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BEHIND THE DOOR
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© 2016 SNAPPIN' BUG RECORDS Selections from the Samuel Bayard Collections performed by: Mark Tamsula ~ Fiddle Richard Withers ~ Banjo, Flute Dave Krysty ~ Guitar Ellen Gozion ~ Vocals
CDs
and digital downloads
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~ABOUT THE RECORDING~ TRACKS 1
Such a Gittin' Upstairs / Patterson’s Hornpipe |
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Behind the door is our third recording of tunes and songs from the
Bayard collections. Between 1928 and 1963 Samuel Preston Bayard and
collaborators travelled throughout southwestern Pennsylvania, collecting and
preserving local music he recognized to be a threatened part of community life
in this region given the inevitable spread of commercial entertainment during
the early 20th Century.
Bayard wrote down many of these tunes note-for-note as he listened to
patient, mostly elderly fiddlers, singers and fifers willing to take him into
their homes and pass on their music. Some already in their 70s and 80s at the
time of his visits had learned the music directly from previous generations born
in mid-19th century Pennsylvania. Through Bayard they’ve left us
an ancient and priceless cultural heirloom. We’re
fortunate to have veteran folk singer Ellen Gozion join us with two of the many
songs she’s learned from Bayard’s unpublished collection of vocal music of
Southwestern Pennsylvania. We’re also proud to be joined on guitar by
Dave Krysty, himself a pioneer in recording traditional Pennsylvania music.
Most of the tunes on our recordings are performed in the familiar old-time
combination of fiddle and banjo, and sometimes guitar. Some may wonder at our
occasional use of wooden flute on these recordings of Appalachian music, an
instrument most associated with traditional Irish music; eclecticism or
hybridization, however, is not our intent. Instead, we include the flute in
recognition of the longstanding fifing tradition Bayard drew on in representing
the music of Southwestern Pennsylvania. The
flute I use is nearly identical to a fife but pitched an octave lower, making
it, I believe, more accessible as an “indoor” instrument.
We’ve taken all but a few of our selections from the written versions Bayard
painstakingly transcribed and published in his two major works, Hill Country Tunes,
and Dance to
the Fiddle, March to the Fife .
Learning Old Time music from written sources raises questions of fidelity
for traditionalists used to learning by ear. Inevitably, we’ve strayed some
from the exact transcriptions in our playing. Even so, we’ve tried to maintain
the integrity of the tunes as written while playing them in the style at which
we’re most adept, all in order to bring the music to life from off of the
written page. We’d like to think the
old sources would approve of how we’ve done it. Richard Withers, Pittsburgh, PA, 2016 Bayard, S. P., Ed. (1982). Dance
to the Fiddle, March to the Fife: Instrumental Folk Tunes in Pennsylvania.
University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press. Bayard, S. P. (1944). Hill Country Tunes: Instrumental Folk Music of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: American Folklore Society.
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Fiddle: Mark Tamsula Banjo, flutes, whistles: Richard Withers Guitar: Dave Krysty Vocals: Ellen Gozion Recorded at Richard's home in Forest Hills, PA. Mixing and editing by Mark Tamsula. Layout: Mark Tamsula Cover art: Kathy Borland CD Replication by Oasis Disc Manufacturing: http://www.oasiscd.com All tunes arranged and produced by Mark Tamsula and Richard Withers. © 2016 SNAPPIN' BUG RECORDS
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~THE MUSICIANS~
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