Saturday, February 28, 2015
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Saturday, February 21, 2015
Old Time Back=Up Jams
I am not affiliated in any way to the Old Time backup jam tracks site. Just wanted to share the link for anyone interested in checking it out, as I often read on different forums of people looking for similar playing aids.
http://www.oldtimejam.com/wordpress/
http://www.oldtimejam.com/wordpress/
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Close Kin: A Reunion of Bluegrass and Old-Time
This is a little over three years old..but I just came across it tonight. I found it interesting and thought some of you would too.
Monday, February 16, 2015
Worley Gardner Old Time Music Festival in WV
Rob N Lackey is a great guy I know from Friends of the Mountain Dulcimer. Anyone within traveling distance of this festival should check it out and meet Rob. Just click on thelink below for all the details.
http://mountaindulcimer.ning.com/events/worley-gardner-winter-music-festival-1
http://mountaindulcimer.ning.com/events/worley-gardner-winter-music-festival-1
Saturday, February 14, 2015
Mike Seeger
Mike passed on from this world to the next in 2009. He was one of the most important and best artists of the revival of Old Time music, which he most often referred to as Old Time Country music. I know that he would be happy to know that today this genre which was so much a part of his life is still doing well and that the international interest in it continues to grow as more and more people come to understand the uniqueness, and importance of it in the history of the genres that followed.
Click on the link below to see Mike's take on Old Time Country music.
http://mikeseeger.info/index.html
And as always...don't worry about the Spotted Owl....he'll be fine...SAVE OLD TIME MUSIC !!!
Click on the link below to see Mike's take on Old Time Country music.
http://mikeseeger.info/index.html
And as always...don't worry about the Spotted Owl....he'll be fine...SAVE OLD TIME MUSIC !!!
Friday, February 13, 2015
About Instruments Used In Old Time Music
Unfortunately for those of you who have repetitively seen, or heard my broken record, soap box sermons (actually I use an RC Cola crate, not a soap box), concerning Old Time Music vs. Bluegrass Music, I must once again start out by playing that broken record, simply for the benefit of anyone who may not have seen it before, and possibly have not heard it anywhere else and are still under the wrong impression that they are one and the same.
OLD TIME MUSIC IS NOT BLUEGRASS !!!!!!! AND FURTHERMORE, BLUEGRASS MUSIC IS NOT OLD TIME MUSIC !!!!!!!!
Old Time Music aka: Old Timey, aka: Old Time Country came first, then along with some mixing and mingling of other genres gave birth to both Bluegrass, and what we now know as Country.
Okay...whew...got that out of the way once again...so on to the subject at hand, which is to hopefully dispel some misinformation that ever so often makes it's way into a conversation, whether live in person or on one social site or another . That subject is concerning instruments used in the genre of Old Time Music, whether the most common, least common, or not acceptable at all, as well as similarities or difference between those instruments used in Old Time vs. those used in Bluegrass, or modern Country.
I can make it short and sweet concerning mainstream modern Country (aka: misrepresented Pop), anything goes, period, as long as it does not resemble Country music. And the more rock and pop oriented, and the more electric and anti-country, the more likely it will be there nowadays, with a few exceptions where there are still (Thank God) a handful of dinosaurs managing to thus far hold on. I believe it was Marty Stewart who was recently quoted as saying that the most outlaw thing you can do in Nashville today is play Country music.
Now, on to Bluegrass. While there are some sub-genres of Bluegrass, and some bands as well as solo artists who do a mix of Bluegrass, Country, Old Time, and /or other genres, who also do a mix of a variety of instruments, both acoustic and electric, for the sake of this post we are not talking about them. We are talking here about the Bluegrass "purists", (God bless them. We need them there to preserve the true and original Bluegrass, just like we need the right people in the right places to preserve Old Time). And let me say as well, that there is nothing wrong with the same person playing Bluegrass in one venue on Friday night, and Old Time in another on Saturday, just stay true to the genre you are billing yourself as playing at that particular time, in that particular venue, or point out that you are mixing genres. Why is that important ? Because it cuts down on the rampant confusion of folk thinking one genre is the other and vice versa.
