An Interview Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves: Women in Old-Time Music

Check out this full video interview featuring Old-Time musicians Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves, recorded and produced as content for the special museum exhibit "I've Endured: Women in Old-Time Music" developed by Birthplace of Country Museum!

This project involved interviewing over 18 contemporary female musicians and old-time music industry professionals who shared their personal stories, challenges, experiences and perspective of women in the old-time music industry. Clips from these interviews are found throughout the exhibit, full video interviews will be uploaded throughout 2023-2024.

About Tatiana and Allison
Traditional music is not static; it shifts with the times, uncovering new meanings in old words, new ways of talking about the communal pathways that led us to where we are today. For master musicians Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves, traditional banjo and fiddle music is a way to interpret our uncertain times, to draw artistic inspiration and power from the sources of meaning in their lives. History, family, literature, live performance, and environmental instability all manifest in the sounds, feelings, and sensations that permeate their music. Their 2022 sophomore album, Hurricane Clarice is a direct infusion of centuries of matrilineal folk wisdom, a fiery breath of apocalyptic energy.

Individually they are both leaders in the young generation of roots musicians, de Groot being known for intricate clawhammer banjo work with Bruce Molsky, and Hargreaves bringing powerhouse fiddling to the stage with Laurie Lewis and David Rawlings in addition to teaching bluegrass fiddle at UNC-Chapel Hill. Their first self-titled album released in 2019 garnered attention from CBC Q, Paste Magazine and Rolling Stone Country, earning the duo the Independent Music Awards “Best Bluegrass Album” and a nomination from IBMA for “Best Liner Notes of the Year.” The duo has been booked at festivals and venues such as Newport Folk Festival, Savannah Music Festival, Winnipeg Folk Festival, the Red Hat Amphitheater in Raleigh, NC, and Red Wing Roots Music Festival. Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves create a sound that is adventurous, masterful, and original, as they expand on the eccentricities of old songs, while never losing sight of what makes them endure.

The "I’ve Endured: Women in Old-Time Music" exhibit highlights the many women who have been integral to the old-time music genre, exploring the challenges they’ve faced making a career in the field, the ways they have impacted the genre, and their vision for the future of old-time.

Special thanks to the numerous individuals who shared their insights, experiences and knowledge with us through these conversations! Video interviews for this project included: Alice Gerrard, Amythyst Kiah, Cathy Fink, Elizabeth LaPrelle, Emily Spencer, Ivy Sheppard, Kalia Yeagle, Martha Spencer, Roni Stoneman, The Reel World String Band: (Karen Jones, Bev Futrell and Sue Massek) Sheila Kay Adams, Suzy Thompson, Toni Doman, Tatiana Hargreaves and Allison de Groot, and Trish Kilby Fore.

You can learn more about the exhibit by visiting www.WomenInOldTimeMusic.com or at www.BirthplaceOfCountryMusic.org.