Traditional good-time music of the Southern Appalachians given fresh appeal by this UK-based, four-piece string band. Strong four-part harmony singing and kicking old-time tunes from a line-up featuring mandolin, banjo, octave mandolin and guitar.

17 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Appalachian Folk, COUNTRY: Old-Timey

Details:
The music.

The traditional music of the Southern Appalachians has risen in popularity over the last few years, with soundtracks of films like âOh Brother Where Art Thouâ and âCold Mountainâ and artists such as Uncle Earl and Bruce Molsky getting coverage in the media. Even Bruce Springsteen has gone back to his musical roots with his âWe Shall Overcomeâ reworking of traditional songs. Land of the Sky features a mixture of traditional songs and tunes and material wrtten and recorded in the âgolden ageâ of old-time music, the 1920s.

The band.

Four musicians with long experience of playing acoustic music of all kinds, we first came together to provide music for an Appalachian dance group based in Bakewell, Derbyshire. Since then we have gone on to play concerts, barn dances and festivals all around central England. A line -up which features two flavours of mandolin plus banjo and guitar produces a distinctive, driving style on the tunes and most songs feature three or four part harmony.

Trefor Griffith â guitar, vocals.
Helmut Rheingans â banjo, vocals.
Stuart Wade â mandolin, guitar, vocals.
Steve Wise - octave mandolin, guitar, vocals

Notable appearances. In a varied list of gigs over the years the following stand out: Gainsborough Annual Old-Time Festival; Sweet Sunny South Festival; Bakewell Arts Festival; Sheffield City Lights ceremony; Sheffield Folk Train; Oxfam annual fund-raising ceilidh. Plus pubs and barn dances too numerous to mention!

See us in action on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/downtroddenmusic
Visit us at our myspace page http://www.myspace.com/downtroddenstringband

People who are interested in Freight Hoppers Uncle Earl should consider this download.