the only uk publication dedicated to american old time

old time news
THE ONLY UK PUBLICATION DEDICATED TO AMERICAN OLD TIME MUSIC AND DANCE
No. 72 WINTER 2012
CLAMOUR
BRITAIN’S
No1
OLD TIME MAGAZINE
y
onl
1/6
Summer 1971
532
HOT
LICKS
9
“Beer was my
breakfast”
Diary of an old-time fiddle
player, aged 81
Perfect
“Me
or the
banjo”
jilted bride reveals
all!!
fybreskin in
3
minutes!
HELP!
I’M STUCK AT
SACREWELL.
things
True life report
that make
a guy
summer style
worship
you in a old time hits
session
685
CLAMOUR’S
50 BEST
DRESSED
APPALACHIAN
DANCERS
page 21
WIN!!
2335 BANJOS
“I knew he
was a banjo
player.
I married him
anyway”
page 23
Page 2
OLD TIME NEWS 72 WINTER 2012
EDITORS’ MEWS
This edition brings you all Season’s
Greetings!! for Christmas if we get
through the printers in time (a long shot!) or, more
likely, very Happy New Year wishes for 2013 as this
lands on you mat in early January…
This edition also marks a full two years since we became
editors of Old Time News, and it’s been great. We started out
with little clue about layouts and technical stuff, and have
had to learn as we’ve gone so to speak. What we did have,
though, was a very clear vision of involving as many of our
membership as possible in the content of the magazine. We
were (and are) very aware that, with a current membership
of over 400 people, there are lots of us who are pretty much
unknown to any of the rest of us. For some people that’s how
they like it, but through OTN we hope to give members an outlet: to share experiences, feed back, let us
know what they get up to in an old time way and so on. So, we’d love to hear from you! We’ve got pretty
good at editing and tidying stuff up, so if you’d like to send us something but are worried it’s not press-ready
– go for it!
If you’re interested in knowing a bit more about how the magazine works, maybe doing a little proof-reading…
feel free to get in touch [email protected]
Meantime, we hope you enjoy this issue: there’s lots of stuff about Gainsborough (coming up fast!), the
recent November workshops (with beginner/improver weekend coming up imminently!), plus interviews,
reviews and a Fiddle Jam recipe. Sorry, made that last one up, but what a great idea. Check it out in the
Spring issue!
OLD TIME NEWS 72 WINTER 2012
Page 3
Page 4
OLD TIME NEWS 72 WINTER 2012
FOAOTMAD advanced banjo & fiddle workshops
Cheddar, November 2012
Thank you to everyone who came.
We are delighted with the very positive
feedback we got on these workshops!!
You rated everything very highly except for the
food (provided by the YHA’s caterers) which was
generally felt to be somewhat disappointing,
an opinion we shared. Also it fell short of the
criteria we had specified. As a result of this we
have found an excellent private caterer so are
looking forward to wonderful food in the future!
We’d like to thank everyone for their feedback:
it’s very important to us that these workshops
reflect as far as possible what you, the
participants, identify as most important. And if
you didn’t join us in November, take a look at
the feedback and get in there for next time!
Photo Su Mo
WHAT DID YOU MOST ENJOY?
Everything - yes, really!
The whole experience was most
enjoyable. Tuition was the main reason
for my being there and it was first
class
It was generally very well organised.
The organisers' witty repertoire!
Trevor and Travis. All of it!
Learning new tunes
The classes. Everything!
The people and the music
Good, friendly atmosphere.
The concert! Learning new tunes!
The craic!
Great tutors, great company,
great vibe!
MEMORIES!
Travis's tuition and choice
of tunes
The whole experience
The music, the friends,
Well organised – well done!
the venue.
Johnny Court the Widow!
Michi Mathias, Dave Longden, Karen Drasey,
Trevor's class!
2-finger picking
Travis Stuart. Photo Dave Dry
Workshops, jams,
Twelve tunes!
company!
A real insight into the feel of the music from
Seeing everybody
HOW DID YOU RATE THE
people who really know how to play it
and learning new
LEARNING
Friendships, the workshops, the music
tricks
ENVIRONMENT?
The friendliness and enthusiam of the Stuarts
Learning tunes at
Hearing Trevor and Travis play together
a good pace.
Small but perfectly formed
It was too big to carry, so I left it…
Authentic
Good - would like another
Happy memories
musicians
from
room for spin-off sessions
Meeting Trevor and Travis
USA.
No complaints, fine
The teaching and the tunes
Meeting the Stuarts
Just right
All them tunes!
again,
and all my
Comfortable
New tunes, new friends
old
friends.
Great
Wonderful, and growth
New techniques
sessions.
Enjoyable,
promoting musically
Love!
relaxed teaching.
Excellent, room a little cramped
Discovering
how to
but workable
EVERYTHING!
shuffle
on
fiddle!
Fine!
And playing a lot.
Very relaxed - space just right!
Page 5
OLD TIME NEWS 72 WINTER 2012
NEW MEMBERS
1064
1065
1066
1067
1068
1069
1070
1071
1072
C HORGAN
T HEXTRALL R O’CONNELL
J DELLER
K WATSON
T BOYD
A HARMER
M SEAMAN
Mr SEAMAN
NORWICH
SALISBURY
HOVE
LONDON
LANCS
HERTS
CAMBS
CAMBS
CAMBS
FOR SALE:
Martin 000-28H, rare, beautiful 2008
Martin Kennard, Su Mo, Anita Kermode, Tony Mear.
Photo Emily Poole
auditorium model, commemorating
the highly prized ‘herringbone’ models of the
1930’s, from Martin custom shop, low profile
neck, recent professional set up, herringbone
inlay, scalloped bracing, hardshell case. £1850.
Martin D-28. 1992, great tone, easy action,
HOW
DID YOU RATE THE FACILITIES?
Clean and comfortable
Great and comfy
Fine – but bring ear plugs in case of snoring
Good – warm
Good, adequate
Excellent
hardshell case. £1200.
Call Jules on 01926 420208
[email protected]
(Leamington Spa)
Helen Keen:
“Although, disappointingly,
the Cheddar YHA was not
actually made of cheese, it
provided the perfect location
for a weekend of wonderful
tune-making (the other funny
thing was it’s proximity to
the much-publicised tourist
attraction ‘Wookey Hole’,
snigger).
