Ive been watching a ton of these videos.. ive never seen a group of guitarists who just play rhythm... usually, in all my experiences in a jam session setting, all the other musicians wanted to outdo all the others... kudos to the guitarists.. they seem to know just about every fiddle tune .. the only thing missing that i couldnt see was a camp fire at night.. but there may have been one somewhere else.. dang. I cant stop watching , it looks like a great time...
It's an interesting observation that you make, Leonard, and one worth addressing. Jam sessions can be a very personal thing. And every genre of music has their own particular etiquette when it comes to jamming. What might work perfectly for a bluegrass jam or on old-time fiddle jam, may not work as well with a gypsy jazz jam or Texas style jam and vice versa. Like you mentioned, in some circles there is a tradition of two, three, or more fiddlers all taking turns on a tune trying to good-naturedly "out do" one another. Personally, I love jam sessions where you can hear different fiddlers doing different things with the same tune. As far as the Camp Sumner Sessions videos are concerned, for the most part, it's one fiddler at a time with various pickers coming and going. The main constant is Scott and Anne Sumner whose greatest joy in life is to play music with their friends. They will pick all day and all night, literally, although Scott is one heck of a fiddler in his own right. Luke and Tashina have been friends for many years and there is no competition between them in a jam session setting. They leave any competitive spirit for the contest stage. Very glad to hear you are enjoying the videos and yes...it was a great time.
oh, yeah, and as far as having a campfire...great idea...but not an option on the grounds of the high school in Weiser, Idaho, where the contest is held.
Although, it is not unusual to get thunder and lightning storms and heavy downpours during this contest in June, I am afraid that sound you hear, Ben, is wind raking the microphone on the external audio recorder. Unfortunately, the official Joy of Fiddling producer/director/cameraman/editor/sound recorder neglected to put a wind shield on that microphone. I've got to start hiring better people. ; )
Howdy Charles! Honored to have a Virginian stop by the Joy of Fiddling channel. Your comment got my attention because it reminded of one of the reasons I'm so fascinated by the culture of old-time fiddling. Fiddlers from around the country and the world can play the same tune but the way that tune is interpreted stylistically is usually very, very different, depending on what region a fiddler comes from. The very same thing can be said about the style of backup accompaniment, including what instruments may or may not be used, chords, rhythm, etc. If you hear Canadian fiddler Patti Kusturok play "Saratoga Reel" followed by Texas style fiddler Ricky Boen playing it (examples of both on youtube BTW) there is no doubt that you're hearing the same tune but the two versions are worlds apart stylistically and that includes how the backup musicians accompany the tune. As far as how the musicians in this video play "Salt River", there is a very good reason why you are hearing that "swing". While Luke, Scott, and Anne live in Oregon, Sydney in Colorado, and Simon in Washington, they all share a love of Texas style fiddling and of course the Texas style rhythm that goes with it. Their fiddling heroes are Texas style legends Benny Thomasson, Terry Morris, Major Franklin, Orville Burns, and others. And their picking heroes are rhythm pioneers like Omega Burden, Jerry Thomasson, Rex Gillentine, Ray and Royce, the Franklin Brothers, among others. And those folks were highly influenced by Western Swing bands like Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys and jazz violinists of the 1920's-30's like Sven Asmussen, Stephane Grappelli, Stuff Smith, and others. But probably the most simple answer to why you were hearing that swing, is given by Luke at the end of the video where he describes being influenced and inspired by fiddler Louis Franklin (also can be found on youtube.) who was one of the great Texas fiddlers renowned for his rockin', swingin' style.
