Traditional Music of Texas, Volume 1: Fiddle Recordings from the Texas Folklife Archives

Traditional Music of Texas, Volume 1: Fiddle Recordings from the Texas Folklife Archives

Read Album Liner Notes Notes by Producers Dan Margolies & Charlie Lockwood

Texas Folklife is proud to announce the release of Traditional Music of Texas, Volume 1: Fiddle Recordings from the Texas Folklife Archives, available in CD format on December 5, 2014.  This compilation album of digitized archival audio recordings represents the rich variety of fiddle traditions found across the state of Texas.  The album release is in celebration of the first inaugural Festival of Texas Fiddling at Twin Sisters Dance Hall in Blanco, TX on Saturday December 6, 2014, presented by Texas Folklife and Texas Dance Hall Preservation, Inc. 

Traditional Music of Texas, Volume 1: Fiddle Recordings from the Texas Folklife Archives contains digitized archival audio cassette recordings of past Texas Folklife programs dating from the 1990's, including live recordings of fiddle workshops, field recordings from Texas Folklife's apprenticeship program in the folk & traditional arts, and recordings from live concert events produced by Texas Folklife.  Artists and styles featured on the album include legendary Texas fiddler Johnny Gimble, Texas breakdowns and contest style fiddling by Ricky Turpin and Valerie Ryals, Polish style fiddling by Brian Marshall, Texas-Mexican fiddle music of Rio Grande Valley by Jose Moreno, and down home Texas style fiddling by Bill Gilbert and Mike Henderson.

Audio cassette recordings of Texas fiddle music were selected from Texas Folklife's archives and digitized with the assistance of University of Texas at Austin School of Information archivists.  This album aims to be the first in a series of albums compiled from digitized Texas Folklife archival recordings highlighting Texas regional Texas music traditions. 

Track Listing:

1) Johnny Gimble & Ricky Turpin - Sally Johnson

2) Johnny Gimble & Ricky Turpin - Tom and Jerry

3) Johnny Gimble & Ricky Turpin - Beaumont Rag

4) Johnny Giemble & Ricky Turpin - Hill Country Sunset

5) Johnny Gimble & Ricky Turpin - Silver Lake Blues

6) Valerie Ryals - Cotton Patch Rag

7) Jose Moreno - Entrale en Ayunas

8) Jose Moreno - Jesusita en Chihuahua

9) Jose Moreno - Como Me Las Pinten Brinco

10) Jose Moreno - Mira Luisa

11) Brian Marshall & Rudy Lopez - Chapel Hill Special

12) Brian Marshall - Kuba's Wedding Waltz (courtesty of Arhoolie Records)

13) Bill Gilbert, Mike Henderson & Merry Finley - Salt River

14) Bill Gilbert, Mike Henderson & Merry Finley - Sally Johnson

Produced by: Dan Margolies & Charlie Lockwood

Executive Producer: Cristina Ballí

All tracks digitized from the Texas Folklife archival collection by Charlie Lockwood and Jullianne Ballou

Remastered by: Evan Kaspar

Graphic Design and Layout by: Gabriel Endres

Thanks to: Jacqueline Georges, Armando Sanchez, Amy Mitchell, Texas Folklife staff, members and supporters, Pat Jasper and staff of Texas Folklife Resources, UT Austin iSchool, Texas Dance Hall Preservation, Inc, Still Water Foundation, Rudy Lopez, Piper LeMoine, Frank Baldomero, Rigo Garza, Bradley Williams, Mark Rubin, Frank Motley, Dick Gimble, and Larry Franklin.  A special thank you to all the fiddlers featured on this album and their families.