Here are some videos I thought I'd share that I filmed at Mt. Airy and Clifftop. Bruce Greene in one and all my friends in the other. Enjoy!

VIDEO: Long Tongued Woman Clifftop 2012 (click to view)

VIDEO: Bruce Greene Sweet Marie Mt. Airy 2012 (click to view)

Nice tunes.  I really love Bruce Greene's fiddling.  He is a treasure.

Chirps

I would have to agree with you on that

Yeah, it's a REAL shame there isn't more video of him on the Youtubes.  I could watch and listen to his dulcet tones all the livelong day.

Bruce is just so darn good.

Its funny how "Sweet Marie" seems to be trying to morph into a crooked Kentucky tune instead of the sentimental 1890's pop song that it was. It was published in 1893, and you can find the sheet music with a search here:  http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/  For those with strong ears, here's a contemporary recording:  http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr%201=1016%20&query=Sweet+Marie&num=1&start=7&sortBy=&sortOrder=ia   North Georgia fiddler Ross Brown played a version that was pretty close to the original.

I imagine this is where Bruce learned it, since he made the recording:  http://dla.acaweb.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/berea/id/3368/rec/1   At the end of the line in the middle of the A part Walter Lile plays an incidental low E note, but its actually regular and also pretty close to the published music.

That one note must be confusing though because at Mt. Airy it seemed to be taking on a life of its own. I do like Bruce's fiddling though, and his fieldwork has been monumental.

Edited by - DougD on 08/20/2012 16:55:06

quote:

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Originally posted by DougD

Its funny how "Sweet Marie" seems to be trying to morph into a crooked Kentucky tune instead of the sentimental 1890's pop song that it was. It was published in 1893, and you can find the sheet music with a search here:  http://levysheetmusic.mse.jhu.edu/  For those with strong ears, here's a contemporary recording:  http://cylinders.library.ucsb.edu/search.php?queryType=@attr%201=1016%20&query=Sweet+Marie&num=1&start=7&sortBy=&sortOrder=ia   North Georgia fiddler Ross Brown played a version that was pretty close to the original.

I imagine this is where Bruce learned it, since he made the recording:  http://dla.acaweb.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/berea/id/3368/rec/1   At the end of the line in the middle of the A part Walter Lile plays an incidental low E note, but its actually regular and also pretty close to the published music.

That one note must be confusing though because at Mt. Airy it seemed to be taking on a life of its own. I do like Bruce's fiddling though, and his fieldwork has been monumental.

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That is very interesting information that I wasn't aware of. I also know Tommy Jarrell's "Sugar Foot Rag" was adapted from a pop song on his era. I wonder how many tunes were born this way?

I don't really mind tunes that are adapted from non traditional sources and evolving into their own unique song, even though I have strong opinions about faithfully learning traditional music. At the end of the day, if its a good tune, I'm not one to complain.

Many tunes that are played as standard old-time tunes began life as popular/minstrel songs. Some are newer than folks realize- such as, Red Wing (1907, Kerry Mills), Georgia Camp Meeting (1897 I think, also Kerry Mills).  Perusing the Levy Sheet Music Collection online (it's in Doug's post above) will reveal many others.

Chirps

"Red Wing," "Silver Bell," and "Rainbow" are all pop songs about Indian princesses, from approximately the same time period. Especially with songs, lots of pop songs were recorded by country artists about a generation after their first popularity, after they'd gone through the "folk process" for awhile. The Carter Family and Charlie Poole did this a lot, but also Riley Puckett, Gid Tanner, Fiddlin' John Carson and Uncle Dave Macon. Lots of American fiddle tunes started out on the minstrel or variety stage in the 19th century too.

I learned "Sweet Marie" from Ross Brown, who was born in 1909, and started playing around 1920 I think. He said he learned it from "Uncle Joe Swanson (or Swampson?) a blind fiddler," so it was about a generation old by then. The evolution I'm hearing in it seems quite recent.

"Sugar Foot Rag" was written by Nashville guitarist Hank Garland, and was first recorded by him in 1949.

Edited by - DougD on 08/21/2012 08:54:40

I believe Will Keys said he learned it from listening to his sister playing it on piano. Turns out it was in a popular movie of the day, the 1947 movie "Life With Father".


"Sweet Marie"

Edited by - clawhammerer on 10/09/2012 19:58:26

"Long Tongued Woman" is a cracker of a tune.  I've never come across this tune before.

I assume it's pretty old.  It's really well played on this clip.  Real driving rythym.  Thanks for posting.

Edited by - harryt8 on 11/04/2012 21:49:47