![[audio]](/images/mediatype_audio.gif) | St Anne's Reel - Gerry Dempsey, Ian Jacks and Tom Joad
Traditional American old time tune.
Keywords: Old-Time Appalachian
Downloads: 3,915
Average rating:  (2 reviews) |
| Sandy River Belle - Tom Joad
A traditional US old time frailing banjo tune with a guitar accompaniment. Recorded in 1999. Two other, later, recordings of this tune can be heard here and here.
Keywords: Old-Time Appalachian
Downloads: 709
Average rating:  (0 review) |
| Shady Grove (banjo instrumental) - Tom Joad
A traditional US old time frailing banjo tune. Recorded in 1999. Another, later, recording of this tune can be heard here
Keywords: Old-Time Appalachian
Downloads: 1,736
Average rating: (1 review) |
| Angeline the Baker - Tom Joad
Old time US barn dance tune. Recorded in 2000.
Keywords: Old-Time Appalachian
Downloads: 2,695
Average rating:  (1 review) |
| Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine - Tom Joad
Traditional American old time folk tune. Recorded in 2000. For a string band rendition of this traditional tune (and many others) see: Shake that Little Foot
Keywords: Old-Time Appalachian
Downloads: 1,625
Average rating: (0 review) |
| Bonaparte's Retreat - Tom Joad
US old time tune. Recorded in 2000.
Keywords: Old-Time Appalachian
Downloads: 2,574
Average rating: (1 review) |
| Clinch Mountain Backstep - Tom Joad
Traditional US old time barn dance tune. Recorded in 2000.
Keywords: Old-Time Appalachian
Downloads: 2,050
Average rating: (0 review) |
| Pretty Polly (song) - Tom Joad
Traditional US old time banjo tune and song.
Keywords: Old-Time Appalachian; Banjo Tune
Downloads: 987
Average rating: (0 review) |
| Martha Campbell - Moe Kunkle
Roger Cooper on fiddle and Moe Kunkle on guitar. Recorded during one of our practice sessions in the mid-1970's.
Keywords: Old-Time Appalachian; Fiddle Tune
Downloads: 1,067
Average rating: (1 review) |
| Frosty Morning - Tom Joad
Traditional US old time barn dance tune. Recorded in 2000.
Keywords: Banjo Tune; Old-Time Appalachian
Downloads: 1,995
Average rating:  (3 reviews) |
| Golden Slippers - Tom Joad
Traditional American old time folk tune. Recorded in 2000.
Keywords: Old-Time Appalachian; Banjo Tune
Downloads: 1,650
Average rating: (0 review) |
| Old Joe Clark - Tom Joad
Traditional American old time folk tune. Recorded in 2000.
Keywords: Banjo Tune; Old-Time Appalachian
Downloads: 2,061
Average rating: (1 review) |
| Sandy River Belle F-Tuning Solo Banjo - Tom Joad
Traditional American old time banjo tune. Recorded in 2000.
Keywords: Old-Time Appalachian; Banjo Tune
Downloads: 1,256
Average rating: (1 review) |
| Sandy River Belle G-Tuning - Tom Joad
Traditional American old time banjo tune. Recorded in 2000.
Keywords: Old-Time Appalachian; Banjo Tune
Downloads: 1,103
Average rating: (0 review) |
| Frank Hutchison-The Last Scene Of The Titanic - Frank Hutchison
Recorded on April 29, 1927 in St. Louis. The story of the Titanic made a deep impression on people and was the subject of several ballads and tunes. Thus, versions of tunes about the Titanic were recorded by Ray Acuff, Ernest Stoneman, Blind Willie Johnson ("God Moves On The Water"), William & Versey Smith ("When That Great Ship Went Down"), among others. According to Jeff Place, the story of the Titanic "was particularly important to African-American musicians who were strongly aware of the iro...
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Ballad; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; 78rpm
Downloads: 3,697
Average rating: (1 review) |
| Ernest Stoneman-All I Got's Gone - Ernest Stoneman
Recorded on November 21, 1928 in New York City. According to Don Kent, this tune refers to a 1907 flood in central Tennessee and the resulting comment of a friend of Uncle Dave Macon: "All I got's gone." Ernest Stoneman was one of the more prolific performers of old-time music in the '20s. Furthermore, his children and grandchildren became famous in their own right during the sixties as bluegrass performers.