So now, on to Bluegrass (really, this time I mean it). The folk in traditional Bluegrass are probably the most strict when it comes to acceptable instruments whether in a jam session, concert, or festival, bar none. Like Old Time all instruments in "purist" Bluegrass must be acoustic, and rightfully so. Unlike Old Time, there is pretty much a very limited set list of acceptable instruments that is very rarely ever veered from. If I miss one here please forgive me, and feel free to message me and point out what I forgot. I'm a big boy and can admit when I make a mistake. So pretty much the Bluegrass genre in it's purist form will allow for the Fiddle, five string resonator Banjo, Dreadnaught style Guitar, Mandolin, Bass, Dobro Slide Guitar, and on rare occasion the Harp (harmonica for the city folk). While multiples of any of these stringed instruments may be present, that is pretty much the list of acceptable Bluegrass instruments. (although Buck White, at least once that I know of, played the piano on an all Bluegrass venue. But then he IS Buck White, and with a wink, grin, and nod, Buck White can get away with things the Good Lord Himself couldn't).
Now I go to the acceptable instruments of the music genre to which this blog is dedicated, Old Time Music, and on the way there, I will tell you what transpired that made me know I had to write this particular post. First off, on a number of occasions I have encountered the question, whether in person, or written, and whether directed to me or someone else, "Is this instrument okay for Old Time?" or "What instruments are acceptable for Old Time?". BUT THAT IS NOT THE KICKER !!!
The straw that broke the proverbial camel's back, and made me know that this had to be written, was a statement I recently read on a music site which I will not name, by a banjo picker who I will not name, because there is a good chance that either someone reading this also read that, or he himself may read this, and if I name names it could be construed as if I were calling out an individual for a confrontation which is not at all the case, I just hate knowing that folk who are genuinely trying to learn all they can about this great genre and piece of American music history are being fed bogus information which they will take as the gospel and pass it on to the next inquiring mind and so on, and so on, until we have an army of misinformed musicians missing out on the full potential of enjoyment of this music that they could have. For the same reasons I will not name names, I also will not quote this guy verbatim, but rather will give the full gist of his misstatement. In a nut shell this allegedly seasoned and experienced picker told this guy who is new on the scene and trying to learn the right things the right way, that you absolutely cannot get away with taking either an open back banjo to a Bluegrass jam, nor a resonator banjo to an Old Time jam.......seriously.......this cat actually told the guy that, and not only so, but made it sound as if the Old Time pickers would be much more fanatical about it than the Bluegrass guys !!!!!
Now then, I have been to mixed jams as I know some of you have where both kinds of 5 stringers were present, and you just used good common sense as to who you attempted to pick with, which is just common courtesy anyways even if everyone there has an exact clone of each others instruments. I also know however that I have to give the guy partial credit on the first part of his statement , because there is a certain number of hardcore Bluegrass pickers who will snob an OT guy out of their camp in heartbeat, which is a shame since if there were no OT there would be no BG. However, on the second part of his statement, I have no idea in what parallel universe, in what far away galaxy he attended an OT jam where the pickers attacked a guy because he had a resonator . While theoretically speaking the most common banjo for Old Time is the five string open back, if the resonator is unacceptable someone forgot to send that memo to Uncle Dave Macon, Grandpa Jones, String Bean, Leroy Troy, Dom Flemons, and a truck load of other Old Time pickers both past and present who were or are known to play the 5 string resonator banjo.
In conclusion, in as much as there is pretty much a fairly limited list of acceptable instruments for Bluegrass, about the only limitations put on Old Time are that the instruments be acoustic, and fit in a category of most commonly a string band, or secondly a jug band. Acoustic in the beginning largely because there was no amplification back then, and acoustic now because it just would not be Old Time with electric instruments. In the beginning Old Time (long before it actually was named Old Time) was a music that was played using just whatever instruments were available, because that is what you had and there just wasn't a music store on every corner, nor did most folk have the money to just go out a buy anything they wanted. Often times the instruments were home made or had been passed down through family members and so pretty much anything went. Today that is still the case but more because that is the nature of the genre than a matter of limited supply of instruments.
