nohio - Posted - 07/10/2009:  21:03:17

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A Kentucky breakdown often played in modal tuning (usually A), although standard tuning is also used. (More info from the Fiddler's Companion)

I first learned this tune through an old Bruce Green recording (supposedly from 1977). It's a simple, funky little tune with lots of opportunities for embellishment and variation. We play it frequently in Columbus, and as far as I can tell, it is known farily widely. One of my favorite things about it is the "blues" third" that is played between the typical major and minor third. Jeff Titon refers to them as "wild notes" in the notes to his transcription of John Salyer's version in his book, "Old-time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes" (p. 124). Two versions by Salyer are available on the Digital Library of Appalachia.

John Salyer (recorded 1940-41):

• solo fiddle (version transcribed in Titon)


• fiddle and banjo

I've recorded two versions on my hangout page; one is a fairly simple skeletal version of the tune and the other gives some examples of variations.
Solo banjo (aEADE, modal):

• Simple outline of tune


• Tune with variations

A tab can be found in Miles Krassen's "Clawhammer Banjo" book. Here is a .pdf of the fiddle melody from the Abba Moses website. I might try to throw together a skeleton tab early next week, too. It's a pretty simple tune though, and a good one to practice figuring out by ear.

Further listening

Dan Gellert does a great version, an .mp3 of which is available on the Fiddle Club of the World website.

Glenn Godsey (oldtimer) has a nice version on the hangout.

From the DLA

• Birch Patrick (Banjo)


• Glen Fannin (Fiddle)


• Santford Kelly (Fiddle)


• Hassell Helton (Fiddle)


• Jake Krack (with Nancy Sluys and Dave Wall) - Galax '06 (a stringband version)

Video

Cathy Moore plays the tune with an Arabic flair.

Paul van Stiphout on a Menzies gourd banjo.

Hunter Robertson on a Harmony fretless conversion.

Related tunes

• "Young Edward" by Hiram Stamper ("It is a version of Lonesome John, a very popular tune in the Magoffin / Morgan County area.")


• The Clinch Mountain Backstep (Ralph Stanley)

rteale - Posted - 07/11/2009:  01:58:01

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Love this tune. Coincidentally I've been teaching myself Clinch Mountain Backstep off and on for the last week, but didnt really care for it that much. This tune is almost identical, but seems more real somehow. I cant put my finger on it but I much prefer it anyway. Hunter Robertson's version is just fantastic.

Ray

Edited to correct spelling of Hunter's name. Apologies to him

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Edited by - rteale on 07/12/2009 14:26:31

chip arnold - Posted - 07/11/2009:  06:43:47

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Clinch Mtn. Backstep is identical except for having a couple of extra beats in the course part. And it's a 1st cousin to pretty little dog. Pretty Little Dog is on my homepage.

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Take what is given
Give what is taken

Chip Arnold

vrteach - Posted - 07/11/2009:  06:58:37

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Great Tune of the Week choice, and particularly good write up.

Lonesome John is pretty close to the melody that I do for Sandy Boys, which I also mix up with Clinch Mt.

Erich -- There''s always room for cello..

http://vrteach.org/banjo/
http://prairiegrapevine.org/
U of Illinois-Springfield Old Time Music

jojo25 - Posted - 07/11/2009:  10:39:29

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nice Nick, very nice

Don''t forget to play all of the quasihemidemisemiquavers!!
Drop thumbs, not bombs

Joe

LyleK - Posted - 07/11/2009:  20:31:54

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Many thanks for this one. I learned it long ago on fiddle from Miles Krassen's transcription (in "Appalachian Fiddle") of Santford Kelly's fiddling. But then the tune passed out of memory. So I've gone back this time to Salyer's version (which I like better) and went ahead and did a tab that is pretty close to his fiddling. It is melodically a pretty simple tune, but the rhythm is a bit tricky, and what I wrote doesn't quite agree with Titon's notation. I also have the A and B parts flipped from Titon. The Sayler recording has a fade in at the beginning and out at the end, so there's no way to tell where he started and finished. The A versus B is from Kelly's version. Anyhow, the tab is under A modal tunes in the URL listed with my signature. The "C-sharps" to my ear sound much closer to C than to C# in Salyer's version, while in Jake Krack's fiddling they do sound like C sharps.

