36 replies to this topic

[Jim Besser]

Two Stephen Foster tunes that were unsuccessful TOTM candidates: Glendy Burke and Nelly Bly.

 

Glendy Burke, first published in 1860, refers to a Mississippi River paddle wheel boat - which, in turn, was named after a mayor of New Orleans. Nelly Bly was published in 1850.

 

Here I'm playing them more or less at contra dance speed. When I play these at Civil War reenactment balls, we do them slower - ladies in big hoop skirts and gents with swords dangling from their belts can't move very fast!

 

https://dl.dropboxus...y_Burke_set.MP3

 

Played on a Jeffries G/D 30 button Anglo.

Edited by Jim Besser, 13 May 2015 - 07:46 PM.

[Bob Michel]

Here's another raid on the list (this is a great way of making up for years of lurking):

http://youtu.be/aeRW9FqpROc

I know these three G tunes from my stringband days long ago; I've never heard them played together, but they all seem to get along pretty well. And as a native Philadelphian I felt honor bound to record "Golden Slippers" once in my life.

Bob Michel
Near Philly

[Wolf Molkentin]

Lovely cheerful set Bob!

 

(besides, what's that sort of frightening expression from 2:56 on about?)

 

Best wishes - Wolf

[Bob Michel]

what's that sort of frightening expression from 2:56 on about?

Thanks, Wolf. I heard the postman walking up the front steps and was trying to warn him mentally what might happen to him if he made enough noise to spoil Take Ten.

Bob Michel
Near Philly

Edited by Bob Michel, 15 May 2015 - 04:54 AM.

[Don Taylor]

Here's another raid on the list (this is a great way of making up for years of lurking):
http://youtu.be/aeRW9FqpROc
I know these three G tunes from my stringband days long ago; I've never heard them played together, but they all seem to get along pretty well. And as a native Philadelphian I felt honor bound to record "Golden Slippers" once in my life.
Bob Michel
Near Philly

As always, lovely stuff from Bob. Thx.

[Bob Michel]

One last footnote to my May old-time concertina project: I've just nuked the YouTube video of "Angeline the Baker" and "Julianne Johnson" that I uploaded earlier this week: on a second hearing my sloppy timing was just too painful. This version isn't perfect either, but I expect the dancers wouldn't tar and feather me, as they'd have had a perfect right to do in the former case:

http://youtu.be/4Z--FaIQqPI

Bob Michel
Near PhIlly

Edited by Bob Michel, 15 May 2015 - 09:46 AM.

[Jim Besser]

One last footnote to my May old-time concertina project: I've just nuked the YouTube video of "Angeline the Baker" and "Julianne Johnson" that I uploaded earlier this week: on a second hearing my sloppy timing was just too painful. This version isn't perfect either, but I expect the dancers wouldn't tar and feather me, as they'd have had a perfect right to do in the former case:

http://youtu.be/4Z--FaIQqPI

Bob Michel
Near PhIlly

I'm glad somebody has finally done some oldtime tunes here!  It's a genre sadly neglected by most concertinists (Jody Kruskal excepted)

[Rod]

Not sure how you define ' Oldtime ' .

[chas]

Not sure how you define ' Oldtime ' .

The liner notes from the "Classic Old-Time" CD say:

Old-time music features playing styles that predate bluegrass, emerging from the string band tradition stretching back to the early years of United States history.  Both African-American and Anglo-American ingredients are at its core, the banjo having African origins, the  fiddle European.  Think Dock Boggs, Wade Ward, Roscoe Holcomb, The New Lost City Ramblers.

(Or do you know all that and are querying the inclusion of some of the tunes above???  It sounds fine to me.)

[Rod]

Thanks Chas. So it's basically an American expression. An excuse for my ignorance could have been that I am in Somerset, but then I noticed that so are you .....but unlike me, you are also a man of the world. !

[Bob Michel]

So it's basically an American expression.

Mea culpa. In the descriptions I posted on YouTube I was at pains to specify the "*American* old-time tradition," but in this forum I did indeed slip the one time into a more parochial usage without providing context. Sorry for any confusion.

I remember being drawn once into a mind-numbing discussion (I think that's the word) with a fellow enthusiast who insisted with some heat that the almost equally common variant "old-timey" is deeply offensive and should be avoided in polite conversation. It isn't, of course--I made the mistake (as it proved) of pointing out that practitioners of this style were happy through much of its history to call it "hillbilly music"--but the incident reminded me that taxonomy can be fraught. Such a quagmire, language.

Bob Michel
Near Philly

Edited by Bob Michel, 18 May 2015 - 01:56 PM.

[Don Taylor]

Mike Harding (ex BBC) plays and talks about 'Old Timey' music quite often on his 'Folk Show' weekly podcasts from Manchester, England. He has even played some Jody Kruskal tracks - so it cannot be that strange an expression on that side of the pond.

If there is anybody here that does not listen to Mike, then you are missing a real treat. However, you can download more than 120 past shows from his website - that is over 150 hours of the 'Very Best in Folk, Roots and Acoustic music'.

See: http://www.mikehardingfolkshow.com

Don.

[Jim Besser]

Not sure how you define ' Oldtime ' .

 

It's an imprecise term, but generally refers to the fiddle-based dance music common in the Appalachian and Ozark mountain regions of the US. It's as much or more about the style of playing than the tunes themselves - many of which originated in England, Scotland and Ireland. Oldtime musicians here wear the title with pride. I used the term blithely, ignoring the fact that non-US musicians might find it confusing.

[Rod]

Back here in the UK the term ' Old Time Music Hall ' has been coined to describe a form of stage entertainment which has now all but disappeared from the scene. Similar, I believe, to what the Americans call ' Vaudeville '. Also similar to what, I believe, we have called ' Burlesque '. Whatever we choose to call it, it is a repository for some splendid old songs and melodies which must never be allowed to die. Unlimited fodder for the Concertina. An antidote for ' Folk ' , dare I even say. !

[Bob Michel]

I was humming "Lucy Farr's Barndance" earlier today, and remembered that it was one of the Runners Up on the list. So before May's Theme gives way to some new challenge, here it is.

http://youtu.be/0t4az8143NA

Bob Michel
Near Philly

[Jim Besser]

I was humming "Lucy Farr's Barndance" earlier today, and remembered that it was one of the Runners Up on the list. So before May's Theme gives way to some new challenge, here it is.

http://youtu.be/0t4az8143NA

Bob Michel
Near Philly

 

Thanks. An underappreciated tune, IMO.

[Jim Besser]

I think I posted this a while back: the lovely Brian Peters tune The Blossom and the Rain.  I should re-record it without the unfortunate speed up!

[Bob Michel]

I think I posted this a while back: the lovely Brian Peters tune The Blossom and the Rain.  I should re-record it without the unfortunate speed up!

What a lovely tune and arrangement.

If there's a speed-up in there it's pretty subtle. Especially compared to some of my own mad races to the finish.

Bob Michel
Near Philly