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]