Customer Reviews

Ragtime Episode

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Clarke Buehling is a hidden treasure, as a musician, an entertainer, a historian, and a thinker. This is a fun album of ragtime music played by an ensemble including fiddle, banjo, bass, guitar percussion,. The 1890s and 1910s were the height of the era of banjo. Banjo playing was going on from the British Royal Family (Prince Edward gave his mistresses banjos while his sister took lessons) to the backwoods of Kentucky and the bottom lands of Mississippi.

We get a samples of the rich and developed literature of banjo music of that time. Ragtime benefited from this richness with the transcription of songs of the greatr ragtime composers like Scott Joplin (whose mother played the banjo)as well as now-forgotten composers who wrote their ragtime directly for the banjo.

The lead here are done mainly by Buehling on the banjo (in its various configurations) plus an ensemble including violin, guitar, second banjo and occasional cello. On most selections where the violin is present it is doubling the melody in unison with the banjo.for ensembles led by banjo including original compositions and transcriptions of piano music to banjo.

The Skirtlifters take you through a rich array of tunes. Since Amazon doesnt show what is played here, the tunes are Fire Bell Galop / Creole Belles / Bowery Buck / Tickle Toes / The Old Man's Dream / The Entertainer / Darktown Dandies / Palladium Rag / In a Dixie Dell / Blaze Away! / A Ragtime Episode / Carolina Tar Heel / Rag-Time Dance / Georgia Grind / Levee Pastime / Maple Leaf Rag / Sweet Corn / Hot Corn.

Apart from the history, this record is just plain delightful fun. It is the kind of CD that you have to fight not to play all the time.