There have been many wonderful performances shared by attendees of the Santa Barbara Old Time Fiddlers’ Convention over the years. \u00a0In modern times, it has become relatively easy to make video recordings of live events, but records of early years are rare and hard to come by. \u00a0A few years ago, I was given a set of video tapes made in BetaMax format, but never found a player still working to watch these. \u00a0One set of tapes — in VHS format, from the 25th annual Convention, held in 1997 (the last event I sponsored), was given to me a few years ago. \u00a0These were filed and forgotten until this year.<\/p>\n

Here is a song from those tapes, by Francis and Gladys Stevenson, who, for several years won first prize in traditional singing. \u00a0We eventually made them judges to give other singers a chance! \u00a0They asked me to accompany them for a brief set. I hope you enjoy their performance:<\/p>\n