Keywords: 78rpm; Music; Acoustic; Country; Old-Time Appalachian
Downloads: 4,884
Average rating: (1 review) |
| Frank Hutchison-The Chevrolet Six - Frank Hutchison
Recorded on July 9, 1929 in New York City. An ode to the Chevy 6...as the escape vehicle of choice for moonshiners escaping from revenue agents.
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; 78rpm
Downloads: 2,878
Average rating: (3 reviews) |
| Obed Pickard - Sally Goodin - Obed Pickard
Great mouth harp work on this 1929 recording of the traditional folk tune "Sally Goodin" by Obed "Dad" Pickard, one of the first "Grand Old Opry" performers. From original 78rpm disk.
Keywords: Music; Country; Folk; Old-Time Appalachian; 78rpm; Oldtime
Downloads: 13,116
Average rating: (8 reviews) |
| Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers-Don't Let Your Deal Go Down Blues - Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers
Recorded on July 25, 1925 in New York City. The Ramblers on this recording includes Poole on vocals and banjo, Posey Rorer on fiddle and Norman Woodlief on guitar. This a gambling tune, with many floating lines that have appeared in older tunes. It is thought that the phrase "let your deal go down" refers to a popular card game among gamblers during the early part of the 20th Century called the Georgia Skin Game.
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Blues; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; 78rpm
Downloads: 6,769
Average rating: (2 reviews) |
| Eck Robertson - Ragtime Annie - Eck Robertson
Great performance of a traditional tune by fiddler "Uncle" A.C. "Eck" Robertson in this 1922 recording. From 78rpm.
Keywords: Music; Old-Time Appalachian; Fiddle Tune; 78rpm; Oldtime
Downloads: 5,323
Average rating: (1 review) |
| The Coon Creek Girls-Flowers Blooming In The Wildwood - The Coon Creek Girls
Recorded circa 1936. The Coon Creek Girls were the first commercially viable all-female Appalachian string band. They were sisters Rosie and Lily May Ledford, Violet Koehler and Daisy Lange. Lily Mae, who was purportedly from a part of Kentucky so remote it was called "Pinch 'Em Tight Holler," was a consummate banjo player and was playing from the time she was eight.
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; 78rpm
Downloads: 4,781
Average rating: (2 reviews) |
| Clarence Ashley-Dark Holler - Clarence Ashley
Recorded on October 23, 1929 in Johnson City, Tennessee. This tune has become a bluegrass standard under this name, as well as "Dark Holler Blues" and "East Virginia Blues." It shares the same melody as "Greenback Dollar," and performers often mix the lyrics of the two in ever differing versions.
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; 78rpm
Downloads: 6,904
Average rating: (2 reviews) |
| Kelly Harrell - I Wish I Was A Single Girl Again - Kelly Harrell
Kelly Harrel sings traditional folk tune "I Wish I Was A Single Girl Again" with guitar and harmonica accompaniment. Recorded January 7, 1925. From the original 78rm disk.
Keywords: oldtime; folk; country; appalachian; old-time appalachian; 78rpm
Downloads: 10,413
Average rating:  (2 reviews) |
| Kelly Harrell - Rovin' Gambler - Kelly Harrell
An old traditional song described on the record label as a "Mountaineer's Song with violin and guitar". Kelly Harrell made his living in the Virginia textile mills but sang on the side and recorded several sessions in the later 1920s. "Rovin' Gambler" was recorded on January 7, 1925. From the original 78rpm disk.
Keywords: oldtime; folk; country; appalachian; old-time appalachian; 78rpm
Downloads: 8,253
Average rating: (0 review) |
| Nine Hundred Miles from Home - Tom Joad
A traditional US old time frailing banjo tune and song. Recorded in 1999.
Keywords: Old-Time Appalachian; Folk; Frailing banjo; clawhammer
Downloads: 1,350
Average rating: (0 review) |
| Moonshine Kate-My Man's A Jolly Railroad Man - Moonshine Kate
Recorded circa 1930. Rosa Lee Carson was the daughter of country music pioneer Fiddlin' John Carson. She started touring with her father at the age of fifteen, accompanying Fiddlin' John on guitar and banjo. Rosa Lee soon developed her own musical personality, Moonshine Kate, which, according to Jill McWhorter and Ben S. Austin, "emerged out of the repartee between Carson and Rosa Lee in which he was the moonshine reprobate and she was the sassy, snuff-dipping mountain gal who usually ended up o...
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; 78rpm
Downloads: 3,546
Average rating: (1 review) |
| Shake that Little Foot - Shake that Little Foot string band
An album of mainly traditional US old time songs plus a few Celtic tunes. Recorded in Liverpool, UK, in 1993 by a group of musicians who subsequently adopted the band name: "Shake that Little Foot". First distributed locally as an analogue tape in 1993. Subsequently distributed as mp3 files and also as a CD on the Web in 2000 after getting the original tracks from the recording engineer, Mike Cooper...
Keywords: Celtic; Old-Time Appalachian; Clawhammer Banjo; Frailing banjo
Downloads: 50,735
Average rating: (1 review) |
| The Carter Family-Wildwood Flower - The Carter Family
Recorded on May 10, 1928 in Camden, New Jersey. The Carter Family, with A. P., wife Sara and Sara's cousin Maybelle, are one of the most influential performing acts in American music. This tune sold around one million copies between 1928 and 1929.
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; 78rpm
Downloads: 28,890
Average rating: (5 reviews) |
| Clarence Ashley-The House Carpenter - Clarence Ashley
Recorded on April 14, 1930 in Atlanta, Georgia. This ballad was collected by Child as "The Daemon Lover" (Child No. 243), of which there are several variants. Harry Smith noted that the original version in the British Isles had a "supernatural theme" which didn't make it to North America.
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Ballad; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; Banjo Tune; 78rpm
Downloads: 5,953
Average rating: (1 review) |
| Bascom Lamar Lunsford-I Wish I Was A Mole In The Ground - Bascom Lamar Lunsford
Recorded in April 1928 in Ashland, Kentucky. Another banjo tune with lyrics that could be from any one of a number of tunes, and which have no apparent logical relationship with each other. This particular tune, which became a folkie staple during the Great Folk Scare, is related to tunes known as "Tempie," "Darling Where Have You Been So Long," "Sammie, Where Have You Been So Long," and "I Don't Like No Railroad Man." In "When We Were Good: The Folk Revival" Robert Cantwell says: "Listen to 'I ...
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Ballad; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; Banjo Tune; 78rpm
Downloads: 6,562
Average rating: (6 reviews) |
| Ernest Thompson - Red Wing - Ernest Thompson
Nice guitar and harmonica breaks in Ernest Thompson's 1924 recording of "Red Wing", a turn-of-the-century sentimental popular tune by Kerry Mills. From 78rpm.
Keywords: Music; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; 78rpm; Oldtime; Guitar; Harmonica
Average rating: (0 review) |
| Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers-Shootin' Creek - Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers
Reorded on July 23, 1928. This tune is clearly related, if not the same tune, to the old-timey and bluegrass standard "Cripple Creek." Alan Jabbour has speculated that the "Cripple Creek" title may be related to certain labor disputes in the Cripple Creek area of Colorado during 1903 and 1904. On the other hand, a Cripple Creek flows through Grayson and Carroll Counties in Southwest Virginia. As for the title "Shootin' Creek," there exists a Shooting Creek region in Franklin County also in South...
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; Fiddle Tune; 78rpm
Average rating: (4 reviews) |
| Samantha Bumgarner-The Worried Blues - Samantha Bumgarner
Recorded on April 23, 1924 in New York City. This tune is from her first recording session, which made her the first recorded female country performer. "The Worried Blues" is a variant of "Going Down The Road Feeling Bad."
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Blues; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; Banjo Tune; 78rpm
Average rating: (0 review) |
| Blue Ridge Highballers - Flop-Eared Mule - Blue Ridge Highballers
Traditional "Mountain Dance Music" tune, recorded March 23, 1926 by the Blue Ridge Highballers ("led by Charley La Prade, fiddler"). From 78rpm disk.
Keywords: Music; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; Fiddle Tune; 78rpm; Oldtime
Downloads: 7,288
Average rating: (4 reviews) |
| Clarence Ashley-My Sweet Farm Girl - Clarence Ashley
Recorded on December 1, 1931 in New York City. Ashley plays guitar and sings, with Gwen Foster on guitar and harmonica. The sexual connotations are rather obvious.
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Blues; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; Acoustic Country Blues; 78rpm
Downloads: 10,982
Average rating: (4 reviews) |
| Bascom Lamar Lunsford-Dry Bones - Bascom Lamar Lunsford
Recorded in February 1928 in Ashland, Kentucky. A rare example of the banjo used in a religious tune. This tune contains references to Enoch (Gen 5:21-24), Paul (Acts 16:25-26), Moses (Exo 3:2) and a strange account out of Ezekiel about walking bones (Ezek 37:1-10), not to mention Eve and "Satan a-tempting me."
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Ballad; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; Christian; Banjo Tune; 78rpm
Downloads: 6,638
Average rating: (3 reviews) |
| Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers-White House Blues - Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers
Recorded on September 20, 1926 in New York City. Poole sings and plays the banjo with Posey Rorer on fiddle and Ron Harvey on guitar on this tune about the McKinley assasination. Poole and his Ramblers were one of the most popular old-time string bands during the late twenties. Poole has proven to be enormously influential with his 3-finger banjo playing, which developed later into the famous Earl Scruggs bluegrass-style...
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Ballad; Blues; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; 78rpm
Downloads: 7,098
Average rating: (6 reviews) |
| The Skillet Lickers-Soldier's Joy - The Skillet Lickers
Recorded on October 29, 1929 in Atlanta. The Skillet Lickers on this rendition of "Soldier's Joy" feature what is considered to be the classic line-up of this crazy string band: Gid Tanner on fiddle, Riley Puckett on vocals and guitar, Clayton McMichen on fiddle and Fate Norris on banjo. "Soldier's Joy" is probably the best known fiddle tune of all, with versions being found in Scandinavia and France...
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; Fiddle Tune; 78rpm
Downloads: 7,066
Average rating: (0 review) |
| Blue Ridge Highballers - Fourteen Days In Georgia - Blue Ridge Highballers
Traditional "Mountain Dance Music" tune, recorded March 23, 1926 by the Blue Ridge Highballers ("led by Charley La Prade, fiddler"). From 78rpm disk.
Keywords: Music; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; Fiddle Tune; 78rpm; Oldtime
Downloads: 6,897
Average rating:  (2 reviews) |
| Prince Albert Hunt's Texas Ramblers-Blues In The Bottle - Prince Albert Hunt's Texas Ramblers
Recorded on March 28, 1928 in San Antonio, Texas. This recording is considered one of the first of what would be later categorized as "Western" or "Texas" Swing, popularized later by Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys. The style is a unique amalgam of blues, ragtime, jazz and old time fiddle music. Michelle Shocked claims that Prince Albert Hunt chose to live "on the wrong side of the tracks." He was shot to death outside of a Dallas bar in March of 1931.
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Country; Instrumental; Old-Time Appalachian; Fiddle Tune; 78rpm
Downloads: 5,232
Average rating: (1 review) |
| The Skillet Lickers-Pass Around The Bottle And We'll All Take A Drink - The Skillet Lickers
Recorded on April 17, 1926 in Atlanta, Georgia. The Skillet Lickers recorded extensively throughout the late 20s. They were known for their off-the-wall arrangements of old-time fiddle tunes. This was recorded at their first recording session and included Gid Tanner and Clayton McMichen on fiddles, Fate Norris on banjo, Riley Puckett on guitar and lead vocals, as well as a cast of unidentified performers.
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; Fiddle Tune; 78rpm
Downloads: 5,653
Average rating: (3 reviews) |
| Buell Kazee-The Butcher's Boy (The Railroad Boy) - Buell Kazee
Recorded on January 16, 1928 in New York City. This is another mountain ballad that appears to be the product of British ballads that were combined after they reached America. A variation on the "murdered girlfriend" theme in that here the girlfriend takes her own life. Kazee was a baptist minister who sang with a "recital" voice, rather than the raw singing style that is more prevalent in recordings of this type.
