oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 09/16/2010:  21:33:37

Julianne Johnson aka Julie Ann(e) Johnson & Juliann Johnson

I learned this tune from Scott Ainslie in the late 1970s. I'm not sure exactly where he got it as it was not a common tune up in New York at the time. The only known recorded source of the tune (I only consider tracks cut before the revivalist era) was Emmett Lundy's 1941 masters for the Library Of Congress. These Alan Lomax recordings were briefly available on a Topic LP released in 1977. The album is long out of print but you can now download it from:
timesaintliketheyusedtobe.blog...yson.html

In the late 1940 Huddie Leadbetter (Leadbelly) recorded a song titled Julienne Johnson with The Almanac Singers (Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Cisco Huston and possibly others). To most the two may seem un-related. I can see where they might have come from the same original source. It would take a musicology degree to explain what is for me just a hint of melodic similarity. I was unable to find the “Almanac” version on line at any site that didn't seem to be dodgy and I don't wan to lead anyone into a spam or malware thicket, so I chose the safe route. This is a solo recording Leadbelly made and while it lacks the rollicking nature of the call and response Almanac recording it will give you the flavour of the song:
youtube.com/watch?v=XYoHWLittf8

Julieanne has also gone through at least one change since the Lundy recording. The tune remains in the key of D just as Lundy played it, but the “Low” part in his recording used a “D” chord (I) for the first 2 measures of each 4 bar phrase, while most modern recordings use the “G” chord (IV) in those spots. I can't tell you who started this or when, but Scott fiddled and banjoed it with the “G” and I have yet to find a modern recording where this is not the case. In fact I only learned of the Lundy version from Gail64 a few years ago at a jam.

For an easy tab of the tune I suggest you download a copy of my book “Rocket Science Banjo” available free at my website:
rsb.pricklypearmusic.net

Look in the section titled “25 Tunes” and you will find a solid if rather pedestrian tab of the JJ. My tabbing style has changed a lot since I wrote that, but it will serve to get you the right melody notes – what you do with them from there is your own decision. If you don't already have TEFView, you will need to download it from the Tabledit site to view and print the tab. There is a link to the tabledit site on my website, or go direct:
tabledit.com
Be sure to download TEFView and not the free version of Tabledit – which does not print well

I've also put “Julie” on one of the few videos, I've ever made. It is here.
rsb.pricklypearmusic.net/rsbvideos.html
Doing a quick search on youtube will net you many other recordings but my personal favourite is right on the hangout. Hit the button and enjoy the smooooth two finger stylings of our own Chip Arnold:
banjohangout.org/myhangout/mus...&ie6fix=1

And finally a fine full string band recording by Uncle Earl
new.music.yahoo.com/uncle-earl...-25676204

Bdka - Posted - 09/17/2010:  02:57:59

I'm working on this tune in these weeks, so thank you for the post!

Edited by - Bdka on 09/17/2010 02:58:34

derwood400 - Posted - 09/17/2010:  03:21:13

Love this tune Tony. First learned it from your video.

vrteach - Posted - 09/17/2010:  05:39:53

JJ is a great tune. I had only learned of it a couple of years ago from a fiddler here in Central Illinois, who plays it a breakneck speed. I've wondered about the tune's history but never looked it up.

It was Zepp's playing of JJ that was the final reason for me buying the Goldtone cello banjo from him. I'll attach my version on that very banjo.

Also, from my experience, I would advise the folks who are posting in Learn Fiddle? topic to play Jullianne Johnson. Melodically easy but it will help you work on your bowing rhythm.

Edited by - vrteach on 09/17/2010 05:41:20

Julianne Johnson (CEB-5)

ZEPP - Posted - 09/17/2010:  06:33:44

Cool tune--I really don't know where I learned it--I think it was from my friend Roger Grissom, but I can't swear to that. Anyway, here are a couple of recordings of it--the video is the CEB-5 of which vrteach speaks. Sorry for the lousy contrast: I didn't know there was a problem until it was too late to correct it (the instrument was gone).

The MP3 was played in 2003 on a 1926 Vega Style N tenor to which someone had added a 5th string! It had a soggy skin head, so I went for "thump."

Cheers,
ZEPP

Julie Ann Johnson

VIDEO: Julie Ann Johnson: Gold Tone CEB-5 (click to view)

J-Walk - Posted - 09/17/2010:  06:38:56

That's a great tune. It's a rare jam session in Tucson when Julianne Johnson doesn't get played.

When I was first learning it, I had a natural tendency to resolve each part with a D note. But ending the parts on A is what makes it so appealing, I think.

LyleK - Posted - 09/17/2010:  06:51:36

Also a favorite, and like Erich I didn't hear/learn it until fairly recently (upon moving to the Mid-West). What does it say about regional traditions when someone who grew up in central VA 20 miles east of the Blue Ridge has to migrate to this "flat desert of corn and beans" to learn a tune that came from a SW VA fiddler?

