Fiddle 2Rep (Tue) – week 5

A fun tune in G, with more bow rocking.

Cotton-Eyed Joe, short version at medium tempo

Cotton-Eyed Joe, long version, slower

lyrics in a pdf file

Filed under: Fiddle 2,Paul Tyler by Paul | February 8, 2012 | Comments (0)

Fiddle 3 (Sun) – week 4

A classic in D, the Arkansas Traveler. This version is close to how I taught the tune. More great ideas for variations can be found on the version Colby posted in the Tune Archive.

Arkansas Traveler by Lee Stoneking from Missouri

Filed under: Fiddle 3,Paul Tyler by Paul | February 7, 2012 | Comments (0)

Fiddle 4 (Mon) – week 5

Grab your sweetie for a waltz! (In the key of C)

Black Velvet Waltz by Chirps Smith of Lagrange, Wisconsin

Filed under: Fiddle 4,Paul Tyler by Paul | February 7, 2012 | Comments (0)

Old-Time Ensemble (Wed) – week 4

Ladies on the Steamboat by Burnett & Rutherford of Monticello, Kentucky

Leonard Rutherford played the fiddle. Richard Burnett played banjo. This classic recording is from 1928 or ’29.

Filed under: Old Time Ensemble,Paul Tyler,Steve Rosen by Paul | February 1, 2012 | Comments (0)

Fiddle 2Rep (Tue) – week 4

Another D tune, Dry and Dusty.

Dry and Dusty as played by Chirps Smith of the Volo Bogtrotters

His version is based on this one . . .

Dry and Dusty as played by Otis Reynolds of Geff, Illinois

Filed under: Fiddle 2 Rep,Paul Tyler by Paul | February 1, 2012 | Comments (0)

Fiddle 4 Old-Time (Mon) – week 4

We worked on the shuffle bow pattern–long, short short, or slur, saw saw–on this C tune. The versions linked below vary from the tune as we worked on it. A medium tempo demo version in the Tune Archive is close to how we learned it.

Billy in the Lowground by Clay Smith of Fairview Heights, Illinois

Billy in the Lowground by David Hall of Monticello, Indiana

Billy in the Lowground, by Lotus Dickey of Orange County, Indiana

The first Billy was recorded by Jim Nelson in 1992 on a visit to Mr. Smith’s home. I visited David Hall in 1979 and recorded Lotus playing the tune in 1986.

Filed under: Fiddle 4,Paul Tyler by Paul | January 30, 2012 | Comments (0)

Old-Time Ensemble (Wed) – week 3

Boatin’ Up the Sandy, fiddled by Craig Johnson with the Double Decker String Band

There is also a slower demo version in the Tune Archive.

Filed under: Old Time Ensemble,Paul Tyler,Steve Rosen by Paul | January 30, 2012 | Comments (0)

Fiddle 3 (Sun) – weeks 2 & 3

We worked on the shuffle bow pattern–long, short short, or slur, saw saw–on this G tune
Green Fields of America, by Lotus Dickey of Orange County, Indiana

There are also slow and medium tempo demo versions of Green Fields of America in the Tune Archive.

Our first tune in the key of C is a bit challenging.
Old Joe by Bob Walters of Tekemah, Nebraska

Filed under: Fiddle 3,Paul Tyler by Paul | January 30, 2012 | Comments (0)

Fiddle 4 Old-Time (Mon) – week 3

Here’s a recording of Lotus Dickey playing . . .

Dickey’s Discovery in the key of D.

Lotus Dickey (1911-89) lived on Grease Gravy hill south of Paoli in Orange County, Indiana. He thinks he learned this tune from Allen Downey, an older gentlemen who moved to Orange County around 1920 from Robinson, Illinois. Mel Durham, a fiddle born in Illinois, played the same tune as he learned it from his father, and called it King’s Lament.

Filed under: Fiddle 4,Paul Tyler by Paul | January 23, 2012 | Comments (0)

Old-Time Ensemble (Wed) – week 2

Here’s a recording of Francis Geels playing Sugar in the Gourd. It’s the opening number to a radio show I produced in 1979 dedicated to Francis and his music. The second time through the tune begins a voiceover introducing the program. But you can still here the tune.

Sugar in the Gourd as the first tune on Indiana Hoedown.

Note: click on the title or arrow to listen. Right click on the title to download (save link).

Filed under: Old Time Ensemble,Paul Tyler,Steve Rosen by Paul | January 23, 2012 | Comments (0)


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