Release Date: November 27, 2018
Evie Ladin – banjo, engineer
Joseph Dejarnette – mixing, mastering
Chip Reardin – bloomington engineer
Angelina Elise – cover art
Debbie Berne – design
BEST OF 2018
• Top Ten Trad Records – Devon Legér for Folk Alley
• Top Ten Old Time Records – Brad Kolodner for Bluegrass Country Radio
• Best of 2018 Americana and “one of the most enjoyable discs I’ve heard in a long time” by Bruce Sylvester for American Back Roads Radio, WMBR
• “At the top of my list for favorites of 2018!” Ray Edlund, KPFA
I fully expected to enjoy the CD, but I just needed to tell you how extraordinarily delighted I am with it. It is beautifully produced, the fiddlers are all extraordinary, and their performances and the tune selections are terrific. However, your banjo playing (and singing on the last track) just totally blow me away! Thank you! — Frank Hoppe, Bluegrass Country Radio
Evie Ladin grew up listening to the sounds of old time Appalachian music and her joyous enthusiasm for the style vibrates throughout…her clawhammer banjo matches each fiddler with a majestic rhythm and melodic backdrop. Fiddle players will delight in the mixed collection of songs, and will appreciate the nuance of tone and pacing that each musician imparts. — Bluegrass Breakdown
Fans often ask “which of your records is most traditional?”, to which I’ve had to answer “none.” Though all of my records have a mix of original and traditional music, I’ve focused on recording my own songs, my personal creative expression, and unusual arrangements of traditional material. Growing up surrounded by old-time and other folk music and dance, I always felt like “this is what people do,” and it was the experience rather than the capture of that music that interested me the most. While I straddle many musical worlds in my career, I work often in the traditional Appalachian arts, and it’s time to acknowledge the foundation of everything I do professionally, and record a totally trad record. For a year while on tour in the US, I visited some of my favorite fiddlers, age 20-65, men and women, and honestly I could keep going, as there are so many gorgeous fiddlers I love.
This record is a field recording – a good visit, mostly unrehearsed, looking for that vibe, that energy, the beautiful confluence of fiddle and banjo that draws me back into the music forever, no matter how far I take it. Almost all public domain, I note the source that was the inspiration for the version played here, which for some is simply the folk process (FP).
My favorite thing in this milieu is to sit down with a fiddler and launch fast into some crooked tune I’ve never heard. Every cell kicks in, and the experience is as much like I imagine Riding a Rooster to be – visceral, in the moment, somewhat off the chain. I hope you enjoy this collection.
Many thanks to all the musicians who unblinkingly agreed to join me here, and especially to my boys Keith & Clay who support me on this amazing journey of a musical life. This CD goes to print as I learn of the passing of Michael Defosche, who long ago made the neck of my banjo – affixed to a Slingerland pot – that has become my dear companion. I dedicate this record to him in gratitude. – Evie Ladin, October, 2018
1. Magnolia One Step (Nations Bros.)
Aaron Jonah Lewis Detroit, MI
2. Spring’s All Muddy and the Pond’s All Dry (Burl Hammonds)
Suzy Thompson – Berkeley, CA
3. Polly Put the Kettle On (Fred Cockerham)
Dave Bass – Durham, NC
4. Last Chance (FP)
Earl White – Indian Valley, VA
5. Redbird (Benton Flippen)
Amy Alvey – Her Van, USA
6. Checkin’ On the Taters (Rob Mangum)
Rob Mangum – Weaverville, NC
7. Sal Will You Marry Me (Melvin Wine)
Brad Leftwich – Bloomington, IN
8. Lost Girl (Clyde Davenport)
Michelle Yu – San Francisco, CA
9. Paddy on the Handcar (Tommy Hunter)
Rhys Jones – Fauquier County, VA
10. Chinquapin (Marion Shinaberry)
Emily Mann – Berkeley, CA
11. Bonaparte’s Retreat (FP)
June Drucker – Greenfield, MA
12. Running Through the White Oaks (Gribble, Lusk & York)
Karen Celia Heil – San Francisco, CA
13. Indian Ate the Woodchuck (Ed Haley)
Dane Miller – Davis, CA
14. Wild Horse at Stony Point (Will Adam)
Jake Blount – Washington, DC
15. Lost Indian (FP)
Rosie Newton – Ithaca, NY
16. Sail Away Ladies (Richard Bowman)
Nancy Sluys – Westfield, NC
17. Getting George Bush Upstairs (Perry Riley)
Sami Braman – Seattle, WA
18. Say Darling Say (FP, retort verse EL)
Evie Ladin – Oakland, CA
