Old-Time Music

Old-time music is the traditional string-band music of North America, especially Appalachia, played on fiddle, banjo, guitar and bass for dances, contests and home entertainment. Rooted in British and Irish fiddle traditions reshaped by African American banjo practice, it centres on short, repetitive dance tunes, modal melodies and old ballads, performed with driving bow strokes and clawhammer banjo. Recorded extensively in the 1920s by artists such as *The Carter Family*, it supplied much of the raw material of country music and bluegrass, from which it is distinguished by its older repertoire, dance function and looser, communal feel.