25 in 25: Dudley Laufman

When he raised the roof at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 with his country orchestra, Dudley Laufman energized the youthful crowd and helped re-light the torch for traditional country dancing that had been carried at the time by a few old-timers. He helped create a movement of contra dancing and contra music that has played out in the churches and barns of small town New England for more than a quarter of a century. Our 25 in 25 series continues with the man who has been called the “pied piper of Canterbury”, New Hampshire’s own king of contra-music, Dudley Laufman.

Guest

• Dudley Laufman: musician living in Canterbury, who has been playing and calling dances for over fifty years. Since 1986, Dudley Laufman and his wife, Jacqueline, have been playing for dances as Two Fiddles. Prior to that, he has been the leader of the Canterbury Country Dance Orchestra, the first dance band to make an LP recording, in 1971, of the New England jigs and reels most often used for dancing.