Evie Ladin – banjo, engineer
Joseph Dejarnette mixing, mastering
Angelina Elise – cover art
Debbie Berne – design
Snap Jackson – photo
Fully inspired by the response from the first Riding the Rooster album, as soon as global pandemic allowed I continued the project with the seemingly endless list of fiddle players I just love playing with. Dodging variants, this second edition took longer than hoped, but still had eager and positive response from all players I had the great fortune of crossing paths with in the years since RtR came out in 2018.
Once again, I approached this project as 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.
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 much like I imagine Riding a Rooster to be – visceral, in the moment, somewhat off the chain. Recordings were done with different mic set-ups, playing either my Seeders Dobson, or my steadfast workhorse banjo with a Slingerland pot and neck by MC DeFosche.
A multitude of thanks to all the players who found the time to sit down with me and play some favorite tunes. I hope you enjoy this collection. – Evie Ladin, Oakland, CA
PS – yes one of these “fiddle” players is actually a guitarist.
And since this music owes so much to the hills and valleys of Western North Carolina, $1 from every purchase will go to Hurricane Relief, for as long as I sell it to people like you.
Bonus Track:
My Epitaph (Ola Belle Reed) 3:13
Evie Ladin Band
w/ Keith Terry, Erik Pearson Oakland, CA