Just a few of the instruments more commonly found in OT both back in it's heyday and now are, but not limited to..... 5 string banjos to include: open back, resonator, mountain, and minstrel , six string guitar, four string tenor guitar, four string plectrum banjo(both open back and resonator), four string tenor banjo (both open back and resonator), fiddle, upright bass, cello, dobro, mountain lap dulcimer, auto-harp, mandolin, more recently the ukulele and ukulele banjo have found their way in, spoons, bones, harp (harmonica), rub board, jugs, kazoo, jaw harp, mouth bow, etc,, etc. Again from it's beginnings to now it has always been a whatever is on hand music (acoustic of course). So, general rule of thumb with Old Time is this: if it makes the music and the sound fits the genre, it is acceptable, and if anyone tells you it isn't, they don't know squat from collard greens about Old Time music. My Granny was an Old Time musician, that's where I learned to love it as a little bitty feller. She actually played OT on the harp, and on the piano. Only problem with the piano is you can't just put it in a case or in your pocket and take it with you.
Until next time ...don't worry about the Spotted Owl...he'll be fine...SAVE OLD TIME MUSIC !!!
OLD TIME MUSIC IS NOT BLUEGRASS !!!!!!! AND FURTHERMORE, BLUEGRASS MUSIC IS NOT OLD TIME MUSIC !!!!!!!!
Old Time Music aka: Old Timey, aka: Old Time Country came first, then along with some mixing and mingling of other genres gave birth to both Bluegrass, and what we now know as Country.
Okay...whew...got that out of the way once again...so on to the subject at hand, which is to hopefully dispel some misinformation that ever so often makes it's way into a conversation, whether live in person or on one social site or another . That subject is concerning instruments used in the genre of Old Time Music, whether the most common, least common, or not acceptable at all, as well as similarities or difference between those instruments used in Old Time vs. those used in Bluegrass, or modern Country.
I can make it short and sweet concerning mainstream modern Country (aka: misrepresented Pop), anything goes, period, as long as it does not resemble Country music. And the more rock and pop oriented, and the more electric and anti-country, the more likely it will be there nowadays, with a few exceptions where there are still (Thank God) a handful of dinosaurs managing to thus far hold on. I believe it was Marty Stewart who was recently quoted as saying that the most outlaw thing you can do in Nashville today is play Country music.
Now, on to Bluegrass. While there are some sub-genres of Bluegrass, and some bands as well as solo artists who do a mix of Bluegrass, Country, Old Time, and /or other genres, who also do a mix of a variety of instruments, both acoustic and electric, for the sake of this post we are not talking about them. We are talking here about the Bluegrass "purists", (God bless them. We need them there to preserve the true and original Bluegrass, just like we need the right people in the right places to preserve Old Time). And let me say as well, that there is nothing wrong with the same person playing Bluegrass in one venue on Friday night, and Old Time in another on Saturday, just stay true to the genre you are billing yourself as playing at that particular time, in that particular venue, or point out that you are mixing genres. Why is that important ? Because it cuts down on the rampant confusion of folk thinking one genre is the other and vice versa.
So now, on to Bluegrass (really, this time I mean it). The folk in traditional Bluegrass are probably the most strict when it comes to acceptable instruments whether in a jam session, concert, or festival, bar none. Like Old Time all instruments in "purist" Bluegrass must be acoustic, and rightfully so. Unlike Old Time, there is pretty much a very limited set list of acceptable instruments that is very rarely ever veered from. If I miss one here please forgive me, and feel free to message me and point out what I forgot. I'm a big boy and can admit when I make a mistake. So pretty much the Bluegrass genre in it's purist form will allow for the Fiddle, five string resonator Banjo, Dreadnaught style Guitar, Mandolin, Bass, Dobro Slide Guitar, and on rare occasion the Harp (harmonica for the city folk). While multiples of any of these stringed instruments may be present, that is pretty much the list of acceptable Bluegrass instruments. (although Buck White, at least once that I know of, played the piano on an all Bluegrass venue. But then he IS Buck White, and with a wink, grin, and nod, Buck White can get away with things the Good Lord Himself couldn't).
