Mtngoat - Posted - 03/12/2021:  05:01:49

I’ve chosen “Forty Weight of Ginger Bread” for this installment of TOTW.



The tune is attributed to Florida fiddler Arthur "Cush" Holston (1878 – 1964) who performed it at the Florida Folk Festival (FFF) in 1960. Holston’s source is unknown but some of his lyrics first appeared as floating verses in mid-19th century collections of minstrel tunes and songs.



Here’s a recording of Mr. Holston from the FFF archives accompanied by Marty Schuman on banjo, Dick Hunt on guitar, and Jim Dowis(?): slippery-hill.com/recording/fo...ngerbread



In the accompanying interview Mr. Holston recounts that he was born “so far out in the backwoods that no one lived behind them” and that he took up the fiddle at age 3.



I learned “Forty Weight of Ginger Bread” at a jam in Florida but the tune is rarely heard elsewhere and it has almost no internet presence.



Lloyd Baldwin, Bill Martin, and Dave Borland perform at the FFF here: archive.org/details/podcast_lo...090560892

David Bragger & Rafe Stefanini posted a fiddle/banjo duet here: fiddlehangout.com/myhangout/me...;archived

And Kenneth William Elkington has a solo banjo take on the tune here: youtube.com/watch?v=f3KRkMtDv5Q



I found one clawhammer tab for the tune here: app.box.com/s/vnh10hd8md6ev2gg...48tok7g8k



Viewers are encouraged to post observations, opinions, performances, and tabs contributing to this thread.



A photo of Mr. Holston at the Florida Folk Festival circa 1960 is attached below.

 

Hay-on-Wye - Posted - 03/12/2021:  05:18:13

Well done for stepping in so quick for TOTW and such a great tune . Going to give that tab a try

RG - Posted - 03/12/2021:  10:29:12

Love playing this tune on the fiddle! Great TOTW!

JanetB - Posted - 03/12/2021:  10:40:36

Thanks, Mtngt, for stepping in with some fun music.  Forty Weight of Gingerbread sounds like mountain music and it's gone coast to coast, from the Florida Folk Festival to the Old-Time Tiki Parlour in California.  There's even a New York coffee roasting company named Forty Weight.  The term refers to coffee if you're a truck driver on the CB.

I arranged one from the 2011 Florida Folk Festival link provided above.  They played it in the key of G, as I did, but A seems to be the key for the fiddle.  Where the lyrics were hard to catch, I made them up.  Roly Poly from Bob Wills comes to mind with its lyrics about youngsters and their hearty appetites.

Edited by - JanetB on 03/12/2021 10:43:12

Forty Weight of Gingerbread (TOTW)

Forty Weight of Gingerbread (CH) tab

Mtngoat - Posted - 03/12/2021:  18:09:22

Janet, Great playing and vocal work! Your first sting pull offs add so much to the tune.

JeroenJ - Posted - 03/24/2021:  04:23:33

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

I uploaded my take on this one. Even for simple tunes I usually need more than a week to get it running more or less groovy and smoothly.

I picked David Bragger and Rafe Stefanini's version as a basis. I love Bragger's bold approach to old-time music. I think this makes a perfect advancing beginner tune with room in the B part for subtle clucks or chucks. The A part is somewhat melodic without sacrificing groove. I tune up my fifth string to an a and I fret it to note the b in the tail of the A parts.

Mtngoat - Posted - 03/24/2021:  12:22:28

Jeroen,

Thanks for the contribution. I'll have to investigate your 5th string technique a bit. You never know when it might come in handy for something else.