Category: Events

Old-Time String Band Class at Walker Creek Camp-April 7-10

David Bragger will be teaching the Old-Time String Band class at the Walker Creek Music Camp on April 7-10. He will also be teaching two additional old-time fiddle classes including his Will Adam: African American Fiddler class.

This class is designed for musicians who are interested in having a foot-stomping, great old time while learning to play tunes/songs from the great canon of old-time music. We’ll focus on some classic square dance tunes as well as some obscure bluesy pieces. We’ll also focus on the pulse and downbeat that makes this music so danceable and mesmerizing. Fiddles, banjos, guitars, mandolins, basses, singers all welcome, also those fringe instruments such as ukuleles and autoharps.

Prerequisites: Students should have basic knowledge of their instrument, the ability to tune their instrument, a handful of common chords (guitar, mandolin) and know how to play some classic old-time tunes.

Bring: a recording device and a list of tunes that you know.

David Bragger is a performer and teacher of old-time music on a variety of early American stringed instruments. He is a world-renowned fiddle instructor who teaches workshops and private lessons around the globe. David is the director of the prestigious Old-Time String Band Ensemble in the UCLA Ethnomusicology Department. He is also the artistic director of the Santa Barbara Old-Time Fiddlers’ Convention and a producer/workshop coordinator for the Los Angeles Old-Time Social. David is also the founder of the Old-Time Tiki Parlour where he documents the greatest living musicians of traditional American music for the premier old-time label Tiki Parlour Recordings. We are pleased to welcome David to our staff for the first time.

Spencer & Rains and Skeleton Keys in Los Angeles

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The Old-Time Tiki Parlour is proud to present Spencer & Rains with their six-piece stringband The Skeleton Keys! Fiddles, banjo, guitars, bass, accordion, ukelele and a pair of golden throats perform the arcane tunes of Texas and Kansas. This will be a rare oppurtunity to see them with The Skeleton Keys!
In order to keep this event as intimate as possible, seating is limited.

On Saturday, February 11th 2017 at 8:30PM. This special event has limited seating and it will be held at Timewarp Records in Los Angeles.
An old-time jam hosted by David Bragger will begin at 7:00.
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Venue Info and Tickets are available HERE.

skeleton-keys-cropped2-1024x517Tricia Spencer and Howard Rains are two of the greatest emerging artists in the traditional music scene!

The band came about when Tricia and Howard recorded The Old Texas Fiddle, Vol II. They gathered together a group of dear musical friends: Charlie and Nancy Hartness of Athens, GA on ukulele and guitar, respectively, Brendan Doyle of Oakland, CA on banjo, and Virginia Musser, of Lawrence, KS, on bass. When the band started performing, Emily Mann of San Francisco, CA took over the bass duties.

The Skeleton Keys specialize in early Texas fiddle tunes as well as old tunes from the Midwest and the Spencer Family in particular. Centered around Spencer & Rains twin fiddling, Doyles pitch-perfect fiddle-like banjo style, and the Hartnesss and Manns air-glide rhythm, the Keys create their own unique sound but stay true to the roots of the music.

Tiki Parlour Presents: Foghorn Stringband Live in Los Angeles

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The Tiki Parlour is proud to present an evening with this smoking, barn bustin’ old-time superforce that redefined modern old-time string band music!
On Thursday, January 19th 2017 at 8:30PM, Foghorn will mark their return to Los Angeles! This special event has limited seating and it will be held at Timewarp Records in Los Angeles. Tiki Parlor’s David Bragger will lead an old-time jam at 7:00.
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Venue Info and Tickets are available HERE.
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The Foghorn Stringband is the present day shining gold standard for American string band music, with eight albums, thousands of shows, over a decade of touring under their belts, and an entirely new generation of old-time musicians following their lead. They’ve been steadily proving that American roots music is a never-ending well of inspiration.

The music of The Foghorn Stringband revolves around four master musicians: Portland, Oregon-based Caleb Klauder (vocals, mandolin, fiddle) and Reeb Willms (vocals, guitar), and Yukon-based Nadine Landry (vocals, upright bass) and Stephen ‘Sammy’ Lind (vocals, fiddle, banjo). Each member of The Foghorn Stringband comes not only from a different part of the American roots music spectrum, but leads the pack in their field as well. Caleb Klauder’s wistful, keening vocals and rapid-fire mandolin picking are as influenced by Southern roots music as much as by his upbringing in Washington State. Also from Washington, Reeb Willms grew up in the state’s Eastern farmlands singing hard-bitten honky-tonk with her family. Nadine Landry’s roots lie in the rural backroads of Acadian Québec, but she cut her teeth as one of the best bluegrass bassists in Western Canada. Minnesotan Stephen ‘Sammy’ Lind, simply put, is one of the best old-time fiddlers of his generation and has a voice that sounds like it’s coming from an old 78.

