Back to "Dear Old Illinois" (2007, Garry Harrison & Jo Burgess, Pick Away Press: Bloomington, IN) for this one. Incidentally, if you haven't picked up your copy of this gem, I see that it is only $337 from Amazon. Unfortunately, the book is out of print, and (almost) nobody is selling their used copies. The fiddle tunes (391 of them) and ballads (361 of them) are all in standard notation, so no tabs here. Following are some recordings/YouTube videos of "Bean Walker's Mile (the TOTW)," "Dominion Reel," and "Old Dominion Reel." More below on why there are three tunes here as well as a link to the original recording that kicked this one off.
Bean Walker's Mile
Unidentified fiddler & Charlie Walden (guitar)
Charlie Walden and Jennifer Jeffries on fiddle, Mary Tabatowski on mandolin, Steve Rosen on banjo, and Patt Plunkett on keyboard.
Dominion Reel ("A" part is "A" part of Bean Walker's Mile)
Don Messer (fiddle) & his Islanders (after Prince Edward Island)
Charlie Walden on fiddle
Old Dominion Reel (Nothing to do with Dominion Reel, so nothing to do with Bean Walker's Mile)
Charlie Walden on fiddle
Charlie Weems on 4-string (?) fretted gourd banjo
The original source
The tune is from Charles Overton Fulk of Ingraham, Illinois. You can hear the original recorded on Oct. 18, 1976 with Garry Harrison backing Fulk on guitar at Slippery-Hill. Charlie Fulk was the youngest of three brothers, all of whom were fiddlers:
(George) Fletcher Fulk (15 June 1902 – 30 July 1982, Ingraham, IL)
(Learnie) Everett Fulk (26 October 1905 – 4 October 1984, Olney, IL)
Charles Overton Fulk (20 September 1916 – 21 November 1980, Ingraham, IL)
Together with three sisters they were the children of Grant Lafayette Fulk and Sarah Jane Sparling of South Muddy Township, Jasper County, Illinois. Charlie and Fletcher eventually moved to Ingraham, Pixley Township, Clay County, Illinois. This was not much of a move as South Muddy and Pixley are adjacent Townships. Everett moved a bit further into Richland County which shares its western border with Clay County and its northern border with Jasper County. Together these three brothers contributed 32 tunes out of the 391 tunes in "Dear Old Illinois."
What's up with that weird title?
One of the comments (from Steve Harrison, Garry's older brother) on the first YouTube is: "That's one of brother Garry's patched together "quilts." Pretty sure you're right about the Dominion Reel being implicated in the first part. No clue about the second part and other possible flights of inspiration. I do know the tune title he gave it refers to one of the summer jobs he and his twin brother Terry had, and that was hoeing soy bean fields -- being Bean Walkers. Garry quipped something to the effect that "A mile's a mile, but when you're walking beans, it's a MILE!"" For more on bean walking see the Iowa Agricultural Literacy Foundation and:
From the recording that Garry made of Charlie Fulk we know that Fulk was the source of the tune "Bean Walker's Mile." Was this Fulk's name for the tune? Probably not. More than likely Fulk was recalling an "A" part for a tune ("Dominion Reel") and didn't remember the "B" part, instead substituting something that made sense. When Garry asked for the tune name likely Fulk didn't remember the name, and so Garry decided to call the tune "Bean Walker's Mile." Such name substitution, though rare, does happen in "Dear Old Illinois." There is tune #36 from Charlie Fulk that is labeled as "Charlie's Favorite" (I have no idea if this was a pre-existing tune). That is followed by Charlie Myrna's "Charlie's Hornpipe" which is very clearly the Irish tune "(Little) Stack of Barley." Tunes #203 to 208 are all labeled as "Rachel" (often called "Texas Quickstep", though Garry lists "Gypsies in the Woods" as an alternate title for #203). Of these tunes, numbers 206 to 208 only list the "B" part, and the #206 "B" part is from Charlie Fulk. It isn't that unusual for older fiddlers (hey, I'm one now!) to forget a part, to substitute a part when they can't remember it, or to forget a tune title. My downfall is, you know, that hornpipe, the title of which starts with a "Q," and well, I can't remember the melody, but it is really pretty... Oh wait, it doesn't start with a "Q," it's "Rickett's Hornpipe," and now I remember enough of part of the melody to play the whole thing.
Dominion Reel and Old Dominion Reel
Charlie Walden remarks in one of his YouTube videos that the "A" part of Bean Walker's Mile" is the "A" part of Dominion Reel, and that this is from Cole's (1940) "One Thousand Fiddle Tunes." But this can be traced further back. Dominion Reel is in Ryan’s “Mammoth Collection” (1883), and so likely somewhere in one of Elias Howe's Musician's Omnibus. Old Dominion Reel is also an old tune (see Noah Cline's comment below) and seems to be pretty unrelated to Dominion Reel. For you historians out there, the Old Dominion is Virginia while the Dominion is Canada. Well, enough of this!
