sugarinthegourd - Posted - 04/29/2016:  09:07:32

"You may have heard about Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon before. In fact, you probably learned about it for the first time very recently. If not, then you just might hear about it again very soon. Baader-Meinhof is the phenomenon where one happens upon some obscure piece of information—often an unfamiliar word or name—and soon afterwards encounters the same subject again, often repeatedly. Anytime the phrase 'That’s so weird, I just heard about that the other day' would be appropriate, the utterer is hip-deep in Baader-Meinhof."

damninteresting.com/the-baader...enomenon/

I'm sure everyone reading this has experienced this phenomenon, and probably with that fiddle tune you'd never thought about before, that now shows up seemingly everywhere. This week's post is dedicated to a tune that came to me recently as a "Baader-Meinhof" tune. I am a big fan of the Carter Brothers & Son and I'm sure I'd heard this tune before, but it had somehow never really penetrated into my consciousness the way nearly every other one of their recordings had. Then, about a month ago, at a jam in Asheville, NC (where my family travels every year for Spring Break), this tune was the first tune played in the jam. I loved playing it and made a note to listen to it more and bring it into the next A jam I played in. Then, about a week later, I took my very first fiddle lesson with David Bragger (who is an amazing teacher, BTW), and the very first tune he suggested we work on was this one. It is now the first tune I play when I practice the fiddle, and one David and I review at each subsequent lesson.

Listen to the original here on archive.org.

The tune is in A (cross-A or AEAE on fiddle) and is a simple one to work out by ear on banjo. Give it a listen and give it a try! Will be interested to hear how people like it and maybe even what they come up with. 

At that jam in Asheville, John Herrmann led the tune (on fiddle) and sang a fun little vocal on the low part: "la-la-la-la Liza Jane" -- in the original, George Carter just sings his typical nonsense syllables in that spot.

The tune hasn't yet popped up randomly in a way that continues the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, but I'm sure it will...even without my bringing it into my next A session, which I plan to do. 

Enjoy!

John

P.S. This tune was touched on in a poly-Liza Jane thread posted last year by JanetB. Carl Baron brought it into that thread as Liza Jane #10. :-) But I like it enough that I thought it deserved its own spot here as a TOTW.

Edited by - sugarinthegourd on 04/29/2016 21:11:03

Cyndy - Posted - 04/29/2016:  10:04:41

This tune popped up at a jam I was at last week but there was no weirdness about that occurrence at all. :) There were five or six of us and three of us had learned it from -- yup! You guessed it right!



I'll have to try it on banjo. I'll bet it would sound good on a fretless. Fun choice for TOTW!

hweinberg - Posted - 04/29/2016:  13:28:39

Jimmy Carter ("son") was about 12 when they cut those records for Okeh in Memphis.  His backup guitar playing is great.  

carlb - Posted - 04/30/2016:  04:38:32

What I found interesting about this tune is that all the notes don't even span a single octive. The lowest note is A and highest note is G. It's the way it moves, I love it.

JanetB - Posted - 05/01/2016:  20:37:45

Yes, John, you've unveiled a tune worth learning.  Here's an article on the Carter Brothers and Son with anecdotes and photos in several parts.  The source is mainly from the son of the group, Jimmie Carter.  It's entitled "The Other Carter Family--George, Andrew, and Jimmie:"  oldtimeparty.wordpress.com/201...ppi-pt-2/.  

Liza Jane (Carter Brothers and Son), TOTW

Liza Jane (Carter Brothers & Son) CH tab

Brooklynbanjoboy - Posted - 05/02/2016:  13:28:13

There are always serious risks of posting a tune after JanetB has had a crack at it.  But I'm throwing caution to the wind, and going ahead with this anyway, against all better judgment.  Here's my stab at it:

youtube.com/watch?v=TsCWjAPVGfM