Old-time Conversations

Click on pic for PREVIEW video listing

UPDATE!
Old-time Conversations - Volume 8

Tradition Meets Innovation -
Old Roots and New Shoots!

Volume 8 to be available 4/19.

Banjo Builder Bob Anderson

Although this reads Volume 8, it’s really the 12th in a series of over 160 interviews! This adventure started back in 2011 as a lark to celebrate my 60th birthday… filming the stories of today’s roster of open-back Banjo Builders. Eight years later, its now become an opus on the Traditional Music Community.  What a dynamic time!

This volume includes the stories of fiddle and bow makers, Banjo Builders and incredible performers, both new and accomplished.  The good news is, this is just a sample of the beauty and humanity found in the Traditional Music Community.  It’s a great time to be playing music!

The first four-volume series, Conversations with North American Banjo Builders was donated to Smithsonian Folkways in 2014. Since then, the scope of the project has expanded to include the personal stories of performers and teachers of the music, the thoughts and findings of historians/folklorists/ethnomusicologists, retailers, festival goers/players and many more including a volume dedicated to Black performers and historians.  Combined with the Banjo Builder series, these additional eight volumes (four Old-time Performers and four Old-time Conversations) have captured for posterity a portion of the excitement, artistry, diversity and joy found in our Traditional Music Community.

Traditional Music Performer Amythyst Kiah

Contemporary violin by Nathaniel Rowan

Banjo Builder and Performer Clifton Hicks

Click on an individual's picture to see their PREVIEW video clip.

Volume 8 includes the stories of Jean Horner, Nathaniel Rowen, Dr. Bob Childs, Roger Treat, Ryan Navey, Bob Anderson, Clifton Hicks, Mike Chew, Amythyst Kiah, Dakota Dave Hull and John McCutcheon.

Click on pic above for a complete listing of Volume 8 PREVIEW videos.

Volume 8 to be available 4/19. To place an order, use the "Buy Now" button below. $30 + $6 shipping (domestic).

Internationally shipping rates apply. Currently shipping to these counties ONLY. Ireland, Sweden, Canada, Greece, Iceland, Finland, Switzerland, Denmark, Russia, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Norway, Hong Kong, Germany, Israel, France, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Japan, Mexico

Old-time Conversations - Volume 7: Black Traditional Music Performers

Summer '18: I'm now filming Volume 7 of my ongoing “Conversations” interview series. Some of you may be wondering why, after approximately 125 interviews, I've decided to dedicate an entire Volume to the stories of Black Traditional Music Performers? Haven’t they been included all along? Yes, some have. Back in 2012, I recorded Taj Mahal as a Banjo Historian in Volume 3 of the Banjo Builder series. And in 2015, I filmed Earl White at my first Clifftop. And somewhere in between I started reaching out to Dom Flemons and Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops to set up a time to capture their narratives. But that was a busy time for them and, well, it didn’t happen. The fact is, Black performers of Traditional string band music are alive and well and, well, out there! So rather than just continue to “catch as catch can”, I decided to simply dedicate a Volume to their stories. What a beautiful music community we share! Enjoy both the music and the history, folks.

Click on an individual's picture to see their PREVIEW clip.

Dom Flemons

Don Vappie

Jake Blount

Leyla McCalla

Rhonda Rucker

Sparky Rucker

Kaia Kater

Earl White

Tim Brooks - Author, Television and Recording Historian

Tim Brooks discusses his 2007 Grammy award winning book (and CD set). Lost Sounds documents the first black recording artists from 1890-1919.

In an EXTRA, Tim presents an academic discussion of his latest book on Minstrelsy.

Dr. Steven Lewis - Ethnomusicologist

From the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, Dr. Steven Lewis brings his knowledge, curation and musical skills (he's a jazz saxophone player) to the construction of the National Museum of African American Music in Nashville. In this conversation he discusses (in-depth) amazing stories of survival and growth in the development of "one of the most influential and distinctive bodies of art that has ever been produced by any people."

Click on an individual's picture to see their PREVIEW clip.

Volume 7 includes the stories of Dom Flemons, Don Vappie, Jake Blount, Leyla McCalla, Rhonda Rucker, Sparky Rucker, Kaia Kater and Earl White. Television and recording historian Tim Brooks and Dr. Steven Lewis, the curator of the new National Museum of African American Music in Nashville make guest appearances.

Click on pic above for a complete listing of Volume 7 PREVIEW videos.

Volume 7 is now available. To place an order, use the "Buy Now" button below. $30 + $6 shipping (domestic).

Old-time Conversations - Volume 6

Etching by Marie Stier

This Volume contains 12 exciting, inspiring life stories
from the heart of our Traditional Music Community:
- 2 guitar builders
- 3 banjo builders
- 1 Traditional Music performer and publisher
- 1 Traditional Music performer and Dance historian
- And 5 Music Historian/authors covering Country,
Folk, Bluegrass, Franco-American
(French Canadian) traditions
along with the Archivist from
Smithsonian Folkways

What an amazing Music Community
we live in! Enjoy!

Click on an individual's picture to see their PREVIEW video clip.

Volume 6 includes the stories of Phil Jamison, Tony Klassen, Dale Fairbanks, Wayne Erbsen, Donna Hebert, Dr. Bill Malone, Dr. Ronald Cohen, Dr. Neil Rosenberg, Jeff Place, Barry Sholder, Zachary Hoyt and Carl Arcand.

Click on pic above for a complete listing of Volume 6 PREVIEW videos.

Volume 6 is now available. To place an order, use the "Buy Now" button below. $30 + $6 shipping (domestic).

"Music does bring people together. It allows us to experience the same emotions. People everywhere are the same in heart and spirit. No matter what language we speak, what color we are, the form our politics or the expression of our love and our faith, music proves: We are the same." - John Denver