My recording
I recorded this long ago (almost 17 years ago). I was younger then, so it is at a peppy tempo (clocks in at 122 bpm). Our local contra dance group has a top speed limit of 125 bpm, so I wouldn't get a ticket, but maybe a warning. The attached tab is only an approximation to what I played so long ago, because, well, who knows what I was actually doing back then?
Edited by - LyleK on 03/27/2026 15:12:32
Lyle, I am familiar with the Old Dominion Reel (listened to Chris Wig's recording of it for years but just recently learned it on fiddle) which comes from Knauff's Virginia Melodies (1839), and in a sort of way, I can hear little bits of it in Bean Walker's Mile and the Dominion Reel. Not exact, but elements of the chord structure and melody runs that might have the notes placed differently, but similarly, and others added in, like the resolves of the first repetition of the parts. I also hear a little part of the A to Little Brown Jug in the B of Bean Walker's Mike, but with a different resolve in the first repetition.
I was at a small jam the other week and a French Canadian tune was introduced which I'd not heard before, but picked it up pretty quickly at the time, but I've forgotten the name, and well, how the tune went exactly (something French for "The Peaks" I believe), but the B part reminded me of Old Dominion Reel, which brought it back to my attention and thus lead me to learn it.
Anywho, I've muddied the waters enough. Paddle on. ;)
There are several online used book vendors that allow you to keep a wishlist...I did that for "Dear Old Illinois", and after quite a while I finally was able to get one for a reasonable price.
You're certainly up to speed on your recording, Lyle. Thanks for giving us a DOI tune. Are they all on Slippery Hill? I don't see them. Thankfully, I have the mp3s on my computer. I had the book till recently, but rely mostly on recordings to learn. Dominion Reel on its own would make a good TOTW.
My arrangement resembles yours. There were various techniques to get in the notes and as I learned, I kept switching methods, as each has advantages and disadvantages. Ease of playing with smooth dynamics is a primary goal.
Edited by - JanetB on 03/28/2026 18:26:26
Here are some general comments by poster:
1. Noah - I left out an important reference which is: https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Dominion_Reel. Curiously, this is a reference to "Dominion Reel" but at the top of the notation it has "Old Dominion." But to me the most curious point is "...the tune, or rather a strain of the tune, is better known in Canada as "Bean Walker's Mile" which shares the same first strain." There is soy bean farming in southern Canada, but I suspect the title "Bean Walker's Mile" is after the tune having been spread out of Illinois, either by the DOI book or by jams that were using this source.
2. Andy - Good point. My regret is that I had an electronic copy of Volume II of Stacy Phillips's "Traditional American Fiddle Tunes." Mel Bay busted that book up into various tune types, but at the same time Stacy started selling the entire book as a *.pdf. I bought it from him, but I lost that *.pdf a number of computer generations ago. If I could find Vol. II used I'm not sure I would want it. I say Stacy's personal copy of Vol. I. He had split the binding and put it back together with duct tape (or something like it). He did this so that the book would stay open, which is a problem with DOI and a number of other bound books.
3. Janet - I don't think most of the DOI tunes are at Slippery-Hill. If you search for "Garry Harrison" you will find some of them, plus some tunes that Garry wrote. I can do tunes by ear or from standard notation. I like getting tunes from standard notation because that gives me access to a lot of tunes that might not be circulating at jams or have ever been recorded. As always, your playing is beautiful. It is certainly not as "caffeinated" as my version. Fulk's recording is 120 bpm, mine was 122, and your's is 94. Our suggested speed range here for contra/square dances is 110-125. I've fiddled at less than 110 bpm when there are a lot of new dancers, but the experienced dancers get antsy.
Here's my version at a very sedate 85 bpm, so not dance speed, but then that wasn't the intention.
Tried it a couple of ways but ended up with more of a 'fingerstyle' approach, and didn't stray to far from the the original tabs posted above, so thanks both.
I have a new recording technique with an old vocal mic, so fairly pleased with the results.
Thanks for sharing the tune LyleK, was fun to learn!
Edited by - snoot on 04/02/2026 05:56:27
quote:
Originally posted by snootHere's my version at a very sedate 85 bpm, so not dance speed, but then that wasn't the intention.
Tried it a couple of ways but ended up with more of a 'fingerstyle' approach, and didn't stray to far from the the original tabs posted above, so thanks both.
I have a new recording technique with an old vocal mic, so fairly pleased with the results.
Thanks for sharing the tune LyleK, was fun to learn!
This is a tune that sounds good at just about any speed, and I think my recording does not follow the "Goldilocks principle" where speed is concerned. Your recording, and Janet's, sound just right to me!
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