Liza Jane

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.



YouTube/YewPiney

Jimmy Tripplett

Jimmy Tripplett is pretty well known around here, though recordings are hard to find. Certainly one of the finest fiddlers around.



YouTube/boscoheja

Lunasa

My current favorite new discovery is an Irish group called Lunasa. They play traditional Irish tunes and have a pretty robust web presence.

My favorite tune of theirs at the moment is called "Morning Nightcap," played here in this really great video:



YouTube/sgoworld

The Gilded Bats

What's up everybody, it's been a while. Turns out finishing a PhD is demanding of one's time. My month-long hiatus has not been good to my music playing or appreciation.

Nonetheless, for the first time in a long time, I stumbled across a really cool band, the Gilded Bats. Like many bands, they have MP3s on their MySpace page and they are worth checking out.

They are from Iowa City, and here they are playing in their hometown:



YouTube/YewPineyMountain

More Chance McCoy

Still haven't moved on from a strong Chance McCoy phase, so here is some more goodness from him. This is Jimmy Johnson, and he also plays it on his album which you can easily find on iTunes.

Chance McCoy and the Appalachian String Band

Some of the people I play music with have been raving about Chance McCoy for a while now. For whatever reason, I did not look into it sufficiently until now. I could struggle to write a review myself, but it wouldn't say anything different from what you can already see on his MySpace page.

Here are the essentials:
He's from eastern West Virginia, a major plus as far as I'm concerned, and has learned from many of the state's greats, including Dave Bing.

A recently recorded album with The Appalachian String Band includes Adam Hurt on the banjo, who I think is one of the best young banjo players around. I had bought Adam Hurt's solo album (Insight) a while ago and really enjoy that one as well.

If you've played much in West Virginia, the repertoire on the album will be familiar, including tunes like "Shelvin Rock," "Yew Piney Mountain," and "Jimmy Johnson."

In short, I highly recommend this, I think it's one of the best newer acts to come along in a while.

Here are some videos from what I believe is Chance McCoy's personal YouTube profile:



Dance All Night With A Bottle In Your Hand MP3

And Wild Horse of Stony Point, or just "Stony Point" as I've often heard it called:

Pokey LaFarge

Saw Pokey LaFarge and the South City Three last night based on a recommendation from my cousin-in-law (if that's a familial category). Even though I was slightly distracted by the Kentucky-UConn game that was simultaneously going on, I'm glad I went. They are a good time and have a really unique stage presence.

Not necessarily an old-time band the way I've been using it on here, but certainly rooted in music from the early 1900s. Makes me think of the music of traveling shows up and down the Mississippi River in its heyday.

Lots of music samples on the website, so definitely go check those out.

Here's a live recording:



YouTube/djmfilm

Whiskey Bent Valley Boys

Now that the semester is over I finally have time to enjoy a guilt-free experience at Knoxville's Blue Plate Special, which is of course put on by local independent radio station WDVX.

The main reason I went yesterday was for the Fox Hunt. They were good as usual, all of them are very talented, and I had seen them in town here before.

In fact, the last time they were here was maybe May or so, whenever it was the weather was nicer and they played outside in our downtown commons kind of area called Market Square.


There it is pictured above. Just a real nice, pedestrians-only area of town. Musicians set up there for tips often, but they are not usually as talented as the Fox Hunt. WDVX overheard them playing on the square, got them in studio to go live, and later invited them for the Blue Plate...

But I started this post to talk about the Whiskey Bent Valley Boys. They were billed alongside Fox Hunt, and I didn't know what to expect. But they were actually really fun to watch and played really well. They do a lot of standards, like Old Joe Clark, and I like that about them.

Plus, like me they're from Kentucky. From what I gather, Oldham County to be precise.

The radio said they're from "backwoods Kentucky," I guess trying to play up that mythology. But if you know Kentucky, you know Oldham County has nothing to do with backwoods, it's a wealthy suburb of Louisville. But I guess it sounds better to say on the radio.

Anyway, they put on a good show. Here they are at a different Blue Plate Special.

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.

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.

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.

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