As I remember those days you all were a hot commodity. Your music, the attitude of the band and the whole package was a fun time. The folk scare had fractured and it turned out that the more tradition aspect of that fracture was the most fun part. It was not uncommon to get 100,000 people to the largest fiddlers contest. To put it in perspective, today there are vastly more opportunities to hear old time and bluegrass music so the crowds are smaller at each event but the numbers really aren't less today when taken in total. There is a renaissance in this music and it is spreading. I teach in the JAM program and there are variations of this around the South and perhaps up north too, that teach traditional music to children of a digital age. The kids eat it up and even if they don't play old time or bluegrass, they have a fundamental knowledge of what it is suppose to be.

As for this quote "a cross between Bill Monroe and the settlers who got off the boat." They obviously lacked solid reference points based in musical history. When reread out of context, they must of have been thinking of the earliest colonists who's music would have been very different than either yours or Monroe's. It had, after all, been hybridized by a couple hundred years of people getting of various boats.

The driving twin fiddles, Mac's banjo down in the mix, Walt's wry MC work and yours and Jenny's solid groove held up well next to a bluegrass band and the sound was a relief for its differences from so many other bands in that context. At least to these ears

Glad you were a part of the music scene, Doug. Louisville still has a lot of music stuff going on, OT, folk, BG, thumb pickers, etc. We can't ever get there though, but have friends that make it to some of this stuff.

But as I think back to the late 70s, where we were was a melting pot of music...home-played stuff of all kinds. We could go to the Friendship Center by the railroad tracks and there was always coffee going, used clothes for sale and even adult ed classes, which I was a volunteer for...but there were very ancient fiddlers there once in a while too. Playing very ancient tunes and ways to go about it. I don't remember too many fiddlers under the age of 80 or so. But outside of the Friendship Center there were places where people congregated...court house, stores, etc., and played gospel and early BG, the borderline BG that was also ballady and old timey. Then there was my generation of folks who played out under the trees, mainly guitars, and would play anything from Merle Travis to John Denver...lol...just anything that involved picking a guitar. Then we had regular visits where Jean Ritchie would come to play dulcimer and guitar and sing, talk about mainly ballads but other types of tunes too. And regular visits from the McClaine Family, mainly gospel and an early BG/OT blend I guess you could say...but they were considered a BG band...these folks would let people join in and play along if they wanted.

This was during the times when I had my one and only musical "career" (ha ha), where I played at the local steak house just off the interstate and played an assortment of all of the above, for tips only. Also, I was a janitor (day job!) at the college for the music building and heard a lot of all kinds of stuff coming out of the practice rooms as I swept and mopped up the place. Soon after, I had a baby and life just changed tremendously and we moved to Tennessee....a little more hardcore BG but we lived out in a rural area and didn't get to see many people.

That's it...my late 70s music exposure.

I was courtin' my future bride around that time.  We celebrate 47 years of marriage this Sunday / Pearl Harbor Day!   

In 77 I was an electrician by day - and at night I was playing with 2 groups in those days,,,

"delta blues" in a trio backing Zeke Johnson -- in local bars and parties. Loads of fun.

And another group (The Hill Brotheres) playing - what we called "progressive country" - but it was more like southern rock - Little Feat, Allman Brothers, Marshall Tucket, but also Jerry Jeff Walker, and a number of songs from "Old and in the Way" --- also local bars and parties. Loads of fun.

Around that time was my first attempt at playing fiddle. Failed miserably. Then tried my hand a playing banjo - on a 4 string. Didn't go over very well - "not a 5 string". Kind of silly to think I could just pick those instruments up and play them in the band - in short order.    But I tried.

thanks... for the quick ride down memory lane. 

I was traveling across Canada from Anchorage, Alaska heading to Mississippi after living and playing Bluegrass there. I was on my way to audition For James Monroe's and Joe Stewart's Bands. 

I was hired by Joe's Band but had some business to tie up in Alaska and unfortunately wasn't able to leave due to not being able to wrap things up in time. I didn't get to audition with James as their Bus broke down and wasn't able to get to where i was to audition.

I was able play a couple shows with Joe's Band and we got along famously he was a really great guy. 

(<I  )====='---<: : }

For sure I was in the womb, born 4 months later...in Pennsylvania

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Originally posted by fiddleplayer2

I was traveling across Canada from Anchorage, Alaska heading to Mississippi after living and playing Bluegrass there. I was on my way to audition For James Monroe's and Joe Stewart's Bands. 

I was hired by Joe's Band but had some business to tie up in Alaska and unfortunately wasn't able to leave due to not being able to wrap things up in time. I didn't get to audition with James as their Bus broke down and wasn't able to get to where i was to audition.