But, on a more serious note, it was a wellorganised and fun-filled weekend. Trevor and
Travis not only play, and teach, and write the
prettiest of pretty tunes. They also couldn’t have
been friendlier or more accommodating to requests
to play things slower, faster, again, etc. etc. despite playing two teacher concerts and being the
last to leave the nightly jam sessions.
I’d say I learnt as many tunes here in one and a
half days, as at a week of Sore Fingers!
Highly recommended!!”
Many thanks to George Lowry for introducing our readers
to this essential piece of Hi-tech equipment.
OLD TIME NEWS 72 WINTER 2012
Page 6
FOAOTMAD CAMPS - “it’s a family affair...” annie warner
“Hi my family of Old Time music lovers,
Many still here were at the first summer camp - Olly, Dave Proctor and Rita, me and Paul and the
Chipperfields. We have had different dogs over the years, and Olly and Andrew Chipperfield and a
few others started bringing their wives. From the tiny leaky tents we had originally we improved
every year until now we bring palaces – three bedroomed tents like my latest and a caravan hauled
by Chelsea Tractors (Chipperfields). Each year since we came down to the Bottom Field people’s tents
are getting bigger and better. That’s because we take it VERY seriously, pals. I proudly boast that my main summer holiday is spent
outdoors in a field round a bonfire flanked with banjo players and many other noisy people. Far from
looking shocked my mates at University of East London ask if they can come with me next year - they
never do actually.
At the first summer camp we all shared one little cold water tap and had to light our little fires to warm any water for
washing anything. Now we have that posh sink to wash up in and hot and cold taps and a separate drinking water tap.
Indoors we have a whole new lot of toilets with their own little taps and sinks and the new showers - all FREE now – just built
a couple of years ago, are good enough to take home.
You can rely on the shop for milk and bread and eggs - laid on site ‘organic’ and free range, so long as you go in the mornings.
They even order fish and chips in on a Saturday evening and ANYTIME on the week you can phone the local village to
send in a lovely Indian meal and pay at the gate when it arrives. All day (between bonfire evenings) we have the wonderful
Sacrewell Farm to explore with baby piggies and little lambs and usually a foal or two as they are the base for the Shire
Horse of Great Britain. We can walk on the many paths dedicated to walkers and explore the old Water Mill that is the only
working one left in the UK. Of course I have to walk several times a day as my dog is a Weimaraner, she INSISTS. My dog
Stella was a founder member of the Old Time Dog Walking Club and Carole Chant with her Bonny and Leisha Chipperfield
with Mark’s Cassie and anyone else who volunteered would walk MILES around the estate every day. We would see Colm
Daly with the Old Time Police, a bunch of our camp’s kids who used to sneak around exposing anyone playing a bodhran or
any other non-old time instrument, they would be fishing or collecting firewood or any useful pastime Colm thought up. The
dog walkers like walking down to the reservoir and taking note of where the apples will ripen first. We have had a lot of celebrities visit us at camp over the years, more summer than spring, and they are friendly, melting
right in with us. My favourite is Debbie McClatchy; she is wonderful and always looks for me. Dwight Diller is a lovely
man too, always up for a kiss and cuddle, but Debbie EATS my cooking. Dwight won’t, he accuses me of poisoning him. That
statement is based on an incident at Gainsborough 16 years ago. I never cooked it and did not know it was so sweet or that
Dwight was diabetic (HONEST).
I have NEVER missed a summer camp since the very first one and only missed one spring camp. Stella is here with me as I
write and assures me that we never will.”
Meni luvens, Annie xxx OLD TIME NEWS 72 WINTER 2012
banjo tab - stone’s rag
colin tipping
NEW YEAR REVOLUTION!
“Despite the wide range of instruments, playing and singing styles covered
by old time music, FOAOTMAD is still obsessed by Round Peak fiddle and
banjo. As a New Year resolution for 2013, how about climbing out of the rut
and doing something else? I arranged this based on the tune in the Fiddlers’
Fakebook.
“Ron Dodds and I play this as a fiddle and banjo duet, Charlie Poole style.
Please note it’s in Standard tuning (not double C).
“Have a look at the videos at www.theold78s.com and also Peter
Gammond’s book - Scott Joplin and the Ragtime Era.”
Page 7
Page 8
OLD TIME NEWS 72 WINTER 2012
CD REVIEW anita kermode walt koken
sittin’ in the catbird’s seat
Most readers of
The Old-Time
News will be
acquainted with
Walt Koken one
way or another.
Having in the
1960s started
playing banjo,
then
fiddle,
by the ‘70s he
was a founding
member of the
charismatic and
very influential
Highwoods
String
Band
(when in the
early ‘90s I
started
going
to an old-time session in London, I reckon at least half
the tunes being played came from Highwoods). Fastforward to 2011, which saw the long-awaited appearance
of ‘The Book’ – the stupendous Milliner-Koken Collection
of American Fiddle Tunes. Shortly after that came the
third CD from the Orpheus Supertones, who are Walt,
Clare Milliner, Pete Peterson and Kellie Allen, and who
headlined at the Gainsborough Festival in 2007. A while
before that, partly as an offshoot of their work on ‘The
Book’, Walt and Clare cut the delicious ‘Just Tunes’ fiddle/
banjo CD, brimful of rare and lovely tunes. Rewind a bit
to the 1990s, a decade during which Walt released three
solo banjo albums (while some of us old-time newbies in
London were learning tunes from Highwoods recordings
made in the ‘70s). And now, 15 years after the last of
these, comes ‘Sittin’ in the Catbird’s Seat’, with 17 banjo
tunes and songs, 11 of which were composed by Walt.
All of Walt’s banjo albums are remarkable for the variety,
agility and gusto of his playing and for the range of his
references. In the ‘Catbird’ liner notes, he remembers
the time of the earlier banjo recordings, when ‘I began
to develop some tunes and techniques, a combination
of all the musical forms I had played on the banjo
over the years’ and when he started to think that the
development of musical possibilities on the 5-string was
being hampered by an over-valuing of particular styles
and sounds. In his own banjo music, he draws from many
wells. There are tunes on this CD which hearken back to,
for instance, Fats Waller, Earl Scruggs, John Hurt; and
near the end Walt gives us a full and brilliant account of
Joplin’s classic ‘Maple Leaf Rag’ (on which he reflects at
length in the liner notes). Although early on in his banjoexplorations he got hooked on the ‘old mountain music’,
he went forward with his attention open to the many
possibilities of the instrument.
