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Mark Johnson - Posted - 01/04/2013: 06:46:53
Flannery, a fiddler in the American Revolutionary War, finds himself condemned to death, but under guard by a commanding officer with a soft spot for the fiddle. The Officer agrees to free Flannery if he can play a tune the Officer had never heard before. In the no doubt restless night before his execution, he dreams of a fiddle tune sure to win his freedom...
Or maybe he was a Civil War fiddler.
Or maybe he was just some guy who dreamed up this tune and then won a fiddling contest with it.
Or maybe these are just stories that have been attached to a great fiddle tune for years because everyone knows a compelling back story gives life to a tune.
Either way, we have from our Kentucky friends the tune Flannery's Dream.
WildJimbo mentioned this tune in his 2011 TOTW thread about Glory in the Meetinghouse, and they do bear some similarities at least in style. Very droning, lots of double stops, very meditative and even a bit rambling. It feels like a tune that could put you in a trance, but simultaneously feels like a tune best saved for when the party gets really wild. Anyway, the tune...
The Berea College Archives have a nice sampling of recordings of this tune from various Kentucky sources. Here are three of my favorites:
-A recording by Santford Kelly, who many modern players cite as their source for the tune
-Glen Fannin of Magoffin County, KY recorded in 1977
-Warner Walton (apparently the source of the Revolutionary War back story)
Ricky Skaggs, who I tend to underestimate, learned it from Santford Kelly. Here is Ricky fiddling the tune. John Hartford in turn picked it up from Ricky and included it on his excellent stringband album "Wild Hog in the Red Brush", a sample of which can be heard here. Likely in thanks to the exposure those two brought the song, as well as how raucous and fun the tune is anyway, it has become relatively common in the fiddle world, and perhaps due to Ricky in the bluegrass world of amongst mandolin and guitar pickers.
Here are a few contemporary takes on it that I enjoy:
-David Bragger fiddling away
-Brad Leftwich
Surprisingly, and part of the reason that I chose this as a TOTW, there are no versions on the Banjo Hangout. Not one video or mp3 that I could find! Like Glory in the Meetinghouse mentioned above, it is a bit of an odd one to arrange for the banjo, as so much of the heart of the tune comes from the pulsing yet droning fiddle sounds. But it's doable, and worth doing, so consider the gauntlet thrown down. Let's hear you folks banjo this fiddle tune up.
Edited by - Mark Johnson on 01/04/2013 06:49:19
bd - Posted - 01/04/2013: 07:27:07
Great choice! Here's the score in notation from the Old Time Fiddle Tunes website.
Evan C - Posted - 01/04/2013: 07:49:52
This one is new to me. Sounds like a fun tune.
Thank you for posting!
blockader - Posted - 01/04/2013: 07:58:45
man, that is a great tune. i have never encountered it before but it does seem pretty similar to "glory in the meeting house" which we do play a lot. i play GITMH out of double C capoed up to E with a lot of repetitive galax licks to get the droneyness, maybe i will give this tune a shot this weekend.
-justin
stevel - Posted - 01/04/2013: 08:02:56
Nice pick. I'm only familiar with Adam Hurts version on Earth Tones, which is fantastic by the way.
Viper - Posted - 01/04/2013: 09:04:25
Is this tune sometimes called "Flander's Dream"? I have recording by John Salyer by that name and it sounds very similar. Great pick.
Mark Johnson - Posted - 01/04/2013: 09:34:41
Glad you guys like the tune, I sure do.
Thanks for reminding me about Adam's version from Earth Tones, stevel, it is a pretty take on the tune.
I have a somewhat stiff version that I recorded maybe 8 or so years ago... long enough that I don't have a copy to put up here, but it is still on Chuck Lee's website as it was recorded on one of his banjos: chuckleebanjos.com/Music/Mark%...dream.mp3
Maybe those two banjo versions will help jump start some other banjo arrangement efforts here. I think I'll record and post a new version of it later on this weekend myself...