Onstage, The Foghorn Stringband gather around one microphone, balancing their music on the fly, and playing with an intense, fiery abandon.

To Foghorn, this music is as relevant today as it was a century ago. They see themselves not as revivalists, but as curators and ardent fans, and their music is a celebration of these roots. From their origins in Portland Oregon’s underground roots music scene in the late 90s and early 00s, when members of today’s hot bands like The Decemberists and Blind Pilot were gathering to explore the roots of American folk music, The Foghorn Stringband have spread the old-time string band gospel all over the world. Along the way, they’ve brought in influences and inspirations from their many travels and late-night jam sessions. Old-time square dance tunes now rub shoulders with Cajun waltzes, vintage honky-tonk songs, and pre-bluegrass picking. This is the kind of bubbling musical brew which first intoxicated the American mainstream in the day.

Joe Fontenot CD Release Party

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Joe Fontenot’s official CD Release Party is finally here! After months of conflicting schedules and a few unforeseen health issues, Mr. Joe is finally celebrating his debut release L’Echo a Travers Le Clos (Echo Across the Field) with a big Cajun dance!

On Sunday, October 23rd at 4:30 at the Golden Sails Hotel in Long Beach, California, were gonna have a big ‘ol party!

Location: 6285 Pacific Coast Hwy  Long Beach, CA 90803

Santa Barbara Old-Time Fiddlers’ Convention

Tiki Parlour’s David Bragger has just been named the new Artistic Director of the 45th Annual Old-Time Fiddlers’ Convention & Festival.

There’ll be Bands, an exciting Contest, Instrument & Flatfooting Workshops, an old-time Raffle, an Instrument Petting Zoo, Craft Beer & Wine and tons of Jamming! Ticket Sales and Contest Registration are now online!

When? It’s Sunday, October 9th from 10-5. More info HERE!

Tickets are now available HERE!

You can pre-register for the contest directly HERE!

Who? Meredith Axelrod, Thompsonia (Eric, Suzy and Allegra Thompson), Sausage Grinder, Peter Feldmann, Echo Mountain, The Darling Brothers and The Salt Martians. More info on the performers HERE!

Jams & Workshops- There will be workshops in old-time fiddle, banjo, mandolin and flatfooting! There’ll also be hosted old-time jams! More info HERE!

Contest-There’ll be an old-time music contest with categories in Fiddle, Banjo, Singing, Band, Mandolin, Guitar, Other Folk Instrument and Best Back-Up. More general contest info HERE!

 

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Sausage Grinder - L to R: David Bragger, Susan Platz, Chris Berry Photo by David Bragger www.sausagegrindermusic.com

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Bruce Molsky Release Party at the Tiki Parlour

A year in the making! We just released the Bruce Molsky Set “Can’t Stay Here This a-Way” on DVD & CD!

On Saturday May 7th we celebrated with Bruce Molsky and his playing pals Paula Bradley and Allison DeGroot AND the most wonderful crew of old-time musicians and Tiki Parlour students from Los Angeles and beyond! Enjoy!

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11th Ever Los Angeles Old-Time Social Workshops

Howdy Folks! The 11 Ever Los Angeles Old-Time Social is upon us on May 12-14th! As Workshop Coordinator for Saturday the 14th I’m ecstatic to post this year’s workshops! You can click on the poster to go to the official LAOTS website!

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But don’t forget to attend the Thursday Night Kick-Off Party at El Cid in Hollywood and the Friday Night Concert at the Velasavaslay Theater in Los Angeles! The Tiki Parlour houseband Sausage Grinder will be providing entertainment Friday night too!!

Compton & Newberry with Sausage Grinder

in Los Angeles on March 12th at 8:00–SOLD OUT!

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The Old-Time Tiki Parlour presents Compton & Newberry with Los Angeles’ premier old-time jug band Sausage Grinder.

Live in Los Angeles on Friday, March 12th at 8:00PM

The event will be held at Timewarp Records
12204 Venice Blvd.
Los Angeles, 90066

Tickets are only $20 for this rare and exciting concert. 
You can order tickets safely and directly HERE
or you can send me a check. Contact David Bragger if you have questions.

Please RSVP as soon as possible!

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WORKSHOPS!

Joe Newberry will be teaching a BANJO workshop
on Friday, March 11th at 7:00 at The Old-Time Tiki Parlour.

