R.D. Lunceford - Posted - 01/12/2018:  15:04:43

I was recently privileged to do an interview with BHO's own Rick (RG) Hocutt
for Dan Levenson's Old-Time Way column in the BNL.

RG has an interesting background, is a mover and shaker at The Old-Time Tiki Parlor,
is a great player, and scholar of the music. His dedication is total. Of course, many of us here
know this already!

Anyway, pick up a copy of the Jan. 2018 BNL and read about a great OT musician.

Thanks to Dan Levenson and Donald Nitchie, BNL editor-in-chief for publishing
the article and for what you do for the banjo community.

banjonews.com/index.html

RG - Posted - 01/12/2018:  19:27:23

Thanks R.D., not sure I'm all that interesting, but it was fun doing the interview with you and thinking of old (and new) times...thanks again to you, Clawdan & Donald!

JanetB - Posted - 01/12/2018:  21:27:37

That was a great interview. California needs you, RG—glad you stayed here. Thanks for your dedication to our music and for sharing your talent.

Don Huber - Posted - 01/13/2018:  15:39:36

Cannot wait to read the article! The OT music world needs creative, dedicated people such as RG and David Bragger who are unafraid to take risks and pour their energy into promoting OT music in the 21st century.

R.D. Lunceford - Posted - 01/13/2018:  16:31:59

Agreed Don.



RG and David are all in.



Like we touched on in the article, Los Angeles

was and continues to be an important location for

OT music because of the Southern/Midwestern diaspora.

As a kid, half of the older folks I knew were from places like

Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, and the like.



My parents moved from central L.A. in 1957 to Huntington Park

(SE L.A.). My Dad was impressed that the mailman was from Missouri.

When I was a teenager, our mailman was from West Virginia, and he'd

stop and come in if he heard me playing the banjo. He played BG and some

knockdown.

Oh yeah... the point I was going to make before I sidetracked myself was that RG and David are one of the main reasons that L.A. continues to be an OT mecca.

Edited by - R.D. Lunceford on 01/13/2018 16:34:30

dbrooks - Posted - 01/14/2018:  05:42:47

I enjoyed the interview very much. I had little to no insight into the LA OT scene and am impressed with all of the musicians and activity. I alo oenjoyed learning more about RG and his background and his role with Old-time Tiki Parlor. Thanks, R.D. (and BNL).

David

Chris Berry - Posted - 01/15/2018:  21:27:35

Can't wait to read it!
Chris

R.D. Lunceford - Posted - 01/18/2018:  14:42:26

Chris:



Nice seeing you post here.

I don't think we ever met, but Mel Durham

mentioned you in glowing terms when I visited him

at his home in Lakewood after I had moved to The Ozarks.

Edited by - R.D. Lunceford on 01/18/2018 14:43:09

Chris Berry - Posted - 01/18/2018:  15:04:14

It's good reading your posts, too, Ron -- we did meet once or twice briefly at Mel's house I'm pretty sure, but I don't think we ever had the chance to play together, one of us was always coming or going.

Nice to hear that about Mel, I sure miss him and I not only learned a lot from him but had lots of good times with him.

Very glad you were able to do a piece on Rick and the Tiki Parlour! Hopefully we'll run into each other at a festival or some such one of these days.
Chris

R.D. Lunceford - Posted - 01/19/2018:  14:55:26

Thanks Chris.

You L.A. guys keep it up...
you're the real deal.

Don Borchelt - Posted - 01/23/2018:  19:01:13

R.D., I finally got to my January BNL, and found your fine interview of RG, whose contributions to the BHO I have long admired. You are an expert at nudging, gently cajoling rather than leading by the nose, and the result is a very rich portrait of our BHO comrade in...strings.  RG's musical evolution struck a chord for me, so to speak, and not just because we were both blown away years ago by the Tradition LP Instrumental Music of the Southern Appalachians. What for me resonated as the heart of RG's musical journey- and mirrored my own- was his remark that "...right then and there I got over the whole bluegrass "take a solo" thing and bought into the old-time ensemble ethos of intertwined instruments, knee to knee banjo/fiddle."  An epiphany that realizes the experienced ear is even more important than the educated fingers. 



