California’s Old-Time Echoes Blend Banjo, Ballads, and Unexpected Roots
Old-time music in California might sound like a contradiction, but Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin have spent decades weaving Appalachian string traditions into the West Coast’s cultural fabric. Their partnership, nearly half a century strong, is built on harmonies that both soar and soothe, with arrangements that feel spontaneous yet deeply rooted.
Brislin’s mastery of blending vocals and her rhythmic banjo style trace back to her days with the pioneering Any Old Time String Band, while Stecher’s journey includes fieldwork in the Bahamas—where he picked up songs that would later ripple through American folk, even reaching the Grateful Dead. Together, they don’t just revive old songs; their interpretations often become the new standards, subtly reshaping the tradition itself.
Their music is less about putting on a show and more about inviting listeners into a shared space, where the line between past and present blurs. In their hands, California’s old-time sound becomes both a memory and a living, breathing thing.
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