We have a winner!

On Sunday, November1, I randomly drew a name in the New Lost City Ramblers giveaway and the lucky winner was Tom Buchanan of Chattanooga, TN. Congratulations, Tom! Your 3-CD set is on the way, courtesy of Smithsonian Folkways.

For those of you who didn't win, run on over to Elderly Instruments and get your own copy of this great retrospective look at one of America's greatest musical ensmbles.

Best wishes,

John

Light and Hitch

This is a long overdue post, but I wanted to write a note about what must be my favorite old-time CD of the past few years: the debut CD from the band Light and Hitch:

UPDATE 10/23: the link above goes to CDBaby who is out of stock (I don't think they were when I posted this last night) but you can go there to listen to samples and when you decide to order you can go to County Sales who appear to have it in stock.

The band features twin fiddles, fretless banjo, and at various times bass, guitar, and banjo-uke. It's all great but, oh...that fretless banjo. Andy Norcross is the banjo player, and he's really something. Don't get me wrong: the whole band is great but Andy's banjo playing is really out of this world. Fans of super-plunky fretless banjo, take note: this CD is a must-have and will probably be on the top of your pile for the next year or two. Oh yeah, and Andy's a banjo maker too, and if this CD is any evidence he's really nailed that funky, plunky tone. They're a young band, and they have a ton of energy...the energy you heard from the great Georgia stingbands of yore, and from revival bands like Highwoods, but which I find missing from some of the more "polite" contemporary old-time recordings.

It's also a particularly well-recorded CD, recorded and mastered by bassist Joseph "joebass" DeJarnette. It was recorded outdoors, right after the Mount Airy festival a couple years back, and I'm assuming without any overdubs or other funny business.

Anyway, I could write a lot more...about the wonderful twin fiddling, the great tune selection and the wonderful sonic "openness" of the recording, but I won't do this CD justice. I highly recommend all fans of old-time music add this to their collection.

John

New Lost City Ramblers Giveaway

Smithsonian Folkways has been kind enough to offer a free copy of the recent New Lost City Ramblers 3-CD retrospective, 50 Years: Where Do You Come from, Where Do You Go? to one of my lucky listeners.

To enter to win, simply create a new post on any topic of your choosing on the Sugar in the Gourd Forum. (Please try to post a somewhat relevant comment or question not just "this is my entry.") A winner will be chosen at random from among all users who post a new topic at the forum between now and October 31, 2009.

Thanks, and good luck!

John

News page is back

I haven't posted anything here in awhile, and in fact, I took the link to this page down awhile ago.

I have some things I'd like to share, so I'm putting it back up. Don't know how often I'll be posting but you might like to check in here from time to time for updates on the site, Old-Time Music in general, or just my random thoughts...

Best wishes,

John