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schlange - Posted - 11/10/2014: 09:47:31
This week we're featuring another tune popularized by the great Jimmy Martin. (The song is credited to Byron Gregory and Harry McAuliffe, but I couldn't find any further information on these guys.) This is one of those songs that gets attributed to one guy (Jimmy Martin) because his version really got people's attention... even though he didn't write it, and it was first recorded by someone else!
The first recording was by Hank Snow in 1946. It was also recorded by Hawkshaw Hawkins, Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper, and The Stanley Brothers before Martin recorded it.
Jimmy formed his own band, "The Sunny Mountain Boys" in 1955. The classic lineup of this band included J.D. Crowe on banjo, although BHO's own Kenny Ingram was also a member of the band in the 70's. I found videos or recordings of both guys playing banjo on this tune alongside Jimmy (see a young Kenny in the video below!)
Jimmy's version is probably the "crookedest" of all. When you listen to it you'll notice Jimmy liked to add measures here and there for effect (you can hear him doing this a lot in his popular tune "Freeborn Man" as well.) Band members were expected to follow along with the singer, then the breaks were typically played "straight."
Lots of other incredible bands have done this tune--see the playlist to the right. They include The Osborne Brothers, Flatt & Scruggs, Bill Monroe, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and modern bands like the Grascals, Dan Tyminski Band, and Detour.
Usually played in B or A.
Lyrics
Now don't forget me little darling while I'm growing old and gray
Just a little thought before I'm going far away
I'll be waiting on the hillside where the wild red roses grow
On the sunny side of the mountain where the rippling waters fall
Now don't forget about the days we courted many years ago
Don't forget all the promises you gave me and so
I'll be waiting on the hillside when the day you will call
On the sunny side of the mountain where the rippling waters fall
Please tell me darling in your letter do you ever think of me
Please answer little darling tell me where you can be
It's been so long since dear I've seen you but your love still lingers on
Don't forget me little darling though our love affair seems gone
Taken from Jimmy Martin's version on his Best of Bluegrass album
Learn the Tune:
- Hear It using the GrooveShark playlist to the right.
- Casey Henry has furnished us with a lesson teaching J.D. Crowe's break on this tune. Only $6 thru the end of the week--get it here >
- Backing Tracks: Band in a Box tracks are included below at various speeds for your practicing pleasure.
- Tabs: a few in the BHO archives, including one Jack Baker just sent me based on Sonny Osborne's arrangement with a very cool, never-before tabbed ending.
Share!
I (and others) would love to hear (and see!) you play your version of this tune--post it in a reply below!
Richard Dress - Posted - 11/10/2014: 10:14:41
FYI: Big Slim McAullife copyrighted but did not write this song. Walt Saunders says that according to Ivan Tribe, McAuliffe & Gregory bought this song from a Pittsburgh musician named Johnny Hill. This was Big Slim's radio theme song and a big hit for Hawkshaw Hawkins in the mid-1940s. Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper recorded it for Columbia in 1951, and Johnnie & Jack recorded it for RCA in 1954 as “On the Sunny Side of the Mountain”. It was a popular WWII country song and Lester Flatt featured it on the Grand Ole Opry with Bill Monroe in the late 1940s.
Jimmy Martin released this version first on a 45 rpm single for Decca Records in March 1965, followed by their 1965 Decca Records album Sunny Side of the Mountain (Bear Family Records reissued it for the 1994 box set Jimmy Martin & the Sunny Mountain Boys) and on a 45 rpm single for MCA Records in 1973. Jimmy Martin released the song again (date unknown) for his King of Bluegrass album Got It Made In the Shade (Audium Entertainment reissued that album in 2001 as The King of Bluegrass) and for his 2003 CMH album Songs of a Freeborn Man. Gusto Records reissued the song on an LP in 1978, and then on a 45 rpm single in 1981. Jimmy Martin recorded it again in 1980 with Ralph Stanley for Gusto (this version was not released until 2002 on the Ralph Stanley box set Poor Rambler; it was released again for the 2005 Gusto album First Time Together). Rounder Records also reissued it for the 1990 Jimmy Martin album You Don’t Know My Mind (1956 – 1966). Gusto’s Hollywood label reissued it for the 1994 album Jimmy Martin’s Greatest Bluegrass Hits, Life Times & Music for the 1996 compilation Bluegrass, Gusto’s Federal label for the 2001 Jimmy Martin album Best of the Best, Time-Life Records for the 2002 compilation album Time Life’s Treasury of Bluegrass, and King reissued it for the 2004 Jimmy Martin album Greatest Hits. Another Jimmy Martin version of the song was also reissued as part of the soundtrack for the movie High Lonesome: The Story of Bluegrass Music.
