The New Southern Cowtippers
Until the spread of music through the radio, styles tended to be regional. The New Southern Cowtippers draw upon Appalachian fiddle tunes and songs from Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia; southern blues; pop tunes from the early 1900s; Grand Ole Opry favorites; southern gospel; and an occasional original composition.
Some of these selections we learned from our mentors and fellow musicians; others we learned from scratchy old 78 RPM recordings from the Library of Congress and record collectors such as Joe Bussard.
The Cowtipper name is not original. We borrowed it from a long defunct dance band from New Hampshire popular in the 1930’s and 1940’s. We are not sure of the original name…we think it may have been the White Mountain Cowtippers. No, we have never tipped a cow, nor do we even cook them.