Happy Valentine's Day All!
Since I messed up a couple weeks ago and forgot I was doing a TOTW (thanks for covering for me Janet), she graciously re-assigned me this Friday. The song I had planned wasn't a Valentine's Day themed song (haha), so I'll save the one I originally had planned for some future date if Janet requires my TOTW services in the future.
The song I picked today is at least a bouncy sounding tune, it's my take on Missouri fiddler Nile Wilson's tie-hacker tune, "Mississippi Snag."
Mr. Wilson was a legendary "north" Missouri fiddler, born in 1912, who learned to play primarily from his father Dolf Wilson. He was also quite adept at playing "tie-hacker" tunes from primarily Irish itinerant "tie-hackers" who worked all over Missouri at the turn of the century, but were well known in the Ozark region of that state. Tie-hackers were just what their name implies... loggers who cut ties for the railroad. Usually working in groups of 2, they cut white and black oak, could make about 11 ties in a day, and made a dollar doing it. Needless to say, they lived on the edge of society, a rough and tumble life, working on their own and living in primitive camps where the booze and music (and occasional knuckle, knife, and pistol fight) was pretty commonplace. Back to Nile Wilson, he has some great recordings that I highly recommend. Mr. Wilson passed away in 2008, but left a legacy of music and gracious mentorship to many a Missouri musician and beyond.
What about the title of the tune? When rivers were the primary "super highway interstates" of America, it was crucial to commerce to keep those channels open from dead fall trees that might become lodged/jammed on the river bottom, sunken ships, or any other obstacles that might impede steamboats or barges from navigating the waterways. Those navigation hazards were referred to as "snags", and many men made fortunes clearing the rivers of this aquatic trash in the 1800's. One such man was the remarkable James Eads, a fascinating self-taught engineer and figure in American history (the first man to bridge the Mighty Mississippi River, and the first to build an entirely steel structure), but unfortunately beyond the scope of this post. If interested, this recent book details his remarkable journey (a fun read). Back to the tune...
Around 2010 or so, when I was repairing and building banjos, i met Hugh Strawn through the Banjo Newsletter. When I first started playing in 1972, the BNL was a great source of information for aspiring players... and it still is: along with the Banjo Hangout, I consider both to be the best resource to learn this type of music. But I digress (again). Hugh needed a particular part for his vintage Fairbanks Imperial, and I happened to have one in my parts drawer, so i sent it to him. We corresponded over the course of a couple years, and of course Hugh wrote the "From the Ozarks" column in the BNL having taken it over from R.D. Lunceford, a GREAT source of information on this music, not to mention a GREAT player and teacher (and an active member here on the BHO). Since I'm not much of a tab reader, I asked Hugh if he could send me an mp3 of "Mississippi Snag", one of the tunes he featured in his column, which he graciously did. I had not heard Nile Wilson's recording of the tune at that time, but my playing of it is based on the mp3 that Hugh sent me so many years ago, and which I have unfortunately lost to the ravages of past un-backed-up hard drive failures (my Apple time machine function saves me now). After hearing Nile's version, I realized that I played the tune a little differently. Howard Rains and Tricia Spencer play a fine version of the tune (with the amazing Maxine Gerber on banjo) that is a masterpiece IMHO, filmed on the grounds of the historic Stow House, where the Santa Barbara Old-Time Fiddler's Festival is held every October (a fine festival indeed)! Not too many other versions of Mr. Wilson's version of the tune.
"Mississippi Snag" is in standard "G" (gDGBD), and I'm playing it on my go-to Vega Little Wonder conversion. I'm told that Hugh's tabs from his column are still available on the BNL website, but I haven't confirmed that. Anyway. it's a pretty straight-forwrd tune that you should be able to pick up pretty easy. Mr. Wilson's version can be found here on Bandcamp, and my version is below. Hope you enjoy this cool little tune and help keep it in the air.
Edited by - RG on 02/26/2025 21:17:15
@RG
Great one, RG! Glad to see a Missouri tune.
For folks who may not be aware, RG is one of the moving forces behind that great OT music outlet, The Old-Time Tiki Parlor. The OTTP is to my mind perhaps the most important resource for OT recordings these days. The thing I really appreciate is the exposure that they give to music outside Appalachia. OTTP is one of the very few outfits doing that these days.
