If you know the Samples Brothers, you know they are big fans of John Prine.
In keeping with the theme of my recent series of posts, here is another tune played and recorded at Roger's house with the Samples Brothers and the 1937 Flood. Roger, with a cold and unusually deep voice, is singing lead.
If you've never heard Buddy Griffin do his showpiece tune, Ragtime Annie, you're in for a treat. As Mac says every time he breaks it out, Buddy owns this tune.
Here they are playing twin fiddle on Ragtime Annie recently at the Samples house.
And I almost forgot, Charlie Bowen, one of the guitars players here, posted video of this tune. The audio is the same as the MP3, but if you'd like to take a look in, here you go:
Here's another track from the weekend, this time playing Seneca Square Dance. I learned this tune from the Samples Brothers, and I'm playing here with Mac on the other fiddle. Also included are Roger Samples, Dave Peyton, and Charlie Bowen. I think that's it, possibly a few others in there. You'll also get plenty of background banter, just comes with the territory of a live recording I guess.
Over the weekend I had the opportunity to play with the Samples Brothers (featuring Buddy Griffin and John Preston). We got in a few hours worth of tunes, and the ones I managed to record I'll feature here.
The first of those is a tune called the Boatman. There are lots of different versions of this, but here's the one they taught me (I'm the fiddle that sounds good in this... actually, that's probably Buddy).
Enjoy, and there will be more to come in the next few days.
Boatman MP3
If you're familiar with old-time music in West Virginia, you've probably come across the Samples Brothers. They bring down the house every time with their signature tune, Liza Jane.
I've never really met anyone else who plays it quite like they do, even though lots of people play a tune called Liza Jane or some derivative thereof. But then again, I haven't lived in West Virginia since the 80s and that version may just be a West Virginia rendition.
I don't really know, but here is a West Virginian, Elmer Rich, playing the same version of that tune. Here he's playing about one quarter of the tempo the Samples Brothers usually go, but it's a nice tune nonetheless.
Here is a link to Kyle Samples (my brother-in-law), a very creative and talented musician, especially in the old-timey sense. Check him out. These days he's Snowshoe, West Virginia, and plays every now and then.
Alright, here it is, my first ever (poorly executed) attempt at media editing. Music by the Samples Brothers, with images from the 2008 edition of the Jube at Jackson's Mill in Weston, WV.
(By the way, the Samples Brothers are my in-laws. The fiddle player with the hat is my wife's uncle, the guitar player is her dad, and the banjo player is another uncle. They're very much a part of old-time music preservation in West Virginia.)
Ok, this is more for the Samples family than anyone else, but check it out. This guy goes around interviews people at Jackson's Mill 2008, features the Mac Samples family band, and creates a 7 minute video about them.
His profile is "it's real man," as in pot-smoking hippy, what does it all mean, we're all connected, man. That's the typical kind of fan the Samples Brothers have and would really enjoy hanging out with anyway, so it all makes sense.
