bandmate Darol Anger.


Can't Stay Here This a-Way
Bruce Molsky Live at the Tiki Parlour ( DVD & CD set )



https://www.youtube.com/v/BbP1yFdnW4I&feature=emb_title

[david johnson]

It is good to have this thread to enjoy.  The old time music was around the area I grew up in, especially the church music variety.  I have always felt I 'understood it.'  Every year I visit the Ozark Folk Center in Mtn. View, AR for a Sacred Harp singing session.  Super 'old time' music groups and soloist are always around there!

[Old San Antone]

The Earls of Leicester (pronounced "Lester", as in Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs of course)

The Earls of Leicester is an American bluegrass group, assembled by Jerry Douglas to present the music of Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and their band the Foggy Mountain Boys to a contemporary audience. 

    Jerry Douglas - Dobro
    Shawn Camp - lead vocals and guitar
    Charlie Cushman - banjo and guitars
    Johnny Warren - vocals and fiddle
    Daniel Kimbro - vocals and bass
    Jeff White - mandolin and vocals

Their latest, a live album focuses on songs from 1954-1965



Recorded over two nights at Nashville's CMA Theater, The Earls of Leicester Live at The CMA Theater in The Country Music Hall of Fame bears a boundless vitality that makes songs from over a half-century ago feel irresistibly fresh. Despite the band's painstaking precision in recreating the catalog of Flatt and Scruggs's Foggy Mountain Boys, the album unfolds with an easy warmth that honors the essence of traditional bluegrass, which Douglas describes as "music that was meant to be played on back porches." Earls of Leicester Live is also accompanied by a DVD that shows the complete splendor of their live set: the throwback attire, the off-the-cuff but illuminating between-song banter, the relentless hotfooting required of their stage setup. "Our goal is to go out and reacquaint everybody with the music of Flatt and Scruggs just the way they did it, which means fewer microphones and a good amount of choreography," says Douglas. "We're trying to put as much as we can into the music before it even reaches the speakers."

Made up entirely of songs from 1954 to 1965, Earls of Leicester Live combines classic tunes with more obscure numbers unearthed thanks to the band's encyclopedic familiarity with Flatt and Scruggs's body of work. To that end, the setlist includes notorious crowd-pleasers like "Martha White Theme Song" (originally penned as a jingle for Martha White Self-Rising Flour) and "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" (a breakneck-paced, banjo-driven instrumental popularized thanks to its use in Bonnie and Clyde), as well as the harmony-laced "You Can Feel It in Your Soul" and the sweetly crooning "All I Want Is You." Earls of Leicester Live also serves up several tracks integral to Flatt and Scruggs legend—including "I'm Gonna Sleep with One Eye Open," a song famously banned from the Grand Ole Opry—along with more oddball offerings like the gracefully sprawling two-part instrumental "Steel Guitar Blues/Spanish Two Step." And in one of the album's most poignant moments, the Earls of Leicester deliver the wistfully lilting "Reunion in Heaven"—a song the band performed at Foggy Mountain Boys mandolin player/vocalist Curly Seckler's gravesite earlier this year, as per Seckler's personal request.

https://www.youtube.com/v/7c2dmpMUwSY

[Gurn Blanston]

The Earls of Leicester (pronounced "Lester", as in Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs of course)

The Earls of Leicester is an American bluegrass group, assembled by Jerry Douglas to present the music of Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and their band the Foggy Mountain Boys to a contemporary audience. 

    Jerry Douglas - Dobro
    Shawn Camp - lead vocals and guitar
    Charlie Cushman - banjo and guitars
    Johnny Warren - vocals and fiddle
    Daniel Kimbro - vocals and bass
    Jeff White - mandolin and vocals

Their latest, a live album focuses on songs from 1954-1965

Recorded over two nights at Nashville's CMA Theater, The Earls of Leicester Live at The CMA Theater in The Country Music Hall of Fame bears a boundless vitality that makes songs from over a half-century ago feel irresistibly fresh. Despite the band's painstaking precision in recreating the catalog of Flatt and Scruggs's Foggy Mountain Boys, the album unfolds with an easy warmth that honors the essence of traditional bluegrass, which Douglas describes as "music that was meant to be played on back porches." Earls of Leicester Live is also accompanied by a DVD that shows the complete splendor of their live set: the throwback attire, the off-the-cuff but illuminating between-song banter, the relentless hotfooting required of their stage setup. "Our goal is to go out and reacquaint everybody with the music of Flatt and Scruggs just the way they did it, which means fewer microphones and a good amount of choreography," says Douglas. "We're trying to put as much as we can into the music before it even reaches the speakers."

Made up entirely of songs from 1954 to 1965, Earls of Leicester Live combines classic tunes with more obscure numbers unearthed thanks to the band's encyclopedic familiarity with Flatt and Scruggs's body of work. To that end, the setlist includes notorious crowd-pleasers like "Martha White Theme Song" (originally penned as a jingle for Martha White Self-Rising Flour) and "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" (a breakneck-paced, banjo-driven instrumental popularized thanks to its use in Bonnie and Clyde), as well as the harmony-laced "You Can Feel It in Your Soul" and the sweetly crooning "All I Want Is You." Earls of Leicester Live also serves up several tracks integral to Flatt and Scruggs legend—including "I'm Gonna Sleep with One Eye Open," a song famously banned from the Grand Ole Opry—along with more oddball offerings like the gracefully sprawling two-part instrumental "Steel Guitar Blues/Spanish Two Step." And in one of the album's most poignant moments, the Earls of Leicester deliver the wistfully lilting "Reunion in Heaven"—a song the band performed at Foggy Mountain Boys mandolin player/vocalist Curly Seckler's gravesite earlier this year, as per Seckler's personal request.

I went ahead and pulled the trigger on this one, thanks. Flatt & Scruggs were my formal intro to Bluegrass  (yep, Theme from the Beverly Hillbillies) followed by, Foggy Mountain Breakdown when Bonnie & Clyde was released. from then on, I never turned down anything with a banjo in it! 

[Old San Antone]

I went ahead and pulled the trigger on this one, thanks. Flatt & Scruggs were my formal intro to Bluegrass  (yep, Theme from the Beverly Hillbillies) followed by, Foggy Mountain Breakdown when Bonnie & Clyde was released. from then on, I never turned down anything with a banjo in it! 

I know you won't be disappointed, first of all they are among the best bluegrass players around and know this music backwards.  Plus, the acoustics of the venue are excellent and the recorded live sound is fantastic.  This is their third album the other two are studio recordings but this one really captures them at their best.

[Gurn Blanston]

I know you won't be disappointed, first of all they are among the best bluegrass players around and know this music backwards.  Plus, the acoustics of the venue are excellent and the recorded live sound is fantastic.  This is their third album the other two are studio recordings but this one really captures them at their best.

Thanks, I'm looking forward to it. The online reviews were universally positive (of course, there is always the guy who gives it 3 stars because he 'hates live music' ). It will be interesting to see when Amazon finally gets around to shipping it. I have some stuff I ordered last week that hasn't shipped yet!