For me, what stand out most in Walt’s banjo music are
the quality of his sound and the beauty of his lick. Since
1966 he’s only played but one banjo, his Orpheum No.
4, and I think that’s important, offering learning banjopickers much food for thought. It may be a ‘60s thing’,
because I first heard it said back then by someone I
respected: that any would-be 5-string player needs
develop a very personal relationship with his banjo,
because unlike, say, the guitar, the banjo is in itself a
deeply personal instrument. Although I didn’t yet play
banjo I revered the sounds of it, and I was much struck by
this apparently mystical insight. Listening now to Walt on
his Orpheum, I realize it was in fact true, as well as very
1960s. He does plenty of singing on the banjo recordings,
but the Orpheum has become, dare I say, the voice of his
personal soul.
It’s hard for me to characterize Walt’s banjo sound, but
first I’d mention its physicality. His recordings somehow
communicate the sensation of the physical instrument,
the feeling of metal and wood and skin vibrating together.
You can hear the whole body of the Orpheum resonating,
and you can almost feel its very weight. You can also
hear the full range of the banjo, because Walt plays a
lot in its upper registers (initially inspired here by Doc
Boggs, he says). His lilting brush-stroke travels up and
down the neck taking in, as needed, every chord in the
book and always maintaining his rolling rhythm, however
syncopated it gets; always keeping the whole banjo
sounding. One of his ways to keep that rhythm going
is to use a lot of pull-offs, from all over the fretboard
(I went to a workshop he gave at Gainsborough, and he
showed us some of what he does with the pull-off; the
effect is really big, given the minimal amount of physical
effort involved). And above all, Walt’s sense of timing is
phenomenal.
As for his tunings, he mostly uses just two, the familiar
Open G, and the no longer (alas) so familiar Standard C
(or C-bass), which in early banjo-days was just as popular.
It’s such a versatile tuning, lending itself so well to solo
banjo work that I’m surprised it’s seldom heard these
days. Walt keeps finding new uses for it. On occasion, he
plays in the Mountain Minor tuning, here for ‘Chinquapin
Pie’, learned from Hobart Smith.
That tune, one of my longtime favorites, is a surprise
inclusion on this CD, seeing as it’s a recording from a
concert Walt gave in 1967. Walt doesn’t know who made
the recording, but likes that the ‘sound quality makes
it seem old’, and points out that ‘it’s the same banjo
and the same picker, a bit younger’. ‘Old’/’younger’:
the paradox sums up what this recording is all about,
simultaneously looking forward and back. I feel in
Walt’s music on this CD a conscious effort of renewal,
not by trying any radical departures but by a continual
refreshing of tradition. Sometimes he fashions new tunes
out of playful allusions to old ones. In ‘Stone Road’, for
instance, I hear, in a different rhythm, an echo of Doc
Watson’s version of ‘Down to the Valley to Pray’. In the
very amusing ‘That Gal with the Run Down Shoe’, based
Page 9
OLD TIME NEWS 72 WINTER 2012
mm - 0071
on a Skillet Lickers’ piece, we are challenged to ‘pick
out all thirteen old time song/tune titles in this song’. So
far I’ve only caught ten of them, and they don’t include
‘Belles of Lexington’, the Emmett Lundy fiddle tune to
which (I’m guessing) Walt’s instrumental refrain alludes.
Among the tunes Walt didn’t make himself, I’m thrilled
by his exciting long-ago performance of ‘Chinquapin
Pie’, but ‘Down at the Mouth of Old Stinson’ may be
my current favourite. I know and love this as fiddled
by Wilson Douglas, and have wondered how it could be
made convincing on banjo. I decided it must just be one
of those lovely little fiddle tunes that’s not meant for
the five-string. How wrong could I be…? Of Walt’s own
tunes the one I perhaps like best at the moment is ‘Silk
and Velvet Waltz’, which he wrote for Clare, and which I
find catchy and satisfying in spite of my general lack of
enthusiasm for waltzes on clawhammer banjo. ‘Peaceful
Times’, a three-finger number also in the Standard C
tuning, is another one that’s talking to me. Walt mentions
the influence of Earl Scruggs, one of his early heroes,
‘in the simple rolls of this piece’, but it feels like Walt’s
taken Scruggs rolls about a century and a half backwards
in time and joined them up with a 3-finger style that
didn’t yet know it prefigured Earl Scruggs.
But there are lots of super tunes here and whatever
any listener’s personal preferences may be, with few
exceptions (the concert recording, the Joplin rag) the
music on this album communicates overall a sense of
Sittin’ in the Catbird’s Seat
That Gal with the Run Down Shoe
Strawberry Jam
Banjo on the Hill
Talking Garden
Chinquapin Pie
intimacy
and
spontaneity,
a
good-humoured
s o c i a b l e
atmosphere.
Indeed, ‘Talking
Garden’
is
Walt’s
direct
and
charming
invitation to the
listener/traveller
to come on in,
sit a while, slow
down,
ponder
what life’s all
about,
then
share a meal he’s
preparing
from
the produce of his
own garden, and
after lunch have a
few tunes on the back porch. Then why not stay on for
dinner, also from the garden (menu discussed in mouthwatering detail), and have some more tunes and share
the liquid contents of the fruit jar as well… (I’m on my
way!)
But, the personal is political, they say. And Walt ends
this CD with a plea to ‘Save the Nation’, whose melody
echoes a very old song from the 1870s which in the 1930s
was changed by Lily May Ledford into ‘Banjo Pickin’ Girl’,
or ‘Going Around This World’, and since has passed into
the old-time canon. The song starts with Walt in the
virtual pulpit, bragging on how he’s going to save the
nation ‘if I can’ from those global corporations, and then
the ocean too from the oilmen, and then the mountains
as well, but there’s a nice comic deflation in the next to
last verse: ‘And I’m going to save a dollar if I can….going
to bury it up some holler…’ The irony of this turnaround
may also be reflected in the CD’s title. ‘Sitting in the
catbird seat’ is an American expression for ‘sitting pretty’
or ‘sitting on top of the world’. A real catbird in Walt’s
garden inspired the cover artwork and the tune which
gives the album its name. Catbirds like to perch as high
as they can to display themselves and their vocal chops
(they are mimic thrushes, like mockingbirds). Maybe the
title of the album is a somewhat complicated lightly selfmocking joke to do with (not) showing off, or maybe it’s
just about a bird sharing strawberries with a gardener.
