Old-Time Conversations

Disillusioned with business at age 50, the author found himself irresistibly drawn to the joy and sense of community that music had first brought to his youth. Inspired by this rediscovered passion, he embarked on a remarkable 12–year odyssey, capturing the stories of artisans, performers, and teachers of traditional music across North America now preserved in this volume. These interviewees who represent the heart and soul of old-time music include instrument builders Bart Reiter, Patrick “Doc” Huff, Pete Ross, Zachary Hoyt, Bill Rickard, and William Seeders Mosheim; old-time performers Rayna Gellert, David Holt, James “Sparky” Rucker, Clare Milliner, Mac Benford, Sheila Kay Adams, Paul Brown and John McCutcheon; and historians and authors Dwight Diller, Bill Malone, Don Flemons, and Tim Brooks.

Craig R. Evans is a filmmaker, author, and musician documenting today’s North American traditional music community. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Craig R. Evans
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 287
Bibliographic Info: 76 photos, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2024
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9472-6
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5209-2
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vi
Foreword: Is This Heaven? by Clare Milliner 1
Preface 5
Introduction 9
Part I. My Story 13
1. The Early Years 14
2. The Artist’s Choice 26
3. College, Career and Crash 30
4. Life Interruptus: My Hero’s Journey 43
Part II. Talking ­Old-Time Community 65
Instrument Builders 69
5. Bart Reiter 70
6. Patrick “Doc” Huff 77
7. Pete Ross 84
8. Zachary Hoyt 90
9. Bill Rickard 98
10. William Seeders Mosheim 103
Performers and Teachers 109
11. Rayna Gellert 110
12. David Holt 119
13. James “Sparky” Rucker 129
14. Clare Milliner 140
15. Mac Benford 147
16. Sheila Kay Adams 154
17. Paul Brown 163
18. John McCutcheon 172
Historians and Authors 181
19. Dwight Diller 182
20. Bill Malone 188
21. Dom Flemons 198
22. Tim Brooks 209
Part III. In the Company of Music 227
23. Clifftop 228
24. Why Play ­Old-Time Music? 250
25. How Music Works Magic: A Conversation with Josh Turknett 259
Epilogue: An Invitation to Join the Fun 273
Bibliography 275
Index 277

• “In this testimonial to the five-string banjo, Craig Evans—author, musician, and filmmaker—finds a spiritual home and therapeutic community. His study centers on contemporary builders, players, and historians who tell a story of health, of a living tradition and sources of its longevity. From witnessing Doc Watson penetrate the core of a tune to coping with latter-day Jim Crow practice, from a disabled artisan making a surpassingly beautiful instrument, to a great scholar’s summation of broadcast minstrelsy, Old-time Conversations explores the fellowship of Southern Appalachian traditional music in the 21st century.”—Stephen Wade, author of The Beautiful Music All Around Us: Field Recordings and the American Experience

• “In this culmination of years of research, documentation, and performances, Craig Evans proves what many of us have experienced—that making music can be a path to joy, fulfillment, and healing. An impassioned writer, successful promoter, and banjo devotee, he grabs us by the collar and tells us story after story to make his case for the beauty and benefit of this iconic American instrument and the community of people who have devoted their lives to it.”—Dan Sheehy, director and curator emeritus, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

• “Welcome to Craig Evans world of banjo. It’s the builders and players. From attending the great yearly gathering in Clifftop, West Virginia he was introduced to a world of people who share a love of old-time music, Craig’s book takes you into the lives of important people in this world. He has explored it in great detail through this book and a series of videos where he has spent hundreds of hours researching and looking inside this. The Smithsonian Institution thought enough of Craig’s works to accept his oral histories into the national collections so those who want to research the music have it to explore.”—Jeff Place, curator and senior archivist, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings

• “With joy and enthusiasm, Craig Evans paints a picture of a moment in time and, in so doing, captures the essence of a community that is not so much geographic in nature, but is, in fact, a community of the heart. Evans shows us a community bound by shared meals, togetherness, and a deep love for traditional American music. In Old-time Conversations, Craig Evans makes us aware that there is goodness in the world.”—Howard Rains, artist, musician

• “Craig Evans is a man on a mission, and traveling with him on that mission is almost as joyous as the music he and his subjects create. First through his own story, and then through the stories of those he interviews, he shows how old-time music-making has enriched the lives of individuals from many different backgrounds. He’s an excellent and perceptive interviewer, and the stories he coaxes from his subjects demonstrate how much fulfillment and satisfaction old-time music and the music community have brought to them—and can also bring to the reader who goes on this journey with him.”—Tim Brooks, author, The Blackface Minstrel Show in Mass Media

• “Old-time music has transformed Craig Evans’ life and that transformation has compelled him to have meaningful conversations with individuals who have made this music an important part of their life. These conversations shed light on the precious gift music provides an individual and gives us insight into how it binds us together. In Old-time Conversations, Craig Evans is preserving traditional music as it is today.”—Tricia Spencer, musician, teacher, artist, author

• “Blending autobiography, ethnography, and philosophy, Craig Evans’ engaging book deftly distills scores of interviews into rich portrayals of Southern old time string band music, its contemporary makers, and their motives.”—Dr. James P. Leary, emeritus professor of folklore and scandinavian studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, author of Folksongs of Another America

• “Craig Evans has written an insightful book with intriguing questions and illuminating answers which delve into the lives of America’s troubadours. It belongs on every bookshelf.”—James “Sparky” Rucker, folklorist, musician, historian, storyteller and author

•“I was one of the first banjo builders Craig interviewed. He drove across 5 states to come to my house and meet me. We sat in the backyard talking about what it is that I do…and why I do it. Next, he asked to see my shop and show him how I make banjos. Nobody had shown that much interest in my banjo building before. Craig then went on to record quite a few more banjo builders and made a DVD of those films, now at Smithsonian Folkways. I figured filming this history puts a proper perspective on just how important a role the instrument builders play in the Traditional Music Community. These instruments give people their voice in the language of music. I felt thanking Craig was in order. So, I gave him a banjo for that effort.”—Bart Reiter, banjo builder, retired

•
“Craig Evans, the author of Old-Time Conversations, rediscovered old-time music and the community that keeps it alive at age of fifty, in a deeply personal experience at a difficult time of his life…. Writing in a highly personal style, he draws the reader into the old-time community in the way he, years before, had also discovered it.”—Ted Lehmann, blogger,Ted Lehmann’s Film, Books, Music & Commentary