In addition, Southern California has a bona fide Old-Time music tradition that was established by musicians who were part of the Southern/Midwestern diaspora than immigrated to the area before and during The Depression, and during and right after WWII. Folks like David Bragger and RG are inheritors of this tradition, and have gone to great lengths to preserve and disseminate this music. Again, what you'll find in this area is a true local OT *tradition* rather than just an OT "scene". The names of Earl Collins, Mel Durham, Eddie Lowe, Ron Hughey, Ab Goebel, and Art Chambers are still regularly heard, in addition to great musicians like Tom Sauber, Bobby Flesher, and Art Gariepy who I suppose one may say, apprenticed with them. Even the magnificent luthier John Bowlin learned technique from Art and Bobby when he resided in the area.
Missouri possesses many local fiddle traditions- North Missouri, Little Dixie, and The Ozarks to generalize, but also such unique ones as the French traditions of SE Missouri. The tune RG brings us this month is part of another valuable legacy from a specific micro-region, and a representative fiddler.
My own family hailed from the Keytesville area in central Chariton County. This stretch of country was settled by Virginians, and especially Kentuckians before the Civil War, and much of the music in this pin-point area was stock Southern with an admixture of popular mid-19th century music- tunes and songs like Sally Goodin'
Eighth of January, Leather Britches, The Old Oaken Bucket, Down among the Budded Roses, and Darling Nelly Gray circulated. Regionally narrow micro-regions defined the music, and local styles and repertoires could be different in areas only a few miles apart. My family lived in the area just north of Keytesville, and my aunt (b.1912) who was in her mid-70's told me that she had never been in "the hills" (the area south of town) until just recently.
Enough of my digressions!
Thanks for the tune RG!!!
quote:
Originally posted by R.D. Lunceford@RG
Great one, RG! Glad to see a Missouri tune.
For folks who may not be aware, RG is one of the moving forces behind that great OT music outlet, The Old-Time Tiki Parlor. The OTTP is to my mind perhaps the most important resource for OT recordings these days. The thing I really appreciate is the exposure that they give to music outside Appalachia. OTTP is one of the very few outfits doing that these days.
In addition, Southern California has a bona fide Old-Time music tradition that was established by musicians who were part of the Southern/Midwestern diaspora than immigrated to the area before and during The Depression, and during and right after WWII. Folks like David Bragger and RG are inheritors of this tradition, and have gone to great lengths to preserve and disseminate this music. Again, what you'll find in this area is a true local OT *tradition* rather than just an OT "scene". The names of Earl Collins, Mel Durham, Eddie Lowe, Ron Hughey, Ab Goebel, and Art Chambers are still regularly heard, in addition to great musicians like Tom Sauber, Bobby Flesher, and Art Gariepy who I suppose one may say, apprenticed with them. Even the magnificent luthier John Bowlin learned technique from Art and Bobby when he resided in the area.
Missouri possesses many local fiddle traditions- North Missouri, Little Dixie, and The Ozarks to generalize, but also such unique ones as the French traditions of SE Missouri. The tune RG brings us this month is part of another valuable legacy from a specific micro-region, and a representative fiddler.
My own family hailed from the Keytesville area in central Chariton County. This stretch of country was settled by Virginians, and especially Kentuckians before the Civil War, and much of the music in this pin-point area was stock Southern with an admixture of popular mid-19th century music- tunes and songs like Sally Goodin'
Eighth of January, Leather Britches, The Old Oaken Bucket, Down among the Budded Roses, and Darling Nelly Gray circulated. Regionally narrow micro-regions defined the music, and local styles and repertoires could be different in areas only a few miles apart. My family lived in the area just north of Keytesville, and my aunt (b.1912) who was in her mid-70's told me that she had never been in "the hills" (the area south of town) until just recently.
Enough of my digressions!
Thanks for the tune RG!!!
Thanks R.D., much appreciated!
This is a great post, RG! And R.D.! If you keep it up, Rick, you'll still be a TOTW presenter until we reach 1,000 tunes. This is #866 -- many thanks.
Mississippi Snag is the third Nile Wilson tune I've learned. All were Tunes of the Week: Little Whiskey and Wes Muir's Tune.
As to my arrangement, the hammer-ons on the 5th and 7th frets in the A part were a little tricky. The pull-offs in the B part were fun. I find Ozark music to often be intricate fiddle tunes, which for solo banjo presents a challenge. Of course, that's not the only way to play and I like your rhythmic lively recording, true to the melody.
Edited by - JanetB on 02/15/2025 12:08:50
Thanks Janet! All the credit belongs to RG- in my book, he's one of the current greats.
...And thanks to you too for your dedication to the music.
quote:
Originally posted by JanetBThis is a great post, RG! And R.D.! If you keep it up, Rick, you'll still be a TOTW presenter until we reach 1,000 tunes. This is #866 -- many thanks.
Mississippi Snag is the third Nile Wilson tune I've learned. All were Tunes of the Week: Little Whiskey and Wes Muir's Tune.