P.S. - Thanks OWC for the Lundy link. That's fantastic!

bluemule_77 - Posted - 09/17/2010:  08:21:06

Wow, the Emmett Lundy album is terrific. The sound quality is really quite good, and the music is excellent. Thanks for the link OWC. I've gotten lots of old records from those blogs had not found this 'un.

Viper - Posted - 09/17/2010:  10:29:44

I once knew how to play this one. Looks like I need a refresher. Thanks for the Emmett Lundy link. Great stuff.

ELWOOD - Posted - 09/17/2010:  10:35:59

Hi, Tony.. Im on this its great.

Voyageur - Posted - 09/17/2010:  14:00:11

A tune I've been meaning to learn. Tony, you did a great job presenting this! Thank you!

GerryH - Posted - 09/17/2010:  17:13:18

This is my favorite tune to play! Thanks for some background on it.
GerryH

chip arnold - Posted - 09/17/2010:  17:36:22

I have a 2-finger version on my homepage. I never get tired of playing this tune.

Cottonmouth - Posted - 09/17/2010:  19:39:42

My old ears hear this tune as being similar to Sugar Hill and Angeline The Baker. I play 'em out of Double D tuning (aDADE).

Don Borchelt - Posted - 09/18/2010:  06:58:22

I remembered that Bob Carlin had written in his book The Birth of the Banjo that there was an early minstrel song called Julianna Johnson, written in 1844, performed by the Buckley family, who at the time billed themselves as the Congo Melodists. I found a scan of the Buckley's published sheet music on line, and have uploaded and attached it below. The song is attributed to "C. White." It is written in the Key of G, and it is similar but not quite the same as the tune that we play today. I have made up a MIDI playback of the sheet music, using the fiddle voice for the vocal part, and guitar voices for the right and left hand piano parts.

MIDI playback of Minstrel Era Julianna Johnson

Some very fine versions of this great old tune, I am always amazed at the great variety of styles and interpretation we find here. Tony's playing is smooth and effortless; Chip is rhythmic and flowing, bright as a new penny. Eric plays with that deep, sonorous minstrel tone quality, Zepp is sprightly and clean. There are some other fine versions here on the BHO that haven't been mentioned that I like. Glenn and Russell Carson do a fine duet, with Glenn on fiddle, and Russ playing a dead-on bluegrass style banjo. Grant (supah_g) from Ontario, has a fine solid version. I used to swap tunes with him a lot in the Chat and in the old Banjo Lounge, but I haven't seen him in awhile. Thad Bateman (olpete) and Dave Hall (dhall08) both have fine, tight versions that are well played. M.W. Bailey does a nice, deep version on his minstrel tackhead.

Julianne Johnson by Glen & Russ Carson

Julianne Johnson by supah_g

Julianne Johnson by olpete

Julianne Johnson by M.W. Bailey

Julianne Johnson by Dave Hall

Ed Britt and I posted a version three years ago. This probably could have been picked a bit faster, but we're inherently lazy, and we like to take it easy. It's like the old bull said to the young one, 'you run down the hill, I'm gonna walk down and..."

Julianne Johnson by Ed & Don

I have my three finger setting tabbed out in open D tuning, and posted on my website:

banjr.com/tablatures.htm

- Don Borchelt

Edited by - Don Borchelt on 09/20/2010 06:52:51

Julianna Johnson Title Page

Julianna Johnson 1st Page

Julianna Johnson 2nd Page

vrteach - Posted - 09/18/2010:  10:17:38

Nice. Thanks for the MIDI and scans, Don.

olpete - Posted - 09/19/2010:  13:20:40

Nice pick Tony for TOTW. Thanks for including me in with all those fine players Don. I just got back from 3 days at Hoppin John and this tune was played at least 2 or 3 times a day. Everybody loves that ole Julianne Johnson !!

Gadaya - Posted - 09/19/2010:  15:56:27

Hi, i'm glad some enjoyed my post of the Emmet Lundy record on my blog "Times ain't like they used to be"timesaintliketheyusedtobe.blogspot.com/. I made also a fiddle and banjo version of "Julianne Johnson" on Youtube: youtube.com/watch?v=gqbUzlP5dik
It's sure a great old tune!

Don Borchelt - Posted - 09/20/2010:  07:02:23

olpete wrote: "Thanks for including me in with all those fine players Don. "

You did a really fine job on that, Dave. I went to four old-time festivals this summer, and it was played a mess of times at all of them. A great old tune, and a great pick by Tony for TOTW.

- Don Borchelt


It is what it is.

