hurricane clarice

The Banks of the Miramichi (Patrick Hurley)

I was listening to the 1962 Smithsonian release Marie Hare of Strathadam, New Brunswick, Canada, and this song blew me away.  It was written by Patrick Hurley (1842-1912) of Cassilis, NB, who was a lumber fisherman, and Marie Hare (b.1913-2007) sings it acapella with the most incredible timing and phrasing. In the 1950’s, at the time that Hare would have been singing this song, the Canadian government sprayed massive amounts of DDT around the Miramichi to fight the spruce budworm that was affecting the forestry industry. In 1954, the entire salmon hatch died and the ecosystem was completely altered. Rachel Carson wrote about the incident in the widely influential environmental text Silent Spring (1962). ~ Allison

Wellington (Allison de Groot)

This tune wasn’t written for my grandmother, and I don’t know why I named it Wellington… but it has always reminded me of her. For most of my teenage and adult life, she lived in a high-rise apartment on Wellington Crescent that looked over the Assiniboine River in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Arriving at her apartment, the first thing you would do was step out onto her balcony, which had a great view of the city. She would tell you about what the ducks or the beavers were up to, point out where deer had been going down to the river for a drink, knew where new buildings would soon rise, and when to expect passing water taxis. She always had her finger on the pulse of the river and the city!  ~ Allison

Nancy Blevins (Nancy Blevins)

I first learned this tune for a square dance with Grace Forrest at the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, Washington. It comes from Albert Hash (1917-1983) who learned it from Jim Reedy. According to Hash, a cousin of his grandfather wrote the tune and her name was Nancy Blevins. Hash says, “she would play it and [my granddad] would kind of dance, and he was wearing a dress and the little boys wore dresses.” Josh Beckworth speculates that the actual Nancy Blevins (b 1852) wasn’t necessarily a cousin, but lived near his grandfather in Ashe County, North Carolina. This Nancy Blevins Baker played the fiddle, smoked a pipe, and practiced witchcraft. ~ Tatiana

Each Season Changes You (Roy Acuff)

There are many versions of this song, but we learned it off the Rose Maddox Sings Bluegrass album. I first heard the name ‘Maddox’ when Don Maddox (1922-2021) came to the Oregon Old-Time Fiddlers contest when I was a kid. Rose Maddox (1925-1998) was a fixture in the West Coast country music scene but as she got older, she struggled finding country music gigs. She eventually found herself more accepted in the bluegrass community, who revered her as an elder. This is my favorite country song about seasonal depression.

~ Tatiana

Hurricane Clarice / Brushy Fork of John’s Creek (Tatiana Hargreaves / traditional)

I came up with “Hurricane Clarice” after finishing The Chandelier by Clarice Lispector (1920-1977). I don’t remember exactly what compelled me to pick up my instrument after finishing the book but I felt moved by her writing and inspired by her artistry. Lispector’s Jewish Ukrainian family fled to Brazil in 1922, around the same time that my Jewish great grandmother Taube, or Tillie, fled Eastern Europe. I was named after her. This track opens with Allison’s great aunt, also named Tillie, speaking in Ukranian about her sister, Allison’s grandmother. We end with an interpretation of John Salyer’s (1882-1952) version of “Brushy Fork of John’s Creek.” 

~ Tatiana 

I Would Not Live Always (Tune by ML Swan, Poem by William Augustus Muhlenberg)

I first heard about Clarence Ferrell (1908-1977) while digitizing photos from Alice Gerrard’s photo collection. One particular photo caught my eye of Clarence and his wife Hazel outside of their home in Alpine, Tennessee, holding a large scroll of a seven shape note scale with their little dachshund sitting underneath it. Ferrell’s father was a singing school teacher and this must have been one of the hymns they sang. Lydia Lewallen thought that the Ferrell’s might have sung from the New Harp of Columbia, a 7-shape book common in East Tennessee. Our version is inspired by Clarence Ferrell’s fiddling, the New Harp of Columbia and verses from the original poem by William Augustus Muhlenberg. 

