Old-time Piedmont stringband music is one of my passions. (Not everyone’s cuppatea, I know).
A nonprofit organization I’m involved with, (PineCone, Inc. http://www.pinecone.org), has produced a very fine anthology of field recordings made in North Carolina over a period of many years. This is a great compilation, whose release will be celebrated this weekend, at a free concert here in Raleigh, NC.
I will. To our chagrin, the production company missed its target, so we don’t have copies to sell on Sunday. (We’ll take advance orders, of course). I’ll post a note with instructions for purchasing when they arrive.
Great stuff! Put me down for one of them CDs when they become available. I grew up in the Piedmont (Durham, to be exact) and got into Irish trad through the back door playing old timey banjo. My descent into musical squalor went something like this:
Old timey banjo
Melodic style old timey banjo
Hammered dulcimer
Tin whistle
Irish (wooden simple system) flute
I still plunk on the banjo now and then but the flute is so much more portable and my favorite Irish session fits into my busy schedule more readily than the local old time jam. Pity, 'cause I still love that music! What other musical tradition could come up with a band name like Hoyt Ming and his Pep Steppers?!! OK, so they weren’t a Piedmont band, but the Ming family came to Mississippi via Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
More’s the pity. Great show. We even coerced Raxter into doing a bit of flatfooting (he’s REALLY GOOD). Packed house, too. I wish we had charged at the door!
Strange session later, though. Not a string in the house. All boxes, whistles and flutes. I think they were all at Shakori Hills. Great fun, though! See ya next time!
The CDs are in, folks, and they’re fine! Tonight I attended a bookstore event where the producer, Wayne Martin, gave a little talk about the project. He then played a few of the cuts, and performed some great oldtime dance music with his wife, Margaret, and Gerry Overton, (son of our late, great local banjoist, A.C. Overton). So, anyone who likes the real thing — homegrown rural music at its best — see the links in the original post. You won’t be sorry, I promise!
And Weedie, I talked to Phyllis tonight. She assures me your set is winging its way on down there. Enjoy!
Thanks to you Crookedtune ,I’m looking forward to hearing this Music,it will be a good companion to the DVD I just ordered..( see the post “Identity of an old song” in the Pub page …)
I like old-time string band music. I played guitar and fiddle in a contra dance band in Tucson for several years. The only problem with playing in a dance band is that you can’t fiddle and particate in the dancing at the same time. Here in Indianapolis I just joined the local folk music society, where the main focus is on American music, most of it old-timey. For an hour of the Sunday afternoon meeting everybody plays together in a large string band, mostly guitars, mandolins, fiddles, banjos, and mountain and hammered ducimers. Another hour is devoted to scheduled performances by member (solo or in groups) usually designed around a monthly theme. Lastly, there is a sharing circle where members share song or tunes. It is a lot of fun.
My copy of these Cd’s arrived in the mail the other day…
Great Music…nice and raw…just how I like it
Thanks to crookedtune for letting us know about the music …
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