It’s been a while since I tried playing Tucker’s Barn. Recently Hillary Burhans posted it for the Tune of the Month Challenging Tunes theme in the Facebook group called Clawhammer Rules. She said it’s “tricky and crookeder than a dog’s hind leg”, and that it modulates and is jam busting. I decided to give it another go as a challenging tune for the month and to do some sleuthing for TOTW.
Tucker’s Barn was recorded by Doc Watson, which is where I first heard it. He learned from his father-in-law, Gaither Carlton who learned it from his uncle, Mitchell Wallin (1854-1932). The tune is yet older.
The town of Lenoir, North Carolina in Caldwell County was first known as Tucker’s Barn, named for the Tucker family who settled there in the 1770’s and whose home was “a gathering place for many occasions. It was a voting precinct, a muster ground, a store and a place for ‘frolic’ and celebrations...The barn was near the present junction of West Harper Avenue and Beall Street and...the Tucker School was nearby....At least one large Fourth of July celebration included a drum corps, a march of Revolutionary War veterans and speeches by General William Lenoir, Edmund Jones, Parson Miller, the McDowells and a barbecue. The place was so popular that a piece of music suitable for violins was composed by a musician and entitled ‘Tucker’s Barn.’” To this day, the site holds musical events, such as this one in 2018.
Another recording was made in 1949 by the famous folklorist and musician, Bascom Lamar Lunsford. Records show that it was actually collected as early as 1934. Both he, Wallin and Carlton were from the same region, Madison County in North Carolina in the northwestern part of the state. Lunsford’s recording, unfortunately, isn’t available. (I contacted the site to try.)
The tune traveled far from Caldwell County and was given alternate names. The amazing Kentucky fiddler Buddy Thomas recorded it under another name, Kitty Puss – also the title of his one and only album. Liner notes say “it’s surely one of the oldest Southern fiddle tunes on record. Buddy himself said, ‘That tune’s got some of the quickest silliest changes in it of any one tune I ever heard.’ He’d like to tell about the time he met a guitarist in Ohio, who boasted that he could easily follow any fiddle tune. ‘I’ve got one. I’ll bet you can’t follow,’ said Buddy, and completely befuddled his opponent with this tune. Buddy learned this Jimmy Richmond piece from his mother’s whistling and Perry Riley also played it. It wasn’t until many years after the Kitty Puss record was released that Gus Meade suddenly realized, after hearing Clyde Davenport play an interpolating version (see Puncheon Camps on Davenport’s Appalachian Center tape) that Buddy’s tune actually belongs to the widely disseminated Tucker’s Old Barn tune group.” Other names you may see are Old Time Mockingbird, Homemade Sugar, Kick Mr. Possum and He Won’t Come Down, and Old Coon Bunch.
Tucker’s Barn is a frolicking, crooked tune. Care to try it?
Walt Koken and Claire Milliner
Mitchell Wallin notation (by Andrew Kuntz)
Gaither Carlton notation (by Andrew Kuntz)
Janet,
Just a small point. Are you sure that there is only one Buddy Thomas album ? Check out Field Recorders Collective.
quote:
Originally posted by Jimmy SuttonJanet,
Just a small point. Are you sure that there is only one Buddy Thomas album ? Check out Field Recorders Collective.
Thanks, Jimmy. Yes, I discovered a treasure trove! There's indeed another CD in the Field Recorders Collective. Their link took me to Bandcamp where there are over twice the number of tracks compared to the "Kitty Puss" CD (33, as opposed to 16), including Kitty Puss, track #28. For a minimum of $10 you can download the Buddy Thomas CD, the collected recordings of Dave Spilkia and Ray Alden. Plus on the Field Recorders' Collective site you can read Buddy's autobiographical story from the liner notes of the Kitty Puss CD, as written by Mark Wilson.
Hi Janet, I am surprised you didn't already know of the FRC. They have been around for a while now and doing a great job as my shelves are witness to. They have so much worthwhile material. Their 16 volume set "A Survey of Traditional Music" is really amazing and includes pages and pages of research photographs and notes all free to download.
It is as you say a treasure trove. Much there to keep you occupied.
Regards
That sounds like a truly amazing resource, Jimmy. I need a list at my fingertips with live links to remember the various collections out there, like FRC, Augusta Heritage Center, Smithsonian Folkways, Slippery Hill, Berea, Digital Library of Appalachia and more, plus producers like Rounder, Heritage, and County, and so many more (most of my CDs seem to have come from Rounder). Also, digital collections of tunes would be handy to have in an alphabetized list. This would make a good topic on BHO, wouldn't it.
I do have some FRC downloaded CDs like Clyde Davenport, Ward Jarvis, Lee Sexton and now Buddy Thomas, and they send me emails with announcements of their projects. But I do forget to look and appreciate your reminder.
Edited by - JanetB on 11/15/2025 09:37:33