~ Tatiana

Dead and Gone (Hen Cackled) (traditional, from Butch Cage)

Butch James Cage (1894-1975) grew up in Franklin County, Mississippi around fife and drum music. He first learned how to play the fife, and later learned fiddle from watching Carol Williams and Frank Felters, two older Black fiddlers in the area. His mother had the reputation for being the best dancer in the county, his sisters played accordion and another brother also played fife. Cage’s versions of “Dead and Gone” and “Hen Cackled” have many similarities, so we combined some different variations from each. 

~ Tatiana

Ostrich with Pearls (Hargreaves w/ Jodziewicz)

We hear the voices of Tatiana’s grandmother Sylvia (b 1925 in Brooklyn, New York, United States), Tatiana’s grandmother Jean (b 1930 In Detroit, Michigan, United States) and Allison’s grandmother Shirley (b 1929 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada). 

~ Allison and Tatiana 

The Road Walked by Fools (Kilby Snow)

Kilby Snow’s (1905-1980) left-handed drag note style, stunning phrasing, and his way of adapting country songs make him our favorite auto-harp player. In this song he sings about life on the road in a playful somewhat cliché way, and it captures some of the ridiculousness of touring around and playing music. 

~ Allison

We were supposed to record this album three different times throughout 2020-21. We started to work up the new material at a residency in Peninsula, Ohio in February 2020 and a year and a half later during an apocalyptic heat wave, we reunited in Portland, Oregon to record the album. Throughout the lockdown, we came up with new modes of working that didn’t involve being in the same physical place. 

Our wonderful producer Phil Cook really encouraged us to be vulnerable both musically and personally with this project and to go in directions that we hadn't really thought about, including our own family histories. To help capture the energy of our live performances, he also gave us the idea of playing sets in the studio. We came up with two sets of music that we performed live in the studio each day for four days, only listening back on the final days. Playing through the sets allowed us to sync into each other's rhythms, capturing the spontaneity and energy that we love about performing live together. 

This album feels like a celebration of many types of relationships, honoring our personal lineage and the family we have made within the music community. Throughout this whole process, we have felt so taken care of and loved. Thank you to Josh, Adam and Alex for your expertise and creativity, Caleb & Reeb and Maggie & Patrick for hosting us during our week of recording, and Scott de Groot, Barry Hargreaves and Donna Silver for documenting family stories. Lastly, thank you to Phil - you made this album a deeply joyful experience. 

Allison plays a 5-string Romero, 5 & 6-string Seeders and a borrowed Kyle Creed from Isaac Enloe

Tatiana plays a 5-string John Sullivan fiddle and a 4-string Jonathon Cooper fiddle

Both Allison and Tatiana use D’Addario strings

Produced by Phil Cook

Recorded by Josh Powell at The Map Room in Portland, OR

Mixed by Alex Farrar

Additional production and mastering by Adam McDaniel at Drop of Sun Studios Asheville, NC

Photos by Tasha Miller

Design by Dan MacDonald Studios

Released by Free Dirt Records on March 25, 2022

self-titled album notes

Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves - Self-Titled 

LINER NOTES

1. Eighth of January (2:48)

Traditional

Fiddle: DADAE

Banjo: aDADE
African American musicians Nathan Frazier (1878- ?) & Frank Patterson (ca. 1880-1940s) were known as street performers in Nashville well before Fisk University alumnus and professor John Wesley Work III recorded them in 1942. The preceding year, Work invited the duo to perform at the university’s 75th anniversary alongside presenters such as W.E.B. Du Bois. He said of Patterson’s fiddling, “as [Mr. Patterson] plays his fiddle for you, you will not hear any vibrato in his playing although you are due to vibrate.” About Frazier, he said, “Last night Nathan Frazier was complaining that guitar players were so soft that he could not find guitar players who could keep up with him.” We hope that our rendition of Frazier & Patterson’s “Eighth of January” vibrates you. 

