I’ve been using “Wildwood Flower” as my go-to example of a tune which should be in the public domain but, thanks to copyright in a particular arrangement, effectively isn’t. But there are plenty of other examples. The tunes Ed Haley recorded seem like they also might be instructive, since I know folks are playing “Ed Haley’s version of” a number of traditional tunes at jams I go to. So, with the caveat that I am not a lawyer, here’s my understanding of when you’ll legally be allowed to play tunes the way Ed Haley played them.
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