This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen magazine #98 (February / March 2002). The magazine is available on newsstands and by subscription.

Southern Old-Time Fiddle Tour
taught by Bruce Molsky
Homespun VD-MOL-F101 (2001)

Not only can Bruce Molsky play the devil out of a fiddle (not to mention a banjo and a guitar), and sing at the same time, he can teach you how to do it, too. On his first video for Homespun Tapes, Molsky guides the intermediate fiddler through six tunes from various parts of the South in one of the best structured instructional videos I've ever seen. The production and filming is excellent, with full body and close-up shots set up so the viewer has a clear view of both hands at all times.
Molsky teaches tunes by breaking them down into short phrases that can be learned by ear and then combined into the whole tune. The first tune he teaches is Edden Hammons' "Washington's March." He starts with the melody, and as he covers the first phrase of the tune, he introduces two basic bowing patterns, the shuffle and the saw stroke. Molsky really works this tune, spending about 15 minutes on it so the student misses nothing. At the very end of the tune, he makes a brief comment on the use of drones. The next tune is "Saddle Up the Grey" from Carter Brothers and Son from Mississippi. Here, Molsky shows the bowing pattern first (the more complicated Galax shuffle) and then demonstrates how the melody fits around it. In a similar manner, Molsky slowly introduces more and more demanding techniques and concepts as he teaches Tommy Jarrell's "Old Bunch of Keys" and Eck Robertson's "Lost Indian." By the time he hits Fiddlin' John Carson's "Do Round My Lindy," he has you learning to sing and play chords on the fiddle. He wraps up the 75-minute lesson with Uncle Bunt Stephens' deceptively simple "Candy Girl," which Molsky uses to explain pulse bowing and playing in octaves. The video opens and closes with a performance of Walter McNew's "Blackjack Grove."
The video is an excellent way for intermediate students to master specific tunes that open out into a wealth of regional fiddle styles from the South. My only complaint is that Molsky does not spend enough time discussing the styles from the several subregions so the student will have a clearer idea on how, for instance, West Virginia fiddling differs from Tommy Jarrell's Round Peak style.
— Bruce E. Baker (Chapel Hill, NC)