Fiddle Club of the World

Some Tunes from Dan Gellert

Click blue link to download or to listen to these .mp3s.
orClick here for tips and troubleshooting on how to get at these .mp3s.

Dan sent us recordings of these tunes played at a moderate tempo. The first two are in the key of C. The third is in Bb. Be brave and give it a try.

Shelvin’ Rock

New Five Cents

Brushy Run

Just added, a D tune, from a 1985 album of Dan’s band, Shoofly.

Sugar Hill

Send a comment and let us know which two of these four tunes you especially want to work through at the Fiddle Club session.

Dan Gellert will be performing at the Fiddle Club of the World’s meeting on Saturday, March 28 at the Leadway Bar & Gallery.

You can register for the Fiddle Club meetings as a workshop. Cost is $20. Call 773.728.6000 or to register on line, go here. Space is limited.

Filed under: Tunes by Paul | March 23, 2009 | Comments (0)

I’ve been thinking about Lotus Dickey.

I just found this old photo of the Sugar Hill Serenaders, a band formed in the 1980s around Lotus Dickey to perform at school assemblies for Young Audiences of Indiana.

Sugar Hill Serenaders thumb
Lotus Dickey, Paul Tyler, John Bealle, Teri Klassen
(click to enlarge)

Lotus’ tunes are always good to play. Here’s a couple.

Click here for tips and troubleshooting on how to get at these .mp3s.

or
White River Bottoms

Missouri Waltz

Back Side of Albany

Besides Lotus, the only Sugar Hill Serenader heard on these recordings is your humble correspondent, who is trying to follow on guitar on the first two. On the third piece, Lotus is accompanied by Linda Handelsman and Dillon Buston at the 1981 Indiana Fiddlers Gathering in Battle Ground. This trio appeared on an earlier post to this blog with a rendition of Oyster River Hornpipe.

If you want to know more about Lotus, check out the Lotus Dickey Music website maintained by Grey Larson. Lotus was a very fine fiddler. But he also made his mark as a songwriter. I remember him mostly as a sage elder, a keen eye on the world, and a good friend.

Enjoy.

Paul Tyler, convener

Filed under: Tunes by Paul | March 22, 2009 | Comments (0)

Tunes from Karen Solgard

Click blue link to download or to listen to these .mp3s.
or
Click here for tips and troubleshooting on how to get at these .mp3s.
or
Here are some tunes played by Karen Solgrad on a Norwegian hardanger fiddle.
or
or
Reiselaat fra Hallingdal

Steffasgard

or
Trondelag Bridal March
or
or

Go to Karen Solgard’s transcriptions of these Norwegian tunes.

or
Karen Solgard will be performing at the Fiddle Club of the World’s meeting on Sunday, November 30 at the Leadway Bar & Gallery. Click here to register, or call 773.728.6000.
or

Filed under: Tunes by Paul | November 18, 2008 | Comments (0)

Alan Jabbour tunes

Click blue link to download or to listen to these .mp3s.
or
Click here for tips and troubleshooting on how to get at these .mp3s.
or
Alan learned all these tunes from Henry Reed (1884-1968) of Glen Lyn, West Virginia.
or
or
Granny
Slow and medium versions of Granny.
or
West Virginia Highway
Slow and medium versions of West Virginia Highway (aka Ebenezer).
or
Peekaboo Waltz
Slow version of Peekaboo Waltz.
or
or
Used with permission from Learning Old-Time Fiddle Appalachian Style with Alan Jabbour.
or

Go to Alan Jabbour’s transcriptions of these Henry Reed tunes.

Alan Jabbour will be performing at the Fiddle Club of the World’s meeting on Wednesday, October 29 at Paddy O’Splaines. Click here to register, or call 773.728.6000.

Filed under: Tunes by Paul | October 15, 2008 | Comments (0)

Ken Perlman tunes

Click blue link to download or to listen to these .mp3s.
or
Click here for tips and troubleshooting on how to get at these .mp3s.
or
Ken learned these tunes from fiddlers on Prince Edward Island.
or
or
Brae Reel
Coming soon: a slow version of Brae Reel.
or
Miramichi Fire
Coming soon: a slow version of Miramichi Fire.
or
Medley: The Brae Reel & The Miramichi Fire
or
or
Used with permission from Ken Perlman, from his Island Boy CD.
or

Go to Ken Perlman’s transcriptions of these fiddle tunes.

or
Ken Perlman will be performing as part of a fiddle-banjo summit with Alan Jabbour at the Fiddle Club of the World’s meeting on Wednesday, October 29 at Paddy O’Splaines. Click here to register, or call 773.728.6000.

Filed under: Tunes by Paul | October 12, 2008 | Comments (0)

Tunes from Frank Ferrel

Click blue link to download or to listen to these .mp3s.
or
Click here for tips and troubleshooting on how to get at these .mp3s.
or
Here are some tunes played by Frank Ferrel, a Yankee fiddler from Maine.
or
or
Mrs. Hogan’s Birthday
or
Connemara Stockings
or
Beans & Humors of Maine
or
Tripping to the Well & Galway Belle
or
or
These tunes are from Frank’s earlier CDs, “Boston Fiddle” (Rounder) and “Fiddledance” (Great Meadows Music). You should buy the CDs.
or
or
Frank Ferrel will be performing at the Fiddle Club of the World’s meeting on Saturday, October 4 at Chief O’Neills. Click here to register, or call 773.728.6000.

Filed under: Tunes by Paul | October 3, 2008 | Comments (0)

Bluff Country Tunes 1: Tom, Brad & Alice

Click purple links to download or to listen to these .mp3s.

Click here for tips and troubleshooting on how to get at these .mp3s.

Recordings used by permission of the artists. Click on their names or photos for links to their websites or info on their CDs &c.
or

tom-sauber-thumb

Tom, Brad & Alice

or
or
Tom Sauber
or
Deep Ellum
or
Dry and Dusty
or
or

brad-leftwich-thumb.jpg

or
Brad Leftwich
or
Arkansas Holler
or
Richmond
or
or
or
or
or
or

Alice Gerrard

West Virginia Farewell

Wild Hog in the Woods

or
or
or

alice-gerard-thumb.jpg

Recorded by Lynn Garren at the Bluff Country Gathering in Lanesboro, Minnesota on May 17, 2008.

Return to Bluff Country Gathering post and link to more recordings.

Filed under: Tunes by Paul | August 11, 2008 | Comments (0)

Tunes from Felipe Valle & Juan Rivera

Click blue link to download or to listen to these .mp3s.
or

Click here for tips and troubleshooting on how to get at these .mp3s.

Las Chaparreras.


A simple huapango in the style of Son Huasteco.
slow version of Las Chaparreras.

El Caballito

A more complicated Son Huasteco huapango.

More to come. Check back in a few days.

Felipe Valle & Juan Rivera are the featured guests for the Fiddle Club of the World’s meeting on Sunday, July 20 at the Leadway Bar & Gallery (5233 N. Damen).

Go here to register.

Filed under: Tunes by Paul | July 7, 2008 | Comments (2)

Some C Tunes

Click blue link to download or to listen to these .mp3s.
or
Click here for tips and troubleshooting on how to get at these .mp3s.
or

In fiddle classes at the Old Town School, we seldom get around to teaching tunes in the key of C. That’s a shame. There are so many good ones. Larry Warren, a gentleman I met on FIDDLE-L, posted a private page of sound clips of C tunes contributed from fellow FIDDLE-L subscribers. Here’s my contribution of a few gems (IMHO) that I don’t think made it to Larry’s page.

Blue Buggy Bounce
I learned this nearly 30 years ago from Hector Phillips, of Petersburg, Indiana. I made this recording ten years ago for a FIDDLE-L compilation CD. Rhys Jones is on guitar.

Hector Phillips can be seen and heard in “Tough, Pretty, or Smart: A Portrait of the Patoka Valley Boys,” a film by Dillon Bustin and Richard Kane.

Postuns Jig
Even longer ago, I learned this one from Paul Gifford, who was then living in Ferndale, Michigan. He learned it from Merritt Olsen, from the nearby Detroit suburb of Birmingham. I heard Merritt play once–he also played a button box accordion–and greatly regret that I never went to visit him. Of course, at that time I could barely scratch out an identifiable tune.

Walter Harmon’s Hornpipe in C
And this one I learned in 1979 from Donald Duff of Lizton, Indiana. He learned it from Mr. Harmon, an older local fiddler who helped Mr. Duff get started when he was a kid. Jimmie Campbell of Dolan, Indiana played the tune as well, and called it “Old Bob.” Same name, different tune from one Garry Harrison collected.

Just so the record is straight, I am the fiddler on all these recordings. Any clunkers are mine and mine alone. Enjoy the tunes, and maybe we can play one of two of them at the upcoming open session of the Fiddle Club on July 15.

Paul Tyler, convener

Filed under: Tunes by Paul | June 5, 2008 | Comments (0)

A tune (or two)

Click blue link to download or listen to these .mp3s.
or

Click here for tips and troubleshooting on how to get at these .mp3s.

Oyster River Hornpipe

This mp3 is about 6 minutes long. Here’s an abridged mp3 (two times through the tune).
shorter recording

Played by Frank Hall (fiddle), Lena Ullman (banjo) and Paul Tyler (guitar). Recorded October 2007 when Frank and Lena were visiting from Ireland. Frank, a long-time resident of Bloomington, Indiana, learned the tune from Lotus Dickey. Note the chord changes in the B part (Em & B7).

And here’s an example of Lotus playing the tune in a medley with “Weller’s Reel” and “Green Fields of America,” recorded at the Indiana Fiddlers Gathering in 1982, with Dillon Bustin (guitar) and Linda Handelsman (hammered dulcimer).

Oyster River Hornpipe medley

The Fiddlers Gathering (aka Battle Ground) is coming up the last weekend in June.
The Tippecanoe Battlefield in Battle Ground, Indiana is a 2 1/2 hour drive from Chicago.
The setting is a beautiful setting. The folks are friendly. The jam sessions are lively.

Paul Tyler, convener

Filed under: Tunes by Paul | May 22, 2008 | Comments (0)