Our tune of the week this week is Twin Sisters.
What's that you say? Haven't we already done that tune? No, this is not the modal tune by the same name from Sidna Myers, which was a previous TOTW. This week's tune is a completely different tune in the key of D. Twin Sisters is closely related to and possibly a descendant of the Irish hornpipe The Boys of Bluehill, also published as Beau of Oak Hill among other titles. The Boys of Bluehill remains popular at Irish sessions (I'm told) and an excellent and extensive write up of the tune can be found here: http://slowplayers.org/2014/05/04/boys-of-bluehill-d/. From this account, it seems that we cannot be certain of the tune's origin:
...the fact remains that the provenance of this tune is unknown. It has been argued to be (1) an old Irish tune, and (2) originally a Scottish tune, and (3) an old American tune that was brought back to Ireland and then Irish-ized. Interestingly, there’s some evidence of the melody travelling back and forth across the pond...
Twin Sisters appears to be popular in the West Virginia region but variations of this tune are common and widely played and are known by a number of other names including Silver Lake and The Old Ark’s A-Movin. Henry Reed played a variant called Sally Ann Johnson, which you can hear at the Slippery Hill site: http://slippery-hill.com/M-K/GDAE/D/SallyAnnJohnson.mp3
Many tunes in the old time repertoire derive from the Scotch-Irish tradition and it is very interesting to me to hear how the tunes differ or have changed or evolved in terms of melody, phrasing, ornamentation, etc. Matt Brown and Jessica Ziegler directly compare Twin Sisters and The Boys of Bluehill in this Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kneTmvrFXkQ. Matt mentions in a discussion on Fiddle Hangout that they have an entire show in which they compare related tunes across traditions that sounds like it would be a lot of fun to see and hear.
On Banjo Hangout a nice clawhammer version by UNYBP can be heard here
Dean Barber (FretlessInTexas) has a nice banjo/fiddle video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7H-_0JK1UA
A tab from Ken Torke can be found here: http://taterjoes.com/banjo/TwinSistersDD.pdf.
The structure of the tune can vary depending on the source. The version I play is derived mostly from the playing of West Virginia fiddlers Ernie Carpenter and Melvin Wine. Ernie Carpenter only plays the B part one time through (AAB), which is how it often turns up around here but it drives me nuts. I like to play the B part twice. Another variant substitutes the first phrase of the A part for the last phrase of the B part and then lands hard on the IV chord at the end. Rhys Jones plays it this way on his excellent album "All I've Gots Done Gone". One other version of this tune I've been influenced by is from Chance McCoy on his album Debut (which I can't recommend highly enough). Adam Hurt plays banjo on this album and there is a nice video of Adam playing the tune at a Clifftop jam here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZuJiTDN2zs
A video of Melvin Wine playing it can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDE3rd8Q-HE. Unfortunately, I don't have a link I can share to the Ernie Carpenter version.
Here is my version (with some suspect guitar; I've been learning it on the fiddle, too, but I'll spare you this time...). In honor of May Day, I hope you'll seize the means of (music) production and let us hear your playing.