Old-time, on this blog, anyway, refers to old-time music, which is arguably the most purely American form of music.  I got interested in old-time music by way of bluegrass banjo.  I tried playing bluegrass, or “3-finger,” or “Scruggs-style” banjo for a few years, but could never get those rolls rolling fast enough.  Even worse, that heavy resonator banjo gave me terrible backaches.  So I got an open-back banjo and started learning the old-time clawhammer style.  Well, before long, I caught the fiddle bug.  After all, clawhammer banjo and old-time fiddle go together like peanut butter and jelly.  I’m not good at either banjo or fiddle, but I have fun anyway.  I have friends who are really good.  Here are a couple of them.