Viper: I know the Salyer tune you're talking about, and have even seen it referred to as Flannery's Dream, but they do not appear to be the same tune. Related maybe, but as Jeff Todd Titon says of the two tunes "it is more a distant kinship".
Edited by - Mark Johnson on 01/04/2013 09:36:16
aeroweenie - Posted - 01/04/2013: 10:53:49
Mark, nice pick, I've never heard of this tune. I particularly like the Warner Walton rendition. Your clawhammer version is excellent, it preserves the feeling of the tune as a fiddle would play it, I don't find it stiff at all. What key/tuning did you use?
atleson - Posted - 01/04/2013: 14:08:42
Mark,
I've the same question about the tuning. Lovely playing, soulful. This is the kind of tune i love but often find really difficult to work out by ear.
jim
JanetB - Posted - 01/04/2013: 19:09:07
I think, Mark, you've thrown us a challenging gauntlet. I do like your 8-year old recording. I like Santford Kelly's, Adam Hurt's, and Ricky Skaggs enough to try. So far the B part is challenging as it travels up the neck and back again several times, and you'd really have to know the tune well. In the link below I found the detailed and amusing story of the dream Jim Flannery allegedly had during a fiddle contest against Blind Bill Day. Also an amusing story of Stanford Kelly challenging the crowd to identify this tune and not paying up when J.P. Fraley did so.
boards.ancestry.com/localities...1/mb.ashx
Mark Johnson - Posted - 01/05/2013: 10:32:35
I meant to also include Alva Greene, another Kentucky fiddler of note. His version appears on Traditional Fiddle Music of Kentucky Vol. 1, and can be sampled here: amazon.com/Flannerys-Dream/dp/B003F0V5OW
I hear most of the versions as being in the neighborhood of A. Almost all of them come out somewhere one side or the other of A, from Glen Fanin being all the way down to F# or so, and Ricky Skaggs being at Ab, but their fiddles are just tuned low (ie they are playing in A with their fiddles just not at concert pitch).
When I play along I play out of A modal tuning.
The recording of me is in modal tuning, but lowered down to somewhere around E. When I'm playing solo I frequently tune to whatever makes the banjo sound best, and that big pot wood ring Chuck Lee with the nylagut strings sure sounds cool tuned low, imho.
quote:
Originally posted by JanetB
I think, Mark, you've thrown us a challenging gauntlet
Indeed! It's not an immediately easy tune to banjo.
What I find liberating about this one is that you can take a handful of recordings of midcentury fiddlers from Northeastern Kentucky and find such significant variation in the tune. Really, their versions are wildly unique.
Those guys really put their own stamp on this tune, so why shouldn't you? Capture enough that it is still recognizable as this tune, but cut loose and make it yours.
jojo25 - Posted - 01/05/2013: 13:59:16
nice Mark...although I am a huge John Hartford fan I have to say the Skaggs' version is my fav...and indeed, it does look challanging
JanetB - Posted - 01/06/2013: 09:01:10
Here's my take from Adam Hurt's playing on the CD "Fine Times at our House." it has a minor sound out of modal tuning. It's been a good but esoteric exercise to figure out the B part from every version I've listened to, but here goes...
LyleK - Posted - 01/06/2013: 18:05:47
My all-time favorite fiddle version of this is one that has not been mentioned yet, which is Roger Cooper's. It's on his CD "Essence of Old Kentucky." There's also a recording of him at the Digital Library of Appalachia (dla.acaweb.org/cdm/singleitem/...287/rec/4). A nice element of both recordings is that there is back-up guitar, so it is easier to find the beat. I used the DLA recording played through an earbud in order to try CH-ing along such that I got the rhythm and tempo the same as in Cooper's fiddling. I made a number of pretty awful flubs at some transitions, but I did stick with the fiddle and guitar throughout. Tuning is aEADE. I can tab this in tabledit if there is any interest.
aeroweenie - Posted - 01/06/2013: 18:31:39
Janet & Lyle, nice playing, thanks for taking the time to record and post. Everyone's version has a different flavor, I like that.
