The Golden Ticket is not only the name of a tune on this album, but also the idea that sometimes you are given an opportunity to succeed and it is up to you to take advantage of it. This album makes good on that golden ticket. Of course, it took many hours of learning and practice throughout the year - a year when we had just started to exist before March 2020 put a halt to it! Being relatively new to traditional Appalachian fiddle and banjo music (but not to music), we were like sponges absorbing the vast oceans of information about tunes, songs, players, techniques, and above all, the GROOVE. We hope you enjoy these recordings over and over again. This is only the beginning.

Almost all of the tunes presented here are standard repertoire we picked up from various other sources, including original recordings of the master fiddlers, such as Art Stamper, John Hatcher, John Salyer, James Bryan, Tommy Jarrell and many others as well as contemporary fiddlers. A couple of the tunes are ‘new old time’ meaning they were composed more recently but have blended seamlessly into the fabric of the old time community. The music is alive and well!

From Anne:
This album was made because it could be made (had to be made), post-vax. We created it so that those feelings of being adrift can now have a bearing. It happened as naturally as anything I’ve ever done... like putting myself in the right place to enjoy a sunset, or laughing at a joke. It helps chase away that constant feeling that there’s something that I should be doing, that I’m not doing, easing the creative drive perhaps, grounding me at the same time. It leaves me wondering what the next one will sound like.

I will take this opportunity to thank people I don’t get to thank enough. I enjoyed every step of the process and owe an incredible thanks especially to my family for supporting me and my love of learning and growing as a musician. Scott, William and Joseph, I hope I can return all this love and more, you’re the reason I can do any of this. Endless appreciation and thanks to Chris for patience, unrivaled perseverance, and the sheer will to go places. It has felt like one awesome, unforgettable adventure, and yet only one small step in the journey. I can’t wait for more fun ahead!

Many thanks to my sister Teresa, who is always there. Also to my relatives who even from afar are supportive; Mom and Dad for all the lessons when I was growing up and for teaching me many things about life, (apologies this isn’t classical!). Many thanks also to teachers, mentors, inspiring people along the way. Kathleen Parks, Isa Burke, Rayna Gellert, Rosie Newton, Lauren Rioux, Brittany Haas, Bronwyn Keith-Hynes and all the brilliant women I had the luck to find on my musical journey, too many to mention here. You all have touched my soul and set me “right” on my own path, time and again.
Love Always, Anne

From Chris:
Thank you to my partner in life, Emily, who secretly loves the banjo.
Thank you to my partner in music, Anne, without whom the groove would not have happened.

All tracks traditional music except:
The Golden Ticket by Eric Merrill
Where's My Baby? by Keiran Kane and Rayna Gellert
Road to Malvern by Jim Childress
Winder Slide by Joe Larose
Lonesome Homesick Blues by Maybelle Carter

Nerdy Music Notes
Rickard Custom 11 inch Dobson banjo
Pisgah Custom 12 inch banjo
Silakowski 5-string fiddle
E. Martin fiddle
A gold-mounted Dörfler violin bow
D’Addario Helicore violin strings
Martin 1958 00-17 guitar

Recorded direct to disk with the Ear Trumpet Labs Myrtle microphone.
Digital Album Art by Isabel DeHaemer
Mastered via Aria Mastering
Recorded in May 2021.