Link Site

LINKS TO SOURCES OF INFORMATION AND AMUSEMENT
IN THE VAST FIELD OF TRADITIONAL MUSIC.

(Arranged approximately alphabetically)
LET US KNOW IF YOU CATCH SIGHT OF OTHER SITES WE SHOULD CITE.

The Ballad Index: Lots of valuable information about traditonal songs. Includes non-ballad traditional songs as well. Edited by Bob Waltz and David Engle.

Bob Bovee and Gail Heil: Two hard-working old-time musicians who hang out near Spring Grove, Minnesota, when they're not on the road. Bob plays guitar and harmonica, and knows a lot about cowboy tradition; Gail is a fine fiddler and banjoist; and they both sing very well.

The Celestial Monochord: Exploring the intersection between hillbilly music and astrophysics. Kurt Gegenhuber is Editor-In-Chief.

Clarence Ashley: Information and lots of photographs about Ashley, who played and sang with many old-time groups in the 1920s, and who, many years later, introduced the world to Doc Watson. Edited by his great-grandson, Scott Moore.

John Cohen: Co-founder, with Mike Seeger and Tom Paley, of the New Lost City Ramblers, John is not only a performer of traditional music. He's also a well-known photographer, filmmaker and collector of Appalachian and Peruvian music.

The Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project: Over 6,000 Edison cylinder recordings available for downloading or listening. Not limited to Old-Time music. Collection of the Donald C. Davidson Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Folkstreams: An interesting collection of documentary films about traditional people and the people who collect the material.

The Homestead Pickin' Parlor: The place to go if you're in the Minneapolis / St. Paul area and need old-time related musical instruments or lessons, plus recordings of almost any type of traditional music.

Julie's Tacky Treasures: Julie Mangin works at the Library of Congress, and also has a museum of items that would go well with your trailer home. In addition, she plays old-time music, although we don't know if the two obsessions are related.

Library of Congress Sound Recording Catalog: A digitization of the American Folklife Center's card catalog, including about 34,000 recordings made between 1933 and 1950. A valuable research tool, although for most of the recordings, you have to buy them if you want a copy.

John & Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Tour: Approximately 700 downloadable field recordings plus photographs taken during a 3-month collecting trip. From the Archive of Folk Song collection of the Library of Congress.

Minnesota Bluegrass and Old-Time Music Organization (MBOTMA): Dedicated to preservation and presentation of bluegrass and old-time music, they present several festivals per year, as well as concerts.

The Old Time Herald: Excellent magazine with in-depth articles and record reviews covering mainly Appalachian old-time music. Printed on good paper, too.

Old Time Music in Portland: Bill Martin of Portland, Oregon, runs this site, which also includes an irregularly-changing half-hour program of interesting traditional music.

The Online 78 RPM Discography Project: An incredible data base of record and master numbers, recording dates, artists and titles. Not limited to old-time music. Files are organized by record company rather than by artist. Edited by Tyrone Settlemier.

Tracy Schwarz and Ginny Hawker: Tracy, a long-time member of the New Lost City Ramblers, is a terrific vocalist and fiddler. He's also a formidable Cajun accordionist. Ginny, who has one of the finest country voices you'll ever hear, sings Primitive Baptist hymns as well as a wide variety of secular Appalachian material. They live in Cox's Mill, West Virginia.

Secret Museum of the Air: For 2 years, from 2000-2002, Pat Conte presented a fabulous weekly program of world music over New York independent radio station WFMU. The series was discontinued, but the programs are still archived here.

Mike Seeger: Co-founder, with John Cohen and Tom Paley, of the New Lost City Ramblers, Mike lives in Lexington, Virginia. His parents were musicologists who raised a family strongly oriented to traditional music. He's a superb perfomer and singer, playing almost every imaginable folk instrument. He's an energetic collector and redistributor of traditional music.

Smithsonian Folkways Records: Folkways Records was an invaluable source for traditional music of the world as well as the U.S. Fortunately, the Smithsonian Institute inherited the collection when Moe Asch, Folkways founder, died. Many of the most popular Folkways LPs have been re-released as CDs, but you can order anything out of the original catalog and they'll make you a copy. They've also released much new material that wasn't in the original catalog.

Eric and Suzy Thompson: Two superbly talented musicians from Berkeley, California, who can play and sing just about any type of traditional music and make it sound as if they grew up with it.

Pop Wagner: He'll sing cowboy songs for you, tell jokes, play fiddle tunes, recite poetry, and, if you're still not satisfied, dazzle you with rope tricks. He works out of St. Paul, Minnesota. Highly recommended.