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FRC Store – 2008 CDs
As of June 2008 we have 56 CDs for sale (plus 2
video DVDs). You will find the most recent issues on this page.
Please follow the links to our Special
CD Sets, 2004, 2005,
2006, 2007
and Young Musician Series CDs and our
photograph store.
Ordering information
EUROPEAN, ASIAN AND CANADIAN
CUSTOMERS PLEASE NOTE: If you wish to have speedy INTERNATIONAL
PRIORITY mail, you MUST click
on one of the two buttons in the box below. Otherwise we will use
the postal rate to your location that closest reflects the weight
of your package. This could cause delays in delivery of CDs.
Additional postal charges (outside the US):
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International Mail
(up to 20 CDs same price)
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Canadian or
Mexican Mail
(up to 20 CDs same price)
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For track listings and sample sound clips, click on the
links below.
| 2008 CD Releases |
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FRC2008A The Master Musician 7-CD set $87.50.
FRC109 to FRC410, 7 CDs, see below for descriptions.
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FRC2008B The Young Musician 8-CD set $100.00.
FRC602 to FRC609, 8 CDs, see below for descriptions.
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FRC109 –
Round Peak Volume 1 (From the collection
of Ray Alden) $15
per disc
1968 changed my life when I heard Tommy Jarrell, Fred Cockerham
and Oscar Jenkins play at a house concert. The following summer,
and for 15 consecutive summers, I traveled south to record,
study and spend time with the many musicians of Round Peak.
In these two CD volumes, I will try to give you some idea
of the treasures I found among my 15 years of recordings.
Volume 1 focuses on what may be viewed as the "big four"
of Round Peak music: Tommy Jarrell, Fred Cockerham, Earnest
East and Kyle Creed, including a special appearance by Charlie
Lowe on track 9. All of us who visited these mesmerizing musicians
never thought this paradise would end, but Fred Cockerham
was first to pass away in 1978 and by January 1985, all of
the older generation musicians of Round Peak were gone. I
still make the pilgrimage south every summer to Mt. Airy,
NC to visit Mac and Nellie Snow. Listen to Volume 2 for more
surprises. - Ray Alden Track list Sound
clip
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FRC110
– Round Peak Volume 2 (From
the collection of Ray Alden) $15
per disc
Volume 2 surprises us with role reversals such as Fred Cockerham
playing fiddle and Tommy Jarrell on banjo or Earnest East playing
banjo and fiddle with Tommy. This volume includes many more
of the musicians of Round Peak, including many of the Camp Creek
Boys and another special appearance by Charlie Lowe. You will
hear Tommy imitating his Uncle Charlie as well as my earliest
recordings of Tommy, when he played several solo fiddle pieces
for me at his home circa 1969. A year later, I recorded Earnest
East and the Pine Ridge Boys playing at a furious pace at the
Galax FiddlerÕs Convention (tracks 33-36). To cap off this CD,
Kyle Creed plays his unique version of Roustabout, Mac Snow
sings the Charlie Monroe classic Rosalie McFalls and Fred plays
his own Logan County Blues. - Ray Alden Track list Sound
clip
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FRC111–
Balfa Brothers & Nathan Abshire - The 1970 NYC Cajun Concert
(From the recordings of Ray Alden &
Dave Spilkia) $15
per disc
In this special concert of music and talk, one hears both wonderful
songs and clarifications of Cajun life. Only six years before
this show, at Newport's 1964 folk festival and much to Dewey
BalfaÕs surprise, he found American audiences embracing traditional
Cajun music as far more than a crude "chanky-chank."
He decided to become ambassador for the Cajun culture. Nathan
Abshire (1913-1981) had been influenced by accordionist Amédé
Ardoin, his musical family and fiddler Lionel Leleux. Nathan
first recorded in 1935 with the Rayne-Bo Ramblers and then in
1949 issued his best-known record, the "Pine Grove Blues".
Dewey's connection to Nathan Abshire was as a one-time member
of his "Pine Grove Boys." "Les Frères
Balfas" began playing informally at local gatherings during
the '40s with Dewey on fiddle, Will on "seconding"
fiddle*, Rodney on guitar, Harry on accordion and Burkeman playing
triangle and spoons. Later joined by neighbor Hadley Fontenot
on accordion, they recorded "La Valse de Bon Baurche"
and "Le Two Step de Ville Platte" as a 78-rpm single
in 1951. Despite an extraordinary tragedy in February 1979,
when Rodney and Will were killed in a car wreck, Dewey continued
the music of the Balfa Brothers until his passing in 1992. -
Ray Alden
* Also known as "bassing on the fiddle." Both Dewey
and Will's fiddles would be "tuned to the accordion."
