Musings

We all learned an incredible amount in the process of recording these albums. As time permits on these web pages, we will reveal some of what went on behind the scenes, which we hope will be of interest to other players and lovers of traditional old-time music: issues about how to get a live sound down on record, the pitfalls of equal vs. just-intonation tuning, "triangulating" multiple source recordings, and many other such questions. Enjoy!

On Repetition and Variation in Fiddling (Part 2)

For many years I instinctively valued variations and improvisation and distrusted the "naked structure" which they clothed... One breakthrough teachable moment for me occurred at Clifftop, at one of the annual sessions with John Herrmann that I came to think of as my "Zen Old-Time" lesson for the year. After playing a Salyer tune with John one time, with me doing my usual shenanigans, he looked at me and said: "Yes, that's cool, that's one option - and then there's another option, which is playing the tune absolutely straight through from beginning to end." Incredibly, until that moment, it had never really sunk in to me that a "need" to always vary the tune could be just as compulsive (or compelledly impulsive) as anything else.

John Herrmann and the Zen of Old-Time Music

Most years, I always have one great session each Clifftop with the ubiquitous John Herrmann, a great banjo, fiddle, guitar, bass, uke and anything-else-he-gets-his-hands-on player who has also spent a lot of time studying Buddhist philosophy. Each year I’d trot out my latest carefully studied old tune, such as something from John Salyer (a great Kentucky fiddler whose home recordings were released some years ago). I’d play the tune and then start noodling away on my endless clever improvisations. We’d finish up, and John would sit there a minute, then say: “Yeah—that’s all right. You can play it that way. And then there’s the other option—you could just grab the tune by the throat and play it straight through…”