"I don't think they are old songs. They're here, they're now songs; they're songs that people sing".- Frank Fairfield. Obviously the old recordings are valid, but this music is far from dead. It's alive and well, right here, right now.
That's a very gracious way to answer that... When I hear one of my friends (or even someone I don't know, who also plays older music) get asked that kind of question, and this variety of question comes up a LOT, to me it directly translates as: "Why the hell are you playing this old-fart-fogey weird-ass music that nobody gives a shit about [the interviewer here thinking they are God and control everybody and can cause all 8 billion people on the planet to give a shit or not give a shit simultaneously], when you could be instead playing something new and hip and cool that I like... and if you still like it so much, why don't you just hop a time machine back to that period and get the fuck out of here, cause you really don't fit in [the interviewer here playing God again as though human beings are all pieces of some giant puzzle that should be shoved with brute force into a certain arrangement]???", and because I personally translate that question into this sort of control-freak psychopath statement (perhaps projecting some of my own horrible psychological bullshit onto them), it makes me want to just quickly punch the question-asker in the face (or worse), since that's a terrifically rude thing to say to anyone, no matter how deceptively politely it may seem to be worded. However, I also realize that the question-asker almost certainly doesn't follow the same line of reasoning that I do, and most likely may not realize at all the potential insults embedded in their statement, so in every case I take care to illuminate to them how their statement _could_ come off to us, and they generally back down in most cases, saying something to the effect of "sorry, that's not what I actually meant... I shouldn't have worded it like that!" To me, the language you use, and words you say, are _everything_, so please first take some pause for reflection. This has been a public service announcement.
@@Crappphuiknn #1 am in one right now. #2 I don't believe I personally have good mental health, but at least am aware of the problem, don't like it, and am (slowly) trying to change. Don't hold any of this against Mr. Fairfield, I'm just a friend of his.
You're so right. People should stop playing music altogether. Thank goodness we still have the old recordings! Music = DONE You don't seem to understand the evolution of music very much.
@Jimmyrey6857"Oh, it's cornbread when I'm hungry, cold whiskey when I'm dry. Old dollar when I'm hard up, religion when I die." Other versions of this song go: "Well its cornbread when I'm hungry, rye whiskey when I'm dry, And its greenbacks when I'm hard up and religion when I die."
And what is "authentic"? To me authentic old time music should never be a note for note copy of some static old recording. The idea is to feel the music and play it with feeling in a way that can communicate that which cannot be put into words otherwise. This guy's got authenticity, because he plays these tunes in his own way, just like Jarrell and Holcomb and Macon et al before him.
I disagree to an extent. Having grown up around this kind of music, I always enjoyed listening to the different ways people played each song. They're all about the same. But the way someone plays something tells you where they're from, or at least where they're teacher was from. The way Tommy Jarrell plays, sounds like he's from the Round Peak area of NC, just like Lester McCumbers sounds like he's from WV. Static recordings are just recordings. But they ain't the sum of the music.
@Jimmyrey6857 it's cornbread when I'm hungry cold whiskey when I'm dry ______ when I'm hard up religion when I die I just can't grab that one word! I dunno
there's also beefsteak when I'm hungry as an option but he seems to say 'corn fed when I'm hungry, cold whiskey when I'm dry, old dough when i'm hard up, religion when I die'
Is Frank a clone of Fiddlin John Carson? No and he's not trying to be. But damn if it's not a great rendition of Carson's recording of "The Drunkard's Hiccups".
Protip: Young people should never try to enjoy playing or listening to old music, it must be a duty. A skilled mimic is far more authentic than a personal interpretation. All the greatest old musicians played unimaginative note-for-note imitations of the songs and stories of their time and from their past, that's part of what made them and their culture and history so great.
No man, that's not true at all... listen to the recordings. Whether they wanted to or not, everyone had their own style. NOW- some folks copied their heroes so closely that sometimes it's hard to tell them apart, but there are almost always little "tells" in the music even in these cases that allow us to figure out who is actually playing. If you are talking about covering songs and trying to play the melodies and chords correctly, well that's pop music (and classical music). You can still play more or less the same melodies and chords and INFLECT them completely differently (not to mention embellishments and countermelodies made up out of thin air by the musicians, which can be completely different), making for a really distinctive performance... just listen to all of the different versions of Chopin's piano works... even though most of them are playing the same notes (a few aren't, or are adding things), the renditions seem to be saying somewhat different things. To me, this is a large part of what makes music great. I am personally a ragtime man from ragtime land, and one of my favorite quotes was from ragtime piano instructor Axel Christensen, who said that in the old days, each pianist had their own style, and you could walk down a main street in a big city in those days, and just listening to the piano playing pouring out (from the various restaurants, theaters, shops etc) onto the street, tell pretty much exactly who was playing, JUST FROM THEIR STYLE!!!
