Tunes & Tune Research
Also see the Practice & Learning, Publications categories
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Thousands of tunes. Search for tunes by name, key, tuning, artist and collection.
Downloadable mp3 recordings
The Traditional Tune Archive
The Semantic Index of North American, British and Irish
traditional instrumental music with annotations, formerly known as The Fiddler's Companion. 55,000 tunes. Some tune histories, some notation, some recordings,
Years of recordings from the jam just west of Nashville. Free download of the Pegram Jam chord book, which is widely considered the bible of Old Time.
Listening and other download features are free; requires user name and password, available via email request link.
Old Time Fiddle Tunes
Transcriptions and audio files of 892 (and counting!) fiddle tunes from recordings, festivals, jams and workshops - collected by John Lamancusa from Penn State University
recordings, MIDI, video, written notation
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The National Fiddler Hall of Fame lessons with sheet music
29 slow tempo recordings for learning and practice
Good quality polyphonic (MPE) MIDI download of melodies, no written notation
Old Time, Celtic, English
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The site focuses on dance and fiddle tunes from several regions around the North Atlantic: Scandinavia, the British Isles, Québec, Maritime Canada including Cape Breton, Métis (Saskatchewan & Manitoba), New England, Appalachia, and more, but with obvious Irish influences).
ABC notation, MIDI, mp3 recordings, written notation. Searchable database
Old-time Festival Tunes... Fiddle Versions from Mel Bay publications
Very good selection of downloadable mp3 recordings
Berea College Hutchins Library Sound Archives
Transcriptions, audio. One of the best Appalachian archives available.
UNC-Chapel Hill Music Library
Library of Congress National Jukebox Traditional/Country
Original recordings. Also see UC Santa Barbara DAHR (below).
University of California at Santa Barbara Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR)
Searchable database of over 45,000 78 RPM recordings
Also check out the UCSB Cylinder Audio Archive database of over 22,000 cylinder recordings
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The Lomax Digital Archive (fiddle)
The Lomax Digital Archive (banjo)
Audio and visual collections from Alan and John Lomax collected between 1946-1991.
Lots more on this site to appreciate.
Traditional Old-Time (Oldtimey) Music of America
300+ Tunes & Songs With Sheet Music Scores basic single note MIDI download of melody
Transcriptions categorized by fiddling style
Tater Joes Old Time Musical Mercantile
Transcriptions, some recordings
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Audio, texts, movies
Lots of Bascom Lamar Lunsford Festival video
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The Milliner - Koken Collection of American Fiddle Tunes
1404 tune transcriptions, arranged alphabetically
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The Milliner - Koken Collection recordings
From the Slippery Hill website
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Appalachian Fiddle Music
Featuring 43 Fiddlers and 188 of Their Tunes
by Drew Beisswenger and Roy Andrade, with Scott Prouty
Audio files for this book (Slippery Hill)
NEW! 159 Original Georgia Fiddle Tunes
A Tribute To Georgia's 159 Counties
Audio files for this book (Slippery Hill)
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NEW! Keep It Old Time
Fiddle Music in Missouri from the 1960s Folk Music Revival to the Present
Audio files for this book (Slippery Hill)
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NEW! The Old-Time Fiddler's Repertory:
245 Traditional Tunes
Audio files for this book (Slippery Hill)
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NEW! Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes
Audio files for this book (Slippery Hill)
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Tennessee Archive of Moving Image & Sound
Vintage East Tennessee film, video & audio. Searchable database
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NEW! Folk Music Index- An Index to Recorded
and Print Resources
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NEW! Field Recorder's Collective
dedicated to the preservation and distribution of noncommercial recordings of traditional American music
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Of special interest is the About The Tunes! page which has supplementary history on the tunes that Dan plays.
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Radio and Podcast Listening
The Old Time Zone radio broadcast from Ellensburg (WA) Community Radio
Dale Brubaker plays an hour of Old Time every Wednesday at 7PM
Listen to archives anytime at Mixcloud.com
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East Tennessee's Own WDVX FM in Knoxville
Sunday afternoon programming features classic recordings and Old Time music. Stream past shows on the WDVX archives page.
