On January 19th 2017, Foghorn Stringband recorded several pieces for a secret project that David Bragger and the Tiki Parlour are producing.
In celebration of Foghorn’s return to Los Angeles for another Tiki Parlour-hosted concert (September 18th, 2017), we decided to release one of the videos.
It’s Eck Robertson’s “Grigsby’s Hornpipe.”
It’s just too dang good. Cheers!
The most anticipated release in the history of Tiki Parlour Recordings…
The Stuart Brothers CD & DVD Set
I’ll never forget the first time I heard Trevor and Travis. I was 18, freshly arrived in North Carolina to attend college outside of Asheville. I was obsessed with old-time music, had been listening to it my entire life, but I’d never heard anything like the Stuart brothers. I was bowled over. Graceful and groovy, delicate yet driving, fresh as well as timeless — music that could make you dance or stop you in your tracks. Or both.
The sound of Trevor and Travis Stuart playing together will always be one of my favorite sounds. This document of the two of them is gorgeous and intimate. I’m so glad it exists. –Rayna Gellert
North Carolina’s Trevor and Travis Stuart represent the pinnacle of traditional North Carolina old-time fiddle/banjo duet playing. Here they are playing 23 majestic pieces under the microphones and camera lens of David Bragger at the Tiki Parlour in May of 2015. Tragically, Trevor passed away the following March causing shockwaves in the old-time community that will be forever felt.
This marks the final release of their duet playing without any accompaniment or audience. The brothers sat down and played classics from their repertoire while being carefully filmed in the intimacy of this magical space. Beautiful close-ups of hands and instruments decorate the experience of taking in their exquisite natural music. These are truly some of the finest fiddle/banjo duets ever recorded.
“Tricia Spencer’s own deep family fiddling roots and Howard Rains’ passion for saving
old Texas music from extinction come together in this beautiful collection of tunes, songs
and paintings. I immediately had the feeling of being invited into something very musically
personal and special. Strong harmonies and nice, tight playing, congratulations on a fabulous project.”
–Bruce Molsky
The Skeleton Keys, (2017) Spencer & Rains and the Old Time Tiki Parlour present seventeen tracks of old time music, each song collaboratively illustrated by Tricia and Howard in a full color, 40-page book, bound in a beautiful, 7.25”x5.5” letter press cover. The recording also features Charlie & Nancy Hartness on uke and guitar respectively, Brendan Doyle on banjo, and Emily Mann on bass.
Printed and hand assembled by Stumptown Printers in Portland, OR on recycled paper using vegetable-based inks.
$30–Available HERE
Track List:
1. Get Up in the Cool
2. Walk Around My Bedside
3. Cumberland Gap
4. Gone Indian
5. Tom Sherman’s Barroom
6. Miller Boy
7. I Truly Understand
8. Stony Point
9. Where Did You Sleep Last Night
10. Sugarbabe
11. Billy in the Lowground
12. When First Unto this Country
13. Good Ol’ Cider
14. Creek’s All Muddy
15. Walk Around My Bedside (waltz)
16. Big Powwow
17. Oberek
Ash Grove founder Ed Pearl attended our performance!
We are so proud to have Howard Rains on the team. It’s a strong belief of ours that all of our contributors are steeped in the traditions of old-time music or folk art. Howard covers both territories! He and his wife Tricia Spencer have also recently released the critically acclaimed DVD & CD Set “The Spotted Pony” through Tiki Parlour Recordings!
Howard Rains is an artist and fiddler from Texas now residing in Lawrence, Kansas whose artwork and graphic design have been brought in to the Tiki Parlour fold. As much known for his fiddling as his painting, the New York Times has called Howard “an authority on old Texas-style fiddling.” Having worked as a graphic designer for many years, Howard now travels, performs, teaches, and records with his wife and art and music collaborator, Tricia Spencer.
As an artist, Howard Rains, for the most part, paints portraits and still lifes in watercolor and he is known largely for his portraits of old time musicians. The drawings are always done from life while sitting across from master musicians–listening and learning from them. Howard’s goals in painting and music are very much in line with those of the Tiki Parlour, to document and preserve our rich, living community of traditional music. www.HowardRains.com