We have reached that point in our lives when we must accept that our main purpose perhaps is to pass the torch, as the elders did for us.  Well done. 



- Don B.

twelvefret - Posted - 01/24/2018:  03:21:04

quote:

---

Originally posted by Don Borchelt

R.D., I finally got to my January BNL, and found your fine interview of RG, whose contributions to the BHO I have long admired. You are an expert at nudging, gently cajoling rather than leading by the nose, and the result is a very rich portrait of our BHO comrade in...strings.  RG's musical evolution struck a chord for me, so to speak, and not just because we were both blown away years ago by the Tradition LP Instrumental Music of the Southern Appalachians. What for me resonated as the heart of RG's musical journey- and mirrored my own- was his remark that "...right then and there I got over the whole bluegrass "take a solo" thing and bought into the old-time ensemble ethos of intertwined instruments, knee to knee banjo/fiddle."  An epiphany that realizes the experienced ear is even more important than the educated fingers. 



We have reached that point in our lives when we must accept that our main purpose perhaps is to pass the torch, as the elders did for us.  Well done. 



- Don B.

---

I'd like to talk about this epiphany a bit if anyone is interested because I to discovered what I call American traditional non commercial music later in my musical life.

Also, I would like to know more of what is meant by an experienced ear.

jamesd - Posted - 01/24/2018:  07:36:35

I just reread the interview. RG had an interesting background and good story to tell. Sounds like Rick is an interesting person. Good interview RD.  I also like the tune Alonzo James...

Edited by - jamesd on 01/24/2018 07:39:36

R.D. Lunceford - Posted - 01/24/2018:  14:24:10

quote:

---

Originally posted by Don Borchelt

... the experienced ear is even more important than the educated fingers. 



We have reached that point in our lives when we must accept that our main purpose perhaps is to pass the torch, as the elders did for us.  Well done. 



- Don B.

---

Don;

Thanks for your good opinion.  When I hear positive feedback from someone of your stature I feel that I'm on the right track.

There is much concentrated wisdom in your post.  The two lines quoted above are especially solid gold, and should be engraved on the psyche of anyone who wants to make this music a way of life as yourself, RG, and so many others that have gone before us as you mention did.

At this point, let me take a slight detour to urge anyone who has not heard Don's music to STOP NOW and look him up on YouTube.  Truly inspiring and for me an education in an approach to this music that my poor imagination had not conceived of.

youtube.com/watch?v=aiBDYlw-Fec

Thank-you Don!

R.D. Lunceford - Posted - 01/24/2018:  14:35:00

quote:

---

Originally posted by jamesd

I just reread the interview. RG had an interesting background and good story to tell. Sounds like Rick is an interesting person. Good interview RD.  I also like the tune Alonzo James...

---

Thanks much James.

BTW, the tune RG supplied for the article was correctly titled Alonzo Janes.  An easy enough typo to make.

Alonzo Janes was a former slave from whom Mel Durham's family learned this tune and a few others, my personal favorite being

Over the Mountain which can be heard as a banjo solo on my "Cotton Blossom" CD, fiddled by David Bragger on his "Big Fancy" CD from Old Time Tiki Parlour,

and fiddled by Mel himself of "Skillet Fork: The Southern Illinois Tunes of Mel Durham".  David publishes some interesting biographical info on Mr. Janes in the booklet

accompanying his CD.

twelvefret - Posted - 01/25/2018:  04:29:51

quote:

---

Originally posted by R.D. Lunceford

quote:

---

Originally posted by Don Borchelt

... the experienced ear is even more important than the educated fingers. 



We have reached that point in our lives when we must accept that our main purpose perhaps is to pass the torch, as the elders did for us.  Well done. 



- Don B.

---

 

 The two lines quoted above are especially solid gold, and should be engraved on the psyche of anyone who wants to make this music a way of life as yourself, RG, and so many others that have gone before us as you mention did.

 

 

---

I'd like to know what your think the statements mean and why you think they are solid gold. Not trying to be argumentative, just curious. Thanks!! Sounds interesting.

