ScottK - Posted - 07/30/2015:  20:08:15

Hi All,

I’ve been learning Ora Lee on fiddle lately.  When I noticed that it hadn’t been a BHO tune of the week yet, I thought it would make a good choice.

I first learned Ora Lee on banjo several years ago from Bob Carlin’s Banging & Sawing where he plays it with James Bryan on fiddle.  That’s a great CD that lots of folk around here have learned lots of tunes from.  About that recording Art Rosenbaum said in a review in the Old Time Herald:  “This is a wonderful disc that should be in the collection of anyone who values what some of the best of today's generation of old-time musicians are doing with the bountiful legacy of fiddle-banjo music.”  I’d go along with that.

I have my copy of Banging & Sawing loaned out right now, so can’t check the liner notes.  But I gather from poking around the web that James Bryan learned this tune from Tennessee fiddler Edward Winter.  I haven’t been able to turn up any information about Edward Winter or much information about the tune.  The Traditional Tune Archive has an entry for Ora Lee, but not much more in it than noted here.  It does say it’s played on fiddle in GDAD.  I’ve been working on it in GDAE, so I’ll have to try that.

Turns out that BHO member Mark Ralston has a couple nice demo videos on YouTube for playing Ora Lee on banjo:

Also turns out that Mark has lots more tune demos on banjo on his YouTube channel.  Worth checking out!

There’s also a YouTube video of the Chicken Pluckers playing Ora Lee.

A few commercial recordings of Ora Lee include Red Mountain’s Sweet Bama, Sheesham and Lotus’s Five Miles from Town, and Brittany Haas’s eponymous first album.

On BHO Mark Ralston has a couple recordings of Ora Lee posted, one on a short-scale, converted Vega Style N tenor-to-5-string and the other on a small-pot, nylgut-strung, ladies' scale, F.H. Douglas ~ 1890.  Both versions sound great.  JanetB also has a real pretty recording of Ora Lee paired in a medley with Love Me Tender that’s also great.  And I made a recording tonight to accompany this post.

So that’s your tune of the week for 7/31/15.  Get all your fiddlers to learn it so you can play it with them!  :-)

Cheers, Scott

Kernel - Posted - 07/31/2015:  06:35:29

Here's a simple tab I worked up not long ago because, as Scott mentioned, it gets played here in Portland. 

taterjoes.com/banjo/OraLee.pdf

mbanza - Posted - 07/31/2015:  07:03:26

Ora Lee is one of my favorites.  You can easily find a note for note harmony by moving everything over (up) one string.

greenbrooms - Posted - 07/31/2015:  07:08:35

this is a nice tune, scott - sounds like something to be played on the porch on a breezy day. looking forward to noodling around with it tonight!

thanks for the intro to mark's youtube channel - quite the trove of play-alongs.

vrteach - Posted - 07/31/2015:  07:27:13

Such a pleasant tune. We don't seem to play it often in Central Illinois. I'm surprised to see that I haven't done a version and RATS, I don't have my work banjo at work now-a-days.

JanetB - Posted - 07/31/2015:  08:46:25

Great contribution, Scott.  Portland must be the west coast mecca for the best music.  When I learned Ora Lee from Bob Carlin and favorite fiddler James Bryan's playing I was also playing Aura Lee, a la Elvis Presley's Love Me Tender, and noticed the similarity.  You can sing the lyrics of Love Me Tender over the Ora Lee melody.  I'm convinced they're related.  Here's a link to info that dates the Civil War song Aura Lee (or Lea) back to 1864 via the sheet music cover page:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aura_Lea. 

Thanks for including my MP3, Scott.  I'll put it here, too.

Ora Lee

majikgator - Posted - 07/31/2015:  13:16:57

Great tune and yeah James Bryan is great on that album as well as Brad Leftwich and Judy Hyman, Molsky as well. Definitely great stuff here all around, thanks for your contribution.

Kernel - Posted - 07/31/2015:  15:15:00

Here's a transcription (thanks to Mark Wardenburg) of James Bryan's fiddle from the Banging and Sawing CD in case you need something to get your fiddler moving. I didn't have it available this morning but Mark was willing to put it together since it was on his list of tunes to learn anyway.

taterjoes.com/fiddle/OraLee.pdf

Kernel - Posted - 07/31/2015:  15:51:15

P.S. I also edited a few notes in my banjo tab so it would track the fiddle version better. Sorry for the multiple posts. I couldn't figure out how to edit it into one.

taterjoes.com/fiddle/OraLee.pdf

taterjoes.com/banjo/OraLee.pdf

dbrooks - Posted - 07/31/2015:  19:40:29

I play a version very similar to TaterJoe's so it may have been one of my sources. The tab by Bob Carlin appeared in the December 2008 Banjo Newsletter. We play this tune often at contra dances. The tempo is faster than I recall hearing on "Banging & Sawing" so I simplify the tune a bit to play at the faster tempo. It is one of our favorites.

David

bhniko - Posted - 08/02/2015:  09:50:36

Janet...as sweet as the first time I heard you play it. Matter of fact when I heard it I requested the tab from you and still play along with you on the mp3.

ScottK - Posted - 08/02/2015:  11:59:53

Thanks for the tab and fiddle notation, Ken.  In case folk aren't aware, Ken has over 330 clawhammer banjo tabs and over 275 fiddle transcriptions from Mark Wardenburg on his Tater Joes web site.  It's a great resource!  And thanks for that info on Aura Lea, Janet.  I wasn't familiar with that history.

Scott

greenbrooms - Posted - 08/04/2015:  05:17:33

finally able to record a quick take of ora lee this morning - took it from the bob carlin version.

i'm having such a good time learning the Prust tackhead i got a few weeks ago. the deep thumps and plunks you get from this thing are really making me lean toward stringing my main player up with nylon to see what happens. thanks again for posting this tune, scott!

VIDEO: TOTW 7/31/2015 -- Ora Lee (click to view)

ScottK - Posted - 08/04/2015:  06:26:29

That sounds great, Kevin! Love the sound of that Prust tackhead. Congrats on picking that up.

Cheers, Scott

Brooklynbanjoboy - Posted - 08/04/2015:  07:09:14

Kevin, that was masterful.  Great sound.  Some nice fretless "innovations" in your playing of the tune.  Thanks for sharing.

V/R,

Lew

greenbrooms - Posted - 08/04/2015:  13:34:04

thanks scott and lew! means a lot coming from you guys :) pitch really stands out when listening back to the recording - much less so when i'm just plunking along without a care in the world. one of the many joys of the fretless banjo i suppose!

man i really need to convince my fiancée to pick up the fiddle or something.. these tunes are dying to be accompanied.