# Music by Genre > Old-Time, Roots, Early Country, Cajun, Tex-Mex >  the newest stuff

## AKmusic

Tell me about the new Old Time and/or string band music your listening to. Anything inspiring?

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## bones12

new Foghorn Stringband CD--tasty and brilliant


Doug in Vermont

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## Marcelyn

The Stairwell Sisters are really good, but not overly heavy on mandolin. They're a little nonconventional in some ways, but definitely have a great new old time sound. If you want new but traditional all the way, I think one of the best is Elizabeth Laprelle.

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## JeffD

My favorite, absolely, would be Walt Koken and Clare Milliner in any combination or all together with their band the Orpheous Supertones.  Second would be the Twilight Broadcasters

I second the motion for Foghorn, I like what they have done. And the Red State Ramblers too. There actually is there is a ton of stuff out there, and every time I go to Clifftop I pick up something new to try. But you cannot beat the Orpheous Supertones and the Twilight BRoadcasters.

But see, you asked about new old time. And my first choice is always old, old time.

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## Gary S

Anything with Kirk Sutphin on it.

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## Mo Soar

The Dust Busters

http://www.nodepression.com/profiles...on-smithsonian

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## AKmusic

Clarification...  I've got a bunch of old time stuff, and I'm always looking to add to it. Can't have too much.

I'm interested in knowing what is new that I might be missing, whether they are contemporary or a recent discovery from the past. What and who is starting to rise from out of obsurity? ...new favorite players and string bands.

BTW, I'm also a big Foghorn fan. 
I wish the Tallboys were still around. 
Another great string band I wish I could find more from - The Wild Turkeys.

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## Marcelyn

I'm pretty sure you've heard of Dirk Powell, but if not, he's also in the newer stack of CDs I really enjoy.

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## mishima

I enjoy the "South Carolina Broadcaster"

                                                             Mike

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## mingusb1

Lots of good recommendations already but I'll add a few that haven't been suggested.  NFI but they are friends of mine:

--Carl Jones (with Beverly Smith, James Bryan):
http://www.dittyville.com/music.html
Can't seem to find a link for the Carl and Beverly CD's, but send him an email through Dittyville.

--Big Medicine
http://www.bigmedmusic.com/buy_music/

--Rafe Stephanini
http://www.countysales.com/search.ph...fanini&x=0&y=0
See if this link to a search of the County Records site works.

Z

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## JeffD

> Clarification...  I've got a bunch of old time stuff, and I'm always looking to add to it. Can't have too much.
> 
>  a recent discovery from the past. What and who is starting to rise from out of obsurity? ...new favorite players and string bands.
> 
> .


When it comes to the early recordings, the real juice, I would suggest a different approach. I would suggest getting some of the great compilations available today. 

I just picked up the seven CD set "Kentucky Mountain Music, Classic Recordings of the 20s and 30s", the now fameous "large green box" put out by Yazoo. And it has been on my CD rotation for several days now.

The point is, with such collections, you will bump into stuff that moves you, that you just have got to hear, got to play, got to share. All of a sudden you are the progenitor of what rises from obscurity. Hey, you have as much right as anyone else to decide this.

Go thou into obscurity, poke around the jewels there, and pull out stuff you can love, and raise it up to the light.

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Jim Nollman

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## AKmusic

> The Dust Busters
> 
> http://www.nodepression.com/profiles...on-smithsonian


Thanks.

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## AKmusic

> Lots of good recommendations already but I'll add a few that haven't been suggested.  NFI but they are friends of mine:
> 
> --Carl Jones (with Beverly Smith, James Bryan):
> http://www.dittyville.com/music.html
> Can't seem to find a link for the Carl and Beverly CD's, but send him an email through Dittyville.
> 
> --Big Medicine
> http://www.bigmedmusic.com/buy_music/
> 
> ...


Your friends are my heroes. I hope to see Carl in November.

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## John Flynn

I can tell you the next few CDs I'm going to get along these lines. Bruce Ling does not get talked about much here, but I have long admired him as an old-time mandolin player. His CDs also have him playing melody on flatpick guitar as well as mandolin, so it's not 100% mando content, but all of his stuff is great. 

http://elderly.com/search/elderly?terms=HAWKRO&x=0&y=0

I just discovered another guy who I'm surprised I had not heard of, Christian Wig out of Ohio. No mandolin that I can tell, but really great fiddle and clawhammer banjo. He has a really clean, authentic sound to my ear. It appears he has five CDs for sale.

http://www.chriswig.com/home.html

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## Jim Garber

> Lots of good recommendations already but I'll add a few that haven't been suggested.  NFI but they are friends of mine:
> 
> --Rafe Stephanini
> http://www.countysales.com/search.ph...fanini&x=0&y=0
> See if this link to a search of the County Records site works.


No offense, but Rafe spells his name Stefanini.

