Davidprat - Posted - 09/05/2013:  05:11:03

A tune that I heard quite a lot in Clifftop was Bull at the Wagon, a tune that I didn't know and I like to learn it , Am I wrong? or there are 2 version of the tunes, Looking for videos ... I found that some the B part are different from others

Davidprat - Posted - 09/05/2013:  05:23:35

Some videos,

youtube.com/watch?v=dmBSmyhqVQc

youtube.com/watch?v=6A3hMQDBmqw

sugarinthegourd - Posted - 09/05/2013:  07:52:01

Hi David,

As you probably know, it's a 3-part tune in A. I don't think I've heard more than one version. If memory serves it was first recorded by the Lewis Brothers from Texas. It's one of those tunes where I hear the title in the melody -- not sure if anyone does this -- in the 3rd part I hear [A] Bull-at-the [E] wa-gon deedle deedle deedle...

It's a tune I really enjoy playing. 

John 

Davidprat - Posted - 09/05/2013:  07:56:43

Thanks John, read somewhere that there are a Texas and a Oklahoma version of the tune, I really like it , it doesn't seems easy to play on the banjo .

sugarinthegourd - Posted - 09/05/2013:  10:04:26

I am on vacation, but I do have my banjo. I may try to post a little video of how I play it later today. Not that it's particularly masterful. Each of the 3 parts is quite different from the others, one of the things I like about the tune. 

John

ZEPP - Posted - 09/05/2013:  12:23:01

FWIW, here's a version I recorded in Feb 2005 on a custom Ramsey banjo that came in for sale. It was a 12-inch banjo with a rolled brass tone ring--essentially the sound one gets from a Standard or Special. Anyway, I played the tune capoed to A, i.e. gDGBD capoed at the second fret.

Cheers,

ZEPP

Edited by - ZEPP on 09/05/2013 12:23:36

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 09/05/2013:  20:26:29

The Correctone String Band with the legendary John Specker on fiddle recorded that tune about 1977 or so. I believe I read that album was going to be re-released on CD. It is worth looking for. Their playing and their recording - especially their version of Black Eyed Susie as a calypso tune more or less created the entire punk folk movement. Ritchie Stearns was one of the children who hung out with the band - and I also think the Puryear Brothers might have been among their acolytes.

RG - Posted - 09/05/2013:  22:24:22

Here's the definitive version...a lot of "new" old timers tend to miss the point of this tune in my opinion...

Edited by - RG on 09/05/2013 22:25:21

BrendanD - Posted - 09/06/2013:  01:27:44

And here's Earl Collins's version, which is probably the other version you've heard:

slippery-hill.com/M-K/AEAE/BullAtWagon.mp3

jojo25 - Posted - 09/07/2013:  12:59:46

I too love this tune...only wish some of my local music buds would learn it...I learned it from Craig...fiddler from Conn. as I recall...it is a bit tricky for solo clawhammer, but, like many tunes. very doable if you have a fiddler who knows it...I love to pile drive those low notes in the 3rd part!

ZEPP - Posted - 09/07/2013:  15:14:34

quote:

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Originally posted by jojo25

 

I love to pile drive those low notes in the 3rd part!

---

Yeah--a fiddle can say "moo," but a banjo just sorta gets a "muh." *sigh*

Cheers,

ZEPP

whyteman - Posted - 09/08/2013:  16:12:16

Yes, I agree with RG that the Lewis is recording is the benchmark for sure. The use of the droning fiddle is superb. When my wife and I play the tune, Linda Jo plays the mandocello to approximate the sound of the bull and I switch to finger picking on the 3rd part to make it special and different.

This photo montage is from the annual Mid-Missouri Ox, Mule and Draft Horse Festival that we play at every year. Lots of mules, oxen and huge working horses. But no bull!

Don

youtube.com/watch?v=G_19aEWR-C8

csbdr - Posted - 09/10/2013:  10:28:25

quote:

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Originally posted by RG

 

Here's the definitive version...a lot of "new" old timers tend to miss the point of this tune in my opinion...

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well....? I'm "new" and don't know. So whats "the point of this tune"?

RG - Posted - 09/10/2013:  10:48:01

Chris -  the point of the tune (standard BHO disclaimer - this is just my opinion as I stated in my original post) is that it is a "bull at the wagon"...the Lewis Brothers (cowboys and ranchers from New Mexico by the way) play the tune with that imagery in mind IMHO...

Take care...

Edited by - RG on 09/10/2013 10:57:03

RG - Posted - 09/10/2013:  11:05:39

Don - really enjoyed your version of the tune, that is some great picking from you two and a great groove, very nice!

whyteman - Posted - 09/10/2013:  13:57:25

Thanks RG. I really love tunes that evoke imagery be it landscape(Yew Piney Mountain) animals(cluck old hen) or people at work(Padddy On the Turnpike) or at play(Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss).

Maybe that's why I find pop music so unsatisfying. Despite all of it's nervous energy, I find it devoid of meaning.

Don

oldwoodchuckb - Posted - 09/10/2013:  14:47:38

quote:

---

Originally posted by csbdr

 

quote:

---

Originally posted by RG

 

Here's the definitive version...a lot of "new" old timers tend to miss the point of this tune in my opinion...

---

well....? I'm "new" and don't know. So whats "the point of this tune"?

---

The point is the Bull. A lot of players substitute a bunch of notes for that third part "Low" of the bull dragging a heavy laden wagon over rough ground. It needs a real bow drag there otherwise it is just another fiddle tune. The banjo cannot do the low. It is all points, no drags. No sustain.

chip arnold - Posted - 09/10/2013:  15:24:50

Don, I loved the finger picked part. Fine job. :-)