Mark Johnson - Posted - 01/27/2012:  05:48:26

Up for your consideration this week is "Shoes and Stockings", a fine fiddle tune in A [sometimes].

Tune Background

This, like Quince Dillion's High D Tune, is a historically enjoyable tune, as it gets to us from the Civil War era with very stops in between.  Henry Reed learned it from Quince Dillion, Alan Jabbour learned it from Henry Reed, and we're learning it from Henry too thanks to Alan.

Here is the Library of Congress page for "S" titled tunes by Henry Reed, recorded by Mr. Jabbour.  Unfortunately the LOC urls don't allow me to get you any closer.  You'll have to click on "Shoes and Stockings" yourself:

memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D...em_v94Q::

Mr. Jabbour himself fiddles a very spirited version of it on the album "Henry Reed Reunion".  I can't find any samples online, but I mention it so as to not miss a chance to recommend this album.  It is really terrific: countysales.com/products.php?p...nion'

Samples On the Hangout

Cathy Fink has an excellent version on her page, banjohangout.org/myhangout/mus...?ID=11762

Gurulou has a lovely multitrack version with some really tasteful harmony work, banjohangout.org/myhangout/mus...?ID=11762

Finally, I added a quick banjo + uke take on it to my archive, which will be attached below.

Ah, the internet

Searching for the tune on You Tube has some perils.  I don't mean to take us too far afield, especially in to such a topic, but I was really unaware of 'shoe play'.  Apparently some people really enjoy watching videos of other people putting shoes on and taking them off.  There are lots and lots of such videos on You Tube.  

Anyway, with a little perseverance, you can find the fiddle tune:

youtube.com/watch?v=MF9mOZhmM7I

youtube.com/watch?v=J3yjznqcsb...e=related

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

youtube.com/watch?v=7E5Xtu-Q1M...e=related

youtube.com/watch?v=IM7NY17ISv...e=related

youtube.com/watch?v=GAefaxSerp...e=related (this one is a video of yours truly from a few years ago)

Your Turn

​My favorite TOTW's are the ones that turn in to the "Post Yours" threads of old.  I'd love it if this thread prompted more folks to share their take on this tune.  I know of at least one recording not in circulation from guys with unpronounceable last names.  Hopefully it will surface.

Edited by - Mark Johnson on 01/28/2012 05:18:46

Shoes and Stockings

Brooklynbanjoboy - Posted - 01/27/2012:  06:11:54

Nice job.  Good choice. 

Seeing Alan Jabbour dig into this tune is a real treat.

derwood400 - Posted - 01/27/2012:  06:31:21

I'm at work so I didn't have time to listen or watch them all, but I watched your YouTube vid. Wow, beautiful job on that. That is a really nice tune. Will definitely be adding that to my list of must-learns. Thanks!

YorkshireWannabeOldTimer - Posted - 01/27/2012:  07:16:35

Great tune! Never heard it before but I'm going to enjoy figuring out and bashing my way through some sort of take on it. Thanks for all the info and links; vmuch like your take on it too.

Edited by - YorkshireWannabeOldTimer on 01/27/2012 07:19:01

Julian44_4 - Posted - 01/27/2012:  07:23:46

Tab by Lyle W Konigsberg)

lylewk.home.comcast.net/~lylewk/

in Old G (gDGDE)

Edited by - Julian44_4 on 01/27/2012 07:25:09

janolov - Posted - 01/27/2012:  07:24:13

It is a real nice tune. I have heard Reed's recording before but I haven't discovered it until now. It is one of these simple tunes which can be played both with simple bum-di-ty and also more advanced. I know what I will be playing tonight.

hendrid - Posted - 01/27/2012:  07:44:28

abcnotation.com has several sheet music versions plus mp3

Ho C Ying - Posted - 01/27/2012:  07:46:34

Hey, Mark. Excellent playing as always!   

SCclawman - Posted - 01/27/2012:  07:56:39

Mark,

You've set the bar high with your recording! I love it. I might try to see if I can work one up. We'll see.

