Mtngoat - Posted - 10/17/2024:  04:55:15

I’ve chosen Charlie Barnett Lowe’s Tune for this installment of TOTW.  Virginia fiddler Roscoe Parish (1897-1984) learned the tune from his father who got it from Charlie Barnett Lowe, a neighbor just down the road.   Some sources give the title as Roscoe Parish’s Tune. The Traditional Tune Archive says the tune is an American Reel (cut time) in D Major and classifies it as a member of the Dry and Dusty tune family.   

The tune has a strong internet presence and I’ve linked some of my favorites below.

Here’s a banjo/fiddle duet:  fprhome.org/alice_charliebarne...stune.mp3

Here’s another:  youtube.com/watch?v=CU472hJaRVE

Here’s another:  youtube.com/watch?v=WSwv_fPcsdg

And here’s one with guitar accompaniment:  fiddlehangout.com/myhangout/me...;archived=

Here is a jam setting from Ohio:  youtube.com/watch?v=irpgzu-HXcE

And here’s a jam from California:    glendessaryjam.com/    Go to the Main Menu Tunes tab to find it.

Here are a few selections from the many bands who have recorded the tune.                              

TOM, BRAD and ALICE have it here:  alicegerrard.bandcamp.com/albu...-fighting

The Prairie Acre have it here:  youtube.com/watch?v=qQ4oDMq5vIo

The Down Hill Strugglers have it here entitled Roscoe Parish’s Tune:  soundcloud.com/downhillstrugglers

A clawhammer tab of the tune is here:     taterjoes.com/Warehouse/Banjo/...sTune.pdf

And here is a transcription in standard notation:  glotma.org/tunes/D/Charlie%20B...ne-TJ.pdf

Readers are encouraged to post observations, opinions, performances, and tabs contributing to this thread.

Edited by - Mtngoat on 10/17/2024 05:00:34

JanetB - Posted - 10/18/2024:  12:20:58

Thank you, Mtngoat, for a fine Galax tune and the good links to listen.  I can hear a Dry and Dusty connection.  After trying on a regular banjo, I went back to the cello banjo in order to reach the low B note as I heard on the Tom, Brad and Alice link.  The tuning is dBEAB and plays in the key of D (similar to one of the Cumberland Gap tunings).  The chordal sound to end the tune is a Bm, leaving it quietly hanging.

In the booklet The Old Time Way, published by Andy Cahan and Alice Gerrard in 1986, it states in the interview with Roscoe Parish, "Charlie Barnett Lowe (1871-1924) was a first cousin of my daddy's.  I never heard him play but a little, but Daddy played some with him.  Charlie Barnett Lowe loved his music and he liked to have him a dram.  He was tongue-tied...." Footnotes in the booklet remind us that "Charlie Barnett Lowe was also Tommy Jarrell's father-in-law and a musical influence on him."

VIDEO: Charlie Barnett Lowe’s Tune
(click to view)

Charlie Barnett Lowe's Tune (CH) tab