WAIT A SECOND- what the hell do you mean by your first statement: "Young people should never try to enjoy playing or listening to old music" WHAT THE FUCK?!?! This pisses me off so colossally I can hardly even articulate... where the fuck do you think you get off dictating to people what they should and shouldn't feel? Almost every younger person I know playing older music today (including Frank) does it because THEY LOVE IT- IT SPEAKS TO THEM AND MOVES THEM ON A DEEP LEVEL. Those of us who play this music mostly feel that it is OUR MUSIC TOO- THIS IS OUR MUSICAL LANGUAGE WE SPEAK. If we didn't love the music, most of us wouldn't play it, because it is hard nowadays to make a decent living playing this kind of music. It's not impossible, but it's certainly not a "get rich quick" scenario like some kinds of current pop music could be. Do you understand now? Re-reading your comment, I'm wondering if it was actually not your real opinion, but instead a gigantic troll to see who was listening. Well- I'M LISTENING!
That might be one of the stupidest and most inanely backwards “tips” I’ve ever heard. How do you even come anywhere close to a conclusion like that? Whatever, your loss buddy...
Why the hell is he singing this like he's a 94-year-old? He's a fit young man who clearly has a better voice if he would use it. None of the old field recordings even sound like this, and they couldn't benefit from this modern recording technology. This is a joke. If you listen to this track on his album Ingleside, his voice is even worse-sounding. But this live performance compensates for the slightly better voice quality with insufferable shtick. Ugh, gotta go wash out my mouth now.
I don't mean to suggest that my opinions matter more than those of others. That was my actual reaction at the time, and this is the comments section, after all. The things you mention are true. He's not bad at all instrumentally. That's why I found it all the more jarring to hear his singing style. This seems to be some kind of hipster attempt to mimic the sound produced by elderly singers with broken voices on early recording equipment. That's fine - I enjoy listening to that sort of thing. But why reproduce it? He wears it the way he wears that vintage outfit. Maybe he's in earnest, but he comes across as smug and faux-naïve. And, no, musical style is not completely subjective. I respect people who value different kinds of accomplishment in singers and instrumentalists, but there are some things that can't simply be covered by a relativistic attitude. I think the problem here is more one of disrespectful cultural appropriation, in this case of a generation that's no longer around to be offended and a culture that has receded enough that one might think it's up for grabs. It's not.
+Brian Harris You are what is wrong with society today. Thinking you are worthy to judge someone's artistic endeavors makes you as naive as someone who knows absolutely nothing about music.
First, I understand and respect your opinion, and without you actually knowing Frank, I understand why you might have come to that conclusion. However, I know Frank personally, and will say this: He sings like this because he wants to. Some of it comes naturally, as well. I think it's effective, and probably he feels this is the most sensitive and appropriate way to sing these songs and breathe life into them again. Of course I would LOVE to know the opinions of his heroes on the 1920s/1930s rural recordings, there might be a few of these folks still around to ask (although pushing 100 now). Are you saying he should sing with more of a city accent, or maybe like he's younger? What kind of voice do you think he should have? Because Frank's speaking voice really isn't that far removed from his singing voice. He adds a bit of a tremolo or quaver which I guess is for pathos, and if you have an issue with that, then OK, but truly, this isn't far from how he actually talks. This is completely different than a certain singer I've met who tends to copy EXACTLY any singer she hears, changing her voice and style completely for different songs till she sounds like an eerie clone of the original... THAT'S really creepy and that's not what Frank does. Frank sings all his songs with pretty much the same voice and I doubt he's trying to copy any one specific singer, although he certainly has _influences_ and _heroes_ for sure. Now, as far as my own singing goes, it currently sucks, but eventually I'd like to sing with the _style_ and inflections of my heroes: Irving Kaufman, Gene Greene, George Wilton Ballard, Stephen Stills, James Mercer, and a few others. Of course, I can't change my voice in the creepy way that girl can (thank GOD!) but what I will attempt to do is synthesize their approaches using my _own_ natural singing voice. I believe this is what Frank is doing... synthesizing the approaches of his heroes without directly copying any single singer to the point of imitation.