Thanks for introducing me to a cool new tune. Not that the tune is new, but it's new to me!

banjoike - Posted - 01/27/2012:  09:42:45

Great song.  You never cease to amaze me.  Very fine playing.  So clean!

banjoike - Posted - 01/27/2012:  09:46:04

Great song.  You never cease to amaze me.  Very fine playing.  So clean!

blanham - Posted - 01/27/2012:  10:09:42

Here's a link to Alan Jabbour and Bertram Levy playing it live (Digital Library of Appalachia.)

aca-dla.org/cgi-bin/showfile.e...=1878.mp3

... and WOW, Mark, your mp3 is quite a beautiful and tasteful performance!

vrteach - Posted - 01/27/2012:  10:11:25

I like this tune, but just about never play it. I don't think I had known of it until MrSrubas posted a version back in '07, so my version is based on what he played.

vrteach.org/content/shoes-and-stockings

My future versions will have stuff stolen from you, Mark.

majikgator - Posted - 01/27/2012:  13:52:22

Well i'm having computer problems, a couple i couldn't get to play including yours (weird, Cathy Fink's played??) but i know the tune and like it a lot excellent choice and write up.

Mark Johnson - Posted - 01/27/2012:  14:59:22

It wasn't you, Majikgator, the files was boogered up.  I had to reload it.

I'm bummed, because there were some very kind comments already, not to mention a number of "Likes".  If you already listened and liked and commented to my recording, please consider doing so again, your first attempt didn't count!  

Nice version, Erich.  Steal away, btw.

blanham, I'm super glad you posted that version.  Alan and Bertram really nail this song... they're such good players and the meld so nicely.  Thanks!

Thanks for all the kind words, folks!

-Mark

J-Walk - Posted - 01/27/2012:  16:00:31

Mark says he likes "post yours," so here goes. Actually, it's more like "post his and mine."

I took Mark Johnson's great recording, pitch-shifted it down two half-steps (to G), and added myself playing along on a low-tuned Bowlin (dGDGA).

Shoes & Stockings

SCclawman - Posted - 01/27/2012:  17:34:10

Mark, 

Thanks for the inspiration to sit down, learn a new song, and do some recording tonight. My wife's away for the whole weekend, so tonight has gotten things off to a great start!

JWALK, I love what you added. That's really neat.

Here is my arrangement - guitar (capo 2) and banjo (capo 2). It's played a bit slower than the ones I've heard so far. I started off pretty much copying everything Mark did, but tried to add a few original things here and there so I didn't rip him off 100%. Hope I didn't take too much liberty with some of the chord structure! 

**edit - just realized I left the "s" off of stockings in the mp3....my apologies

-also, sorry the song fades out so quick at the end...i'm the world's worst at letting the click bleed through...seems that no matter how low I turn it, it still gets through!!!

Edited by - SCclawman on 01/27/2012 17:41:55

Shoes and Stocking

J-Walk - Posted - 01/27/2012:  18:40:48

Travis, that is awesome. Great playing, and it sounds like a studio recording.

What kind of recording setup do you have?

SCclawman - Posted - 01/27/2012:  18:50:38

Thanks JWalk! That means a ton.

I have a Blue Bluebird, macbook pro - and I'm currently using a newer mbox...i had a maudio firewire 410 for awhile, but it wasn't working correctly...a friend of mine works at a local music store and I pretty much use whatever he gives me - which are all free :) --- I did pay for the bluebird though...got a great deal on it on amazon...normally around 300, and got it for $210 brand new...

aeroweenie - Posted - 01/27/2012:  19:56:03

Great tune, a new one to me!  I started to mess around with it and it seems to be in G, or at least its played in G in the links I checked out.  Or am I missing something?

Mark Johnson - Posted - 01/28/2012:  05:26:31

quote:

---

Originally posted by aeroweenie



I started to mess around with it and it seems to be in G, or at least its played in G in the links I checked out.  Or am I missing something?

---

Heh.  Thanks, aeroweenie. 

