Jim & Ebbie: I share your feelings. I've been involved with a sort of old timey group here, and when the "dominant herd cow" is a fiddler, the jams and performances seem to be skewed too much toward tunes, and not enough vocals. On the nights when there's been an even mix, the audiences seem much more appreciative.

As one rather dry observer said about hearing a long evening of fiddle tunes "It's kind of like masturbation, those who are doing it seem to be having fun, but watching ain't much fun !"

The observations about Charlie Poole et al seem right on - I much more enjoy the vocals.

But, on the other hand, in reading the foreword to the Old Time String Band songbook by Mike Seeger and the rest of the New Lost City Ramblers, Seeger quotes an early recording company rep as saying that there were many more instrumentalists than singers. The rep had to actively look for singers to record, while the instrumentalists approached him. But, to reinforce our feelings, the rep apparently had the gut feeling that vocals were what would sell records.