Down at MTSU
2025 String Band Summit Showcases Fiddling Traditions of The Americas
Returning to historic Hinton Hall at Middle Tennessee State University, the place I have seen the most live performances in my life, was a thrill for me since it had been many years, and I knew very little about the type of concert the String Band Summit would be presenting. Floodlights lit up the parking lot of MTSU’s School of Music and packed the lot as I looked for my old parking spot. Although this was because of the crowd from a baseball game and it was the stadium lights spilling onto the sidewalk, I was full of excitement for our own event which featured world-class talent and international artists.
For the second consecutive year, MTSU and the Center for Popular Music were hosts of the String Band Summit, a 3-day conference featuring scholars, musicians, and students engaged in various global string band music styles and traditions. The summit included workshops and lectures, paper presentations and demonstrations, and the showcase concert which was free to the general public.
I typically settle into my seat and peruse program notes, but for this event I had only the performer’s names on a flyer. Although I had no clear idea how the night’s music would be presented, I understood that the musicians would be selecting from their repertoire what they consider worthy of being in a showcase. I was sure we as an audience would be convinced that these groups represent their respective string band music traditions at the highest level.
My background in classical guitar enables a curiosity for world music because, through guitar, I studied cultural traditions, instrument technique, and various regional musical styles. Anything guitar-adjacent from around the globe that I can experience in live performance excites me. I anticipated this concert having some unexpected and unpredictable performance aspects that would make it memorable and enjoyable. It was the kind of concert where small moments bring the audience together and the feeling of connectedness gives the music an extra dimension. In each of the four acts, the musicians were able to connect in meaningful, unique ways to convey their passion for what they were sharing.
The first artist enthusiastically shared their expertise and desire to connect with us as an audience. Sotavento, a duo of violin and guitar, opened the night with Latin American musical repertoire from Mexico to the tip of Chile. Traditional Peruvian song, Bambuco rhythms, and the Argentine folk dance chacarera y gato were all performed with poise and inspiration by Raquel Paraiso and Francisco “Pancho” Lopez. Paraiso has a classical violin background and has been playing in various forms of Sotavento since 1981 with Lopez, who is a medical physicist and accomplished guitarist. He accompanied the melodies with a distinctive percussive strumming that created a mesmerizing mix of string sounds. Leading the charge was the virtuosity of Paraiso’s fiddling. The range, from spicy, intense playing to a danza with a romantic turn, was all there. After the most lyrical of the songs finished, we, the audience, were all in agreement when she asked, “Did you feel that?” For the finale, Pancho completely surprised us by grabbing his guitar case for the last song and hand drumming on the top!
The next act, Fire of Tierra Caliente, presented music from Mexico’s Tierra Caliente region as a quartet of two violins and two guitars. The combined forces of Paraiso and Lopez with violin extraordinaire Paul Anastasio, and expert in guitar styles from the region Tina Pilione, elevated the arrangements of the tunes. A focus on virtuosic violin music in this showcase was becoming clear as these songs were presented. Anastasio and Pilione both studied with Juan Reynoso, a master fiddler of the traditional songs from his homeland of the Tierra Caliente. Anastasio dedicated thousands of hours to recording this music in order for it to continue to reach and impact fiddlers in the same way it did for him. The song “En Gusto”, featuring Pilione singing, was a demonstration of a style where brief choruses interchange with violin melodies continuously until the moment when the violin decides it is the end. A pasa doblé was introduced as a piece written for a revolutionary during the time of the Mexican Revolution. It was a lyrical, evolving into epic, song that made a fitting ending to the set.
A musician from our own backyard was the next to present his skills. Trenton “Tater” Caruthers is a fiddler from the Cumberland Plateau area of Tennessee and knowledgeable of the deep musical traditions of the region. He and guitarist Jordan Judkins walked on stage in stark white shirts with denim overalls and wide brimmed hats. They played tune after tune, each with a brief introduction and occasional quip, and I started to smile when the thought came to me that when you hear Tater play you know the difference between fiddle and violin. The reaction of the audience was very warm and lighthearted as well. We were treated to versions of “Bed Bug Blues,” “Flower from the Fields of Alabama,” “Peas in the Pot,” and more. The last tune, “Sequatchie Valley,” was one I enjoyed while closing my eyes and picturing the scenery I have visited in that area near Chattanooga. As I imagined looking down at a distant train following tracks along a mountainside, Tater played double stop horn sounds and twisting and racing fiddle to detail the scene. This song and others are found on the album Tennessee Breakdown from Spring Fed Records, a label specializing in traditional music of the South.
The final performance was Trio Canto a Mi Tierra, a string band from Veracruz, Mexico that plays music of the Huasteca region. They performed son huasteco, a regional style of dance and music that featured violin from son huasteco master Don Victor Ramirez and a beautiful, piercing style of singing from Osiris Caballero and Valente Gomez. The huapango rhythms are essential to this trio music and were played on jarana (a small, 5-string guitar) and quinta (a deep-bodied guitar with 5 courses) by Caballero and Gomez. These instruments plowed on at incredible speeds and wove amazing percussive and musical sounds. While dazzling the audience with the performance, the trio were ornately dressed in orange and white patterned shirts with fringe on the sleeves, and white cowboy hats on their heads. Sparkling inlays on the beautiful jarana and quinta built by Gomez also contributed to the appearance of the outstanding performance. I noticed the similarity in form between some of the songs from the Tierra Caliente and the Huasteca where the virtuosic violin part trades back and forth with the singer. This interaction always seems to create a bubbling up, having a chorus build tension that the flurry of violin notes help release. That excitement was fitting for a finale performance and my reaction to it was a big smile and applause. It was clear everyone else in attendance (around 50 plus) enjoyed it just as much.
Each set of music presented that night proved that the artist’s endeavors of preserving the music so that it can be heard by audiences is worthwhile. Although the concert hall is not necessarily the intended setting for these songs, the performers did well to play as if we were the same as a community gathered for some festive reason (I did not witness any dancing in our audience.) The musical traditions represented in the concert are something that may fade away if not for the passion and dedication of these scholars and musicians. That is clear in Paul Anastasio’s investment in the music from the Tierra Caliente, as well as the others. I am sure we all enjoy forms of art that were created long ago, and it inspires me to want to share my own interests so that they continue to be appreciated.
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Classical guitarist, music educator, and contributor to Music City Review from Murfreesboro, TN
