This week’s tune of the week comes from Oklahoma fiddler George Mert Reeves. It is known alternatively as either “R’ar Up” or “Rare Up”. The original source recording for this tune is a home recording of George Mert Reeves himself playing the tune on fiddle. This was part of a session recorded by his nephew Merle Reeves in 1964.
There were several other tunes recorded during this session, including “Arkansas Hoosier” which was covered as a TOTW back in 2014. Here’s some of the information from that thread on George Reeves’ background:
“George Mert Reves was a fiddler from the Ozark region of Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri….In 1964, his nephew Merle Reves made home recordings of George in Dennard, Arkansas, and it is from that session of about 30 tunes that we get Arkansas Hoosier. As far as I know, the recordings were never released commercially, but they can be found on the Slippery Hill site. One unexpected "sighting" of George Reves and his fiddle playing can be found in the 1974 movie "Where The Red Fern Grows", a family film set in the Depression-era Ozarks. A little over an hour into the film George appears, playing Ragtime Annie for an impromptu buck dance at a campground during a coon hunt. I have not seen it, but from what I have read it seems likely that George's performance was recorded live, not overdubbed later. He didn't get any screen credit for his work.”
You can now watch the whole film on Youtube and I've attached a screengrab of the scene where George appears: “blink and you’ll miss it” - this is about the clearest shot of him.
Apart from the source recording, there seem to be only three other recordings to draw on:
In the 2014 thread BrendanD posted the following comment about the Cliffhangers recording of “Arkansas Hoosier”:
“I'm the banjo player on that Cliffhangers recording of the tune, and it was my banjo-playing wife, Maxine Gerber, who suggested we record it. We have a homemade CD of field recordings of George Mert Reves, as well as one of his nephew, Merle Reves, and they both play this tune. My friend Paul Harnik (a wonderful fiddler and guitar player) located and visited Merle a few years ago on a cross-country driving trip when his family moved from California to North Carolina. The Cliffhangers also recorded George Mert Reves' tune "Rare Up", though the version we recorded has morphed a bit, containing bits of versions from Kerry Blech and Bruce Greene, as well as Mark Simos's own variations on the tune; I like all the versions.”
I've attached my tab and video, which is based largely on the Cliffhangers version. The B part is very crooked and it’s quite a challenge to play, but worth it! The notes on the original source recording says it’s in the key of A but it sounds closer to A flat/G sharp. Kerry Blech and The Cliffhangers play it in the key of A, but Bruce Greene plays it in G in his video. It works ok either way, but I’ve gone with A as it seems the most likely key it’s meant to be in.
Edited by - gentrixuk on 10/05/2025 00:50:58
Great, simple tune, thanks for all of the detail. Pure old time fiddle, really...enough melody to support the rhythm and no more.
Here are the dots:
https://tunearch.org/wiki/Rare_Up
And here are all of the Slippery Hill George Mert Reves entries:
https://www.slippery-hill.com/tune-search?search_api_fulltext=George+Mert+Reves
GREAT TUNE! One I've never heard before. Thanks for posting all the links. Definitely on my "to learn" list now.
Thanks for posting this tune, Mark! It’s nice to see George Mert Reves, and his nephew Merle, get some well-deserved attention here. It’s also nice to know somebody’s still listening to the Cliffhangers’ CD, “On The Edge”, and hard to believe that we recorded that 20 years ago! There are still some copies of the CD in existence, but I think they’re in a basement somewhere in Louisville, KY. Long boring story but we’re hoping to get our hands on the remaining copies and get them out into the world for a new generation of young musicians to learn some of the unusual tunes and get them in playing circulation!
Edited by - BrendanD on 10/05/2025 00:44:02
Great pick, Mark, and always a pleasure to hear you play. It's remarkable to be aware of Brendan's banjo contributions to some of the best old-time music anthologies.
I listened to the samples and came up with this. One fiddler who impressed me greatly was Kerry Blech (1947-2023), who contributed so much to old-time music collections.
quote:
Originally posted by JanetBGreat pick, Mark, and always a pleasure to hear you play. It's remarkable to be aware of Brendan's banjo contributions to some of the best old-time music anthologies.
I listened to the samples and came up with this. One fiddler who impressed me greatly was Kerry Blech (1947-2023), who contributed so much to old-time music collections.
Thanks Janet. Lovely version, as always, Janet! On Kerry Blech's album (linked above), you can also hear him briefly discussing the origins of this tune, just before he plays it.
quote:
Originally posted by BrendanDThanks for posting this tune, Mark! It’s nice to see George Mert Reves, and his nephew Merle, get some well-deserved attention here. It’s also nice to know somebody’s still listening to the Cliffhangers’ CD, “On The Edge”, and hard to believe that we recorded that 20 years ago! There are still some copies of the CD in existence, but I think they’re in a basement somewhere in Louisville, KY. Long boring story but we’re hoping to get our hands on the remaining copies and get them out into the world for a new generation of young musicians to learn some of the unusual tunes and get them in playing circulation!
Thanks for replying Brendan, and apologies for misspelling your name originally - I've corrected it now. I'd certainly like to get my hands on a copy of your CD if they become available again. I'm doing my best to get this, and other, lesser-played, tunes back out into the world.
Here's the split second view, rough screenshot of George Mert Reeves from the movie "Where the Red Fern Grows" (it's a book that really moved me when we used to have hunting hounds). Also, I listened to Kerry Blech's talk about R'ar Up and now understand that Steve Green was the archivist who helped pass the tune around.
