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EggerRidgeBoy - Posted - 12/29/2017: 17:11:36
Well here is another quick emergency back-up tune. This time it is mostly my fault, as I forgot to confirm a "tentative" slot assignment with a volunteer, and didn't realize that until I sent my reminder message yesterday. Sorry to do two tunes in a row!
Last week the closest I could come to a Christmas-themed tune was to choose Blue Goose, rather tenuously connecting the tune to the holiday by relying on the fact that in some places goose is a traditional Christmas meal. I'll follow the same approach this week and make an even more tenuous connection between a tune and a traditional New Year's Day food by choosing Black-Eyed Susianna as the Tune of the Week. Okay, I know that is a bit of a stretch and relies upon some free-associating, but it is the best I could do on short notice. :-)
Black-Eyed Susianna comes to us from Tennessee fiddler John Sharp, and is a different tune from the much more well known Black-Eyed Suzie. The stringband fiddle version played by Sharp may be based on the 'Old Time Banjo Song' of the same name published by S. S. Stewart in the July/August 1889 edition of his Banjo and Guitar Journal (imslp.org/wiki/Black-Eyed_Susianna_(Stewart%2C_Samuel_Swain .) However, the name "Black-Eyed Susianna" has a deeper history in minstrel-era music, and I haven't had a chance to fully research what if any connection that history has to Sharp's tune.
You can read more about John Sharp here: sandrockrecordings.com/album/s...cordings/ His version of the tune can be found on the Slippery Hill site: slippery-hill.com/recording/bl...d-suzanna
Gary Sizemore's fiddle version is on YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=YoWBelm975s
The Canotes have their version on their Mossyroof site:stringband.mossyroof.com/#ATunes (scroll down to "Fall 2014")
Tab by Ken Torke is on his TaterJoe's site: taterjoes.com/banjo/BlackEyedSusianna.pdf
And for those of you without a New Year's Day black-eyed peas recipe, here you go: yoursecretrecipes.com/general-...eyed-peas
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Edited by - EggerRidgeBoy on 12/29/2017 20:29:38
Cyndy - Posted - 12/29/2017: 22:25:30
Some interesting chord choices in the John Sharp recording.
I play this one on fiddle. Thanks for the nudge to try it on banjo, too. :)
And, a happy new year to all!
davido - Posted - 12/30/2017: 21:55:54
The most amazing thing is that the Slippery Hill recording was made in 1949 by Sgt. Alvin York, the modest WWI Medal of Honor winner.
Alvin York, when asked "How do you want to be remembered?," always replied, "For improving education in Tennessee."
JanetB - Posted - 12/31/2017: 13:15:46
Another unique contribution, Bret. Keep them coming! You show how quick, yet effective an "emergency back-up" can be.
I found that the Canote Brothers was a nice way to paraphrase John Sharp's original recording. I'm reminded both of Polly Wolly Doodle (both chordal flow and the presence of Suzyanna from Louisiana in the chorus) and of Old Joe Clark a bit.
Here's more bio information about John Sharp. sandrockrecordings.com/artist/...sharp-sr/. He sounds like he was a wonderful person, lover of his family and music, born in 1894 in Kentucky, died in 1969 in Tennesee, and crippled from a leg injury as a child. He was cousin and neighbor to fiddler Will Phipps and had Burnett and Rutherford as house guests for a week.
Also grateful to Ken Torke who keeps providing many inspirations for your posts, Bret. His site is a treasure indeed.
John Sharp
