John D - Posted - 01/28/2022:  05:16:42

The Tune of the Week for 1/28/2022 is the song/fiddle tune in C, Four Cent Cotton. Four Cent Cotton is a euphemism for moonshine. When The price of cotton became so low that farmers couldn't make a living, they grew corn for Liquor instead. This was during Prohibition so demand for alcohol must have been pretty high.

I first heard Four Cent Cotton in the 1980's on the County LP "Hell Broke Loose in Georgia." I believe fiddler Lowe Stokes was the source of this tune, first recorded in the early 1930's, but I could be wrong.

Some of the lyrics:

Goin' up the road, whoopin' and a-hollerin',
I got drunk on four cent cotton
Woke up this morning, feeling kind of rotten,
I'd been drunk on four cent cotton.

I've never actually gone up the road (driving or stumbling) whoopin' and a-hollerin', but I imagine it would be quite a lot of fun. Fun if you don't think about the countless drunk driving deaths over the years, or the times you've been kept awake by neighbors whoopin' and a-hollerin' at 2:00 in the morning on a weeknight.

Nevertheless, this tune Rocks, especially the version by the Skillet Lickers with the wild guitar playing of Riley Puckett:

youtube.com/watch?v=HHjEDPzL5Jc

Lowe Stoke's take:

youtube.com/watch?v=7z1aiszZe7A

High energy version by the Freight Hoppers:

youtube.com/watch?v=wG2zdUlZUok

My favorite version is by BHO member LyleK:

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

My recording system is busted, but I do have a version I posted on the bho in 2009:

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

I'm curious to hear how Teetotaler Janet B's will sound!

WVDreamin - Posted - 01/28/2022:  16:30:36

I'm partial to that Lowe Stokes version and agree that Lyle's version is pretty sweet!

And where are the Riley Puckett guitar disciples? I've yet to come across an old time guitar player who plays anything like him.

janolov - Posted - 01/29/2022:  04:23:30

I think Four Cent Cotton is very similar to another favorite C tune: Greenback Dollar by the Weems String Band: youtube.com/watch?v=XW1kB8BuO3c .

Mtngoat - Posted - 01/29/2022:  08:41:45

John, a great OT tune and a good choice for TOTW.

Jan, thanks for introducing me to the Weems String Band. I'm on the fence about Greenback Dollar's kinship to 4 Cent Cotton but it is great material. Does anyone have thoughts on the banjo style of play?

janolov - Posted - 01/29/2022:  10:02:04

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mtngoat

Jan, thanks for introducing me to the Weems String Band. I'm on the fence about Greenback Dollar's kinship to 4 Cent Cotton but it is great material. Does anyone have thoughts on the banjo style of play?

---

Regarding Weems' Greenback Dollar:

My interpretation of Weems' Greenback Doillar is that it is some kind of three-finger on the banjo. The photo (which seems to be the only known picture) shows a sextet, but the recording was done with only four members. They used both violin/fiddle and cello, and somebody has mentioned that that the fiddler seems to have a classical training (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weems_String_Band) . And the banjo can be three-finger or perhaps two-finger. It sounds as a mixture of Charley Poole and Classic Banjo. I have tried to play it clawhammer, but I have had difficulties to get the right sound and rhythm.

Also, listen to New Lost City Ramblers: music.youtube.com/watch?v=jr6i...6imJcnpuM 

JanetB - Posted - 01/29/2022:  10:31:19

Interesting discovery, John!  Those string bands of old sure played with gusto.  Wonder if they drank much....

I listened to Lowe Stokes and arranged something with repeated A and B parts, followed by what's in the vocal melody, which doesn't repeat the parts.  I'm playing pretty fast for me (not yet having had my decaf this morning), and think if this was in my repertoire it would be better to decrease some of my notiness here, as played by the fiddle.  The slides copy the fiddle, too.

Four Cent Cotton (TOTW)

Four Cent Cotton (CH) tab

djvarnell - Posted - 01/29/2022:  14:27:07

WV Dreamin, check out John Schwab and his Old time Guitar instruction book