Видеоклипы
"I don't think they are old songs. They're here, they're now songs; they're songs that people sing".- Frank Fairfield. Obviously the old recordings are valid, but this music is far from dead. It's alive and well, right here, right now.
Absolutely
KEXP: Is it fair to say you you just weren't made for these times?
Frank: Is it? Oh, I don't know. I think everything is just as it should be, y'know?
That's a very gracious way to answer that...
When I hear one of my friends
(or even someone I don't know, who also plays older music)
get asked that kind of question,
and this variety of question comes up a LOT,
to me it directly translates as:
"Why the hell are you playing this old-fart-fogey weird-ass music that nobody gives a shit about
[the interviewer here thinking they are God and control everybody
and can cause all 8 billion people on the planet to give a shit or not give a shit simultaneously],
when you could be instead playing something new and hip and cool that I like...
and if you still like it so much,
why don't you just hop a time machine back to that period and get the fuck out of here,
cause you really don't fit in [the interviewer here playing God again as though human beings are all pieces of some giant puzzle that should be shoved with brute force into a certain arrangement]???",
and because I personally translate that question into this sort of control-freak psychopath statement
(perhaps projecting some of my own horrible psychological bullshit onto them),
it makes me want to just quickly punch the question-asker in the face (or worse),
since that's a terrifically rude thing to say to anyone,
no matter how deceptively politely it may seem to be worded.
However, I also realize that the question-asker almost certainly doesn't follow the same line of reasoning that I do, and most likely may not realize at all the potential insults embedded in their statement,
so in every case I take care to illuminate to them how their statement _could_ come off to us,
and they generally back down in most cases,
saying something to the effect of "sorry, that's not what I actually meant... I shouldn't have worded it like that!"
To me, the language you use, and words you say, are _everything_, so please first take some pause for reflection.
This has been a public service announcement.
@@andrewbarrett1537 when was the last time you had a relationship
@@andrewbarrett1537 What the hell man
@@Crappphuiknn #1 am in one right now.
#2 I don't believe I personally have good mental health, but at least am aware of the problem, don't like it, and am (slowly) trying to change.
Don't hold any of this against Mr. Fairfield, I'm just a friend of his.
I love that someone out there is keeping authenticity like this alive.
"i think everythings just how it should be"...then starts playing. That's pretty cool.
its amazing what you stumble upon on the internet. God bless this guy for playing the old music, and letting me live in a time where I can find it.
Outstanding!!! I know the new old lyrics I'm adding to my whiskey rye whiskey rendition. This guy is one in a million absolutely amazing performer!!!
I never miss the chance to see him perform live. He kills it
Over the Garden Wall brought me here.
SAME "....that pointy cone upon your head, ya can't be wearin' that...."
Same here
I hear about that show because Frank Fairfield was in it
Beautiful show
Now THIS is music!
its good to know that people like that still exist
Amazing performance and voice... and such a humble guy. Great joy. Thanks for posting.
I love this man's fiddle playing!
High tide on the sound side! Last night the moon shined and the water fried, No Fish!!! RIP Grandpa Midgett
I like this 😊 very nice and pleasant. Americana, while getting more and more overlooked, it still amazing to listen to.
what a throwback ...like, in a great sense...
beautiful! Thank you graciously!
Let the songs of my home mountains live
The power of THEN.
this is real music
I love American folk because so can so easily hear their Scot-Irish roots
by god this guy is great
Great job!
And he was insanely good!
So awesome!
Very cool video and very talented man.
Mine too!! Man that guy could play
What a talented fella!
You're so right. People should stop playing music altogether. Thank goodness we still have the old recordings!
Music = DONE
You don't seem to understand the evolution of music very much.
One of my highlights at the End Of The Road festival
this guy is great
I'm going to play with the band, right after him tomorrow night. Hard job!
This is simply genius
He should write his own songs, I'd love to see what he could come up with. Love his renditions of the old stuff any how.
If you don't like that.... you don't have a soul!
amazing
This guy is super cool. I would love it if he and Charlie Parr played a show together.
Beautiful, would love to see him and Pokey LaFarge play together!
If you guys are digging Frank, you should probably check out Dom Flemons.
+Joseph Classen and the Glade City Rounders!!
And The Black twig Pickers, Willie Watson and Blind Boy Paxton.
He's really good.
He is playing this years Roskilde Festival in Denmark... !
@vabachi I've heard musicians try to "mimic" the old tunes and the results are awful. This is good only because it is raw and heartfelt. :-)
Some of us are fortunate to know our calling, then answer it
@Jimmyrey6857"Oh, it's cornbread when I'm hungry, cold whiskey when I'm dry. Old dollar when I'm hard up, religion when I die."