With a C accordion, you would "tune down the fiddle"
a whole step, so from low to high it would be F C G D. Unlike
cross tunings, this preserves the original fingerings, allowing
the player to finger as if he were in A or D, but matching the
C accordion. - Kevin Wimmer Track
list Sound
clip Additional
Notes
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FRC309–
Galax Gems - The Music of Galax in the 1960s
(From the collection of Andy Cahan) $15
per disc
The front cover, showing the exuberance with which George Pegram
entertained crowds at the Galax Fiddler's Convention, gives
some idea of the liveliness and energy of Galax musicians in
the 1960s. In those days Fred Cockerham often joined Pegram,
and tracks 12-17 are as strong as anything Fred played with
the Camp Creek Boys. In order to locate these recordings, Boyd
Hawks told Andy Cahan "just look in the back of my TV repair
shop." Only after hours of climbing over mountains of discarded
electronic parts did Andy finally find the tapes. Tracks 1-9
were discovered deeply buried among Andy's Norman Edmonds tapes
(FRC301-2). As luck would have it, you don't have to undergo
any of these obstacles, you have but to put this CD in your
player to unlock these treasures. - Ray Alden Track list Sound
clip
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FRC310–
John Summers (From the collection
of John Cohen) $15
per disc
From Judge Dan White's "O'Leary"
Recordings
John Summers (1887-1976) was a farmer and master fiddler from
Indiana. His music was respected in his local area and among
friends. He played in scores of "Old Fiddling Contests"
at fairs and events all over the Midwest, winning first places
at almost every single event. You can hear the excellence of
19th Century music carried into his present. It still speaks
to our ears today. Here's how his music got out to the rest
of us: in the early 1960s The New Lost City Ramblers were performing
at the Ash Grove in Los Angeles, and Mr. and Mrs. O'Leary heard
us and later, at a dude ranch in Colorado, told their friend
Judge Dan White about it. So when he returned to his home in
Indiana he made these recordings of his friend John Summers
for them, and they gave the tape to me in California the following
year. I brought it to my home in New York City, and gave a copy
to our neighbor Art Rosenbaum (originally from Indianapolis).
On his next trip to Indiana he located and recorded John Summers.
He issued some of these on Folkways' "Fine Times at Our
House", and Mr. Summers' fame spread to a new, dispersed
audience. What you are listening to is the tape Judge White
gave the O'Learys, clearly a communication of shared pleasures,
friendship and excellent music. - John Cohen Track
list Sound
clip Additional
Notes 1 Additional
Notes 2
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FRC409
– Texas Fiddle Bands (Researched
by Marynell Young) $15
per disc
WILLIAM A. OWENS (1905-1990) was a folklorist, author, and
professor of English. Despite the fact that his Pin Hook,
Texas school was open only 3 months a year, by 1933 Owens
managed to get two degrees at Southern Methodist University.
In the late 1930s, working partly on his own and partly for
the University of Texas Extension Division, he recorded songs
from East Texas to the Texas Coast's Cajun Country, recording
on aluminum discs using cactus needles on a second-hand Vibromaster
recorder. Owens wrote many books one of which, Slave
Mutiny: The Revolt of the Schooner Amistad (1953),
provided much of the material for Steven Spielberg's 1997
film, Amistad. In 1966 he
became a professor of English at Columbia University in NY,
and retired as professor emeritus in 1974. - Ray Alden Track
list Sound
clip Additional
Notes
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FRC410
– P.T. Bell –(Researched
by Dan & Christy Foster) $15
per disc
The William Owens 1941 Carrizo Springs,
Texas recordings
Peter Bell was a second generation Texan, born 1869 into a
musical family on the frontier. His fiddling is among the
best of very few representations of southern dance music as
it may well have been played mid-to-late 19th century in the
American southwest. Recorded at age 74 at his home in Carrizo
Springs in 1941 by folklorist William A. Owens, the 29 selections
here reflect the lifelong interest Peter Bell had in old time
music as he learned it from his father and grandfather who
came to Texas in 1853. These recordings are from The Center
for American History, University of Texas (Austin) Folklore
Center Archives. Special thanks to John R. Wheat, Coordinator
for the Sound Archives. - Dan Foster Track
list Sound
clip Additional
Notes
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FRC602–
The Horse Flies –(From
the recordings of Ray Alden) $15
per disc
Since 1981 the Horse Flies have explored a meld of the traditional
with the modern, creating a musical world that is sometimes
haunting and beautiful, certainly always quirky, poetic, rooted,