I was able play a couple shows with Joe's Band and we got along famously he was a really great guy. 

(

 

 

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HA!   ...missed you in Alaska by about 25 years (2000 - 2014). But Jackson is only about 200 miles from Walls. I've met a few folks from down there - and play regularly with a friend from Water Valley - you might know him and his wife - Doug and Rhonda Webb. They had a farm there and held an annual event at their farm - traveled and performed at festivals around central Mississippi for a long while (BG and old time). Really good musicians and great folk.

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 I've met a few folks from down there - and play regularly with a friend from Water Valley - you might know him and his wife - Doug and Rhonda Webb. 

 

I played bass for Doug and Rhonda's group for a while before they moved a-way up north.  Good folks for sure!

Well...now I know where to come when I'm feeling old! :-)

In 1977 I was a 12 year-old running around bluegrass festivals and fiddlin' events all around AL and south MS. My mother and most of her family were big BG fans and I had an uncle in Tuscaloosa that wasn't that good of a fiddler, but he absolutely loved it and knew pretty much everybody in the then-lively central/north AL fiddle scene.

I wasn't aware of the OT revivalist movement and AFAIK it didn't exist down here. Fiddling happened at contests and at local dances and other get-togethers at churches, community centers, and living rooms. That scene was mostly tunes with a few songs in the mix. Fiddlers took turns at tunes, sometimes taking rounds (breaks) on the same tune. Other instruments occasionally took breaks BG-style, but it was definitely fiddle-centric.

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Originally posted by bacfire

quote:

 I've met a few folks from down there - and play regularly with a friend from Water Valley - you might know him and his wife - Doug and Rhonda Webb. 

 

I played bass for Doug and Rhonda's group for a while before they moved a-way up north.  Good folks for sure!

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HA - we've been playing together for a while now - almost 10 years -  back while they were still in Water Valley.

He was my "busking"  buddy for about 2 years - at the Hernando Farmer's Market. We had a blast. Fiddle / banjo. He is good on banjo, but can play really well on guitar, fiddle, and mandolin too. Rhonda would join us on occasion. They play and sing a lot of great folk / country / bluegrass / old time. Well - you would certainly know all that.  ...just bragging on a friend.

He had some MAJOR surgery this past year - so, we didn't get to busk any this past summer. And now they've moved to Tennessee - not too far away, but will probably be too far for the Farmer's Market next year. We are hoping to find another place "between us" for busking - and maybe get our other friends to join in. 

I'll see him Monday - and say "hi" for you. 

I was in Louisville in 77,but I wasn't going any where near The Belvedere that week. I watched some on tv.

I did go to IBMA when it was in Louisville and other festivals around the state. I recently did a big de....clutter! and took a 30 year collection of books,records,cds,and dvds to The Louisville Folk Music School.

I hope that our music continues to "recycle" and doesn't just die out.

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Originally posted by tonyelder

I'll see him Monday - and say "hi" for you. 

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Please do.  I haven't seen either of them for years and didn't know they'd moved on to TN.  There's another former south MS Doug who moved to Water Valley about the same time as the Webbs, then moved on to Oxford: Doug Anderson.

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Originally posted by bacfire

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Originally posted by tonyelder

I'll see him Monday - and say "hi" for you. 

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Please do.  I haven't seen either of them for years and didn't know they'd moved on to TN.  There's another former south MS Doug who moved to Water Valley about the same time as the Webbs, then moved on to Oxford: Doug Anderson.

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Doug invited a friend from "back home" in MS to join us in Collierville. TN at a weekly "gathering" on the town square. Been a few years now - but I seem to recall his name was Doug. Played "Bill Monroe" style mandolin. He knew a lot of tunes - it was fun playing together.

Think i would have been working on the M11 Motorway on da voiybrat'n poker or a jack hammer. Or more likely, just reading the paper and keeping me eye out for any "white hats" comin down da road.

I was Travis Picking my acoustic guitar, playing down-stroke only electric guitar in an absolutely horrible Punk Rock band, and suffering through my lead guitarist's  endless guitar solos as the rhythm guitarist in an "Ain't I Cool" Hippy Blues Rock band. I had yet to take up the fiddle.

1977 may have been the year that I first traveled to the Indiana Fiddler's Gathering and discover Old Time music. I went back the next year with a fiddle and tried to learn...and continued going back for pretty much the rest of my adult life with the exception of a ten year gap when I was doing Mission work in the month of june..
Yep.. good topic Doug..

It was about that time I was listening to HotRize at the foot of Vail Mountain.
They were cranking out Stanley Bros songs with gusto! Then came Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers. What a bunch. Thanks. Those were good days.

