Fiddle Studio
The glasses clink and the talk and laughter grow louder. In the corner of the pub, musicians sit and play traditional dance tunes that make your feet want to stomp and slide. Join fiddler Meg Wobus Beller as she brings you along into the world of fiddling and traditional music, from bow-grips and double stops to Old-Time tunes and Irish jigs.
Fiddle Studio
The Wild Shoats (Moonshiner)
My interview this month on the Fiddle Studio Podcast is a conversation with The Wild Shoats, formerly The Shoats. Check out their fabulous brand new album Yell in the Shoats, just out! This is a relatively new band with three talented Old-Time fiddlers. I've heard them called both an Alt-folk group and a Gothic stringband.
I get their take on the music of Appalachia, and the relevance and connection they feel to it as 21st century musicians. Hear how these musicians came to Old-Time music, met up and started singing and playing and writing music together and created their unique sound. We also chat about playing in tune on the fiddle, matching up different bowing styles, and staying relaxed while practicing. How does Huck practice when he doesn't have a lot of time?
West Virginia native Mary Linscheid, brothers Gus and Huck Tritsch of Millheim, PA, and Alex Heflin of Morgantown, WV, set an alt-folk soundtrack to the strange late-stage capitalist Appalachia they grew up in. Calling on their collective backgrounds in folk songs, honky tonk, and the Appalachian high-lonesome sound, the Shoats reimagine the songs and sounds of their home through haunting original material and well-loved covers. The Shoats won the Appalachian String Band Music Festival’s Neo-Traditional Band Competition in 2023.
Reach me at meganbeller@fiddlestudio.com
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My website for learning to fiddle is Fiddle Studio which has courses and a mailing list and my Top 10 Fiddle Tunes!
