On this live concert album recorded in 2017 and 2022, Stephen Wade draws from songs, melodies, and styles rooted in Southeastern folk tradition. Based on a lifetime of personal contact with exemplars of this music, his performances attest to a welcome truth: that individuals adapting a traditional tune can renew a shared repertory. These performances feature a variety of five-string banjos—open back, resonator, a wooden-hooped mountain design, a gourd, and a Civil War-era fretless—as well as guitar. In addition to solos, Stephen is joined by multi-instrumentalist Zan McLeod and Dobro-player Russ Hooper. This collection, equally divided among old favorites, new interpretations, and numbers he has never previously recorded, forms a companion to Stephen’s forthcoming book, Our Common Life: Folklore from the Front Porch to the Concert Hall (University of Illinois Press). 72-minutes with illustrated booklet.

A 2013 Grammy nominee, Stephen authored the prize-winning book The Beautiful Music All Around Us: Field Recordings and the American Experience. Prior to that work he edited and annotated A Treasury of Library of Congress Field Recordings, and for a decade wrote and narrated a series of occasional song studies for NPR’s All Things Considered and Morning Edition. On Labor Day 1979 he performed for President Carter at the White House.

A real treasure from 1993, originally released on cassette, now revived for your merrymaking pleasure! The unbridled Washington, D.C. area ensemble Franklin, Harpe & Usilton set the acoustic blues and ragtime ablaze with their fun and exciting Hokum Blues. The Hokum blues are sly, drenched in mischief and sexual innuendo, good-time music with a strong dose of tongue-in-cheek street wit. Listen carefully to the words. It’s music with a story, just a little but funny, sometimes a little sad and even a little scary, but always deep. The fiery trio of Franklin, Harpe and Usilton swings like mad on this reissue packed with Piedmont and ragtime classics – old time acoustic blues of the 1930s. The revivalists trio made the classic old blues cool again – rough-hewn, edgy and raucous, focused on the exuberance of the song. Don’t let the clever songs distract you from the superb instrumentation. Both Rick Franklin and Neil Harpe are excellent alternating bass fingerpicking guitarists with the prowess to honor the best players of the golden era, covered here with virtuosic perfection. All that while keeping it loose and joyful.

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Mark Schatz-
Mark Schatz was born April 23, 1955 into a musical family. He began his formal musical training with cello at age ten and later switched over to string bass. His first performance was in 1971 on electric bass in a high school rock band. Inspired by a love for folk and traditional music, he took up the guitar, mandolin, and clawhammer banjo. He received his Degree in Music Theory and Composition from Haverford College, and studied for a year at Berklee College of Music.

Bryan McDowell is a person predictable only in his consistent excellence.
Fiddler, vocalist, and master of stringed instruments, his reputation is solidifying as a musician of great interest on the acoustic scene.     more....

I was thrilled to learn that someone had decided to do a tribute project to the late Larry McPeak. I was even more excited to learn that Johnny Williams and Mike McPeak were the ones behind the idea. I knew it would be first class. When I listened to the project, I wasn't disappointed. Larry McPeak was a great songwriter, but more than that, he was also a great person. I consider it an honor to have called Larry my friend. Johnny and Mike have dug deep into Larry's vast catalog of songs and found some real diamonds. These songs, though maybe not as well-known as some of Larry's, are classic Larry McPeak. Well-written stories of life that we can all relate to. And having the McPeak family involved in the project truly gives the project the "McPeak sound".  I tried to pick out a few songs that I thought I could talk about. But in the end, I couldn't. I love them all. The songs are great. The musicians are fantastic, and the entire project is exceptional. So, play start to finish. I know that somewhere Larry is looking down and smiling that smile.......Hey Johnny...Mike, how about a Volume 2? I love sequels.

Tim Frye WPAQ , Mt Airy NC & WBRF, Galax, VA

For fiddler and founder of Five Mile Mountain Road Billy Hurt, Jr., Swingbilly Swagger is about more than just the band’s latest release. The title bears its own bravado representing an admixture of styles that rural musicians— including himself, his bandmates, and their mentors—have long absorbed and transmitted. In Billy’s home of Franklin County, Virginia, a profusion of musical influences thrive and inspire traditional musicians. And his word for this synthesis is swingbilly.

The term refers to Billy’s regional musical history. Older players that Billy met in his youth—figures that included Clark Kessinger, Burke Barbour, Jim Eanes, Clinton Gregory, Willie Gregory, Raymond Neighbors, and Bob Riley, as well the earlier presence on recordings of the Blue Ridge Highballers led by Charley La Prade, and above all, the legendary Charlie Poole—drew from a rich American songbook. They brought their music to the new media of radio broadcasts, phonograph records, and live public performances. more....