The Foghorn Trio

I just saw the Foghorn Trio on Friday in Knoxville at a low-key show. Great time, they sounded great as always.

I didn't realize that the newest member, Nadine there on the bass, was from Quebec. That allowed them to sing en Francais and try out a few cajun tunes I'd never heard before.

This footage seems to be from the same tour that I just saw them on.



And here's a tune called Roving Gambler.



YouTube/fidcoffcig

Old-Time in BoingBoing

When I was at Pickathon 2009, I stumbled across Frank Fairfield. He was interesting. I saw him playing informally outside of one of the venues and he drew me in because he looked strangely like a photo of an idealized old-time player from the 1920s. He seemed to have borrowed his wardrobe and even his haircut from a young Jimmy Stewart. I was kind of surprised he wasn't somehow walking around in black and white.

The tunes he was playing were familiar, like Barbara Allen, but his cadence and phrasing was such that only he could follow himself, if that makes sense.

Nonetheless, he seems to have created somewhat of a name for himself in the up-and-coming old-time scene of the West Coast. Proof in the pudding is a mention on BoingBoing, and a link to this video.



I learned from the BoingBoing article that he's even been in Rolling Stone:

"He's like 26 years old and he sounds like Mississippi John Hurt," says Robin. Fairfield plays fiddle and banjo player and strums back-porch bluegrass, complete with shaky jug-band vocals reminiscent of The Foggy Mountain Boys from way back in the '40s (think O Brother, Where Art Thou?).

"He's kinda crazy," says Robin. "He has his own radio show where he just plays these old gramophones. He just puts a mic up and plays all these field recordings from the 1900s; it's insane. He dresses like it's the early 1900s. He's born out of time, and his voice is amazing."

Buy his music: His self-titled album Frank Fairfield, and the EP I've Always Been a Rambler (Amazon MP3s).

He's playing a bunch of West Coast US tour dates from now through January: San Francisco, Eugene, Portland, Tacoma, Seattle and other ports of call.

So check him out if you like what you see there. From what I can tell, he certainly has an extensive old old-time repertoire and sound.

Forked Deer in Japan

I'm mentioned here before that old-time music is gaining popularity in Japan, and this video illustrates just how far it has come.

I'm not sure why it has become popular over there or just how popular it actually is, so if anyone cares to leave a comment that knows better than I, it is welcomed.

This is a really nice rendition of Forked Deer. It's doesn't get more old-time than that.



Forked Deer MP3

Foghorn Trio in Knoxville

Just found out something awesome. If you're in the area, come out for an old-time treat on Friday, the 6th.

This Week at Laurel

Newsletter of Jubilee Community Arts

Here are a few of our upcoming events. Click here to see the complete listings for November and December.

Foghorn Trio
Oldtime Stringband

Friday, November 6 at 8 P.M.

The Foghorn Trio is Caleb Klauder and Stephen "Sammy" Lind, the foundation of the internationally acclaimed Foghorn Stringband from Portland along with Nadine Landry of the band Hungry Hill. On this southern tour, they will be playing old-time and country fiddle tunes and songs, drawing on material from both Foghorn and The Caleb Klauder Country Band.

While Caleb Klauder and Stephen "Sammy" Lind continue to play with the Foghorn Stringband, they are working together on several other projects. They often play as the Foghorn Duo and continue to travel the world playing with various folks, sometimes as Dirk Powell's or Justin Townes Earle's band, sometimes as the rhythm section for Balfa Toujours, or with special projects like Going Across the Sea. Caleb and Sammy recorded Lonesome Song in the spring of 2008. It's an excellent recording of mostly traditional songs, done in one day, just the two of them trading off on instruments.

$12 JCA Members, Students, Seniors 65+
$13 General Advance
$14 General Day of Show
$7 Children 12 and under


Thanks Hunter for notifying me about this.

Lost Indian by Foghorn

I've mentioned here before that attended the 2009 edition of Pickathon. While there I was able to get some good field recordings of Foghorn Stringband, but I lost all of them when my computer went down right before school started.

