"Now that's real music!"   Old man, Hannibal Folklife Festival, Hannibal , MO
 
The late 1800’s and the early 1900’s were a time of growth and prosperity for the Midwest. With the introduction of radio, musical styles merged and grew replacing the old with astounding speed. Aural Traditions captures that time presenting a slice of the musical pie that entertained, enlivened and strengthened the people of the rural Midwest between the 1860’s and the 1930’s.
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The songs range from well known numbers like the Carter Family’s classics Life’s Railway to Heaven and Keep On The Sunnyside Of Life, Jimmy Rogers’s Traveling Blues, Albert E. Brumely’s I’ll Fly Away to obscure gems such as When Katie Comes Down By The Gate (learned from Lawrence Royer, a 96 year old man from rural Bader, IL whose mother had been taught the song in the local one room schoolhouse in 1884).
 
Steeped in the roots styles of music that were such a big part of the heritage of the region, Vallillo performed on a variety of vintage instruments, a 1936 “Angelus” wood bodied dobro, a 1940’s Gibson Southern Jumbo guitar, a mid 30’s Kalamazoo Mandolin, and a 1880’s era hammer dulcimer bringing this music to life with an authentic accuracy.