The TOTW this week is a Mississippi recording from a 67 year old Itawamba County fiddler named John Alexander Brown. It was recorded in 1939 by Herbert Halpert of the Library of Congress. The original recording has an odd rhythm, as Mr Alexander held the first note of the second part. The Fiddler's Companion claims that the tune was recorded in cross G fiddle tuning, (GDgd). My wife and I play it in cross A, (AEae) on the fiddle and sawmill, (aEADE), on the banjo.
Although there are several other tunes of the same name, they are different and appear to be unrelated. This is kind of a rare tune, and I could not find any other recordings of it besides Mr . Alexander and one other source. The original version can be found here:
http://slippery-hill.com/M-K/
It can also be found on a compilation of tunes from Mississippi called "Great Big Yam Potatoes / Anglo-American Fiddle Music from Mississippi", but that is out of print. I was able to find a used copy listed on e-bay for $29.99, so there are some copies out there!
The other version of this tune comes from a group called Soundwagon, with Jack Magee on the fiddle and Ritchey Stearns on the banjo. You can buy that CD on CD Baby here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/soundwagon.
It is not a particularly difficult tune on the banjo. My wife, Judy, and I made a video of our version and it is attached at the bottom. I had a technical difficulty with the audio recording and so the video is using the audio from the camcorder. I did also include the mp3 audio from the Zoom, which is a better quality.
Hope you guys learn this one! It deserves to be played.
Dean