I've been able to recover some of those recordings, and this is one of them.

Lost Indian is a common tune, but I've never heard it played quite like this.

Lost Indian MP3

New Way to Access this Music

The file hosting service I use for this site just released "vanity urls" for its users, so I took the liberty of creating one for this site: box.net/yewpineymountain

It's an easy way to browse through all of the music files that have appeared on here before.

Melvin Wine

One of my favorite old-time players, and West Virginia legend, is Melvin Wine. Here he is playing at Mt Airy, NC, the oldest fiddle gathering in America. While the tune maybe called by a few different names, here it is called Cindy.



Melvin Wine - Cindy MP3

YouTube/otfiddler

The Young Uns

This is a fantastic video of young kinds playing
Harvest Home - Fisher's Hornpipe - Boys of Blue Hill. Extremely well done. I only hope to be able to play like that some day.

Stewed Mulligan

It is no secret that I'm a fan of the West Virginia old-time scene. I'm also a big fan of the old-time standard, Big Scioty. Lots of ways to play that tune at lots of different tempos. Some versions have words, others don't.

So I was doubly happy to find this video of a West Virginia band, Stewed Mulligan, playing Big Scioty. Tearing it up in fact.

They have a great website, which always helps. Go check them out.



Big Scioty - Stewed Mulligan MP3

YouTube/pippinaloha

Versions of Waterbound

One of my many, many favorite tunes is Waterbound. There are two oft-played versions of this tune. The version I like and am familiar with go something like this:



YouTube/fredcoonbanjo

But the other version that seems to be more widespread was popularized by the incredibly talented Dirk Powell. Clearly the second version is much more of a sorrowful tune. You can tell it's related, but the mood and tempo are for a different setting entirely. Notice the Foghorn Duo playing along on this one as well:



YouTube/MoNoHair

Lonesome Road Blues

There are very few people who can play quite like Sammy Lind of Foghorn. I saw the whole band do this one at Pickathon 2009, but I like this version too.

Gray Eagle: Night Vision Style

I find this tune really interesting because it has like 10,000 versions. I mean really, nobody plays this the same way. Soldier's Joy, one of the most common tunes, has many styles as well, but each time you could recognize and say, yeah, that's Soldier's Joy. Not so with Gray Eagle.

Here's yet another version by the wonderful Larry Dent, playing in my home state, old KY, and close to my hometown no less:



YouTube/wvldent

Samples Brothers New Album

I've talked on here a lot about the Samples. Normally, by this time of year, they're coming off a major high at Jackson's Mill Jubilee.

This year, the plans changed a little, and they played instead at "The Gathering at Sweet Creek," which if anyone went to I'd love to hear more about.

All indications are that the Sweet Creek gathering will happen again.

Before the festival season this year, they cut a new album called "Let the Four Winds Blow."

The album features mostly tunes they haven't done before, at least not recorded anyway. If you've seen them before, you'd recognize their house favorite, Liza Jane, which is on here in a slightly different way.

My favorite tune off the album is "Goodbye, Liza Jane," which is also the first track. Normally Ted, the banjo player, plays three-finger style, but here he changes it up and plays clawhammer, and to nice effect.

Goodbye, Liza Jane MP3

You can buy this CD, along with others, here.

Fretless Banjo

Not sure the name of this tune here, but I really like it, and I like the sound of a fretless banjo. It takes the ring out of the sound and makes it more plucky, more primitive sounding.



YouTube/banjer

More on Bruce Molsky

Haven't had time to keep up here since school started, but something I have been into lately is Bruce Molsky playing in the "Transatlantic Sessions." Here's a tune that Dirk Powell calls "Ruby with the Eyes that Sparkle" on the Cold Mountain soundtrack. Here they're calling "Shove the Pigs' Foot a Little Further Into The Fire."



Shove the Pigs' Foot a Little Further Into The Fire MP3

YouTube/tomtscotland