2. I Don’t Want to Get Married (3:04)

Traditional,with additional lyrics by Edna Poplin

Fiddle: CGDAE

Banjo: gCGCD

The Poplin Family of Sumter, South Carolina featured primarily Edna Poplin (1915-1997) on guitar and vocals, and her brother, China Poplin (1905-1979) on banjo. Edna often wrote her own verses to traditional songs, including the last two verses of this song. Emma Rothman introduced Tatiana to this song and to the Poplin family during their time at Hampshire College.

3. Farewell Whiskey (2:56)

Traditional

Fiddle: DAEAE

Banjo: aAEAC#

John Hatcher (1886-1958): the avant-garde fiddler of 1930s Mississippi. His playing of this tune is absolutely stunning and goes against so many stereotypes of what people typically think of as old time fiddle technique. We love you, John Hatcher!

4. Dry (2:50)

Written by Judy Hyman (Left Ear Music, BMI)

Fiddle: DGDAC

Banjo: fDACD

We knew we wanted to record a tune by Judy Hyman, so we asked her if she had any she hadn’t recorded before. She sent us “Dry,” which Tatiana had coincidentally already learned from a Horse Flies bootleg recording. About this tune, Judy says, “Different tunings help you discover melodies and relationships that you might not find in standard tuning. Why did I call it ‘Dry’? I like a word that’s evocative and also has more than one connotation so everyone can find a personal relationship to it.”

5. Beaufort County Jail (2:46)

Written by Alice Gerrard (Agate Hill Publishing, BMI)

Banjo 1: f#BF#BC

Banjo 2: bF#BEF#

In 1974 in Washington, North Carolina, a 20-year-old Black woman named Joan Little was assaulted by a 62-year-old white male jail guard wielding an ice pick. Little killed the guard in self-defense, only to be charged with first degree murder. After months of trials, she was finally acquitted and became the first woman to be exonerated for self-defense against sexual assault. A recent Department of Justice Statistics report states that in 2015, 58% of sexual assault allegations in the prison system were against prison staff and according to the NAACP, in 2017 women of color were incarcerated at twice the rate of white women. Alice Gerrard wrote and recorded this song in the 1970s, but the story is still relevant as we record it in 2018. 

6. Cuckoo’s Nest (2:14)

Traditional

Fiddle: DGDAE

Banjo: aDADE

Today we often feel pressured to play old time music “just like the source,” however, legendary Kentucky fiddler Ed Haley (1883-1951) never played his tunes the same way twice. He consistently embellished  melodies with his own innovative variations, some of which baffle us to this day. Surely he would have been flattered to have people learn his tunes note by note, but the true spirit of Ed Haley is so much more than that. Warning: don’t look up “cuckoos nest” on Urban Dictionary.

7. Lonesome Blues (2:06)

Traditional

Fiddle: CGDAE

banjo : gCGCD

Will Gilmer’s (1897-1960) fiddling in the Leake County Revelers of Mississippi is straight and to the point in all of the right ways. Our version may meander a bit more, but it’s too much fun not to. 

8. Willie Moore (3:02)

Traditional

Banjo: eGCEG

Tatiana first heard this song on Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music and immediately fell in love with the playing of Dick Burnett (1883-1997) & Leonard Rutherford (1899-1951). Burnett & Rutherford played music together for 35 years, and even lived together for a while after the untimely death of Rutherford’s parents, who passed away when he was a teenager. Burnett picked up these words from a printed ballad and claims to have learned the melody from hearing someone humming it during his travels. 

9. Buffalo Gals (2:27)

Traditional

Fiddle: AAEAE

Banjo: aEAC#E

We learned “Buffalo Gals” from a 1991 live recording of Matokie Slaughter (1919-1999) and Alice Gerrard at Berea College. In the recording, Alice tells the audience how Matokie uses the unusual banjo technique of fretting the 5th string to catch a melody note. Details like this, combined with her driving up and down picking style, make her one of our favorite players... and what a quirky take on this standard tune! Thank you to Paul Brown for introducing Matokie’s music to Allison at the Swannanoa Gathering.

