Old-time music experienced a great loss in February 2020, with the passing of banjo player Mac Benford. Mac had submitted this essay to the OTH a few months earlier, and… Read More →
Main Content
Latest Issue
Volume 15, Number 1
Features
- Teodar Jackson and African American Fiddling from Texas: Lost Music from the Rural By Dan Foster
- History the “Great Man” Missed: Critiquing Ken Burns’ “Country Music” By Ted Olson
- The Highwoods Moment By Mac Benford
- Attic #21: Fiddle and Guitar By Paul F. Wells
Reviews
- Tell It to Me: Revisiting the Johnson City Sessions Reviewed by Bob Bovee
- Fiddle Noir: African American Fiddlers on Early Phonograph Recordings, 1925-1949 Reviewed by Bruce Miller
- Things Left Behind, by Thornton Spencer Reviewed by Bradley Kramer
- Allison de Groot and Tatiana Hargreaves (self-titled) Reviewed by Stuart Mason
- Mike Bryant and Paul Brown (self-titled) Reviewed by John Fabke
- Defiantly Joyous, by the True and Trembling String Band Reviewed by Pete Peterson
- Tom Mindte & Mason Via (self-titled) Reviewed by John Fabke
- Cinnamon Tree, by Nora Brown Reviewed by Bradley Kramer
- Holy Smoke! by Rafe Stefanini and David Bragger Reviewed by Stuart Mason
- The Fries Session Reviewed by Pete Peterson
- Old World Music of the Southern Appalachians, by Hog Eyed Man Reviewed by Stuart Mason
- La Coppia Sciascia: Italian Folk Songs from Abruzzo, 1927-1930 by Pasquale and Chiarina Sciascia Reviewed by Mark Humphrey
- Pictures from Life’s Other Side: The Man and His Music in Rare Photos and Recordings, by Hank Williams Reviewed by Mark Humphrey
- Speed Bumps on a Dirt Road: When Old Time Music Met Bluegrass, by John Cohen Reviewed by Jordan Smith
Here & There
From the Vault: Features

Erwin A. Thompson: The Music Breathed Him
by Janet Grace Riehl
November 9, 1915-March 28, 2015 If you have ever played or heard “John Short’s Tune,” a lively polka, then you have met my father, Erwin A. Thompson. He passed the… Read More →

History the “Great Man” Missed: Critiquing Ken Burns’ “Country Music”
by Ted Olson
Early Country Music, from the Top Down Before the debut broadcast of Country Music, filmmaker Ken Burns’s paean to American exceptionalism, that popular music genre was beloved among its core… Read More →

Attic #21: Fiddle and Guitar
by Paul F. Wells
One of the popular, recurring topics of discussion, debate, disagreement, and disputation among fans of old-time music is the question of when guitars began to be used as accompanying instruments… Read More →
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