Henry Rutland and Paul Massey, February 24, 1998. Thomasville (Ga.). 00:38:11. Musical performance. Download MP3

Fieldnotes by Laurie Sommers:

Met at Mr. Rutland's home where I had arranged to record him playing music for the radio series. At his request, his guitarist--Paul Massey of Boston--came to back him up. I had asked Rutland to play some of the older tunes in his repertoire on his great-grandfather's fiddle. He really doesn't play it much. The fiddle has a longer neck than his regular fiddle, and Rutland had a little trouble playing it. The fiddle has two significant cracks on the top which have been repaired, and a distinctive curly maple back. It is softer in sound than his regular fiddle, which is used to cut through crowds and project over PA systems, but it did not strike me as overly soft. The two older tunes he chose were standards: Golden Slippers and Soldier's Joy, tunes he learned from his father (who taught them to Henry's Uncle Bob--aka Georgia Slim Rutland). Henry plays 5-6 variations on many of his tunes. The most interesting tune was a local one I believe--Albany Reel, which he had to teach (chord changes) to Paul. He said he only knew a couple other old fiddlers who played it. I asked about waltzes and Rutland said as a bluegrass fiddler he isn't called to play waltzes much. He started in on Westphalia Waltz and then broke a string. He finished off the selections on his great grandfather's fiddle again rather than change the string.

Paul Massey heads a timber crew. He brought his son Brian (age 8 or 9) because he wanted him to hear the older tunes. He commented that few younger people knew or were interested in the kind of music he and Rutland play (Massey is part of the S. GA Grass, Rutland's bluegrass group). Massey has some relatives around Bainbridge who play music--wrote down the name on the artist data form (check).