Cousin Curly - Posted - 11/22/2012:  06:38:30

There have been some good threads over the years about the roots of the popular tune "Cherokee Shuffle," but none of them seem to have completely nailed down the who-did-what-when with respect to the evolution of the tune. I've given this a stab on my website, secondcousincurly.com (the permalink to the specific post is tinyurl.com/d2kbu98). The post also features a brand-new video of a tasty rendition of the tune by Darol Anger, Sharon Gilchrist and Emy Phelps from their concert last spring in Boston.

Coming on Thanksgiving, you can view this post as—

1. 
   a maladroit tribute to the central role of Native Americans in the founding of the nation;


2. 
   a pathetic attempt to populate folksy listservs and online forums with 50 centime words like “maladroit;”


3. 
   an inspiration to play this and other old favorites as you gather with friends and family;


4. 
   a brief respite from all the cooking and socializing;


5. 
   all of the above.

Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving!

Yer Pal-- Curly

modon - Posted - 11/22/2012:  09:27:51

A story regarding this tune was told to me by an old fiddler (so it's gotta be true huh?) about an Indian Chief named 'Falling Rock ' who was lost in a great snowstorm. They're still looking for him in some mountainous regions. You still see signs posted to this day that say..."WATCH OUT FOR FALLING ROCK"

Dave S - Posted - 11/22/2012:  10:27:11

Ah, the venerable story of Chief Falling Rock. I first heard it in about 1955.

oldtimestrings - Posted - 11/22/2012:  10:37:55

quote:

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Originally posted by Dave S

Ah, the venerable story of Chief Falling Rock. I first heard it in about 1955.

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I first heard it on June 23, 1976. I told it to someone else for the first time on June 24, 1976.

bubbaschnell - Posted - 11/22/2012:  11:02:35

I checked out your blog and while I enjoyed the Kenny Baker rendering of Lost Indian that you linked, I thought this post could benefit from the Magness' home recording of it.  Kenny's version is quite a bit fancier.  Magness was a wonderful old time fiddler w/ a repertory that had much in common with Allen Sisson, Marcus Martin and Bill Hensley.  I see him, much like Arthur Smith, as one of the fiddlers who bridged the gap between old time and the then emerging bluegrass style.

hangoutstorage.com/jukebox.asp...D%3D10424 

ironworker - Posted - 11/22/2012:  12:23:27

what a version! Tommy Magness had a fine sense of style, and the ability to make it stand out beautifully in his playing.

thanks for sharing this!

Dave S - Posted - 11/22/2012:  12:46:04

Clark Kessinger's version: youtube.com/watch?v=DdAu2vaclXA

Edited by - Dave S on 11/22/2012 12:46:47

modon - Posted - 11/22/2012:  15:24:05

Well, it appears I'm not the only old geezer in FHO. laffs

bubbaschnell - Posted - 11/22/2012:  19:48:49

Well, it's kind of interesting, the evolution of this tune is convoluted, to say the least.  The home recordings of Tommy Magness were made in 1948 (at the request of Magness' employer, Roy Acuff; he wanted Tommy to record his repertory of old time Tennessee fiddle tunes).  By the time that he recorded his version w/ members of the Smoky Mountain Boys (Tommy Magness and his Orange Blossom Boys, I couldn't find a definitive release date on this 78rpm), he was already calling it Lonesome Indian.  Lonesome Indian was his 'souped-up' version of Lost Indian.  This was a somewhat common practice: Ed Haley played a fancied up version of Hell Among the Yearlings (that he called Ox in the Mud) and Clark Kessinger had a number of gussied up versions of common tunes w/ different titles, too.  Then, at some point, it started being played in the key of A and morphed into Cherokee Shuffle.  Regardless of the lineage, a classic fiddle tune in every sense of the word.

Edited by - bubbaschnell on 11/22/2012 19:50:45

Andah1andah2 - Posted - 11/23/2012:  04:57:34

I really like Kessinger's version of Lost Indian.  The version I have is by Seth Mize, who sang words to it as he played.  The recording is from 1966, and Mize states on the recording that he has played the tune for more than 50 years.

DougD - Posted - 11/23/2012:  06:15:26

I remember a discussion years ago with an old fiddler, even older than Don, about whether the tune was called "Lost Indian" or "Lonesome Indian." He said "Well, if he's lost he'd be lonesome too, wouldn't he?"

revdoc - Posted - 11/23/2012:  07:17:35

The Cherokee Shuffle that I learned is in D and has three Parts the third Part goes to a G Chörd.

morrmusic - Posted - 02/12/2013:  09:33:43

My earliest version of Cherokee Shuffle is from Tommy Jackson's album form the early to mid 60's.
I had the 78 of Roy Acuff playing lonesome Indian so it was probably Tommy Magness playing on the session.