Both or neither of these notions could fit the case.
It’s a mighty fine case.
(To buy the CD from the artist go to Mudthumper.com)
Peas and Taters
Down at the Mouth of Old Stinson
Br’er Bear
Weary Blues
Peaceful Times
Stone Road
Frankie and Albert
Silk and Velvet Waltz
Down South Blues
Maple Leaf Rag
Save the Nation
Page 10
OLD TIME NEWS 72 WINTER 2012
a show of hands and feats...
MATT GORDON AND LEONARD PODOLAK talk to
Matt Gordon and Leonard Podolak were a
lovely and unexpected surprise to us and
we’d highly recommend their performance
if you have a chance to see them next time
they’re in the UK. We went to see them on
friends’ recommendation and were very glad
we did. They play really nice, straight-downthe-line old time music on fiddle, banjo,
harmonica and feet, plus singing, and it was
a very entertaining performance. Best of all
was their ability to engage the audience: they
are so obviously having fun themselves, and
wanting their audience to be part of that too,
that you’d be hard pushed not to have a great
evening in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere and if you’re a dancer, bring your shoes!
After the show - and when we had finished
admiring Leonard’s double banjo case(!) - they
kindly talked to us for the magazine:
Leonard: I’ve been to the UK five or six times before,
but this is the first time Matt and I have visited together.
He came in 1997 and 1998, with the Fiddle Puppets who
were part of the original London run of Riverdance at
the Hammersmith Odeon.
My first visit was in 1995 when I came over with my band
The Duhks. We’re from Winnipeg, but the band started
to happen in the States. We got signed to Sugar Hill
Records and became sort of a big deal there. That band
was full time for seven or eight years, but in the last
couple of years we’ve stepped back, to give everyone
space and time to do other artistic endeavours.
The Duhks play a very cool, eclectic mix of old time,
Irish, blues, French Canadian - but it’s been a huge
pleasure to step back and get at my roots, musically
speaking. Matt and I first met twenty years ago and
kind of floated in parallel circles until finally, our paths
crossed at a Celtic Connections collaboration, through a
great English clogger, Hannah James. Since then there’s
been no looking back, we just get along so well.
photo jo wright
Matt: We’ve played together a lot in the last two
years. We started off in Ireland where I was living at
the time. I saw The Duhks were playing at a festival
there, and I rang Leonard (who I hadn’t seen for about
five years) and asked him if he could get me a guest
pass. He said No! he would get me an artist’s pass and
asked me to dance a set with them. He added “By the
way, I’m getting married the following week, so stick
around for the wedding!” and that was the beginning
of our reunion. I wanted to get Leonard back for that
so, when I got hired for the Mission Folk Festival, I told
him I had a little gig in his neck of the woods. It was in
Canada, but I didn’t realise it was about twelve hundred
miles from where he lived. He came out anyway - then
we got hired for the Home Routes (a not-for-profit arts
association) project and spent a couple of weeks doing
house concerts all over Alberta. It was really fun.
Leonard: That’s when Matt said to me: “Leonard,
I’ve got this pal in Ireland who’s a great guitar player,
he plays with Mary Black and Paul Brady, named Bill
Shandley. He also co-owns a studio in Dublin and always
wanted to record my tunes. I’ve never really had much
of an outlet, but now I do! So we made a recording
at Cauldron Studios, with Bill Shandley playing guitar.
It’s funny, when we started all this shenanigans it was
“OK, we’ll do this a couple times for fun” - we weren’t
thinking of being a band or anything. We did the house
concerts and it was really easygoing. Then I got asked to
do the Cecil Sharp project and that’s where I met Steve
Knightley (Show of Hands). He invited me to tour with
Show of Hands and said “Bring one other person”, and it
was “Well, I’ve got a duo!” So we’re doing this, and it’s
really blown our minds and opened up our world. There
is so much potential. I think the trick will be, keeping
the vibe of it casual but at the same time taking a few
steps to make it successful.
Page 11
OLD TIME NEWS 72 WINTER 2012
OTN about their music
Matt: What’s my favourite instrument? That’s a tough
one! I guess the fiddle, though I started off on the
harmonica and I love that too… It depends on the mood.
Sometimes I’d rather dance than anything else; if there’s
a really good session, and a nice back porch with an
overhang, and nice wooden planks on the floor. It’s really
fun to play the floor.
Leonard: I got into clawhammer through my dad: he
taught me. He learnt out of the Pete Seeger book. He
played the clarinet, and when he was thirteen his older
sister took him to see Pete Seeger. That very moment
was when he fell in love with old time music and became
a communist! and traded in his clarinet for a banjo. He
started the Winnipeg Folk Festival. He tried to get me
going on the banjo when I was six, but I wasn’t ready for
it yet; and then Bela Fleck came to the Festival, and I
was, like, “OK, Pa, you can show me your clawhammer
stuff, but I want to play bluegrass and newgrass, I want
to play like Bela!’ But in the process of learning to play
old time, I fell in love with it. So I never went down the
bluegrass road, but I play a lot of Irish music, jigs and
reels on clawhammer banjo. It’s a different deal, but I
love traditional music. Growing up in Winnipeg, where
none of these styles come from, I didn’t have any bias.
So I love listening to bluegrass music although I don’t
play it, I love Irish music, Cajun, Zydeco, Scottish,
French Canadian, Newfoundland… and English traditional
music I think is amazing. There was no one telling me
that any of them weren’t cool, or that one was better
than the other. When I was a kid, it was just all folk
music, so I never drew any distinctions - it was just
music. Once I got into it, of course, I started to get what
was what, but it has really colourised my approach to
the tunes in my life.
Matt: I was not brought up with this kind of music.
My mom loved jazz and rock’n’roll and hated classical
music, and my dad loved classical music and hated jazz
and rock’n’roll – as a result, we had no music in our
house!
I came to it later in life, and fell in love with it as an
adult. I was twenty five when I started playing. I’m a
festival baby; I hitch hiked eight hundred miles from
New York to the Union Grove Fiddlers’ Convention
in North Carolina and saw the Green Grass Cloggers
performing. I’d never seen clogging before. I asked one
of the guys (Rodney Sutton) how the basic step was done
and he showed me. I went home to New York and tried
and tried to do it but I couldn’t - then one day as I was
coming down some steps, I found I could do it but as
soon as I got on flat ground I couldn’t do it any more. I
must have been up and down those stairs twelve times
before I could finally do the basic step on flat ground!
