Appalachian Music
of Southwestern Pennsylvania
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
ARTIST	ALBUMS	COMMENTS
Allen Street String Band	Thumping On A Well Rope In Good Company Illinois Shortcuts	Great tunes and vocals from Southern Illinois. All of my favorites seem to be written by banjoist Dave Landreth.
Dewey Balfa	Dewey Balfa and Friends	Traditional Cajun at it's best. Must hear.
Dave Bass		Fiddling powerhouse of the Freightoppers.
Bing Brothers	Just For The Sake Of It	Contemporary West Virginia stringband.
Hart & Blech	A Devil of a Row	Resource of wonderful old fiddle tunes.
Allan Block	Alive and Well	Great old time fiddler, father to Rory.
Volo Bogtrotters		Chicago old time.
Boiled Buzzards	Early Bird Special Fine Dining	Old Time music with an attitude! (Mark Tamsula fiddler on Early Bird Special.)
Hank Bradley	Hassle The Caller	Seattle fiddler, has been writing cool tunes in the old time style since the 60's.
Balfa Brothers	The Balfa Brothers play traditional Cajun Music Vol. I & II	Cajun fiddle at it's best.
James Bryan	Two Pictures	Wonderful style. One of my favorite fiddlers.
Bubba George Stringband	Live at the Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music & Dance	Hot old time sound from contemporary stringband.
Bob Carlin	Banging & Sawing	A great album, with various fiddlers, and Bob.
Carter Bros. & Son	Mississippi String Bands	Classic old time sound from early stringband.
Harry Choates	Fiddle King of Cajun Swing	Fun, Cajun style.
Dillof, Rice and The Cuyahogians	On the Job Too Long	Dave Rice (Boiled Buzzards), fine old time fiddling, mean harmonica playing, Bill Dillof, great banjo.
Clyde Davenport		Kentucky banjo tunes.
Double Decker Stringband
Wilson Douglas
Fiddle Fever
J.P. Fraley	Wild Rose Of The Mountain Maysville	Kentucky fiddler, lots of good tunes, many waltzes.
Fuzzy Mountain String Band	The Fuzzy Mountain String Band	One of the recordings that influenced many young musicians during the old time revival of the 1970s.
Jerry Milnes, Dave Bing, Ron Mullennex	Gandydancer	Good old tunes played by good old boys.
Jerry Garcia & David Grisman	Shady Grove	Posthumous release of Garcia / Grissman sessions. Lots of interest in old time, blues and old ballads.
Marvin Gaster	Uncle Henry's Favorites	Contemporary banjo player and singer.
Rayna Gellert	Ways of the World	Hot old time sound from contemporary stringband.
Grayson & Whitier	The Recordings of Grayson and Whitier Recorded 1928-1930	Classic old time sound from early stringband.
Bruce Greene	Vintage Fiddle Tunes Five Miles of Ellum Wood	Bruce derives the essence of the traditional Kentucky fiddle tunes, and makes them his own.
Ed Haley	Forked Deer Disc	Blind Kentucky fiddler, has influenced many generations of fiddlers.
Edden Hammons	The Edden Hammons Collection	West Virginia fiddler from the 1960s, sound gives insight into the style of an earlier time.
Hammons Family	The Traditions of a West Virginia Family and Their Friends	Stories and tunes from surviving members of a West Virginia mountain family, living not too differently from early pioneers.
Gary Harrison	Red Prairie Dawn	Contemporary fiddler, has been a fountain of great tunes for many years.
Highwoods String Band	Feed Your Babies Onions	One of the recordings that influenced many young musicians during the old time revival of the 1970s.
Roscoe Holcomb	The High Lonesome Sound	Kentucky banjo player and songster.
The Humdingers
Freight Hoppers
Judy Hyman
Improbabillies	The Improbabillies	Hot old time sound from contemporary stringband. Richie Stearns - banjo.
Indian Creek Delta Boys
Kenny Jackson
Tommy Jarrell	Come and Go With Me Rainbow Sign Pickin' On Tommy's Porch Sail Away Ladies Tommy & Fred	A N. Carolina fiddler and banjo player, Tommy learned in the traditional fashion, from an older family member.  He had a great influence on a younger generation during the late 70's, early 80's, as thousands made their way to visit his home over the years to hear him play.
Ward Jarvis	Mice Won't Stay Where There's Music	Crusty old tunes from Ohio.
Craig Johnson		West Virginia fiddler, with superb background information of old time.
Rhys Jones	All I've Got's Done Gone	Hot old time sound from contemporary stringband.
Jehile Kirkhuff	Autumn Breeze	Fiddler from Montrose PA. Jehile's versions of many wonderful, historic old time tunes made him a member of the collection of The American Folk Life Center of the Library of Congress. The Jehile Kirkhuff Old Time Music Fund, under the direction of Ed Berbaum recorded around 500 of his fiddle tunes available on cassette and CD. For information: contact edwardberbaum@mac.com or call (570) 278-2405 or 1-800 646-8349 Or write to RR 4 Box 39 Montrose, PA 18801
Jake Krack	Home At Last	Still a young man and he has released at least 5 albums (one every year since he was 12). Great stuff!
