Album Notes

David Lynch Review

DEEP ROOTS - Solo Fiddle Tunes from West Virginia, Eastern Kentucky and Western North Carolina
Mark Campbell - CI CD 1001
Mark Campbell is an exceptional fiddler - some say the sound he gets out of his fiddle seems like it came from 100 years ago. That's because Mark's music isn't rigidly copied from the old recordings, it's spontaneous and fresh and reflects Mark's laid back style - if you could call such energetic fiddling laid back! The selection of tunes is sure to please fiddle purists and old-time fans alike.

INTRODUCTION

There is nothing new on this CD. To those not familiar with older American fiddling, though, it might all be new. My generation began learning this music in the 1960s when there was a wealth of great old-time musicians to learn from. They are all but gone. We are very fortunate to have both our memories and our field recordings of that generation.

Thanks, also, to the foresight of collectors of my father's generation and the Library of Congress, we have access to the last recordings of a generation of fiddlers, some of whom date back to the Civil War.

This CD presents many tunes from that older era. All of the fiddlers I am trying to emulate here have learned both their tunes and their styles from older neighbors or parents.

I don't pretend to sound just like the masters I follow, but I have tried to represent the music as I hear it and as I believe it to have been bowed.
I started playing the 5-string banjo in the Virginia and North Carolina styles, however, my first fiddle experiences took me to legendary old-time fiddlers of West Virginia. Reconciling the shuffle bow styles of Virginia with the straight older styles of West Virginia and Kentucky was a challenge. After many years of searching, I have decided that one should learn both notes and styles to preserve the original sounds of these tunes.

I am a firm believer in regional styles and have been influenced by a wide variety of approaches to bowing found in the states contiguous to Virginia. For this project, however, I have settled on the straight bowing and crooked tunes of West Virginia, Kentucky, and western North Carolina.

This CD may sound different to the contemporary listener, but I hope it conveys a small portion of the beauty I have found in the old-time mountain fiddling tradition of this part of the world.

Mark Campbell

BIOGRAPHY

Mark Christopher Campbell (1953-) was raised from the age of 9 in Waynesboro, Virginia in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley. Both school and neighbors spurred Mark's interest in learning the old-time music of the area. Mark has traveled extensively in the region to follow and learn from musicians and keep the tradition alive. Mark is now an architect in Richmond, Virginia but still travels to pursue his musical passion.