Friday, August 03, 2007 @7:32:54 AM
Among the - literally thousands of fiddle tunes recorded - all of us probably have certain ones in mind that stand out and that have helped "define" what it means to play OT fiddle.
Because I grew up in the "center" of the U.S. - Arkansas - I listen pretty widely. In fact, so widely that it makes it difficult for me to actually play in any one style.
Here're are some recordings that have affected me most.
June Apple - Tommy Jarrell
Tommy Jarrell's playing is a bottomless pit. I've listened to this recording for years and still can't say I play it the way he does. What a national treasure.
Sugar Hill - Tommy Jarrell
It's impossible to make a simpler tune than this. But it can break your bowing arm.
Brown's Dream - Joe Birchfield
This is supposed to be one of Tommy Jarrell's signature tunes. But Joe Birchfield seems to distill everything to it's absolute basic Appalachian essence. I love this man's fiddling.
Cousin Sally Brown - Marcus Martin
Sounds like what Jimi Hendrix would've played if he'd been born in 1900 and picked up a fiddle instead of an electric guitar.
Sandy Boys - Eddon Hammons
Hammons' playing is unique
Falls of Richmond - Eddon Hammons
What can I say - wonderful tune. A unique way of playing.
Garfield's Blackberry Blossom - Ed Haley
Another wonderful G-Modal tune.
Brushy Fork of John's Creek - Ed Haley
Here's how you blow away the competition by just playing the heck out of the E-String.
Four Cent Cotton - Skillet Lickers
Ok - here's how you play in C
Pike's Peak - Ted Sharp
Here's how you really play in C. Nobody knows what happened to Ted Sharp after he recorded this in the 20's. Probably went back to his day job.
Sarah's Reel - Pete McMahon
You want'a play Missouri fiddle style? Here's how you do it.
Missouri Waltz - Pete McMahon
Oh - and if you do want to play in the Missouri style you better learn to play double stops.
Marmaduke's Hornpipe - Cyril Stinnett
Pretty much the Missouri state song
Hooker's Hornpipe - Cyril Stinnett
Everything Cyril Stennett played is a class in how to play the fiddle. This is one of his tunes that can be approached by us mortals - like me even...
Rabbit up a Gum Stump - Hiter Coven
Huh!!! - an Arkansas fiddler starting off an A-tune in 3rd position in 1920....
Sally Good'n - Eck Robertson
This is where most muggles think American fiddling began.
Ragtime Annie - Eck Robertson
First recording of it as far as I know
Robinson County - Ted Sharp / Birkhead & Lee
Two separate recordings of this on the "Echo's of the Ozarks" CD. I love'em both.
Rattle Snake - Bob Holt
I guess that if the National Bureau of Standards wanted a recording to use to define "Breakdown". This would be it. No dancer can sit through Bob Holt's fiddling.
Muddy Weather - Lee Stoneking
Lee Stoneking is my favorite "Little Dixie" style Missouri fiddler. I think this tune is on Fred Stoneking's CD as well.
Sleepy Eyed Joe - Lyman Enloe
Everbody needs a "show off" tune... This'll do it.
Cattle in the Cane - Terry Morris
Terry Morris might have been America's greatest "natural born" fiddler. I'll never to be able to play anything the way he played it and I doubt he ever played anything the same way twice. His life was cut tragically short. I've always thought Terry Morris finished what Benny Thomasson started.
Ok - so this is already too long a list - mostly because I've been listening to this stuff for over thirty five years. And there are a lot of "luminaries" - like Benny Thomasson, Byron Berline, Norm Edmonds, etc. that aren't on my list. Doesn't mean I don't like them. They are great fiddlers. Their recordings just didn't surprise me the way those on the list id.
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