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Theme Of The Month For Jan 2014: American Fiddle Tunes


Jim Besser

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Old time on concertina? Sometimes when I stumble into a session of hardcore oldtime players - mostly fiddles, mandolins, banjos and guitars - I get the “what planet are you from?” glare.

But honestly, playing these venerable old fiddle tunes on concertina is great fun, and they can be great to listen to, as well, as our own Jody Kruskal has so ably demonstrated on several CDs (see http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/jodykruskal2 and http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/pfriedmanjkruskal ).

 

Bertram Levy, who was a key figure in the revival of this music in the 1960s and 1970s as part of the Hollow Rock String Band and others, has developed a system for playing these tunes on Anglo. http://bertramlevy.com/concertina-tutor

 

I’m talking about American oldtime fiddle tunes, the music of the Appalachian Mountains and to a degree the Ozarks and the near ancestor of bluegrass, but a lot of this music will be very familiar to folks on the other side of the pond, since much of it derives from the music of the British Isles.

 

There are literally thousands of great oldtime tunes, and a fair number and lots of modern, composed tunes in the oldtime style (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsSWBNxIkfM for a fun example).

 

It seems to me that the vast majority of oldtime tunes are in 4/4 or 2/4; jigs seem uncommon, and at sessions I've attended they tend to elicit howls of protest. And the jigs that do occasionally get played are generally Irish.

 

Here are some tune collections for your perusal, both recordings and notation:

 

http://www.oldtownschool.org/classes/adults/fiddle/tunes/

 

http://www.mne.psu.edu/lamancusa/tunes.html

 

http://www.abbamoses.com/fiddledo/fiddlepage


Here are a couple of great examples from Jody showing how the concertina can be every bit the equal of the fiddle in oldtime:


http://www.jodykruskal.com/tune_of_the_month/march_2007_assets/Puncheon%20Floor%20Excerpt.mp3


http://www.jodykruskal.com/tune_of_the_month/fly_around.html

 

And a really nice set from Bertram:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoNO4JnDt7Y

 

Finally, in case you’re interested here’s a bunch of oldtime tunes I’ve played that should work nicely on any concertina system:

 

Juliana Johnson

Ragtime Annie

Magpie

You Married my Daughter but you Didn’t

The Girl I Left Behind

Shenandoah Falls

Richmond Cotillion

Falls of Richmond

North Carolina Breakdown

Seneca Square Dance

Silver and Gold Quickstep

Jaybird

Maggots on a Sheep's Hide

Old Gray Cat

Grasshopper on a Sweet Potato Vine

Shove that Pig’s Foot Further in the Fire

Liberty

Whiskey Before Breakfast

Forked Deer

West Fork Gals

Colored Aristocracy

Flying Cloud Cotillion

Flop Eared Mule

Big Sciote

Turkey in the Straw

Kitchen Girl

Ebenezer

Quince Dillon’s High D Tune

Arkansas Traveler

Puncheon Floor

Fly Around my Pretty Little Miss

Liza Jane/Little Liza Jane/Poor Liza Jane

June apple

Year of Jubilo


Record and post a single tune, or string a few together in medleys, your choice.


Let’s not quibble about definitions here. The “oldtime” label is not very precise, so let’s just do what oldtime music helps us do best - have a good time learning and playing great tunes!

Edited by Jim Besser
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How about a Tune of the Day project for 2014 - on that Wheatstone of yours? :)

 

Midnight on the Water is a longtime favorite of mine.

 

Here's a video of the tune played by the Texas fiddler Benny Thomasson - the son of Lewis (or Luke), who wrote it.

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That's a lovely tune, David. Amazing what a story can do. I listened, then read, then listened again and it sounded quite different the second time, though no less pleasurable.

 

Here is a very simple rendition of Kitchen Girl https://soundcloud.com/mildredestelle/kitchen-girl

played on the new-to-me-as-of-a-month-ago 1890 ish Jones English Concertina purchased from Greg Jowaisas. What a joy.

 

I was thrilled to find that I knew a couple of tunes on your list, Jim, so just sat down by the fire and played without doing anything fancy. I didn't notice the accompanying snaps and pops of burning fir until I played it back --and thought something was wrong in my computer. Amazing what a brain can tune out. Since I don't have any fancy software, I'll assume it adds atmosphere. All you southern hemisphere folks can pretend you're huddled by the wood stove too.

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Here's a quick recording of some favorite oldtime dance tunes.

 

The medley: Fly Around my Pretty Little Miss (D), Magpie (G) and the Yellow Rose of Texas (D).

 

Played a slight tad slower than dance speed on a Jeffries 30 button G/D Anglo.

 

I think a more traditional style would be single note playing, emulating a fiddle, but I prefer playing these tunes more like I'd play English ceilidh tunes with lots of stuff going on.

 

Fly Around was a common tune for Virginia and North Carolina string bands; it's also known as “Blue Eyed Girl/Gal,” “Blue Eyes Run Me Crazy,” “Fare Thee Well My Pretty Little Miss,” “Pretty Little Pink,” “Susannah/Suzanna Gal," "Western Country." and probably a few more. It's a great tune to play when the dance caller wants something really fast because it's so easy and un-notey.

 

I believe Magpie derives from North Carolina stringbands.

 

The Yellow Rose is not the same as the song sung by - among others - Elvis. And that's not the same as the Civil War / minstrel version. In my area, we play this one a lot when the caller does a square dance. Hopefully some c.netter can provide more information!

Edited by Jim Besser
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Oh, it just happened to me that this fiddle stuff carried me far away shortly after getting in first touch with it - but in the meantime I had made a recording which I'd like to present hereby...

 

Please bear with me, I'm excited... :)

 

Thank you again Jim!

 

I like it! YOu can hear your enthusiasm for the music in your playing.

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Oh, it just happened to me that this fiddle stuff carried me far away shortly after getting in first touch with it - but in the meantime I had made a recording which I'd like to present hereby...

 

Please bear with me, I'm excited... :)

 

Thank you again Jim!

I love it!

 

and I have no idea what to try my hand at, but I can guarantee that it will take more than twenty minutes.

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The Yellow Rose is not the same as the song sung by - among others - Elvis

 

And yet, listen to the 3rd and 4th bars of the A section. Deep inside, they're the same tune at heart.

 

Hey Jim,

 

Great idea. BTW, you can thank Tommy Jarrell for that version of "Yellow Rose of Texas".

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So, here is the only cowboy tune I've really worked on :

 

https://soundcloud.com/erbafdavid/texas-wheatstone-c-g

 

I learned it from Jody K's CD "poor little liza jane" where is is recorded under the name "Texas".

 

I think it has another name but could not find it. Surely someone here knows.

Nice playing David. We know this tune (also called Newcastle) from the playing of Henry Reed as recorded by Alan Jabbour and available for free online:

Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier: The Henry Reed Collection
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