Together, they form an ensemble called the string band, which along with the simple banjo–fiddle duet have historically been the most common configurations to play old-time music.

African influences are notably found in vocal and instrumental performance styles and dance, as well as the often cited use of the banjo; in some regions, Native American, Spanish, French and German sources are also prominent.

However, definitions of the phrase vary historically and geographically, including racially segregated titles used in record catalogs of the 1920s and 1930s,[5] literal use to describe nostalgic song and tune collections over the years, and concert organizers' and record companies' use of the phrase in the 1960s to identify traditional instrumental and vocal music by rural white and black musicians, distinct from the then-commercialized "folk revival" music that included urban "interpreters" and singer-songwriters (See "Revival" below).

The early 19th century Minstrel Show configuration of banjo, fiddle, rhythm bones and tambourine, at first performing tunes learned from black players, soon added tunes adapted from white players previous European-roots repertoire, and songs composed specifically for those ensembles, such as those of Stephen Foster, some of which are still in the old-time string band repertoire.

[10] During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the guitar and mandolin became increasingly available, as well as factory made banjos, and tunes originating in Tin Pan Alley, gospel, ragtime, blues and other musics were adapted into the old-time style.

[11] Folkways Records, founded in 1948, began to use the phrase "old time music" prominently in conjunction with Mike Seeger, the New Lost City Ramblers, other performers (e.g., Canadian fiddler Jean Carignan), and events ("The 37th Old Time Fiddler's Convention at Union Grove North Carolina"), including a 1960s New York City organization called the "Friends of Old-Time Music" (F.O.T.M.

Under its "Old-Time Music" umbrella, rather than the phrase "folk music" then being used heavily by commercial record companies and young singer-songwriters, the group presented a wide range of older black and white traditional and "roots" musicians, including Southern singers, fiddlers, banjo players, guitarists and string bands in styles ranging from unaccompanied and banjo-accompanied ballad-singing to bluegrass and blues artists, some of whom had recorded as early as the 1920s.

(Among the concert performers were Clarence Ashley, Dock Boggs, Gus Cannon, Jesse Fuller, Roscoe Holcomb, Mississippi John Hurt, Furry Lewis, Bill Monroe, the Stanley Brothers, and Doc Watson.)

[12] A 2006 three-CD box set from Folkways reissued more of the original 14 concerts, under the title "Friends of Old Time Music: The Folk Arrival 1961-1965," accompanied by a 60-page book by Peter K. Siegel, with essays by John Cohen (musician) and Jody Stecher.

Among its observations, "When Ralph Rinzler, Cohen and Young decided to call their new organization the Friends of Old Time Music, they were referring to language that had been used by the commercial recording industry almost four decades earlier."

[13][14] Vanguard Records used "Old Time Music at Newport" as the title for one of its several LPs from the Newport Folk Festival of 1963, including several Southern players who had performed at FOTM concerts and Folkways records, and others: Clarence "Tom" Ashley, Doc Boggs, Maybelle Carter, Jenes Cottrell, Dorsey Dixon, Clint Howard, Fred Price, and Doc Watson.

Individualistic three-finger styles were developed independently by such important figures as Uncle Dave Macon, Dock Boggs, and Snuffy Jenkins.

[21] The primary sources for many of Sharp's recordings came from a string of related families around Shelton Laurel, N.C. Of note is the fact that these families maintained a specific, unique vocal tradition and traditional English lyrical pronunciations across several generations, until gaining fame in the 1960s and 1970s through similar field recordings completed by John Cohen.

A Scottish fiddler named Niel Gow (note the unorthodox spelling) is usually credited with developing (during the 1740s) the short bow sawstroke technique that defines Appalachian fiddling.

It is one of the few regional styles of old-time music that, since World War II, has been learned and widely practiced in all areas of the United States and Canada (as well as in Europe, Australia, and elsewhere).

There is a particularly high concentration of performers playing Appalachian folk music on the East and West Coasts (especially in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and the Pacific Northwest).

Some of the most prominent traditions include those of North Georgia (The Skillet Lickers) Mount Airy, North Carolina (specifically the Round Peak style of Tommy Jarrell) and Grayson County/Galax, Virginia (Wade Ward and Albert Hash), West Virginia (the Hammons Family), Eastern Kentucky (J. P. Fraley and Lee Sexton), Middle Tennessee (Uncle Dave Macon, The McGee Brothers, Thomas Maupin, and Fiddlin' Arthur Smith), and East Tennessee (Charlie Acuff, The Roan Mountain Hilltoppers, G.B.

The Proffitts and Hicks were heirs to a centuries-old folk tradition, and through the middle to late 20th century they performed in a style older than the stringbands often associated with old time music.

Old-time music has also been adopted by individual Native American musicians including Walker Calhoun (1918–2012) of Big Cove, in the Qualla Boundary (home to the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Matthew Kinman of the Apache Tribe, and Wovoka Herrera of the Northern Paiute people .

The Berkeley Old Time Fiddler's Convention, she said, was "Conceived in the back of a Volkswagen bus, on the way to a party in Marin County, in 1968, by a group of people who wanted to retain the good music and interplay they'd witnessed at Southern fiddle-banjo contests, without the competition and corruption extant there.

Extending the north–south corridor from Seattle to Portland and east to Weiser, ID and Boise, gatherings and festivals such as the Portland Old Time Gathering, Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, WA, an annual campout in Centralia, WA and the National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest have helped build a growing and multi-generational old time music community.

The current old-time music scene is alive and well, sparked since the mid-1990s by the combined exposure resulting from several prominent films, more accessible depositories of source material, institutions like the Field Recorders Collective,[31] and the work of touring bands, including The Freight Hoppers, The Wilders, Uncle Earl, Old Crow Medicine Show, Glade City Rounders, Foghorn Stringband, and the Carolina Chocolate Drops.

A new generation of old-time musicians performs as solo acts and band leaders all over the country, including: Brad Leftwich, Dan Levenson,[32] Bruce Molsky, Rafe Stefanini, Bruce Greene, Rhys Jones, Rayna Gellert, Riley Baugus, Leroy Troy, Alice Gerrard, Dirk Powell, Walt Koken, Clifton Hicks,[33] and Martha Scanlan.

The Appalachian dulcimer has long been a part of string bands in the Galax, Virginia, area and is seeing new popularity re-emerging as a key instrument for old-time music, thanks to the influence of musicians such as Don Pedi, David Schnaufer, Lois Hornbostel, Wayne Seymour his disciples, Milltown and Stephen Seifert.

American hammered dulcimer players like Ken Kolodner, Mark Alan Wade and Rick Thum continue this tradition.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops and the solo careers of former members Rhiannon Giddens and Dom Flemons have directly addressed the nearly lost tradition of black stringband music.

In dance music as played by old-time string bands, emphasis is placed on providing a strong beat, and instrumental solos, or breaks, are rarely taken.

Canadian musicians, particularly in the Maritime provinces where the Scottish influence is strong, perform both reels and jigs (as well as other types of tunes such as marches and strathspeys).

The Digital Library of Appalachia[39] provides online access to archival and historical materials related to the culture of the southern and central Appalachian region, including audio recording samples.

These camps are family friendly and allow beginners to enter into the tradition and more advanced players to hone their sound with instruction from some of the best in the music.