and free. This recording, partly made at their home in 1984
Ithaca, NY and completed later at a festival in 1988, reveals
some of how their sound developed. The two traditional pieces
of the opening tracks are examples of the early sound of the
Horse Flies, whereas the third track illustrates their discovery
of a style that became known as "bug music," a sound which
culminated in their classic "Who Throwed Lye." Track 4 is
an illustration of the band's explorations, recorded off the
cuff as they sat at home improvising. The band's crystallized
sound can be heard in the 1988 festival recordings, a combination
of acoustic, percussion and electronic elements. The Horse
Flies' sound continues to flourish, and can be heard on their
current 2008 CD, "Until the Ocean." - Ray Alden Track
list Sound
clip Additional
Notes Richie Stearns Bio
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FRC603
– The Chicken Chokers (From
the collection of Ray Alden)
$15 per disc
Chad Crumm, after playing 1-1/2 years with James Leva (FRC605)
in Lexington, VA's Ace Weems and His Fat Meat Boys, went to
Boston and founded the Chicken Chokers. As Jim Reidy recalls,
"November 15, 1985 was our third trip from Cambridge to
the Eagle Tavern, and we were excited to be bringing our new
'Chokers and Flies' LP to NYC to hawk at the gig. The night
was a turning point — we kicked off a year of touring,
Kevin Wimmer abandoned violin for fiddle and Ray Alden videotaped
the effects of testosterone poisoning on a cocky string band.
The blazing tempos and unlikely medleys were shocking to hear
again after 20 years — let's do that rocking Glenn Echo
Dance again!" Track
list Sound
Clip Additional
Notes
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FRC604
– The Hurricane Ridgerunners –(From
the collection of Jerry Gallaher, Paul Kotapish & Ray Alden) $15
per disc
1977 was the first incarnation of the Hurricane Ridgerunners
after Jerry Gallaher, Scott Nygaard and Jack Link met at the
first Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend. This
trio performed for a year until Scott and Jack left. Luckily,
waiting in the wings to join with Jerry was Mark Graham, harmonica
in hand. Although the banjo and the harmonica make scintillating
music together; Jerry and Mark journeyed to enlist the stellar
"guitarifying" and mandolin brio of Paul Kotapish.
Paul packed up and moved his life to Seattle. Soon after, Armin
Barnett, showing the value of the fiddle as a lead melody string
band instrument, came blowing in from the East like retrograde
tumbleweed and was quickly enlisted. They went along their merry
way until Ronald Reagan's era struck the flimsy old-time music
economy like an asteroid. Everyone put on clean clothes and
went to school or got a job. Jerry and Mark still occasionally
play together in Seattle, sometimes with Bill Meyer. Armin hangs
with the Queen City Bulldogs. Paul plays in an actual successful
band called Wake the Dead in Alameda, CA. They all have jobs
and families. God bless us everyone. - The Hurricane Ridgerunners
Track
list Sound
clip Additional
Notes
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FRC605–
The Renegades –(From the
collection of James Leva) $15
per disc
The Renegades were the masterpiece of the 1970s tradition of
musical cross-pollination between two centers of Old Time Music;
one found in Ithaca, NY and the other in Lexington, VA. The
two locations are connected by a 12 hour drive on Interstate
81. In the Renegades, veterans of several notable old time string
bands (Richie Stearns of the Horse Flies, June Drucker of the
Heartbeats, Carol Elizabeth Jones of the Wildcats, and James
Leva of the Fat Meat Boys and the Hellbenders) joined together
to explore their common interest in making old time music that
focused on both harmony singing and dance grooves. All four
members of the band are song writers and the inclusion of a
significant number of original compositions distinguished the
Renegades. One might say they were the only group with an extensive
background of old time music in the then nascent "Americana"
wave. This CD is formed of The Renegades, recorded live to DAT
and issued as a 1993 cassette, and I Need to Find, recorded
at Al Tharp's studio in New Orleans in 1995. The Renegades played
numerous festivals which included two tours to Alaska. - James
Leva Track list Sound
clip Richie Stearns Bio
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FRC606
– Plank Road String Band –(From
the collection of Al Tharp) $15
per disc
The actual life of Plank Road String Band was brief, but the
level of intensity and single mindedness makes those couple
of years resonate for me still. The four of us: Andy, Brad,
Steve and I had sort of loose alliance with the Green Grass
Cloggers in NC. As I recall, we were having a band rehearsal
at the chicken farm, seriously discussing the need for a bass
player. We'd begun to conceive of ourselves as a dance oriented
outfit, and were really desperate for that bottom thump. At
