To me they both sound great, but totally different. You already had it together 7 years ago, and that fiddler is quite amazing indeed. He certainly had the feeling for this music. Too bad he moved, because you would have made a great duo (or trio, with your old man)
The second has a great authentic roughness about it, and I happpen to like authentic roughness. The sound quality is less interesting for me. Speaking about early 1900's recordings.. who cares about sound quality then?
in short: Two likes as far as I'm concerned.
Jim these are great! I especially liked that fiddle accompaniment. that guy did pick it up quick huh? I sure wish you had some more recordings with him. the globe sounds great man, I think it would be hard to recreate that old sound because well the recording equipment and environment are totally different; worlds apart actually. Unless you got your hands on some vintage 1920s recording gear and start cuttin wax records and pressin 78s you're gonna have a hard time capturing those old sounds. The accordion sounds great man, and I like the drawer drum. I call that porch reverb. Im glad youve had the opportunity to labor at that beautiful old instrument and get something out of it. I can only imagine how rewarding that must be.