Alan Musgrove – Australian Old Time Fiddle

The album “Australian Old Time Fiddle” by Alan Musgrove.

Alan Musgrove – Australian Old Time Fiddle
Review by Rob Willis

He’s a clever little bugger this Alan Musgrove.
I thought that from the first time I met him all those years ago but now I’m convinced of it.As well as playing all the instruments (fiddle, guitar and bass) on his latest CD he also recorded, mixed and arranged the thing and did it all extremely well. Al is one of those blokes who as well as collecting material himself will also record tunes from others collections – sharing the harvest.

This particular CD features material from the National Library collections of John Meredith, Norm O’Connor, Alan Scott, Chris Sullivan, Alan Musgrove, Rob Willis and The Wattle collection.  I was particularly chuffed to hear tunes from the Kyle family and Cecil Chapman of the Nulla region of NSW, a project that has been close to my heart for the past fifteen years.Over the years Alan has self produced many recordings but in my mind this is the pinnacle.  It has a variety of tunes played in an interesting manner and with a variation in the accompaniment.   He is not afraid to experiment with arrangements yet keeps them simple so that the basic tune is still there. Alan has also picked up on the subtleties of the traditional players he has listened to or watched on DVD and incorporated these styles in his playing.

I had the privilege of videoing and recording the playing style of Cecil Chapman of Kempsey some years ago and passed the recordings on to Alan.  Cecil learnt from his father on the Nulla and being a bit of a recluse was not influenced greatly by any other style.  As a result the way Cecil plays is still directly linked to that of his father Sam who played for the dances on the Nulla all those years ago. Al has picked up the old time ‘droning’ style of these players to perfection, particularly in the waltz “When I went to Germany”.

So do you have to be an old time fiddle freak to buy this CD – definitely not!If you have a love of any genre of instrumental music from any country there is something here for you. One of my mates has purchased three of these CDs (so far) from Alan, a good recommendation by anyone’s standard.Sure it is Australian based but there are elements of tunes from all over the world.And isn’t that what Australian traditional music is all about.

About the artist: Collector and performer Alan Musgrove is one of only a handful of musicians in the country who specialize in playing and teaching Australian traditional fiddle music. In 2007 Alan’s CD ‘Australian Old Time Fiddle’ was voted by Trad and Now magazine readers as the hottest CD of the year in the Blues and Roots category. Two hours with Alan will have you sounding like the old masters.