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Across the Blue Ridge #153 - Hoot & Holler, Bobby Osborne, Classic Repertoire

by Paul Brown

Hoot & Holler (L-R Amy Alvey & Mark Kilianski) are emblematic of a new generation of young adults from all over the U.S. who have taken up roots and traditional-style music with passion and commitment. They’re touring the country and the world playing traditional songs and tunes while also using their abundant skills and formal training to create strong new songs and tunes. Hear their music from a Muddy Creek Music Hall performance on this Across the Blue Ridge episode. Paul Brown

A new generation of young adults with formal music training, a love of traditional music, and a strong commitment to performing and sharing music is at the forefront of a roots music surge in the U.S. and abroad.  Among this group are Amy Alvey and Mark Kilianski, a duo calling themselves Hoot & Holler. 

Guitarist and composer Kilianski was raised in New Jersey and claims no familiarity with old-time or bluegrass music before attending Berklee College of Music in Massachusetts and encountering students and some faculty who were embracing traditional styles.  The same for fiddler Amy Alvey, raised in California but unaware, at the time, of the state's long bluegrass tradition and its pockets of old-time music enthusiasm.  When she got to Berklee, she found herself losing enthusiasm for the idea of a career in classical music.  She too crossed paths with old-time, bluegrass and Celtic-inspired  musicians on campus and in the wider Boston-Cambridge community.  She changed the musical focus of her life. Today she lives out of her van, booking and performing gigs with Kilianski around the U.S. and around the world. 

We hear Hoot & Holler's music and performance style on this episode of Across the Blue Ridge recorded at Muddy Creek Music Hall in 2018.  And we visit with Amy and Mark. 

The show starts, as it frequently does, with a dive into classic repertoire of respected performers including the Dykes Magic City Trio, the Double Decker String Band, and bluegrass mandolin player and singer Bobby Osborne, who is still recording and performing at age 86.

It's a generation-crossing, geography-defying, style-fusing episode of Across the Blue Ridge, making connections every step of the way.

Playlist

  1. Cricket On The Hearth
    Crooked Road Ramblers
    Always Been A Rambler
    Crooked Road Ramblers
     
  2. Johnny's Gone To War
    Matokie Slaughter
    Clawhammer Banjo Vol. 2
    County
     
  3. Shortening Bread
    Dykes Magic City Trio
    Dykes Magic City Trio
    Old Homestead
     
  4. Far Beyond The Skies
    Dykes Magic City Trio
    Dykes Magic City Trio
    Old Homestead
     
  5. Chased Old Satan
    Double Decker String Band
    The Rest Is Yet To Come
    5-String
     
  6. Just In Case
    Bobby Osborne
    Original
    Compass Records
     
  7. Break 1 - Tar & Feathers
    Dillof Rice and the Cuyahogians
    On The Job Too Long
    Montana Peak Records
     
  8. Leave Those Dreams Behind
    Hoot and Holler
    Reasons To Run
    Hoot and Holler
     
  9. Columbus Stockade Blues
    Hoot and Holler
    ATBR recording
     
  10. The Fox Hunt
    Hoot and Holler 
    ATBR recording
     
  11. Sugar In My Tea
    Hoot and Holler
    ATBR recording
     
  12. Interview - Hoot & Holler
    Hoot and Holler
    ATBR recording
     
  13. Break 2 - Uncle Pen
    Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys
    In The Pines
     
  14. Tipsy Two-Steppin'
    Hoot and Holler
    ATBR recording
     
  15. Too Many Reasons To Run
    Hoot and Holler
    ATBR recording
     
  16. Make A Move
    Hoot and Holler 
    ATBR recording

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