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Latest News - updated 21/02/2000
Just got back from the Sixth National Old Time Festival at Gainsborough in Lincolnshire where we (Chris and I) had a great time.
It was great to meet the leading lights in FOAOTMAD and everybody was so friendly.
The most interesting thing if I compare this festival to blues festivals is that in the blues world only about 5% of the punters play where at an OT festival only 5% don't.
I attended Debbie Grim's (from the Konnarock Critters) old time banjo workshop which was good but I am too slow on the pickup to have got much out of it - and anyway my banjo went totally out of tune half way through (thanks to nylon strings and wooden friction pegs).
Tom Paley's guitar workshop was a much less 'hands on' experience with a lot more talking and less playing. And at one point following some particular questions the workshop seem to drift off into the history of old time and an attempt to define exactly what it is and its links with black music. I for one thought all this was jolly interesting.
I only saw one person playing the dulcimer all weekend and until Sunday morning no mandolin's where in evidence. Typical - you wait all weekend to hear a mandolin then three turn up at once!
I was press ganged into dancing at the square dance on both nights (despite being fairly replete on the alcohol states) and whilst I was fairly dreadful on the first night I think I had improved a lot by the second. All the ladies were kind though and I certainly intend to persevere.
I bought loads of CD's (eight to be precise) which has greatly expanded my old time collection. Amongst them is FOAOTMAD's own collection Ripples Across the Pond. Which I can freely recommend to anyone wanting to know what old time is about.
Enough waffle for latest news this time!
I am a fan of American roots music and downhome electric blues. I am 45 and have been a blues fan for 30 years. I live in Buckinghamshire UK.
My favourite artists in various genres are listed below:
Amongst the older artists:
Acoustic/Pre-war/Country/Folk Blues (call it what you will!): Blind Willie Mctell, Barbecue Bob, Tampa Red/Tommy Johnson but really I love it all (well almost)
Pre-war gospel: Although I don't know as much about this as the blues I like Washington Phillips, Blind Willie Johnson and Bessie Johnson.
Old-time/Early country: I am relatively new to this but it seems to be usurping the blues as my main interest I like Dock Boggs, Jimmie Rodgers, Gid Tanner, Charlie Poole, Cliff Carlisle, Darby & Tarlton, Carter Family.
Bluegrass: The courts out on this one I find Bluegrass to far away from real 'roots' music Bluegrass people take it all too seriously and there is an over-emphasis on speed and technique for me - still I like to listen to it!
Cajun: Love it but don't know too much about it the only name which springs to mind is Nathan Abshire.
Other: I love a guy called Frank Crumit but am not sure where he fits in the scheme of things!
On the downhome electric blues side I like Lightnin Slim, Lightnin Hopkins and Johnny Shines and my favourite harp players are Sonny Boy Williamson (both) and Walter Horton.
On the contemporary scene I like:
Acoustic blues: Steve James (USA), Catfish Keith (USA), Alvin Youngblood Hart (USA), Corey Harris (USA), Giles Hedley (UK), The Hotlicks Cookies (UK), The Kennet Sheiks (UK) and no list like this would be complete without a mention of Perry Foster and ZZ Birmingham (aka Arthur Billington) both stalwarts of the UK acoustic blues scene.
Old-time: As I am a bit of a newcomer to this stuff I am still learning but I like Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, Debbie McClatchy, Kate Lissauer and a CD which features songs mentioned in Charles Fraziers excellent novel 'Cold Mountain' called 'Songs from the Mountain' by Dirk Powell, Tim O'Brien and Fred Hermmann is very good.
On the current electric blues scene Giles Hedley gets his second mention along with Big Joe Louis and Paul Lamb - although there are many excellent (and even more crap) bands out there.
I dislike blues-rock intensely (except for the Hamsters).
I attempt to play and sing myself - mainly acoustic blues but I am just getting into playing old time. Which is stressful as the move from being a bluesman (and a solo one at that) to being a musician (and playing with others) is not easy!
I have a reasonable (and still growing) collection of guitars which exceeds my ability to play them.
L to R :1930's Michigan, late1930/early 1940's Cromwell and 1930's Kalamazoo.
L to R: 1974 Dobro, old banjo and early 1990's Beltona
L to R: Early 1990's Fylde 12 string, new Danelectro and 1960's Angelica 12 string.
The Angelica 12 string sounds like an orchestra but action problems make it unsuitable for anything other than slide, single string or first position chord work.
Not pictured is my new Aria AW50E archtop which has a floating humbucker on it, just as important to me is that for a modern plywood archtop it sounds particularly good played acoustically.
Not much to be said about the Beltona Tricone it is just lovely, a pleasure to play (even with 13-56's) and sounds soooo sophisticated.
The Cromwell archtop was made by Gibson for Catalogue sale and although a bit tatty sounds excellent especially for chord work in a jam session where it barks out above all those flat tops. The gaping hole in the top is the result of a sorry tale. When I bought it the guitar was fitted with an ancient Selmer pickup, the lead for which was hard wired to the pickup and exitted through the bottom strap button hole. In my infinite wisdom (!?) I decided to fit a jack socket in the hole provided in the celluloid pickup mount. All went well until I tried to re-install the pickup when the brittle celluloid cracked into three pieces. However I have now laminated the bits onto glass cloth with epoxy and although the result is not pretty (but not dreadful either) it will allow the pickup to be reinstalled. Can anyone out there supply a model number for this guitar or tell me more about the Selmer pickup?
The Danelectro U2 is one of the new repro's and not much can be said about it, excellent for slide, looks great.
The Dobro Model 30 is steel bodied, painted to vaguely imitate tortoiseshell, it has a National (biscuit) cone and when I bought it (10 years ago) it was a great guitar but of late it has developed two main problems 1) a nasty nasal 'twang' on the plain strings (I suspect caused by oversize string slots) and 2) it is in positive relief territory (the neck bows out instead of in). I need to get it seen to!
The Fylde Othello 12-string was bought for its sound alone, it has a pretty clubby neck although the action is good. This is nicknamed 'the brown bumbursty beasty' by my mates.
The Kalamazoo LG14 is another of Gibson's mail-order guitars, also called the Carson Robison model (a singing cowboy I understand). It is a great picker and sounded better than a Gibson LG0 of the same vintage I tried at the same time I bought it. The main difference is that the Kalamazoo is ladder rather than X braced as on the Gibson.
The Michigan has a Dobro (spider) cone and currently has a nut extender for lap style playing (although it is still perfectly serviceable as a roundneck). The Michigan was also (allegedly and probably apocryphally) made by Gibson. I have seen two other Michigans like this, one is owned by my best friend (Chris Lawrance) and the other by Harry Gurevich. Harry's was stolen some years ago so if you see a Michigan with a brass coloured coverplate and a National type tailpiece it was nicked from Harry! Oddly Chris found a horrible cheap 'toy' guitar which had an identical Michigan logo recently!
Also not pictured is a new Yamaha AEX502 semi-solid which I have not played much yet.
I have a LANEY LC15R valve amp but I tend to use a Danelectro Honey-tone micro amp for practice as it is less hassle to set up. Having said that I'm still not much of an electric player.
I have also started making a Weissenborn acoustic lapsteel however progress is slow.
Oh and the banjo, which I'm only just getting into playing is a fretless 5-string which I string with Nylon strings it sounds real plunky!
Anyhow thanks for passing by, I can be contacted at the_elmores@tinyonline.co.uk.
Here are some of my favourite links:
Old time music:
Blues:
British Bluegrass Music Association Home Page
Banjo: Chanterelle Workshop