Here is a great cross-tuned old-time reel from North Carolina fiddle legend Tommy Jarrell (1901-1985), who learned it as a young man from fiddlers Fred Hawks and John Rector of Fancy Gap, Virginia. I learned this tune from Tommy some forty years ago back in 1975 when I spent a good part of the summer in Mt. Airy visiting with him.

Tommy always served his tunes up “fresh,” packed full of subtle colorations and phrasings which reflected his mood of the moment as well as the musical chemistry of whomever he was playing with.
When playing “Old Bunch of Keys,” Tommy would vary the number of repetitions of the low part of the tune, as the spirit moved him. Here he reflects on how he picked up that custom, and the signaling used to announce the return to the high part of the tune:
“Up on the mountain (near Fancy Gap, Va.) from my daddy-in-law (Charlie Barnett Lowe), an’ John Rector, an’ Fred Hawkes, an’ some of ’em…Well, we’d go on the high part twice, y’know, but we played the low part a long time ‘fore we’d go to the high part. We’d just keep playin’ the (low part) til one of us wanted to change an’ them we’d punch a knee. We’d sit (facing each other) with our knees together. An then if I took a notion to go on the high part, all I had to do is (bump knees), an’ if he did, why, he’d do the same thing to me. An’ we knowed exactly what the other one was gonna do thataway. In place of raising the fiddle up, that’s what we’d do, y’know. Course when Lawrence (Lowe) got to playing with us, we couldn’t do that, we had to raise my fiddle up when we’d go to go on the high part. Uncle Charlie and Daddy both (signaled by raising the fiddle) all the time. That’s when I knowed when they was a-gonna change, y’know. They played like that, played the low part of it maybe over half a dozen or a dozen times ‘fore they’d play the high part, an’ just go over the high part twice” (Old Time Herald, Vol. 3, No. 2, Winter 91-92, pg. 46).

Old Bunch of Keys (mp3)

Old Bunch of Keys (mp3)

1 file(s) 1.13 MB

Download

Here’s a lovely and unusual setting of Sugar in the Gourd from North Carolina fiddler Marcus Martin (1881-1974). He was a multi-instrumentalist (harmonica, banjo, dulcimer) and a fine ballad singer as well. A jack of all trades, Martin moonlighted as a square dance fiddler and played for many years at Bascom Lamar Lunsford’s Mountain Dance and Folk Festival in Asheville, opening the festival with the tune “Gray Eagle.”

Sugar in the Gourd (dance speed, mp3)[wpdm_file id=441]

Sugar in the Gourd (sheet music, pdf)[wpdm_file id=442]

William Hamilton Stepp was a great Kentucky fiddler whose version of “Bonaparte’s Retreat” recorded by Alan and Elizabeth Lomax in 1937 transformed a stately march into a barn-burning hoedown. How about starting off 2015 by learning this cross-tuned classic (Ddad tuning) which American classical composer Aaron Copland incorporated into his famous ballet, Rodeo. In 2013, Bill Stepp’s version of “Bonaparte’s Retreat” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Famed as a recording of lasting significance–let’s celebrate!

You can learn more about Mr. Stepp and “Bonaparte’s Retreat” and hear his 1937 performance on the Library of Congress’s Folklife Today Blog.

Here’s my transcription of Mr. Stepp’s version:
Bonaparte’s Retreat (sheet music, pdf) [wpdm_file id=433]

And here’s a recording of myself doing my best to honor that version at learning speed:
Bonaparte’s Retreat (learning-speed version, mp3) [wpdm_file id=434]

Here’s a great tune from the playing of Esker Hutchins of Dobson, North Carolina, about 10 miles from Mt. Airy, home to fiddle legend Tommy Jarrell. Ray Alden recorded Esker Hutchins in 1972 and you can hear him play this tune on Ray’s 1982 album Visits, produced on the Heritage label in 1982.

