Floyd Field Recordings

Zook Field Recording is a collaborative undertaking of Francesca Zook and Ted Zook which seeks to curate, in the most transparent and least obtrusive manner possible, the authentic voice of the spontaneous, uncommercialized rural American street music (when the weather’s nice!) associated with the weekly “Jamboree” hosted by the Floyd Country Store in Floyd VA. Depending on the weather, there can be many clusters of musicians performing in front of, next door to, and/or across the street from the store. The totally uncommercialized and authentic nature of the performances is underscored by the fact that there are no open instrument cases, no hats being passed around nor any other form of solicitation of donations by the performers — they are all playing for the sheer love of it. In some cases, the groups of musicians include folks who have never performed together previously, facilitated by the fact that the canon of this genre of music appears to be widely known in the US and overseas.

More information about the Floyd jamboree and other music in SW VA:

A playlist of recordings:

“I’m Using My Bible for a Roadmap” was sung by Mrs. Janet Turner accompanied by a group of musicians — including a gentleman from Ireland (guitar) — in a parking lot across the street from the Floyd Country Store on the evening of October 5, 2007. “Whole Buncha Keys”, “Lisa Jane”, “Old Corn Liquor” and “Hangman’s Reel” were performed by Skip Slocum (claw banjo) and Bob Browder (fiddle) in front of the Floyd Barber Shop, which is next door to the Country Store, on the evening of October 19, 2007.