which point a strange car began to roll up first through one
then the other of the cattle gates up to the house, whence emerged
his very self Michael James by god Kott. Having heard of our
scene from who knows where, he strode in with his cello and
jammed a few. Man, I'm lookin at Brad, Brad's lookin at Andy,
and I'm not sure who's lookin at Steve. But it was so utterly
obvious we'd achieved our weird Socratic ideal of a band; that's
when it became a solid thing. We became a musical entity that
night just as the flakiest and most ephemeral of personalities
became a kind of sine qua non of our music. - Al Tharp
Steve Gendron, guitarist for the original Plank Road string
band, had passed away and his friends in Denmark proposed a
tour for the remnants of Plank Road. Andy and Brad had moved
on to other things. Michael James Kott and Al Tharp brought
in fiddler James Leva to form a trio that would perform six
week tours throughout Northern Europe during the summers of
1979, 1980, and 1981. The Europeans didn't know quite what to
make of a trio that sang in three part harmonies using fiddle,
clawhammer & tenor banjo with Michael's cello worn guitar-style
around his neck and shoulder. This 1980 recording (tracks 15-24),
made live in a Danish living room on a two-track reel-to-reel
machine, gives an idea of the band's innovative approach to
the traditional music they'd been playing in Virginia over the
previous decade. - James Leva Track
list Sound
clip Additional
Notes
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FRC607–
Indian Creek Delta Boys–(From
the collection of Ray Alden) $15
per disc
Proclaimed the "Official Traditional Illinois Old-Time
String Band" by the state's 82nd General Assembly, the
Indian Creek Delta Boys of Charleston, Illinois were active
from the 1970s through the 1990s. The band's backbone was formed
by brothers Garry and Steve Harrison. Garry began fiddle at
age 16 with instruction from his father Cliff while Terry, Garry's
twin, started using brother Steve's banjo. Along with band mates
Chirps Smith (FRC608) and John Bishop, they researched many
obscure Illinois fiddle tunes from the senior players detailed
below. Many of the original Illinois source tunes can be heard
on Garry's 3-CD collection, and even more are annotated and
available in his comprehensive book of the same name, Dear Old
Illinois. - Ray Alden Track
list Sound
Clip Additional
Notes
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FRC608–
Chirps Smith –(From the
home recordings of Chirps Smith) $15
per disc
Lynn "Chirps" Smith was born and raised in downstate
Illinois. As a young man, he played with the Indian Creek Delta
Boys (FRC607) and learned fiddle tunes directly from old-timers,
including Harvey "Pappy" Taylor and Noah Beavers.
This homemade music was transported to the Midwest by homesteaders
who, bringing their fiddle tunes with them, multiplied them
by learning new ones from their neighbors. Chirps became a regular
player at Chicago Barn Dance Company's dances after moving to
Chicago in 1978. Since 1985, he has played lead fiddle in the
Volo Bogtrotters string band and currently plays in the New
Bad Habits. These recordings are selected from five CDs of Chirps'
home recordings. Track
list Sound
clip Additional
Notes
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FRC609–
Berkeley in the 1960s–(From
the collection of John Cohen) $15
per disc
The musicians of Colby Street lived, performed and busked in
Berkeley and Oakland California during the late 60's and 70's.
Most are still in the San Francisco Bay area in 2008, all of
them are still active in music. As Jody Stecher points out,
this was, "an entity that never ever existed except when
the New Lost City Ramblers came to town and there was a party
at Colby StreetÉeveryone played at once. The participants had
differing aesthetics, different tune versions, and all of us
were just starting to develop our personal musical voices. But
this was not a collective voice either. It was just a bunch
of disparate voices playing more or less the same tune at more
or less the same time." It included members of Dr. Humbead's
New Tranquility String Band and Medicine Show, Fat City, the
Diesel Ducks, Yreka Bakery, and other temporary combinations.
Thinking it was one band, John Cohen decided to record this
unprecedented sound. The recordings were done at Peter Weston's
Pacific High Studio, recorded in seven tracks over the 3-inch
tape outtakes from the Grateful Dead's "Workingmans's Dead".
Although never issued, these recordings offer a unique interpretation
of old time music performed by great musicians totally immersed
in their music and its atmosphere. They were in and out of each
other's lives, and in retrospect, there was a great deal of
experimentation, improvisation and love expressed here. It's
dazzling and woozy music, done by dazzling and woozy musicians.
- John Cohen Track list Sound
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