The source recording of Henry Reed is decidedly in A.  That was my basis for thinking/saying that it was an A tune (now amended above to say 'sometimes').  But you're right, almost all of the other recordings, my own video included, are in G.  Cathy Fink is in F.  As for what key that means it is "in", I guess we're stuck saying "it depends".

So, I'd say be mindful.  Who knows what key it'll show up in.

J-Walk, that's awesome.  When I recorded that I wanted to add a low part but never really came up with anything... good thing too as I couldn't have done anything as solid as what you cooked up.  I'm flattered and impressed.  Great stuff.

Travis (scclawman) that is really wonderful too.  You have such a tasteful take on things, and this one is no exception.  Terrific arrangement and playing, especially impressive given how quickly you turned it out.  I'm with JWalk too, I need to get my recording act cleaned up a bit, you're recordings sound so much more pro.

vrteach - Posted - 01/28/2012:  07:19:57

The fiddlers companion just lists it in G (standard fiddle tuning), and that is what is in the Silverberg book (Tunes I Did or Didn't Learn at the Tractor Tavern). I just gave it a quick try on fiddle--lays out easily in G. In A (standard tuning) you either start out very low (4th string second "fret") or if you start on open second string then the high part takes you up a position I can't do. I didn't try cross-tuned, that might help in A.

J-Walk - Posted - 01/28/2012:  07:55:08

FWIW, Jere Canote does it in D on this "Uke Life" CD.

LyleK - Posted - 01/29/2012:  04:26:32

quote:

---

Originally posted by vrteach

I just gave it a quick try on fiddle--lays out easily in G. In A (standard tuning) you either start out very low (4th string second "fret") or if you start on open second string then the high part takes you up a position I can't do. I didn't try cross-tuned, that might help in A.

---

Yup, it's "G for me" on fiddle for this one.  That way you can pinky your way up to the "B" on the first string.  In A you either have to have a sixth digit or you have to go out of first position to get a C#. 

I've had "S&S" at BHO since July of '08 but it wouldn't show up in a search because it is hidden in a medley with four other tunes, as follows:

0:00-1:11 Ladies in the Ballroom

1:12-1:44 Sandy River Belles

1:45-2:46 Shoes and Stockings

2:47-3:18 Last of Harris

3:19-4:13 Lost Girl

The medley is titled "Old G-athon" (link below) because it is in gDGDE tuning, a tuning that I much prefer to gDGBD.  But in truth, I have largely abandoned both G tunings now in favor of gEADE. 

Now for some serious thread drift, though eventually I will get back to S&S (great tune by the way, and I've enjoyed hearing all the new recordings).  I had been in the process of switching allegances from gDGDE to gEADE for some time, and then I kept dredging up a tune when I was in the latter tuning.  It was  great tune that modulated between keys with one part in G and one in D.  I couldn't place the tune and I kept torturing friends with "what's this tune?"  Then in going through Miles Krassen's fiddle book one day I found it: "Red Fox."  I remembered then that when I was in my late teens I thought that was a pretty cool tune, but I never could get it down on banjo (Krassen's CH book has it in standard G tuning).  And finally, to bring us full circle, Red Fox is, like S&S, another Henry Reed tune.  I'll try to get those two tunes recorded together in gEADE soon.

Old G-athon

countryman99 - Posted - 01/29/2012:  05:12:27

Mark,  Beautiful song beautifully played.  It gives me something to aim for, Thankyou.  Mac.

countryman99 - Posted - 01/29/2012:  05:13:29

aeroweenie - Posted - 01/29/2012:  14:25:47

And here is how it sounds played by a newbie.  It is a fun tune to play with lots of room for variations.  Lots of good ideas in the postings so far, I'll keep working on it and get it cleaned up.

Shoes and Stockings

Mark Johnson - Posted - 01/30/2012:  07:56:24

Lyle: I dig it... I thought I'd heard you play it, but only searched the lazy/easy way.  I hadn't considered the medley issue.  Anyway, very nice.  I'm curious, do you play it out much?  You've got a bit more beats at the end of the A part than me, and I'm wondering if it's idiosyncratic to you or regional etc.  

Incidentally, Red Fox was one of the other finalists in consideration for my TOTW.  Terrific tune.  I look forward to hearing you play both out of gEADE soon.

