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)
Jim & Kim Lansford – July 16
 Jim & Kim Lansford |
JIM & KIM LANSFORD from Galena, Missouri Friday, July 16, 8 pm Leadway Bar & Gallery (5233 N. Damen) This is strong music. Not only because of the considerable talents of this duo, but because their tunes and songs are deeply rooted in rural American life and tradition. Great fiddling and heartful singing. Don’t miss this. |
Hear here . . .
Pretty Polly Ann
Filed under: Meeting Schedule by Paul | May 15, 2010 | Comments (0)
Fiddlepalooza – Tueday, June 8
Tuesday, June 8, 8pm at the Old Town School
Two bands from two traditions of old-time music – Finnish and American – the evening will be part workshop, part visit, and part jam session. Members of Steve Rosen’s Fiddle 3 and Paul Tyler’s Fiddle 4 will attend Fiddlepalooza in lieu of their regular class. All fiddlers, banjoists, mandolinists, guitarists, accordionists and friends of old-time music are welcome. Check back with this blog for some tunes to learn for the jam session.
Click here to register for Fiddlepalooza.
 Teija Niku & Kukka Lehto |
POLKA CHICKS from Helsinki, Suomi (Finland) or The Polka Chicks American tour features the duo of Kukka Lehto (fiddle & mandolin) and Teija Niku (accordions). or |
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Polka Chicks, hear here . . . or Niittykosket Masurkat |
Hear Paul Brown at the U of Chicago folk festival, 2008 Battle of the Horseshoe Lady of the Lake |
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MOSTLY MOUNTAIN BOYS from Washington, DC (USA) or Paul Brown (you hear him on NPR newscasts) plays fiddle; Terri McMurray is on banjo; and John Schwab is the guitarist. or |
 Paul Brown – Terri McMurray – John Schwab |
Click one of the following links to listen to and learn some tunes from the Polka Chicks and from the Mostly Mountain Boys.
The Polka Chicks and the Mostly Mountain Boys will share the bill on June 9 at the Old Town School’s World Music Wednesdays. Click here for more info or to reserve tickets.
Filed under: Meeting Schedule by Paul | May 15, 2010 | Comments (0)
Traditional Fiddling from Austria
A free meeting – Sunday, June 6
time and location to be announced
Rudi Pietsch of the band Die Tanzgeiger (the Dance Fiddlers) from Vienna
Rudi Pietsch (on left)
Rudi, a fiddler and ethnomusicologist, is currently a visiting professor at the University of Chicago. The Old Town School has assisted his endeavors in Chicago, and in return, he wants to introduce us to a rich tradition of fiddling we know little about. Here are some samples from <a href="“>Die Tanzgeiger.
Filed under: Meeting Schedule by Paul | May 15, 2010 | Comments (0)
Fiddle Club summer happenings – 2010
This is going to be a summer full of great tunes. Keep your bow rosined. Get those banjos in tune. Listen for the chord changes . . .
TRADITIONAL FIDDLING FROM AUSTRIA
Sunday, June 6, location & time tba
Presentation by Rudi Pietsch, a visiting professor at the U of Chicago. Back in Vienna, Rudi leads Die Tanzgeiger (the Dance Fiddlers).
Die Tanzgeiger, Rudi Pietsch is on the far left
(click to enlarge)
F I D D L E P A L O O Z A
Tuesday, June 8, 8pm at the Old Town School
A workshop/jam session with bands from two traditions of old-time music – Finnish and American – the Polka Chicks from Helsinki & the Mostly Mountain Boys from Washington DC
The Polka Chicks
(click to enlarge)
Click here to register for Fiddlepalooza.
The Fiddle Club of the World (Chicago Chapter) presents
8th MIDWESTERN FIDDLE CHAMPIONSHIP
Thursday, July 8, 7pm in Giddings Plaza in Lincoln Square
Open Division
Saturday, July 10, 12:55pm at Chicago Folk & Roots Festival
Band Division
7th Midwest Fiddle Championship
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Click here for more information. NB: important update coming soon.
JIM & KIM LANSFORD
Friday, July 16, location & time tba
Jim & Kim Lansford
[Registration information under construction]
FELIPE VALLE from Mexico City
A Fiddle Club guest in the summer of 2008, Felipe is returning to Chicago this summer.
I’ll set up a workshop with him so we can learn a more Son Huasteca.
Felipe Valle
-Paul Tyler, convener
Fiddle Club of the World (Chicago Chapter)
Filed under: Meeting Schedule 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)
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