Leonard: What next? We have a plan to come back in
May for a festival that Maddy Prior has started called
Stepping Stones, through our friend Hannah James who
is in Maddy’s band now, and we’re going to build on
it from there. I spent years in a really eclectic band,
pushing out the boundaries, but I’m having so much fun
just playing old time with my pal Matt!
(Check out http://youtu.be/sdlHTXB3jVw - for a great
“Walking Boss” on banjo and feet -Ed)
Page 12
OLD TIME NEWS 72 WINTER 2012
BOOK REVIEW:
emily poole
0ld-time backup guitar
john schwab
“Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day. Give him a rod, and
he can feed himself forever. Or be someone to go fishing with at
weekends.”
The first thing I’d say about this book, is it needs to come with an extra front cover.
That way, I get to frame it and put it on the wall. It’s quite simply the best music
tuition book cover I’ve ever seen. By the time I opened the book I was laughing fit to
bust, but this is (apart from the cover) a book to be taken very seriously. I couldn’t wait
to get my hands on it. I play fiddle and banjo and, the more I play, the further back I
want to go listening-wise - and the tunes in this book are a selection from those dearest
to my heart. Also, it’s noticeable to us here in the UK that old time musicians in the
USA all seem to play guitar as a given, besides their ‘main’ instruments. I’m not aware
of much in the way of tuition books for old-time guitar, and maybe it’s because most
people appear, to us over here, to have absorbed guitar playing by osmosis…
I’m no great guitar player: I can bang out basic chords, keep a rhythm and do the
alternate bass thing if I don’t get thrown. I LOVE this book. It’s not aimed at complete
beginners; you need to be reasonably comfortable with chords and a basic old-time
rhythm to get the most out of it, as it’s about the lovely subtleties of what’s happening
on the low strings, and WHERE it happens. And the more familiar with old-time music
you are the better. All the teaching, as the title suggests, is based on the playing of a
group of superb guitarists from the 1920s and 1930s, whom John has chosen because:
“They all play with assertiveness, clarity, and articulation, and their timekeeping is
spot-on.” Another notable quality in common is that they all complement, support
and ‘drive’ the fiddle without competing or overdoing it. That was then - but if you’re wondering about excellent modern day
exponents of the style, look no further than John himself - maybe you were lucky enough to catch him a few years ago with The Mostly
Mountain Boys at Gainsborough Festival here in the UK. John has included information about several contemporary ‘role model’ old
time guitarists (John Beam, Susie Goehring, Jim Nelson, Pandora Riggs, Pharis Romero, Jeremy Stephens). There is a brief introduction
and musical bio, and a few paragraphs from each on what their musical role means to them. I really enjoyed this section, as it made
a nice coherent link between very well-respected backup guitarists who are out there now, and those musicians on whose work the
book is based. Another thing I like about this book is that there is lots of interesting and relevant information before you get to the
tabs (whereas most books take you straight there). It well deserves reading, and reading again (I did!), and means that once you start
to play you have a good understanding of what old-time is - and isn’t; how to effectively use the book; what the essence of old-time
backup guitar in this style is; typical chord structure of the time and information about the individual approaches of the musicians.
John stresses the importance of listening, listening and listening again - this is the most important thing of all; there are nuances and
subtleties that will be missed by simply reading the tab. With the book comes an excellent CD where you can hear each of the tunes
used in this book at one third, half, two thirds and full speed, with the guitar clearly audible. The tabs themselves are well set out and
attractive, including dates and snippets of relevant information. It’s really exciting when you get the chance to play one of the tunes
with a fiddle too! The tunes are to die for, and if you’re hooked, there’s a great resource list with links to recordings, websites, books
and old-time music camps.
If you want to play good, authentic old-time backup guitar, I’d say rush out and buy this book at the first opportunity and then use it!
Not only because the tabs, CD and all are great - they are - but, even more than that, because it puts across an approach to backup
guitar that is not just something you can learn from a book, but which invites you to interact with old-time music in a particular way.
In other words, it offers you the tools you need (or the fishing rod). Also, the dialogue throughout is personable, friendly and goodhumoured, making for enjoyable reading and inspiring confidence - everything is clearly explained. Like I said, I’m no expert but,
even so, I feel very different already about what I’m playing,
where it fits in to the music, and where that sits with those
people I’m playing with. I just wish I had the ability to do
what I’m starting to hear in my head - but I’m working on it,
and I owe that to this book.
Many thanks, John, for the fishing rod!
THE BOOK INCLUDES:
•Guitar tab for 28 classic tunes, transcribed from 78 rpm records!
CD, TOO!
•Selections provided as mp3 files, ready for iTunes or digital
player
•Play along with the original performances from 78 rpm records
•Four versions per tune, from very slow to full speed
•All recordings adjusted to concert pitch
•Samples from leading contemporary backup guitar players
LEARN FROM THE BEST OF THE OLD-TIMERS:
•Luches Kessinger (Kessinger Brothers)
•Asa Martin & Edgar Boaz (Doc Roberts)
•Roy Harvey (Charlie Poole & the North Carolina Ramblers)
•Hub Mahaffey (Dykes’ Magic City Trio) … and more!
Page 13
OLD TIME NEWS 72 WINTER 2012
- learn from the masters
“Old-time music simply has to be learned “by ear.” Sure, the
notes can be written down, but timing, phrasing, and intonation
are all-important, which means that the first step in learning
the style and getting the feel of the music is to listen, Listen,
LISTEN!
But that’s only part of the process. As Dan Gellert says:
“...the only way to develop your own style is by ... imitation of
good models.” And Roy Andrade says, “Imitation is still the best
way to learn traditional music. If we pattern our music after
those we admire, over time our style becomes a composite of
our musical influences.”
The CD that comes with the book illustrates some of the very
best old-time backup guitar playing from the earliest days
of commercial recording – the 1920s and early 1930s. Each
performance is represented by at least four versions (as mp3
files) – at full speed, as well as at 2/3,1/2, and 1/3 of full speed –
and every track has been adjusted to concert pitch.
In Chapter 7 you’ll find backup guitar tablature for each of the
performances on the CD. The backup guitar parts aren’t just
invented by me. Instead, by using modern computer software
along with some careful listening, it’s been possible to figure
out the chords, bass notes, and runs used by backup guitar
icons such as Roy Harvey, Asa Martin, and Luches Kessinger.