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## brunello97

> No offense, but Rafe spells his name Stefanini.


Ouch.  I was probably in my 30s before my family let me outgrow "Michelini". My father, whose name was Francis, was called "Big Mike". 

I look forward to hearing some of Rafe's music. Do you know him personally, Jim?

Mick

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## mingusb1

Whoops, of course, how did that dang "ph" get in there?!

Here is one of my favorite youtube clips of Rafe and Clelia:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcdOIa2FzmU

Z

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## AKmusic

http://youtu.be/EgXjRbjn50k

Lot of good music has happened in Rafe's kitchen. this one is one of my favorites.

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## AKmusic

This is one of my favorites - for a lot of different reasons.

Old Time music is in good hands.

http://youtu.be/CoW3ac31gvU

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## Jim Garber

> I look forward to hearing some of Rafe's music. Do you know him personally, Jim?


Perhaps I am giving away my age, but I actually met Rafe when he hadn't started playing fiddle on maybe his second trip over here from Italy. He gets better and better. His brothers are also excellent musicians and his brother Bruno is also a luthier over in Bologna.

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## AKmusic

> I can tell you the next few CDs I'm going to get along these lines. Bruce Ling does not get talked about much here, but I have long admired him as an old-time mandolin player. His CDs also have him playing melody on flatpick guitar as well as mandolin, so it's not 100% mando content, but all of his stuff is great. 
> 
> http://elderly.com/search/elderly?terms=HAWKRO&x=0&y=0
> 
> I just discovered another guy who I'm surprised I had not heard of, Christian Wig out of Ohio. No mandolin that I can tell, but really great fiddle and clawhammer banjo. He has a really clean, authentic sound to my ear. It appears he has five CDs for sale.
> 
> http://www.chriswig.com/home.html


Thanks John. I'll be checking into these more.

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## Leverman61

> I can tell you the next few CDs I'm going to get along these lines. Bruce Ling does not get talked about much here, but I have long admired him as an old-time mandolin player. His CDs also have him playing melody on flatpick guitar as well as mandolin, so it's not 100% mando content, but all of his stuff is great. 
> 
> http://elderly.com/search/elderly?terms=HAWKRO&x=0&y=0
> 
> I just discovered another guy who I'm surprised I had not heard of, Christian Wig out of Ohio. No mandolin that I can tell, but really great fiddle and clawhammer banjo. He has a really clean, authentic sound to my ear. It appears he has five CDs for sale.
> 
> http://www.chriswig.com/home.html


John , Thanks for the info on Bruce Ling. He is new to me. 
   I will second the recommendation for Christian Wig. I saw Christian and Mark Ward at a house concert in Pittsburgh this spring. Both men are very talented and entertaining. Mark is also a luthier , specializing in banjos and fiddles.  
    I'd like to mention a band out of Seattle called Red Dog. Nice Old-time fiddle in the forefront but Cary Lung plays some fine mandolin on both Cd's they have available.  http://www.reddogseattle.com/band/

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## Jon Hall

The new release "Leaving Eden" by the Carolina Chocolate Drops has a bunch of great songs rooted in the old time tradition.

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## JeffD

Carolina Chocolate Drops is a great band.

A lot of bands you can enjoy and appreciate in context, (old time and evolving tradition and all), but CCD, in addition, is great music that folks can just pick up and run with.

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## coletrickle

I'll third the recommendation for Christian Wig. His last three albums play close attention to the roots of old time fiddling, using low tunings and playing older songs, including the use of low tuned banjos (including the great Whit Mead). Not only are they great recordings, the liner notes are packed with tons of great info, and the packaging is really well done. For those of use that long for hard copy CDs with more than just a slip jacket, this is it. Great artwork, music and info! He is a great guy too. 

Another album that just came out is by a "new" group called Bigfoot. They are not actually new on the scene as players (John Herrmann, Rhys Jones, etc.) but the album is brand new. Twin fiddles and some tunes that are not recorded to death like so many others. Here is a link: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bigfoot1

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## AKmusic

That's a good heads up on Bigfoot. I like all the players.

Thanks.

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## Chris Rogers

Ditto on Bigfoot. They spent a whole week teaching and playing at the Father's Day Festival in Grass valley, which is predominantly bluegrass, and converted a lot of people. I've learned a lot of songs from this new CD, "I've Got a Bulldog". You can play "Coal Harbor Bend" at my funeral, please.  

Also I like Rayna Gellert and Susie Goehring's (the latter of Bigfoot, too) recordings as a fiddle and guitar duo.

