“For an Old Time, Call...”

As more and more of our culture becomes digitized, the era when 78-rpm records first became popular seems more and more remote. For more than 30 years, folk and acoustic musicians have been inspired by the diversity and distinctiveness of the recordings of the 1920s and 30s. At the same time, those recordings also affected the style and repertoire of musicians who today are the sources for traditional music. The Double Decker Stringband has for 20 years explored this mix. As one reviewer says, "they work at important crossroads of southern traditions: vocal and instrumental, white and black, sacred and worldly." Cathy met multi-instrumentalist Bruce Hutton 20 years ago when he managed the Red Lion, a Washington D.C. folk club. Fiddler Bill Schmidt and guitarist John Beam joined Bruce and played in the D.C. area and the northeast, and the band is now well respected in the old-time music world across the U.S. While their instrumental work can include any number of hard-driving dance tunes, their particular interest in old-time songs distinguishes them among old-time bands. Their singing is not an imitation, but an honest personal encounter with southern singing style. Sometimes songs recorded 70 years ago take on deeper poetic and social impact when performed today.