Don Borchelt - Posted - 01/25/2018:  07:42:46

I greatly appreciate R.D.'s kind words, "concentrated wisdom" is certainly not the appellation usually assigned to one of my comments. At least this time it was concentrated!  But this thread is about R.D.'s wonderful interview of RG Hocutt, not about something I'm already beginning to regret that I posted. I don't want to be the vehicle for hijacking this discussion and turning it into an argument about the proper philosophy of old time music. I think the answer to twelvefret's questions are imbedded in the interview, and like others who have commented above, I strongly urge everyone to read it.  And I would also urge everyone to check out RG's BHO music archive (see link below), which has both great knock-down style clawhammer banjo played the way nature intended it, and some fine fiddling as well. The first tune is Alonzo Jane.



R G Holcutt's Music Archive

Not only has RG mastered his instrument, but he has devoted a great deal of his time to promoting old time music, providing opportunities to hear and play the music for others who also live way out there teetering perilously along the San Andreas Fault.  His work with David Bragger establishing the Old Time Tiki Parlor label that he describes in the interview reveals a willingness to be creative and original in establishing what is essentially a commercial enterprise, a courage to break the mold and gamble on a different approach.  His narrative makes it sound easy, and shrouds what must have been an enormous amount of risk and hard work getting the enterprise off the ground.  I would strongly recommend a visit to the Parlor's parlor as well, to see the results of all that effort.



Old Time Tiki Parlor Website

Again, my thanks to RD for his kind words, and my congratulations to him for this great BHO interview.  If you are a subscriber, but have lost your copy, you can find it here.  And after a month or so, it becomes generally accessible.



- Don B.



@RG

@R.D. Lunceford

Edited by - Don Borchelt on 01/25/2018 07:44:04

R.D. Lunceford - Posted - 01/25/2018:  14:53:41

twelvefret;
I think you ask an important question.
I think it deserves discussion. In keeping
with Don's desire that this thread stay focused
on RG's interview, I'd like to answer and discuss your
question in a separate thread. Pleas join me here:

banjohangout.org/topic/339164

RG - Posted - 01/25/2018:  19:48:10

Thanks all for the kind words, sure appreciate it. Still not sure I warrant such an article, so many other folks that I would have done before me, thanks again R.D. for the opportunity!

Don, your words are high praise, thank you. I am always blown away by your playing and participation here. Your renditions of tunes are some of my favorites and I am always amazed at your tone and tasteful playing!

You are correct as well that the article should be read in its entirety to understand what I think both you and I expressed, and I thank R.D. for creating an additional thread for that, I'll be participating I would imagine-hahaha!

David and I aren't even close to breaking even with Tiki Parlour, but it truly is a labor of love and I think because musician's are involved with Tiki Parlour, we have a different approach to what we do-at least I hope we do. David Bragger is an immensely talented old-time renaissance man, and I am blessed to work with him and all the other folks involved in the OTTP.

In the end I try not to overthink this stuff, while I may have some strong opinions about it (as I'm sure we all do), at the end of the day old-time music is cool and I love to play it... and I'll leave it at that!

ScottK - Posted - 01/26/2018:  17:29:00

quote:

---

Originally posted by RG

David and I aren't even close to breaking even with Tiki Parlour, but it truly is a labor of love and I think because musician's are involved with Tiki Parlour, we have a different approach to what we do-at least I hope we do. David Bragger is an immensely talented old-time renaissance man, and I am blessed to work with him and all the other folks involved in the OTTP.

---

Hey RG, you and David are killing it with OTTP.   The old time music community is so indebted to OTTP for your efforts.  I was spinning the Stuart Brothers disc all week in anticipation of Travis' appearance at POTMG.  So good!  (Heads up, BHO community.  If you don't have the OTTP Stuart Bothers recording yet, drop whatever you are doing and go order it right now.  I'm not kidding.  While you're there, order Dan Gellert's recording, too.  :-)   If financing for OTTP is tough, you should do more crowd-funding.  I'm sure there's a bunch of us who love your work who would step up to help support it.  I'm in!  :-)

Scott

RG - Posted - 01/26/2018:  21:15:10

Thanks Scott!

blockader - Posted - 01/30/2018:  08:04:27

A much deserved look into the life and mind of an old time treasure. It just doesn't get better than Rick Hocutt.