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## fiddler56

Thanks for the kind words John. I've two Cd's out at present, a solo CD called How It All Started, and one with my then band at the time: Farmer's Valuable Friends. I'm in the process of finishing the third one. Of interest might be this old Missouri tune, the 28th Of January, found on my page at Soundcloud. This was a project for hire for an ad for a printing company. I'm playing mandolin, cello, two fiddles, a viola, and guitar. I wanted to get an industrial sounding wall of sound. Hope you enjoy. https://soundcloud.com/bruce-ling  Oh, there's some nice mandolin work on the Cherokee Shuffle tune there as well. The miracle of multi-tracking. Back in '02 I took the prize in Michigan's largest flatpicking competition with my arrangement of that old traditional tune. Keep picking!

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## Jim Garber

> When it comes to the early recordings, the real juice, I would suggest a different approach. I would suggest getting some of the great compilations available today.


I will say beforehand: I am involved (on the board) of this organization, but I do highly suggest, for those generally interested in older mostly old time music, check out the Field Recorders' Collective. I do humbly apologize for the state of our site. We are in the process to modernizing it.

We just released a wonderful CD of The Hellbenders including some stellar players from their original recording in 1990: Bruce Molsky and James Leva (fiddles), David Winston (banjo), Mary Winston (guitar) and Dave Grant (bass).

In addition, we have over 70 other CDs of old time music from various regions to check out.

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Jim Nollman, 

robert.najlis

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## Jim Nollman

Chris Coole and Ivan Rosenberg. That incredible sense of time on the banjo always makes me smile.

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## Jim Nollman

Everyone here, interested in Old Time needs to take a close browse of the web site mentioned in Jim Garber's post. Tell us more Jim.

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Jim Garber

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## Jim Garber

FRC has been issuing mostly unreleased material since 2004. We are a little light on mandolin-specific music but there is certainly a lot of stuff which would be of interest to old time music fans as well as a sprinkling of other American genres of traditional music as well.

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## Jim Nollman

I was struck that, amidst all the  old-time stuff,  you have also released some recordings by the Dixie Hummingbirds.

Does the organization have any plans beyond releasing this music via the internet. Perhaps to develop some kind of a annual meeting or conference (but not a festival) focused on old-time music, and open to the public. It could include academic papers, historical context, new ideas about audio restoration. And that event could serve as a gathering for lay fans — such as all of us — who have a tic to keep learning these tunes. 

Just a thought.

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## Jim Garber

I just downloaded this Chance McCoy album which you can get for free (tho i kicked in some money to him) in exchange for getting on his mailing list. Interesting tunes, well-played.

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## Jim Garber

Thanks, Jim Nollman for the suggestion. For the moment, we are concentrating on releasing music and updating our site to make it even more available. I will bring that suggestion to the board's attention and possibly that may happen in the future.

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## Charlieshafer

My favorite "interpreters" of old time are still Crooked Still. For a fun comparison, take Dirk Powell's LuLu Girl (aka Hop High) and then listen to Crooked Still's. Other eye openers are things like Darling Corey, Ain't No Grave, Poor Ellen Smith, etc. While their earlier work featured the incredible Rushad Eggleston on cello, the later stuff featured more of Britt Haas' fiddling and Tristan Clarridge on cello, and they almost sound like chamber old-time, very precise and elegant. Greg Liszt's almost jazz-like banjo lines keep the pieces moving, and of course there are few singers better than Aoife. A band for the ages; unique, fascinating, cerebral, and they simply can rock with a speed and precision that few will ever match.

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## AKmusic

I do appreciate the work that Crooked Still has done. They are _certainly good_ at what they do...   They are "...unique, ...cerebral"; and they "...rock with speed and precision..."   yeap ...those are good descriptions.  

And, I can see where perhaps a few old time tunes may have been a source of inspiration for some of what they do. But I sure don't see that as their focus. And while they do impress me with their musical talent, they don't inspire me to want to play what they play.  But - hey - that's just me.

It should be acknowledged that it seems like more and more of the youngin's are going off in the same direction these days. That's good for them and theirs.

I do enjoy listening now and again.

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## Dagger Gordon

You might well like Cahalen Morrison and Eli West.

http://cahalenandeli.com/

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Jim Nollman

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## AKmusic

> You might well like Cahalen Morrison and Eli West.
> 
> http://cahalenandeli.com/


Boy HOWDY!!!

Heard them first time last year. Made sure I saw them everytime they were in front of folks at Wintergrass earlier this year. And partly responsible for getting them booked at our Anchroage Folk Festival next month.  

Really looking forward to hearing them live again. Really great stuff!

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## AKmusic

A link to a fairly significant list of Old Time CD releases in 2012.

http://www.banjohangout.org/topic/251181

...and a bit further into the topic thread, there is a list from 2011.

Good list / topic.  Thanks to John, over at the BHO for putting it together.

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## AKmusic

> Boy HOWDY!!!
> 
> Heard them first time last year. Made sure I saw them everytime they were in front of folks at Wintergrass earlier this year. And partly responsible for getting them booked at our Anchroage Folk Festival next month.  
> 
> Really looking forward to hearing them live again. Really great stuff!


Anchorage Folk Festival has come an gone ...and they were great!

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