Jim Besser

Wonderful. I've always found it fascinating that these are two superb players who happen to be related - but their styles are so different.

Another requirement for a good session: a solid rhythm player who can drive the group and hold things together. I have recordings of a wonderful session about 20 years ago. There were a bunch of very good musicians, and a superb pianist who tended to join tunes only after a couple of cycles. You can clearly hear how things snapped into place when he started playing.

That pretty much reflects my views, especially David's 'strict' rule. It's why playing in sessions with David is always great fun!

Way cool.

Missing it this year was such a bummer.

Nice. I used to play this for Border Morris dancers, and always liked it. Also known as Wm Irwin's Modal Hornpipe and Butchers of Bristol, I believe.

Totally agree. Simple DIY fixes are fine, but this is the kind of issue that can have many non-obvious causes. I've used Bob Snope and Greg Jowaisas over the years, and both are outstanding. Bob recently did a major overhaul of my Jeffries, with the goal of improving playability, and the results were amazing. Not cheap, but worth it. There's also a new repair guy in Brattleboro -Ben Hemmendinger. I've met him, but have had no personal experience with his services.

My experience with playing for vocalists has been disappointing. I've spent decades playing for dancers and learning to work with their rhythmic idiosyncrasies - especially Morris dancers - but found that adjusting to singers is an entirely different process. The reason I'm not good at it: no feet to watch!

I have multiple Pelican cases, which is where my concertinas live at home (where plumbing leaks are a serious threat), but for outdoor gigs and situations where jostling is the biggest danger, I prefer very well padded soft camera cases. And i do mean 'well padded," with layers of dense foam on all sides.

Sad news. He and Tony were mainstays of our community. I took a terrific Anglo workshop with John at the Button Box many years ago. Noel Sing We Clear was a big part of the holiday season for at least 40 years. And, of course, he and Tony encouraged so many to eat bertha's mussels.

Island of Woods, an air by the fiddler Liz Carroll. I struggled with this tune; it's subtle and sort of delicate, things I - as a Morris, English ceilidh and contra player - don't do well. But I'm trying to get better. Played on a 30 button Jeffries G/D Anglo.

Love the unrushed pacing. So much oldtime is played at breakneck speed; your rendition gives the tune a chance to breathe.

I always enjoyed playing Maggots on a Sheep's Hide. And the oldtime version of Yellow Rose of Texas (not the Tennessee Earnie Ford song). And Magpie.

Masterful, as always

It's too hot here in the Washington DC area to work very hard, so just fooling around with some tunes I really like. Here: the North Ashton Frolick and Young May Moon, with some creative (ie stuff I forgot) variations, played on a 30 button Jeffries G/D Anglo concertina. I did think about working just on tunes with wintery names, but don't think that will really help. https://soundcloud.com/concertinist/north-ashton-frolick-young-may-moon-7-12-2024