Album Notes

Adam Swanson, from the small town of Shenandoah, Iowa, is rapidly becoming known as one of the world’s foremost performers and historians of ragtime and early American popular music. Adam has studied piano with Waleed Howrani of Ann Arbor, Michigan, a graduate of the Moscow State Conservatory. Although he is only nineteen years old, he has been a featured performer at ragtime and jazz festivals across the United States. Adam is the youngest three-time winner of the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest, held in Peoria, Illinois. In 2007, he appeared alongside the late John Arpin at the Bohem Ragtime and Jazz Festival in the Republic of Hungary and has also toured Switzerland. Recently, Adam has recorded albums with the legendary Johnny Maddox, pianist Frederick Hodges of the Royal Society Jazz Orchestra, rock star and ragtime singer Ian Whitcomb, and even a western swing album. Adam and Johnny Maddox perform together in the Diamond Belle Saloon at the Strater Hotel in Durango, Colorado. Adam is also an avid rail-fan, collects antique sheet music, records, and piano rolls.

Swanson has established something of a reputation for unearthing rare ragtime gems; on this CD as in live performances, he juxtaposes classics like Zez Confrey's "Kitten on the Keys" with seldom-heard treasures such as Charley Thompson's "Buffet-Flat Blues" and Paul Pratt's lively "Wailana Rag Two-Step." The program features many of the "barnburners" Swanson is famous for: Arthur Schutt's tricky novelty "Bluin' the Black Keys," Donald Lambert's magnificent stride arrangement of Edvard Grieg's "Anitra's Dance" from the Peer Gynt Suite, and Robin Frost's astounding "Space Shuffle." Among of the highlights of the disc is the premiere recording of a lost ragtime composition by Arthur Marshall, "The Pea Picker."

The accompanying full-color 12-page booklet features extensive notes by the artist, rare photographs, reproductions of original sheet music covers, and a special introduction by Johnny Maddox. 51 minutes.