"Old-time" music can mean something totally different in Minnesota, Louisiana, New Mexico, West Virginia, or points in between. Way back when, there was more variety in the British Isles derived fiddle-based genres as regarded repertoire, tune types, and instrumentation. Since the great folk-revival of the 1960's and the resulting festival scene, a highly codified version of OT stringband music has become dominant. The combination of clawhammer banjo, guitar, and fiddle, all played in a specific style have become the standard OT sound, somewhat similar to Bluegrass as regards a fairly ossified instrumental line-up and vocal approach. This may be because the the researchers/revivalists concentrated on specific regions of southern Appalachia. This is not a criticism because we owe these preservationists a lot. It is merely to point out that other regions were not as fortunate to have had many champions for their regional musical traditions. Because of this a particular style of OT is what has reached the public at large, and much of modern OT music is based on this. As the years have passed, there has thankfully become a much larger variety within the genre, and there are many folks who deserve thanks for their efforts in this.
As regards repertoire, there are now a good number of fine (fiddle) tune collections from outside Appalachia- Christeson's two-volume Missouri collection, Beisswenger & McCann's Ozarks volume, Bolick & Austin's Mississippi Fiddle Tunes, Byard's Pennsylvania Hill Country Tunes, Harrison& Burgess's Dear Old Illinois fiddle tunes, etc., etc. Going off on a tangent that leads me to the top of a soapbox, I'd offer that depending on my home part of the country, I'd search out the local music and if necessary stage a mini-revival of it with some local like-minded musical friends. Clawhammer/stroke-style was once a coast-to-coast phenomenon, and to my mind would be appropriate to nearly any region unless said specific region did not historically include it.
In different parts of the U.S., different instruments had currency in the past- in the Midwest and North, the piano was common, as was the pump organ. The 'cello was also not rare.
All of this build up is to mention the tenor banjo which was popular as well. Bruce Molsky included a nice fiddle/tenor banjo duet, Wake Up Susan/Durang's Hornpipe on his Contented Must Be recording. As in Irish Trad, the banjo provides a nice foil to the fiddle.
Before I close this ramble, I'd like to mention the many fine and varied recordings that have been released by The Old-Time Tiki Parlor. They've given exposure to much off-the-beaten track music and musicians that deserve a hearing. I especially appreciate their efforts to maintain and preserve the music of the Midwestern/Southern diaspora in Southern California- a genuine and long-standing Old-Time Music tradition.
Wake Up Susan & Durang's Hornpipe - YouTube
Edited by - R.D. Lunceford on 11/04/2024 16:20:56
Around here, an Old Time jam probably includes Hank Williams and Hank Snow tunes.
Not exactly Old Time, but Feudin Banjos, later known as Deulin Banjos, featured a tenor and 5 string.
Great discussion, R.D. For younger readers to see what R.D. means, go through the NLCR material when Tom Paley was in the group. Tremendous variety of style and instrumentation. Given the band’s sources, it was far more representative of various regional old=time traditions than today’s homogenized “festival style.”
@R.D. Lunceford
In the 20s, it was not at all unusual for the tenor to be found backing "old time" vocals. A number of Vernon Dalhart's recordings feature one...not strumming, picking the melody.
https://youtu.be/mMLCd0BtUaA?feature=shared
That's William Carlino on Tenor banjo...
Edited by - trapdoor2 on 11/04/2024 17:57:31
Tenor banjo was even present in some of the classic Country music of the fifties and sixties. Think Johnny Horton.
I love the sound of the accordion with the fiddle in Irish and Canadian traditional music and would love to see the accordion pop up more in the old time tradition.
Here's Dwight Lamb playing some Danish and American fiddle tunes on an accordion:
youtu.be/Qq0DFoR2pGk?feature=shared
When I was coming up in my fiddle life, I met a couple of tenor banjo players who played old time. They both were also fiddlers. One was kind of loud and rhythmic, the other was spot on with the melody. Both were older men who were steeped in the old tunes and ways. I also know a plectrum banjo player who does a find job on old time tunes and as I think about it there are two brothers I meet many years ago who live in Maryland, one plays tenor and the other plays and build five string banjos. There are also lots of recordings from the 78 era that featured tenor banjos.
Not a tenor (a plectrum), but this might help illustrate how diversity works. Starting at 5:14 (plectrum solo starts at 6:17) of this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0xgNnmAkRM&t=2s
You will see more approaches to the banjo in this festival setting. As a guitar player, I'm intrigued by the variety of guitars used in this setting.
Yes Marci rocks her cello banjo with Cary Moskovitz on his plectrum!
Lots of good tenor banjo accompaniment (and occasional lead) on old time 78s from the '20s and '30s, for example: Seven Foot Dilly & His Dill Pickles, Hugh Roden and his Texas Nighthawks, the Allen Brothers, Big Chief Henry's Indian String Band, Eck Robertson, Freeny's Dance Band, Hack's String Band, and the East Texas Serenaders.
The Bluegrass Set (Irish Banjo)
OT Tunes- Note the ornaments (mainly triplets).
Fiddlin' Arthur Smith 1948: https://youtu.be/5--359BPFJE
And on this there seems to be a plectrum played five-string and accordion: https://youtu.be/WudV2ajbgVA
The Forty Drop Few playing Hack's Stringband's 'Kentucky Plowboy March' with two tenor banjos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NijEsyEip-Q
I see some diversity in OT now - it used to be all clawhammer fiddle instrumentals but now you see more people singing with banjo now and more variation in styles of playing (2 fingerstyle seems to be getting more popular). I also see more African Americans taking up the banjo. But, yes, it would be cool to see more tenor and plectrum.
R. Crumb on tenor banjo:
youtube.com/watch?v=RNqJmW3i1tw
