Life is a path and as we travel, unpredictable things happen. Such is the case for my figuring out how to play Magnolia One Step on the banjo. About a year ago, a new, fine fiddler, Maddy Smith, started coming to our local open jams. At one of the smaller ones this past August, we fiddled Magnolia One Step together. The following week at another jam, where I was playing banjo, she suggested, to the group, that we play Magnolia One Step and then said "Carl knows that tune". The fact is that I've been playing that tune on the fiddle for probably at least 40 years. However, I'd never played it on the banjo. It was too much of a chore for me to figure it all out on the fly that night, but it started my journey into figuring it out on the banjo.
The tune came to my attention about 1975 with the release of "Don't You Remember the Time, Traditional Fiddle Music of Mississippi", Volume 2 (County 529). On it is the Nations Brothers mid-1930s recording, which can now be found at:
https://www.slippery-hill.com/content/magnolia-one-step-2
Marshall and Sheldon Nations were from Lincoln County, Mississippi. Tony Russell wrote a fine article on the Nations Brothers for the magazine Old Time Music that can be viewed at:
https://oldtimeparty.wordpress.com/2012/01/31/nations-brothers/
This has more information on the Nations Brothers than I can write in this posting. Also, here are other articles on them.
The Nations Brothers, a chapter in:
Fiddle Tunes from Mississippi: Commercial and Informal Recordings, 1920-2018
Joyce H. Cauthen , David Evans , T. DeWayne Moore , Tony Russell , Harry Bolick
University Press of Mississippi
https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/201/monograph/chapter/3023240/pdf
Masters Thesis
Mississippi Breakdown: A New Look at the Mississippi Old Time Fiddle Music Traditions
Jamison Hollister
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/288062545.pdf
Now, while there are three parts, the Nation Brothers often jump from the first part to the third part as you can hear in their recording. In the old time community, that I'm in, we play all three parts, all the time. The first part is played twice, the second part also played twice and the third part is played three times. For years, on the fiddle, I could not figure out the opening phrase of the third part, so I made up my own that fit. When I got a copy of "The Phillips Collection of Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, Volume 1 Hoedown, Breakdowns and Reels" (Mel Bay, 1994, p. 149), I saw that his transcription had the notes I was looking for. My problem was starting that third part; I must start with a down-bow. I use the phase, I made up, which starts with an up-bow, on the third repeat. I’d rather have played my solo banjo version faster, but I’ve lost precision in my old age and have a difficult time executing all the notes I want to play, at the speed I fiddle it.
https://www.hangoutstorage.com/fiddlehangout.com/storage/audio/20/magnolia-o-2081-025621112024.mp3
Now how I play this tune, and any tune on the banjo is to play at the melody as best I can, based on how I played it on the fiddle. I only drop thumb when I need a melody note, which occurs in the second long phrase in the first part, in which I also use the 5th string as a melody note when it appears in the phrase and in the second part, but no drop thumb in the third part. I do play almost all my G tunes in old G (gDGDE), which has positions, on the 1st and 2nd strings, identical with double D (aDADE). While I tend to play at the melody, I often hold my fingers in a chord, as many of the melody notes are in the chord. Sort of comes from my prior guitar playing and is why, maybe, I'm harmonically oriented. My right hand never stops moving and if the thumb is not dropping to find a melody note, it's playing the 5th string drone, though the volume of the drone may vary, not necessarily on purpose. I have prepared, a sort of, an audio tab of how I play the tune in my solo banjo version (which, as noted, is derived from how I play it on the fiddle). The first part has the most challenging left-hand finger movements, which are explained in my audio tab, or whatever you want to call it.
Below is a list of some of the very fine modern recordings of the tune:
Portland, Oregon
https://www.flatrockstringband.com/look--listen.html
Aaron Johah Lewis and Evie Ladin
https://evieladin.bandcamp.com/album/riding-the-rooster-2
Clare Milliner and Walt Koken
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=czYi7mm5iYk
Bill and the Belles plus Miss Moonshine clogging
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOzCm4K6UT4
Deb Shebish, Travis Stuart (banjo), Martha Spencer (guitar), Tammy Sawyer (bass)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htkvhV7AlvI
Bad Dog - Old Time Blah, Blah, Blah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHSLKLUx__4
Seth Shumate, harmonica
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPT0omdF-9M
A rich presentation, Carl! Nice to hear your fiddle, too. Your idea of an Audio Tab is good, especially for those who don't benefit as much from a visual tab.
There's a lot of information on the Nations Brothers. I'm reading your extensive links and learned so far that only two of the six brothers played for the Magnolia One Step recording: "John Sheldon Nations (1910–1985) played fiddle,and Marshall Dee Nations (1912–1995) guitar." The family had a farm, plus the two brothers ran for offices. Sheldon (his middle name) was the chief of police and Marshall the tax assessor and tax collector. I also learned that Mississippi is the Magnolia State.
Using the Slippery Hill recording of the brothers, here is a clawhammer arrangement in open G tuning. It has a big range from the lowest D note to the highest B note, prominent in the A part.
It occurs to me, we don't really know what a one-step dance is, though there is much information to explore on-line.
Edited by - JanetB on 11/23/2024 12:28:21
Such a great tune Carl! That Deb and Travis version, hot dawg!
Edited by - RG on 11/23/2024 12:51:45
