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2008 CDs - Available for sale as of June 2008

In this, our fifth year of issuing traditional music, we are offering 15 powerful and far-reaching new CDs for 2008. We have expanded our younger musician series to include many great string bands from the late 1960s to early 1980s. Each contains well over 60 minutes of rare and/or unissued tracks not available anywhere but here. The older generation is well represented by some miraculous discoveries of fiddle and string band music focused on locations in Texas, Indiana, Galax and Round Peak, NC. We continue our exploration of Cajun music with the issue of a marvelous CD Nathan Abshire in concert with the Balfa Brothers.

Map showing the locations in the USA of musicians who appear on the FRC recordings.

To celebrate our five years in existence, we are offering the 8 CD 2008 Young Musician series for only $100 plus shipping, and the 7 CD 2008 Older Musician series for only $87.50 plus shipping. We have also added a page of discounts for specific Special Sets (see the box below). Please also remember that we have two DVDs, available separately from the CDs, one containing rare footage of the legendary Kentucky fiddler Hiram Stamper, the other the sights and powerfully primordial sounds of the Roan Mountain Hilltoppers featuring the original members of the group (see a video clip here). To order these CDs and DVDs, please visit our online store. To listen to excerpts from all our CDs, please visit our Listen page.

NOTE: Recently added: additional notes for Balfa Brothers and Nathan Abshire, John Summers, Bill Owens, P.T. Bell, the Horse Flies, the Chicken Chokers, the Indian Creek Delta Boys, Chirps Smith as well as notes for other CDs can be found here. Lots more will be uploaded soon.

New! Old Time Photos

Every day I pass a group of photographs of old time musicians in my home and, in doing so, always find comfort to see these images. As with the recordings, I have decided to make some of these photographs available to our community, and begin with a focus on images from the Round Peak section of North Carolina. To see larger images of these photos and to purchase them please go to our Photo Store.

Letters from Musicians' Families

I received the CDs yesterday along with the check. I have just finished listening to it with tears of sadness and joy. I wanted to write to you and thank you for recording this CD. This is my favorite one of him, getting to hear his voice again is an added bonus. When I was a young girl my favorite fiddle tune that I always asked my Uncle to play for me was "Turkey in the Straw." I never thought that I would be blessed to hear this tune by my uncle again. I remember my uncle listening to those old 78rpms. He would practice and practice till he got the tune to his satisfaction. And if you talked you got hit in the head with his fiddle bow. Since my nickname was "gabby" you can imagine how many picks I received on my head with that fiddle bow.

I also had the pleasure of listening to Perry Riley, Jimmy Wheeler and Morris Allen when I was younger. I had this privilege because Leona (Stamm, played guitar on Buddy's Rounder CD) was my mother and either Uncle Bud was at our house or we were at his. I have to tell you with much sadness that my mother passed away November 1988. Out of the ten children my grandmother had, only Aunt Jean and Aunt Bessie are left living. I know this CD will be the family's favorite one.

– Noretta Thomas, January 2006

Ray, I received the CD. Thank you for doing this for me. When I listen to it I cried. It seemed like Lonnie was sitting in our room playing like he did every day till he became ill with cancer. He couldn't play but he had me to get his fiddle so he could hold it and look at it. Our son Fred wishes to thank you also.

– Betty Seymour, January 2006

Translated from a review in Trad Magazine, France, June 2007

We have made the discovery of a remarkable record label, the Field Recorders' Collective, which is dedicated to the promotion of rural American music. Collectors of traditional music are often confronted with this problem: how to make a larger public aware of their best recordings. This particular brand of music, interesting as it is, is not always the record stores' cup of tea…

Now let's talk about the music, the most important thing after all! The emphasis is placed on the traditional repertoire of the Appalachians, in the Eastern United States, a region of fiddlers and banjo players. Good singers, too! Not a bad record in the bunch! And beyond the music itself, there's the human story: these old musicians are the representatives of a quickly disappearing world.

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A Note from Ray Alden

"All things pass; all that lives must die. All that we prize is but lent to us, and the time comes when we must surrender it. We are travelers on the same road that leads to the same end."

The Field Recorders' Collective, originally formed with five collectors, is now a growing group of collectors who have generously agreed to share their field recordings with the old time community. Both the collectors and the musicians they recorded have traveled parts of the same old time music road. Members of the collective, just as did the musicians they recorded, wish to share the tunes and creative individual styles that developed in isolated communities with others seeking their own right of way on the road.

Virtually none of these musicians have been heard on commercially released recordings, and certainly none of these performances have been previously available on recordings with such good sound quality. Attention to the best possible sound re-mastering has been accomplished through use of digital audio workstations featuring advanced software that applies techniques such as noise reduction, compression, fast Fourier analysis and multi-band frequency equalization. Most of the musicians recorded by the collective have passed on; however, in many cases we are in touch with their immediate families and, when so, are able to share financial benefits of these recordings with them. We are extremely pleased to yearly receive letters of appreciation from these families for honoring and keeping the memory of their treasured musician-relative alive.

Our four 10-CD sets — the first released in 2004, then 2005, 2006 and now the 11 CD 2007 set — can be seen in detail on adjoining web pages. We will have them all for sale at our vendor's booth at the August 2007 Appalachian String Band Festival in Clifftop, West Virginia. If you cannot attend, conveniently order through our FRC store. Individual CDs are $15; however we will continue to offer a special discount for this year's full set of eleven and the past years' full sets of ten at the exclusive price of $125 each. In addition to accepting checks in the mail (made out to the Field Recorders' Collective, LLC), we are now able to securely accept credit cards and Paypal accounts. For details on purchasing and shipping costs, either through the mail or directly on this website, go to our FRC Store.

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