Cecil Sharpe, the English musicologist who collected and recorded the music of Appalachia in the 1920s, predicted that the unvarnished old-time style would be a thing of the past a generation later. But this weekend's Berkeley Old-Time Music Convention in Berkeley CA proved again that he was wrong.

While the style has given birth to a variety of derivative styles—from string bands to bluegrass to folk music to mainstream country—the original old-timey sound remains a vibrant form with plenty of practitioners and even innovators keeping the tradition alive.

The convention demonstrated that in a series of performances and dances at The Freight & Salvage and other Berkeley venues featuring artists such as Sheila Kay Adams, The Brandy Snifters, The Stairwell Sisters, Rayna Gellert and Foghorn Stringband. But the panel discussion with Adams, Gellert and Lyle Lofgren provided the best context for why old-time music remains relevant today.  Read more »