EDDIE BOND, KAREN CARR, DONALD HILL, PECO WATSON

EDDIE BOND, KAREN CARR, DONALD HILL, PECO WATSON
THE FRIES SESSION

Never Met a Stranger
NMAS 006

This session came about in May 2016 with a phone call from Stevie Barr of Barr’s Fiddle Shop in Galax, Va., to local artist Eddie Bond. Barr told Bond that people from Never Met A Stranger Records (NMAS) were in town looking to do some recording. Bond subsequently gathered together Karen Carr (bass), Donald Hill (guitar), and Peco Watson (banjo). The group met with the NMAS crew at the local Fries Community Center and for the next couple of hours recorded what they felt was some vibrant old-time music.

Bond, who plays fiddle and sings on a couple of the cuts, selected a dozen familiar traditional tunes. Cuts include “Hell Among The Yearlings,” “Sally Anne,” “Forked Deer,” “Lonesome Road Blues,” “Arkansas Traveler,” “New River Train,” “Durang’s Hornpipe,” and “Reuben.” As with many traditional old-time arrangements, the keys, kickoffs, and tempos sound quite similar, with the melody held by the fiddle lead. Bond’s vocals are limited to “Lonesome Road Blues” and “New River Train,” but the arrangements are still held to focusing on the melody versus the words. This project is a great example of old-time fiddling and playing. Never Met A Stranger Records is an organization based in Richmond, Va., and works between documentary and experimental practices in sound, video, photography, and printed material. (www.nevermetastranger.org)BF