I started playing Old Christmas on fiddle (different from the more familiar Old Christmas Morning) as a lesson tune from David Bragger back in the spring of 2013. It's been a favorite of mine ever since so when I started thinking about possibilities for today's Tune of the Week, it seemed like a good choice--even though the day won't actually be here until the new year.
Background
So, what is "Old Christmas?" It's complicated, actually, but in a nutshell, between 1582 and 1752, most of Europe switched From the Julian to the Gregorian Calendar and it involved an adjustment which meant that more than a week was lost in the process. Christmas came earlier with the new calendar, but many people continued to celebrate the holiday based on the old calendar which put it on or about January 6. The January holiday, which coincided with a related celebration, Epiphany, came to be called "Old Christmas."
Three Source Recordings
I was able to find three source recordings for Old Christmas and you can sample them at the Slippery-Hill links below.
Mr. Boyd (catalog card) and Mr. Nicholson (catalog card) were recorded by Alan and Elizabeth Lomax in 1937. Mr. Campbell was recorded by Bruce Greene in 1977.
About the Fiddlers
I didn't have time to research the three fiddlers represented, but I checked the 1940 United States census to try to learn a little bit about their lives and, at quick glance, I believe these are the matches.
There was an Asher Boyd living in Leslie County when the 1940 census was taken and it's likely he was the fiddler. Mr. Boyd reported that he was 51 years old (born abt. 1889 in Kentucky) and he was working on a "Sanitation Project" for the W.P.A. His household included his wife, Hattie, five children, and a brother and sister-in-law.
A "Mannon Campbell" was living in Letcher County in 1940. He was 40 years old (born about 1891 in Kentucky) and was earning his living as a farmer. His household included his wife, "Meldia," nine children, and a nephew. If you Google "manon campbell fiddle" and follow the link to Old-Time Kentucky Fiddle Tunes on Google Books, you can see a photo of Mr. Campbell.
There's some confusion about where George C. Nicholson was recorded (the county is crossed of on the catalog card) but it's likely he was the George C. Nicholson who was living in an unincorporated part of Clay County in 1940. He gave his age as 85 (born abt. 1855 in Kentucky) and he was earning his living as a farmer. His household included his wife, Emmaline, and a daughter.
Mr. Nicholson seems to have been a generation ahead of the other two fiddlers, but they all seem to have lived in the same area. I don't know where this tune originated, but, having been played by three different fiddlers who lived in fairly close proximity (Kentucky county map), I think it's safe to call it an eastern Kentucky fiddle tune.
Old Christmas in Kentucky
I was curious to know if Old Christmas was celebrated in Kentucky and a quick Google search brought up two related pages.
The other was a book titled Old Christmas and Other Kentucky Tales in Verse by William Aspenwall Bradley, published by Houghton Mifflin Company in Boston and New York in 1917. The chapter titled "Old Christmas" is long, and I haven't had a chance to really dig into it yet, but it looks interesting. If you follow the link, check the preface. It explains Mr. Bradley's connection to Kentucky.
Three Modern Recordings
I was able to find three modern recordings.
BHO member Hilarie Burhans added her banjo version of the Asher recording to the media archive in 2010. Make sure to read her description. There's more to the Old Christmas tradition than just the calendar change.
And then Jayme Stone included a version of the Nicholson tune in his Lomax Project. Bruce Molsky (fiddle), Brittany Haas (fiddle), Julian Lage (guitar), Joe Phillips (bass), Jayme Stone (banjo)
And Bruce Greene included it on his Five Miles of Ellum Wood. I didn't find a sound clip online, but in my very biased opinion, the CD is a must-have anyway.
Experimenting with the Tune
As I mentioned earlier, I play the tune on fiddle, but I hadn't tried it on banjo until this week. After some experimentation, I decided that modal tuning seemed to be most comfortable under my fingers and so that's the way I've been approaching it. It feels like this is a made-for-the-Prust sort of tune but that poses some intonation challenges so yesterday, for recording purposes, I swapped in four nylon strings on my fretted banjo and that proved to be a good compromise.
Musically speaking, this tune can include something that I call a "backward ornament" (2-1-2 instead of 1-2-1) on the third note of the B section. (See the Titon book linked below for further mention of this.) I find it very hard to do but it colors a melody in a unique way and I think it's an important part of this tune. I also think the B part lends itself to variation and I'm still experimenting--looking for those happy accidents that end up being keepers.
Here's a short fiddle version that I recorded back in July.
And here's a definitely-not-quite-there-yet banjo practice recording that I made yesterday when the house was clean, the gifts were wrapped, the lights were twinkling, and all that was left to do was to sit and play the banjo to wait for my husband to bring our son home from the airport and our daughter to drive up from San Diego so that we could hit the kitchen to cook together and get the holiday underway.
I'd hoped to jot down some tab for the version that I've been working from but there's breakfast to be made and suitcases to pack! Maybe later in the week.
No problem! Both are wonderful tunes and, actually, I was glad for the reminder about the tab book. I was thinking I'd take the computer out onto the porch and read through it in a bit. And, I always enjoy Old-Time Banjer's playing!
My first encounter with this haunting, mysterious tune was from the playing of fiddler Wilson Douglas. I guess that's why for a long time I associated it exclusively as a W.VA. tune. here is a brilliant albeit all too short banjo version from a fellow, Lee Hammons, who must be part of that famous W VA musical family. might add that David Bragger has great fiddle version based on French Carpenters's arrangement.
I agree! The West Virginia tune Old Christmas Morning--the one that's based on French Carpenter's version--can be very beautiful. I fell in love with Erynn Marshall's version of it some years ago and listened to it over and over again. But, I also like the rougher sound that I hear in the source recording, too.
I'm going to post a few examples of that tune so we can compare it to George Nicholson's Old Christmas. Are there similarities in the melody or just in the title? Are they connected in any way?
Nice choice for TOTW. Here's some tab for the Manon Campbell version of "Old Christmas." I based this tab on a combination of the arrangement in Jeff Todd Titon's book and the YouTube video linked below:
The A part is a bit crooked. Different arrangements handle this differently. I have an extra half measure at the end of the A part. You may hear something different.
You couldn't have chosen a better tune for Christmas, Cyndy, and I especially like your modal version on banjo. You deserve an A+ for your TOTW write-up! David Brook's tab and mine resemble each other in open G tuning. I listened to and arranged Bruce Greene's version of Old Christmas on the CD "Five Miles of Ellum Wood, Old Time Kentucky Fiddle Solos." He learned from Manon Campbell and also listened to the Lomax 1937 recording of Uncle George Custer Nicholson. I also listened to Bruce Molsky with Jayme Stone on the Lomax Project CD (both CDs indeed well worth having) and liked his modal approach, reminding me of yours.
It was fun learning about Christmas traditions in Spain while talking to my sister today. She says Spaniards celebrate Three Kings Day on January 6th because it took 12 days from the time of Jesus' birth for the magi to travel to Bethlehem to bring their gifts. If you search on-line you can see and read about the grand parade that takes place in Malaga on the eve of Three Kings Day, the closest big city to her.
@JanetB -- You've captured it! Such a nice tune, isn't it? And we can keep it on the play list at least until January 6. :) I really appreciate you posting.
Great tab and fine playing, Janet. I assumed that someone might provide for the Boyd and Nicholson versions, but that hasn't happened yet. You match Bruce green's version quite well. I chose to use the arrangement in Jeff Todd Titon's book primarily because I have tabbed most of John Salyer's tune in that text and have this notion of tabbing all of the tunes in the Titon book someday.