Puncheon on the Floor (dance speed, mp3)[wpdm_file id=431]

Puncheon on the floor (sheet music, pdf)[wpdm_file id=432]

Here’s a great tune from Glen Lynn, Virginia fiddler Henry Reed (1884-1968). Alan Jabbour did a great deal of visiting with and recording of Henry Reed in the 1960s and his field recordings, notes, and transcriptions are now published on a wonderful website.  When I was seventeen, I spent a happy summer transcribing Henry Reed tunes for Alan as an intern at the Library of Congress Archive of Folk Song, and have been a fan of Henry Reed’s eclectic grab bag of tunes and his inventive renditions ever since. Here is what Alan has to say about “Hell up Cole Holler”:
“Hell up Cole Holler” is a local favorite of the last generation in Monroe County and environs. Ross Miller of Monroe County played a similar tune called “Devil up a Stump,” which was recorded by the Hollow Rock String Band (Kanawha 311). The tune may have wider ramifications, but none can be shown here. It is of a type that sounds like a breakdown, but also has a touch of the country rag in it, underscored by its choice of the key of C and its alternations between (implied) tonic and dominant chords. A fragment of this tune appears again on AFS 13705b14, followed by a full performance of “Fiddler’s Drunk and the Fun’s All Over.”

Hell up Cole Holler (dance speed, mp3)[wpdm_file id=418]

Hell up Cole Holler (sheet music, pdf)[wpdm_file id=419]

Here’s a lilting old-time fiddle tune from Henry Reed (1884-1968) of Glen Lyn, Virginia. Mr. Reed was in his 80s when Alan Jabbour recorded himas part of a series of recordings he made as a graduate student at Duke University. Alan’s recordings, field notes, musical transcriptions, and photographs are now available on line in a wonderful website called Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier: The Henry Reed Collection. When I was seventeen, I spent a happy summer transcribing Henry Reed tunes at the Library of Congress as an intern with Alan Jabbour.

Sally Ann Johnson (dance speed, mp3) [wpdm_file id=385]
Sally Ann Johnson (sheet music, pdf) [wpdm_file id=386]

Here are notes about the tune from Alan:

Henry Reed’s “Sally Ann Johnson” in D is another tune that is widespread in British and American instrumental tradition. Irish variants appear with some regularity as “The Boys of Bluehill”; see O’Neill’s Music of Ireland, #1700, Roche, Collection of Irish Airs, Marches, and Dance Tunes, vol. 3, 64 (#183). A related Irish piece is O’Neill’s Music of Ireland #1815 “Freedom for Ireland”; Roche, vol. 3, 74 (#196) “Nights of Gladness Quadrille.” Compare also “Banks of Inverness” (One Thousand Fiddle Tunes, p. 11, and other titles and versions). American variants include “Beaus of Oake Hill” in Howe, Musician’s Companion (1844), vol. 3, p. 54; “The Beaux of Oak Hill Reel,” One Thousand Fiddle Tunes p. 28; Knauff, Virginia Reels (1839), “The Two Sisters”; Ford, Traditional Music of America, p. 57, “Lonesome Katy.” A cognate Blue Ridge tune is Taylor Kimble’s “Old Ark A-Moving” (Blue Ridge Barn Dance, County 746).Many printed sets are cast as hornpipes with the characteristic three eighth notes ending each strain. Henry Reed’s tune has the feel of an American breakdown, but its circular structure for the melody leading from the second strain back to the first is unusual.

Here is a wonderful tune from outstanding North Carolina fiddler, ballad singer, and multi-instrumentalist Marcus Martin. He wa born in the Aquone community of Macon County in 1881.  He learned many of his tunes from his father, Rowan Martin. Martin was a jack-of-all-trades who lived most of his adult life in Swannanoa where he raised a family and played for local dances and festivals until his death in 1974.

“Polly Put the Kettle On” is a beautiful and unusual tune, completely unrelated to the major-key tune which shares its name. Manco Sneed of Jackson County, NC recorded a variant of Martin’s “Polly Put the Kettle On;” I know of no other versions of this tune.

