The Ragtime Skedaddlers

A hundred years ago, ragtime was America's original popular music, a blend of African-American folk roots with marches and old-world dances. While usually played today as a solo piano music, in their time rags, cakewalks, and marches were often played by string bands consisting of mandolins, banjos, and guitars. Using arrangements published during the ragtime era, the Ragtime Skedaddlers continue the tradition of ragtime string bands.

The group is already receiving critical praise, just two years after being formed. "A wonderful mix of classic and obscure ragtime music," wrote John Goodin, in Mandolin Journal. "They have put some serious work into doing justice to this music."

Dennis Pash has specialized in ragtime mandolin since founding the Etcetera String Band in 1973. He has written and lectured on the development of string ragtime. Nick Robinson plays second mandolin, which is unique to the published string arrangements, and has played a variety of other musics, including American old time, klezmer, and Indonesian gamelan. Dave Krinkel is an accomplished guitarist who also plays with the traditional American old time band, the Tea Sippers.

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