Mike Compton will be teaching a MANDOLIN workshop
on Saturday, March 12th at 5:00 before the concert at Timewarp Records.

Workshop seats are very limited, so contact David Bragger ASAP to reserve your seat.

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Mike Compton and Joe Newberry mine one of the more neglected segments of country music history, that period during the ’30s and ’40s when brother duet music was transforming into bluegrass. Both masters of the bedrock instruments of old time music, they collaborate with a vision that is both modern and ageless. These two traditional music veterans love to play together… and it shows!

Mandolin Magazine calls Mike Compton a player with “a worldwide reputation as one of the modern masters of bluegrass mandolin…one of the most recognizable and respected mandolin voices anywhere”. He’s a Grammy and IBMA Award –winning recording artist; soloist, duo and band performer; and as passionate a teacher, preservationist, and advocate for the mandolin as you’re ever likely to find. Mike is in demand today at every level: solo tours, treasured performances with the Nashville Bluegrass Band, high-energy performances with Helen Highwater Stringband, appearances with duet partners, instructional settings, to studio recordings with bluegrass legends such as Ralph Stanley and country stars like Faith Hill. In the end, there’s no better way to say it than in the words of Mandolin Magazine–Mike Compton, is, simply put, “a certified mandolin icon.”

Joe Newberry is a Missouri native and North Carolina transplant who has played music most of his life. Known around the world for his powerful banjo work, he is a prizewinning guitarist and singer as well. Joe’s songwriting is characterized by the same clean, elegant style as his banjo playing. The Gibson Brothers’ version of his song “Singing As We Rise,” featuring guest vocalist Ricky Skaggs, won the 2012 IBMA “Gospel Recorded Performance” Award. With Eric Gibson, he shared the 2013 IBMA “Song of the Year” Award for “They Called It Music.” Heard often on A Prairie Home Companion, Joe is a founder of the string band Big Medicine, and along with Mike, performs with Bruce Molsky and Rafe Stefanini as The Jumpsteady Boys, and with Old-Time Music legends Mike Craver, Bill Hicks, and Jim Watson. Still going strong after more than 30 years as an anchor in the traditional music scene, Joe writes songs that consistently show up on the Bluegrass charts, does solo and studio work, and plays and teaches at festivals and workshops in North America and abroad.

 

Sausage Grinder, Los Angeles’ all-natural hillbilly and country blues band, combines the traditional sounds of fiddle and banjo breakdowns with the low-down sound of country blues, topped off with a touch of ragtime and hillbilly jazz. The versatile acoustic ensemble features fiddle, banjo, guitar, mandolin, jug, washboard, and a few odds and ends.

Sausage Grinder was formed in 2008 out of a desire to play this classic music “right” without being slavish imitators or academic lecturers. As old-time and blues fiddler Adam Tanner puts it, Sausage Grinder’s “reverence to the old 78s hasn’t restrained them from exploring even grimier nooks and crannies … unrestrained and impolite the Grinder’s performances are visceral and joyous — a blast from the past with a nod to the immediacy of the future!” Or as LA Weekly says succinctly, the band’s performance feels “reminiscent of an old Mickey Mouse cartoon.”

The Revelers– A Swamp Pop Grammy Concert In LA–SOLD OUT!

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The Old-Time Tiki Parlour presents the Grammy-nominated
Swamp-Pop Louisiana Super Group The Revelers !!

Live in Los Angeles on Friday February 12th at 8:00PM

The Revelers Trio-Old Time Tiki ParlourThe Revelers are in town for the 2016 Grammy Awards so Tiki Parlour Recordings jumped at the chance to host them for a very special show to celebrate their nomination for Best Regional Roots Album!

The event will be held at Timewarp Records
12204 Venice Blvd.
Los Angeles, 90066

Cheers,
David

David Bragger CD Release Party & Concert–SOLD OUT!

Come join us on Saturday, December 5th for David Bragger’s CD release party at Timewarp Records in Los Angeles!

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We’ll kick off the party at 6:00 with old-time music jamming, surrounded by vinyl records and lovers of old-time music! So bring your instruments and your ears!

At 8:00 the concert begins! We’re so pleased to announce that Tricia Spencer & Howard Rains will be flying out to perform for this special event!!

There will also be guest appearances from the Cajun Creole Joe Fontenot Trio and members of Sausage Grinder (Christopher Berry, Susan Platz and, of course, David Bragger!) Not to mention, a few others!

Reserve your spot through David Bragger directly OR through Brown Paper Tickets HERE.

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