OTDL - Bluegrass, Punk Rock, shuffles and more

Hey friends,

This is Old Time Download – where I share what I know about Old Time music, what I'm working on, what I'm listening to, and more to inspire your playing.

As always, I love hearing from you all. Feel free to respond directly to this email and let me know if anything resonates.

What's new

After a spate of gigs, things have calmed for the season. So, with a little more free time, I'm building an app to help musicians catalog and organize their repertoire - think of it as a digital tune book with search and tagging features. At the very least, it'll be useful for me.

I plan to have a version online sometime in November and I'll provide more details as development progresses.

What I'm sharing on YouTube

Tunes I Like ep3: Amaro Sour. I got this from Ethan Hawkins and I'm a big fan. A little squirelly but still manageable. Give it a shot!

What I'm listening to

Waves on the Sea (Bandcamp, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music) by The Onlies.

This crew is one of the few Old Time bands that can crush bluegrass as well. Their new single is a prime example and it's a sound that I feel like is getting a little lost in the contemporary Bluegrass fray.

What else I'm listening to (that ain't old time)

Best Summer Ever (YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music) by RLY ORY.

Here's a video of them live too.

I know the parents of RLY ORY from my time in Colorado and it's been a hoot to watch the band's trajectory. RLY ORY is writing top notch original 90s/2000s style throwback punk music and playing it like pros.

It's also inspiring and makes me wish I had been a little more courageous in putting myself out there (musically and otherwise) at that age.

A quick tip for you fiddlers

Are you stuck in saw stroke purgatory? The shuffle (aka Nashville Shuffle) might be your huckleberry. The pattern is long-short-short, long-short-short, typically starting on a down bow. For those inclined to notation...

Old Time and Bluegrass tunes often contain long strings of eighth notes and the shuffle works well to break up your bowing while matching the style. Take for example these first two measures of a simplified Dull Chisel (by the great Garry Harrison):

Note the alternating two note slurs (those arcing lines you see above some of the notes which mean they're on the same bow stroke).

How to practice: If you find yourself sawing the bow back and forth for a long series of individual notes in some tune, see if you can play that same melody using a shuffle. Bonus points if you can switch between your old way of playing it and this new one.

And, if you're already familiar with this pattern you may – like some of my students – think it's kinda basic. WRONG. In the next Old Time Download I'll add some horsepower to this thing. Stay tuned.

That's all for now. Thanks for being here and, please, reach out if you've got questions or just want to say hi. As always, do forward this on if you know anyone who would get something out of it.

Carter 👨‍🎤

P.S. If you're interested in helping beta test the app I'm building, please let me know <3.