Lackawanna Longnecks	Muddy Roads Old Time Jam	Local Pittsburgh band, with Mark Tamsula, fiddle.
Bascom Lamar Lunsford	Smoky Mt. Ballads	LP. Collection of old ballads with banjo.
Brad Leftwich	Say, Old Man Been There Still	Exceptionally good fiddling.
James Leva	The Renegades I Need To Find	You can't sit still listening to James.
Library of Congress Archive of Folk Culture	American Fiddle Tunes	compilation
Uncle Dave Macon	Go Long Mule	"Direct from the Grand Old Opry" banjoist and songster Dave Macon was one of the finest entertainers of the old time style
Dennis McGee	The Complete Early Recordings of Dennis McGee	Eerie insight into the sound of Cajun music before the accordion (pre 1840). Great stuff!
Clayton McMichen	see Skillet Lickers	Stellar fiddler of The Skillet Lickers
Bruce Molsky	Lost Boy Bruce Molsky & Big Hoedown Poor Mans Troubles	Powerful fiddle style, (reverse engineered from Roswell technology???)
Tara Nevins
New Lost City Ramblers	The Early Years 1958 - 1962 Volume II 1963-1973	Revivers of the old songs at a time when the music industry all but plowed them under.
North Fork Rounders		Ohio old time / Americana.
Old & In The Way	Old & In The Way	Really cool Bluegrass project, with superstar combo: Vassar Clemens - fiddle, Jerry Garcia - banjo, David Grissman - mandolin, Peter Rowan - guitar.
Plank Road	Plank Road This Is It	LP. Hot old time sound from contemporary stringband. Brad Leftwich - fiddle
Dirk Powell	If I Go Ten Thousand Miles Songs From The Mountain	The universal super soldier musician, Dirk does all.
Red Mules
Red Clay Ramblers
Red Hots		Great tunes, but can't understand a word!
Alan Jabbour, James Reed, Bertram Levy	A Henry Reed Reunion	New release! Old guys playing hot tunes!
Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys	Trace of Time	Great sounding music. It takes extraordinary ability to make the accordion sound cool.
Eck Robertson	Old-Time Texas Fiddler: Vintage Recordings 1922-1929	First old time fiddler to record. Check out his "Sally Ann"
Roustabout	Better Than It Sounds	The title says it all.
John Morgan Sayler		Treasure trove of Kentucky fiddling.
Harvey Sampson	Flat Foot In The Ashes
Ann Savoy	Prends Courage	Beautiful Cajun harmonies.
Tracy Schwarz	The Tracy Schwarz Cajun Trio	A member of the New Lost City Ramblers, Tracy came to love Cajun music after getting to know Dewey Balfa.
Skillet-Lickers	Vol. 1 - IV 1926-1930	You've got to hear it to believe it. Relive prohibition with these old time comedians.
Lynn "Chirps" Smith	Midwestern Harvest	Traditional fiddling of the Midwest featuring Chirps Smith (Volo Bogtrotters) and friends.
Art Stamper	Goodbye Girls, I'm Going to Boston	Old fiddler, finding recent, well deserved popularity. Good old mountain style.
Stewed Mulligan	Repeat-offenders	A bunch of mushrooms (really FUN-GUYS), these West Virginians are a blast. If you are dissatisfied with this recording, just return the unused portion of the CD, and they will return the unused portion of your money.
Lowe Stokes	see Skillet Lickers	Skillet Lickers fiddler.
Pete Sutherland		New England fiddler, with great style.
Kirk Sutphin
Gid Tanner	see Skillet Lickers	Comic / fiddler for the Skillet Lickers
Benny Thomasson	Country Fiddling From The Big State	LP. Nice fiddling. Lots of Texas swing style, but some good old time too.
Joe Thrift		Fiddler, driving force behind the Red Hots.
Jay Ungar		Mighty fine interpreter and composer of old time.
Doc Watson	The Essential Doc Watson The Vanguard Years (4 cd set) Doc & Dawg	Blind guitar player, known for his smooth vocal style, and hot flatpicking versions of fiddle tunes, is a great banjo player as well.
Christian Wig		Ohio fiddler and all around good guy.
Melvin Wine	Hannah At The Springhouse	West Virginia fiddler, now in his 90's. Sounds better every time I hear him.
Nonc Allie Young	Two Steppin' With Nonc Allie	My first Cajun album is still my favorite. Gina Forsyth's fiddling is like a dream.
Various Artists	Black Banjo Songsters of North Carolina and Virginia	compilation
Various Artists	Close to Home (Old Time Music From Mike Seeger's Collection)	compilation of traditional Appalachian folk songs
Various Artists	Mountain Music of Kentucky	compilation
Various Artists	O Brother, Where Art Thou?	Soundtrack of a great film.
Various Artists	Old-Time Music On The Air  Vol. 1 & 2	A Rounder compilation of contemporary artists