bsed - Posted - 08/09/2010:  03:46:09

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WES MUIR’S TUNE

I thought this tune came out of Missouri. I discovered that Nile Wilson played it. See slippery-hill.com/c/ and Wilson, Nile. Now That's a Good Tune. Masters of Missouri Traditional Fiddling, Grey Eagle 101, LP (1989), trk# 24 [1988/08/28]
Here is Nile Wilson playing the tune:
slippery-hill.com/c/WesMuir.mp3

Then I found the tune on an album from the Red Mountain White Trash String Band. Jim & Joyce Cauthen, scholars of the Alabama OT fiddling tradition, play with them. So then I thought “Well maybe it really comes from the deep south”.

Wherever this tune first originated (and whoever Wes Muir was), this is one dynamite tinderbox of an explosive jam tune. (You get the impression I’m somewhat partial to it?)

This is how I recorded it a few years ago: hangoutstorage.com/fiddlehango...72007.mp3

It’s in the key of C.
[Editorial Comment: It’s becoming more and more apparent that fiddlers just don’t want to play in C these days, and I can’t “s’plain” why. (I spent a whole week at Swannanoa and never found one C-jam!) Is it because there are fewer "opps" for drones? ]

This is a regular tune AABB.

In terms of the guitar chords, the A part just goes back & forth between C & G. The B part starts on an F chord, then C, then G, then back to C. All open chords. Easy!

I found some banjo tab here: lylewk.home.comcast.net/~lylew...0Tune.pdf

My apologies that I don’t have more material for this tune. I’m interested in finding out more about it’s pedigree, if anyone knows more than I’ve been able to find out.

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Edited by - bsed on 08/09/2010 03:50:58

groundhogpeggy - Posted - 08/09/2010:  05:07:48

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I've never heard it, and never heard of it... but it's nice. You do a nice job with it too. I've heard many fiddlers complain about C, haven't tried anything in C yet because i jsut figured if they all complain about it there must be some devil in that key on the fiddle that I'm just not ready to wrangle with.

bj - Posted - 08/09/2010:  05:44:39

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You need to get up to the Northeast to find C jams. I'm just learning in that key and single-stringing most of the way through tunes, just doing double stops as accents. Seems everytime you want to double-string play it's a double stop in C. I'm getting there but it's not as easy as the other open tuned keys. I'm tempted to take low-bass tuning down a step and play C tunes that way, but that won't grow me as a fiddler.

Anyway, nice tune Nothing in the Fiddler's Companion about this one?

DougD - Posted - 08/09/2010:  05:50:46

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There's a little about this tune in the Fiddler's Companion - apparently its also called "The New House was Built" ibiblio.org/fiddlers/NE.htm#NE...WAS_BUILT

We play lots of C tunes around here, bj. They're played lots of places, not just the Northeast - Georgia,Texas, Kentucky for example.

Now that I think of it, there's a recording on my homepage of the late Red Vance playing a popular C tune.

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Edited by - DougD on 08/09/2010 06:09:46

hendrid - Posted - 08/09/2010:  06:38:32

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Wes Muir's Tune ABC and Sheet down from the top a ways. Popular Albuquerque New Mexico area as is the Coondog?...

folkmads.org/jan_feb_newsletter05.html

Bunch of ABC tunes plus Wes Muir's Tune

folkmads.org/abc_archive.html

Shows up as Coondog/Wes Muir's Tune on one record also as DougD says, something like The New House was Built

coondog youtube.com/watch?v=zYaFlVH4euo

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Edited by - hendrid on 08/09/2010 07:17:04

RobBob - Posted - 08/09/2010:  08:12:27

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We play C tunes and some F tunes and occasionally some Bb tunes. Sometimes we play in tune! Ha!

hendrid - Posted - 08/09/2010:  11:59:09

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Another one with pdf and midi on piano, slow

traditionalmusic.co.uk/session..._tune.htm

dzen - Posted - 08/09/2010:  17:06:42

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Maybe this is old news to everybody, but "Now That's a Good Tune..." , with Nile Wilson's version, is back in print.

voyagerrecords.com/goodtune.htm

2 CD's, 13 fiddlers and a 90 page book, mostly biographies of Missouri fiddlers: Cyril Stinnett, Vesta Johnson, and many, many, more!!! and commentary with a couple tune transcriptions, it's a great collection.

The notes for this tune: "Wes Muir was a contemporary of Nile Wilson's father who lived in the New Boston area. This tune is named for him. Hollis Shumaker of La Plata (Adair County) gives an alternate title for this tune, " The New House Was Built." "

I keep telling myself I need to learn something other than "Billy in the Lowground" in C, this sounds like a good one.

bsed - Posted - 08/09/2010:  18:42:03

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As the late Arty Johnson would have said: "Velly interestink!"
Thanks for that insight!

ajisai - Posted - 08/09/2010:  18:54:52

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"Wes Muir was a contemporary of Nile Wilson's father who lived in the New Boston area."

