CMT Blog: Archive

There's a really fun old-time music jam at Nashville's 5 Spot every Wednesday night, and on Friday (Nov. 6) some of the regulars gathered for a house party that seemed like it could have happened about 200 years ago. There was tap-dancing and square-dancing on a real hard-wood floor, homemade stew simmering on the stove and of course, traditional American music. People are encouraged to bring their own instruments sit down to play at these jams, but Friday there were a few bands booked, including one led by Woody Pines.

Pines is from New Hampshire and got his start playing washboard, but now he continues the work of old-time traveling musicians leading his own group on guitar and harmonica out of Asheville, N.C. With fiddle, upright bass and a snare drum rounding out the band, they had a cheery brightness to their sound and an up-tempo feel on Friday night, maybe due to being in a house full of sympathetic old-time lovers. They worked though a set of tunes informed by the styles of the Scots-Irish, Cajun and English pioneers -- along with a healthy dash of blues, ballads and hobo tunes, too -- that you can find on a new album featuring guest appearances by Ketch Secor and Gill Landry of Old Crow Medicine Show.

The new album, Counting Alligators, is five original songs, five traditional tunes and one bouncing and rollicking version of Billy Briggs' "Chew Tobacco Rag." My latest theme song is "Satisfied," I think, since I've been in a reminiscent mood lately, and "Harlem" has a horn arrangement that makes you feel like you're sitting in the Cotton Club. The title track is one of Woody's originals and recounts a trip down to Lafayette, La., maybe for this Black Pot Festival that everyone seemed to be talking about that night. All in all, it's a well-produced record and is almost as fun as a real life old-time jam, and quite a bit more accessible. Check out Woody Pines' MySpace page to hear some of the tracks.