jillianh - Posted - 03/30/2016:  09:43:57

I posted a recording a few months ago of a clawhammer arrangement of 'Sally in the Garden', and I got some positive feedback (thanks!! ). I felt a little bad though because I'd totally stolen the arrangement from some musicians I heard in Dublin, Ireland! I guess it's not stealing it's the folk process! Anyway, I noticed on Facebook that they've recorded their version of it so I figured I'd share it seeing as people seemed to enjoy my imitation version of it.

Not strictly old-time I guess, maybe a little too 'new' for this forum.

soundcloud.com/rue-dublin/sall...he-garden

Edited by - Bill Rogers on 03/30/2016 11:40:17

Bill Rogers - Posted - 03/30/2016:  11:41:14

Moved it because Sound Off is for recordings of BHO members or recordings that they produced.

jillianh - Posted - 03/30/2016:  11:58:34

Oh, sorry! Thanks!

R.D. Lunceford - Posted - 03/30/2016:  17:57:16

quote:

---

Originally posted by jillianh

I felt a little bad though because I'd totally stolen the arrangement from some musicians I heard in Dublin, Ireland!

soundcloud.com/rue-dublin/sall...he-garden

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Stress not, Jillian.

That banjo setting is similar to the one published by John Burke in his iconic "Fiddle Tunes for Clawhammer Banjo" back in 1968, and may well be the basis (unbeknownst to many) for most CH versions you will hear of the tune down to this day. The John Burke book came with a sound sheet (a tear-out phonograph record) that included the tune.  I'll bet somebody has transferred it to an MP3 or some such thing.  You might be interested to hear it if you can run it down.

By the way, your execution is as good as any I've heard over the last half-century.  Looks like the tune will live a little longer!!!

Edited by - R.D. Lunceford on 03/30/2016 18:06:49

Paul R - Posted - 03/30/2016:  22:23:32

Great touch on the banjo, Jillian, and great tone - a pleasure to listen to! (The Rue version is okay, too.) Yes, as R.D. says, it's very close to the John Burke arrangement. I have an MP3 version on a CD, but my computer setup right now is falling apart (didn't know if I could play your recording, but it worked) and I'm in the process of replacing. If you're interested, let me know and I'll see if anything's possible (just not right away).

The New Lost City Ramblers recorded a different take on the idea, "Hog Eye", on their album, #3. You can find it at the Smithsonian Folkways website.

R.D. Lunceford - Posted - 03/30/2016:  23:21:04

"Sally in the Garden"...
"Sally in the Garden Siftin' Sand"...
and
Christeson's Missouri tune, "Sally in the Garden Assisting Sam",
which I'd have to think was a misheard title.

Three different Sallys.

jillianh - Posted - 03/31/2016:  02:06:59

Thanks for the compliments on my playing and tone! Yeah, I love the New Lost City Ramblers' Hog Eye, and some contra dance musicians do the tune too.

I really like the Rue recording, but it does seem like maybe it was a little rushed or something. When I heard them play it live, in a pub obviously because it was in Ireland, it was some of the best clawhammer playing I ever heard, but I guess it's hard to capture that relaxed energy in a studio.

Edited by - jillianh on 03/31/2016 02:09:31

jillianh - Posted - 03/31/2016:  02:18:35

I think this recording is the same banjo player. Unless there are two clawhammer players of the same name in Dublin, Ireland!

soundcloud.com/anna-and-brian/...umped-joe

R.D. Lunceford - Posted - 03/31/2016:  08:04:25

Though your tune doesn't appear in the contents,
here is a link to: "Hill County Tunes" by Samuel Bayard,
a Southwestern Pennsylvania tune collection.
mne.psu.edu/lamancusa/tunes/hct/

OldPappy - Posted - 03/31/2016:  08:18:34

The Morris Brothers recorded "Hog-Eyed-Man" back in 1973, and it was a very popular selection on the Jukeboxes of WV beer joints.

Now, of course, I have never been in a WV beer joint, but I do like their version of the song.

youtube.com/watch?v=pLX5PRfVa2s 

OldPappy - Posted - 03/31/2016:  08:19:35

Wonder how many of you know what "Hog-Eyed-Man" means.

bryanshepard - Posted - 03/31/2016:  10:19:54

Well, Andy, I've heard a couple different interpretations of what it may mean...but I'll go with the family friendly distilled version: a barge man. A boat worker, basically.

The others are more colorful (and more interesting)!

OldPappy - Posted - 03/31/2016:  10:46:58

 That is a new one for me, but it is nice to know of an interpretation that can be used in "polite society".

OldPappy - Posted - 03/31/2016:  11:06:56

Here is an interesting, at least to me, rendition of a related tune.

Darin Gentry playing "Sally's in the Garden Siftin Sand" with some of the locals as accompaniment, while in Haiti as a Missionary.

youtube.com/watch?v=AjyAWhOTLPY

Bill Rogers - Posted - 03/31/2016:  14:41:50

quote:

---

Originally posted by OldPappy

 

The Morris Brothers recorded "Hog-Eyed-Man" back in 1973, and it was a very popular selection on the Jukeboxes of WV beer joints.

Now, of course, I have never been in a WV beer joint, but I do like their version of the song.

youtube.com/watch?v=pLX5PRfVa2s 

---

Great version of Sally Ann--with lyrics involving a hog-eyed man.  Also a bit of Skillet Good and Greasy.  No sign though, of one of the the Hog-Eyed Man melodies.  Interesting choice of title.

OldPappy - Posted - 04/01/2016:  07:21:41

I am sure the title, and additional lyrics were chosen by someone with a wink in his eye.

This is also one of the earliest recordings with Dwight Diller playing clawhammer banjo, back when he was just a pup.

Previous to his stint with the Morris Brothers band, Dwight played bass and a little clawhamer, with the "Black Mountain Bluegrass Boys" which Bill Monroe once referred to as the best unknown bluegrass band he had ever heard. 

AndrewD - Posted - 04/01/2016:  15:05:20

quote:

---

Originally posted by OldPappy

 

Wonder how many of you know what "Hog-Eyed-Man" means.

---

Well Dwight did sort of tell us at a workshop. At least we figured our way through his euphemisms to an answer.

mike gregory - Posted - 04/02/2016:  06:12:10

Sounds like a move in "CLUE".

Sally,

In the GARDEN

with the HOG-EYED MAN

BobTheGambler - Posted - 04/02/2016:  08:16:50

My favorite old recording of "Sally In The Garden" is on "Medley of Old Time Tunes Part 2" Crockett Family Mountaineers 78: