I chose this tune because it is one of my favorites and it hadn’t yet been Tuna’d! Y’all are all likely familiar with it, as Sugar Hill has got to be one of the most ubiquitous tunes in the old time canon. And for good reason, as it is a rollickin’ good time with great rhythm, melody, and even words to holler out!
It’s in the key of D with 16 measures to each part. Most fiddlers play it out of ADAE (though GDAE works alright as well) and most banjohammerers play it out of aDADE.
The subject of the song is disputed. I’ve heard folks say it’s about a Hill renowned for liquor makin/drinkin and others say it’s a Hill dedicated to more Fleshly pursuits, but these hardly seem mutually exclusive to me! In fact, in the Upland South we have a tradition of gathering in certain areas for partying and hell raising etc; locales where people could blow off steam without offending or injuring the more conforming members of the region. Here in Franklin County it used to be an area called Gum Log, and in Haralson County where I’m from originally there were two such places, a gorge near Tallapoosa called Devil’s Kitchen and also a long ridge named Dugdown Mountain. So, in my opinion, “Sugar Hill” reflects that facet of Appalachian society, and its these places that come to mind when I play the tune.
I have also read in some liner notes that the tune refers to a Hill particularly suited to maple trees for syrup making. Brad Leftwich writes that “Kevin Donleavy notes that a hill near Lambsburg, VA, known by locals as Sugar Hill, concealed a number of moonshine stills and had the reputation for being a rough and dangerous area,” but this tune was hardly limited to Virginia/North Carolina border so it seems unlikely to me that it refers to a single specific place. Sugar Hill isn’t exactly an uncommon place name, there are at least two in Georgia alone. Like many common tunes, I think it meant different things to different folks.
For me, the definitive version is from Tommy Jarrell:
But the Freight Hoppers sure do beat the hell out of it too:
Heres an excellent traditional roundpeaky rendering on a fretless banjo:
Sugar Hill is not really a tune that lends itself to solo banjo dynamite(someone please prove me wrong), but I really love where he takes the tune further into that video.
There are more than a few BHO music files, though fewer than I woulda thought, but I will let y’all post them up your own selves. I have a few favorites I will add in later if they get neglected.
Here is video of myself playing Sugar Hill on my new Jason Mogi A-scale half fretless and also on the fiddle for good measure.