Ray Alden RIP (1942 - 2009)

Tina Aridas sent word this morning on the NYbluegrass-oldtime mailing list than Ray Alden died yesterday morning; he had been battling cancer.

A collector, a record producer and a fine musician, Ray contributed an incredible amount to the old-time scene over his life, and luckily, a lot of those contributions were in the form of compact disc compilations -- such as the American Fogies and Young Fogies series on Rounder -- so his legacy will live on. Most recently, he has been heading up the Field Recorders' Collective, a group that issues big and beautiful compilations of old-time music field recordings -- sets for the old-time music connoisseur.

To the best of my knowledge, Ray appeared twice with me on The Moonshine Show, once when the Field Recorders' Collective issued their first batch of material and then once with his band the Southern Schoolhouse Rascals. I wish that we had created more opportunities over the years where we could have shared Ray's immense knowledge with the New York City listening public.

A brief remembrance written by Dan Peck can be found here; I'm sure more will come.