We continue our love affair with southern music from the 20's and 30s (with a few excursions into the 40s) - that Golden Era, when record companies were still willing to record quirky, intensely personal, and exotic sounds in order to reach regional markets. Alas, all too soon they adopted the "one size fits all" philosophy. We've each been digging into this music since our teenage years and never seem to tire of these old-fashioned sounds, in fact they seem to become more and more interesting.

About the songs on the CD:
Civil War veteran Captain Moses J. Bonner (known as "The Texas Fiddler") was the first fiddler in America to play on the radio, in 1923. Two years later, he recorded four sides, including Yearlings in the Canebrake, which he played in a medley with the intriguingly-titled Gal on the Log. You can read lots more about Captain Bonner here: Captain Bonner on Steve Green's page

Burt Anderson's Tune comes from the great (and still actively playing as of this writing) fiddler Clyde Davenport (pictured above), born and raised in south-central Kentucky, not far from the Tennessee line. Read lots more about Clyde at Jeff Titon's page: Clyde Davenport

Little Bitty Mama, Last Kind Words, and Motherless Child were learned from recordings of the enigmatic Elvie Thomas and Geechie Wiley, mystery women of the country blues, who journeyed to Wisconsin (possibly from Mississippi) to record four sides in 1930, returned to do 2 more sides in the following year, and then disappeared, never to be heard from again.

Atlanta fiddler Eddie Anthony recorded Beaver Slide in the bluegrass key of B with Peg Leg Howell and his Gang (above, left) in 1927, about a dozen years before Bill Monroe moved put together his first Bluegrass Boys band About 12 years later, Bill Monroe's new band, the Blue Grass Boys (above, right). Eric has reimagined it as a bluegrass guitar tune. Beaver Slide was a slum neighborhood in Atlanta, demolished in the 1930s to make way for an upscale residential development. In 1881, a newspaper reporter referred to "the soul-harrowing music of the string band" in one of Beaver Slide's notorious juke joints. You can read more about the Beaver Slide neighborhood here: Beaver Slide

Valse de Vieux Temps was already an old time waltz when the Breaux Brothers (above,left) recorded it in 1934. Gasport Two-Step comes from Anatole Credeur who recorded four sides in 1929; there is no Gasport in Louisiana, it's probably really supposed to be Gaspard. We sure miss playing with Danny Poullard and dedicate these two pieces to his memory.
A wonderful book about the history of Cajun music, with biographies, interviews, and amazing photos is Ann Savoy's Cajun Music, a Reflection of a People. Suzy did some of the musical transcriptions. You can order it here: Ann Savoy's book

The lovely waltz Dream Shadows is from the East Texas Serenaders (above, right); many thanks to Dave Murray, Dan Kluger, Dan Warrick and Ben Sigelman for helping us learn this one.Read more about the East Texas Serenaders in an article by Keith Chandler: East Texas Serenaders article
Texas seems to be a good place for waltzes; Midnight On the Water is the wettest sounding one we know, from Benny Thomasson, pictured above.
Read more about this pioneer of Texas contest fiddling here: Benny Thomasson

K.C. Railroad Blues was recorded in 1927 by Jim and Andrew Baxter, a black father and son duet from Gordon County, Alabama (above, left). The Memphis Jug Band (above, middle and right) covered it a few years later, as the K.C. Moan, and the Kweskin Jug Band did a memorable version in the mid-1960s. Read more about the Memphis Jug Band here:Memphis Jug Band

Lloyd Bateman is, of course, Child Ballad #53; in 1975, Suzy first heard it sung by Frankie Armstrong (a British version) and ever since has been fascinated by the unnamed Turkish Lady (the real hero of the story) who holds the rich, restless and insincere Lord Bateman to his promise. In this American version, the Lord has become a Lloyd, and we were delighted to learn that the name of the Turkish Lady is Susan! We learned it from a 1941 recording of Mary Sullivan, who was living at a migrant worker camp, in Shafter, California. Her version is much longer! Many thanks to Lyle and Liz Lofgren.
Here's a good essay with photos about the Dust Bowl refugees and their experience in California migrant camps: Dust Bowl refugees
Charles Dickens wrote an essay about this ballad; you can read it at pdBooks.net: Charles Dickens, Lord Bateman
We end with a live recording of Edn Hammons' Old Greasy Coat, joined by our neighbors Brendan Doyle, Maxine Gerber, and Larry Hanks. We thank them for many happy hours of tunes and companionship! Edn and end - I didn't even realize til this moment that these words are anagrams. Maybe that's why we decided to put this tune last.
Read more about Edn Hammons on David Lynch's site:Edn Hammons
Greasy Coat is hillbilly slang for a condom. Brendan Doyle likes to say that this is one of the very few old-time tunes named after a contraceptive.
Thanks to: Lyle Ferbrach; Ron Brown; Lyle and Liz Lofgren; Brendan Doyle and Maxine Gerber; Tony Russell; John Miller; Dan Kluger; Ben Sigelman; Agi Ban; Alan Senauke; Laurie Lewis; Irene Young; John Schott; John Cowan; Lindsey Jones; Allegra Thompson, and all of the friends we've played music with over the years.