NEIGHBORS IN THE CLOUD LAND

NEIGHBORS
IN THE CLOUD LAND

Selections from the Samuel Bayard
Collections performed by:

Mark Tamsula ~ Fiddle

Richard Withers ~ 5 string Banjo,
Harmonica, Fife, Vocals

Dave Krysty ~ Guitar

Kathy Fallon ~ Guitar

CDs and digital downloads
can be purchased at

The Snappin' Bug Music Store

~ABOUT THE RECORDING~

TRACKS

1. GRANNY WILL YOUR DOG BITE 2:59
2. SYLVESKY VARNER'S TUNE 2:47
3. SUSAN LICK THE LADLE 2:28
4. HOPPLE'S REEL 2:44
5. THE FIFE HUNT / THE OLD BLACKBIRD 2:48
6. JIM BRYNER'S QUADRILLE 2:52
7. LADY ISABELLA AND THE ELF KNIGHT 3:12
8. CRIST HOPPLE'S OLD DANCE TUNE 3:01
9. OLD PISS / CHEAT RIVER 3:15
10. THE YOUNG HUNTER 3:11
11. WAGGLE'S OLD MARCH (THE OLD
BARN DOOR JIG) 2:54
12. THE LOST INDIAN 2:58
13. PAT KILLED THE RAT 2:48
14. SUNDAY AFTERNOON 2:26
15. LOSCH'S OLD REEL / JOHN WHITE'S
OLD DANCE TUNE 3:09
16. SOURWOOD MOUNTAIN 2:21
17. LORD RANDALL 2:09
18. THE BIG CHIEF 2:51
19. CAMPTOWN HORNPIPE / SALLY GOODWIN 3:01
20. BILLY IN THE HIGH GROUND 2:41
21. OLD PISS 1:41

"There are hundreds of old songs yet to be had, hundreds of legends still unrecorded. ….To bring out the finest side of our early generations, our neighbors in the cloud land, is a duty which no cultivated person living along the entire chain of the Allegheny Range in Pennsylvania can shirk. The time to do it is now, for the glory of the Keystone State, past, present and future, and place the romance and melody of our highlands in the imperishable form, side by side where they belong with the valuable archives collected in the Southern Appalachians …. all that pertain to Pennsylvania beautiful, Pennsylvania glorious, Pennsylvania spiritual. "

Henry W. Shoemaker
Pennsylvania author and folklorist
“Restless Oaks”, McElhatten, Pa. May 10, 1919

Shoemaker’s appeal for cultural preservation found no greater response than that of folklorist and scholar Samuel Preston Bayard. Bayard spend over three decades in the early to middle 20th century collecting traditional Appalachian music from Southwestern Pennsylvania – fiddle tunes, fife tunes and songs, lost to history but for his collaboration with elderly Pennsylvanians who held these generations-old aural treasures in their fiddles, fifes and voices. Without their generosity and Bayard’s painstaking musical transcriptions and recordings, most of these tunes and songs would never have found their way back into the living tradition of old-time Appalachian music.

Our contribution to their revival began 11 years ago with the release of Up in the Batten House, our first recording of tunes from Bayard’s publications and field recordings. Neighbors in the Cloud Land is our sixth in the series. We’re joined again by guitarist David Krysty, who visited two of Bayard’s early contributors – Jim Bryner and Jonah Hughes of Dunbar Pa. – and collected more of their fiddle tunes. Guitarist Kathy Fallon accompanies us on “Sam Waggle’s March”( a tune known in the Irish tradition as the “Rakes of Kildare”).

We’re grateful for the interest shown our project by the old-time Appalachian musical community over the years, and encouraged to hear the tunes and songs of our region gaining popularity among fellow musicians.

Richard Withers and Mark Tamsula March, 2022

Fiddle: Mark Tamsula

Banjo, fife, harmonica, vocals: Richard Withers

Guitar: Dave Krysty

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.

~THE MUSICIANS~

Mark Tamsula has been performing and teaching in the Southwestern Pennsylvania region for over 30 years. He plays and teaches fiddle, banjo, guitar and mandolin, drawing from an ever expanding repertoire of tunes and songs. In addition to performing and recording the music of Southwestern Pennsylvania, Mark also performs with the bands Lackawanna Longnecks (old time) and Grand Bon Rien (Cajun). www.appalachianmusic.net

Richard Withers has performed and recorded Old-time music on the banjo and Irish music on the flute, whistle and other instruments over the past three decades. In addition to performing and recording the music of Southwestern Pennsylvania, he can be heard playing clawhammer banjo on recordings with the old-time string band Lackawanna Longnecks and Irish-style flute with Hooley, a Pittsburgh-based traditional Irish group. www.hooley.info

Dave Krysty visited and learned tunes from several of this region's older fiddlers, notably the late Fayette County fiddler Jim Bryner, one of Bayard's original sources. Dave videotaped sessions with Jim and Jonas Hughes in 1986, two of which can be viewed on YouTube:

Dunbar fiddlers Jim Bryner and Jonah "Doan" Hughes
with Dave Krysty

In 1988 Dave recorded an album with Bill Lemons titled Folk Songs of Western Pennsylvania and since then he has supported the local tradition of fiddle music, songs and stories through his performances, and work with local arts organizations.

Kathy Fallon is an accomplished guitar and tenor banjo player and singer who has performed and recorded Irish and other traditional music in Kansas City, Pittsburgh and elsewhere over the country and the UK. She has performed regularly with local Irish bands Hooley, The Geese in the Bog and the Rolling Scones and with Kansas City based band New Grange. Her sensitive and creative style of accompaniment makes her a favorite among traditional folk musicians.

~QUOTES~

"The Snowy Hill is my new standard for traditional music albums. It looks backward and forward with perfect clarity: the old tunes are performed enthusiastically, with freedom, and the new tunes are artfully crafted, worthy of inclusion in the canon. Richard's playing is gorgeous, and his arrangements are thoughtful and dynamic. I especially appreciated the moments in the album when the tunes were played long. Many players state the tune, repeat, then move on, but Richard plays with a rare faith in the music, that these tunes are more than novel, 16-bar compositions, and they deserve to be considered on a deeper level.

As someone who only recently fell in love with the traditional music of Southwestern Pennsylvania, I'm grateful to know it's in such good hands. Richard and Co. are doing the brave and discerning work of not only preserving a tradition, but tending it so it can grow and flourish.”

- Cameron DeWhitt, podcaster,

“Get Up in the Cool: Old Time Music with Cameron DeWhitt and Friends” - www.camerondewhitt.com

Well, Sam, when they was all a-blowin’ their innards out, and the drums backin’ ‘em up, it wouldn’t have made that much difference.”

– Marion Yoders, Greene County fifer

"Mark and Richard have once again drunk deep from the great Southwest Pennsylvania fiddle-tune collection of Sam Bayard. No reproduction or imitation here – pure oldtime Pennsylvania, freshly brought to life again by Mark and Richard."

Alan Jabbour, folklorist and musician

"Mark and Richard draw from the deep well of traditional fiddle and fife music in the longstanding Pennsylvania tradition. The tunes flow forth not as artifacts but as living pieces of contemporary art. They pulse with an immediacy that is infused with respect, moving the listener with their immortality."

Bob Buckingham of Fiddler Magazine

"Anyone who has been around the hill at Clifftop for the last decade has heard the beautiful and rare tunes that Mark has rescued from the hills of Pennsylvania. Now he and Richard bring us a marvelous cd that does for that region what Bruce Greene has done for Kentucky and Gary Harrison for Illinois."

Philip F. Gura, author of
*America's Instrument: The Banjo in America*

"Nice tracks there! Always a treat to hear the old tunes and songs not just preserved, but alive and lively,... present[ed] with a clear regional focus."

Dan Gellert

"Samuel Bayard was the most prominent scholar of traditional Pennsylvania music. It is wonderful to know that this tradition still lives through the playing of Mark Tamsula and Richard Withers. Bayard would have been proud!"

Carl Rahkonen, Ph.D., Ethnomusicologist, Indiana, PA.

"Dr. Sam Bayard collected the old tunes from the hollers and the hills …. Mark and Dick have brought them off of the flat page and back into our ears and straight to our tapping feet. You can hear the mountains in these tunes."

Dave Krysty, Fiddler and Folklorist,
Pittsburgh, PA.

"Mark and Richard have created an appealing aural anthology that revivifies the spirit of early Pennsylvania fiddlers and fifers, bringing Sam Bayard's collections to life in 3-D: dance, discovery, and delight."

Deane Root, Professor of Music;
Director, Center for American Music;
University of Pittsburgh

"It is extremely doubtful if any other living man could have produced such a piece of research. Bayard's expertise in the field of general folklore, as well as fiddle and fife tunes could hardly be matched."

George Swetnam, Pittsburgh 1983

"Nothing that Sam Bayard has written has ever been refuted."

Kenneth Goldstein, head of the University of
Pennsylvania's Folklore and Folklife department

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Dunbar fiddlers Jim Bryner and Jonah "Doan" Hughes with Dave Krysty

Dunbar fiddlers Jim Bryner and Jonah "Doan" Hughes
with Dave Krysty