Tommy Hunter - Deep In Tradition (JA-007)

Description: Thomas Hal (Tommy) Hunter (1919-1993) was an American fiddle player from Mars Hill, Madison, North Carolina. Hunter learned to play the fiddle from his grandfather, “Hornpipe” fiddler James W. Hunter. At age 12 he performed with his father’s band on the radio, and later played with musicians Zeke and Wiley Morris on Ashville radio station WWNC. He served in WWII and often entertained the troops, and in Ireland he recorded for the BBC. In the late 1950s, he formed Tommy Hunter's Carolina String Band with his sister Nan, her husband George Fisher, and Obray Ramsey. In the early 1970s, Mr. Hunter began his long association with banjoist Carroll Best, forming a group named the Hornpipers. In 1989 he received a North Carolina Folk Heritage Award for his lifelong pursuit to master and preserve the traditional fiddle tunes of western North Carolina.

Recordings for JA007, Deep In Tradition, were made of Thomas Hal (Tommy) Hunter on fiddle, accompanied on guitar by John McCutcheon, by the Appal Seed Field Recording Project on a Nagra mono No. 2 using two Electrovice RE-11 microphones. The release was recorded, mixed and edited by Joe Chestine, Jeff Kiser, John McCutcheon and Jack Wright.

This audio collection consists of original ¼-inch field recordings, ¼-inch production masters, ¼-inch preservation masters, vinyl production masters, preservation DVD-R and CD-R access copies, and LTO-3 data tape.