Lotta's Favorite Jig

[Eric Lerner]

Here’s a tune called Lotta's Favorite Jig by Edwin Christie, although it was not really Lotta's favorite, and it’s not really a jig, and it’s not by Edwin Christy.  This has been a favorite of mine since I found it long ago in Cole’s 1000 Fiddle Tunes aka Ryan’s Mammoth Collection.  It was composed by 19th century American musician Edwin Christie (not to be confused with Edwin Christy, founder of the Christy Minstrels.)  It's called a Jig, but it's not in 6/8 time.  It’s more of a hornpipe or clog dance.  Lotta was Charlotta Crabtree, one of America's most famous female vocalists in the years just before commercial recording.  Christie named the tune for her, but there's no evidence they ever met or that she ever heard the tune.  Played on my 19th Century George Jones Salvation Army G/D Anglo Concertina. 

 

 

[Matthew Heumann]

Eric: Cole’s 1000 Fiddle Tunes aka Ryan’s Mammoth Collection has always been my "Go To" source for very cool eccentric tunes. Tunes like "The Early Morn", "Flee as a Bird" "City of Savannah" & "The American Rifle Team" are always show stoppers. In particular, i love the old sand-jigs which were essentially a soft-shoe dance done on sand or grit. Here's a private video not recorded for public use of my old friend Al Smitley on fretless banjo & myself on EC playing the old minstrel-stage melody "William & Sullivan's jig" in the kitchen on afternoon. If you are going to the Squeeze-In this year, maybe we can jointly do a workshop with a couple of tunes from Cole's?

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/iaxnqhymmympdpo3drxcl/William-Sullivan-s-Sand-Jig.mp4?rlkey=qw456jsbpurarznykgr0sgz06&st=r8z3kzkd&dl=0

 

[Eric Lerner]

Thanks, Matthew.  I've had my paperback reprint of Coles for about 40 years.  It's a forest of post-it notes decorating a bundle of loose pages whose binding has gradually crumbled away.  I hadn't noticed Williams & Sullivan's -- It's another "jig" that doesn't have the 6/8 jiggity-jiggity rhythm that we nowadays think of as a jig.  Fun tune.  I notice now that Ryan's has several pages of those non-6/8 jigs all together at the back of the jig section.  I should look at the others.  The other tunes you mention are all old friends.  American Rifle Team is another by Edwin Christie.  My current mini-project is using EasyABC to transpose a few dozen tunes down a half step from key of B-flat to A.  Now I can try playing them on a D/A box.  Much cheaper than buying a Bb/F anglo.  A Ryans workshop at Squeeze-in would be fun.  I haven't been there since several years before the pandemic.  It has often been the same weekend as the Portland NH Sea Music festival, which is closer to my grandkids in Boston.  But this year they are different weekends, and maybe I can figure out a way to do both.  So let's save that thought. 

[Roger Hare]

2 hours ago, Eric Lerner said:

... I notice now that Ryan's has several pages of those non-6/8 jigs all together at the back of the jig section...

 

Indeed! Here's another which I spotted and liked when I did a run-through of the collection last back-end:

 

X:13
T:Little Diamond Jig
%A lightly edited tune from Ryan's Mammoth Collection of Fiddle Tunes: http://trillian.mit.edu/~jc/music/book/
%Rudimentary accompaniment chords generated by ABCMus, setting 0.
S:Ryan/Cole Collection. Ryan/Cole.0555
B:Ryan's Mammoth Collection of Fiddle Tunes
Z:John Chambers January 2002
F:https://violinsheetmusic.org/files/download/collections/ryans-mammoth-collection.pdf
M:4/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=130
R:Jig
K:Amaj
|: "A" vec ze zc e2 | "A" ec zA Bc A2 | "D" fd zf zd f2 | "A" ec zA Bc A2 :|
|: "A" vEA (3AAA cc zc | "A" zd zf e4 | "A" ((3efg) aA Bc A2 | "A" Ec zA Bc A2 :|

 

I can see more than 20 4/4 and 2/2 Jigs when I do a quick 'squeeze-and-extract' on the whole thing. A variety of key signatures - C, G, D, A, and Bb... There are also some which don't appear when I apply the 'filters' because they are listed as Reels (eg: Lotta's)...

 

Edited April 22 by Roger Hare