Tunes from Jim Lansford
Jim Lansford hails from Galena, Missouri. He’s learned first-hand from some of the best Missouri and Ozark fiddlers of the late 20th century and has carried the traditional sound forcefully into the 21st. His wife, Kim, is an accompanist second to none.
Here are a couple of fine tunes from the middle of the U.S.
Grey Eagle in C
From Cyrill Stinnett of Braymer, Missouri.
Grey Eagle in C slow
Daylight in the Morning fiddle & guitar
From Uncle Bunk Williams, an Ozark fiddler
Daylight in the Morning slow
(click to enlarge)
Jim & Kim Lansford will be performing at a Fiddle Club of the World meeting, 8:00pm on Friday, July 16 at the Leadway Bar & Gallery (5233 N. Damen) in Chicago.
Filed under: Tunes by Paul | July 6, 2010 | Comments (0)
Austrian tunes with Rudi Pietsch
Join us for a friendly concert and session on June 6 at 7:30 pm.
NOTE: This Fiddle Club meeting has been moved to the Old Town School of Folk Music (4544 Lincoln). We will meet in the Gallery on the 1st floor. The cafe may be open for beer sales. BYOB is also a possibility.
For the last few weeks, the Old Town School has been graced with a visitor from Vienna, Austria. Rudi Pietsch is an ethnomusicologist who is spending a quarter teaching at the University of Chicago and researching music in the communities of Central European immigrants in Chicago and the Midwest. In his spare time, he’s come by the School to learn a few American tunes. He also dropped in on Fiddle 4 Twin Fiddle class.
(click to enlarge)
a yodel played on the fiddle in three voices
To hear all three voices, you’ll have to bring your fiddle and join in. Here’s Rudi singing one voice and playing another on fiddle.
yodel with fiddle
And here’s the same melody played as a ländler, a dance in 3.
yodel as a ländler
Here’s a polka, Der Einfache . . .
Der Einfache voice 1
add voice 2 (oops, the trio is missing)
Der Einfache played by Fiddle 4 class with Rudi Pietsch on piano
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And a Zwiebacher, Die Bacherlmuhl, a dance mixing 2s and 3s.
(click to enlarge)
Filed under: Tunes by Paul | June 2, 2010 | Comments (0)
Tunes from Paul Brown & Mostly Mountain Boys
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Paul Brown, from Washington DC, learned old-time fiddle directly from some of the great old masters of North Carolina and Virginia, such as Benton Flippen, Luther Davis, Kyle Creed, Tommy Jarrell and Fred Cockerham. Over the years he’s played fiddle with The Toast String Stretchers, The Bent Mountain Band (with Andy Cahan and Mike Seeger), and now The Mostly Mountain Boys.
Paul and the mostly boys will be part of the FIDDLEPALOOZA on Tuesday, June 8, 8pm at the Old Town School, along with the Polka Chicks. Here are a couple of tunes the Mostly Mountain Boys will help us through
Sugar in the Gourd
Key of D. Can be performed with fiddle in standard tuning or with bass string tuned up to A. Inspired by Norman Edmonds of Hillsville, VA
Sugar in the Gourd slow
Shady Grove fiddle & guitar
Inspired by Luther Davis of Galax, Virginia
Shady Grove slow
The Mostly Mountain Boys are
Paul Brown, fiddle
John Schwab, guitar
Terri McMurray, banjo
(click to enlarge)
Click here for some tunes by the Polka Chicks.
Click here to register for Fiddlepalooza. (Steve Rosen’s Fiddle 3 and Paul Tyler’s Fiddle 4 students for this session are already registered.)
Filed under: Tunes by Paul | May 31, 2010 | Comments (0)
Tunes from the Polka Chicks
A selection of tunes from the Polka Chicks, from Finland. Along with the Mostly Mountain Boys, they will participate in the Fiddlepalooza at the Old Town School on Tuesday, June 8 at 8pm. The next day, June 9, both groups will be on stage for World Music Wednesday at 8:30.
