I got Rustic Reel from our collaborator and dance master, Dr. Briant Bohleke.  He has been invaluable in providing authentic period music for us to play at many Civil War dances.  He also provides authentic choreography for the dances, including…

    The story I got on Steve Rosen’s 1985 composition, Nail That Catfish To The Tree, goes this way:  The author was on the banks of the Mississippi River watching a fisherman who hauled out, after a tremendous struggle, a…

    Acres Of Clams was written by Judge Francis D. Henry in 1874 in the Pacific Northwest.  The tune he used was that of a much older song, Rosin, The Beau.  Both the song and the tune have alternate titles…

        Maggie In The Woods is an old traditional Irish polka.  For some reason Irish musicians always seem to feel constrained to say “Kerry polka” when introducing polka sets even though almost every polka from Ireland is from County Kerry.  Who…

         “Hard Times Come Again No More: Published by Firth, Pond & Co., the song was copyrighted January 17, 1855, but the title page bears the date 1854.  It was probably published late in 1854 and then copyrighted in…

       Linda’s Schottische is a tune I’ve had for several years, going back to a now defunct Harrisburg-based band named Tea & Spice.  I don’t know who wrote it, for sure, or who Linda is but it’s a great melody that…

       Shove The Pigsfoot A Little Further In The Fire was featured in the movie Cold Mountain, a Nicole Kidman, Jude Law vehicle set in the southern US during the Civil War.  I first ran across it at a jam session…