Aeroweenie: that shows no sign of being novice.  It's great!  I agree, there is a lot of space to play with this tune.  Glad you like the tune, and double glad you posted your take on it.

LyleK - Posted - 01/30/2012:  08:57:02

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mark Johnson

I'm curious, do you play it out much?  You've got a bit more beats at the end of the A part than me, and I'm wondering if it's idiosyncratic to you or regional etc.  

Incidentally, Red Fox was one of the other finalists in consideration for my TOTW.  Terrific tune.  I look forward to hearing you play both out of gEADE soon.

---

On S&S, I don't play it out.  I learned it from a fiddler who used to rarely attend our weekly jam, but hasn't been going in years.  She'd made a point of learning a lot of Henry Reed tunes.  So there's a subtle joke in the medley, as her surname is Harris (and the medley includes "Last of Harris").  As to extra beats, there's every reason to suspect that I got it screwed-up at some point.

On Red Fox, the delay (in part) is that I finally got a video recorder, so I'm trying to build up the nerve to use that instead of my trusty H2 Zoom recorder.

cmic - Posted - 01/30/2012:  09:35:31

Mark: I like your way of playing, and the way you add some notes. I think the banjo is

tuned gDGCD  in this old youtube video. Am I right ? And for this topic you choose to put a capo on 2.

(ref http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAefaxSerpE&feature=related )

Many thanks for this beautiful tune.

Don Borchelt - Posted - 01/30/2012:  14:52:17

This is the most prolific Tune of the Week in a long time; lots of great contributions from BHO members.  I like the way Mark starts it off, first really straightforward, then with his subtle little changes thrown in.  It is so lush with that uke accompaniment.  Eric (vrteach) is in no hurry, smooth and relaxed, he takes his time and gets it all in, a man after my own heart.  If you are going to travel on that hard road to Jordan, you have to have shoes and stockings.   J-Walk joins in with some great growley musical and technical prowess.  Travis Wright (SCclawman) does it right again, with some really sublime music.  Lyle makes me want to play with old G tuning.   Paul(aeroweenie) does a really fine turn as well, a fine workout.

 

Ed Britt and I recorded this today just before lunch. I am three finger picking on my semi-fretless Tubaphone, Ed is playng clawhammer style on his OME. Both of us are in open G tuning.  I have a tab for my three-finger version posted on my website.

Edited by - Don Borchelt on 01/30/2012 15:01:20

Shoes and Stockings

SCclawman - Posted - 01/31/2012:  04:29:38

I really just can't get enough of this song right now...Been playing it over and over and over!

Don, thanks for your kind words! You and Ed hit another grand slam. I love the rendition that you guys did. Really great stuff!. Love the times when you get up an octave on the melody.

Paul, I really enjoyed your version as well! Great job man.

Ho C Ying - Posted - 01/31/2012:  05:48:53

Like your version, Don and Ed!

Mark Johnson - Posted - 01/31/2012:  08:06:43

Hi cmic: Yes, you are correct.  The video of me is in G, but for the audio version I capo to A.  Really this is because I usually only focus on tuning rather than key when playing solo.  If I think the banjo sounds better capoed, I play in that key, if it sounds better wide open, I'll play in that key.  If I'm feeling saucy I may capo way the heck up the neck or go way deep with loose strings.  Unfortunately such things might add to the confusion about what key a tune is "supposed" to be in...

I agree with the above, Don and Ed.  You guys never cease to amaze me and please my ears.

bassman - Posted - 01/31/2012:  08:49:50

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mark Johnson

I know of at least one recording not in circulation from guys with unpronounceable last names.  Hopefully it will surface.

---

I have an unpronounceable last name!  Thanks for the plug and heads-up, Mark.  I added the recording with Steve Srubas to my homepage.  It's right about here: 

Edited by - bassman on 01/31/2012 08:52:14

Shoes and Stockings

SCclawman - Posted - 01/31/2012:  11:36:49

Nice job chris and steve!

So, Chris, is the "P" silent???  that's a nice last name.

