janolov - Posted - 01/21/2022:  07:36:06

I have picked out Bill Cheatham for this TOTW. Bill Cheatham was banjohangout.org/archive/183813 )">TOTW already in 2010 by Bill Rogers, but I think it is a good tune that can be presented many times. In today’s TOTW I have focused on early versions of the tune.

History

The first documented mentioning of Bill Cheatham is in a newspaper about a fiddle contest. The Traditional Tune Archive  mentions it was a category in was a fiddle contest "category" tune in 1899 in Gallatin, Tenn.—each fiddler would play a version, with the best rendition being awarded a prize. According to the Traditional Tune Archive Bill Cheatham is a common fiddle tune throughout the Southern part of the United States, where it probably originated. When looking at the first recordings of Bill Cheatham the recording artists seems to be from Tennessee and Texas (see recording links below).   

Eck Robertson seems to have recorded a tune called Brilliance and Cheatum in 1922 (at the same session he recorded Ragtime Annie and Sallie Gooden), but it was never released. Eck Robertson later recorded Brilliance Medley in 1929, and one of the tunes in the medley was Bill Cheatham, However, before that, in 1928 the duo Blind Joe Mangrum and Fred Shriver recorded Bill Cheatham, with Blind Joe Mangrum on fiddle and Fred Shriver on accordion (!). Also Allen Brothers recorded it in 1928. See links to early recordings below.

Who was Bill Cheatham?

There have been discussions who Bill Cheatham was, and also the spelling of the name. Cheatham has seen with a lot of alternative spellings: Cheatem, Cheatam, Cheatum, Cheat 'Em.  Most tunes and songs about famous or infamous people usually have lyrics, but Bill Cheatham seems to be a strictly instrumental, so there are no lyrics that gives information about him. There have been discussions who Bill Cheatham was and I have found the following theories:

• There was a Confederate general Benjamin Franklin "Frank" Cheatham . There is a tune called Frank Cheatham, probably named after this Benjamin Franklin "Frank" Cheatham. B.F. Cheatham had a cousin, William Archer Cheatham. Kirk McGee played both tunes, Bill Cheatham, and Frank Cheatham, which he said was "Bill Cheatham's brother". Maybe this was a joke. Although they were both Tennesseans B.F. and W.A. Cheatham were not brothers, and they were from different regions of the state.


• According to a thread in FiddleHangOut, there were around the 1900’s a leading black vaudeville performers (or minstrels) was named Billy Cheatham, a member of the Cheatham Brothers' Black Diamond Minstrels. Seems reasonable that this person would be the namesake of the tune.


• Bill Cheatham seems to have some note similarities with the tune  Charter Oak Reel ,  a reel printed in Ryan's Mammoth Collection (1883).   (check page 90).

Early recordings

Bill Cheatham seems to have been a popular fiddle tune at the end of the 1920's.

• Eck Robertson (born in Arkansas but lived in Texas) 1929: (Bill Cheatham cut from the Brilliancy Medley): slippery-hill.com/content/bill-cheatam


• Eck Robertson 1929 (the whole Brilliance Medley): youtube.com/watch?v=4i8vKiedxqU


• Blind Joe Mangrum and Fred Shriver (Tennessee) 1928: youtube.com/watch?v=lWZNmAcLU5Q  and youtube.com/watch?v=cqBkxYlLpb4  or youtube.com/watch?v=kmrFsNT-Gk8 or slippery-hill.com/content/bill-cheatum-3


• Fiddlin’ Arthur Smith (Tennessee) 1940: youtube.com/watch?v=Hjkfv-32E7c


• The Allen Brothers (Tennessee) recorded it as "Cheat 'Em," 1928: youtube.com/watch?v=3R5Qmvk3fhI


•  Red Headed Fiddlers 1929 (Texas): youtube.com/watch?v=_SepsDZsD8I


• Kirk McGee (Tennessee) playing Frank Cheatham (I have not found his recording of his version of Bill Cheatham): youtube.com/watch?v=hlA0Qy7kmx8


• Roy Wooliver 1958 (with John Hartford banjo): slippery-hill.com/content/bill-cheatham

Bluegrass recordings (worth listening to)

I have found no early Bluegrass recordings, but in 1967 Earl Scruggs, Lester Flatt and Doc Watson recorded the album Strictly Instrumental where Bill Cheatham was one of the tracks: youtube.com/watch?v=V07gZXvVmjo

After that Bill Cheatham become a Bluegrass standard, and I think Bill Cheatham is more popular among three-finger pickers than clawhammer and Old-Time players today

Bill Monroe: youtube.com/watch?v=9nOJVGAwny4   youtube.com/watch?v=TVCnfDZCuqc

Chet Atkins: youtube.com/watch?v=8Zn9y3vbaAI

Some contemporary Old-Time versions                                                                                       

Clare Milliner and Walt Koken:  youtube.com/watch?v=ZAdJif5ch_I

Lefty5string: youtube.com/watch?v=vmhI_x6hVE8

Noah Cline: youtube.com/watch?v=wOB6-a5mEEg

Josh Turknett: youtube.com/watch?v=pBHfbDaxfmg

Hilary Burns: youtube.com/watch?v=8uAqCtmLdH8

Seppo Sillanpää: youtube.com/watch?v=UFwvHJdSI8U

Erich Schroeder: youtube.com/watch?v=azeTA3GHl3I

More information

There have been some discussions about Bill Cheatham in BanjoHangout and FiddleHngout, for example