Now I go to the acceptable instruments of the music genre to which this blog is dedicated, Old Time Music, and on the way there, I will tell you what transpired that made me know I had to write this particular post. First off, on a number of occasions I have encountered the question, whether in person, or written, and whether directed to me or someone else, "Is this instrument okay for Old Time?" or "What instruments are acceptable for Old Time?". BUT THAT IS NOT THE KICKER !!!
The straw that broke the proverbial camel's back, and made me know that this had to be written, was a statement I recently read on a music site which I will not name, by a banjo picker who I will not name, because there is a good chance that either someone reading this also read that, or he himself may read this, and if I name names it could be construed as if I were calling out an individual for a confrontation which is not at all the case, I just hate knowing that folk who are genuinely trying to learn all they can about this great genre and piece of American music history are being fed bogus information which they will take as the gospel and pass it on to the next inquiring mind and so on, and so on, until we have an army of misinformed musicians missing out on the full potential of enjoyment of this music that they could have. For the same reasons I will not name names, I also will not quote this guy verbatim, but rather will give the full gist of his misstatement. In a nut shell this allegedly seasoned and experienced picker told this guy who is new on the scene and trying to learn the right things the right way, that you absolutely cannot get away with taking either an open back banjo to a Bluegrass jam, nor a resonator banjo to an Old Time jam.......seriously.......this cat actually told the guy that, and not only so, but made it sound as if the Old Time pickers would be much more fanatical about it than the Bluegrass guys !!!!!
Now then, I have been to mixed jams as I know some of you have where both kinds of 5 stringers were present, and you just used good common sense as to who you attempted to pick with, which is just common courtesy anyways even if everyone there has an exact clone of each others instruments. I also know however that I have to give the guy partial credit on the first part of his statement , because there is a certain number of hardcore Bluegrass pickers who will snob an OT guy out of their camp in heartbeat, which is a shame since if there were no OT there would be no BG. However, on the second part of his statement, I have no idea in what parallel universe, in what far away galaxy he attended an OT jam where the pickers attacked a guy because he had a resonator . While theoretically speaking the most common banjo for Old Time is the five string open back, if the resonator is unacceptable someone forgot to send that memo to Uncle Dave Macon, Grandpa Jones, String Bean, Leroy Troy, Dom Flemons, and a truck load of other Old Time pickers both past and present who were or are known to play the 5 string resonator banjo.
In conclusion, in as much as there is pretty much a fairly limited list of acceptable instruments for Bluegrass, about the only limitations put on Old Time are that the instruments be acoustic, and fit in a category of most commonly a string band, or secondly a jug band. Acoustic in the beginning largely because there was no amplification back then, and acoustic now because it just would not be Old Time with electric instruments. In the beginning Old Time (long before it actually was named Old Time) was a music that was played using just whatever instruments were available, because that is what you had and there just wasn't a music store on every corner, nor did most folk have the money to just go out a buy anything they wanted. Often times the instruments were home made or had been passed down through family members and so pretty much anything went. Today that is still the case but more because that is the nature of the genre than a matter of limited supply of instruments.
Just a few of the instruments more commonly found in OT both back in it's heyday and now are, but not limited to..... 5 string banjos to include: open back, resonator, mountain, and minstrel , six string guitar, four string tenor guitar, four string plectrum banjo(both open back and resonator), four string tenor banjo (both open back and resonator), fiddle, upright bass, cello, dobro, mountain lap dulcimer, auto-harp, mandolin, more recently the ukulele and ukulele banjo have found their way in, spoons, bones, harp (harmonica), rub board, jugs, kazoo, jaw harp, mouth bow, etc,, etc. Again from it's beginnings to now it has always been a whatever is on hand music (acoustic of course). So, general rule of thumb with Old Time is this: if it makes the music and the sound fits the genre, it is acceptable, and if anyone tells you it isn't, they don't know squat from collard greens about Old Time music. My Granny was an Old Time musician, that's where I learned to love it as a little bitty feller. She actually played OT on the harp, and on the piano. Only problem with the piano is you can't just put it in a case or in your pocket and take it with you.
