Posted in banjo, fiddle, traditional music, tagged bluegrass, Campbell County, Ethan Ferguson, Tennessee on June 15, 2008 | 7 Comments »
Sometime late in 2007 I met little Ethan Ferguson at a campfire at the Cove Lake State Park in Campbell County, TN. He was playing fiddle, I was playing dulcimer, and we mutually became each other’s biggest fans that day. I was lucky to run into Ethan again this past weekend at the [...]
Posted in fiddle, traditional music, tagged Chattanooga, fiddles, Jefferson Heights, old time music, Southside on May 26, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Due to a scheduling/weather snafu, we got bumped out of our usual spot at the Market Street Tavern tonight just after we started our old time jam. Luckily, the house isn’t too far away, and miraculously, it was even clean enough for guests, so we negotiated with the kind tavern for a case of beer [...]
Posted in fiddle, traditional music, tagged Butch Ross, Chattanooga, Joseph DeCosimo, McCallie, Old Aunt Jenny With Her Nightcap On, old time music on April 19, 2008 | No Comments »
Whoooooa cool tune alert! Butch and I were asked to come play at McCallie tonight, and Joseph DeCosimo was also on the bill. Lucky us! Joe taught us this tune outside before the show, and even though Butch is just finding his way around the chords in this video, we nailed it [...]
Posted in fiddle, improvisation, traditional music, tagged fiddle, ni:d, soprano saxophone, swedish music on April 15, 2008 | No Comments »
Just ran across this video on Youtube…. Gotta love the way these Swedes interpret Poor Man’s Troubles, an American fiddle tune. Also, I think I recognize that percussionist from the Swedish band who crashed the festival in Gooik, Belgium, last summer. Incredible music.
Posted in fiddle, hammered dulcimer, traditional music, tagged fiddle, hornpipe, irish music, Rick and Brandy on April 7, 2008 | No Comments »
Luxury of luxuries! I stepped out my front door the other evening and saw that my across-the-street neighbors, Rick and Brandy, had their front door open. So of course I peeked in to see what they were up to, and their dining room was full of Irish musicians! And they were all working at learning [...]
Posted in fiddle, hammered dulcimer, traditional music, voice, tagged Cork City, Emma Small, Ireland, Raar, Robin Turk, Stella Rodrigues, Tom Spackman, trad music on March 17, 2008 | No Comments »
We could call this my St. Paddy’s Day special. And this time I’m reaching even further back in time to Spring, 2002, when five non-Irish people formed an Irish traditional band, and called themselves, “Raar,” meaning “strange” in Dutch… of course.
The band was a palindrome. Same backwards and forwards. Tom Spackman (USA) [...]
Posted in banjo, fiddle, hammered dulcimer, traditional music, tagged banjo, Breakin' Up Winter, fiddle, Gainsborough, hammered dulcimer, old time, Snowbird on March 9, 2008 | 1 Comment »
The first time I heard this tune, Snowbird, I was sitting in the all-purpose room of an elementary school in Gainsborough, England, and the guy playing it was a fiddle/banjo player from Vermont. I had recorded it then, back in 2004 with just me and him playing it, and have loved the tune ever since. [...]
