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EggerRidgeBoy - Posted - 06/27/2014: 11:40:56
Today's Tune of the Week is Sift the Meal and Save the Bran, from Kentucky fiddler Wilson Mabe. I came across the tune recently in that time-honored, traditional, old-time way of randomly browsing the Internet for banjo tunes. It appears in a few places, but I discovered it first on Greg and Jere Canote's MossyRoof site.
WILSON MABE
Wilson Mabe (1921- 2008) was born in Priceville, Hart County, Kentucky, and lived most of his life in that south central part of the state. After serving in the army during World War II, he worked as a farmer and a school bus driver, at the same time becoming well known for his love of playing the fiddle.
His father was a fiddle player, while his mother played the banjo. He took up the banjo at an early age, learning from his mother, but didn't take up the fiddle until after he returned from the army. He got much of his repertoire from his parents, but also had a tremendous collection of records from which he learned many tunes. Clayton McMichen, of the Skillet Lickers, was a particular favorite, and perhaps the most important commercial source of Wilson's tunes. Given that there are no known early recordings - commercial or otherwise - of the tune, it seems very likely that Wilson learned Sift the Meal and Save the Bran from his father; other than that, nothing is known of its origins.
Upon Wilson's death on November 12, 2008, BanjoHangout member
Joe Larsen posted news of his passing and shared some remembrances of Wilson, whom he counted as a close friend:
banjohangout.org/archive/131458 .
My good friend and one time picking buddy, Wilson Mabe passed away Wed afternoon.
He was 87. Now you might think that he lived a long full life, but considering that his
mother was 101 and several close relatives made it past the century mark, I say he was
cut down in his prime.
He was a dear sweet man and a pretty good fiddler, banjo and guitar player. He had
great stories to tell.
And perhaps the most generous soul I ever knew, he would say "now I'm not rich but I've
got plenty of money". He gave away untold numbers of fiddles to aspiring young players.
Wilson drove the schoolbus for years and handed out treats for the kids and in later years
he kept quarters in his pocket for the same purpose. He never had children of his own.
He could be gruff and short in his conversation, never having had a working acquaintance
with words like 'please' and 'thank you' and he always called men 'boy'. One time after an
unsuccessful attempt at FMB he turned to me and said, "Ain't much of a damn tune noway".
I couldn't play the next tune for laughing.
I always said there was a special place in heaven for Wilson Mabe, and now there's no doubt
in my mind where he is and what he's doing.
While preparing this Tune of the Week, I emailed Joe Larson and asked if he had any more stories about Wilson that he wanted to share and that I could include in my write-up. He very kindly sent me a long email in response. Instead of trying to summarize its contents or put them in my own words, I will just excerpt the majority of it here.
Wilson Mabe wore overalls, brogans and a long sleeve blue shirt every day of
his life for as long as I knew him. I remember going to his house one day to
do some picking. His closet door was open and hanging so perfectly they
could have passed a boot camp white glove inspection were half a dozen
identical long sleeve blue shirts and an equal number of identical DC
overalls.
The two of us played together for many years. We played at senior citizens
centers, dinners on the ground, funerals, church revivals and jam sessions
in the area. He would always let me drive his Cadillac when we went because
he didn't see well at night, but he did not relinquish control gracefully
and was probably the worst back seat driver I ever knew, telling me when to
dim the lights or turn on the wipers. But he had hundreds of stories from
the old days and driving these old country roads would bring them out.
"There used to be beer joints all up and down this road," he'd say and he
played in many of them before the county went dry.
He liked to tell me of a barn dance he played where they had set a bucket of
water with a dipper for the band. But when Wilson took a drink it turned out
to be moonshine.
One story I remember was from his time in France during WWII. The details
are sketchy but he somehow managed to stumble upon a farmhouse that was
mostly ruins due to shelling. But inside were a few musicians sitting around
playing tunes and drinking wine out of a bottle. Wilson didn't play fiddle
at the time and there already was a pretty decent fiddler in the group, he
said, but he had his banjo and they invited him to sit in. He said he never
understood a single word anybody said nor had he ever heard any of the tunes
before but they all had a great time. The really odd thing, he said, was
that whenever they'd finish a tune, they'd jabber back and forth in French
for awhile and then play the whole thing all over again. I wish I had
recorded his stories, as you can hear on the recording he usually had a
little story he'd tell before each tune.
I also wish I had recorded his tunes too, since I'm sure there are countless
old fiddle tunes that died with him.
