Towards the end of the 1950s folk music aficionados were becoming aware of a genre of American music known as ‘old-time’ or ‘old-timey’. It had a mystical aura of purity, free from the contamination of ‘commercial’ music. There was an unfortunate connection with bluegrass but old-timey enthusiasts were quick to disown this musical offspring as a flashy young upstart.
What the purists were sometimes slow to recognise was that most of the ‘original’ old-time music was preserved in the form of gramophone records from the 1920s onwards. This was the beginning of commercial country music. Coupled with live appearances on the increasing number of radio stations across the country, the best known performers were able to make a living as professional musicians.
Thousands of others made a few recordings and disappeared into obscurity. Even more had a local reputation but never recorded and many others must sadly have disappeared without trace. The recorded output of many old-time musicians has since been re-released, nowadays almost entirely on CD. Never has old-time music been more readily available at such reasonable prices. Present-day revivalist musicians are learning the old tunes and songs, and of course rearranging them and changing them around a bit. Old-time has become mainstream.
We are fortunate that the first revivalists had of necessity to go back to the early recordings to obtain their material. Many were themselves collectors of old 78s or had access to record collections, and in some cases to field recordings, from way back.
The New Lost City Ramblers were key revivalists who listened to such material and had the musical ability to record it themselves in the style of the originals. The Ramblers were initially Mike Seeger, John Cohen and Tom Paley, the latter being replaced in 1962 by Tracy Schwarz. Their many recordings are still available to purchase and download through Smithsonian Folkways . And the superb book Gone To The Country – The New Lost City Ramblers and the Folk Music Revival by Ray Allen, tells who they were, where they came from and what they achieved. It is available from Amazon, as are many reissues of the Ramblers’ recordings on CD.
John Baldry
April 2019
