Flog (Fiddle Blog) » Paul Tyler

Old-Time Ensemble (Wed) – week 5

Paul — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:11:50 +0000

You start in G, then you go to D. Then you come back and do it all again.

Puncheon Floor by Esker Hutchins of Dobson, North Carolina

Fiddle 2Rep (Tue) – week 5

Paul — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:03:04 +0000

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

Fiddle 3 (Sun) – week 4

Paul — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:59:50 +0000

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

Fiddle 4 (Mon) – week 5

Paul — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:56:07 +0000

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

Black Velvet Waltz by Chirps Smith of Lagrange, Wisconsin

Old-Time Ensemble (Wed) – week 4

Paul — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 23:19:16 +0000

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.

Fiddle 2Rep (Tue) – week 4

Paul — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:44:30 +0000

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

Fiddle 4 Old-Time (Mon) – week 4

Paul — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:52:18 +0000

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.

Old-Time Ensemble (Wed) – week 3

Paul — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:48:23 +0000

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.

Fiddle 3 (Sun) – weeks 2 & 3

Paul — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:44:44 +0000

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

Fiddle 4 Old-Time (Mon) – week 3

Paul — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 04:46:41 +0000

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.