Recordings
In 2004, the group recorded their first full-length CD, "Just a Spoonful (and other Folksongs of Rural Cook County)", with noted engineer Bob Weston. The record was made as a modern field recording in an empty Chicago two flat, capturing the band live to two-track analog tape, using vintage recording equipment. In stark contrast to most modern recordings, the CD was made without edits or overdubs. The album's tunes drew from old-time country (Train 45, Katy Kline), Blues (Spoonful), Bluegrass (Orange Blossom Special), and Jazz (Duke Ellington's C Jam Blues).The record received rave reviews from the music press in publications such as Sing Out!, Bluegrass Unlimited, and the Chicago Reader. Chicago Reader music critic Monica Kendrick also drew attention to the CD's humorous liner notes, written by Jazz critic Alexander Gelfand and mandolinist Kenneth Rainey.
Tangleweed's second full-length CD, "Where You Been So Long?", was recorded at King Size Sound Labs in Chicago, with engineer Mike Hagler (Billy Bragg, Wilco). The group expanded their source material to include traditional Irish ballads and tunes (the Leaving of Liverpool, the Musical Priest, and Whiskey Before Breakfast), folk ragtime (Draggin' the Bow), and western swing (I Found a New Baby). The CD was similarly well-received, garnering airplay in twenty countries and twice appearing on the Folk Music Airplay chart. The band's song "Wrap Yourself Around Me" was a semifinalist in the 2005 International Songwriting competition.
Tangleweed recorded an interpretation of the popular sea shanty "South Australia" for the "Old Town School of Folk Music Songbook Series, volume 2", on Chicago-based Bloodshot Records. The recording is actually a medley of two tunes, as the band inserted the traditional fiddle tune Fisher's Hornpipe between verses. The Songbook Series sessions were engineered by John Abbey in a mobile recording facility at the school.
Their third CD, "Most Folk Heroes Started Out As Criminals," was released in October, 2008. Their fourth CD, "Please Punch Richard for Me" was released in July, 2011. Their fifth CD, "In the Unlikely Event of a Water Landing" was released in 2016.
Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region of the United States. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Like mainstream country music, it largely developed out of old-time string music, though in contrast, bluegrass is traditionally played exclusively on acoustic instruments and also has roots in traditional English, Scottish, and Irish ballads and dance tunes as well as in blues and jazz. Bluegrass was further developed by musicians who played with Monroe, including 5-string banjo player Earl Scruggs and guitarist Lester Flatt. Monroe characterized the genre as, "Scottish bagpipes and ole-time fiddlin'. It's a part of Methodist, Holiness and Baptist traditions. It's blues and jazz, and it has a high lonesome sound."
The Memphis Jug Band was an American musical group active from the mid-1920s to the late-1950s. The band featured harmonica, kazoo, fiddle and mandolin or banjolin, backed by guitar, piano, washboard, washtub bass and jug. They played slow blues, pop songs, humorous songs and upbeat dance numbers with jazz and string band flavors. The band made the first commercial recordings in Memphis, Tennessee, and recorded more sides than any other prewar jug band.
"The Devil Went Down to Georgia" is a song written and recorded by American music group Charlie Daniels Band and released on their 1979 album Million Mile Reflections.
Delano Floyd McCoury is an American bluegrass musician. As leader of the Del McCoury Band, he plays guitar and sings lead vocals along with his two sons, Ronnie McCoury and Rob McCoury, who play mandolin and banjo respectively. In June 2010, he received a National Heritage Fellowship lifetime achievement award from the National Endowment for the Arts and in 2011 he was elected into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame.
Randall Franks is an American film and television actor, author, and bluegrass singer and musician who plays fiddle, mandolin, guitar, and mountain dulcimer. The singer was nominated for 2023 Inspirational Vocalist and Musician of the Year at the 9th Annual Josie Music Awards at the Grand Ole Opry House. He was inducted into the Tri-State Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2022; and America's Old Time Country Music Hall of Fame in 2019; Independent Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013; recognized by the International Bluegrass Music Museum & Hall of Fame in 2010 as a Bluegrass Legend; the Carolinas Country, Bluegrass and Gospel Hall of Fame presented him it’s Legend Award and designated him as the “Appalachian Ambassador of the Fiddle” in 2010; inducted into the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004; and was designated by Catoosa County, Ga. as "Appalachian Ambassador of the Fiddle" in 2004; and was inducted into the Chamber Business Person Hall of Fame and honored as Patriotic Citizen of the Year in 2020. He was chosen as the first 2020 AirPlay Direct Evolution Grant Artist (www.AirPlayDirect.com).
