Review: Bartlett Fiddle Mic
Quick Summary
If you're looking for the Goldilocks of fiddle microphones, then the Bartlett Fiddle Mic might just be it. There are many cheaper mics and pickups, there are many more expensive and fancier, but...
Ten Places to Start for Oldtime Fiddle
Oldtime fiddle - The Devil's Box?
Let's be straight – oldtime fiddle is not for the faint of heart. It might be scratchy and "mossy", played all kinds of ways by generations of folk musicians,...
10+ Ways to Get Better at Your Instrument
Benjamin Smith, James Peterson and Richard Osban
It's an unfortunate truth that the best musicians are usually the ones who are willing to spend some of their time consistently focusing on the things they're...
Turkey in the Straw – harmonica fiddle duet
Seth Shumate is one of a small handful of great oldtime harmonica players. What he can do few others can. Here Seth and Ben Smith (fiddle) sit down to play the iconic "Turkey in...
Gimme that Old-Time Rhythm
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...
Clawhammer Banjo and the Great Fingernail Dilemma
There are some fine clawhammer banjo players who have unbelievably short fingernails, trimmed or bitten to the nub. For the life of me, I can’t figure out how they manage to get anything like a...
Katherine Jackson French: Kentucky’s Forgotten Ballad Collector
Congratulations on publishing your new book, “Katherine Jackson French: Kentucky’s Forgotten Ballad Collector” (University Press of Kentucky). Who was Katherine Jackson French?
Katherine Jackson French was a remarkable woman. She was born in London, Kentucky in...
Get Up in the Cool: Interview with Cameron DeWhitt
How did Get Up in the Cool get started?
I listen to podcasts constantly, and I have for years. I got my first smartphone and then it was all downhill. It started with well-known NPR...
“The Mountain Minor” Movie Review and Interview
The Mountain Minor is a fictional film to be released in October 2019 that tells the interrelated stories of oldtime music, family, place, and history in the Appalachians.
The plot of the film is...
Oldtime in the Golden Age of Instagram
When fiddler George Jackson first saw a banjo player post an Instagram video of themselves playing “Dorrigo”, an original tune off Jackson’s new record, he was flattered. He didn’t expect that three weeks later...