I'm trying to figure out who Wes Muir was (I have one possible candidate so far) and it would be helpful to know more about Nile Wilson (or his father). Anyone know where they lived? And about when they were born? And does anyone know which New Boston this might refer to?

Thanks!

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Edited by - ajisai on 08/09/2010 19:35:44

DougD - Posted - 08/09/2010:  19:13:43

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New Boston is in Linn County, Missouri. I think we have a few members here who know a lot about this sort of thing.

There was an article about Nile Wilson in the Old Time Herald, written I believe by one of our members: oldtimeherald.org/archive/back...lson.html

He was born August 6, 1912.

Hmmm, his birthday seems to have escaped Bosco!

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Edited by - DougD on 08/09/2010 19:22:56

dzen - Posted - 08/09/2010:  19:27:49

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It's all right here in the book, dunno what your problem is. 'Cept maybe you don't have the book in front of you.

From "Now That's a Good Tune":
Nile Wilson

" Born August 6, 1912, in New Boston, Linn County, Missouri, Nile Wilson spent his youth on the farm. His paternal grandfather Wilson came from western Indiana after the Civil War, and the family had roots in Virginia and Kentucky. Many of his maternal Davis relatives have been in Missouri for many generations, with roots in Virginia. He acquired his interest in the violin and much of his repertoire from his fiddling grandfathers, Isaac Roby Wilson and Tom Davis, and from his father, William Randolph "Dolph" Wilson. As a child, Nile was surrounded by traditional violin players, from his brother Orley and his uncle Lester Wilson to his great uncle Charlie Davis and numerous neighbors and friends. His grandfather Davis sang songs while he played fiddle tunes."

Nile's biography goes on for a spell from there. The rest is mostly anecdotes and musical discussion. He died in 2008. There doesn't seem to be any more info about Wes Muir in the book.

ajisai, Let me know if you're wondering about anything else that might be in the book.

And bsed, I suppose I should thank you for alerting me to the Slippery Hill site, although I've spent all evening just listening to the C tunes and by the time I get through the rest of the keys I may be too old to pick up the fiddle.

How many fiddle tunes in the world? Not enough.

ajisai - Posted - 08/09/2010:  19:48:55

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quote:

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Originally posted by dzen


ajisai, Let me know if you're wondering about anything else that might be in the book.

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I'm just wondering about Wes Muir and I needed a reference point to work from. I'm wondering if he was the Daniel Wesley Muir (one online source not related to fiddling calls this man Daniel Wesley "Wes" Muir), born 1867, who was in Callaway County, Missouri in 1900, probably in Sullivan County, Missouri in 1910, and in Oklahoma by 1920.

Just curious. But, as another poster said, someone is likely to know more about Wes Muir so I'll look forward to others posting. Thanks!

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Edited by - ajisai on 08/10/2010 03:26:08

DougD - Posted - 08/10/2010:  06:59:08

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BTW, there was an earlier thread here about Nile Wilson: fiddlehangout.com/topic/2914/#75726

Midwest_Fiddler - Posted - 08/10/2010:  15:06:48

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An excellent tune. I knew Nile Wilson. He knew many cool tunes. Many were what he called tie hacker tunes. The tie hackers were folks that made RR ties with axes and migrated along with the RR. Nile's people came out of IL and into MO at some point and brought along some of those tunes. He plays the Spoon River Jig on his CD, named after the Spoon River in IL (the one that the Spoon River Anthology is named for too).
C tunes are lots of fun.
Chirps

Midwest_Fiddler - Posted - 08/10/2010:  15:08:28

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quote:

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Originally posted by bsed

[font=Georgia]WES MUIR’S TUNE

Then I found the tune on an album from the Red Mountain White Trash String Band. Jim & Joyce Cauthen, scholars of the Alabama OT fiddling tradition, play with them. So then I thought “Well maybe it really comes from the deep south”.

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I believe that RMWT learned it from Nile's CD.
Chirps

Midwest_Fiddler - Posted - 08/10/2010:  15:14:56

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I forgot to post the info about Nile's CD:
Nile Wilson: Tie Hacker Hoedown. MSOTFA 202-CD. 1995

There are a couple of cuts from his dad, "Dolph" on there too. Check with Charlie "Possum" Walden- he may still have some of these CDs available.
Chirps

bsed - Posted - 08/10/2010:  18:33:31

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Damn! I forgot about that CD. It's even in my collection, so I got no excuse.

I play one of those tie hacker tunes---"#2" I think it is, which is also in C amd also a lot of fun to play!

ajisai - Posted - 08/10/2010:  20:49:53

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Another mention of Wes Muir--"Muir's Hornpipe" (7th paragraph)

missourifolkloresociety.truman...pray.html

Ozarkian D.L. - Posted - 08/13/2010:  11:36:12

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There are many unknown great fiddlers whut never received any recognition for their expertise. Two were Burt & Kerr McCullough what inspired me in my early days.

Of Wes Muir's tune, I can only say....."Now thet's a good tune".