"Fred McBride was the nephew of Red Fox Chasers fiddler Guy Brooks and part of the final generation of old timers on the fiddle. I was lucky enough to be his cousin and to get some time with him. Fred played in numerous bands and made a couple of wonderful commercial recordings, but I always cherished these clips of just fiddle and banjo recorded in his living room between 2002 and 2005. Fred’s fiddling covers a range of influences from a childhood in Wilkes County, to playing with family in Alleghany County, to learning from others he respected like Thornton Spencer. He was always learning new tunes and bringing out old ones you never heard him play. He was a gentleman, and I hope to have absorbed both some of his playing and some of who he was." – Lucas Pasley
Staff Review:
"The best field recordings allow you to feel like you are directly in the room absorbing music and stories from tradition bearers, even though they may be located hundreds of miles away or you may never have had the chance to meet during their lifetime. There are few field recordings that do a better job creating this feeling for me than this collection of Fred McBride's fiddle and banjo from the Field Recorders' Collective. A native of Allegheny County, North Carolina, Fred grew up learning fiddle and banjo from local musicians like Guy Brooks, the Caudill Family, and later from Thornton Spencer, to develop a unique and rhythmic fiddling sound that fits perfectly with the banjo. Lucas Pasley, Fred's cousin, accompanies Fred on this album and does an exceptional job in highlighting Fred's playing through his mastery of the local banjo and fiddle styles. Fred plays many of the local Allegheny and Wilkes County tunes that he grew up with like 'Backstep Cindy', 'Sally Goodin', 'Going Across the Mountain', and 'Yellow Cat'. Come listen and learn from Fred McBride, one of the great and unique old-timers to play the distinctive local repertoire of the mountains of Northwestern North Carolina." - Kyler
32 Tracks:
Backstep Cindy (2:25)
Johnson Boys (2:19)
[Talk about learning] (1:38)
Cluck Old Hen (2:25)
Sally Goodin (1:36)
Arkansas Traveler (3:28)
Breaking Up Christmas (3:16)
Going Across the Mountain (2:35)
Let Me Fall (2:06)
John Hardy (0:51)
Cindy (3:28)
Susannah Gal (3:10)
Little Stream of Whiskey (1:53)
John Henry (1:00)
Cripple Creek (2:27)
Pretty Polly (0:33)
Mississippi Sawyer (2:52)
Little Brown Jug (2:42)
Sugar Hill (3:28)
June Apple (3:28)
Whoa Mule (2:49)
Sally Ann (2:34)
Poor Ellen Smith (1:10)
Polly Put the Kettle On (2:11)
Hangman’s Reel (3:38)
Old Dan Tucker (2:11)
Roundtown Gals (1:21)
Yellow Cat (2:31)
Tempie (1:48)
John Brown’s Dream (2:55)
Chicken Reel (2:03)
Sourwood Mountain (2:11)
