Interview with Antoon Speters, January 29, 2023

Partial Transcript: Actually I can still remember the days before even little transistor radios, when they had crystal radios...

Segment Synopsis: Speters remembers his earliest experiences with music, explaining how he used a crystal radio that he was gifted to listen to The Everly Brothers. He then tells the story of forming his first band in his youth, a group of friends who listened to the same folk-inspired radio tunes of the 60s. Gradually they went from singing to having multiple guitarists, taking inspiration from groups like The Kingston Trio.

Keywords: 45 RPM Vinyl; Church Community; Guitar; Netherlands; Salt Lake City, Utah; The Shadows; Transistor Radio

Partial Transcript: Well okay we've got the two guitars, but The Kingston Trio's got a banjo, and what the heck's a banjo?

Segment Synopsis: Speters talks about learning the banjo for the band and talks about the players and records that inspired him through middle and high school. He also talks about meeting a guitarist who he formed his first rock band with in high school called "The Three Deuces."

Keywords: 3 Finger Style Banjo; Bluegrass; Clawhammer Banjo; Country; Folk; Guitar; Middle School; New Lost City Ramblers; Pete Seeger; Radio; Rock; The Beach Boys; The Beatles; Walter Forbes; Long Neck Banjo

Partial Transcript: We had a couple of tours um, around the western part of the States up into Canada...

Segment Synopsis: Speters talks about touring out West and playing guitar around California after moving to Davis with his wife. The two moved to Athens when she took a position at the University of Georgia and Speters explains how he entered the acoustic music community through the Folk Society and talks about some of the groups he played with during that time.

Keywords: Athens Folk Music and Dance Society; Bluegrass; Green Flag Band; Marriage; Singer-songwriter; String Theory Old Time Band; The Foundry; Tommy Jordan; Davis, California

Partial Transcript: I really wanted to start more of an early jazz band...

Segment Synopsis: Speters talks about the formation of his early jazz band called "The Hobohemians" and the different venues he has played in Athens. He then discusses the role of private parties and weddings for many Athens bands and his performances at the Human Rights Festival and North Georgia Folk Festival at Sandy Creek Park.

Keywords: Country; Green Flag Band; Norman Blake; String Theory Old Time Band

Partial Transcript: Another influential old time musician that I eventually got to meet is Art Rosenbaum.

Segment Synopsis: Speters talks about his experiences with Art Rosenbaum, from how they met and became friends to performing together during showcases of Rosenbaum's field recordings. He also talks about his encounters with Athens fiddler Earl Murphy, and tells a few stories about him.

Keywords: Art; Athens, Georgia; Atlanta, Georgia; Banjo; Earl Murphy; Ethnomusicology; Fiddle; Field Recording; Little Five Points; Local Traditional Music; Music Education; Old Time Music; Techniques; Tunings; University of Georgia; Folk

Partial Transcript: Somewhere down there I got into cowboy music, so I started a group called Bunkhouse Orchestra.

Segment Synopsis: Speters talks about his ventures into cowboy music, including his group the Rocky Mountain Rangers based in Salt Lake City, and the Bunkhouse Orchestra in California. He describes what defines cowboy music and some of the genre's key groups.

Keywords: Arizona Wranglers; Beverly Hillbillies; Canada; Folk; The Nash Ramblers; Sons of the Pioneers

Partial Transcript: If you're gonna play bluegrass, you gotta have a banjo. It can't be just any banjo its gotta be a Gibson banjo...

Segment Synopsis: Speters talks about the gear he has used over the years and the instruments he's played in Athens bands.

Keywords: Blue Stockings; Calliope Fair; Christian Lopez; Crescent Moon; Curley Maple; Dobro; Fender Telecaster; Gibson; Mandolin; North Georgia Bluegrass Band; Resonator Banjo; String Theory Old Time Band; Martin d28

Partial Transcript: Basically I only had one class with him that I could recall...

Segment Synopsis: Speters recalls his experience taking an art class on intermediate oil painting taught by Art Rosenbaum, who was a friend of his by that point. He also talks about getting a tour of Rosenbaum's instruments, which leads to a discussion of banjos and Rosenbaum's openness in allowing people to play his instruments.

Keywords: Art Rosenbaum; Banjo; Clawhammer Banjo; Lamar Dodd School of Art; Vega Whyte Laydie; Oil Painting

Partial Transcript: That's how I learned the banjo by the way was through Pete Seeger's book...

Segment Synopsis: Speters talks about the Pete Seeger instructional book that taught him banjo and then explains how he learned songs from records. He compares the difficulty of that process to the ease of learning songs now with tools like YouTube.

Keywords: Banjo Techniques; Clawhammer Banjo; Earl Scruggs; Turntable; Vinyl Record; Pete Seeger

Partial Transcript: Can we uh, talk a little bit about The Hobohemians and how that started?

Segment Synopsis: Speters talks about the formation of his early jazz group The Hobohemians, starting from the beginning of his interest in early jazz to the members that have joined the group.

Keywords: Bill Oglesby; Dick Daniels; Django Reinhardt; Early Jazz; Joe Ellison; Joe Ellison; John Amoss; Old Time Music; Susan Staley; Art Rosenbaum

Partial Transcript: I wanna hear a little bit about the Hot Club of Athens and your experience with them.

Segment Synopsis: Speters talks about his experience playing with the Hot Club of Athens, a band that plays early jazz in the style of Django Reinhardt. He also remembers gigs with other musicians in the Athens and Atlanta areas including Kishi Bashi, and also talks about the venues where these shows took place.

Keywords: Andrea Demarcus; Caledonia Lounge; Dan Coy; Django Reinhardt; Fiddle; Georgia Theatre; Hendershots; Hot Club of France; Keiko Ishibashi; Kishi Bashi; Mike Savino; Selmer-Maccaferri Guitar; Stéphane Grappelli; Tall Tall Trees; The Grit; Hot Club of Athens