Century-old country music: Charles D'Almaine, from 1905

There are those who would accuse this performance of lacking "authenticity." What that means in the case of a century-old 78 RPM medley of fiddle tunes, I have no idea. It sounds country enough to me--listening to Charles D'Almaine's excellent and spirited violin work, I can easily picture a lively 1905 barn dance in progress (though minus the orchestra, perhaps). The tunes are: De'il Among the Tailors, Flow'r of Edinburg, Speed the Plow, Tom and Jerry, Roger's Reel, Miss McCloud's Reel, and Auld Lang Syne. My copy is pretty worn--in fact, the flip side is beyond hope. But I got a listenable file out of this, the A side. (And a new copy is on the way from The Bay):


















Notice that the second-to-last number, Miss McCloud's Reel, shows up in Aaron Copland's Hoe-Down (1942) as McLeod's Reel. An old Scottish tune, says Google. No doubt.

Something to think about: if these reels were "old time" in 1905, what are they now, one hundred years later?? Really old time? Post-old-time? Something I've been noticing for years, courtesy of 78 labels and early-20th-century songbook titles, is that the use of the adjective "old" is, well, old. The Irony Police are speeding to this address as I type this.

Imagine a bunch of people at a 1901 barn dance: "What do you want to hear?"--Bandleader. "Play some of the old tunes!"--Audience. I reckon that "old" is wherever you happen to be, time-wise, at the moment.

I hope you enjoyed this 100-year-old barn dance--a prime example of post-old-time music.


Lee