Re: What artist/album got you started with Trad
I took violin lessons in first grade, but we moved every year and that was as far as my lessons and violin abilities went. In eighth grade, my brother played me his Fairport Convention albums. When I heard "Bridge over the River Ash" and "Instrumental Medley" on the LP 'Angel Delight', I distinctly remember thinking, man, I wanna play like that! Then my brother played 'Full House' with "Dirty Linen" and "Flatback Caper", and it was a done deal. I needed to learn how to play like Dave Swarbrick. My Mom bought me a beat-up former rental violin for me to sqawk on and it all started.
A couple of years later I walked into a pawn shop on Main Street in Daytona Beach and said, what's that on the wall? It was a beat up Suzuki bowl back and I instantly realized my fingers knew where to go. I still have that tater bug; I even deployed with it a couple of times.
It's been fun bebopping across different types of tunes ever since: fife and drum, Irish, English, Scottish, Welsh (thank you Robin Williamson!), bluegrass (thank you Jack Tottle!), contra, old time, Canadian, and ragtime, along with with ineffectual stabs at cajun, Texas, and western swing fiddling. I still don't sound like Swarb and I can't play anywhere near his speed, but I'm a heckuva lot closer than I was!
Rob Ross
Apple Valley, Minne-SOH-tah
1996 Flatiron A5-Performer, 1915 Gibson F-2 (loaned to me by a friend), 2008 Kentucky Master KM-505 A-Model
1925 Bacon Peerless tenor banjo (Irish tuning), 1985 Lloyd Laplant F-5, 2021 Ibanez PFT2 Tenor Guitar (GDAE)
and of course, the 1970 Suzuki-Violin-Sha Bowl Back Taterbug
Bookmarks