jack_beuthin - Posted - 03/03/2017:  04:44:51

I am excited to present a new favorite of mine this week, Old Time Billy in the Low Ground.  “Old Time Billy” comes to us from the Kentucky fiddler, Kelly Gilbert (1895-1991).  It bears no relation to the well known and widely played Billy in the Low Ground.  I don’t have a lot of background history on Old Time Billy, so I won’t wax on about that much.  Anyone who does know something, please jump in.

Old Time Billy (a G tune) is played in jams here in the Front Range of Colorado, but I didn’t really catch it until I saw the YouTube of the Canote Brothers and Brendan Doyle (BHO’s own) knocking it out.  That performance definitely hooked me.  It’s also crooked, which adds some nice character to the tune.

Old Time Billy does bear some resemblance to the Northumberland dance tune, Morpeth Rant.  Other than that, the Traditional Tune Archive provides a bit of background.  Notably, Kelly Gilbert said the tune was played in Kentucky well back in the 1800s.  Nothing new fangled about this one.

Here is Kelly Gilbert playing: slippery-hill.com/recording/ol...ow-ground

And here are some fine, new-fangled recordings:

Canote Brothers and Brendan Doyle: youtube.com/watch?v=GBdWeXXzj8Q

Adam Hurt (fiddle) and Beth Hartness:youtube.com/watch?v=kWEnE4YswXs

Tater Patch: youtube.com/watch?v=Bgb-s8Be324

Ken Torke has a banjo tab (standard G tuning) on his Tater Joe’s website: taterjoes.com/banjo/OldTimeBil...round.pdf

To my surprise, there is nothing in the BHO media archive (time to change that!).

Lastly, I've included my rendition and accompanying tab.  I use the gEADE (“Sandy River Belle”) tuning, where the tune plays easily.  Has anyone tried it in other nonstandard G tunings?

Enjoy, and pitch in. I’d love to hear some 2- and 3-finger renditions, as well as more clawhammer.

Old Time Billy in the Low Ground

Old Time Billy in the Low Ground

JanetB - Posted - 03/03/2017:  13:03:40

A good TOTW to explore, Jack, thanks.  Nice clawing, as always!  I wouldn't have found this tune for a long time without your TOTW, even though Adam recorded it.

Before giving it a try, here's some info about Mr. Gilbert.  The photo is of John Harrod's liner notes in the "Traditional Fiddle Music of Kentucky, Along the Kentucky River" CD, including a photo of Kelly Gilbert.  It's interesting that Jim Booker, one of the tune's source fiddlers, was African-American and the tune has a minstrel feel to me.  Hopefully it's okay to include this liner notes photo for educational purposes and I'll assume people can expand it to read the fine print.  

carlb - Posted - 03/04/2017:  10:27:34

quote:

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Originally posted by jack_beuthin

Has anyone tried it in other nonstandard G tunings?

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Here's my clawhammer rendition presented playing along with the Kelly Gilbert recording (pitch is in about G#) with my banjo tuned in gDGde.

Note, since I've been unable to have my attachments showing up in the "attachment list", even after adding them, here is the link:

banjohangout.org/myhangout/med...archived=

Edited by - carlb on 03/04/2017 10:29:03

jack_beuthin - Posted - 03/04/2017:  13:14:34

Great stuff Carl.  If you would have told me this was the original recording of Kelly Gilbert and some nameless banjoist, I would have believed it.

bhniko - Posted - 03/05/2017:  14:19:33

My head kept bopping right along. Well done.

Tamarack - Posted - 03/05/2017:  17:29:59

Sweet tune perfect for a Sunday afternoon. This one was new to me.