Other versions of this song go:
"Well its cornbread when I'm hungry, rye whiskey when I'm dry,
And its greenbacks when I'm hard up and religion when I die."
theres also Tommy Jarrell's
"im gonna eat when I'm hungry, gonna drink when I'm dry, if i get to feeling much better I'm gonna sprout wings and fly."
Bussin
This guy has stated he loves playing songs that have been played millions of times. I don't know what you mean by this.
It's like cooking a favorite family recipe. It's been done hundreds and hundreds of times but each family member makes it slightly different.
And what is "authentic"? To me authentic old time music should never be a note for note copy of some static old recording. The idea is to feel the music and play it with feeling in a way that can communicate that which cannot be put into words otherwise. This guy's got authenticity, because he plays these tunes in his own way, just like Jarrell and Holcomb and Macon et al before him.
Best version of the song so for Jack of diamonds I know you
I disagree to an extent. Having grown up around this kind of music, I always enjoyed listening to the different ways people played each song. They're all about the same. But the way someone plays something tells you where they're from, or at least where they're teacher was from. The way Tommy Jarrell plays, sounds like he's from the Round Peak area of NC, just like Lester McCumbers sounds like he's from WV. Static recordings are just recordings. But they ain't the sum of the music.
what instument is he using. Is it a viola or violin? id like to know someone please help.
Yee
whoa, watch this at .75 speed, his voice is so good
Oh lord.
@Jimmyrey6857
it's cornbread when I'm hungry
cold whiskey when I'm dry
______ when I'm hard up
religion when I die
I just can't grab that one word! I dunno
there's also beefsteak when I'm hungry as an option but he seems to say
'corn fed when I'm hungry, cold whiskey when I'm dry, old dough when i'm hard up, religion when I die'
Secret Emchy Society Imma eat when I'm hungry and drink when I'm dry if I get a feelin much better imma sprout wings and fly 😉
Mountain Mozart
Fairfield freshen party's
I Am Frank Fairfield’s Cousin😀
He's no Jim Tom but it will do!
Greenbacks! Meaning money.
its like half of 'hesitation blues' and 'the cuckoo"
"Is it? I think everything's just as it should be" or in other words, "shut the hell up"
the only sane way to play the fiddle, the under the chin shit is nuts!
J♦
Oh darlin or old darlin.. I think
Boy, he can play. But he doesn't really look like he's havin' much fun.
Is Frank a clone of Fiddlin John Carson? No and he's not trying to be. But damn if it's not a great rendition of Carson's recording of "The Drunkard's Hiccups".
US Movers. When is ‘Moving Day” the say. Time to move on. Operation TonyDanza
Protip: Young people should never try to enjoy playing or listening to old music, it must be a duty. A skilled mimic is far more authentic than a personal interpretation. All the greatest old musicians played unimaginative note-for-note imitations of the songs and stories of their time and from their past, that's part of what made them and their culture and history so great.
No man, that's not true at all...
listen to the recordings.
Whether they wanted to or not, everyone had their own style.
NOW- some folks copied their heroes so closely that sometimes it's hard to tell them apart,
but there are almost always little "tells" in the music even in these cases that allow us to figure out who is actually playing.
If you are talking about covering songs and trying to play the melodies and chords correctly,
well that's pop music (and classical music).
You can still play more or less the same melodies and chords and INFLECT them completely differently (not to mention embellishments and countermelodies made up out of thin air by the musicians, which can be completely different),
making for a really distinctive performance... just listen to all of the different versions of Chopin's piano works... even though most of them are playing the same notes (a few aren't, or are adding things), the renditions seem to be saying somewhat different things.
To me, this is a large part of what makes music great.
I am personally a ragtime man from ragtime land, and one of my favorite quotes was from ragtime piano instructor Axel Christensen,
who said that in the old days,
each pianist had their own style,
and you could walk down a main street in a big city in those days,
and just listening to the piano playing pouring out (from the various restaurants, theaters, shops etc) onto the street,
tell pretty much exactly who was playing,
JUST FROM THEIR STYLE!!!
WAIT A SECOND- what the hell do you mean by your first statement: "Young people should never try to enjoy playing or listening to old music" WHAT THE FUCK?!?! This pisses me off so colossally I can hardly even articulate...
where the fuck do you think you get off dictating to people what they should and shouldn't feel?