All of this has been notated using standard guitar tablature.
By using the tablature along with the CD, you’ll be able to play
along with any of the performances. You will be Doc Roberts
or Clark Kessinger’s backup guitar player! And you can ramp up
your speed as you wish, to suit your own comfort level.”
John Schwab
About the Author
John Schwab has been playing old-time backup guitar since
the early 1970s. He’s played with loads of different fiddlers
and banjo players, at fiddlers’ conventions and music camps,
concerts and community dances, and in kitchens and living
rooms. He’s belonged to a number of string bands, currently
the Mostly Mountain Boys (with Paul Brown and Terri McMurray).
He was also a founding member of the Hoover Uprights (twotime winners of the traditional band competition at Clifftop).
John has performed and has taught backup guitar at festivals
and at music and dance camps across the U.S. and in England,
including Ashokan Fiddle and Dance Camp; Blue Ridge OldTime Music Week at Mars Hill College; Fiddle Tunes; Old-Time
Week at the Augusta Heritage Center; the Berkeley Old Time
Music Convention; the Gainsborough Old Time Festival; the
Southwest Pickers Bluegrass & Old-Time Music Festival; Dancing
Bears Dance Camp; Chesapeake Dance Weekend; Pinewoods
Camp; and Merlefest. His approach to teaching backup guitar
has evolved over the years, but it’s always been rooted in his
reverence for the master backup guitar players of the 1920s
and ‘30s.
Bands (past and present):
Mostly Mountain Boys
Hoover Uprights
Wabash Cannibals
City Ducks String Band
Page 14
OLD TIME NEWS 72 WINTER 2012
“Well, just go home and pray about it”...
master fiddler TREVOR STUART turns his talents to luthiery
into it. I thought, ‘Well, here’s something where I could
use my art, that would benefit my music.’
I saw a lot of repair work being done on fiddles over the
years, and there was one man in particular, John Sipe.
I did a lot of electrical work in his shop, and I could see
he was the main one. He’s from Hickory but lives in
Charlotte, and his work is really sought after.
If you were lucky enough to catch The Stuart
Brothers on their recent visit to the UK, you will
know just how amazing Trevor Stuart’s fiddle
sounds. When we found out he made it, we
asked him to tell us more for Old Time News
readers. Not only does the fiddle sound great, it
also looks very beautiful as you can see from the
pictures here - and it was specifically designed
to play old time!
“It was Red Wilson that first made me want to make a
fiddle. He made fiddles and that was my first exposure to
it. I’ve always been interested in art, and sculpting and
carving, but it wasn’t until after Red died that I really got
He was the one who made me want to get into fiddle
making. I would just go into the shop, and see all the
wood - and the whole time I was in there I’d be asking
him questions about it: that’s what really sparked it. I
never worked with him, they call him ‘the lone maker’
because he’s never had any apprentices, but I talked
to him a lot and he would tell me stuff about making
fiddles.
It took me a long time to get all the right tools, I sold
some instruments to do it; I tried to make some of them
but soon found out it was easier to buy them! The first
fiddle, that you see here, probably took about a year to
make off and on.
I read a lot of books and asked a lot of questions, but
mostly I learned as I went. I made mistakes and had to
sort them out, but also found out about all the different
approaches fiddle makers have. Just about every step of
Page 15
OLD TIME NEWS 72 WINTER 2012
- to create an old time fiddle
the way I would ask advice of luthiers I knew, and they
would each have a different way of doing the same thing.
So in the end I just figured out the ways that worked best
for me. The fiddle I’ve got nearly finished at the moment
has been so much quicker than this one - for instance,
I was afraid of taking off too much wood, where now I
know exactly how much to take off.
I got a few pieces of wood from local makers when I
started out. Now I order the wood I need, Engelmann
spruce from Colorado, some Swiss spruce, and wood
from Eastern Europe. I’m learning about how much
spruce varies: you can carve two pieces and they will
be completely different; you can see why some are left
thicker than others. It’s an ongoing learning process.
John Sipe and a few other luthiers talked to me about
the stiffness of plates (on the table - or top - of the
fiddle). I would take wood off down to a certain point,
and then I would take it to those luthiers. They were all
pretty consistent in how they thought about tuning it,
the different tap tones. I spent a long time getting that
right, and also the stiffness. I remember, with John, I’d
be thinking it would still be too thick, or thin, and he’d
say something like ‘Well, just go home and pray about it’
- and I think it takes some of that, too!
Varnish, for me, has been the hardest thing. It took just
about as long to varnish the first fiddle as it did to make
it: I stripped it off, started again, started again …
This fiddle is based on a Strad pattern, but with
slightly enlarged (in width) upper bouts. It’s based
on Bascom Lamar’s fiddle, which is in the library at
Mars Hill College. That’s the first fiddle I saw without
corners, and I really liked it. It was made by a luthier in
Asheville. I thought it would be easier, too, to start by
making one without corners, but I really like the style of
it.
The scroll for this fiddle is from a picture I saw. I figure,
with these cornerless fiddles, you are more able to do
what you want with the scroll. I have some other shapes
for scrolls too: one of the fiddles I’m working on now
has a scroll that curves one and a half times; and then
I’m working on a regular scroll as well.
At the moment, I have a cornerless fiddle almost
ready to go, and a regular shaped fiddle, and another
cornerless one started. I’d like to make a Guarnerius
pattern one, and I’d also like to copy my old fiddle which
is a Maggini. It’s real odd, very narrow and big, but
people love that fiddle, so it would be nice to copy it.
I’m getting a lot of interest in my fiddles. If someone
wants me to make one a specific colour, or sound, I
don’t do that. I just make a fiddle, and if they like it
that’s great. I think this cornerless model has a great
open sound to it. It’s very responsive, and a lot of fiddle
players have really liked the openness of it, especially in
different tunings. It sounds great in standard tuning too,
but I made it thinking about cross tunings. I stiffened
up the bass bar, to compensate for no corners and using
steel strings. It’s an old time fiddle made for playing old
time.”
To find out more about Trevor Stuart’s handmade
fiddles, contact him at: [email protected]
OLD TIME NEWS 72 WINTER 2012
Page 16
BANJO TAB
Dave Dry tabs Travis Stuart’s version of a classic C tune
photo Ray Banks
Dave Dry attended the excellent
FOAOTMAD fiddle and banjo
teaching weekend with the Stuart
Brothers.
One of his many talents is that he
tabs all the tunes and he kindly
shares this one with the readers of
OTN.
Thanks, Dave! Thanks, Travis
According to Jeff Titon’s Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle
Tunes book, ‘Billy in the Lowground’ was the
second most popular tune in recordings dating
back to the 1920’s (pipped to the post by ‘Martha
Campbell’). Fiddlers who recorded it include
Leonard Rutherford, John Salyer, Doc Roberts,
Cuje Bertram and Luther Strong.
In 1922, Eck Robertson and Henry C Gilliland
recorded four fiddle duets for Victor. These
probably represent the first commercial recordings
of country music performers. Two of them,
‘Arkansaw Traveler’ and ‘Turkey in the Straw’,
were released on Victor. Two others, ‘Forked Deer’
and ‘Apple Blossom’, were never issued. At the
company’s request, Robertson returned the next
day, July 1, without Gilliland, and recorded six
additional sides. Four of them - ‘Sally Gooden’,
‘Ragtime Annie’, ‘Sally Johnson/Billy in the Low
Ground’ and ‘Done Gone’ - were released on Victor
over the next two years (Wikipedia).
Other notable artists who recorded the tune include Nile Wilson, Lowe Stokes,
Burnett and Rutherford (see the Milliner-Koken Collection).
“It was great to renew friendships with the Stuart Twins whom I met at Sorefingers 5 years ago.
Travis’ version of ‘Billy in the Lowground’ is the best I have tried. Other versions have been very notey and difficult to keep smooth.
This is player-friendly, leaving most of the melody to the fiddle” - Dave Dry
Page 17
OLD TIME NEWS 72 WINTER 2012
CAPTION COMPETITION 72
CAPTION COMPETITION 71
entries to [email protected]
“This could win us the war”
Sir Winston Churchill.
“Would you buy a used mandolin
from this man?”
Dr. Sigmund Freud, Vienna.
Trevor and Travis Stuart are....... where exactly?
Est. 1976
BRITAIN’S FOLK & ACOUSTIC SPECIALISTS
OUR NINE UK SHOPS STOCK ALL KINDS OF
ACOUSTIC & FOLKY MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS FROM
BRITAIN, IRELAND AND AROUND THE WORLD!
O UR EXPERT STAFF ARE ALWAYS ON HAND TO
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BIRMINGHAM | BRISTOL | CANTERBURY | CRAWLEY |LEEDS
LONDON | MANCHESTER | MILTON KEYNES | WADEBRIDGE
W ORLD FAMOUS M AIL O RDER S ERVICE
F OR
ALL CONTACT DETAILS :
0845 130 9500 |
WWW. HOBGOBLIN . COM
“Well, Doctor”, said the dog, “it all
started as a pimple on my bottom”
Dr. Finlay Skasebook, Tannochbrae.
Page 18
OLD TIME NEWS 72 WINTER 2012
the view from the chair
We had such a fantastic time at the FOAOTMAD tuition that I
think we are still recovering. The Stuart brothers captivated
with their personality and charm, delighted us with their music
and left us with aching fingers and sore heads from the excellent
tuition. Another highlight for me was the great atmosphere
generated by the coming together of all those excellent
musicians and old time characters, teachers and students. Much
fun was had, much music played and many bottles and cans
mysteriously appeared in the recycling bin!
The Stuarts had a great time and were genuinely impressed by the standard of British
old time musicianship demonstrated by the participants. They have asked us to thank
those who came to the weekend and also to thank FOAOTMAD committee and members for inviting them over and for
our sponsorship.
As Chairman I delighted that, as an organisation, we were able to do this and continue to promote the very best in US
and UK old time music.
We hope to repeat this success with another weekend tuition workshop for beginner/improvers which takes place in
January. If you are considering coming to what promises to be another fantastic event, I would encourage you to sign up
now as places are limited and going fast (see advert, page 2).
The long nights and cold weather have not slowed the work at FOAOTMAD HQ. Nick and the committee are working hard
to finalise the details for the 19th Gainsborough Festival. We are delighted to present a fantastic line up of British and
US talent for your delight. From the USA we have the wonderful Canote Brothers whose musical talent is matched by
their humour and sheer joi de vivre. We are honoured that they would contemplate a 10,000 mile round trip to be here
in winter! Jeff Davis is another delightful entertainer with his multi-instrumental skills and deep knowledge of American
folk music. I am paricularly looking forward to his banjo workshops on Frank Proffitt and Dock Boggs. Debra Clifford of
the Lonesome Sisters will be adding her fine voice to her other instrumental talents on stage and as a teacher.
British talent is not neglected: The Buffalo Gals bring their sophisticated southern style; The Carrivick Sisters join us
on Saturday representing the best of the new generation of young musicians; the (mysterious) Valerie Vale and the
(perhaps not so mysterious) Aylesbury Aylevators complete the line up of top class bands.
Appalachian dance is well represented too with newcomers Crooked Moon, and the highly entertaining Jake and Dan.
But, most of all, YOU YOURSELVES!!
See you there,
Andrew
OLD TIME NEWS
Editors..........Emily Poole & Andrew Henley 01626 867958
(publishers/design/production)
PUBLISHED QUARTERLY
[email protected]
COPY DATES: 1st March, June, September & December. Submissions to the Editors.
The editors are not responsible for, or necessarily agree with, contributors comments or claims. All material is copyright and may only be reproduced with permission
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
FRIENDS OF AMERICAN OLD TIME MUSIC AND DANCE
www.foaotmad.org.uk
President....Tom Paley
Chairman.... .Andrew Henley
Treasurer......Claire Rudd
Secretary......Christine Bell
Festival....... Nick Pilley
Dance.........Josie Anstee
Membership. .Eve Morris
Webmaster.. .Su Mo
Publicity..... Jackie Kempton
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
23, Sydenham St., London SE26 6JA
67, Greenway, Bishops Lydeard, Taunton, TA4 3DA. 01823 432863
ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTIONS: Individual £20, Couple/Group £30. +£5 for overseas/airmail
Printed by Swiftprint Dawlish 01626 888188
Page 19
OLD TIME NEWS 72 WINTER 2012
Jeff Davis
is one of America’s most respected collectors and
interpreters of traditional music. He has travelled far to visit
“source singers” - farmers and miners who remembered the old
songs and tunes, always looking for the best of the music that was
once common in out towns and villages. Jeff plays fiddle, banjo,
mandocello, guitar, spoons, jaw’s harps and a few instruments
hand-made by some folk craftsmen. He has toured extensively
throughout the United States, Canada and Europe.
