So what is old-time music anyway?
Roughly speaking, it usually refers to music that was being played in rural parts of the southern US, evolved in isolated regions of the Southern Appalachians and other places in the southern US, based partly on tunes from the British Isles and on the rhythm of the banjo which was developed from a west African instrument. It pre-dates bluegrass. (Click here for an irreverent, funny, but also reasonably true-ish comparison of the two styles!) It's the original early recorded "country music" of the 1920s and 1930s, played by ordinary working people in communities before travel was easy, and before there were recordings to be heard on the radio. The term "old-time," in fact, is the name attached to this rural music by one of the first record companies to discover it and produce recordings.
The music may be fast or slow, played by a single banjo or fiddle, or the two together, or as a whole string band once guitars entered the scene somewhere after the turn of the century; there might be lyrics, although these are often "floating verses" common to many tunes. There's a great deal of syncopation. Tunes might have extra beats or bars, or missing beats or bars. Some wonderful tunes have not very much melody, and lots of rhythm. There are uptempo squaredance tunes in major keys, and slow haunting ones in modes somewhere between major and minor. There's a lot of variation between individual players as well as differing regional styles, and in common with folk music, no one "right way" to play any tune.
It's quite different from bluegrass (which was developed from old-time music and other influences) even though a number of tunes of the same name are played in both genres. Bluegrass was created to be enjoyed by an audience, and each instrument in turn stands out by playing an improvised solo break; old-time never was performance music, it's participatory music for playing and dancing.
Roughly speaking, it usually refers to music that was being played in rural parts of the southern US, evolved in isolated regions of the Southern Appalachians and other places in the southern US, based partly on tunes from the British Isles and on the rhythm of the banjo which was developed from a west African instrument. It pre-dates bluegrass. (Click here for an irreverent, funny, but also reasonably true-ish comparison of the two styles!) It's the original early recorded "country music" of the 1920s and 1930s, played by ordinary working people in communities before travel was easy, and before there were recordings to be heard on the radio. The term "old-time," in fact, is the name attached to this rural music by one of the first record companies to discover it and produce recordings.
The music may be fast or slow, played by a single banjo or fiddle, or the two together, or as a whole string band once guitars entered the scene somewhere after the turn of the century; there might be lyrics, although these are often "floating verses" common to many tunes. There's a great deal of syncopation. Tunes might have extra beats or bars, or missing beats or bars. Some wonderful tunes have not very much melody, and lots of rhythm. There are uptempo squaredance tunes in major keys, and slow haunting ones in modes somewhere between major and minor. There's a lot of variation between individual players as well as differing regional styles, and in common with folk music, no one "right way" to play any tune.
It's quite different from bluegrass (which was developed from old-time music and other influences) even though a number of tunes of the same name are played in both genres. Bluegrass was created to be enjoyed by an audience, and each instrument in turn stands out by playing an improvised solo break; old-time never was performance music, it's participatory music for playing and dancing.
