Coming next week to the Beatty House are Old Time master musicians and educators Spencer & Rains.
The duo will perform on Wed., Feb 3 at 7:30 p.m., as part of the National Home Routes house concert program. Originally from Kansas and Texas, this duo bring a lifelong love of traditional Appalachian, Texas and bluegrass music to a modern audience, and have spent countless hours rediscovering, recording, and teaching southern fiddle and folk tunes and songs that were close to being lost in time.
Tricia Spencer is a Kansas fiddler who grew up learning the tradition of old time music from her grandparents. At an early age, she was perched up on some stage tapping her foot to the beat of fiddles, banjos, mandolins and guitars. While growing up, her free time was spent traveling to festivals and fiddling contest throughout the Midwest where she learned from the likes of Pete McMahan, Cyril Stinnet, Lymon Enloe, Dwight Lamb, Amos Chase, and Lucy Pierce. Tricia is multi-instrumentalist who has studied with some of the great masters in old time and is highly sought after as a performer, dance fiddler, and instructor.
Howard Rains is a native Texas artist and fiddler from a musical and artistic family whose two obsessions are painting and playing traditional American fiddle music. Howard plays rare, old tunes learned from friends, family, mentors, and old recordings. As much known for his painting as his fiddling, Howard has painted many of great old time musicians, both living and passed away.
Together, Spencer & Rains have performed and taught nationally and internationally, playing old time fiddle tunes and singing old songs in the style of their home states while also exploring other American regional styles. Both multi-instrumentalists and known for their twin fiddling, they are steeped in traditional music. Their releases “The Old Texas Fiddle Vols. I & II” reintroduce listeners to the pre-contest styles of Texas fiddling while “The Old Man and the Old Woman” shows off their vocal chops. In their unique and powerful style, Howard and Tricia are dedicated to the preservation, performance, and teaching of old time music.
Tickets are available now at Stationery Stories and Sounds on Main Street in Rimbey, including 10 free tickets for children 12 and younger. For more information call Teri at 403-843-6497.
From Ernie Hill’s reviews of Tricia and Howard’s albums:
“I think that’s a fair description of what happens when every note you’ve ever heard in your life mulls and bumps and rests and moves, then re-assembles itself randomly as an original Tune. Fiddlin’ Like There’s No Tomorrow is a pure example of Americana/Roots Music being preserved, embellished and passed on in the American Folk Tradition.”