Among others, Wilma Lee & ...
Jack Baker - Posted - 11/10/2014: 10:25:58
Thanks for the information Richard...The version I tabbed out is the 8th song in the list. (The Osborne Brothers). Sonny did that nice, but different intervallic ending with all those open D string all over the place, on a much later recording which is what I tabbed out for TOTW. It was part of a CD which just said "Bluegrass Banjo Hits" or something like that...Jack p.s. Wow! a great shot of Kenny Ingram pickin' with Jimmy Martin. Why, he's just a kid...Ha...still is...come over to the Chatroom and Kenny will set you straight on a lot of things about banjo--he does me 
. J
Originally posted by Richard Dress
Edited by - Jack Baker on 11/10/2014 10:38:55
Richard Dress - Posted - 11/10/2014: 11:08:28
My favorite break was Bill Emerson's--a banjo player I consider only second to Scruggs in that style. He taught me his break when I was a student back when.
Jack Baker - Posted - 11/10/2014: 11:50:26
You bet Richard. Bill is one of the best ever and one of the nicest people I've ever met in this business. I've talked to Bill several times over the years and he is such a decent person to know and talk with. He's up there like you say with the very best there is...Jack
Originally posted by Richard Dress
My favorite break was Bill Emerson's--a banjo player I consider only second to Scruggs in that style. He taught me his break when I was a student back when.
Edited by - Jack Baker on 11/10/2014 11:50:56
Timeless1952 - Posted - 11/11/2014: 09:43:18
The cut of this song by Flatt & Scruggs is wrong on this list. The cut is really Lester & The Nashville Grass on an LP that came out on the Nugget label that was owned by Lonzo & Oscar. This was done while Lester was leaving Columbia Records & going to RCA. The musicians on the cut are,,, Lester, Uncle Josh playing the lead guitar, Jake Tullock on bass, Paul Warran fiddle, Roland White mandolin, Vic Jordan banjo. Johnny Johnson may be playing rhythm guitar on here too but I'm not sure about that. I would have to pull out the LP to be sure of that. This LP when it came out was called "The One And Only Lester Flatt. I've seen it later and it was called "Rollin"
K
Edited by - Timeless1952 on 11/11/2014 09:44:41
royce - Posted - 11/12/2014: 10:24:24
vimeo.com/109031244
Here is a version we did a few weeks back with a throw together band at the CFBA Campgrass.
Austin Wilder Singing his young heart out..
Edited by - royce on 11/12/2014 10:28:14
bhrb75 - Posted - 11/12/2014: 11:02:01
Kenny,
That Flatt version of Sunny Side was pretty special eh?
Brandon
Timeless1952 - Posted - 11/12/2014: 19:56:31
It's a very good cut Brandon but it's the Grass Band not F&S. See you Friday.
K
myfavefive - Posted - 11/13/2014: 06:27:27
And check out Crowe's kick off break in the Masters of Bluegrass video in Eric's first post above...nice little run up to the 4 chord at the .20 mark and a cool little twist right after that on the 5 chord lick. Crowe still has lots of ways to spice up a straight ahead break, that's for sure.
anthonype3 - Posted - 11/18/2014: 16:21:40
The link for Sweet Appalacia is incorrect.