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Ballad; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; Banjo Tune; 78rpm
Downloads: 7,403
Average rating: (2 reviews) |
| Fiddlin' John Carson-Little Old Cabin In The Lane - Fiddlin' John Carson
Recorded on June 13 or 14, 1923 in Atlanta. Polk Brockman ran a furniture store in Atlanta and in order to market phonographs had devloped a flourishing business selling "race" 78rpm recordings. In 1923, Ralph Peer arrived in Atlanta looking for black talent to record. Brockman imposed on him to record local fiddle champion Fiddlin' John Carson. Peer recorded Carson, but was unimpressed and issued this recording without even a label to the Atlanta market only...
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; Fiddle Tune; 78rpm
Downloads: 2,767
Average rating: (1 review) |
| Clarence Ashley-Coo Coo Bird - Clarence Ashley
Recorded on October 23, 1929 in Johnson City, Tennessee. Greil Marcus describes this tunes as a "folk-lyric" tune "made up of verbal fragments that had no direct or logical relationship to each other." Ashley's banjo is tuned to G-modal, also referred to as Sawmill tuning. Some folklorists note that the cuckoo is an ancient symbol for the coming of summer.
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Country; Old-Time Appalachian; Banjo Tune; 78rpm
Downloads: 7,692
Average rating: (2 reviews) |
| Dock Boggs-Country Blues - Dock Boggs
Recorded in 1927 in New York City. Jon Pankake wrote "[t]he haunted dissonance of Boggs' banjo playing and the harsh, overpowering emotion of his singing together with the bleakness of the vision expressed in his songs caused me to rethink my notion of 'folk music,' which hitherto I had associated with Pete Seeger's optimism and cheerful, bouncing banjo." This tune belongs to the same family of so-called blues ballads as "Hustling Gamblers" and "Darling Cory."
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Ballad; Blues; Old-Time Appalachian; Acoustic Country Blues; Banjo Tune; 78rpm
Downloads: 11,526
Average rating: (1 review) |
| DaCosta Woltz' Southern Broadcasters-Are You Washed In The Blood Of The Lamb? - DaCosta Woltz' Southern Broadcasters
Recorded in 1927. This string band included Ben Jarrell on fiddle (father of '60s fiddle prodigy Tommy Jarrell), Frank Jenkins on banjo (father of '60s banjoist Oscar Jenkins) and DaCosta Woltz, also on banjo. Woltz was a one-time mayor of Galax, Virginia, a long-time hot bed of old-timey banjo-fiddle string bands and site of the famous Fiddlers' Convention.
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Country; Gospel; Old-Time Appalachian; Fiddle Tune; 78rpm
Downloads: 3,684
Average rating: (0 review) |
| Dock Boggs-Danville Girl - Dock Boggs
Recorded in 1927 in New York City. This tune is part of a group of tunes that includes "Wild And Reckless Hobo." There is something obsessive about this tune: a married man lusts after a girl he sees on the train platform.
Keywords: Music; Acoustic; Blues; Old-Time Appalachian; Acoustic Country Blues; Banjo Tune; 78rpm
Downloads: 5,300
Average rating: (1 review) |
| Don Richardson - Arkansas Traveler - Don Richardson
A very early recording of the traditional country fiddle tune "Arkansas Traveler", played by Don Richardson, dating from April of 1916. There is a barely audible piano accompaniment. This is from the original 78rpm disk, which is not in great shape, and there is considerable noise. But this recording does not seem to be widely available even as a reissue, so I thought it worthwhile to post it despite the condition.
Keywords: Music; Folk; Old-Time Appalachian; Fiddle Tune; 78rpm; Oldtime
Downloads: 6,657
Average rating: (9 reviews) |
| Don Richardson - Durangs Hornpipe with Little Brown Jug - Don Richardson
"Durang's Hornpipe - introducing Little Brown Jug", is played by fiddler Don Richardson in this 1916 recording. This is arguably the first country music recording session. From 78rpm
Keywords: Music; Folk; Old-Time Appalachian; Fiddle Tune; Fiddle; 78rpm; oldtime
Downloads: 5,444
Average rating: (2 reviews) |
| Don Richardson - Mississippi Sawyer - Don Richardson
Fiddler Don Richardson plays traditional tune "Mississippi Sawyer" in what may be the first country music recording session in April of 1916. The tune dates from the 1830s, as far as I can determine. From the original 78rpm disk.
Keywords: Music; Folk; Old-Time Appalachian; Fiddle Tune; Fiddle; 78rpm; Oldtime
Downloads: 1,624
Average rating: (0 review) |
