tonyelder - Posted - 03/20/2016:  12:23:06

I play this tune in A with the fiddle cross-tuned AEae. I learned the tune from a recording of Matt Brown on his CD “Lone Prairie”. youtube.com/watch?v=_B4QpAxFR4U

There are 3 entries in the Fiddler's Companion - and they are all different enough to not see a really connection between them:

GRUB SPRINGS [1]. Old Time, Breakdown. A Major. AEae tuning. AB (Silberberg): AABB (Phillips). This is perhaps the Alabama fiddler Charlie Stripling’s version, from a 1952 AFS recording made by Ray Browne. Stripling played the tune in standard tuning (Kerry Blech says it “sort of vacillates between the A tonal center and the D tonal center”). Sources for notated versions: Alan Block (New Hampshire) [Phillips]; Stephanie Prausnitz [Silberberg]. Kuntz, Private Collection. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 1, 1994; pg. 107. Rankin, 1985; Notes to "Great Big Yam Potatoes" Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; pg. 57. Anglo American Fiddle Music from Mississippi." County 2730, Rafe Stefanini – “Glory on the Big String.” Library of Congress LP L-2. Living Folk LFR 104, Alan Block   "Alive and Well and Fiddling." Rounder CD1518, Various Performers – “American Fiddle Tunes” (1971).

Here is Rafe Stefanini's version on "Glory On The Big Strings" -  youtube.com/watch?v=701_E05Gqos

GRUB SPRINGS [2]. Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Mississippi. A Major. AEae (although Jody Stecher insists it is ADae) tuning. AABB. A variant of version #1. The version is from Mississipi fiddler W. Ernest Claunch, recorded by Herbert Halpert on a field trip for the Library on Congress in  1939.

And from Slippery-Hill - Ernsest Claunch playing in A, tuned AEae

slippery-hill.com/recording/grub-springs-0

And it seems easy this would be the version I learned to play.

GRUB SPRINGS [3]. Old Time, Breakdown. USA, Mississippi. A Major. Standard tuning. AABB. Recorded by Burnsville, Mississippi, fiddler John Hatcher for the Library of Congress in 1939 (AFS 3000 A4) on a field trip by Herbert Halpert. It is a different tune than versions #1 & #2 i.e. bears little or no resemblance either the Ernest Clauch (that usually goes by that name) or the Charlie Stripling tune under that name recorded for the Library of Congress.

And from Slippery-Hill – John Hatcher playing in A modal in standard tuning

slippery-hill.com/recording/grub-springs-1

There is another version on Slippery-Hill - George Mert Reves (from the Arkansas / Oklahoma area) playing in A, tuned Aeae

slippery-hill.com/recording/grub-springs

I couldn't find an audio file on DLA.

Edited by - tonyelder on 03/20/2016 12:24:01

A Grub Springs

 

 

 

Brendan Doyle - Posted - 03/20/2016:  15:21:26

I think of the Claunch and Hatcher versions of "Grub Springs" as entirely different tunes. The one Rafe is playing is the Hatcher version, whereas the one George Mert Reves is playing seems clearly related to the Hatcher "Grub Springs".

Here's a little video (taken by Rafe Stefanini) from an after-party at the 2009 Portland Old-Time Music Gathering. The players are Tatiana Hargreaves (on left) and Clelia Stefanini (on right) on fiddles, and me on banjo. We're playing the John Hatcher version of "Grub Springs". I was more or less learning it on the spot; I'd played the Claunch tune for many years, but not the Hatcher one. Tati was 13 and Clelia was 18 at the time, and both were already terrific fiddlers, as you can hear!

Grub Springs

DougD - Posted - 03/20/2016:  15:42:41

The John Hatcher version was included on the American Fiddle Tunes LP compiled by Alan Jabbour. I think that collection made it on to CD, but is now out of print, which is a real shame. In the notes, Alan said Mr. Claunch's recording was released on AFS L2, which I don't think was ever reissued, and that it "is a different tune."

tonyelder - Posted - 03/20/2016:  16:35:51

quote:

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Originally posted by Brendan Doyle

 

I think of the Claunch and Hatcher versions of "Grub Springs" as entirely different tunes. The one Rafe is playing is the Hatcher version, whereas the one George Mert Reves is playing seems clearly related to the Hatcher "Grub Springs".

Here's a little video (taken by Rafe Stefanini) from an after-party at the 2009 Portland Old-Time Music Gathering. The players are Tatiana Hargreaves (on left) and Clelia Stefanini (on right) on fiddles, and me on banjo. We're playing the John Hatcher version of "Grub Springs". I was more or less learning it on the spot; I'd played the Claunch tune for many years, but not the Hatcher one. Tati was 13 and Clelia was 18 at the time, and both were already terrific fiddlers, as you can hear!

Grub Springs

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I've seen that video. Very impressive - all of you. 

Just so things get placed in the right pigeon holes - entry #1 cites an early recording by Charlie Stripling, but I couldn't find a recording of that version. Is there one available?  And apparently it mistakenly identified Rafe Stefanini's version on "Glory ON The Big String" as the same as the Charlie Stripling version.  (reason why I showed it that way - my bad)

And (my ignorance here) - I would have guessed that the version from Mr Reves was closer to the Claunch version - from listening to the B part more than the A part.

Edited by - tonyelder on 03/20/2016 16:40:20