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Across the Blue Ridge #135 - Old-time Fiddle & Banjo, Bluegrass Songs, and Guitar Classics

by Paul Brown

Samantha Bumgarner (above) and her musical partner Eva Davis were the first women to record commercially in the country music industry. They traveled from western North Carolina to New York City to do it. We hear a song from their very first disc, Cindy in the Meadows, from 1924 on this ATBR episode, plus old-time fiddle and banjo tunes, and a fascinating selection of southern mountain guitar pieces. Library of Congress, Public Domain

Unvarnished old-time mountain fiddle and banjo tunes figure in this week's episode, from Surry County, North Carolina and the surrounding area, long a locus of banjo-fiddle duets and focused, energetic string band playing. That's just the beginning, as we also hear some fabulous classic bluegrass songs, with women in the lead. Part 3 of the show features the guitar in southern mountain music, as a blues, parlor and band instrument, solo and with song. It's a great and varied summer listening session this week!

Playlist

  1. I Could Do You Some Good
    Balsam Range
    Papertown
    Mountain Home Music
     
  2. Cider Mill
    Back-Step
    Rise And Bloom Again
    Back-Step
     
  3. Lost Indian
    Kyle Creed
    Liberty
    Heritage
     
  4. Cluck Old Hen
    Tommy Jarrell & Fred Cockerham
    Best Fiddle & Banjo Duets
    County
     
  5. Soldier's Joy
    Fred Cockerham & Kyle Creed
    Camp Creek Boys - Old Time String Band
    County
     
  6. Lonesome Road Blues
    Camp Creek Boys
    Camp Creek Boys - Old Time String Band
    County
     
  7. Duck's Eyeball
    Rafe Brady
    Cherokee Rose
    Heritage
     
  8. Break 1 - Buck Dance
    Elizabeth Cotten
    Shake Sugaree
    Smithsonian Folkways
     
  9. Rain On The Roof
    Dale Ann Bradley
    Old Southern Porches
    Pinecastle
     
  10. She Loved Sunflowers
    Becky Buller
    Crepe Paper Heart
    Dark Shadow
     
  11. My Native Home
    Kathy Kallick
    My Mother's Voice
    Copper Creek
     
  12. Maple On The Hill
    Erynn Marshall & Carl Jones
    Sweet Memories Never Leave
    Dittyville
     
  13. When It's Time For The Whippoorwill To Sing
    Julia & Wade Mainer
    In The Land Of Melody
    June Appal
     
  14. Cindy In The Meadows
    Eva Davis & Samantha Bumgarner
    Country: The American Tradition
    Explicit
     
  15. Roving Cowboy
    Texas Gladden
    The Alan Lomax Collection: Portraits
    Rounder
     
  16. Break 2 - Benfield Hoedown
    Neriah Benfield
    Masters of Old-Time Country Autoharp
    Smithsonian Folkways
     
  17. Slow Drag
    Turner Foddrell
    A Century Of Heritage Guitar Music
    The Crooked Road
     
  18. Raggin' The Wires
    E. C. Ball
    E.C. Ball With Orna Ball
    Rounder
     
  19. Carolina Breakdown
    Etta Baker
    One Dime Blues
    Rounder
     
  20. Amos Johnson Rag
    McGee Brothers
    Live 1955-67 - Outstanding In Their Field
    Spring Fed
     
  21. Train Done Left Me
    Clarence Ashley
    Greenback Dollar
    County
     
  22. Fox Chase
    Elizabeth Cotten
    Shake Sugaree
    Smithsonian Folkways

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