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Ever Returning is a collection of twelve tunes curated from America’s musical past. Like his last record, Clinton weaves together a wide range of traditions and textures. There are fiddle and banjo dance tunes, ballad songs, blues and ragtime influences, and some esoterica to boot. Some are solo performances. Others feature live studio takes of Clinton’s stringband with Tim McNalley and Ryan Finch.
Though the album is in some ways wide-ranging, it also holds a focus of tone, mood, and theme. Many songs describe cycles of departure and returning, and many instrumental numbers capture aesthetic qualities that move me deeply in any music: calm, stillness, meditativeness, and an elusive sonic beauty that feels outside of time.
Clinton Davis is an old time folk musician based in Southern California. A fifth-generation Kentuckian, Davis grew up in rural Carroll County. His repertoire spans fiddle and banjo music native to his family home, the exuberant ragtime piano and guitar of early 20th-century New Orleans, and ballad songs and dance music of the Southwest.
Davis’ prowess across instruments and traditional American styles has gained notice from the standard-bearers of previous generations, and earned him a place amongst a new generation of American folk musicians. Stefan Grossman, renowned authority of American roots guitar, has called him “a master…carrying on the traditional music torch of Mike Seeger.” No Depression has called his work “a joyous and soulful restoration of one of the lost treasures of American musical tradition.” Deering Banjos has called his playing “simply sublime.”
In an era increasingly defined by rigid boundaries, this project embraces community and curiosity. “Whether you’ve heard our music before or not, this is the best thing we’ve ever done, the thing I’m most proud of,” said McMaken. Cade added, “The melodic approach to the tunes is still old school and traditional, but playing with Paddy and Michael gave us a chance to get a more creative with the arrangements. You can hear how much fun we had exploring the music together.”
Cade, whose fiddling has won the coveted blue ribbon at Clifftop, learned much of his music in Celo, NC from neighbors like Bruce Greene, the legendary fiddler and tune-collector. Cade has lived in Ireland three times, including a year each in Cork and Dublin, where he also developed a great appreciation for that country’s traditional music. McMaken, a north Georgia native who honed his chops busking with a mandolin in New Orleans, is one of today’s leading mountain dulcimer players. They are perfectly paired with their collaborators. Starkey’s engaging clawhammer banjo-playing lands right on that elusive balance of melody and rhythm, while League switches between open-tuned guitar, trichordo bouzouki, and bodhran (the irish frame drum), adding colors and grooves not typically found in modern oldtime music but somehow right at home in this project.
The 13 tunes on Across the Sea chart the many paths that traditional music can follow when it crosses oceans and passes through generations. There are lively burners like 40 Weight of Gingerbread and Wabash Hornpipe. There are haunting tunes that carry all the heft of their immigrant histories, such as Georgia Belles, Wading the Cheat and Polly Put the Kettle On. The album also takes a more reflective turn with the banjo-fiddle duet Ten Steps and an almost chamber-music approach to Sarah’s Ashes. The group reimagines old favorites, breathing new life into classics like Ways of the World, Yell in the Shoats and The Galway Reel. And their voices rise above the instruments on songs like Wolves A Howling and Across the Sea, the latter of which was learned from their friend, the late painter and folk music champion Art Rosenbaum.
The band recorded at home with a stereo pair technique invented in the 1930s by Alan Blumlein, playing around two vertically stacked vintage ribbon microphones in the middle of the room. The resulting vivid recording quality immerses the listener in an intimate kitchen session, where the musicians’ relaxed craft is fully realized.
“Across the Sea” is not just an album; it’s a powerful exploration of the spirit of exchange and connection that has always been at the heart of America’s folk music traditions. And like everyone’s favorite vinyl records, “it has a vibe.”
Together or with other bands, Cade, McMaken, League and Starkey have performed at: the Knitting Factory, the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Celtic Colours (Nova Scotia), the Museum of Greek Folk Musical Instruments (Athens, Greece), Celtic Connections Festival (Glasgow), Morecambe Winter Gardens (England), the Kerrville Folk Festival, Mountain Stage, the Moab Folk Festival, the Minnesota Bluegrass & Old-Time Music Festival, the Santa Barbara Old-Time Fiddlers Festival, the UGA Willson Center’s Humanities Festival, FSU’s Center for Music of the Americas, the Happy Valley Fiddlers Convention (NC), the North Georgia Folk Festival, the Bluff Mountain Festival (NC), Fiddlin’ Fest Between the Rivers (Rome, GA), and many other venues.
The NEW CD and VINYL release “Across the Sea” by The Horsenecks is officially out June 27th!
BUY it at Tiki Parlour Recordings and The Horsenecks’ Bandcamp page.
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The Horsenecks are Gabrielle Macrae and Barry Southern. Based in Astoria, Oregon, these two multi-instrumentalists have come together from traditional music backgrounds and found a sound that weaves through layers of influence that include early Appalachian fiddle and banjo music, country, classic bluegrass and original folk.
Gabrielle’s fiddle style is the result of being raised in the Old Time music hotbed of Portland, OR and being exposed to the fiddle traditions of the Southeast US through years of traveling to festivals and learning from some of the greatest players in the genre. Now deep in the world of songwriting, she brings together her background in traditional music and modern influences across many genres to create a catalog of songs that feel old and new, familiar and unique.
Barry’s banjo and guitar playing range from thrilling and high-octane to moody and captivating, and his versatility shines whether flatpicking, playing clawhammer, or driving three-finger banjo. Barry has been consistently active in his home town of Liverpool’s music scene for over 20 years, playing lead guitar with cult heroes Tramp Attack ( Must Destroy Records) and on into the UK Old Time and Bluegrass scene, playing with multiple groups.
Together, they create a distinctive sound, neither traditional or contemporary, their powerful harmony singing front and center. The Horsenecks continue to set a new standard in today’s traditional music scene with years of touring under their belts, appearances at major festivals in the USA and the UK and threecritically acclaimed studio albums.
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.
“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.
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 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
