vrteach - Posted - 04/14/2017:  14:38:30

Hi tune fans! I've chosen the G-tune Roscoe for this week. Well-known tune but I don't hear it often it seems. However, a few weeks I was back in my home town of Duluth, Mn, visiting folks and also attending the "cabin fever" mini-festival. On Saturday I played Rosco twice, once in the morning with a fiddler named Ed from Thunder Bay, and then in the afternoon with a great group of folks from a variety of places in MN and WI. I think in that group we settled in and played for 4 hours straight. Good times.

Anyway, Roscoe. I got most of my information from archived topics on FiddleHangout, a good bit that from carlb. The tune comes from the fiddling of Kyle Creed, who learned it from (carlb states) from his guitar-playing friend Roscoe Russell. It may be that the tune didn't have a name, so Creed named it Roscoe. Maybe Mr. Russell made it up?

The image is of Kyle Creed (banjo) with his friend Roscoe Russell (guitar).

And, here is the source version by Kyle Creed fiddling as part of the Camp Creek Boys: slippery-hill.com/recording/roscoe

It plays well out of standard open-g tuning, and there are at least 8 versions on banjo hangout. However, three of those versions are by me because it's been a favorite of mine since I learned it from Billy Mathews' collection six years ago. Tomorrow I'll add yet another version as a video so I can show off my NEW BANJO.

Well, the tune doesn't have much history to it but it sure is fun to play.

Edit: added a video of Roscoe on my new Rickard White Laydie Half-spun.

Edited by - vrteach on 04/15/2017 07:50:16

VIDEO: Roscoe
(click to view)

Roscoe

hendrid - Posted - 04/14/2017:  16:24:45

Here is a version with dots   abcnotation.com/tunePage?a=tri...scoe/0000  

and from   ibiblio.org/fiddlers/ROS_ROTT.htm

ROSCOE. Old-Time, Breakdown. G Major. Standard tuning. AB (Silberberg): AA'BB (Phillips). The tune was in the repertoire of Kyle Creed. Source for notated version: Jere Canote (Seattle) [Phillips]. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, Vol. 1), 1994; pg. 202. Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; pg. 133.

X:1

T:Roscoe

M:C

L:1/8

Z:Transcribed by Carl Barron

K:G

e(g | g2) gg edBA | dB A2G2 (g2 | g2) g2 e g3 | a3b a2 (b2 | b)aba gedB |

c3 d c2 A(B | B)dBB A F3 | G3A G2
DF | G2B2 A B3 | c3d c2 (B2 |

B)cBA G F3 | D3 E D2 DF | G2B2 A B3 | c3 d c2 (B2 | B)dBB A F3 | G3A G2 :|

RG - Posted - 04/14/2017:  18:08:54

Fred Cockerham fiddles a great version of this tune as well...a favorite to play on fiddle & banjo at jams, always a tough decision on which instrument to play it on.  Great pick!

banjukebox - Posted - 04/14/2017:  19:16:35

Wow! I can't believe this tune hasn't been covered before! One of my favorite G tunes.

Here's another version:  youtube.com/watch?v=S9ZVyE4JMOw

vrteach - Posted - 04/15/2017:  08:15:56

Yup, I was pleased to find that Roscoe had not yet served as a TOTW. I notice that when the tune goes down to the low D string in the B part you correctly have it as part of a D7 chord, whereas I tend to just have the open G. I'm going to have to retrain myself.

I wish I lived in Anacortes, WA!