Author: tikiparlour

Los Angeles Old Time Social–Saturday May 17th!

The LA Old-Time Social is BACK! This SATURDAY, May 17th,  is going to be incredible! Workshops, Jams, Flatfooting, Musical Cakes, and Square Dancing at an AMAZING venue! Check the OFFICIAL SITE for info!   https://losangelesoldtimesocial.com/

 —David Bragger will be teaching a FIDDLE WORKSHOP and a BANJO WORKSHOP alongside flatfooting, old-time history, guitar, harmony singing and sacred harp singing workshops!   David will be teaching tunes by the legendary Black stringband duo Frazier & Patterson (TN) on both instruments.

 

DAVID WUNDER BRAGGER’S “SEANCE OF SLEEP I” (VINYL & DIGITAL RELEASE)

PURCHASE HERE!

“Cinematic, epic, hearts of space Dreamtime!
—  Todd Barton

“A fantastic journey, jam-packed with compositions only a lifelong multi-instrumentalist could produce.”
—  Modular World

“This is art. This is very important art.”
— No Depression
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This LIMITED EDITION multi-colored Vinyl LP with Art Print and Digital Download drops on April 4, 2025.

 

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Drawing on decades of musical studies (Indian classical music, archaic Appalachian fiddle music, microtonality, and early electronic experimentation), David Wunder Brägger has woven together a minimalist and analog-driven “séance” of sounds through his uniquely assembled electronic devices and acoustic drone makers. The results are epic, strange, calming, and wondrous.
This ambient recording also features the tape-manipulated and mutated vocals of old-time fiddler and vocalist Susan Platz. In addition to the mesmerizing multi-colored vinyl, the album features the collage work of outlier folk artist Howard Rains whose work has graced countless albums covers. Each physical album also comes with a double-sided print of Rains’ surreal art.

PURCHASE HERE!

Bill Evans Induction into the American Banjo Hall of Fame with Ralph Stanley!

The American Banjo Museum is inducting Tiki Parlour Recording artist BILL EVANS into the American Banjo Hall of Fame along with RALPH STANLEY, Kristen Scott Benson, Ken Aoki, and Ned Lurecki!
If you haven’t picked up Bill Evans’ “Banjo in America” CD & Movie Set from Tiki Parlour Recordings, do yourself a favor. It is a unique display of various banjo styles and repertoire on an assortment of banjos that will blow your mind. Bill even won the prestigious STEVE MARTIN Banjo Prize just after its release!

Up Around the Sun plus BOSCO (CD)

This is a record of absolute joy, track after track of masterful playing from these legendary musicians infused with a jaunty delight in each other’s skill and artistry. This music is irresistible and healing, put it on and feel happy. —Cait O’Riordan (Pogues, Elvis Costello, Bush Tetras) …Read more

David Bragger & Susan Platz at the TANK Center for Sonic Arts

David Bragger & Susan Platz perform “Paddy on the Turnpike” at the TANK Center for Sonic Arts in Rangely, Colorado. This recording was made during a day of music and exploration in celebration of Todd Barton and David Bragger’s birthdays. This West Virginia tune was learned from the playing of Lee Hammons and Jimmy Triplett. The TANK is a sonic space that boasts a 40-second natural reverb.

Recorded, filmed, and edited by David Bragger

Simon Chrisman & Nic Gareiss at McCabe’s Guitar Shop – September 6th, 2024

LOS ANGELES PEEPS: Simon Chrisman & Nic Gareiss are performing at McCabe’s Guitar Shop on September 6 at 8pm!
PURCHASE Tickets here:
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Nic Gareiss (he/they; percussive dance, vocals) and Simon Chrisman (he/him; hammer dulcimer) met in 2007 at a fiddle festival in the Californian redwoods and have been exploring sound and movement together ever since. Both innovators within their practices, Nic and Simon bring their unique approaches together for traditional song, percussive dance, instrumental tunes, improvisation and new compositions, engaging interlocking rhythms and dynamic textures. Well-known for his work with the groundbreaking new acoustic string band The Bee Eaters, Simon’s music combines “chamber music’s finely calibrated arrangements with bluegrass’s playful virtuosity and pop music’s melodic resourcefulness.” (Boston Herald) Noted for his”dexterous melding of Irish and Appalachian dance” (New York Times) and described as “the most inventive and expressive step dancer on the scene” (Boston Herald), Nic has performed with many of the luminaries of contemporary traditional music and dance, including The Chieftains, The Gloaming, Phil Wiggins, Liz Carroll, Bruce Molsky, Bill Frisell, Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas. Together, Nic and Simon adventure into the world of time and timbre to create a breathtaking evening-length performance of song, instrumental music, and percussive dance.