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12-4 pm. Clinch River Breakdown with Nita
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5-6 pm Sunday Jubilee: Tennessee Country Classics with Joe Bussard
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6-7 pm Sunday Jubilee: Mountain Jubilee with Paul Campbell
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7-8 pm Sunday Jubilee: Live at Laurel with Brent Cantrell
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8-8:30 pmSunday Jubilee: Wild Hog in the Woods with Brent Cantrell
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8:30-9 pm Sunday Jubilee: Cumberland Trail with Bobby Fulcher
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9-10 pm Sunday Jubilee: Vinyl Frontier with Jim Childs
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WNCW FM in Asheville
Mountain Mornings show with Corrie Askew Sunday-Friday 6-7 AM
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Old Time Music with Cameron DeWhitt and Friends
WMMT Mountain Community Radio
Whitesburg, KY
Deep In Tradition with Rich Kirby
Practice & Learning
Also see the Tunes & Tune Research, Publications Categories
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Fiddles
Violin Scales and Arpeggios, Grades 1-5
Written notation and fingering diagrams
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Old Time Fiddling Tips by Bruce Molsky
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Major Scales for Violin/Fiddle - C Major
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7 First Position Scales for fiddle set to music
videos, classifieds, forums
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Fiddle Hangout Top 100 Old-Time Songs
recordings by Fiddle Hangout members
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7 Different Old Time Fiddle Tunings
video by George Jackson
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Banjos
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Brainjo Breakthrough Banjo Course
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Brainjo Fiddle For All with Adam Hurt
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videos, classifieds, forums
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More (100+) than you ever imagined!
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Lots of books and CDs from the banjo master.
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Guitars
386 pages of guitar chords for fiddle tunes taught in the Canote's Old Time String Band class since 1997
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Bass runs for guitar (Old Time & Bluegrass)
Stash Wyslouch from Molsky's Mountain Drifters
Backup guitar for old time fiddle
Chords for folk songs
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Mandolins
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Bass
Finding root notes, basic scales
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Learn How To Play The Upright Bass: Lesson 1
Miscellaneous
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Backing tracks, chords and tab
Knox Area String Instrument Services
Repairs, setups, and especially custom made instruments are highly personal choices.
Ask around - get references.
Rental, sales, repair, instrument making
Find A Teacher index on website
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Rental, sales, repair, restoration
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The String Workshop (Oak Ridge)
Full-service luthier
Authorized Martin, Gibson, Fender service center
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Instrument maker
Setup and repair for all fretted instruments
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Setup, repairs, rebuilds
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Knight Musical Instrument Repair
Guitar repair, setup
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Johnny Rushing (New Market)
865-765-1290
Custom guitar maker (No longer doing repairs)
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Ronnie Bales banjos (Gatlinburg)
865-407-6556
Custom banjo maker (seasonal resident)
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Custom mandolins, guitars, bouzoukis
Repairs, maintenance, restoration
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Dudenbostel Stringed Instruments (Maryville)
Custom mandolin, guitar maker
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Sound Files
Sound files are provided for educational use only, and may not be reproduced in any form.
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Recorded 4/21/22 at historic Savage Gardens in Fountain City.
14 tracks
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Recorded on various dates in 2022 at the Hummingbird Cafe
72 tracks
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Blackhorse Jam
3 years of tunes from the large Sunday jam at the Blackhorse Brewery. The acoustics could have been better, but there are hundreds of tunes, organized by date and key.
Video promo for jam shot 1/16/20
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Hundreds of tunes from the weekly jam at the Time Warp Tearoom from 2013-2021 thanks to Stu Elston.
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Garry Harrison and the Mule Team
Red Prairie Dawn album (2000)
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from the Slippery Hill website
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Charlie Acuff with John Hartford
1990 privately released cassette - 14 tunes
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1996 book of 14 transcriptions of Charlie's tunes from the 1990 privately released cassette recording "Left Handed Fiddler" (with John Hartford). Made available with permission of author Diane O'Brien.
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Miscellaneous
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Monday nights 7:30-11 at The Laurel Theater, Live music and skilled callers. Tickets at the door.
Knoxville Contra Dance Facebook Page
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Laurel Theater Square Dance
4th Thursdays at 7PM. Live Old Time music and skilled callers. Tickets at the door.
List of 2022 Old Time album releases taken from The Old Time Zone radio show.
List of 2023 Old Time album releases taken from The Old Time Zone radio show.
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How The Hippies Ruin't Hillbilly Music
A Historical Memoir 1960-2000 (paperback)
by St. "Wish" Wishnevsky
Publications
Also see the Tunes & Tune Research, Practice & Learning Categories
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"dedicated to preserving, promoting, and educating the public about traditional music".
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Fiddler Magazine (online only as of the Spring 2024 issue)
"an informative, educational, and entertaining resource for fiddlers, accompanists, and appreciative listeners".
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The Phillips Collection of Traditional American Fiddle Tunes Volume 1
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The Fiddler's Fakebook: The Ultimate Sourcebook For The Traditional Fiddler
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A collection of you tube videos based on the tunes in Fiddlers Fakebook
The Pegram Jam Fiddle Tune Chord Chart Book
free .pdf download
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