Megan:
Welcome to the Fiddle Studio Podcast featuring tunes and stories from the world of traditional music and fiddling. I'm Megan Beller and today I'll be bringing you a setting of Apple Brewers Reel from Tim Ball's new album, Upstate Crossroads.
Hello, everyone. I hope you're well today I have a special guest. Tim Ball is a fiddler and multi instrumentalist from Ithaca, New York near where I grew up. If you have been to hear traditional music or been to a dance in New York State, you have probably heard Tim Ball play on the fiddle, or the guitar.
He has played contra dances with Center Street and Tempest, Tunescape. Also has an Irish and Celtic band called Arise and Go. And he even plays at renaissance fairs, very brave, with the bands Empty Hats and Cantiga.
Tim is also a fiddle teacher. We've taught together in Rochester at Fiddle Camp at the Kanak School. Also taught at some fiddle camps you might have heard of, Pinewoods, and Ashokan. Ashokan, very nice Tim.
When I read through Tim's bio, he mentioned some albums that he grew up listening to in his parents record collection that I also listened to from my dad. But I love Tim's fiddling. And I wanted to bring that to you today.
To start off, Tim, welcome to the podcast.
Tim:
Thanks for having me. It's really fun to talk to you. I'm I'm assuming that's the Fennig's record in in your dad's collections.
Yep, that's a classic Fennig's All Star String Band, Saturday Night in the Provinces. I do not know how many times I've listened to that, goodness.
Megan:
Well, Tim, just to start off with, how did you get started on the fiddle? Was it your first instrument, violin or fiddle?
Tim:
It was not. When I was five or so my dad came home from somewhere with two penny whistles and an instruction book. And he kind of he stayed a couple pages ahead of me in the book for a few weeks. And then I just ran with it and played a whole bunch of tunes.
I recently actually found this book of penny whistle tablature that my dad made for me, way back when. And then and then you can see when I started making it for myself, the the handwriting sort of went downhill, but less like 50 tunes of pennywhistle tablature. And then I'd completely forgotten about that.
But that's how I started. I started playing fiddle in I think summer after third grade, I went to my first lesson and I have no idea how much setup my teacher did at my first lesson. But I remember coming back the next week with one or two of these pennywhistle tunes that I had just sort of decided to figure out on the violin.
Megan:
You sound like a dream student. Into it already. Wow. first instrument was pennywhistle. That's cool.
Tim:
I mean, I don't play it anymore. Really. I sort of can but but not really.
Megan:
Well, Tim, I know that you had a career that involves touring and performing and teaching. And then with the Coronavirus lockdown many of us musicians were really hit hard. Those things couldn't be done in person anymore. But actually, I remember my dad, who lives in Ithaca also talking to me about these lunchtime concerts that you did. Performing. Do you want to say anything about that? You did a lot of them?
Tim:
Yeah, I did every weekday at lunchtime, 12:30 to one o'clock for 10 weeks, kind of the first to 10 weeks of the pandemic, which seems like three lifetimes ago at the minute. But it was sort of a time in place that I felt like I could give people some form of connection and I don't know, a schedule for their day, or many of us were suddenly lacking.
Yeah, in terms of like how that affected my broader career. It definitely made a lot of space to think about a solo album. It wasn't the thing that made me do it. The this album was coming on pandemic or not 2019 I'd sort of taken a little bit of a step back from doing all of the driving around and playing contra dances that I had been doing.
I didn't have a lot of fiddle gigs, Arise and Go, had a new record in 2019. So I was gigging a lot as a guitar player, but I didn't have a lot of fiddle gigs. And I was trying to figure out what was next. And trying to like, I spent a lot of time playing in Contra dance bands, as you know. Yeah. And doing the band thing.
I really didn't have an answer for what music do I make as a fiddle player when I'm, if it's my vision, driving the bus,.
Megan:
And you came up with upstate New York fiddle, which I think some people listening may not realize that upstate New York has a unique sound. I often tell people that I'm a New England fiddler. And then they'll say, oh, what what part of New England? I'll say, well, upstate New York, and it leads to a very awkward exchange where they argue with me, so just tell me about about that designation about coming to upstate New York fiddling, settling there.
Tim:
Right, right. Well, really, I would say, I wanted to make a record of the music that I like to play, and tell a story about it as traditional fiddle music. And basically everybody who talks about traditional fiddle music has this element of place where they come from. I'm from here, so I can't tell Martin Hayes's story of growing up in in Claire, I got to tell my story of being from here. It really is an excuse to play the music that I like to play. Anyway, I play a lot of Irish American music. I play a lot of New England fiddle music, lots of Canadian music.
This was a thing that I sort of been discovering my voice as a fiddle player didn't really start feel complete until I figured out like some way to play American fiddle tunes. And so on uncovering the fact that I really like bluegrass has been interesting. Sometimes I tell the story on stage. You were there, actually, because this was at the Kanack Fiddle Camp. Yeah. There was one year there where I went up to Andrew VanNorstrand. And I said, Andrew, can you teach me to like bluegrass?
And he said, listen to Kenny Baker and Bobby Hicks. And basically I did and now I like bluegrass. Yeah. All of these places around upstate New York. I've been playing music from from these traditions. And then during that lunchtime livestream series, I started learning some tunes from you know, Hilt Kelly, Mark Hamilton, Bernie MacDonald, and to be able to center it on upstate New York.