Press the arrows to listen or right-click the blue title to download and save on your computer.
“. . . a polska and a waltz, which are both traditional tunes from Swedish-speaking areas in Finland. The tunes are called ‘Bromarvin polska’ (Polska from Bromarv, situated on a cape by the southern coast of Finland) and ‘Viktors Vals’ (from a small village called Jeppo in Ostrobothnia, Finnish west coast).”
Bromarv polska
Bromarv polska slow
” . . . a traditional polka played by a horn orchestra from Hattula, a county in Häme-region which is situated kind of in the southern-middle Finland. The tune is called ‘Ampumakoulun polkka’ which means ‘Shooting school polka’.”
Ampumakoulun polkka
Ampumakoulun polkka slow
Click here from some workshop tunes from Paul Brown & the Mostly Mountain Boys.
Click here to register for Fiddlepalooza. (Steve Rosen’s Fiddle 3 and Paul Tyler’s Fiddle 4 students for this session are already registered.)
Filed under: Tunes by Paul | May 15, 2010 | Comments (0)
A delectable treat (un delicioso gusto)
From the Huasteca region, i.e., northern Veracruz. That’s in Mexico.
The fiddler is Osiris Caballero who visited Fiddle 4 Twin Fiddle last week. His group, Los Utrera performed at World Music Wednesday the next night. Thanks to Yahvi Pichardo for arranging this visit. Yahvi and Maria McCullough assist in this rendition of La Cielito Lindo.
Another version in the Son Huasteca style can be found on the CD Folk Songs of Illinois #2: Fiddlers, played by Chicago’s own Sones de Mexico. Full disclosure: I co-produced this CD.
Paul Tyler, convener
Filed under: Musings, Tunes by Paul | May 15, 2010 | Comments (0)
Tunes from Matt Brown
A selection of tunes from Matt Brown, one of the rising stars in the old-time music firmament.
Press the arrows to listen or right-click the blue title to download and save on your computer.
Roscoe
Matt sez: “Roscoe comes to us from the great Kyle Creed of Surry County, North Carolina. The tune is named after guitar player Roscoe Russell. This one is great for dances!”
Roscoe slow
Fire on the Mountain
“This version of Fire On the Mountain is one of my all-time favorite tunes. And not enough people play it. Isham (pronounced “Ice-um”) Monday of Monroe County, Kentucky played this beautiful tune with lots of drones, and in a low cross-tuning. I’m in AEAE on this version, but you can get most of the notes (if not all of the drones) in standard tuning.”
Fire on the Mountain slow
Cumberland Gap
“This is Burnett & Rutherford’s version of the classic Cumberland Gap. It’s sweet, simple, and in G.”
Cumberland Gap slow
Matt Brown visits the Fiddle Club of the World meeting on Sunday, May 2 at 6:30pm at the Leadway Bar & Gallery (5233 N. Damen) in Chicago. Click here to register.
Filed under: Tunes by Paul | April 18, 2010 | Comments (0)
Tunes from Genevieve (Harrison) Koester
A selection of tunes from Dear Old Illinois (both a place and the life work of Genevieve’s father, Garry Harrison). Gena plays with her dad in the New Mules, a band featured at the Old Town School’s Trad Fest in January 2008. The first of these tunes is from the David McIntosh collection of folksongs from Southern Illinois from the middle of the last century. The next two are tunes Garry collected from downstate fiddlers 30 years ago.
Press the arrows to listen or right-click the blue title to download and save on your computer.
Across the Plains of Illinois “Source version is unaccompanied ballad singing by Ollie Barnard of Cave-in-Rock, IL. . . . I’ll sing all the words when we all get together but it has a nice tune by itself too.”
Across the Plains of Illinois slow
Sally Johnson from “Otis Reynolds of Geff, IL. There are a million versions of Sally Johnson, and most of them are very note-y and embellished. This one is the opposite. 
