Rosin Up Your Bow for the ASU Old Time Fiddlers’ Convention

Story by David Brewer

In addition to the vast array of free competitions, workshops and jam sessions, this weekend’s Old-Time Fiddlers’ Convention at ASU’s Plemmons Student Union will feature performances by renowned old-time acts Appalachian Roots (above) and Bruce Molsky (below) and Chester MacMillian (not pictured). Proceeds from the $5 suggested donation at each concert will be donated to the Junior Appalachian Musicians Program. For more info, click to www.fiddlers.apps.appstate.edu.

Attention old-time music aficionados: do not adjust your calendars. Summer hasn’t arrived, but the sweet sounds of old-time music are here. This Friday and Saturday, February 20 and 21, the Appalachian Popular Programming Society’s Heritage Council will host the ASU Old-Time Fiddlers’ Convention on campus at the Plemmons Student Union. Admission to the festival is free.

Packed with performances, competitions and workshops for players of all instruments, ages and skill levels, the ASU Old-Time Fiddlers’ Convention will kick off with a concert on Friday by old-time duo Appalachian Roots in the Blue Ridge Ballroom at 7:30 p.m.

On Saturday, Plemmons Student Union will become the home for all things old-time. Festivities will begin at 10:00 a.m. with on-site registration for competitions in a variety of categories including fiddle, banjo, guitar, old-time stringband and folksong. Competitions will take place from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The flatfoot dancing competition will take place at 5:00 p.m.

Throughout the day on Saturday, more than a dozen instrument makers will have their wares on display as part of the Luthiers’ Gathering at the ASU Old-Time Fiddlers’ Convention.

For those looking to brush up on their instrumental skills, a variety of workshops will be offered by some of old-time music’s most knowledgeable pickers on Saturday. Appalachian Roots’ Ira Bernstein will put down his fiddle to teach a flatfoot dancing workshop at noon, followed by a fiddler workshop with Bruce Molsky at 1:00 p.m., an old-time guitar workshop with Chester McMillian at 2:00 p.m. and a banjo workshop with Appalachian Roots’ Riley Baugus at 3:00 p.m.

Following Saturday’s vast array of activities, renowned old-time performer Bruce Molsky will take the stage in the Blue Ridge Ballroom at 7:30 p.m.

With fiddles, banjos, guitars, mandolins and basses packed carefully in the back seats and beds of cars and trucks, old-time music lovers travel in droves to distant fields tucked in out-of-the-way corners of communities across the South each spring, summer and fall. Some events, such as the conventions at Fiddlers’ Grove in Union Grove and the Galax Fiddlers’ Convention have taken place each year for decades.

The concert is free for students. There is a $5 suggested donation for the general public.

While popular music traditions have undergone multiple facelifts since the beginning of the 20th century, the gentle mountain melodies of songs such as “Soldier’s Joy,” “Old Joe Clark” and “Up On Cripple Creek” continue to find new life with each new generation, echoing across packed festival grounds and swirling into the night air along with the smoke at campfire jam sessions.

During the last year, the Watauga Arts Council has been instrumental in making sure old-time lives on in the hands of local youngsters with the Junior Appalachian Musicians (JAM) program. According to Mark Freed, Arts Council folklorist and JAM program coordinator and instructor, proceeds from both concerts at the ASU Old-Time Fiddlers’ Convention will be donated to the JAM program.

Appalachian Roots is a duo show by Bernstein with virtuoso old-time musician and singer Riley Baugus. Chock full of humor and skill, Appalachian Roots’ performances are an old-time music and dance variety show that showcase a dynamic mix of traditional dance, song and instrumental music from the southern Appalachia with a few international twists thrown in.

The duo’s multifaceted shows are steeped in old-time tradition and include percussive flatfooting and buckdancing, rhythm tap dancing, French-Canadian step dancing, English clogging, South African boot dancing, hambone, fiddle tunes and fiddle sticks by Bernstein, as well as Southern Appalachian songs and ballads, old-time banjo and fiddle tunes, and mountain preaching by Baugus. The pair will also offer a dose of fiddle and banjo and double fiddle duets. For more information on the duo, click to www.tentoepercussion/appalachianroots.

Bruce Molsky has, over the past two decades, been exploring traditional music from an astonishingly broad range of cultures. Whether alone or with fellow musicians and on guitar, fiddle or banjo, Molsky has synthesized them and refracting them through his own evolving sensibilities to the point where the sources of his inspiration transform themselves into a sound that is uniquely his.

While most identified with traditional American old-time music, Molsky’s influences range from the Appalachian soul of Tommy Jarrell to Delta blues; from the haunting modal strains of Irish music to the rhythmically nimble music of Eastern Europe.

Molsky continues to tour extensively in the United States and Europe as a solo artist. He has performed at Lincoln Center in New York and The Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C. The long list of great players with whom Molsky has worked includes luminaries such as Mike Seeger, Liz Carroll & John Doyle, Dirk Powell, Kevin Burke, Stuart Duncan, Bill Frisell and Tony McManus. To learn more about Molsky, click to www.brucemolsky.com.

The concert is free for students. There is a $5 suggested donation for the general public.

For more information on the ASU Old-Time Fiddlers’ Convention, click to www.fiddle.apps.appstate.edu. For more information on the JAM program, click to www.juniorappalachianmusicians.org.

ASU Old-Time Fiddlers’ Convention Schedule of Events

Whether you’re a player, flatfoot dancing machine, skilled luthier or just a mountain music fan, this weekend’s Old Time Fiddlers’ Convention at ASU will have something for you. Beginning with the Appalachian Roots concert on Friday night and throughout the day on Saturday, Plemmons Student Union will be the hub for all things old-time, so don’t miss out.

Friday, February 20
Concert
7:30 p.m. Appalachian Roots concert in the Blue Ridge Ballroom

Saturday, February 21
Contests
10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. On-site registration
11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Open competition for fiddle, banjo, guitar, old-time stringband and folksong (including youth and novice categories)
5:00 p.m. Flatfoot dance competition

Workshops
12:00 p.m. Flatfoot dance workshop with Ira Bernstein
1:00 p.m. Fiddle workshop with Bruce Molsky
2:00 p.m. Old-time guitar workshop with Chester McMillian
3:00 p.m. Banjo workshop with Riley Baugus

Concert
7:30 p.m. Bruce Molsky in the Blue Ridge Ballroom

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