This old music is often mistaken for bluegrass

Editor's note: Ninth and final in a series about First Night performers.
Their music was written hundreds of years ago, and they'll be accompanied by old-time flat-foot dance.
By KATIE LIBECCO
VINDY.COM CORRESPONDENT
The Erie Travelers, an Appalachian string group, said there's no way of separating the history from their music.
In fact, they said they've learned to play their music by ear, because there's a tradition in old-time music to pass the music on from person to person, which they called the "folk process."
"What we really love about old-time music is the way it's transmitted," Kim Kenger, a fiddler in the Erie Travelers said. "It's passed down from person to person by ear."
And they said they're excited for the opportunity to pass the music on to more people by performing during First Night Youngstown. The Erie Travelers will play two different 45-minute sets at 10 and 11 p.m. in the Masonic Temple, 233 Wick Ave., as part of the First Night Youngstown New Year's Eve celebration downtown.
The Erie Travelers have been performing together as a group for about two years, they said, and members include Kim and Joe Kenger, on fiddle and guitar/banjo respectively, from Cornersburg. They are joined by Joel Specht from Conneaut on banjo and Rob Rhamey on fiddle from the Euclid area.
"That's how we get our name, the Travelers, is the distance we have to travel to get together," Kim Kenger said. "And we get the Erie part because half the band is on the Erie shore."
They define their music as old-time Appalachian string music, originated from early American times.
"Most of our music comes from 300 years ago," Kim Kenger said.
They said that many mistake their sound for bluegrass, but bluegrass is a more recent creation.
"We play very, very, old music," Kim Kenger said. "Most of music was written before the 1900s."
The Erie Travelers said they have more than 200 songs in their repertoire.
"We could sit here and probably play for a day straight," Specht said.
Most of their music is without words, but they do perform a few songs that they know the lyrics to.
"With the way this music is transmitted, a lot of the words are lost...it's like the game of telephone, where you think you know what's said, but you're not exactly right," Kim Kenger said.
A majority of their music, they said, is meant for dancing.
"The music really reflects the life of the people who played it," Kim Kenger said. "Social interaction at that time was the Saturday dance, so most of the music was meant for dancing."
To illustrate that, the Erie Travelers said they will perform with Charley Burton, who specializes in old-time flat-foot dance, at the First Night performance. Burton, who also teaches the freeform Appalachian dance, resides in Harmony, Pa.
klibecco@vindy.com
Photo by Katie Libecco