The Buffalo Gals perform Old-time country music from
the Southern Appalachian region of the United States, and
specialise in using music, song and dance to convey the spirit,
excitement and passion of American roots music. With an
authentic sound driven by fiddle, banjo, percussive step dance,
and soaring harmonies, they produce an irresistible show
packed with all the excitement, passion and fun of Appalachian,
Bluegrass, Blues and Cajun tunes and songs.
Debra Clifford sings lead
& harmony and plays guitar,
mandolin, banjo and tenor in
the Lonesome Sisters with Sarah
Hawker. They have 6 CDs. She has
performed with Ginny Hawker &
Tracy Schwarz, Hazel Dickens,
Mac Benford, Alice Gerrard, and
has recorded with the Joe Thrift
stringband “jimmyjohnnnyjoe”.
Debra is also a teacher with
Val in the Old Time Traveling
Music School teaching both at
home and abroad, and at Jay
Unger and Molly Mason’s Ashokan
Southern Week.
The Canote Brothers
Valerie Vale
& Mark Wallace
For audiences of all ages, the Canotes demonstrate their love
and mastery of vintage American styles from fiddle tunes and
country songs to novelty numbers and swing. They perform
with spirit, humor, sterling musicianship, and those genetically
matched voices. Greg and Jere also share a well honed ear
for the quirky - “Their songs all have the ring of cockeyed
classics!” Guaranteed fun!
joined
forces 14 years ago to play
fiddle tunes and sing in harmony,
drawing on a the repertoire of a
wide range of American genres
– old-time, bluegrass, country,
hillbilly & rockabilly. Recently
they have been joined by John
Harris on banjo & vocals to give
sound that sits somewhere in
between old-time and bluegrass
- a great place to be.
Twin brothers Greg and Jere Canote
have been taking advantage of
their genetics for as long as they
can remember; as Christmas elves
tap dancing their way around the
wishing well in the first grade, to
their thirteen-year stint as the
affable side-kicks on NPR’s Sandy
Bradley’s Potluck.
These guys love what they do, and it shows. Equally at home
on a blazing hot fiddle tune or soaring into the clouds with a
scat singing swing solo - the twins know their stuff inside out
and perform with an affable friendly approach that invites you
into their genetically matched world for a little while.
Crooked Moon
“Our aim is to present a team with
precise stepping, moves, dance links and so on, so people can
really appreciate the dance and music - and also to have as
much fun as possible! We plan to incorporate other styles of
music and dance into what we know and hopefully have an
interesting mix.”
The Carrivick Sisters
first started performing as
a duo in 2006, originally as
buskers before starting to play
more and more proper gigs,
turning professional when they
left school in 2007. Their busy
touring schedule is rapidly
building them a reputation
for engaging and entertaining
live performances with tight
sibling vocal harmonies and
multi-instrumental virtuosity.
As well as touring all over the
UK, the Carrivick Sisters have
performed at major festivals in
Canada and mainland Europe.
They have released four CDs.
Dan and Jake
were both
originally taught Appalachian
Flatfooting by Sue Coe and
then Ira Bernstein. When
dancing out they show their
relaxed, musical and often
funny (though rarely planned)
routines. Their performances
may be riddled with their
own moves but they stick to
teaching the traditional steps
and styles in their workshops.
Please send completed form, a cheque made out to FOAOTMAD and a stamped addressed envelope to:
FOAOTMAD c/o 53 North Street, Bridgwater, Somerset TA6 3PW
Name and address (in block capitals please) ........................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................................................................
Phone number ...............................................
Email address ..........................................
(if applicable) FOAOTMAD membership no(s)................or BBMA membership no(s)..............Expires.............
WEEKEND (includes outdoor camping and indoor sleeping space, and all weekend events, subject to available space)
............ tickets @£45 (members)
............ tickets @ £55 (non-members)
£..........
............ tickets @ £30 (members) ............ tickets @ £35 (non members)
£..........
SATURDAY ALL DAY (includes evening)
FRIDAY OR SATURDAY EVENING ONLY
............ tickets @ £20 (no concessions)£..........
You
can now buy tickets on line via Paypal.
TOTAL PAYMENT£_____
www.foaotmad.org.uk (admin fee applies)
Queen Elizabeth High School is just under a mile north of the centre of Gainsborough on the A159 Scunthorpe Road. Access through
the main gate and the festival uses the school buildings on the right. There is plenty of parking behind the school and also the access
to the gymnasium sleeping area. Ticketing and general access are at the front of the complex. NO ACCESS BEFORE 5.30PM FRIDAY
Page 20
OLD TIME NEWS 72 WINTER 2012
The Friends of American Old Time Music and Dance
proudly present
The 19th Gainsborough
Old Time Festival 2013
Queen Elizabeth High School, Morton Terrace, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire DN21 2ST
Weekend Tickets:
FOAOTMAD/BBMA members £45 non-members £55
February 15th to 17th 2013
BUFFALO GALS
From Portland USA
THE CANOTE BROTHERS
JEFF DAVIS
FOAOTMAD
FESTIVAL
THE CARRIVICK
SISTERS
DON’T MISS THIS SUPERB
53, North Street,
Bridgwater,
Somerset TA6 3PW
LINE-UP!
[email protected]
www.foaotmad.org.uk
01278 450780
From Connecticut USA
VALERIE VALE
& the Aylesbury Aylevators
CROOKED MOON
NOT ONLY CONCERTS BUT FREE
TUITION WORKSHOPS, SQUARE
DANCE WITH CALLER, SHAPE
NOTE SINGING, INDIVIDUAL AND
BAND COMPETITIONS.
TRADE STANDS, GREAT FOOD
AND BAR ON SITE.
INDOOR SLEEPING, OUTDOOR
CAMPING, RV STANDING.
UNBEATABLE SESSIONS AND
LOTS, LOTS MORE!!
EUROPE’S LARGEST AND BEST
OLD TIME FESTIVAL.
ADVANCED BOOKING HIGHLY
RECOMMENDED.
DAN ECCLES
&JAKE JONES
From Mass. USA
DEBRA CLIFFORD