Up Around the Sun — Summer Tour 2024

In 2007 Tim Kerr was asked to start a session at the then new Rio Ritas . At that time , Tim had put down the electric guitar and was now playing Irish tunes on a button accordion. Since more people played old time in Austin , It was only a matter of months that the session became an all old time session. Tim had been playing an open D guitar in a loose Irish style to accompany the old time tunes but moved on to playing banjo so as not to “confuse” the other guitar players.
Jerry Hagins was a regular at these sessions and was well known in the folk scene here in Austin for his clawhammer banjo playing. The project began in 2012 when Kerr asked Hagins to record some banjo tunes for him to study the clawhammer technique. Kerr laid guitar over the tracks for Jerry so he could have a recording of how Tim used to accompany him. When Morgan Coy heard the recording the next day , he  surprised Tim by offering to release them as an LP on his local Monofonus Press label. Their first show was a miniset at the Austin Stringband fest October 2012 as Way Up Yonder Around the Sun.
       Since that time , Up Around the Sun has put 3 recordings out and 2 more are coming out this summer /early fall ( 2024).  The band prefers playing in nontraditional spaces such as house shows and art galleries, etc… and they have toured Japan playing with their friend Bosco on fiddle. One of the new recordings coming out is the recordings they did with Bosco while in Japan.
       You might know Tim from his early days as the guitarist of the influential Austin, TX punk band, Big Boys, and many others (Poison 13, Bad Mutha Goose, Lord High Fixers and Monkeywrench to name a few)
Take Old-Time fiddle tunes played clawhammer banjo style and add an opened-tuned acoustic guitar played in a loose Irish style accompaniment and you get the idea of what this combination sounds like.That contrast, Hagins’ faithful foundation of American mountain music and Kerr’s chord changes with an open tuning, results in a wonderfully meditative combo .One radio DJ called them Windhamhillbilly .

 

David Bragger FIDDLE WORKSHOP – Lawrence, KS

WORKSHOP ALERT: David Bragger will be teaching an intensive Old-Time Fiddle workshop in Lawrence, Kansas on June 22nd!
(Reserve your spot by contacting Howard Rains at [email protected])
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–Old-Time Fiddle Intensive Workshop: Bowing Rhythms, Bow Rocking, and Tunes–
David Bragger will demystify several fiddle tunes with an emphasis on the infectiously rhythmic bowing techniques used by countless, classic old-time fiddlers including Earl Collins (OK), Tommy Jarrell (NC), Melvin Wine (WV), Uncle Bunt Stephens (TN), John Salyer (KY), Mel Durham (IL) and MANY others.
The same bowing elements are also the key to old-time fiddle seconding! This workshop is old-time fiddle “gold” for fiddlers who have been trying to wrap their bows around getting that high-energy danceable “sound.” You will walk away with several tunes and all of the bowing clearly broken down and explained.
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Traditional fiddler David Bragger has become a ubiquitous figure in traditional American folk music. He is a musician, documentarian, UCLA ensemble director, 78rpm record collector, musical festival director and founder of the Old-Time Tiki Parlour. Having learned the “old-time” art of fiddling directly from two generations of traditional masters, David has been passing down these archaic musical secrets and sounds to fiddlers worldwide with an emphasis on BOWING.
His critically-acclaimed debut CD “Big Fancy” instantly put him on the traditional music map and paved the way for his groundbreaking sophomore release. In 2018, he and fiddler Susan Platz released the very first American old-time fiddle duet CD ever recorded: King’s Lament–Old-Time Fiddle Duets. David has also recorded and performed with artists as diverse as Brad Leftwich & Linda Higginbotham, Spencer & Rains, Hog-eyed Man, Rafe Stefanini, Social Distortion, Paula Poundstone, Greg Graffin (Bad Religion), and also provided the banjo and fiddle solos for the western feature film “Gone Are The Days.”
David has also produced, directed and recorded over 30 albums and countless video projects for his independent folk label Tiki Parlour Recordings.
David has written several articles and has been featured in Strings Magazine, Banjo Newsletter, Fiddler Magazine, No Depression, FolkWorks and many other publications.