TOTW 12/30/22 - Belle of Lexington - Discussion Forums

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Playing the Banjo
Playing Advice: Clawhammer and Old-Time Styles
ARCHIVED TOPIC: TOTW 12/30/22 - Belle of Lexington

Please note this is an archived topic, so it is locked and unable to be replied to. You may, however, start a new topic and refer to this topic with a link: http://www.banjohangout.org/archive/387815

aschweigert - Posted - 12/30/2022: 09:24:47

Hey everybody! Happy holidays!

This week I thought we'd do Belle of Lexington from Emmett Lundy. This tune has been coming up more in jams in Pittsburgh so I thought I'd sit down and work out a version of it.

It's in D, in the usual tuning (aDADE). The low part goes below the range of the banjo so you have to fudge it a bit. If I have time this week I might work out another version on this 6-string banjo that does get all those low notes, but my version here should work in a pinch for jams, etc.

You can trace the tune's lineage back to an Irish tune (Kitty’s Wedding) and it also has some family similarity to Smith's Reel.

Couldn't find where the name came from. If you google "Belle of Lexington" you'll find a rather notorious one ?? but I'm assuming that's not the one we're talking about. Anyway, let me know if you know anything else about it!

Here's the source recording: slippery-hill.com/content/belle-lexington

A few other versions from around the internet:

Erynn Marshall: youtube.com/watch?v=q-xbZjoNbs0

The Onlies: youtube.com/watch?v=On_p3iIAJzc

And an instructional video with tab, etc from clawhammerbanjo.net: youtube.com/watch?v=Hp-waupFypw

Anyway, hope you have fun learning it if you don't know it and I'm looking forward to hearing your versions!

VIDEO: Belle of Lexington - Clawhammer Banjo
(click to view)

Belle of Lexington

Jimmy Sutton - Posted - 12/30/2022: 11:51:29

Here is a version by two of Emmet Lundy's sons, The eldest and the youngest.
No banjo I'm afraid but Emmet didn't use one either.

youtube.com/watch?v=HsAocaBHszs

JanetB - Posted - 12/30/2022: 16:48:35

Good choice, Adam. You play it fast, like Emmett Lundy! The version that got my attention a few years began dramatically slow. There are several mp3s on the Hangout, but this one player turned it into a veritable classical solo on his James Hartel Early Banjo, as he called it. Have a listen: Tom Berghan's Belle of Lexington.

I still enjoy re-reading what Adam Hurt answered when asked to describe Emmett Lundy's style:

"I attach a number of adjectives to Emmett Lundy's style: syncopated, as

you noted, but also rolling (as he was a considerably more melodic fiddler

than the Round Peak fiddlers just down the mountain from Grayson County),

punctuated (his notey melodies were not JUST running eighth notes from

start to finish; rather, he left interesting, deliberate spaces between or

within phrases), and anticipatory (which relates to syncopation, but for

me describes what so often happens at the very BEGINNING of his phrases or

parts; this is the concept of the first important note being played just

ahead of the downbeat and that beat being more implied than expressed).

Here's the one I worked on, listening to the source recording on Slippery Hill and influenced by Tom's slow intro.

Belle of Lexington (TOTW)

Belle of Lexington (CH) tab

Bill H - Posted - 12/31/2022: 04:45:24

I have always loved this tune. I was inspired to learn it when Tom Bergeron posted his rendition several years ago.

I have uploaded a tabledit file for my arrangement to the Hangout tab library--Belle of Lexington

Belle of Lexington

aschweigert - Posted - 12/31/2022: 08:23:54

quote:
Originally posted by JanetB

Good choice, Adam. You play it fast, like Emmett Lundy! The version that got my attention a few years began dramatically slow. There are several mp3s on the Hangout, but this one player turned it into a veritable classical solo on his James Hartel Early Banjo, as he called it. Have a listen: Tom Berghan's Belle of Lexington.

Beautiful version! I really like it slow, too. Mostly I've played and heard it at a faster clip but as a solo arrangement I think it's a lovely tune that can sound super pretty at slower tempo!

ndlxs - Posted - 12/31/2022: 08:33:56

I have a version of this tune I do fingerstyle on a guitar in DADGAD. A friend started called it "Bela Flexington"...

WVDreamin - Posted - 12/31/2022: 15:22:52

Love Mr Lundy's fiddling. Great tune choice, one I don't play, but realize I need to play. Thanks for the reminder!

All of the posted versions are beautiful and inspiring. :-)

aschweigert - Posted - 01/05/2023: 08:27:18

Here's a version using the 6th string on this banjo that gets the extra couple of low notes in the B part. A part is more or less the same as the other arrangement.