But I've always said that there was a special place in heaven reserved for
Wilson Mabe. He used to say, "I'm not rich but I've got plenty of money."
And he used his money to good effect. One of our musician friends had very
bad teeth but didn't have the money to get them fixed. Wilson told him to go
to the dentist and send the bill to him. When an old picking buddy died and
left Wilson his fine HD 28, he turned around and gave it to one of his
guitar playing friends. There was a fiddle player who used to come to a
weekly jam session we had going. He was a fine fiddler and although Wilson
was a bit jealous of his ability, he very much enjoyed listening and
learning from him. When he didn't show up one week Wilson called him to see
if he was all right. He said that the tires on his car were so bad he was
afraid to make the 50 mile round trip. Wilson bought him a set of tires.
The number of things he did for me are too numerous to mention and I miss
him greatly.
SIFT THE MEAL AND SAVE THE BRAN
In his email, Joe Larson also commented on the tune itself:
I've always loved that tune and would request Wilson to play it whenever we got
together To me it sounded like a party, just such a happy little tune and I
would put down my banjo so I could play guitar backup. I never heard anyone
else play it so I chorded it in my own way I vi IV I for the A part and IV I
V I for the B part. It wasn't the way he would do it but he never said
anything.
It is in the key of A, and follows the standard AABB pattern. It is a fairly obscure tune. It is not included in "The Fiddlers Companion", and as far as I know Wilson Mabe is our only source for it. He never recorded commercially, and only a handful of field recordings of his fiddling were made. Just two of those tracks are available; fortunately Sift the Meal and Save the Bran is one of them.
There are, or were, words that went along with the tune, and according to Joe, Wilson usually sang them while playing. The only lyrics that he (or anyone else) can remember are:
Sift the Meal and Save the Bran
There's Gonna Be a Wedding in a Happy Land
The tune Sally Ann contains very similar lyrics, leading some to speculate that Sally Ann and Sift the Meal are related tunes.
I’m gonna marry you, Sal, Sal,
I’m gonna marry you, Sally Ann.
Going to the wedding, Sally Ann (twice)
Sift that meal and save your bran,
I’m going home with Sally Ann.
The title itself refers to the sifting of ground corn into meal, grits, and bran. This was often done at the mill, but can be done at home with the proper size sifters. Even after the final sifting, small amounts of bran remains in the grits. Some people rinse it out, others prefer having a bit of bran mixed into the grits. Whether the phrase is an aphorism encouraging thrift and discouraging wastefulness, or simply a reference to a kitchen task common in past generations, I'm not sure.
Ground corn waiting to be sifted into meal, grits, and bran.
AUDIO, VIDEO, AND TAB
(Note that in this recording, Wilson plays the B part first. According to Joe, that is the way he and Wilson always played the tune.)
A jam version - featuring Greg Canote, Jere Canote, and Candy Goldman - can be found on the MossyRoof site, as can banjo tab by Maya Whitmont.
Last fall the tune was featured in
Maggie Lind's Neighborly Music string band class in Portland, Oregon, and her website has slow, teaching versions of the tune on both the fiddle and the banjo:
neighborlymusic.net/private-co...the-bran/ The only commercial recording of
Sift the Meal and Save the Bran I could find is by
The Black Twig Pickers, a Blacksburg, Virginia, group that included the tune on their 2013 album "Rough Carpenters". They can be see here performing the tune onstage at a pub in Brighton, England:
youtube.com/watch?v=hQGdkEZHuPs There is one other video of the tune, a solo banjo performance by Hangout member
Daniyel Yisra'el ben-Asher:
youtube.com/watch?v=WzDDuaD9svA
THANKS
I want to thank Joe Larson for generously helping me with this Tune of the Week. When learning and researching such old-time tunes, I am usually as interested in the people behind the music as I am in the tunes themselves, and hearing the kind of stories that Joe shared with me greatly enriches my understanding of old-time music and deepens my enjoyment of playing it myself. I will probably never play Sift the Meal and Save the Bran without picturing Wilson Mabe and his closet full of clean, pressed overalls.
Edited by - EggerRidgeBoy on 06/27/2014 12:27:25
PIME - Posted - 06/27/2014: 15:40:31
what a great story to make an interesting tune even more so - thank you for this post!
ndlxs - Posted - 06/27/2014: 16:16:06
Rufus Crisp does Blue Goose: slightly different melody, with that lyric as a verse.
aeroweenie - Posted - 06/28/2014: 08:31:27
Another tune I'm completely unfamiliar with. I really appreciate the background and links you've provided!
