Here you go …
Thanks, great playing here. 
There was an interesting thread about flutes/fifes in old time music on the Fiddle-l list some time back:
https://listserv.brown.edu/archives/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0603A&L=FIDDLE-L&D=0&P=4551
I enjoyed the clip that Jerry posted (and I very much enjoy my Blackbird, Jerry); the northeast sessions that I mostly go are pretty much in the contra tradition and welcome a wide range of instruments, just as they welcome tunes from a variety of places. (We had a trumpet player show up a couple of times, and he did a great job of fitting in.) But adding the whistle to an old-time ensemble does change things in a way that I don’t think some of the old-time fans I know would enjoy since they have a particular sound in mind.
Here’s another. Would this be considered bluegrass? Tim O’Brien’s certainly a bluegrass musician, clearly doesn’t have any objection to whistle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=50&v=XtE05cN_u-Q
Interesting, he’s from West Virginia. Kirsten Erwin, the whistler in the old time jam session I posted above, told me, “Where I come from in West Virginia, you just bring whatever instrument you got and everybody who can play the music is welcome. People bring whistles. It wasn’t 'til I got to the city that people started telling me what instruments were and weren’t acceptable for old time music.”
Nice one Jerry. I’m just waiting for my hair to turn grey so I can dance too. 
[quote=“Jerry Freeman”]Tim O’Brien’s certainly a bluegrass musician, clearly doesn’t have any objection to whistle:quote]
Especially if it’s that whistle player.
[Thread revival. - Mod]
I’m a newbie to playing whistles. I just found this thread. I’ve played bluegrass mando, no Maestro here but I could survive at an intermediate jam and take breaks on fiddle tunes I know. Am also not at all into purity of genre (but I’d never play anything in wanted at a jam). Curiousity question maybe someone can provide info on. If you were playing whistle in an American situation, when you arent taking a break, i.e., playing the melody, what would you play? On mandolin, you chop the back beat but I surmise that would sound awful on a whistle and you’d want to play something legato instead.
Well you are making references to typical bluegrass playing situations (taking a ‘break’, not playing melody, mando ‘chopping’…bluegrass standard approaches). That is quite different from playing in ‘oldtime music’ sessions, and this thread is about playing whistle in old time music settings. In oldtime sessions, people seldom take breaks or do solo turns. People can play melody all throughout, or play harmony, or play a combination of alternating parts… whatever they feel enhances the overall ‘groove’. Thus, if you are actually thinking of playing in oldtime sessions (not bluegrass), then there’s no need to worry too much about whether you are playing melody or harmony… you won’t be taking ‘breaks’ so you weave about and play what you think will sound good and what you might be able to play well.
FWIW, I particularly enjoy the challenge in exploring harmony lines to play on my whistle when I play oldtime tunes at home with my fiddler.
Mark O’Connor’s CD “Liberty - the American Revolution” has at least 2 tracks that use whistle: “Johnny’s Gone for a Soldier” and “Soldiers Joy”. Of course this is not a jam situation but a sound track.