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In the 'Whats your new fiddle tune' thread, Fatt-Dad mentioned Sarah Armstrong.
Here is a PDF " The Hill Country Tunes of SW Penn." by Samuel Preston Bayard. Published in 1944. Sarah Armstrongs tune is actually " The Old Reel ".
http://www.nettally.com/fiddler/sara_armstrong.pdf
Some of the names of the tunes I just love, "The ears and snout's of America" and "Maggots in the sheeps hide" :grin:
I learned that tune about eight years ago from Russ Barenberg. He learned it from James Bryan and didn't know what the name of it was. So for a long time I called it James Bryan's tune. Then after talking to James Bryan about it, he said that he and Carl Jones named it Sarah Armstrong's Tune since it was an untitled tune in the Hill County Tunes book that Sarah Armstrong played.
We also play Snouts and Ears of America at our local jams. Another great Sarah Armstrong tune!
Aha, so there may be more then one " Sarah Armstrong " tune floating about. I think the one that I play may be different from the one that Fatt-Dad playes.
Mike, that is an interesting link to James Bryan and Carl Jones. Back in the mid 90's James and Carl recorded "Two Pictures" in a studio they set up on a friend's farm outside of Oxford NC. Tim and Brenda Currin are close friends of mine and they have recounted the special time they had while James and Carl lived with them while recording. I know they played a bit of music together and I would bet that our group learned the tune through Tim and Brenda. We are playing tonight and Tim and Brenda may be coming down to play with us so I can ask them.
what a nice music book! I looked at the "Old Reel" and it seems close to what I learned for "Sarah Armstrong's Tune." Then again, I really don't read music in the classic sense. I enjoyed this book though!
Thanks!
f-d
There's some other gems in that book played by Sarah Armstrong.
It seems that a fiddle player named Todd Clewell recorded a CD of Sarah Armstrong's tunes.....
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/toddclewell
that's just too cool. anybody listened to it?Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles E.
f-d
No, but I have it ordered.
You can hear tunes from the Bayard collectin hear on the CD "Up the Batten House", by Mark Tamsula and Richard Withers. It is wonderful stuff well played.
So yea, I have the Clewell CD and I have the Bayards Hill Country book. And I have been having a time!!
Thanks for bumping this one up Jeff. I missed it first time and hadn't seen it. I've been playing Sarah Armstrong's reel at Jams and didn't have a clue about any of the story behind it. Now I've got the back-story and a bucket-load of tunes too!
Thanks to all here.
Hey Charley, how are you doing? Interesting thread here. I learned a version (by ear, and memory!) from a clawhammer player friend that grew up in the Durham area and now lives in western NC. I'm a little shy to link to my version here as I can't tell how it compares to what's written in Hill Country Tunes, and I've played a fair bit with Carl but never this tune with him. Such is the organic nature of this sort of thing I guess:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcWYbOFj9Kc
I'm playing in the key of D which I believe The Old Reel is also written in.
Z
EDIT--I just listened to the sample of Todd Clewell and while my version sounds similar wow does it pale in comparison!
Hey Zack, I like your version Quite a bit. I need to revisit the Todd Clewell recording.
Z, I like it!
I do the B part a little differently - a little more simple I think. I like your verson.
My favorite version is that done by the Orpheus Supertones. Oh my.