” (Warning: not the version transcribed in Dear Old Illinois.)
Sally Johnson slow
Who’ll Cut the Britches? from Henry Soper of Mt. Vernon, IL. “The full title given by Mr. Soper was the verse:
Oh boy, who’ll cut the britches?
Daddy cut them out, and mammy sewed the stitches.”
Who’ll Cut the Britches? slow
Genevieve Koester will be the featured guest at the Fiddle Club of the World meeting on Sunday, April 18 at 6:30pm at the Leadway Bar & Gallery (5233 N. Damen) in Chicago. Click here to register.
Filed under: Tunes by Paul | April 5, 2010 | Comments (0)
Some Tunes from Dennis Stroughmatt
Some tunes from Upper Louisiana, aka the old French district of Illinois and Missouri, straddling the Mississippi River down from St. Louis. Dennis here gives us a brief intro to each tune. More stories to come on March 18 at the Leadway.
Press the arrows to listen or right-click the blue title to download and save on your computer.
Old Man Lucky in the key of D: “Old Man Lucky I learned from Charlie Pashia, right at the source. It was a song (no lyrics) for a guy named LaChance. He was a lucky man, and that was his name too.”
Old Man Lucky slow
Grandmere In waltz time in G: “Grandmere is a story song. It means Grandmother Complains. I learned it from Ida Portell in Potosi , MO.”
Grandmere slow
D’ou Viens in A: “D’ou Viens Tu is iShepherd, from where did you come.’ It’s a Christmas song. Also from Ida Portell. But I got the fiddle part idea from Roy Boyer.”
D’ou Viens slow
Dennis Stroughmatt will be the featured guest at the Fiddle Club of the World meeting on Sunday, March 28 at 6:30pm at the Leadway Bar & Gallery (5233 N. Damen) in Chicago. Click here to register.
Filed under: Tunes by Paul | March 15, 2010 | Comments (0)
Some Tunes from Liz Knowles
Ready for some Celtic/Irish tunes. Before she headed off to China, Liz gave us these to try. Each recording has the tune played slowly, and then up to tempo.
Press the arrows to listen or right-click the blue title to download and save on your computer.
The Black Rogue – jig
Gone for His Tea – reel
The Factory Smoke – hornpipe
Liz Knowles will be the featured guest at the Fiddle Club of the World meeting on Friday, February 19 at 7:30pm at the Leadway Bar & Gallery (5233 N. Damen) in Chicago. Click here to register.
Filed under: Tunes by Paul | January 23, 2010 | Comments (0)
Kenny Stone tunes
Important Notice: We apologize, but once again we must postpone Kenny Stone’s visit to the Fiddle Club of the World. The workshop listing currently reads that the new date is March 7, 2010. That date is not yet confirmed. Check back soon. I guarantee that Kenny Stone will be our featured artist soon and help us become more bluegrass-worthy.
-Paul Tyler
Kenny Stone is veteran bluegrass fiddler, with a performing career that started when he was nine. He released his first album in 1989, at the age of nine, and followed that up with series of recordings and tours with a variety of bands, including his own, the Kenny Stone Unit and Midwest Wind. Family life and work has taken him off the road. But he continues to perform with the Chicago Bluegrass Band and to teach select students at his home in Dyer, Indiana.
Kenny Stone
(click to enlarge)
The Fiddle Club of the World is pleased to present Kenny Stone to a new audience of fiddlers. He’s looking forward to playing through a potpourri of standard old-time and bluegrass tunes. He’s also offered us several of his own originals.
Kenny Stone will be featured guest at the Fiddle Club of the World meeting on January 24, 2010 at 4:00 pm at the Leadway Bar & Gallery (5233 N. Damen). Click here to register.
Filed under: Meeting Schedule, Tunes by Paul | January 20, 2010 | Comments (0)
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