Mark Johnson - Posted - 01/31/2012:  11:50:41

Yes!  Now we're kicking it old school.  Chris, you're really good.  No comment about Steve.

Travis: It's unpronounceable.  You don't even try... you just make whatever noises you want after you say "Chris".  Steve is the same way, but I usually just use words I can't type here in place of saying his name.

vrteach - Posted - 01/31/2012:  14:23:59

Geeze everyone! These are all great versions of Shoes and Stockings.

bassman - Posted - 01/31/2012:  15:19:24

quote:

---

Originally posted by SCclawman

 that's a nice last name.

Thanks, I do my best!  The silent "P" is how most people pronounce it (except Mark; he just spits, then clears his throat), but all the letters are pronounced.  Say it with me now: "Pa-TAS-nik."  I knew that you could.  

Great recordings, everyone.  

YorkshireWannabeOldTimer - Posted - 01/31/2012:  15:36:52

This has been a great TOTW to follow: a series of excellent versions of a lovely tune. Here's a little attempt of my own - another relative newbie's take, from over the pond - recorded earlier this evening:

Shoes and Stockings

SCclawman - Posted - 02/01/2012:  07:01:21

The music you recorded across the pond last night sounds great to my ears this morning. Enjoyed listening to your interpretation of this song.

Well-played my friend! You sound great.

Don Borchelt - Posted - 02/01/2012:  07:12:03

A really fine duet from the bassman with the unpronouncable last name and the guy who picks his nose in his avatar, a great job of picking.  You two are really zoning in on each other as you play.  The Wannabe from Sheffield does a very elegant turn, nicely done.  

Reed's Quince Dillon sourced tunes are some of the most archaic sounding material in his extensive and unique repertoire, and they are imbued with a sort of courtliness and formality that I suspect reflects a very early style of melodic structure and playing.  They include Santa Anna's Retreat, British Field March, and, of course, Quince Dillon's High D.  I would bet the title Shoes and Stockings refers to the style of dress, especially the knee-high hosery that men typically wore until early in the 19th Century, but that is just a guess.

A colonial era dancing master

John D - Posted - 02/01/2012:  08:56:05

A great tune and great versions by all.  I jigged it all up:

Shoes and Stockings

Mark Johnson - Posted - 02/01/2012:  09:06:20

Good stuff, YorkshireWannabe.  Very glad you joined in.

John D is one of my banjo heros.  It's so rare to hear someone who can execute a jig that well in clawhammer, and equally rare to find someone that can make such novel arrangements.  Here we get both!

So far this TOTW has met my desires... so many fine versions!  I hope there are more to come.  Who is still lurking out there?

LyleK - Posted - 02/01/2012:  18:54:49

Here's that video of Shoes and Stockings & Red Fox.  BAD videography, though I did accomplish my one goal of completing excluding my head, neck, and upper torso.

VIDEO: Shoes & Stockings / Red Fox (click to view)

vrteach - Posted - 02/02/2012:  07:26:33

I like your video, Lyle. Red Fox is a good tune, too. Here's a link to the mp3 of Henry Reed playing it:

slippery-hill.com/M-K/GDAE/G/RedFox.mp3

Mark Johnson - Posted - 02/02/2012:  07:57:34

I don't see much to complain about in the video, Lyle.  Maybe it would be nice to have a bit clearer view of the left hand, but not bad.  

And the playing is great, very crisp and percussive with lots of chord-based treats thrown in there.  I'm really impressed.  Both tunes work really well out of that tuning.

MatthewSYoung - Posted - 02/02/2012:  18:41:59

Mark kills it yet again! Looking forward to learning this tune - thanks for all the great examples.

banjoholic - Posted - 02/04/2012:  06:02:57

Sooo many outstanding clawhammer (and fingerstyle!) versions on this thread, I decided to work this tune up fingerpicked guitar style. Still a work in progress, but here's the progress. 

I've really enjoyed this thread thanks to an infectious tune and all the wonderful takes on it.

Josh

Edited by - banjoholic on 02/04/2012 06:03:34

Shoes and Stockings