Until next time ...don't worry about the Spotted Owl...he'll be fine...SAVE OLD TIME MUSIC !!!
Thursday, February 12, 2015
An Introduction To Old Time Just In Case You Need One
Chances are that if you have come to this blog intentionally, you already have at least some understanding, if not a vast one, of what Old Time Music, aka: Old Timey Music, aka: Old Time Country Music is all about. However I find more and more that there are a lot of misconceptions, and some confusion concerning certain aspects of the genre among, not only fans of the music, but even among some seasoned OT musicians as well as Bluegrass musicians.
In as much as I do not view myself as the all knowing Guru of OT, I have been exposed to it all my life, (over a half century), have studied every aspect and angle of it for years, and while my musical likes, and experience cross several genres, OT has always held the most special and prominent place in my heart of any genre.
Old Time is the style in which the music is played, and while the most common songs you may hear the most often associated with the genre may be anywhere between ninety and two hundred years old, there are songs being written everyday to the present that can and do fall under that genre, again it is the style in which it is played just like with any other genre, and not the age of the song. Within Old Time Music there is also an abundance of subject matter. There are the Spirituals (Gospel if you will), Work gang songs from the farms and plantations, to the railroad workers, to prison chain gangs, etc. There are the love songs, and the murder ballads. Often people confuse Old Time with Bluegrass and vice versa, and I believe that one of the biggest reasons for the confusion is that like Old Time , Bluegrass also has not only these same "categories " , but the same exact songs, just pumped up and put on steroids for the lightning fast style of BG. Old Time Music is actually the parent music of, and the main foundation upon which Bluegrass and Country music are built, as well as all of their sub-genres of various Folk and Americana music.
Old Time came first beginning with the early settlers of Appalachia, and the south eastern part of the country, but did not have the official genre name until about 1923. The Grand Old Opry was formed about two years after this moniker was applied in 1925. Uncle Dave Macon was one of the two first Opry regulars, and was the first Grand Opry star to reach the status of superstardom.
In all actuality Bill Monroe who is known as the Father of Bluegrass was first an Old Time musician, playing with the likes of the most famous OT musician, Uncle Dave Macon. It was not until the 1940's that Mr. Monroe combined things he'd learned from OT, the traveling minstrels, and other genres of the time to create his own brand of music known as Bluegrass. He had some very important help in this from Earl Scruggs who had also been an OT musician playing banjo, in that Mr. Scruggs took one of the many OT banjo styles, put on finger picks, developed new rolls, and essentially installed a virtual turbo booster, developing the ultra fast "Scruggs" banjo style that immediately became the signature, and mainstay Bluegrass style. This, to Mr. Scruggs' credit is actually one of the easiest ways to differentiate between the two genres. While there are said to be at least nineteen different banjo picking styles for OT, including clawhammer, and a variety of one, two, and three finger picking style, the Scruggs/Bluegrass style stands out alone as the Bluegrass signature style.
While Bluegrass is a very flashy music style with a lot of embellishment, and augmentation on the instruments, especially banjo and mandolin, Old Time is more raw, straight forward, somewhat slower paced, and simplistic in nature, placing more emphasis on lyrics than on fancy instrumentation, although some of it can pretty well get to jumping.
After somewhat taking a back seat to it's children, (Bluegrass and Country), Old Time Music enjoyed a revival during the late 1950's on through the 1960's being the big attraction of many Folk festivals, and on college campuses, as well as coffee houses and such venues. After fading back again (but never going away) out of the limelight, Old Time once again gained a large amount of popularity with the production of the ever popular movie "O' Brother Where Art Thou", and continues to be quite popular across the U.S. on college and university campuses, at festivals, coffee houses, and now more mainstream concert venues. It is also enjoying a lot of popularity internationally in such places as France, the UK, Germany, Ireland, etc.
All in all, even though the amount of attention it gets may rise and fall and rise again, I believe that as long as there are people, there will be those who want a music that is of the people, for the people, and by the people, that is not diluted and polished, and placed in a strangle hold by the big time music executives of Nashville's Music Row, NY, or LA. And as long as that desire for real, raw, straight forward, honest , music exists, so will that timeless genre known as Old Time Music.