• BHO Practice tune today 4 me "Bill Cheatham": banjohangout.org/archive/180777


• BHO TOTW 7/30/10-Bill Cheatham (or whatever spelling): banjohangout.org/archive/183813


• Fiddle Hangout: Origins of Bill Cheatham: fiddlehangout.com/archive/47903 (innehåller intressant information)


• Fiddle Hangout: Eck Roberson's Brilliancy Medley: Help Identifying Individual Tunes: fiddlehangout.com/archive/33692


• Traditional Tune Archive tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Bill_Cheatham

Notation and tabs

fiddlehangout.com/archive/33692 contains fiddle transcription of Eck Robertson’s Brilliancy Medley, and a discussion of the tunes in the medley.

fiddlehangout.com/archive/33692 contains fiddle transcription of Kirk McGee’s Bill Cheatham and Frank Cheatham

The Session.org contains some modern fiddle versions

Traditional Tune Archive fiddle version based on Jay Ungar

The Milliner-Koken Collection of American Fiddle Tunes  contains transcriptions of Eck Robertson’s version (1929) and Roy Wooliver’s version (1958).

The BanjoHangOut Tab Archive (scroll down to Bill C) contains about 25 banjo tabs, but only 2 or 3 of them seems to be clawhammer and Old-Time, the rest are Bluegrass.

Ken Perlman Clawhammer Style Banjo   contains and easy and an intermediate/difficult version

Dan Levenson Old-Time Festival Tunes for Clawhammer Banjo contains an easy and a more advanced version plus fiddle notation.

Josh Turknett: video with tab or pdf of tab.

I have added a tab in the tab archive , based on Eck Robertson version from 1929.

Some personal observations and thoughts

• 
  

  I think the tune was named after a musician, probably Billy Cheatham mentioned above. If it was a confederate general there would probably some some lyrics (unless the North censored the lyrics). 

  
  


• 
  

  An observation is that these early recordings came from Tennessee and Texas

  
  


• 
  

  Bluegrass version seems to often be played in the key of G, while Old-Time banjo and fiddle versions usually are in the key of A.

  
  


• 
  

  The tune seems to have been developed from the end of the 1920's to today. There are several small differences. It is a good example how a tune can change over time.

  
  


• The tune Frank Cheatham sound interesting. It may be my next project to learn on the banjo

Edited by - janolov on 01/21/2022 07:37:16

JanetB - Posted - 01/21/2022:  11:01:26

Nice work, Jan.  It's beneficial to go over tunes we covered quite a few years ago.  My arrangement resembles yours.  Doc Watson was my inspiration in the 70's, and he played fast.  My fingers want to go slower these days, but they picked up the normal pace today. I've always liked the double thumbing in the B part. 

VIDEO: Bill Cheatham (TOTW)
(click to view)

Bill Cheatham (CH) tab

Noah Cline - Posted - 01/21/2022:  11:27:15

Thanks for including my version, Jan. Here's another video of me playing this tune in aEAC#E tuning (as I normally do at jams): youtu.be/fGC_Q3lRW40

The version at the link you provided was basically the same fingering but over a string and an octave below, played out of open D tuning (f#DF#AD) but tuned down to c#AC#EA for A. 

Also, listening to Frank Cheatham, the A part is pretty much the same as the A of Little Billy Wilson. The B sounds familiar to another tune I've heard before (I think), but can't recall which. 

janolov - Posted - 01/21/2022:  12:42:02

quote:

---

Originally posted by Noah Cline

Thanks for including my version, Jan. Here's another video of me playing this tune in aEAC#E tuning (as I normally do at jams): youtu.be/fGC_Q3lRW40

The version at the link you provided was basically the same fingering but over a string and an octave below, played out of open D tuning (f#DF#AD) but tuned down to c#AC#EA for A. 

Also, listening to Frank Cheatham, the A part is pretty much the same as the A of Little Billy Wilson. The B sounds familiar to another tune I've heard before (I think), but can't recall which. 

 

---

Nice Noah! It is always a pleasure to listen to you.

Regarding the first part of Frank Cheatham, you are right about Billy Wilson. "Old Billy Wilson" is one of the tunes in Eck Robertson's Brilliance medley so Kirk McGee may have taken the idea from the medley. However, I think Kirk's version and Eck Robertson's version of Billy Wilson sounds a little different. When listening to the second part of Frank Cheatham I began thinking of Sandy River Belles.

Mtngoat - Posted - 01/21/2022:  15:33:12

Great TOTW.

Years ago I heard a recording with lyrics. I can't find it in my collection so I don't know where it comes from but the verse that sticks in my memory was something similar to " I knew a man named Old Bill Cheatum, he bought some peanuts and let me eat um."

Bill Rogers - Posted - 01/21/2022:  18:13:27

I have an old tape (Jan., 1969) of Walt Koken playing it at a speed about like Watson’s. My favorite banjo version. Kudos, Jan Olov, you did the research I didn't. A solid presentation. 

Edited by - Bill Rogers on 01/21/2022 18:17:14

Mtngoat - Posted - 01/22/2022:  17:04:21

The bad weather forced me to stay inside today so I did some internet sleuthing and found the recording of Bill Cheatum with lyrics here:  youtube.com/watch?v=92qe8NHXOkA   It was recorded June 22, 1928 by the James Cole String Band.

I can't tell you whether the lyrics are traditional or penned specifically for this recording session but I suspect the latter since the group recorded another side the same day entitled I Got a Gal with a very similar feel.