Polly Put the Kettle On (dance speed, mp3)[wpdm_file id=379]

Polly Put the Kettle On (sheet music, pdf)[wpdm_file id=380]

Here’s a great old Mississippi fiddle tune for those lazy summer days in July. The Leake County Revelers were the best-known Mississippi band of their era, hailing from Sebastopol, MS, with Will Gilmer on fiddle, Dallas Jones on guitar and most lead vocals, R.O.Moseley on banjo-mandolin, and Jim Wolverton on banjo. They had a widely heard Saturday night radio show and cut 44 diverse instrumental and vocal sides for Columbia and Okeh Records between 1927 and 1930. Their biggest hit, “Wednesday Night Waltz,” was among early country music’s biggest sellers. The Revelers often played at a relaxed, easy-does-it pace which set them apart from hell-for-leather string bands such as The Skillet Lickers.

Lazy Kate (dance speed, mp3)[wpdm_file id=294]
Lazy Kate (slow, mp3)[wpdm_file id=295]
Lazy Kate (sheet music, pdf)[wpdm_file id=296]

Here’s a classic Kentucky fiddle tune from the repertory of the legendary Magoffin County fiddler John Salyer (1882-1952). This tune comes down to us thanks to Salyer’s sons Grover and Glen, who made a home recording of him in the early 1940’s.

Feather Bed (dance speed, mp3)[wpdm_file id=291]

Feather Bed (moderate speed, mp3)[wpdm_file id=292]

Feather Bed (sheet music, pdf)[wpdm_file id=293]

Here’s a great tune from the Cumberland Plateau area of south-central Kentucky and north-central Tennessee, inspired by the playing of Kentucky legend Clyde Davenport.

Dandy Jim (dance speed, mp3)[wpdm_file id=240]

Dandy Jim (slow, mp3)[wpdm_file id=241]

Dandy Jim (sheet music, pdf)[wpdm_file id=242]

In honor of Mardi-Gras and the powerful, dynamic music of Cajun Louisiana, here’s an old-time two step which has been widely played and widely recorded, starting with Dennis McGee and Sadie Courville. It goes by a number of names, including “Enterres-moi pas” (“Don’t Bury Me”) and “Tréville n’est pas pêcheur” (“Tréville isn’t a fisherman”) and has had various and unrelated song verses associated with it. There are as many versions as there are fiddlers and accordionists playing this tune, so plan on making up your own!

Devillier Two Step (fast, mp3)[wpdm_file id=191]

Devillier Two Step (simple melody, slow, mp3)[wpdm_file id=192]

Devillier Two Step (simple melody, sheet music)[wpdm_file id=200]

Here’s a great old classic dance tune to start off the year: “Julie Ann Johnson,” from Grayson County fiddle legend Emmet Lundy (1864-1953). You can learn a lot about his life and music by consulting his biography page at the Old-Time Fiddlers Hall of Fame site (www.oldtimemusic.com).

Julie Ann Johnson (dance speed, mp3)[wpdm_file id=175]

Julie Ann Johnson (moderate speed, mp3)[wpdm_file id=176]

Julie Ann Johnson (sheet music, pdf)[wpdm_file id=177]

Possum up a ‘Simmon Tree (sheet music)[wpdm_file id=42]

Possum up a ‘Simmon Tree (mp3)[wpdm_file id=43]

Here is a lovely Kentucky tune from the playing of Buddy Thomas (1934-1974) of Emerson, Kentucky. This tune is also known as “Puncheon Camp.”

Henry Reed (1885-1968) of Glen Lyn, Virginia, recorded this tune for Alan Jabbour in the 1960s. During the summer of 1973, I spent a couple of months as an intern at the Library of Congress Archive of Folk Song. My boss was Alan Jabbour and I spent much of my time transcribing his recordings of Henry Reed’s fiddling. This particular tune seems to be a variant of “Lady of the Lake,” which appears in an early 19th century publication from the state of Virginia. You can learn much more about Mr. Reed and listen to his music on the Library of Congress website Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier: The Henry Reed Collection.

“Iberia Breakdown” is a great rouser of a Missouri tune from African-American fiddler William A. (Bill) Driver (1881-1986). He lived much of his life in Iberia, Missouri, where his steady, lively fiddle music provided the perfect music for the local dance tradition, in which dancers step danced throughout the figures. For more information about Mr. Driver and access to a recording of him playing “Iberia Breakdown,” visit http://www.millercountymuseum.org/archives/081208.html