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Mtngoat - Posted - 12/16/2022: 05:41:06
TOTW 12/16/2022 - Old Grey Cat
I’ve chosen Old Grey Cat for this installment of TOTW. The tune is popular at Celtic jams and Contra dances but seldom heard in OT circles. Alan Craig says Old Grey Cat appeared in 1880 Scottish tune collections as the Smuggler's Reel and is related to a Scottish piper’s jig called The Hills of Glenorchy. The Traditional Tune Archive says the tune is “borrowed from the Scottish repertoire, although claims have been made for an Irish provenance” while the Fiddle Music UK web site states the tune is “An American Contra Dance Tune.” So who really knows?
I learned Old Grey Cat at the behest of a dance caller for a Contra gig and found it to be a nice tune deserving of a wider OT following.
I was unable to find a clawhammer recording but here are two renditions featuring fiddle and mandolin.
youtube.com/watch?v=fy5gDJrAbrA
natunelist.net/old-grey-cat-the/
And here’s a fiddle rendition with a bluegrass banjo backing track: youtube.com/watch?v=Mzcxf8M_yls
David Brooks posted a clawhammeer tab in another Hangout forum some time ago. You can find it here: hangoutstorage.com/banjohangou...22015.pdf
Mike Iverson has a tab here: clawhammer.org/pdfs/335531647-...y-Cat.pdf
Readers are encouraged to post comments, performances, and tabs contributing to this thread. The lack of online banjo recordings is a need crying out to be remedied by members of this forum.
Edited by - Mtngoat on 12/16/2022 05:45:29
JanetB - Posted - 12/16/2022: 11:52:37
A surprisingly dramatic and pleasing tune, Mtngoat. Thanks! Quite interesting that it is currently on the contra dance circuit. I like your title, as opposed to Smuggler's Reel, and so will grace you with a photo of my majestic old grey cat Mosky. Fiddle tune titles with "old" in them should be in the old-time canon. I used the first link to learn and arrange the tune and appreciate the other two tabs which showed me that the tune was easier to play than it sounds.
mandobanjolibrarian - Posted - 12/16/2022: 12:28:48
Beautiful tune! Thanks, Mtngoat for hauntingly lovely selection. And following JanetB 's lead, I feel compelled to post a picture of my old grey cat, Aphie, as well.
Have a great weekend and happy holidays, everyone!
Mtngoat - Posted - 12/16/2022: 14:36:16
Janet thanks for priming the pump. That’s a stately rendition. Here’s a snippet from a dance we played.
Mandobanjo here’s a shot of my boy Jackson. He’s a gray tabby but rays from the low angle setting sun make him appear orange.
mandobanjolibrarian - Posted - 12/16/2022: 18:40:01
Okay, there's some obvious pun here trying to burst out -- tabs, cats = tabby something? -- but my brain's too tired to put it together. Nonetheless, love the tune this week and the integration of cats into the discussion. Super fun TOTW!
Ran through the Brooks, Iverson, and Burton tabs this evening, and they're all great and a little bit different. I'm looking forward to spending more time with them over the weekend and mix-and-matching bits from all three. Thanks, as always, to everybody for the great work you always put into these. It's a real highlight of each week.
Edited by - mandobanjolibrarian on 12/16/2022 18:43:43
mandobanjolibrarian - Posted - 12/16/2022: 18:52:56
quote:
Originally posted by Mtngoat
Janet thanks for priming the pump. That’s a stately rendition. Here’s a snippet from a dance we played.
Mandobanjo here’s a shot of my boy Jackson. He’s a gray tabby but rays from the low angle setting sun make him appear orange.
He's a handsome boy, Mtngoat. I'm biased, but I feel that gray tabbies are simply the best. My girl looks a little brownish from the light and the brown desk, but she's truly gray as well. And old -- around 14-15.
talljoey - Posted - 12/17/2022: 10:35:47
@dbrooks, I learned The Old Grey Cat from your tab in 2015. I still have it in my music folder.
And yes, I have a grey cat as well, but she’s a kitten at heart.
RG - Posted - 12/17/2022: 21:37:01
Great tune and great cats posted here! This is my kind of TOTW!!!!
