Shoe Heels Cracking on the Floor - TOTW 10/21/2022
I’ve chosen Shoe Heels Cracking on the Floor from Kentucky fiddler Darley Fulks (1895-1990) for this installment of TOTW. I was introduced to the tune by John Harrod’s Johnny Come Along CD, a compilation of Kentucky fiddle tunes that belongs in the collection of every student of OT music.
The tune has almost no internet presence and the sole historical record I could find is from the Bluegrass Messengers web page wherein Steve Green writes that the title Shoe String Cracking the Floor was listed on the 1915 Berea College student list and is presumably the same tune. Green’s assumption is logical given that the report aligns well in time and place with Fulk’s opportunity to learn the tune as a young man.
In the liner notes to his CD Harrod remembers that Fulks would sing “Mamma has an old gray goose/ she lives behind the door/ Every day she lays three eggs/ and Sunday she lays four/ Shoe heels cracking on the floor, lord, lord/ Shoe heels cracking on the floor.” Then he would laugh and say “Oh lord, I hadn’t thought of that in years.”
Elsewhere Harrod writes: “Darley Fulks was the most remarkable fiddler I ever knew. Living most of his life in Wolfe Co., on the western edge of the Kentucky mountains, his music diverged sharply from that of Stepp, Strong, and Salyer who lived in adjoining counties. He learned many of his tunes and techniques from his grandfather and other fiddlers of that generation, including the styles and tunes of his African-American neighbors in the lowland Bluegrass Region of Kentucky. He had worked as an oil driller in his youth, traveling the country from Michigan to Texas, meeting other musicians and learning tunes everywhere he went. His repertoire thus included a collection of unique old tunes, many pre-dating the Civil War, of an exceptionally diverse range of styles and genres. A visit to Darley was like stepping back into the 19th century. Every tune led to a story and an association with the person who had played it, delivered with seriousness and solemnity and reinforced with the tap of his bow on my knee.”
Melvin Wine played a tune called "Boatin' Up Sandy" (in GDAD) which sounds exactly like the same tune. It's not on Slipperyhill. If I can't find it on the internet, then I'll upload it, but you'll only be able to listen to it, but not download it (as per my previous contact with Augusta Heritage). It's on the CDROM of the Augusta Heritage Production "One More Time" - The Life and Music of Melvin Wine (AHDVD/AHCDR 04).
He also plays it on the Augusta Heritage cassette "Old-Time Fiddling of Braxton County" Volume 2 (AHR O13).
The recordings MtnGoat is referring to above seems to be in G. The notation in Traditional Tune Archive is in the key of C, but is the same melody. I think G will be easier to play in because the low part can be played as the low part, but in C you have to play the low part an octave higher.
PS There's a transcription of Melvin's version in Drew Beisswenger's Ph.D. thesis on Melvin. Please PM me if you like a copy. I haven't scanned it yet.
Two reasons to check back in on the TOTW on JanetB’s watch: 1. To hear Melvin Wine’s fiddling, and 2. To get another look at what Carl Baron listened to, recorded, and played.
Here’s Dwight Diller and Darin Gentry playing “Boatin’ Up Sandy”
In the early 1990s, Dwight featured Melvin Wine’s fiddling in his one-on-one classes, alongside of his tapes of the Hammons family banjo and fiddle playing, and the fiddling of Hamp Carpenter, Mose Coffman, John Morris, Bobby Taylor, Lee Triplett, and French Carpenter.
So, to Dwight, Melvin’s fiddling was from that high tier in the Fiddling Pantheon.
Oh, yeah, another good reason to drop back into the TOTW channel: to see what JanetB, Mtngoat, Jimmy Sutton, Janolov, David Brooks . . . and ALL the rest of you have been doing with your banjos.
Carl, I would agree, that accounting for individual variations, Wine is playing the same tune. Douglas's melody seems to have drifted a bit from the others but I can definitely hear similarities. For some reason, I kept thinking of The Lazy Farmer/Young Man Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn while listening to the Douglas recording. And thanks for the transcription.
Andy, I overlooked the Traditional Tune Archive while researching this TOTW. (Rookie mistake). Thanks for bringing the transcription to our attention. We now have the tune in three different keys, with three different tunings, and three different names.
Jan, I too like the G version for exactly the reasons you mention. (Plus that's the way they play it in my neck of the woods.)
David, that's quick work, I found the tab helpful and I'm sure others did too.
Jimmy, that's a great performance by Mr. Milnes. Seems to be the same tune with bonus lyrics. Thanks for posting.
Lew, I haven't seen your byline on this forum for a while. It's nice to have you back.
Janet, thanks for the link.
The knowledge and expertise of TOTW contributors always amazes me. Thanks for the input you-all.
Interesting thread, Mtngoat! The similarities and differences of Shoe Heels Crackin' on the Floor and the versions of Boatin' Up Sandy piqued my curiosity, so here's a quick-study medley comparing three of them in open G tuning. Darley Fulks doesn't play the transition to the lower part the same way each time, so neither did I, though I really like how John Harrod consistently played the transition. Melvin Wine modulates keys from D to G and I conclude he may have used the transitional crooked measure to insert notes which smoothly lead back to the first key. Dwight Diller plays in A modal tuning (though I lower it a step here and use open G tuning).
A great choice for TOTW by the goat! I agree with Janet's analysis, While Shoe Heels is very close to Boatin' Up Sandy, there are some small differences, especially when you consider that the various versions of Boatin' Up Sandy posted here also have their differences from each other. I think the Diller version is the closest to Shoe Heels, the main difference being the modality. I worked up the original Fulks version, with all of the variation in transition, though if I was going to suggest this to my jam partners, i would make it consistent the way John Harrod did.
I am going to question the key, because, well, I'm not sure. Harrod is clearly in G, almost certainly playing in standard tuning (GDae). But Fulks is pitched in A, playing almost an octave lower than Harrod (accomodating for the difference in pitch). When he goes down to his lowest note, the low E, he is below the low G of the standard fiddle tuning, at least to my ear, almost like he was playing on a viola. Somebody tell me what I'm missing.
I've uploaded and attached my three finger style version below. I am playing without picks so as not to disturb the cat.
A great choice for TOTW by the goat! I agree with Janet's analysis, While Shoe Heels is very close to Boatin' Up Sandy, there are some small differences, especially when you consider that the various versions of Boatin' Up Sandy posted here also have their differences from each other. I think the Diller version is the closest to Shoe Heels, the main difference being the modality. I worked up the original Fulks version, with all of the variation in transition, though if I was going to suggest this to my jam partners, i would make it consistent the way John Harrod did.
I am going to question the key, because, well, I'm not sure. Harrod is clearly in G, almost certainly playing in standard tuning (GDae). But Fulks is pitched in A, playing almost an octave lower than Harrod (accomodating for the difference in pitch). When he goes down to his lowest note, the low E, he is below the low G of the standard fiddle tuning, at least to my ear, almost like he was playing on a viola. Somebody tell me what I'm missing.
I've uploaded and attached my three finger style version below. I am playing without picks so as not to disturb the cat.
You're right to question the key, because Fulks actually played in C fingering, but with the fiddle cranked down so its sounding somewhere around A/B-flat. Move it over a string on the fiddle, and you've got it in G.
Edited to add: Fulks didn't play a viola to my knowledge, but did tune quite low, even compared to other Kentucky fiddlers who often kept the fiddle a whole step down. On some of his recordings he's tuned a whole step below this recording, so all the way down a 4th!
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