One thing i know for sure is i would have been loving music a lot more back then, without trying to play it, or understand it. That was wonderful !

Edit but i did like to squawk away on my harmonica or bash away on my recently acquired guitar.

I can't say for sure. I was in the Juggernaut String Band at that time (me on guitar, mostly, with Peter and Janet Taney). Peter got into going to Europe for five years in a row. I told Peter that I wouldn't miss both the West Virginia State Folk Festival in Glenville, WV, in mid June, and the Brandywine Mountain Music Convention, in mid July (check https://www.slippery-hill.com/brandywine-recordings). So for now I can't recall quite where I was in June, 1977.

1977 I was in the process of moving back to NYC from upstate NY, New Paltz, to care for aging Dad and to start a new band, the Outa Hand String Band, which despite the name, was a broad mix of bluegrass, Old Time, current country music, and future classic rock (think Dead, Stones, etc) doing mostly bar gigs. I was to play with this group of musicians for over 12 years, morphing into pop country. '77 was the last year I attended the Union Grove Fiddlers Convention, having gone from '72 til then. It was MASSIVE at that point, with I don't know how many 10's of thousands of goers. Too large for me for sure. But I did get to jam with some now famous fiddlers and other musicians. Also the start of going to the jam sessions in Central Park, NYC, to jam the likes of Keith, Statman, and members of Breakfast Special. Actually I am surprised I retained much of this, as the 70's were certainly a very wild time for me, which I luckily escaped relatively unscathed.

I have this note in my notebook:
Woodstock, Aug. 15-18, 1969 (J.E. was 38)
Steve wasn't yet 7yrs. old
Arlo wasn't yet 21yrs. old

I actually met and talked (1on1) with Arlo at Woody's Shack in Topanga Canyon. We were watching the Ramblin Jack Elliott.
I asked him about Woodstock. He was still impressed by the sea of people there. Even then I was disappointed it was back East. It seemed like everything was happening in L.A.
Cheers

I was in my middle 30's, living in central WV and desperately trying to sound like a real fiddle player. I was playing off and on with some other guys who knew other players from neighboring counties and sometimes sat in with scratch square dance bands. Most of these guys are now long gone. I had a car and just enough money to go down to Charleston once in while with a couple music pals to maybe get the latest hot new LP's of some fiddler such as Clark Kissinger or Kenny Baker. 1977 was the year after the U.S. 200 year anniversary. Roadside barns, fences and more was slathered with red, white and blue paint. Yeah, good times.

That would have been when I had an "Irish" pub band (a lot of Dubliners, Clancy Bros., John Allan Cameron, some watered-down Planxty & Bothy Band, etc.). We played around the Maritimes for a few years, and I also did lots of solo gigs. We had a great Cape Breton fiddler, who was an all-round top-notch musician. We and/or I went over great in places where they like that sort of thing; not so great in the C&W bars. Nobody had told me that if you're gonna be dumb, ya better be tough .....

Mt Airy Fiddlers Convention, where I met the love of my life. We still play together!!

I think I had just finished junior high. I would have been working on the family farm doing stuff like driving a tractor, moving irrigation pipe, and working cattle. I played piano then.

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Originally posted by DougD

I recently came across this page that suggests I was playing at the "Bluegrass Festival of the United States" in Louisville, KY. Its a little jumbled, but there have been some recent comments about a decline in enthusiasm for "old time" music (which I don't think is true) and lack of people playing professionally, and this shows a different time.
The newspaper promo says in 1976 the festival drew 140,000 people over three days. Since it was a free event there were no ticket sales, so I don't know how they would know that, but the Belvedere is a big space and at night it was packed. At the 1975 festival the Friday night show opened with the Goins Brothers, then our band, followed by Ralph Stanley and then Bill Monroe - a pretty good night of traditional stringband music. We closed the show Saturday night - a lot different from a campsite jam session (nothing wrong with that either). The line between Bluegrass and Old Time line was not so distinct then, for both performers and the audience, and the festival featured a range of music from "Newgrass" variants to Norman and Nancy Blake and Buck White and the Down Home Folks. One article described our band as "a cross between Bill Monroe and the settlers who got off the boat." During the day we sometimes went out in the crowd to hawk records, and one couple told us we were their favorite band - they said "We like that OLD TIME Bluegrass!"
michaelconen.wordpress.com/202...5th-1977/

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This was before my time.

I'm a bit confused though. You're saying that you don't think Old Time has become less popular, but you're also mentioning accounts of events from the past that had massive attendance that you don't see these days.

I see a lot of enthusiasm from the people who have been playing Old Time for a long time already, but I don't see so much from younger players. I see younger players show up occasionally, but they don't tend to stay very long--they get bored pretty quickly.