Nick, do you go to the Wednesday night jams in Columbus? I think I might have met you at Andi's.

LyleK
http://lylewk.home.comcast.net

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Edited by - LyleK on 07/11/2009 20:34:23

jmkaay - Posted - 07/11/2009:  23:27:29

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Hi guys, I recorded a version of this tune tonight on my old fretless, and posted it to my homepage. One of my favorites - I learned it from R.D. Lunceford.
The recording is a bit shakey because I'm recovering from a rotator cuff injury that had me off line for two months. It's all coming back though.

"Music is not an escape; it presents a way to make it possible for life to go on."
John Cohen

bvh - Posted - 07/12/2009:  03:19:31

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Boy Nick, your playing has advanced about 1000%, since you came up to the jam in Bellville, to play my banjos. Our jams are now at 7pm, on the 2nd tues (day after tomorrow)of each month, at the library, in Johnsville. Come up Rt. 71 and get off at Rt, 95 and go east about a mile or so, and turn left (north), on to rt. 315. We're up the road about 10 min. I've enjoyed your posts.

bvh

Chris Via - Posted - 07/12/2009:  06:28:35

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Thats one of our favorites too. Henry Reed played a version of it with less modal elements. Here is his version.



http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query...~ammem_HuH5::

We played it for the dance contest at the Henry Reed fest this year. The locals love this tune.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2pN...channel_page



Chris Via
www.gilesmountainstringband.com

www.myspace.com/gilesmountainstringband

Hunter Robertson - Posted - 07/12/2009:  09:35:51

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That is a nice write-up Nick. Lonesome John has been a favorite of mine recently, especially the Salyer recordings. I finally got sick of digging through the Digital Library for his stuff and bought the 3 CDs of his recordings from Berea College. http://www.berea.edu/appalachiancen...dise/cds.asp

And to push my own wares, I recorded the tune with fiddler Casey Joe Abair and it's on our new album If You Want to Go to Sleep, Go to Bed, out on Yodel-Ay-Hee at the end of the month. I just put it up on the jukebox: http://www.banjohangout.org/myhango...usicid=13629

Thanks Ray!

Hunter

Old Timey Music for Body & Soul - www.hunterrobertson.com

chip arnold - Posted - 07/12/2009:  09:48:16

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nohio it's great that you've provided so many examples of the tune. Hunter, I enjoyed that! What else in on your cd? I also really like Jake krack's and Nancy Slys' playing from the Galax festival. Jake is a great fiddler. Hunter, what else is on your new cd?

**********************
Take what is given
Give what is taken

Chip Arnold

Hunter Robertson - Posted - 07/12/2009:  10:25:57

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Thanks Chip. There are 17 tunes and songs on the CD, all fiddle & banjo duets with occasional singing. There are a few more tunes from it on my BHO music page (some have been up for a while, the recording was a long, slow simmering kind of affair) - Last Chance, The Devil's Dream, Sugar Baby and In the Pines (which has my wife singing with me, a nice foil to my voice). I'm waiting now to get the CDs from the maker, I'll be sure to make a lot of noise about it then!

Hunter

Old Timey Music for Body & Soul - www.hunterrobertson.com

New album coming end July - Casey Joe Abair & Hunter Robertson "If You Want to Go to Sleep, Go to Bed" (Yodel-Ay-Hee 074)

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Edited by - Hunter Robertson on 07/12/2009 10:27:26

Mark Johnson - Posted - 07/12/2009:  12:30:29

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great tune and great write-up. I first heard this tune on Songs from the Mountain (Dirk Powell, Tim O'Brien and John Herrmann). It's a fairly fast version with John doing some terrific banjo work... really great stuff. It's one of the tunes I try to fiddle every so often only because it's so dang catchy.

Mark

riverstein - Posted - 07/13/2009:  13:11:07

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quote:

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Originally posted by Hunter Robertson

And to push my own wares, I recorded the tune with fiddler Casey Joe Abair and it's on our new album If You Want to Go to Sleep, Go to Bed, out on Yodel-Ay-Hee at the end of the month. I just put it up on the jukebox: http://www.banjohangout.org/myhango...usicid=13629

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What a great version, Hunter. I love the energy and the feeling of freedom in the performance. Look forward to checking out the finished album.

best
Steve