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Rhode Island Music
Old Time Music in Rhode Island, Eastern Connecticut, and Southeastern Massachusetts, USA Fiddle, Banjo, Guitar, Mandolin - 'Old Time' Music. The gossip, news, updates, links, email lists, etc. formerly on this site are now on:
Old Time Music in New England on Facebook. I am no longer editing this site or updating old links, except for adding tunes of interest to me through the Old Fiddlers Club of Rhode Island, the Quiet Corner Fiddlers, or local jams. You can contact me through the Facebook page linked above. Please feel free to join us on Facebook where anyone can post notices, comments, discussions, tunes, videos, whatever! Matt McConeghy Feb 2010 |
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Here are some audio files of the master fiddler Frank O. Moon of Rhode Island. These are from a tape which was given to me by Frank a couple of years before he died. I have not yet identified the accompanists...
Mason's apron v1, Mason's apron v2 Unidentified Tune # 1 in Bb Long Medley includes: Devil's Dream, Money Musk, unidentified 9, Speed the Plow, Mason's Apron, Wake Up Susan, unidentified 5, unid 6, unid 7, unid 8
(Any ideas on the titles to the unidentified tunes?) (see below for tune annotations)
Here are two audio files from Uncle Joe Shippee recorded in 1926. Uncle Joe was the winner of the 1926 All New England Fiddle Contest (see an excellent account of this contest written by Steve Green) - it seems likely that this contest was the main spark that set Henry Ford on his path to establishing his fiddle contests during the late 1920s. Uncle Joe was a member of the Old Fiddlers Club of Rhode Island from its founding until his death a few years later.
track1 includes Irish Washerwoman, Turkey in the Straw, Arkansas Traveller. track2 includes Miss McLeod's reel, Pig Town Fling, and Peeler's jacket. (These tunes were labelled by Frank Moon, but I think he misspoke and the 3rd tune in this track is Temperance Reel rather than Peeler's Jacket) -----------------------------
Here are some more versions of tunes from the tradition of the Old Fiddlers Club of Rhode Island (founded 1929) - these tunes were on the active playlist of the OFCRI in the 1950s - 1960s or earlier. Transcripts below are from the 1940 tunebook Coles 1000 Fiddle Tunes. These videos are not the spiffiest virtuosos on YouTube - some are just good, clean versions by ordinary people.
Coles page 8 video: Pigeon on the Gate, Fairy Dance Coles page 18 video: Devil Amongst the Tailors (Devil's Dream) Coles page 21 video Wake Up Susan, Speed the Plough Coles page 22 video: Peeler's Jacket, Wind that Shakes the Barley, McDonald's Reel Coles page 45 video: Miller's Reel, Coles page 88 video: Cincinnati, London Hornpipes Coles page 89 video: Forester's, Liverpool, Rickett's Hornpipes
other tunes: Harvest Home hornpipe,
Barebones audio versions of tunes for learning: Pigeon on the Gate, Devil's Dream, Ivy Leaf Reel, Scotch Hornpipe
------------------------------------------------------------------------- A few tunes we have heard around the jams lately: Been to the East, Been to the West from the Canote brothers Banjo Tab site
Bob-tailed Mule nice video version of this simple tune, from the band Hungry Joe, from Denmark. :-)
Pumpkin Ridge (Round Up the Yearlings) Canote / Triplett
Forked Deer Bruce Molsky takes this tune around the block...
Girl I left Behind Me Fuzzy Mt Band, from Tommy Jarrell Home with the girls in the Morning (bare bones, Matt - taught at Kingston jam 1/12/09) Home with The Girls in the Morning (band version from the wonderful 1974 Deseret String Band album "Land of Milk and Honey" recently re-released on CD. Features RI fiddler Skip Gorman and Hal Cannon (RISD!) and banjo/vocal by former RI luthier Len Coulsen. The second tune in the medley is 'Devil in the Strawsack' These tunes are in the Portland Collection) June Apple and other tunes played in full-bore old time style! Forge Mt Diggers with fiddler David Bass.
Over the Waterfall bare bones version and Over the Waterfall nice relaxed version by porch jammers, these folks look like they would be fun to play with...
Redwing - what happens to an old chestnut when a master gets hold of it.
Ruffled Drawers (Robinson County)
Shoes and Stockings from a jam session in Virginia
Stump Tailed Dog dulcimer player Mark Gilston
Yellow Cat (G Canote, via Marion Thede from Frank Hobbs)
------------------------------------------------------------- Angeline the Baker D (basic bare bones version) Angeline the Baker - great version from a banjo pal - explains why Old Time music is fun! Angeline (AVI video file from Kingston 2-9-2009 video files may play on Windows as audio only, if you do not have Quicktime or equivalent software)
Arkansas Traveller (bare bones version, Matt) Arkansas Traveller Tommy Jarrell with Aly Bain! Excellent!, Arkansas Traveller (followed by Turkey in the Straw and Bill Cheatem - wonderful set played with typical delight by the beloved and much missed Canadian Master Graham Townsend)
Bound to have a little fun from an upstate NY jam, 2010 also, Buck Mountain
Fisher's Hornpipe - on ukelele. Pretty decent. Guy can play. Fisher's Hornpipe Charles D'Almaine 1913 - a medley with Off to California and other tunes. Pretty good! Fisher's Hornpipe Leopold Moeslein 1906 one of the first recorded fiddle tunes. (UCSB Collection) Fisher's Hornpipe D link to Library of Congress Henry Reed page of tunes recorded by Alan Jabbour in 1967. This page also has audios of other great Henry Reed tunes including the seminal version of Over the Waterfall, Frosty Morning, Dinah, Ducks in the Pond, Santa Anna's Retreat, and 100 others.
