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Welcome to Mudthumper.com, the homepage of digital recordings of Walt Koken, 5-string banjo-ist and old-time fiddler, The Orpheus Supertones, Clare Milliner, The Fat City String Band and Highwoods Stringband.

    "Old-Time" could be loosely described as that body of music containing fiddle tunes, banjo tunes, ballads, and ensemble pieces in various istrumental combinations including the guitar, mandolin, autoharp, dulcimer, mouth harp, jaw harp, dobro, piano, and other related non-electrified instuments. Typically it has come down to us in its original "Old-Time" state, having been preserved since before the industrial age in the relative isolation of the Appalachian mountains. It differs in style from modern country music and the more closely related "bluegrass" music in that people who play old time traditional music tend to use their musical skills to demonstrate the tunes and songs, rather than vice-versa.
    Although the course of American history has spread many varieties of this music westward across the country, and although there is a strong but somewhat separate fiddle tradition from Nova Scotia to New England and across Canada, as well as French fiddle traditions in both Canada and Louisiana, today it is commonly assumed that "Old-Time" refers to the Appalachian- rooted style, whose epicenter is approximately Bristol, Tenn. Walt has played this music for over forty years, and has teamed up with Clare Milliner, who has annotated fiddle tunes as she learned them over the past twenty years, and who now has collected more than 1500 tunes. Walt and Clare are in the process of producing a book of these manuscripts, along with a database searchable by title, source, tuning, key or mode, and collector. They have applied for a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to produce this volume under the sponsorship of the Brandywine Friends of Old Time Music, a not-for-profit organization based in Greenville Delaware. The BFOTM was responsible for presenting the mountain Music Convention at Newlin's Grist Mill in Concordville, PA beginning in the early 70's, which later was moved down near Rising Sun, MD before its demise. The organization is still going strong, putting on concerts of Old Time and Bluegrass favorites, and still presenting its annual Delaware Valley Bluegrass Festival over Labor Day Weekend at the Salem County Fairgrounds in Woodstown NJ. Unfortunately, Walt and Clare's application has been rejected twice by the NEA. This book of transcriptions is a monumental undertaking, and the beginning of a way to study traditional tunes as they are related all across the country, but our government which sets up copyright incentives for a billion dollar commercial music industry, cannot seem to find a sensible way to promote its own musical heritages.Clare and Walt continuewith the project in their "free time", and since many people have expressed interest in helping with it, they're overjoyed to announce that the BFOTM, with its concern in preserving old time music, has set up a fund for the purpose of defraying costs of production, printing, and publishing this work. Since they are a non-profit corporation, such donations can be tax-deductible. A donation of a certain amount will guarantee a copy for the donor. Please go to the BFOTM website for details.
     They also have combined with Pete Peterson and Kellie Allen to form the Orpheus Supertones. Check out their schedule.
    Anyone interested in putting a link to an acoustic old-time music related site on this page should contact Walt Koken.

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