June Drucker is well known in the old time music scene for her bass playing in the Heartbeats (with Tara Nevins, Beverly Smith, and Rose Sinclair) a band at the forefront of the non-traditional old time music scene. They played all over the U.S. and Canada also touring in Germany, opening up for 10,000 Maniacs and Mary Chapin Carpenter, as well as appearing on Prairie Home Companion, E-Town and Mountain Stage. Through the years, June has gained great respect for her skillful, sensitive, and solid bass playing.

June currently plays bass in The Horseflies with Judy Hyman, Jeff Claus, Richie Stearns, Taki Masuko and Rick Hanson. She also currently plays in Big Table (dance band) with Judy Hyman, Jeff Claus, Larry Unger, and Jeremiah Mclane, as well as the Tractor family.

In addition, she has recorded with numerous groups including The Renegades (with Richie Stearns, James Leva & Carol Elizabeth Jones), The Improbabillies, The Lonesome Sisters with Riley Baugus, James Leva & Carol Elizabeth Jones. June also played on the Bubba George String Band CD Live at Grassroots with Jeb Puryear, Jordan Puryear, Shane Lamphier and Richie Stearns as well as recording with Paso Fino, with Diana Andersen and Shane Lamphier.

June drucker's debut fiddle CD, Tumble and Leap, includes June's original tunes, traditional tunes and vocals. Her tune "Going Back to Israel" has been recorded and played by many old time fiddlers, as well as many of her other original tunes.

june drucker interview

tin halo music: most people in the old time music scene know you as a bass player. when did you start playing fiddle?

june drucker. i started playing violin in 3rd grade, but was never very good at reading music. by the time i was in the orchestra in 7th grade i could play all the first violin parts by ear, but because i couldn't read the 2nd violin parts very well, i got the boot from the orchestra and didn't touch the violin again till i discovered fiddle music years later...i mostly just picked it up now and then, but since i had those few years of lessons when i was younger i never had to go thru the scratchy stage so it was fun right away...i started getting more serious about it and playing more in the early 90's when sally freund and i started playing alot together...she was learning guitar and would play on the back of the beat which works very well with my style of fiddling.

tin halo music: lets talk about that. you have a different groove than alot of old time players, where did that come from?

june drucker. well i'm not really sure about that...it's just sort of how i play...when i started playing old time music there was an incredible old time music scene in philadelphia at the time...and some of the people were discovering cajun music too...i think i just listened and to it all and played the tunes the way i heard them in my head rather than learn them from the older recordings which alot of fiddles do...and i had this style of bowing and rather than make my bowing match the notes, i would just make the notes match my bowing...as a result there are certain tunes that don't work very well the way i play, but others sound quite nice...i also tend to want to hear different chords that make the tunes sound prettier or sadder...i like the sound of the minor chords alot...so often i pay more attention to the chords than the actual melody...i pretty much think of it as a lazy way of playing from a bass players perspective.

tin halo music: you've written several tunes on this cd, could you tell us about that?

june drucker. when i was first playing i met tara nevins who i later ended up playing bass with in the heartbeats for many years.. and she had written some tunes we were playing alot...so i gave it a try and wrote this tune called "going back to isrell" (another friend actually named it that) and gave it to her for a birthday present and because she's was and still is such an awesome fiddler everyone heard her playing it and it kinda caught on...and alot of people started playing it...that's nice when that happens because after a while you don't even feel like you wrote it anymore and it just becomes part of the tradition...it was good inspiration to keep doing it tho i havent written that many..maybe 6 or 7..and since i never really learned the tunes from recordings it was often just as easy to make one up.

tin halo music: since you said you never listened much to the old recordings who were you influences?

june drucker. i'd have to say i was probably influenced mostly by the fiddlers i've played bass with...i don't think you can spend years standing next to someone and not have it somehow seep in...and i've been fortunate to play with some of who i think are the finest old time style fiddlers playing today, tara nevins, judy hyman, james leva, bruce molsky, jeb puryear, are all fiddlers i played alot with so i think they're probably who have influenced me more than anything...tho not excusively.

tin halo music: since you've made this recording of your fiddle music, do you have any future plans to try to play out as a fiddler?

june drucker. i've definately thought about it, but have decided not to try and do that....right now i get to play in my dream session with a group of friends who can make the music sound just the way i envision it a few times a year at festivals....being the fiddler is very different from being the bass player and it's pretty much the most fun i have playing music..if it's right you get to dissapear, and you just become the music...i like it being just that...last year at clifftop we had a great session and a woman carrying a fiddle walked over and sat down and listened the whole time...later on in the weekend she came up and asked if i had any recordings of that kind of music we were playing...it kinda made my day.

email june

Hear Clips of June Drucker's CD

Tin Halo Music represents the CD recordings of The Lonesome Sisters, The Lonesome Sisters with Riley Baugus, jimmyjohnnyjoe, and June Drucker's debut fiddle music CD.

The music on these recordings encompasses rural Southern acoustic music, Appalachian, oldtime music, Americana, old time traditional country, mountain, early country, bluegrass, gospel, string band, fiddle and originals.