Edited by - Don Borchelt on 09/20/2010 07:04:20

Couchie - Posted - 09/22/2010:  19:21:40

A great tune. There is something to be said for all the versions posted. Thanks Tony and Don for your great insight and research.

boondocker53 - Posted - 09/22/2010:  20:31:34

Thanks Tony! This is the first D tune I learned, by ear, from listening to your video. It was a big hit the first time I played it at the local Bluegrass jam (no old time jam here in Abilene.

And ditto on the Uncle Earl recording.

Just downloaded the Lundy album. What a wonderful resource!

slc - Posted - 09/23/2010:  11:57:04

I really like this tune. I have played it for years, picking it by osmosis from the SF Bay Area community in the 80's (likely from the Canotes). It's one of the few I can actually play without having someone else start it first (rare for me), and there's a lot of 'space' in the melody to get creative/wild on the banjo (an opportunity which I abuse liberally)...

Most guitar players do play a G chord in the low part, but when I do blatant G stuff there on the banjo (like hitting the B note and thumbing the lower G note at the 5th fret, or playing any kind of G chord really) it just never feels quit right - nice for show but not so great for the tune.

I've heard (not verified) that Riley Puckett played a straight D all the way through (even at the ends where folks often play an A chord), and think that might be worth exploring more.

whitetop_banjo - Posted - 09/23/2010:  12:19:39

As mentioned by numerous folks, I think Emmett Lundy is the sole source for this tune as it's played these days.
However, it really isn't played much by current musicians from the areas in, around, and near Galax. More interesting, it also didn't show up on any of the hundreds of different field recordings from the area that I know of made from the 1950s on. It is similar to Angeline Baker and Sugar Hill, the latter of which showed up on tons of field recordings and is still played alot these days (maybe it survived further due to it being a little better dance tune than JAJ?).
I do think it sounds best to stay in D on the 2nd part like the recording, but I've also heard some folks do the Missouri/Texas style back-up where they go from a D to G, then D, and A during the rotation, and it sounded pretty good too. But the way the tune is played leaves it out for interpretation, because you could do any combination of those and it doesn't really clash that bad.

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 09/23/2010:  14:15:34

Don,
I just listened to the Minstrel version and to me it actually sounds closer to Leadbelly's tune. I can't tell you why, but I have that feeling. - And thanks for the "smooth and effortless" in your review of my video. I was trying very hard not to vomit from nerves throughout, and to also not break out into any of my chromatic variations, since this was meant to be a "beginning version" similar to my tab - not that it ended up anything like the tab.
Whitetop
My friend Scott, who first showed me the tune, said he never heard it from people like Tommy Jarrell, Kyle, or Fred in the mountains, and he spent quite a bit of time up there when he lived in the Chapel Hill area - early 70s. I've got to see him one more time and ask where he got it. I know he was familiar with the Lundy recordings and might have also had the Topic LP (I think about every OT musician I knew back then had a copy of that record).

I would be curious to know if anyone knows just who put the G chord in? I wonder if there were any next generation Lundy bluegrass recordings of the tune.

whitetop_banjo - Posted - 09/23/2010:  14:54:49

Woodchuck

I do have recordings by Emmett's son Stuart and also a later recording called The Lundy Family with bluegrass back-up and it isn't on either of those. I'm kind of suprised that neither Luther Davis, Charlie Higgins, John Rector, or any of the others lived near Emmett didn't play it, but then again, maybe it wasn't one he played alot. I have no idea on where the G chord came in on the 2nd part,but I can imagine someone either just hasn't heard the Emmett version or else it just fit, because to me, you can go either way with that 2nd part and it makes sense musically.

pluckyfingers - Posted - 09/23/2010:  17:20:57

This is amazing, the banjo gods must be shining on me. I just learned this tune two days ago from a Mary Z Cox tab book and played along to a lovely youtube recording youtube.com/watch?v=heVuMUwnyf...e=related and a recording by a local band called Appalachian Heaven. I love this tune now and I didn;t even know it was going to be tune of the week. Now if I can only put money on the outcome of the AFL (Australian Rules Football) Grand Final.........

Don Borchelt - Posted - 09/24/2010:  06:15:35

Tony wrote: "I just listened to the Minstrel version and to me it actually sounds closer to Leadbelly's tune. I can't tell you why, but I have that feeling."

Tony, you are really getting mellow in your old age! I guess I too think they are all three just distantly related, but I can't tell you why I think that either, it just feels that way to me. I'm getting mellower, too.

This is not all that unusual. The tune we play today called Angeline the Baker has morphed considerably from the tune Angelina Baker as written by Stephen Foster. Here is an MP3 of the Foster tune I found by quickly Googling:

Stephen Foster's Angelina Baker

I doubt the tune we play as 8th of January today bears much resemblance to the early 19th Century Jackson's Victory either. The folk who played old-time music years ago messed with stuff a lot. They did not approach music with the hard-nosed orthodoxy we insist on applying today.

Edited by - Don Borchelt on 09/24/2010 06:16:36