RG - Posted - 01/06/2013: 20:14:52
Man, David Bragger plays the cr@p out of that tune on the fiddle!
Great old tune and choice, thanks for posting this one Mark...
Mark Johnson - Posted - 01/08/2013: 08:28:20
Well, I took another shot at it this morning. I wanted to record a take to have stored on the Hangout, and thought I might as well do one in A so as not to confuse the issue too much. The results are attached below.
It's played on my Lo Gordon/Cedar Mountain D model banjo, tuned modal, capoed up to A. I was trying to channel some of the phrasing from John Hartford's A part that I really enjoy, but a mix of Santford Kelly and my own whatnot on the B part. I'd like to be able to fill the space in the B part the way Santford does... some nice toe tapping or the right hand rhythm noises to keep the listener on track. Without the sustain of the bow or something those pauses get very pregnant!
Terrific job, Lyle and Janet. I'm really glad some folks chimed in with recordings, it made my week. Anyone else?
Jay K - Posted - 01/08/2013: 08:57:46
I'm enjoying all the great versions here, JanetB, LyleK and Mark. Look forward to trying it myself. Good choice!
LyleK - Posted - 01/08/2013: 09:05:09
quote:
Originally posted by Mark Johnson
I'd like to be able to fill the space in the B part the way Santford does... some nice toe tapping or the right hand rhythm noises to keep the listener on track. Without the sustain of the bow or something those pauses get very pregnant!
Excellent!
And I know what you mean about the long sustained notes in the B section. I put in a bunch of brushes, but mostly because I was worried about losing count. I think this might work well with two finger picking so that those long notes could have some "pinches" (and the two finger picking would make it tres Kentucky).
kenelk - Posted - 01/08/2013: 11:58:12
Okay... you fine players can all blame Janet for my pedestrian effort since she emailed me a couple days back and more or less encouraged me to jump in
. I have really enjoyed all the versions posted thus far!
Soo... off from work today and thought i'd give it a go. Patterned after Adam Hurt's wonderful gourd version on Earth Tones,
clawhammerist - Posted - 01/08/2013: 13:33:54
Flannery's Dream is one of my favorite tunes of all time, and--unusual for my recorded arrangements--I actually happened to have it already tabbed out, so I thought that I would share it here alongside the other fine versions that have been posted.
A word of warning: fiddlers tend to play Flannery's in A-modal/minor, but I do not. The melody lay best for me in the wrong key, E-modal/minor, which I access from what I know as the Sandy River Belle tuning, gEADE. On my "Earth Tones" album, the gourd banjo is tuned low, such that this tuning comes out in B-modal/minor. If I were to play this tune along with a fiddler, I would need to rearrange it, and potentially retune. I periodically develop banjo-centric arrangements of fiddle tunes not in their original keys, in order to better suit the very different range of this instrument, but I never expect fiddlers to play along with me in my preferred keys!
Tabbing tunes with odd structures is a challenging task for me--bear this in mind while following the tab! My basic form for Flannery's is AAB, and when restarting the tune I omit the first two measures of A1, such that the end of B and the beginning of A1 blend together after a fashion (the segno indicator above the tab will help lead the way through this bit). When the tune is finished for good, I end with the first single note of measure 19. This structure, including the odd crookedness within the B part, is the way that I have always known the tune to go, although I cannot recall my precise source for the life of me. As with so many crooked tunes, nearly every fiddler--or banjo player!--seems to treat the form differently from the next.