EggerRidgeBoy - Posted - 06/30/2014: 09:48:23
quote:
Originally posted by PIME
what a great story to make an interesting tune even more so - thank you for this post!
Glad you liked the tune and the story!
EggerRidgeBoy - Posted - 06/30/2014: 09:49:37
quote:
Originally posted by ndlxs
Rufus Crisp does Blue Goose: slightly different melody, with that lyric as a verse.
Yes, I get the feeling that that particular verse is a "floating lyric" that has found its way into multiple old time songs. I'll check out the Rufus Crisp tune - thanks for the info.
EggerRidgeBoy - Posted - 06/30/2014: 09:55:08
quote:
Originally posted by aeroweenie
Another tune I'm completely unfamiliar with. I really appreciate the background and links you've provided!
I had never heard - nor heard of - it before last week, either.
I'm glad you enjoyed the background info - it seems every old time tune has an interesting story behind it.
Edited by - EggerRidgeBoy on 06/30/2014 09:59:25
Brooklynbanjoboy - Posted - 06/30/2014: 15:08:45
A distinguished TOTW (OT), made special by the personal recollections you were able to introduce into the mix. Thanks for sharing.
Here's what I came up with, pounding away on a new A scale, after studying the great examples you pulled together -- and rounding off the sharp corners to fit with my sledgehammer way of doing these tunes.
bhniko - Posted - 07/01/2014: 09:41:37
Enjoyed the tune and the rhythm of the song. Not being a clawhammerer what is 'the sledgehammer' way? From the video, not showing the strings, it seems you are coming down hard with the thumb rather than a normal drop thumb.
JanetB - Posted - 07/01/2014: 10:39:39
A highlight of my week--thanks, Bret! I like how Wilson Mabe sung the part of the chorus he remembered from his father. The words of the title have other songs associated with it--one as well-known as Sally Ann.
I don't have many resources on Kentucky fiddlers, other than Jeff Titon's book, Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes. If anyone does, please let me know.
This image is the thumbnail on the Berea site for Wilson Mabe.
Brooklynbanjoboy - Posted - 07/01/2014: 11:11:10
You make fine music. Nice hearing your voice cut in with some words for that tune.
V/R,
Lew
EggerRidgeBoy - Posted - 07/01/2014: 16:08:38
quote:
Originally posted by Brooklynbanjoboy
A distinguished TOTW (OT), made special by the personal recollections you were able to introduce into the mix. Thanks for sharing.
Here's what I came up with, pounding away on a new A scale, after studying the great examples you pulled together -- and rounding off the sharp corners to fit with my sledgehammer way of doing these tunes.
Thanks for posting your version, Lew - I quite liked your 'sledgehammer' approach to the tune.
EggerRidgeBoy - Posted - 07/01/2014: 16:14:54
quote:
Originally posted by JanetB
A highlight of my week--thanks, Bret! I like how Wilson Mabe sung the part of the chorus he remembered from his father. The words of the title have other songs associated with it--one as well-known as Sally Ann.
I don't have many resources on Kentucky fiddlers, other than Jeff Titon's book, Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes. If anyone does, please let me know.
This image is the thumbnail on the Berea site for Wilson Mabe.
I'm glad you liked the post and the tune, Janet!
Thanks very much for posting your version - I enjoyed it, as always, and the singing was an unexpected bonus.
That thumbmail isn't Wilson - it appears to be one of a handful of images that the Berea site uses when they don't have a photo of a particular musician.
Edited by - EggerRidgeBoy on 07/01/2014 16:19:47
EggerRidgeBoy - Posted - 07/01/2014: 16:25:33
quote:
Originally posted by JanetB
I don't have many resources on Kentucky fiddlers, other than Jeff Titon's book, Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes. If anyone does, please let me know.
Are you familiar with the "Kentucky Mountain Music" box set? It consists of seven CDs of old-time string band music from the state, and a well-researched 32 page booklet. It's not just about the fiddlers, but obviously includes a lot of fiddle music and a lot of information on those who played it.
countysales.com/products.php?p...sic'-(7CDs)
chuckb - Posted - 07/02/2014: 13:38:44
I know the tune as "Sally Anne." Nice rendition by Wilson Mabe, regardless of the title; a rose and all that stuff.
