Ole P Gussias

This tape is outside of my wheelhouse as it is all Norwegian speaking and the tunes are very Norwegian on flat fiddle and hardingfele.  This tape was just labeled Gussias.  I had to ask around to many of my Norwegian music friends to come up with an answer.  I was eventually was led to Jorun Marie Kvernberg who is an expert on fiddle music from Romsdal, Norway.  She gave me this answer-

"I believe this is Ole P. Gussiås (1908—2002) from Ranvika in the former Nesset municipality, now Molde municipality. He played both the fiddle and the hardangerfiddle, and learnt tunes from his father, Peder P. Gussiås (1871–1945). I have another recording. I also have copies of several tunes he wrote down from both Romsdal and Nordmøre region. He also had a link to Hustadvika municipality (where I come from) and wrote down tunes from fiddlers there as well".  We can only assume Ole made his way to Wisconsin and visited with Leonard.

Because the tunes are straight from Norway and not Upper Midwest, I am not going to take the time to break it all down into seperate tracks and edit nicely.  But because it is a non-commercial home recording made by Finseth, I am going to share the file here.

Leonard Finseth and Selmer Ramsey

This is a fun tape to unearth! Selmer Ramsey of Thief River Falls, Minnesota was one of the Upper Midwest's great band leaders in the early to mid 1900's.  Here he is trading tunes with Leonard Finseth of Drammen Township, Wisconsin.  There was a little bit of talking between tunes, but not much.  Selmer points out, "There used to be so much going on in these old waltzes, nowadays, not so much".  And after Finseth plays his Old-Time Polka in G (UMFF G21), Selmer says, " My dad used to play that and Andy DeJarlis too".  Unfortunately one side of the tape just won't play even after i cleaned my nice cassette deck.

  

Leonard Finseth and Stanley Lardahl. March, 1960.

Leonard plays fiddle and Stanley plays guitar on this recording.  This early recording of Leonard's fiddling sees him playing more standard American old-time tunes along with his Norwegian American old-time fare that he was known for in later years.  Tunes like Ragtime Annie and Mississippi Sawyer are interspersed with the waltes, schottisches and polkas.

Otto Rindlisbacher

Today's tape is not Finseth himself, but him recording fiddler Otto Rindlisbacher of Rice Lake, Wisconsin.

This possibly unknown Otto Rindlibacher recording is from tapes given to me by the Leonard Finseth family.  As far I can tell some of these titles do not match the names or the order of other known Rindlisbacher tapes online from the University of Wisconsin's Mills Music Library.  Leonard Finseth is announcing and best guess is LaVerne Lardahl is on guitar.

Otto Rindlisbacher- Mills Music Library

Nordic Fest in Decorah, Iowa. 1991?

This unlabeled recording was probably recorded at Nordic Fest in Decorah in 1991, but not sure yet.  I say that because the announcer says that Leonard Finseth was dedicating a song to Arnold Olson who we think died earlier that year in October of 1990.

First we hear Bob Andreasen and maybe his son Gary? doing a few Finseth numbers “Jack Pine” style on guitars.  It is cool to hear Syverson’s Waltz done in this style.

Another fun selection on this tape is the harmonica fiddle duo on Jenny Lind Polka by an unknown group.  Leonard Finseth has only a few selections as each artist seems to get about four songs or tunes.

The other interesting thing about this tape is that during one of Bob's songs, Leonard is talking to someone louder than the performance about his third album, which has never been released, or known much about.

Knute Sorenson at Nordic Fest in Decorah, Iowa (1967?)

My best detective work at this time is that this is audio from 1967 at Nordic Fest in Decorah, Iowa, but replayed in 1982. The jury is still out on this as fact.  Whatever year- Some great fiddling here from Knute Sorenson of Northwestern, Minnesota.  Knute was a hardanger fiddler and flat fiddler who frequently played with his brother, Harold Sorenson.  In the intro you can hear him talking about his uncle Sam, who played hardanger in the early 1900's in NW Minnesota.  Here is a picture of his uncle Sam playing the hardanger.

Nordic Fest 1986. Decorah, Iowa

Nordic Fest has been a great yearly tradition in Decorah, Iowa since 1967.  The fest still goes strong today with dances in the streets and traditional music by the Foot-Notes and others.

Leonard Finseth liked to record the music portion of the fest when he was down there.  This tape has a series of performers playing short sets.  I cannot figure out all of the artists names and did not call Vesterheim to try to match the program with the music.

Of note is a performance by Viola Lee who plays wonderful versions of her families fiddle tune on accordion.  There is also good sets by Bertel Malm of South Dakota and Leonard Finseth of Drammen Township, Wisconsin.