Old time musicians have the uncanny ability to make old music feel fresh again. They revitalize songs from long ago and create sounds that appeal to an audiences’ sense of familiarity and nostalgia. Fiddle player Kalia Yeagle is such a musician. She immerses herself in old forgotten country music and uses her fiddle to breathe new life into it.
Kalia Yeagle was born and raised in Alaska. The daughter of a bluegrass, folk, and jazz musician, Kalia found herself surrounded by different types of acoustical music. While she was growing up, she would accompany her father on gigs, to small bluegrass festivals, and on recording sessions. The Anchorage Folk Festival–which took place in January–played a prominent role in her musical development.
“It took over the town for weeks. I used to think about it months before and months afterwards,” said Kalia.
Old time music in particular became a growing interest to her.
”I was always fiddling,” said Kalia, “but old-time forced me to engage with my instrument in a different way.”
It was Kalia Yeagle’s move from Alaska to Johnson City, Tennessee to attend East Tennessee State University’s (ETUS) Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music Program that eventually committed her to a career in old time music. She used the opportunity there to immerse herself into the past.
Roy Andrade, Associate Professor of Bluegrass, Old Time, and Country Music studies at ETSU and banjo player for the New Reeltime Travelers, hired Kalia to be his research assistant. She listened to early archival recordings from the Bristol, Johnson City, and Knoxville sessions and thumbed her way through songbooks that were circulated before wax-cone recordings were invented.
Discovering those old tunes was just the beginning. It paved the way for her to play for various documentary projects initiated by the Virginia Historical Society. Roy Andrade also invited her to play fiddle with the New Reeltime Travelers–the legendary band that played on the Cold Mountain and Old Brother Where Art Thou soundtracks.
Kalia eventually joined forces with singer, guitar player, and radio producer Kris Truelsen; Banjo player Grace Van’t Hof; and bassist Karl Zerfas, all of whom formed a band called Bill and the Belles. Bill and the Belles soon became the resident band for Farm and Fun Time– a historic radio program for Radio Bristol based out of the Birthplace of the Country Music Museum in Johnson City, Tennessee.
In an interview with Kalia Yeagle, I asked her what attracted her to old time music. Her answers beamed with the passion she feels for fiddling and old time music.
I think old time music makes you think about music differently than other genres. It feels familiar even if you haven’t heard the melodies before.
Also, the more I learn about it and the more I engaged with it, I realize it is complex stuff. You dig into these people who were making music 100 years ago, and there are some very virtuosic fiddlers. Not all the melodies can be picked up with one pass. The musicians are doing very subtle and complex things. It is why we can sit with the tunes for long periods of time. There is a lot to engage with. I really enjoy it.
You recorded several soundtracks for various documentaries with the Virginia Historical Society. What was that experience like?
It was great. I am happy to know that people want an old time sound to represent whatever it is they are presenting.
Why do you think people still want to listen to the old time sound?
I think it has a lot to do with a familiar feeling. Old time music speaks to something we share. It is an inherently American sound, and it is also a record of history. It was music of the people back then. All Americans share that musical experience in some way.
It is why so many of us listen to it and spend big chunks of our lives learning how to play it. It is music that feels good and that people like to play, to listen to, and to dance to. It hits me big time. It’s a big pull to keep me engaged.
Bill and the Belles is the resident band for Farm and Fun Time presented by Bristol Radio. The band mainly plays old sentimental parlor music from the turn of the century. Why are you especially interested in this particular kind of old country music?
The music was widespread. Everyone was familiar with it and everyone used to sing along with it.
There is something pretty magical about it because it still feels familiar today. We play for a lot of audiences who have never heard most of the melodies but it feels nostalgic. It’s comforting. Sometimes older audiences do remember the songs and that is really special–one of the most fun things I experience.
You mentioned old songbooks. Bill and the Belles just released a songbook titled Swallow Tail Coat. Why release your original arrangement of the old tune in old songbook format? The book contains one song.
It was how it used to be at the time. We were so inspired by old songbooks that we wanted to pay homage to them.
When you buy a songbook you also get a digital download of our wax-cylinder sessions. We love the irony of digitally downloading wax-cylinder tracks.
We like celebrating old songbooks and phonographs because it was the way people used to engage with old country music.
What was it like to record on actual wax cylinders?
It doesn’t get much more educational than that for an old-time musician. It was pretty transformative. It is how people did it in the past. So cool.
Trans formative is a strong word. Exactly how was the experience transformative?
The word I should have used was transported. It made me aware of how my experience was exactly the same experience as musicians of the past. We were using the exact same technology.
I was transported to a moment in time when people captured music in that way. I could close my eyes and imagine what it was like.
I got to learn first-hand how musicians positioned themselves around the cone.
The producer set the needle on the cylinder and listened to make sure it sounded good. I could kind have hear myself through the cone while I recorded. It was fascinating.
The members of our band had to reposition ourselves to find the sweet spot where all the instruments sounded balanced. It was a very cool experience.
You spend most of your time playing with Bill and the Belles, but you occasionally play with the New Reeltime Travelers. Both these groups are similar in that they are contemporary old time bands. However, Bill and the Belles focuses more on sentimental music while the New Reeltime Travelers sing songs about hardship. Do the stylistic difference between these two bands influence a change in your fiddling?
My sound might change to some degree because my role is slightly different in each band. The New Reeltime Travelers is a bigger band and has a bigger sound. The melodic presentations are bigger. Bill and the Belles have fewer members so there are fewer instruments playing lead. I play a lot more fills in Bill and the Bells, but I feel as if I am approaching the music itself similarly.
I take great pleasure in being an adaptable musician. Musicians always listen to one another and make adjustments. We discover the sound.
Both bands are very thoughtful about their musical choices. We talk a lot about the songs we play and how we present them.
I get a kick out of the fact that I get to play with the New Reeltime Travelers. I used to listen to them when I was younger and I was big fan. I loved their CDs. It blows my mind that I get to be among them. It’s crazy. I am so lucky, so lucky.
Tell me about your fiddle.
My fiddle was made in New York so it is an American instrument. I love it, but it is not the easiest fiddle to play. Some fiddles you can pick up and its like butter–you can easily pull a really good tone out of it. My fiddle is not one you can pick up and instantly make the sound you want. It takes a little bit of negotiation. I wish I could find information about the maker. The label says H. Simpson. My dad calls it the Homer Simpson fiddle.
Learn more about Kalia:
• http://www.kaliayeagle.com
• http://billandthebelles.com