Our album "Fresh from the Market" is available from us, or from CD Baby, both as a CD and digital (MP3) downloads. We recorded at studio V here in Bloomington. To get a feel for our live performance you can view some photos taken by our friend Kevin Atkins at the Bloomington Farmers' Market. or take a look a some videos Jim Morgan took of us on YouTube. We enjoy playing for festivals, reunions, house parties, weddings, and anywhere our downhome family music is welcome. I play banjo, guitar, baritone ukulele, harmonica and sing. Eileen plays her wide variety of limberjacks and sings harmony on our extensive selection of roots music.

This album of songs comes from our favorite venue, the Bloomington (Indiana) Farmers' Market, where we have played old-time tunes on the banjo and limberjack for over 20 years. There is something of country life in all of these songs, and we love sharing them with young and old alike. These songs, come from the 19th and early 20th Centuries; they have stood the test of time! Some tunes you may recognize, some may be new to you. Many were recorded in the early days of country music, while others traveled through the backroads of the folk process and entered into the oral tradition. Afro-American rhythms and performance styles melded with the melodies and harmonies of the Anglo-Celtic traditions of Northern Europe to make the unique sound of American country music.

Our Instruments

Banjos, which came to us from Africa, became widely popular in the 19th Century, although they had been common in Afro-American tradition since the early 1700's . They evolved from a skin covered gourd with gut strings to the highly ornamented, factory-made instruments of the late 19th Century. This album features the sound of the banjo played in the old-time frailing style which reflects its African origins. The Limberjack, known throughout Appalachia and beyond, has origins that are harder to trace, though they are now popular in England, and have been seen in Ireland. Eileen is the master of this unique rhythm instrument, and all who see and hear her play are amused and amazed by the limber wooden dancers. Also featured on this album are the Guitar, originally from Spain, the Fiddle from Italy, the Harmonica from Germany, and the Zouk from Greece (via Ireland!). Our music and instruments acknowledge and celebrate the multi-cultural nature of American music, and we look forward to adopting and adapting even more songs and instruments in the future.

Our Songs

Hoosier Boys
Adapted by Mitch from an early song known as Arkansas Boys or Texas Boys, with hoecakes and sassafras tea. Note that the song refers to a puncheon (log) floor, it is not "punched in!"

Who Broke the Lock?
I don't know! One of our favorite chicken songs, first recorded by singer/guitarist Riley Puckett, this version has Eileen playing the limberchicken.

Bile That Cabbage Down
We play this classic dance tune with Tom on fiddle and lots of great food in the verses.

Crow Black Chicken
Our version of this 19th century comic song has undergone the folk process in the melody as well as the words. Our version features floating verses from other songs.

Watermelons on the Vine
Written back in 1892, this tune features the Bazouki played in the old-time AEAE tuning.

Hopalong Peter
From the singing of Piedmont Log Rollers, this song is best heard while eating a piece of that gooseberry pie!

Farmer is the One
Recorded by Fiddlin' John Carson in the 1920's, this song comes from the Farm/Labor movement of the 1880's, but the theme & words are still relevant today.

All Go Hungry Hash House
This widely sung comic song uses the melody of Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane and was recorded in different versions by Charlie Poole, the Skillet Lickers, Uncle Dave Macon, and Gordon Tanner.

Angeline the Baker
Originally a song by Stephen Foster, Angeline has taken many paths to become the fiddle tune now played coast to coast.

Big Rock Candy Mountain
A turn of the century hobo song extolling the virtues of life on the rails, this song has become a favorite with kids of all ages.

Turkey in the Straw
This classic tune from 1832 has a variety of verses, and we include most of the ones we know.

Oh! Suzannah
Another Stephen Foster classic from 1848, The food here is the buckwheat cake in her hand, and of course there is the banjo on my knee!

Western Country
Also known as Suzannah Gal and Fly Around my Pretty Little Miss, this fiddle tune is still popular in Indiana, the original Western Country.

Grey Cat on a Tennessee Farm
With just banjo & limberjack playing, this tune rocks, with more great farm food.

Produced by: Mitch & Eileen Rice and steve V johnson
Recorded by: steve V. johnson at studio V, Boomington, IN
Photographs: Paul Martens, Kevin Atkins, Jane Reeves, Tim Rice
Thanks to: Tom Townsend for his fiddle playing.
Thanks to: The Chile Woman, and Milford & Anna Lois Wever, for the veggies!