Mtngoat - Posted - 05/02/2025: 02:59:14
I’ve chosen Sweet Susan for this installment of TOTW. The tune, which was widely known across northeastern Kentucky, sometimes under the alternate title of Susan’s Gone, was first recorded in 1937 by Rowan County fiddler J.W. Day (1861 – 1942) for John A. Lomax and the Library of Congress.
Day, who played the fiddle left-handed and upside down, led an interesting life. He was blinded at an early age but had his sight surgically restored as an adult, he was present at the final battle of the Tolliver- Martin Feud involving 60 armed combatants on the streets of Morehead in 1887, and he played for the King and Queen of England during a 1931 visit to London. Here’s some information on Day and his association with folk music promoter Jean Thomas: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jilson_Setters
The tune is well represented on the internet and I’ve provided some links below.
Here is Day from 1937: archive.org/embed/afc1937007_1017B2
Sanford Kelly of Morgan County, has a 1961 recording here: youtube.com/watch?v=Coyz-dmr2QU
Emma Lee Dickerson, of Boyd County, has a 1974 recording here: slippery-hill.com/content/susans-gone
Roger Cooper, of Lewis County, recorded it in 1996: youtube.com/watch?v=HeBw-c6LoDI
I once saw an impromptu parking lot performance by Cooper with Jim McCown on banjo. Wow!
Dirk Powell plays a banjo version inspired by his grandfather in Elliot County here: youtube.com/watch?v=lP1VRvOPyqM
Andy FitzGibbon fiddles his interpretation here: youtube.com/watch?v=UbccewaLM80
The Ruglifters have a string band version here with John Herrmann on banjo: theonlies.bandcamp.com/track/susans-gone
Here’s a nice banjo version: youtube.com/watch?v=xNtEPA8dhJQ
A couple of banjo tabs can be found online.
Ken Torke has a tab in G for the JW Day version here: taterjoes.com/Warehouse/Banjo/...Susan.pdf
David Brooks has a tab in G for Dirk Powell's version here: hangoutstorage.com/banjohangou...22023.pdf
And here is David’s tab in F for the Powell version: hangoutstorage.com/banjohangou...22023.pdf
A transcription of Day’s version can be found here: tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Sweet_Susan
Readers are encouraged to post observations, opinions, performances, and tabs contributing to this thread.
JanetB - Posted - 05/03/2025: 11:49:47
A Kentucky tune with lots of possibilities -- it can be played fast as a fiddle solo or as a string band tune or as a soothing mountain tune, as in Dirk Powell's slow take, until it's 2/3 done.
I ended up making three tabs and using the first in open G, trying different tunings while listening to the Ruglifter's fiddles. There are some lyrics, I think sung by John Herrmann, which told me it's not meant to be a sad tune just because the title says "Susan's Gone."
James W. Day was the source fiddler in another TOTW from last year, probably from the same 1937 Lomax recording: No Corn on Tygart. Here's another TOTW you posted in 2014, Mtngoat, featuring Day: Little Boy Working on the Road.
Edited by - JanetB on 05/03/2025 11:52:41
