Adam Kiesling - Posted - 04/30/2011:  06:22:33

Hi all

I've been messing around with the tune "Johnny, Bring the Jug Around the Hill" over the past couple of weeks. My main source of the tune is from Iowa fiddler Dwight Lamb. I'm pretty sure that he got it from Nebraska fiddler Bob Walters. Missouri fiddler Lonnie Robertson also played the tune. R.P. Christeson included a transcription from Bob Walters in the first volume of the Old-Time Fiddler's Repertory as well.

It's a three part tune in A, and the fiddler usually stays in standard tuning. Here's a sample from Dwight's recording "Old-Time Fiddle Classics in the Missouri Valley Style":

box.net/shared/bbv79821ed

You can also hear a sample on the Amazon page for Lonnie's recording, "Lonnie's Breakdown - Classic Fiddle Music from Missouri" (which is a great album, BTW):

amazon.com/Lonnies-Breakdown-C...mp;sr=8-6

This is what the Fiddler's Companion website has to say:

AKA and see “Jimmy Johnson Pass that Jug Around the Hill.” Old‑Time, Breakdown. USA; Missouri, Nebraska, West Virginia. A Major. Standard tuning. ABCC. A member of the widespread “John Brown’s Dream”/”Little Rabbit” family of tunes that apparently originated in the Blue Ridge region of Appalachia and became widespread. The tune was one of  ‘100 essential Missouri tunes’ listed by Missouri fiddler Charlie Walden. Also in repertoire of Missouri fiddler Cyril Stinnett. It was recorded in 1929 by West Virginia fiddler Clark Kessinger. See note for “Jimmy Johnson Pass that Jug Around the Hill.” Source for notated version: Bob Walters (Burt County, Nebraska) [Christeson]. R.P. Christeson (Old Time Fiddler’s Repertory, Vol. 1), 1973;

Cyril mentioned this tune as having been played by Casey Jones, a Missouri and Iowa fiddler of great renown, under the then common title of "Far from Home." Cyril said that people later got to calling it "Johnny Bring the Jug (Around the Hill)."

Here's a brief overview of Missouri Valley fiddling:

missourifiddling.com/MO_FID_TR...0Fiddling

Lastly, here's my humble recording. I've taken some liberties with the B part, and I probably would play it differently if I was playing it with a fiddler. I'll see if I can get a fiddle/banjo version of it later on this weekend.

Johnny Bring the Jug Around the Hill

hendrid - Posted - 04/30/2011:  08:06:19

Vivian Williams has John Brown's Dream on her voyagerrecords.com/nwffrmp3.htm  mp3 collection under (scroll down to) Tommy Jarrell in Banjo.  For those looking for a sheet music idea, Fiddlers Companion has the abc notation for Pretty Little Gal/Girl (part of the same family of tunes- a bunch of them) which you paste over on the concertina.net tune-o-tron converter to get a sheet music version and listen to a midi file.  Don

Edited by - hendrid on 04/30/2011 08:07:50

vrteach - Posted - 04/30/2011:  08:20:29

Nice tune, and really I like your version.

The Gordons have a bluegrass version on their "At the End of a Long Hard Day" album.

There is also a version by the Kessinger brothers on emusic.

Also on emusic, it shows up on the Ship in the Clouds album as "Jimmy Johnson Pass the Jug Around the Hill, just on fiddle. The fiddle sounds like it's in AEAE to me.

Also, I just recorded my interpretation.

Edited by - vrteach on 04/30/2011 08:37:45

Johnny, Bring the Jug Around the Hill

ELWOOD - Posted - 04/30/2011:  08:47:13

Great Tune, Adam, I really liked the Triplet on the up swing ..Prefect use ...ELWOOD

R.D. Lunceford - Posted - 04/30/2011:  10:36:58

God Bless Old Missouri !!!

Good Tune !

Adam Kiesling - Posted - 04/30/2011:  12:33:02

Thanks for the comments!

Erich, I like your version as well. Thanks for the e-music links; I've never really taken a look at e-music before, but they've just got some really nice prices on the downloads. I think I'm going to have to spend some time over there.

R.D., we end up playing a lot of Missouri and other mid-west tunes up here in Minnesota. Definitely some great tunes for square dances. Elizabeth Amos is coming up to the Bluff Country gathering in a couple of weeks to teach some of Bob Holt's style.

I just got back from a rehearsal, and managed to record myself along with my good friend Meghan on the fiddle.

Johnny, Bring the Jug Around the HIll

handsup8 - Posted - 04/30/2011:  12:39:37

Great tune, nicely played. The fiddler on that "Ship in the Clouds" recording of "Jimmie Johnson Pass the Jug around the Hill," is the great Lisa Ornstein, and that entire record is awesome with Andy Cahan playing some kickass banjo while still an undergrad at Oberlin! You can get the whole record for download at the Smithsonian website.

R.D. Lunceford - Posted - 04/30/2011:  17:28:22

quote:

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Originally posted by Adam Kiesling

R.D., we end up playing a lot of Missouri and other mid-west tunes up here in Minnesota. Definitely some great tunes for square dances. Elizabeth Amos is coming up to the Bluff Country gathering in a couple of weeks to teach some of Bob Holt's style.

 

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 Liz showed up in the Ozarks after I had left.  I know she spent a good amount of time with Bob.  I heard somewhere that she also learned a lot of stuff from Charlie Walden.

There's a young lady named Ashley Hull who got a lot of music from Bob and sounds an awful lot like him.

Here she is playing a tune called "Ole Charlie Decker".  Charlie Decker was a local fiddler who I believe Bob got some tunes from.  I think he may have been from around McClurg: 

youtube.com/watch?v=m2tqi6uQKg...e=related

davr - Posted - 04/30/2011:  22:58:38

quote:

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Originally posted by vrteach

 

...There is also a version by the Kessinger brothers on emusic... 

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 OOPS! -- the folks at emusic got the titles switched!

#21 (Johnny Bring the Jug 'Round the HIll) is actually #3, Hell Among the Yearlings.  Conversely, #3(et al) is our TOTW.

dave

vrteach - Posted - 05/01/2011:  05:03:07

Good catch on that, thanks. I should have been warned by that one comment on the emusic page.

pammiec - Posted - 05/01/2011:  05:31:39

sweet sound Adam!

whitetop_banjo - Posted - 05/02/2011:  10:44:27

Good sounding uploads. That tune seems to go by alot of names in different areas and seems to have been everywhere.  I've heard recordings of it called Pretty Little Girl, John Brown Dream as mentioned above, Little Rabbit, and Jimmy Johnson. An old-time banjo player, Lawrence Russell of Smyth County,VA called it Brown's Dream About a Little Rabbit.

bcob - Posted - 05/02/2011:  14:20:40

Great playing.  Nice percussive sound, something that is often forgotten about or avoided.  Can't wait to hear the fiddle/banjo version.

vrteach - Posted - 05/05/2011:  10:22:47

Adam, your version with Meghan on fiddle is significantly north of great. I'm on your like list.

Edited by - vrteach on 05/05/2011 10:23:15