As to my arrangement, the hammer-ons on the 5th and 7th frets in the A part were a little tricky. The pull-offs in the B part were fun. I find Ozark music to often be intricate fiddle tunes, which for solo banjo presents a challenge. Of course, that's not the only way to play and I like your rhythmic lively recording, true to the melody.
As always Janet, what a nice rendition of the tune! Really enjoyed your version. Haha-I'm always available, only forgotten once in 17 years or so, thanks for the kind words.
quote:
Originally posted by R.D. LuncefordThanks Janet! All the credit belongs to RG- in my book, he's one of the current greats.
...And thanks to you too for your dedication to the music.
Thanks R.D., likewise brother! SF.
quote:
... After hearing Nile's version, I realized that I played the tune a little differently. Howard Rains and Tricia Spencer play a fine version of the tune (with the amazing Maxine Gerber on banjo) that is a masterpiece IMHO, filmed on the grounds of the historic Stow House, where the Santa Barbara Old-Time Fiddler's Festival is held every October (a fine festival indeed)! Not too many other versions of Mr. Wilson's version of the tune."Mississippi Snag" is in standard "G" (gDGBD), and I'm playing it on my go-to Vega Little Wonder conversion.
Maxine Gerber, who's playing banjo with Tricia and Howard in that video, is my wife - a two-banjo-player marriage, and we haven't killed each other! 
And as it happens, Maxine is also playing a Vega Little Wonder conversion, with a neck made by Jere Canote - who is sitting at a table in the background here with his twin brother Greg on fiddle and me on banjo.
Maxine and I both got this tune from our friend Karen Celia Heil, and play it with her often. I've been a fan of Nile Wilson's fiddling ever since he came to the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes with Charlie Walden many years ago (late '90s?). Another great, fun Nile Wilson tune, in C, that we also play with Karen is North Missouri Wagner. Check it out!
Edited by - BrendanD on 02/20/2025 19:39:48
quote:
Originally posted by BrendanDquote:
... After hearing Nile's version, I realized that I played the tune a little differently. Howard Rains and Tricia Spencer play a fine version of the tune (with the amazing Maxine Gerber on banjo) that is a masterpiece IMHO, filmed on the grounds of the historic Stow House, where the Santa Barbara Old-Time Fiddler's Festival is held every October (a fine festival indeed)! Not too many other versions of Mr. Wilson's version of the tune."Mississippi Snag" is in standard "G" (gDGBD), and I'm playing it on my go-to Vega Little Wonder conversion.
Maxine Gerber, who's playing banjo with Tricia and Howard in that video, is my wife - a two-banjo-player marriage, and we haven't killed each other!Maxine and I both got this tune from our friend Karen Celia Heil, and play it with her often. I've been a fan of Nile Wilson's fiddling ever since he came to the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes with Charlie Walden many years ago (late '90s?). Another great, fun Nile Wilson tune, in C, that we also play with Karen is North Missouri Wagner. Check it out!
I don't know how she puts up with you Brendan - HAHA! I've heard Karen play it before, but I couldn't find video of it... such a great fiddler!
Edited by - RG on 02/20/2025 19:46:40
quote:
Originally posted by RGquote:
Originally posted by BrendanDquote:
... After hearing Nile's version, I realized that I played the tune a little differently. Howard Rains and Tricia Spencer play a fine version of the tune (with the amazing Maxine Gerber on banjo) that is a masterpiece IMHO, filmed on the grounds of the historic Stow House, where the Santa Barbara Old-Time Fiddler's Festival is held every October (a fine festival indeed)! Not too many other versions of Mr. Wilson's version of the tune."Mississippi Snag" is in standard "G" (gDGBD), and I'm playing it on my go-to Vega Little Wonder conversion.
Maxine Gerber, who's playing banjo with Tricia and Howard in that video, is my wife - a two-banjo-player marriage, and we haven't killed each other!Maxine and I both got this tune from our friend Karen Celia Heil, and play it with her often. I've been a fan of Nile Wilson's fiddling ever since he came to the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes with Charlie Walden many years ago (late '90s?). Another great, fun Nile Wilson tune, in C, that we also play with Karen is North Missouri Wagner. Check it out!
I don't know how she puts up with you Brendan - HAHA! I've heard Karen play it before, but I couldn't find video of it... such a great fiddler!
Yes, Karen is a kickass fiddler, with great taste in tunes! Maxine and I feel so lucky to be able to play so much with her. She's also a terrific, powerful guitar player, as you may know if you've heard her driving playing with the Bucking Mules, with Joseph Decosimo, Luke Richardson, and Joe DeJarnette.
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