JanetB - Posted - 12/28/2018:  10:34:38

A soothing lullaby called Rocking the Babies to Sleep in ¾ time will end this year’s old-time Tune of the Week.  (Other titles are Rock All the Babies to Sleep or Rocking Our Babies to Sleep.)

The life and music of Virginia fiddler Henry Reed lives on through the legacy of Alan Jabbour, founder of the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress. One was born in 1884 and died at the age of 84; the other in 1942, who died recently in 2017. 

I first heard it watching a 2018 American Folklife presentation honoring Alan’s life.  He learned the tune from Henry Reed’s sons, Gene and James, who heard it growing up as played by their father and sung by their mother.  It’s a sad song, perhaps with older Irish roots, lamenting the absence of a carousing mother while the father has to care for the babies.  

However, as a fiddle tune, it’s a beauty and the sad lyrics are left behind.  The B part is said to echo the yodeling, both of the 1924 recording of Riley Puckett, the “Bald Mountain Caruso”, and the 1932 recording of Jimmie Rodgers, the yodeling cowboy.  Further, it's said that the yodel may have reflected a baby’s wail for its mother.  It’s also said that Riley Puckett’s yodeling on this song was the first such recording of its kind and may have influenced Jimmie.   

Alan Jabbour was a young college student when he began recording musicians.  His efforts uncovered the numerous tunes of Henry Reed and through his position in the American Folklife Center was able to archive the large collection in the Library of Congress. 

 Fifty musicians joined Bertram Levy, Stephen Wade, Ken Perlman, and Henry Reed’s family members for a memorial jam last summer. Go to 1:53 to hear Rocking the Babies to Sleep in this tribute to Alan Jabbour at the American Folklife Center.  I was surprised that of the several jam tunes in this tribute only two were not already on our TOTW list.  

Historic versions and one from BHO:

Riley Puckett

Jimmie Rodgers

Maddox Brothers and Rose Maddox

Alan Jabbour solo

James Reed, son of Henry Reed

Lonnie Robertson, Missouri fiddler

Chip Arnold, BHO member does a nice 2-finger version.

If you haven’t tried this tune, you might now.  It’s not hard and is one that Henry Reed fans will enjoy. I dedicated a page on my website to my arrangements of Henry Reed tunes and will continue pursuing his music, which he was proud of and loved sharing:   16 Henry Reed tunes on clawhammer banjo.   

VIDEO: Rocking the Babies to Sleep (TOTW)
(click to view)

Rocking the Babies to Sleep (CH) tab

dbrooks - Posted - 12/28/2018:  13:35:41

Great choice, Janet. I love playing waltzes and was enchanted by this tune when I saw Alan and Ken in concert a few years ago. I've never tried to learn it, but now the time is right.

David

JanetB - Posted - 12/30/2018:  10:01:49

I found the existence of another recording by Vocalian Records (which later became Columbia) dated between Riley Puckett and Jimmie Rodgers by blind guitar and harmonica player George Reneau.  He traveled to New York in 1924 to record a single was released the following year with Rock All Our Babies to Sleep/Rosewood Casket.  Gene Austin was the singer, who later went on to become quite well-known.  See Bio of George Reneau, "the blind minstrel of the Smokey Mountains".

chip arnold - Posted - 01/03/2019:  06:14:27

Thanks for the mention and the beautiful tune of the week! It's good to see a waltz show up among clawhammer players :-)

Don Borchelt - Posted - 01/04/2019:  11:52:44

Wonderful picking by Janet and Chip. I've had the opportunity to pick this tune with Chip on several occasions, and his elegant rendition on banjo always amazes me. He knows how to turn a fiddle tune into a banjo tune. The video below is from a busking session in Harvard Square in July, 2017, with my close friends Ed Britt and John Maguire.  Wishing everyone lots of good picking in 2019!

Edited by - Don Borchelt on 01/04/2019 11:53:37