Seth Shumate

“I use gourds, coffee cans, beer cans, cigar boxes, gas cans, cookie tins, frying pans, copper pipe, and anything else I can find that will make a sound for my instruments,” said instrument maker Jim Morris. “I prefer using hand tools to build these...

Here Craig Judelman gives answers to some of the most common questions oldtime fiddlers have. Of course, in oldtime there are no "right" answers, but Craig's combination of experience and technical knowledge is surely a great place to start. What strings should I use? How...

Dom Flemons, quoted frequently in last week’s article by Timothy Jones on rhythm bones and old-time music, here tells his story of discovering bones, and how he has integrated them into his vibrant and extensive musicianship as a former member of the Grammy-winning Carolina...

At first, as I was coming to love oldtime music as an adult, I found it curious that percussion and rhythm instruments seemed to play such a minor role. Having played the drums while growing up in California in the 1970s, banging away to...

Like all performers and teaching musicians, Tricia Spencer’s life looks a lot different this year. While she’d typically be in the middle of festival season and travelling to oldtime camps around the country to teach and perform alongside her musical collaborator and husband Howard...