Help: American Trad. Music Question

Subject: American Trad. Music Question
From: GUEST,Mark A.
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 03:11 PM

I'm very interested in classic American Trad/Old-Timey music. I enjoy artists like Dock Boggs, Roscoe Holcomb, Texas Gladden, Bascom Lamar Lunsford, Jimmie Rodgers, Uncle Dave Macon, Hobart Smith, Frank Proffitt, Hazel Dickens, Clarence Ashley, etc.

Are there newsletters, magazines, websites, etc. devoted EXCLUSIVELY to this music? It would be nice to read articles on these people, their music, their times, anecdotes, CD reviews, etc.

Thanks...

Subject: RE: Help: American Trad. Music Question
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 03:23 PM

Old Time Herald magazine's web site

Mike Seeger's web site

Old Time Music page

Old time music links

Library of Congress American Memory site has several of the Folklife Center's collections on line with music

And, for a local plug, many of these links and others are on the links page of Tucson Friends of Traditional Music

~ Becky in Tucson we'll see how many responses we can get in the first 10 minutes...

Subject: RE: Help: American Trad. Music Question
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 03:25 PM

whoops, lost one line break

~ B in T
and I was doing so well...

Subject: RE: Help: American Trad. Music Question
From: nutty
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 03:31 PM

I discovered this recently and it just blew my mind ..... a wonderful site CLICK HERE

Subject: RE: Help: American Trad. Music Question
From: Alice
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 03:35 PM

Two of the old time music sites that I had bookmarked just came up as missing, but here is another site - you may be able to find something of interest to you:
Down Home Music

Alice

Subject: RE: Help: American Trad. Music Question
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 12:42 AM

Musical Traditions is another fine site -- English-based, so more of that than American, but some good reviews and articles on American music, too. In my experience the American "old-time" scene is heavy on the string band stuff and lighter on singers. Musical Traditions makes up for this with writers who understand American traditional song.

Record labels: Rounder, Folk Legacy, Appleseed, Smithsonian Folkways, among others, have done some fine first or re-issues. As a source, the Andy's Front Hall catalog includes record reviews that are useful (especially since its lists are so long that there's no more info than artist and title).

~ Becky in Tucson

Link fixed. You were missing a close quote on that last one. --JoeClone, 28-Jan-02.

Subject: RE: Help: American Trad. Music Question
From: GUEST,Mark A.
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 12:05 PM

Fantastic! Thanks for the responses...

I look forward to exploring ALL of the sites mentioned above.

Subject: RE: Help: American Trad. Music Question
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 12:32 PM

Sorry, but it always makes me smile when you Americans think of 50-100 years as a 'tradition'

'Clutching at straws' comes to mind, but even that saying is older than modern America.

Subject: RE: Help: American Trad. Music Question
From: Amos
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 12:49 PM

Well, it could be we think a little faster than some, but we like it that way. Why spend centuries beating around the bush? LOL!

A

Subject: RE: Help: American Trad. Music Question
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 12:51 PM

Ooo, hasn't this been debated here once or twice before?? Age and tradition are two different things, I don't believe the age of the music necessarily determines whether it's traditional...

Sure, the string band "tradition" is just a baby, by Old World standards, but lots of the tunes pre-date the string band format of the early 20th century and definitely come out of oral tradition (with fiddles and such-like, isn't that more an "aural" tradition?). And, given that Mark A. listed singers like Texas Gladden and Frank Profitt, he's talking about some music that is not only traditional, but pretty darn old, even by your standards.

However, doesn't the debate get a bit fuzzy when so many "ancient, traditional songs" don't seem to go further back than 200 years... even on your side of the pond?

~ Becky in Tucson