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Vinyl Hunter 20: Trio of Old-Time Records Found on Work Trip

Travel interrupted my playing time in May, but at the same time it afforded me a chance to build on my collection of vintage old-time records. While out of town for my job, I located a nearby record store that turned out to be a bit of an old-time music honey hole. I actually had to put back a couple albums because my wallet wouldn't allow them to come home with me. But I was very happy to snag three awesome records that have been on my want list for a number of years.   Wilson Douglas, The Right Hand Fork of Rush's Creek (1975, Rounder Records): The first album I found in the folk/bluegrass section of Electric Fetus in Minneapolis was this excellent collection of fiddle tunes by Clay County, West Virginia, fiddler Wilson Douglas. He is accompanied by Roy Tolliver on banjo and Douglas Meade on guitar. Douglas came from a musical family, which also had ties to the Carpenter and Morris families in the region. This album is jam packed with 24 tracks, including some brilliant ren
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New Festival Alert: Banjos & Bigfoot Festival at Ohio's Salt Fork State Park

There is a new festival coming up that I wanted to put on your radar. I recently learned of the inaugural Banjos & Bigfoot Festival  on Saturday, June 8, at Salt Folk State Park in Lore City, Ohio.  This sasquatch-themed event -- or as we call it, the Ohio Grassman -- will feature music, vendors and food trucks from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Kennedy Stone House and the surrounding area.  I reached out to the event organizer, Salt Fork Naturalist John Hickenbottom with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, and he said this year's event will serve as a "metric to gauge the success of this event in the future."  While Hickenbottom said the Banjos & Bigfoot Festival  will be small, he added that the event will "have a local bluegrass group and a couple musicians who will be gathering around picking, there is a local vendor and there will be food trucks." I specifically asked if they would have festival T-shirts based on that wonderful graphic above, b
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April slowdowns to bring May flourishes?

April seems to have brought a bit of a lull to my banjo and fiddle playing. This blog has also felt a bit stagnant. Is this just the April showers that will bring May flowers?  I hope so.  This month has seen my least amount of hours spent playing music this year. And yet, I'm still on track to reach my stretch goal for the year, thanks to cushion I built up during the last few months . That's the silver lining to this dreary cloud.  And boy, has it been cloudy! While there have been splashes of sunshine in Northeast Ohio in April, it feels like we've gotten drenched with rain. The temperature has varied wildly from highs in the 70s and lows in the 40s. I'm ready for porch picking weather.  That said, I have enjoyed a couple days of playing on the porch, one of which was jamming with my son, who recently started playing guitar. The neighborhood was treated to a duet of clawhammer banjo and electric guitar. (Don't worry, I have the acoustic guitar I'm going to ge
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Staying Ahead of the Curve: Q1 Report

March has been a relatively quiet month. However, I've maintained my pace to achieve this year's playing time goal so far. Aided by a jam in January and a festival in February, I've actually managed to stay ahead of the curve. With a few days left in March, I have amassed a total of 42 hours of playing time (21.5 banjo, 20.5 fiddle). If I keep this up, I'll reach 168 hours, exceeding my stretch goal of 150 hours.  Of course, a lot can change between now and December, but it's encouraging that I've maintained such a steady pace of playing banjo and fiddle these past three months.  As a reminder, I played 41 hours on each instrument for a total of 82 hours last year, so my minimum goal is to reach 42 hours on each instrument (total: 84 hours) in 2024, and I'm already halfway to reaching that goal. However, my primary goal is to surpass my 2022 total by playing 62 hours on each instrument (total: 124 hours). As I already mentioned, I'm currently on pace to
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Ohio fiddle tunes take the spotlight at 2024 Lake Erie Folk Festival

This year's Lake Erie Folk Festival dedicated a whole track of its free daytime program to Ohio-centric folk music. Two workshops, presented by Columbus-based old-time musician Henry Barnes , focused exclusively on fiddle tunes from the Buckeye State.  Seeking out Ohio-based old-time tunes has been a subject near and dear to my heart, as I've attempted to identify a common fiddle tune repertoire , uncover uniquely Ohio tunes and seek out my state's most influential old-time musicians .  Barnes is much more accomplished in all of these areas, so it was exciting to meet and learn from him at the Lake Erie Folk Festival on Saturday, Feb. 2, at the Thwing Center on the Case Western Reserve University campus in Cleveland.  Barnes presented three workshops during the festival:  Learn Ohio Fiddle Tunes Fiddle Bowing Exercises  Performing Ohio Fiddle Tunes (with Susie Goehring) I attended all three. However, I'll focus on the two presentations related to Ohio fiddle tunes. 
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