Field Recorders' Collective
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-- Ray Alden
Other FRC Products Ordering Information
2005 CD Releases
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FRC103 | |
Clyde Davenport - Vol 1 - (From the collection of Ray Alden) Clyde Davenport, both a great musician and repository of old tunes from south-central Kentucky, was born near the Tennessee border in 1921 to a farmer and fiddler, William, and Lucy Davenport. In 1943, Clyde returned from WWII combat in Italy to work at an auto factory and to fiddle daily on a Muncie, Indiana radio station. While tracks 2-16 with Hobart Dixon on guitar give an idea of the sound one might have heard listening to Clyde on radio, the other tracks only begin Clyde’s vast repertoire (Vol. 2, FRC 104). |
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FRC104 | Clyde Davenport - Vol 2 - (From the collection of Ray Alden) Volume 2 continues in the effort to give some measure to Clyde Davenport’s huge repertoire with a well deserved direct to digital recording made upon return from a 2 month cross country recording trip in 1994. Although Dave Spilkia and I had visited Monticello in 1974, we only met Clyde’s music partner W.T. Gregory (2 LPs on Davis Unlimited). Numerous subsequent trips in the 1980s to Clyde and his wife Lorene (cover photo) let me begin to understand the wealth of material Clyde possessed and the playful nature of his friendship. Currently at age 84, Clyde continues to play and delight us all. -- Ray Alden |
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FRC203 | Ola Belle Reed - (From the collection of the Brandwine Friends of Old Time Music) Ola Belle Reed (1915-2002) was born into the musical Campbell family in Grassy Creek, Ash County, in the New River Valley of western North Carolina. She performed with the North Carolina Ridge Runners as a teenager. As did many transplanted mountain folk during the Great Depression, Ola Belle’s family moved north to Rising Sun, Maryland. Beginning in 1949, Ola Belle and her brother, Alex Campbell, played with their Bluegrass band, the New River Boys & Girls, at New River Ranch in Rising Sun, which Alex, Ola Belle and her husband Bud Reed operated, and for 26 years beginning in 1960, at Sunset Park, in West Grove, PA. Ola Belle has become more widely known as an author of many wonderful songs about mountain life, social justice and traditional values, some of which she performs here along with other songs she learned growing up in the mountains, accompanying herself on old-time banjo or guitar, assisted by her son David and her "old man" Bud. Although Ola Belle’s extraordinary music lives on, and her homespun philosophy comes through in both her music and stage repartee, she is sorely missed. -- Shel Sandler for the Brandywine Friends |
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FRC204 | Ernie Carpenter (From the collection of the Brandwine Friends of Old Time Music) West Virginia fiddler Ernie Carpenter (1909-1997) was born in Braxton County, near the Elk River and was descended from four generations of fiddle players and river men. His great grandfather Solomon Carpenter was, according to family tradition, born under the shelving rock of the fiddle tune name while the family was hiding from raiding Indians. Ernie’s repertoire is drawn from his family, especially his father, Shelt Carpenter, and talented neighbors like Uncle Jack McElwain, Wallace Pritchard and George Hammons. These recordings come from the Brandywine Mountain Music Convention of 1987, when Ernie was brought and backed up by Gerry Milnes and Michael Kline on banjo and guitar. -- The Brandywine Friends and Gerry Milnes |
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FRC303 | Buddy Thomas (From the collections of Dave Spilkia & Ray Alden) Buddy Thomas, the great northeastern Kentucky fiddler who died a young man of 39, grew up "so poor that even the poor folks said we were poor." Dave Spilkia and I came across Buddy in Grayson, KY and found him to be an unassuming and kind human being with an enormous musical talent. He learned from sources such as his mother’s whistling, relatives and friends such as Perry Riley, Jimmy Wheeler (FRC401), Morris Allen and a bunch of 78 rpm records gotten in trade. These recordings were made upon our first meeting and a subsequent trip Dave made to Kentucky. On a third trip in 1974, we arrived to hear the sad news Buddy had just past away. -- Ray Alden |
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FRC304 | The Lost Recordings of Banjo Bill Cornett (Produced, edited and annotated by John Cohen) Bill Cornett (1890-1960) was an extraordinary singer and banjo player from Hindman, Kentucky. He was a powerful singer of old time songs, traditional ballads and his own compositions. His driving east Kentucky banjo style included frailing, up-picking and thumb lead coupled with an arsenal of tunings. Until now, he was known by his 1959 performances on John Cohen’s classic recording "Mountain Music of Kentucky" (Smithsonian Folkways). These newly revealed recordings came to light in 2002, forty four years after he made them. Cornett had been a member of the Kentucky State Legislature representing Knott and Magoffin counties. He had campaigned with his banjo, and sang on the floor of the Legislature advocating for the aged, and died while entertaining at a restaurant in Frankfort. We are grateful to his son Brode Cornett for making these recordings available after all these years. Every five string banjo player will be surprised to hear his unique approach, for it offers a new dimension and a fresh musical outlook. -- John Cohen |
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FRC403 | Lonnie Seymour - (From the collection of Jeff Goehring) |
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FRC404 | Cecil Plum - (From the collection of Jeff Goehring) These recordings feature Cecil Plum on fiddle and Jeff Goehring on guitar, and were made in 1983 at Cecil’s home in Massillon, Ohio. Cecil was born in 1913 in Tunnellton, West Virginia where he learned to play music from his parents, his uncle, and numerous musicians in his community. Beginning in the late 1930s, Cecil played fiddle and dobro with guitar player Ted Ball in a duet called the Arthur Brothers on a number of radio stations in West Virginia and Maryland. The Arthur Brothers eventually became the backup band for Salt and Peanuts, a husband-and-wife team who performed at the Grand Ole Opry. After moving to Ohio in 1954, Cecil played little music until the 1970s when he attended a fiddle contest and was inspired to take up the fiddle again. Cecil composed a number of the beautiful pieces he plays, including Trumpy’s Hoedown and the Laurel Mountain Breakdown. |
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FRC503 | Santford Kelly (From the collection of Peter Hoover ) These recordings, made by Peter Hoover in the early sixties near West Liberty, Kentucky, showcase the exemplary fiddling of Santford Kelly. Then in his sixties, he still retained much of the expertise and showmanship he had earlier employed on the radio as Fiddlin' Sam Kelly. Clarence Kelly, Santford’s son, years after being given a guitar through a trade his father made involving 6 ducks, later became an influential bluegrass musician. Ricky Skaggs, who grew up in this area of Kentucky, also learned from and was influenced by Santford Kelly. -- Peter Hoover |
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FRC504 | Sidna & Fulton Meyers -
(From the collection of Peter Hoover ) These recordings, made by Peter Hoover in the early sixties, showcase the playing of brothers Fulton (fiddle) and Sidna (banjo) Myers of Five Forks, Virginia, a tiny hamlet located between Hillsville and Galax. Their playing is reminiscent of that of Tommy Jarrell and Fred Cockerham of nearby Mt. Airy, North Carolina, but includes several tunes unique to them, notably Twin Sisters. The recordings were made at local general store, the Myers house lacking electricity, which accounts for some of the background noise. -- Peter Hoover |
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