Appalachian music is the music of the region of Appalachia in the Eastern United States. Traditional Appalachian music is derived from various influences, including the ballads, hymns and fiddle music of the British Isles, the African music and blues of early African Americans, and to a lesser extent the music of Continental Europe.
Henry Thomas was an American country blues singer, songster and musician. Although his recording career, in the late 1920s, was brief, Thomas influenced performers including Bob Dylan, Taj Mahal, the Lovin' Spoonful, the Grateful Dead, and Canned Heat. Often billed as "Ragtime Texas", Thomas's style is an early example of what later became known as Texas blues guitar.
Laurie Alexis Lewis is an American singer, musician, and songwriter in the genre of bluegrass music.
The Sons of the Never Wrong is a Chicago-based singer/songwriter folk music trio founded in 1992. Current band members are Bruce Roper, Deborah Maris Lader, and Sue Demel.
Clarence Horton Greene was an American musician and recording artist, noted for his fiddle and guitar work, and a pioneer in country music of the 1920s.
Charles Thomas Bowman was an American old-time fiddle player and string band leader. He was a major influence on the distinctive fiddle sound that helped shape and develop early Country music in the 1920s and 1930s. After delivering a series of performances that won him the first prize in dozens of fiddle contests across Southern Appalachia in the early 1920s, Bowman toured and recorded with several string bands and vaudeville acts before forming his own band, the Blue Ridge Music Makers, in 1935. In his career, he would be associated with country and bluegrass pioneers such as Uncle Dave Macon, Fiddlin' John Carson, Roy Acuff, Charlie Poole, and Bill Monroe.
Bill Clifton is an American bluegrass musician and singer who is credited with having organized one of the first bluegrass festivals in the United States in 1961.
American fiddle-playing began with the early European settlers, who found that the small viol family of instruments were more portable and rugged than other instruments of the period. According to Ron Yule, "John Utie, a 1620 immigrant, settled in the North and is credited as being the first known fiddler on American soil". Early influences were Irish, Scottish, and English fiddle styles, as well as the more upper-class traditions of classical violin playing. Popular tunes included "Soldier's Joy", for which Robert Burns wrote lyrics, and other tunes such as "Flowers of Edinburgh" and "Tamlin," which have both been claimed by both Scottish and Irish lineages.
Bluegrass fiddling is a distinctive style of American fiddle playing which is characterized by bold, bluesy improvisation, off-beat "chopping", and sophisticated use of both double-stops and old-time bowing patterns.
L Shape Lot is an American band from Wilmington, North Carolina. The band plays Americana/folk rock/roots rock/bluegrass music. They are noted for their four part harmonies, and lively stage show. Since 2006 the band members have been Eric Miller on acoustic Guitar, Alex Lanier on electric and acoustic guitar, Rick Williams on bass, and John Kovalski on drums. All members sing, with Eric Miller taking most lead vocals.
Live: New York City 1982 is an album by the David Bromberg Quartet. As the title indicates, it was recorded live in New York City in 1982. It was released by Appleseed Recordings on July 14, 2008.
Jack Lawrence is an American bluegrass guitarist. He was Doc Watson's performing partner since the early 1980s. As major influences, Lawrence cites Doc Watson, Clarence White, and Django Reinhardt.
Daniel Shane Knicely, known as Danny Knicely, is an American country and bluegrass musician. In addition to singing, he plays guitar, fiddle, and mandolin. His album releases include: The Evenin' News, Chop, Shred & Split, Waltz for Aimee, The Melody Lingers, Roots and Branches, and Murders, Drownings and Lost Loves (2006) — which he recorded with Will Lee.
Joe Mullins is an American banjo player, vocalist, band leader, and radio broadcaster. He plays bluegrass and gospel music.
Kukuruza is a Russian band who progressed from a student startup to become an international touring act in the early 1990s.
