Hog-eyed Man Spotted in Athens

Hog-eyed Man, the Athens-area duo of fiddler Jason Cade and lap dulcimer, mandolin and guitar player Rob McMaken, love old-time music. We’re not talking vaguely old-sounding Americana, either. Like their local pal Art Rosenbaum and other folklorists, the group collects and records historic tunes derived from Appalachian, Irish and Native American traditions.

For a bushelful of songs from the group’s massive repertoire, check out the new CD Old World Music of the Southern Appalachians (Tiki Parlour Records). Rosenbaum, a Grammy-winning artist and a banjo wiz from the folk revival years, appears on two of the album’s whopping 19 tracks. He dropped by the studio on his 79th birthday to sing “Cumberland Gap” and pick along on “Saline County.” Tracks not featuring Rosenbaum, including “Rebel Raid” and “Woodswoman,” keep alive his folklorist methods while celebrating the passion and curiosity for old-time music that’s thrived in Athens since Art and his wife Margo came there as educators in 1976.