Tunes of the gods

[Jim Nollman]

Clyde Curley's mandolin playing on this CD has, lately, been quite inspiring to me, for its genuine rendering of old time music while displaying awesome playing skills. Usually, you get one or the other. Two questions:

1. What kind of mandolin is he playing? I want one!

2. I imagine the tune, Cruel Willy, must have some lyrics, but i can't find them on the Internet. Can someone post them here? The melody seems close enough to John Henry, that I could just about play Clyde's part and sing a loose version of JH.

[John Flynn]

I assume you are talking about the "Old Time Mandolin Music" CD. Curley plays a vintage F4, but I forget the year. There is a picture of it on the CD jacket and I am pretty sure it lists the year somewhere in the jacket also, but I don't have it with me at the moment.

Sadie Compton has a good version of Cruel Willie done on Hardanger fiddle. She has an audio file on her website. Alas, no lyrics there either. I have never heard of lyrics for it. Some fiddle tunes just don't have them, at least not that you'll every find.

http://www.fachalarecords.com/audio/SADIE_COMPTON-Cruel_Willie.m3u

If you like that CD, you should also check out Skip Gorman's "Mandolin in the Cow Camp" and anything by the Buckhannon Brothers or the Ill-Mo Boys.

[Walter Newton]

You can find (most of) the lyrics for Cruel Willie here (http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=13646#114121).

[Jim Nollman]

thanks guys. that's about all the info i need.

[harwilli55]

Excellent recording of Cruel Willie by Celtibillies (http://www.celtibillies.com/greenwoodside.htm)

Tons of other tunes and cd's with great sound from this celtic applachian group.

Harlan