Vintage Americana

Ian McCamy is one of the leading fiddlers in old¬time American music circles. His illustrious playing has sparkled throughout albums by the Celtic Ramblers group, on tunes that came from the British Isles to the US and so laid the basis for much country and bluegrass music. With his new band, McCamy is digging deep into the recordings that were made in the US across the 20s; he’s recreating the music made by rural Southerners at the dawn of popular music recording. With double bass, banjo and acoustic guitar accompanying him, McCamy and band create a lovely, lively album that makes me want to waltz around my living room.

Of the 18 tunes recorded on Vintage Americana only one is an original, ‘The Faubourg Waltz’, on which McCamy celebrates Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Antoine in Paris, where the French Revolution started. It fits in perfectly alongside obscure tunes by Fiddlin’ Doc Roberts, Crockett’s Kentucky Mountaineers, the East Texas Serenaders, Charlie Poole and other lost heroes of the 20s. Beautifully recorded with lots of space, there is a sense of real pleasure in the making of this music. If further recommendation were needed, it’s endorsed by the legendary cartoonist and old-time record-collector Robert Crumb, who also provides the album artwork.