Frosty Morning uptempo, slightly different from Henry Reed or our version, kitschy but nice
Going down to Cairo (nice version of 'Liza Jane' taught by Michelle at Harry's RISCA workshop)
John Cole from an upstate NY jam, 2010
Liberty bare bones version by Matt
Liza Jane bare bones version
Rickett's Hornpipe (slojam version by matt) Road to California (slojam version by matt)
Maggots in the Sheephide from a Fiddle Hell jam, tune is from Sara Armstrong and Sam Bayard "Hill Country Tunes"
Needlecase from a jam in Massaschusetts in 2010 Redwing - what happens to an old chestnut when a master gets hold of it. Ruffled Drawers by Foster Jam Feb 2011
Sail Away, Ladies (J.P. Fraley version via G Canote)
Sailor's Hornpipe (ca. 1920, College Hornpipe, probably originally Pitt's Hornpipe)
Seneca Square Dance G (band version)
St Anne's Reel star version - Aly Bain fiddles with virtuoso dobroist; St Anne's Reel classic version from the great fiddler Joseph Allard - poor quality recording - here is another better recording of Allard Reel Jacques-Cartier 1930
Soldier's Joy D (barebones) Soldier's Joy is the most often recorded fiddle tune in history. - practice version from Kingston 2 - 9 -2009 Spotted Pony from the Kingston, RI jam Tater Patch (bare bones version, Matt) Tater Patch (Jane Rothfield, up to excellent speed - check her album "I Fiddle, They Banjo" for lots of nice cuts)
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More versions of tunes:
Old Joe Clark - classic Stringbean and Buddy Spicher at the Opry, and slick kid OJC fiddle band version (preceded by Cuckoo's Nest and followed by Devil's Dream) and version from 1930s OJC field recording by Library of Congress folklorists. St Anne's Reel star version - Aly Bain fiddles with virtuoso dobroist; St Anne's Reel classic version from the great fiddler Joseph Allard - poor quality recording but this is the true vine of French Canadian fiddling. (Here is another better recording of Allard Reel Jacques-Cartier 1930) Redwing G - a snappy YouTube Texas version June Apple interesting old style version - Rafe Stefanini fiddles, Kitchen Girl (a fun YouTube version on two banjos, but not in our key-we usually play in A), Redhaired Boy nice flashy guitar version shown fast and slow, Road to Boston Whiskey Before Breakfast (band version),
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Neighbors... Link to Random finds... fun stuff, links, knick-knacks, whatnot, etc. My $0.02 worth!... Hornpipes or Waltzes or Modal Tunes What are they? Virtual Gramophone - I'be been mining this excellent Canadian music resource. Online access to scores of Canadian 78rpm recordings from the 1910's to the 1940s. The searchable database allows you to zero in on reels, hornpipes, galops, or artists like Don Messer or Joseph Allard. Or try Philip Presner, George Wade, Jose Zaffiro (excellent hornpipe medley from 1918!) or J.B. Roy. top ten recorded fiddle tunes, Fiddler Magazine survey 1995 - the Most Popular Fiddle Tunes Modal? What? Chuck Morgan got me thinking about this. I had to work it through. Brown's distinguished Professor of Ethnomusicology Jeff Titon, lists the 20 "essential" albums of Fiddling by Authentic Old Timers in the South and his website on the graceful fiddling of Clyde Davenport "Old Time" or "Old Timey" refers to the music played in rural America from about 1800 until about the 1940s, and continuing up to this moment in revival groups and dances around the country. Much of Old Timey is instrumental music played on guitar, fiddle, banjo and mandolin. For over 200 years small bands have played for dances in rural areas from New England to Louisiana and on the furthest reaches of the Western Frontier. Many of the tunes have been passed down for generations, derived from older traditions such as the dance music of Scotland, Ireland, French-Canada or rural England. The music of Scandinavia, Central Europe and African American traditions have also influenced the repertory. This music started to enter the commercial market in the 1930s as radios became common (exactly as shown in the recent movie "Oh Brother Where art Thou?") and eventually got transformed into Country/Western, and into the highly polished virtuoso performance music known as 'Bluegrass." But, thousands of musicians continue to play the original tunes of 50, 100 or 150 years ago, and many thousands of dancers continue to enjoy the contradance and square dance traditions. For many Old Timey musicians, playing music is a historic tradition, and for many others, it is just plain fun!
More versions of tunes:
Old Joe Clark - classic Stringbean and Buddy Spicher at the Opry, and slick kid OJC fiddle band version (preceded by Cuckoo's Nest and followed by Devil's Dream) and version from 1930s OJC field recording by Library of Congress folklorists. St Anne's Reel star version - Aly Bain fiddles with virtuoso dobroist; St Anne's Reel classic version from the great fiddler Joseph Allard - poor quality recording but this is the true vine of French Canadian fiddling. (Here is another better recording of Allard Reel Jacques-Cartier 1930) Redwing G - a snappy YouTube Texas version June Apple interesting old style version - Rafe Stefanini fiddles, Kitchen Girl (a fun YouTube version on two banjos, but not in our key-we usually play in A), Redhaired Boy nice flashy guitar version shown fast and slow, Road to Boston Whiskey Before Breakfast (band version), |
RIMUSIC : Rhode Island Old Timey Fiddle, banjo, mandolin, dulcimer, cajun, bluegrass, country dance, contradance, and all traditional music and dance.