Megan:
How did you how did you learn them? Recordings online?
Tim:
Yeah, mostly recordings online. I found you know, I dug around and found this 1990s television interview that helped did okay. So I think that was my main source for Apple Brewer's. Jim Kimball from out in Western New York. He spent a lot of time with Mark Hamilton and I think the Mark Hamilton tune I learned it from a recording of Jim that he had done on a podcast interview.
Okay, and then Hope Grietzer has sent me a bunch of recordings that she made of some of the old timers. So digging through.
Megan:
Fiddler in from Ithaca.
Tim:
Hope's from little bit south of Ithaca. But yeah, yeah, she lives around here, too. Yeah.
Megan:
No, you're right. Can I ask you about some of the other tunes? Sure. Because because I play Snowflake Breakdown I learned from David Smuckler up in Syracuse. It's a crazy D major, kind of bluegrassy is it? It's got a B flat, a B flat chord in.
Tim:
It just shows up.
Megan:
Where do you get that one from?
Tim:
So that tune was written by a Canadian Fiddler named Wally Traugott. If there are any, like vinyl record nerds out there in this audience. It's the same Wally Traugott who went on to become Capitol Records. I think, like kind of big deal mastering engineer.
Before that he was a Canadian fiddle star. And he wrote this tune. So I think I dug up a recording that he made of it and I listened to like 10 other recordings. Like I do. Probably the two biggest ones for me learning that tune was Bobby Hicks cut it? Yeah, really influential bluegrass fiddle player.
And Shane Cook recorded it, you know, Shane's playing? Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, he's this incredible, contemporary Ontario fiddle player. And he's been a huge inspiration in terms of how do I take this music that I play and make it extra awesome. He's He's just amazing, Shane Cook. So yeah, he he recorded snowflake. And I know I lifted some stuff from him.
Megan:
Any other tunes on the album? You have a good story behind them.
Tim:
This is like picking your favorite child again. There's a lot of great stuff on there. I think I think my I think my number one favorite tune title on the album is the democratic rage porn pipe.
Megan:
Okay, but is that actually a horn pipe? I mean, do you play it as a real?
Tim:
I would say yes, it's a horn pipe. It's definitely the thing that New England fiddle players call a horn pipe. It's it's definitely not the thing that Irish fiddle players call hornpipe. Yeah, you have a whole set that includes a bunch of, of tunes called hornpipe. That sound like reels that just to somebody who maybe doesn't know that interesting New England tradition.
Yeah, they're well, and there's, I think there's at least three completely different grooves that could believably be called a hornpipe by different people. There's that, you know, what I am most familiar with, honestly, is the New England tradition of playing them just like you would play a reel it's just they've got a lot more arpeggios.
And then there's the Irish tradition of playing, really swung and a little slower with a lot of triplets involved. And I've got one of those hornpipes on, on the record in a different place, you know, and then there's this whole thing of three to hornpipes in English fiddle music, which I know little about other than it exists. Okay. I mean, either. Yeah. Three kinds of hornpipes. At least I don't, I don't think that's an exhaustive list.
This turned into like a running discussion during lunchtime live stream between me and the audience. And I looked it up and it's like, hornpipe is a really old word that just mean basically means instrument tune.
Megan:
Yeah, that people will use reel or the way Chorus Jig is, is a reel but it's called Chorus Jig. Yeah, I saw that was on your album too. Yeah, it's great tune. So if people want to hear these awesome tunes, and hear you're fiddling with where can they go to get more information? Hear the music.
Tim:
I have a website, timballmusic.com, Facebook and Instagram are Tim Ball music. It's available on Bandcamp right now. It'll be on streaming and hopefully on Folk Radio in the new year.
Megan:
That's very exciting. Because the question for musicians these days is always streaming as we don't really get income from streaming so but people could go to your website or go to Bandcamp and find a way to purchase it purchase the can they purchase the physical CD? Ah, you you will be able to purchase the physical CD.
Tim:
I don't have them in hand. Although I think they are on a UPS truck headed to my house right now.
Megan:
Okay, great. So check out, was it Tim Ball music.com. Great.
Our tune today is Apple brewers real tune in D major from Tim's album we're gonna get to hear a little preview. This tune comes from the playing of Hilt Kelly, a fiddler from the Catskills, Delaware County, New York.
I read a little bit about Hilt that his grandfather played the fiddle, got a fiddle, learn to play it and Hilt later played on that fiddle. But I didn't find a lot of information about Apple Brewer's Reel. So Tim, what can you tell us about this tune?
Tim:
I think this was kind of one of Hilt's signature tunes, like theme song. Maybe he didn't play this tune for dancing. I don't think um, which I don't know. Seems like a fine dance tune to me.
Megan:
Yeah. Kind of march like, is it? Is it a march?
Tim:
Yeah. Is it a reel it's called a reel in the name. It doesn't sound like an Irish reel but whatever.
Megan:
Yeah, no, it's got a real a real New England or should we say upstate New York sound to it. Yeah.
Tim:
It's definitely got the vibe.
Megan:
I love the be part. Great. Well, before we hear it, I just want to say thank you, Tim for coming and telling us all about you and your album, Upstate Crossroads. It's really nice to talk to you today.
Tim:
Great to talk to you Megan. Thanks for having me.
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