Cheers,
Adam Hurt
adamhurt.com
cdbaby.com/artist/adamhurt
regular or one-time lessons available, in person or via Skype; please contact me for details
kenelk - Posted - 01/08/2013: 14:01:06
Woot! On behalf of many others i'm sure... thanks so much for posting the tab and tuning. I love your CD, but only have headphones, and it's very difficult/combersome to attempt to follow your elegant playing (not that i could otherwise)... but at least having the tab should give me/others a foundation. Again, much obliged sir... and if you are ever playing around the Fort Collins CO area... please give a shout. Best t'ya... ken.
rgoad - Posted - 01/08/2013: 14:27:52
Thank YOU!
stevel - Posted - 01/08/2013: 14:34:43
Wow, thank you much mr hurt!
JanetB - Posted - 01/08/2013: 17:15:19
Thanks to Adam Hurt for contributing to this discussion. I, among many, immensely enjoy his playing and am inspired to learn from them. The tab will be a useful tool, too. Mark, I liked how your B part held the high note with good sustain--something of a rarity on our banjos.
Todd Treadway - Posted - 01/08/2013: 18:38:50
Man, all of you are blowing me away! I'm brand new here, and I can see how this Tune of the Week thing could really be a fantastic tool. It'll be quite awhile before my clawhammer skills will be worthy of posting a version of something, but I'm feeling motivated to learn!
JanetB - Posted - 01/10/2013: 14:03:58
I discovered that Adam's tab is in a tuning like Cumberland Gap and is quite fun to play, though challenging. It's just that kind of tune.
kenelk - Posted - 01/10/2013: 14:46:43
Hey Janet... although i've been a bit busy of late... i have started on Adam's tab... the A part was a pretty quick study... just need some time to practice the more "challenging" B part to bring it into focus and get the phrasing right. Hope to get back to it this weekend... and i'll post a vid whenever i get it together.
I do miss the fact that it's tuned up for a standard banjer... versus the deep resonance of his B modal gourd tuning. So far, it's been a "stretching" exercise to follow his tab and try to get something like his "signature" style and sound... which is a whole other challenge altogether.
atleson - Posted - 01/17/2013: 15:47:46
Help on this. I love this tune, and i think i've figured out the first part. It's the second part that's driving me crazy. I'm working on David Bragger's youtube version and, especially, a similar version done by Gerry Milnes at winter Augusta. I have looked at the tabs on this list, but they don't sound like what i, perhaps poorly, hear. Any other tabs about?
jim
Mark Johnson - Posted - 01/18/2013: 09:26:49
I'm not familiar with any tabs for this one, and you're right, the B part is maddening in that no two players appear to be taking identical approaches, and almost all versions are crooked as can be.
I still advocate using the diversity of B parts as license to find your own take on it... go wild! But I might be able to help figure how to play along with Mr. Bragger's version and post a morsel of tab. It'd take a banjo in hand, which I don't have at the moment, so give me a few days.
-Mark
Mark Johnson - Posted - 01/19/2013: 11:33:25
Here is a quick PDF tab for Bragger's B part. A few notes:
I'm playing it out of A modal. The way he phrases the A part makes me think another tuning might work better, but the other versions I've cooked up work best out of A modal so I stayed there.
I start it proceeding up the scale like several other common versions, whereas Mr. Bragger kind of slurs and slides his way up. IMHO what I have tabbed plays along nicely with his, but I wanted to point out it is not a literal translation as it were.
My own brain gets fried by the pauses after that high A note. I *think* I tabbed the rests correctly, but recommend playing along with his video rather than banking on my tabbing ability. When I play along it helps me to count two beats, then the next melody comes on the backbeat of the 3rd.
In the tab I wrote that high B note on both the 1st and 5th strings. If fretting the 5th is foreign you can hammer the 1st...
I also put the Tabledit file in the tab archive here. When I have a bit more free time I'll update that file to be a more complete tab of Bragger's version, and maybe other versions to boot.
atleson - Posted - 01/19/2013: 12:10:45
thanks Mark for doing this. It's a giant help.
jim
Mark Johnson - Posted - 01/19/2013: 12:31:53
Looking back at the pdf the rests didn't come in clearly. I think the two listed notes in measure 7 are consecutive quarter notes, followed by two (and 1/2 to be accurate) rests.
?