Almost every younger person I know playing older music today (including Frank) does it because THEY LOVE IT- IT SPEAKS TO THEM AND MOVES THEM ON A DEEP LEVEL. Those of us who play this music mostly feel that it is OUR MUSIC TOO- THIS IS OUR MUSICAL LANGUAGE WE SPEAK.
If we didn't love the music, most of us wouldn't play it, because it is hard nowadays to make a decent living playing this kind of music. It's not impossible, but it's certainly not a "get rich quick" scenario like some kinds of current pop music could be.
Do you understand now?
Re-reading your comment, I'm wondering if it was actually not your real opinion, but instead a gigantic troll to see who was listening. Well- I'M LISTENING!
Andrew Barrett I agree 100% OP is pardon my French but a dumb bag of shit !
That might be one of the stupidest and most inanely backwards “tips” I’ve ever heard. How do you even come anywhere close to a conclusion like that? Whatever, your loss buddy...
@hajimaji Ugh. Whatever the hell 'authentic' means, this stuff is raw and heartfelt. Your pretentious babbling is unfriendly to say the least.
This is the most incorrect comment on all of youtube.
uh, yeah, actually it CAN get more authentic.
You kids get off my music! ...Er, lawn!
DTBR You probably don't even play or your a closet musician.Sad...
Why the hell is he singing this like he's a 94-year-old? He's a fit young man who clearly has a better voice if he would use it. None of the old field recordings even sound like this, and they couldn't benefit from this modern recording technology. This is a joke.
If you listen to this track on his album Ingleside, his voice is even worse-sounding. But this live performance compensates for the slightly better voice quality with insufferable shtick. Ugh, gotta go wash out my mouth now.
I don't mean to suggest that my opinions matter more than those of others. That was my actual reaction at the time, and this is the comments section, after all.
The things you mention are true. He's not bad at all instrumentally. That's why I found it all the more jarring to hear his singing style. This seems to be some kind of hipster attempt to mimic the sound produced by elderly singers with broken voices on early recording equipment. That's fine - I enjoy listening to that sort of thing. But why reproduce it? He wears it the way he wears that vintage outfit. Maybe he's in earnest, but he comes across as smug and faux-naïve.
And, no, musical style is not completely subjective. I respect people who value different kinds of accomplishment in singers and instrumentalists, but there are some things that can't simply be covered by a relativistic attitude. I think the problem here is more one of disrespectful cultural appropriation, in this case of a generation that's no longer around to be offended and a culture that has receded enough that one might think it's up for grabs. It's not.
Brian Harris NOW HE QUIT MUSIC THANKS A LOT, I FUCKING, DAMMIT
Brian Harris He sings this way because the baker and patisserie need work, for goodness sake! Sorry if you don't get that reference.
+Brian Harris You are what is wrong with society today. Thinking you are worthy to judge someone's artistic endeavors makes you as naive as someone who knows absolutely nothing about music.
First, I understand and respect your opinion, and without you actually knowing Frank, I understand why you might have come to that conclusion.
However, I know Frank personally, and will say this:
He sings like this because he wants to.
Some of it comes naturally, as well.
I think it's effective, and probably he feels this is the most sensitive and appropriate way to sing these songs and breathe life into them again.
Of course I would LOVE to know the opinions of his heroes on the 1920s/1930s rural recordings, there might be a few of these folks still around to ask (although pushing 100 now).
Are you saying he should sing with more of a city accent,
or maybe like he's younger?
What kind of voice do you think he should have?
Because Frank's speaking voice really isn't that far removed from his singing voice.
He adds a bit of a tremolo or quaver which I guess is for pathos,
and if you have an issue with that, then OK,
but truly, this isn't far from how he actually talks.
This is completely different than a certain singer I've met who tends to copy EXACTLY any singer she hears,
changing her voice and style completely for different songs till she sounds like an eerie clone of the original...
THAT'S really creepy and that's not what Frank does.
Frank sings all his songs with pretty much the same voice
and I doubt he's trying to copy any one specific singer,
although he certainly has _influences_ and _heroes_ for sure.
Now, as far as my own singing goes,
it currently sucks,
but eventually I'd like to sing with the _style_ and inflections of my heroes: Irving Kaufman,
Gene Greene,
George Wilton Ballard,
Stephen Stills,
James Mercer,
and a few others.
Of course, I can't change my voice in the creepy way that girl can (thank GOD!) but what I will attempt to do is synthesize their approaches using my _own_ natural singing voice.
I believe this is what Frank is doing... synthesizing the approaches of his heroes without directly copying any single singer to the point of imitation.
Crap.
No u
Fucking excellent