10. Wabash Blues (2:52)

Traditional

Fiddle: AAEAE

Banjo: eAACD

Hobart Smith (1897-1965) creates so many intricate layers on this tune that it took the two of us to his one banjo to begin to capture it all. Bill Monroe described Smith as “a good guitar bluesman, a great old-time fiddler, and... the best old-time banjo picker I ever heard.” Smith recorded in Chicago a few years before his death, and as Stephen Wade writes about the session, “Hobart was recalling music from the 19th century, pieces that musicians he had known, both black and white, played before the advent of recorded sound.” You can find these recordings, including “Wabash Blues,” on In Sacred Trust: The 1963 Fleming Brown Tapes from Smithsonian Folkways. 

11. Who Wouldn’t Be Lonely (2:51)

Written by William Bolick (Venus Music Corp.)

Banjo 1: gCGCD

Banjo 2: gGCEG

William (1917-2008) and Earl Bollick (1919-1998) grew up in Hickory, North Carolina and became known as the Blue Sky Boys in the 1930s as their music disseminated throughout Southern radio stations. When the Bollick brothers sang “Who wouldn’t be lonely, who wouldn’t be blue, when the one you care for, don’t care for you,” they probably weren’t thinking about queer love, but you never know. We may have played with the pronouns a little on this one. 

12. Melinda (2:34)

Traditional

Fiddle: CGDAE

Banjo: gCGCD

Lyman Enloe’s (1906-1997) playing exists in that sweet, fluid realm between old time and bluegrass. Even bluegrass fiddle legend Tex Logan kept a copy of Enloe’s Fiddle Tunes I Recall in his record collection. We’re both huge fans of Enloe’s fiddling and it was difficult to decide which tune to include. The dynamic differences between the three parts in “Melinda” makes it really fun to play. Allison enjoyed picking out some of Jim McGreevy's banjo lines from this special album.

13. Green Valley Waltz (1:52)

Traditional

Fiddle: CGDAE

Banjo: gDGBD

Who doesn’t love a nice, dorky waltz? Just kidding… This is a gem of a waltz, played by a gem of a player. Thank you centenarian fiddler Violet Hensley for your beautiful music and for nine decades of fiddle making. Here’s to your continued music making. 

As two musicians who have come from outside of the cultural and geographic communities this music originated in, we are so appreciative of those who have welcomed us and shared their musical and cultural knowledge. We would like to thank all of the musicians who came before us, especially those who never received the credit they deserved: the Indigenous, Black, Queer and female musicians who weren’t always visible but kept, and still keep the music moving forward. 

We would not be here without the support of our teachers and peers. Thank you to our families, Bruce Molsky, Alice Gerrard, Judy Hyman, Laurie Lewis, Rhoda Kemp, Patrick M’Gonigle, Alex Hargreaves, Sonya Badigian, Nokosee Fields, Jake Blount, Carol Lesser, Daryl Perry, Daniel Koulack, William Seeders, Stash Wyslouch, GG, Pharis & Jason, Matt Smith and Club Passim, Joseph “Joebass” DeJarnette, The Floyd Country Store, Sennheiser, D’Addario, and Free Dirt Records. Lastly, we would like to thank the Iguana Music Fund for awarding us a grant to partially fund this album.

Allison plays Romero and Seeders banjos and Tatiana plays a John Sullivan 5-string fiddle.  

______________________________________________________________________

Credits:

Produced by Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves

Tatiana Hargreaves: fiddle, banjo on 5 & 11, vocals on tracks 2, 5, 8, 11

Allison de Groot: banjo on all tracks, vocals on tracks 2 & 11

Recorded and mixed by Joseph “joebass” DeJarnette at Studio808A

Mastered by David Glasser at Airshow

Album design and layout by Pharis Romero

Photo by Louise Bichan

Released by Free Dirt Records