The debut self-titled album by Allison De Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves is the most exciting new old-time album I’ve heard in years. The duo represents the modern generation of tradition bearers, but they don’t shy away from making the the music their own.
In keeping with a modern outlook, they also overtly declare their aims to be more inclusive and recognize the contributions from minority populations to the old-time music community.
In the liner notes, they include a mission statement of sorts: “As two musicians who have come from outside of the cultural and geographic communities this music originated in, we are so appreciative of those who have welcomed us and shared their musical and cultural knowledge. We would like to thank all of the musicians who came before us, especially those who never received the credit they deserved: the Indigenous, Black, Queer and female musicians who weren’t always visible but kept, and still keep the music moving forward.”
As such, almost half of the album is attributed to under-recognized groups, with five attributed to women and one attributed to iconic African American duo Nathan Frazier and Frank Patterson. In fact, De Groot and Hargreaves open the album with a lively rendition of Frazier and Patterson’s “Eighth of January,” whose version can be heard on the 1989 Rounder Records compilation Altamont: Black Stringband Music from the Library of Congress.
Of the 13 tracks, all but three are traditional. The songs and tunes attributed to authors include “Dry,” a trance-inducing original fiddle tune from Judy Hyman of the Horse Flies, who never officially recorded it but gave De Groot and Hargreaves permission to include the tune on the album. Coincidentally, Hargreaves had already learned “Dry” from a bootleg recording.
They also include a rousing version of the Alice Gerrard song, “Beaufort County Jail,” about a black woman named Joan Little who became the first woman to be exonerated for self-defense against sexual assault in 1974.
They play around with gender pronouns on “Who Wouldn’t Be Lonely,” written by William Bolick, one half of the brotherly duo Blue Sky Boys.
De Groot's banjo playing is sparkling and driving throughout the album. She also adds lovely harmony vocals on two songs. Hargreaves’ fiddling is both traditional and innovative, providing strong rhythmic accents as the melody floats off her five-string fiddle. She also plays banjo on two tracks, the double-banjo songs “Beaufort” and “Lonely.”
The four songs De Groot and Hargreaves include on the album provide nice variation, breaking up the fiddle-banjo tunes in a pleasing fashion. In addition to the aforementioned Gerrard and Blue Sky Boys songs, they perform “I Don’t Want to Get Married,” attributed to Edna Poplin and the Poplin Family of Sumter, South Carolina, and “Willie Moore,” from Dick Burnett and Leonard Rutherford, which was included on Harry Smith’s 1952 Anthology of American Folk Music. The harmonies on “Married” and “Lonely” are strong. It would be nice to hear more of that in the future.
Perhaps my favorite track on the album is “Farewell Whiskey,” from the playing of John Hatcher, a fiddler from Mississippi. Hargreaves' funky bowing in the C part sounds almost like a calliope, with chiming harmonics. Hatcher's version can be heard on the 1985 compilation Great Big Yam Potatoes.
Allison De Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves was released in March by Free Dirt Records on 150-gram vinyl with a gold foil-stamped cover ($19.99). It’s also available on CD ($14.99) and digital download ($9.99). The liner notes are solid, with sources, tuning and other background information, as well as an occasional amusing anecdote (“Warning: don’t look up ‘cuckoos nest’ on Urban Dictionary.”) I highly recommend it.
In keeping with a modern outlook, they also overtly declare their aims to be more inclusive and recognize the contributions from minority populations to the old-time music community.
As such, almost half of the album is attributed to under-recognized groups, with five attributed to women and one attributed to iconic African American duo Nathan Frazier and Frank Patterson. In fact, De Groot and Hargreaves open the album with a lively rendition of Frazier and Patterson’s “Eighth of January,” whose version can be heard on the 1989 Rounder Records compilation Altamont: Black Stringband Music from the Library of Congress.
They also include a rousing version of the Alice Gerrard song, “Beaufort County Jail,” about a black woman named Joan Little who became the first woman to be exonerated for self-defense against sexual assault in 1974.
They play around with gender pronouns on “Who Wouldn’t Be Lonely,” written by William Bolick, one half of the brotherly duo Blue Sky Boys.
De Groot's banjo playing is sparkling and driving throughout the album. She also adds lovely harmony vocals on two songs. Hargreaves’ fiddling is both traditional and innovative, providing strong rhythmic accents as the melody floats off her five-string fiddle. She also plays banjo on two tracks, the double-banjo songs “Beaufort” and “Lonely.”
Perhaps my favorite track on the album is “Farewell Whiskey,” from the playing of John Hatcher, a fiddler from Mississippi. Hargreaves' funky bowing in the C part sounds almost like a calliope, with chiming harmonics. Hatcher's version can be heard on the 1985 compilation Great Big Yam Potatoes.
Allison De Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves was released in March by Free Dirt Records on 150-gram vinyl with a gold foil-stamped cover ($19.99). It’s also available on CD ($14.99) and digital download ($9.99). The liner notes are solid, with sources, tuning and other background information, as well as an occasional amusing anecdote (“Warning: don’t look up ‘cuckoos nest’ on Urban Dictionary.”) I highly recommend it.
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