In my next posting I plan to address some common misconceptions concerning the instruments used in Old Time Music.
Until then...don't worry about the Spotted Owl.....he'll be fine....SAVE OLD TIME MUSIC !!!!
In as much as I do not view myself as the all knowing Guru of OT, I have been exposed to it all my life, (over a half century), have studied every aspect and angle of it for years, and while my musical likes, and experience cross several genres, OT has always held the most special and prominent place in my heart of any genre.
Old Time is the style in which the music is played, and while the most common songs you may hear the most often associated with the genre may be anywhere between ninety and two hundred years old, there are songs being written everyday to the present that can and do fall under that genre, again it is the style in which it is played just like with any other genre, and not the age of the song. Within Old Time Music there is also an abundance of subject matter. There are the Spirituals (Gospel if you will), Work gang songs from the farms and plantations, to the railroad workers, to prison chain gangs, etc. There are the love songs, and the murder ballads. Often people confuse Old Time with Bluegrass and vice versa, and I believe that one of the biggest reasons for the confusion is that like Old Time , Bluegrass also has not only these same "categories " , but the same exact songs, just pumped up and put on steroids for the lightning fast style of BG. Old Time Music is actually the parent music of, and the main foundation upon which Bluegrass and Country music are built, as well as all of their sub-genres of various Folk and Americana music.
Old Time came first beginning with the early settlers of Appalachia, and the south eastern part of the country, but did not have the official genre name until about 1923. The Grand Old Opry was formed about two years after this moniker was applied in 1925. Uncle Dave Macon was one of the two first Opry regulars, and was the first Grand Opry star to reach the status of superstardom.
In all actuality Bill Monroe who is known as the Father of Bluegrass was first an Old Time musician, playing with the likes of the most famous OT musician, Uncle Dave Macon. It was not until the 1940's that Mr. Monroe combined things he'd learned from OT, the traveling minstrels, and other genres of the time to create his own brand of music known as Bluegrass. He had some very important help in this from Earl Scruggs who had also been an OT musician playing banjo, in that Mr. Scruggs took one of the many OT banjo styles, put on finger picks, developed new rolls, and essentially installed a virtual turbo booster, developing the ultra fast "Scruggs" banjo style that immediately became the signature, and mainstay Bluegrass style. This, to Mr. Scruggs' credit is actually one of the easiest ways to differentiate between the two genres. While there are said to be at least nineteen different banjo picking styles for OT, including clawhammer, and a variety of one, two, and three finger picking style, the Scruggs/Bluegrass style stands out alone as the Bluegrass signature style.
While Bluegrass is a very flashy music style with a lot of embellishment, and augmentation on the instruments, especially banjo and mandolin, Old Time is more raw, straight forward, somewhat slower paced, and simplistic in nature, placing more emphasis on lyrics than on fancy instrumentation, although some of it can pretty well get to jumping.
After somewhat taking a back seat to it's children, (Bluegrass and Country), Old Time Music enjoyed a revival during the late 1950's on through the 1960's being the big attraction of many Folk festivals, and on college campuses, as well as coffee houses and such venues. After fading back again (but never going away) out of the limelight, Old Time once again gained a large amount of popularity with the production of the ever popular movie "O' Brother Where Art Thou", and continues to be quite popular across the U.S. on college and university campuses, at festivals, coffee houses, and now more mainstream concert venues. It is also enjoying a lot of popularity internationally in such places as France, the UK, Germany, Ireland, etc.
All in all, even though the amount of attention it gets may rise and fall and rise again, I believe that as long as there are people, there will be those who want a music that is of the people, for the people, and by the people, that is not diluted and polished, and placed in a strangle hold by the big time music executives of Nashville's Music Row, NY, or LA. And as long as that desire for real, raw, straight forward, honest , music exists, so will that timeless genre known as Old Time Music.
In my next posting I plan to address some common misconceptions concerning the instruments used in Old Time Music.
Until then...don't worry about the Spotted Owl.....he'll be fine....SAVE OLD TIME MUSIC !!!!
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