Look out, it's time to bust out and cut loose with the 2010 edition of the Berkeley Old Time Music Convention! Tonight's festivities feature the rousing mountain music of Jimmy Triplett, Scott Prouty & Andy FitzGibbon; beautiful harmonizing from Cliff Perry & Laurel Bliss; and country blues and hillbilly ragtime with Del Rey & Suzy Thompson.

	Jimmy Triplett, Scott Prouty, and Andy FitzGibbon are deeply immersed in the older West Virginia mountain style of fiddle playing, which includes dance music as well as beautiful solo fiddle tunes. Their playing has been shaped by rare field recordings and time spent with older traditional West Virginia players like Melvin Wine, Lester McCumbers, and Leland Hall. In addition to winning awards at fiddle competitions across the state and teaching old-time music, all three have been involved in its documentation, at institutions like the Augusta Heritage Center, the Archive of Folk Culture at the Library of Congress, and the Smithsonian Folklife Center.
Cliff Perry & Laurel Bliss have been playing old time and bluegrass music together for 30 years in the Pacific Northwest. Old time banjo player Molly Tenenbaum described their music beautifully: "If there ever was a definition for the word ‘twine,' Cliff and Laurel embody it, their voices simultaneously two separate and one together. Carter Family, Delmore Brothers, parlor songs, and hymns, every song in their repertoire is a beautiful gem and their music is rich with emotion—not sentiment, but a deep, pure pull toward the essential. Their music remembers that time before country, bluegrass, and old-time split apart-and brings us to the present, re-grounded, refreshed, and reminded of our own full natures."
	BOTMC founder Suzy Thompson and Seattle's resonator guitar goddess Del Rey explore another side of old-time music—the country blues, hillbilly ragtime, and jug band repertoire—as they celebrate the release of their first duet CD, Hen Party. One of the greatest modern players of the metal-bodied resonator guitar, Del also turns her hand to ragtime and blues on the ukulele. Suzy's fiery fiddle and powerful vocals have graced many a roots band, including (but not limited to) Any Old Time String Band, the Klezmorim, the Bluegrass Intentions, and the California Cajun Orchestra.

Visit the Berkeley Old Time Music Convention website

Listen to tracks from Jimmy Triplett, Scott Prouty & Andy Fitzgibbon, Laurel Bliss & Cliff Perry, Del Rey & Suzy Thompson: