Little Dutch Girl

Quote below from The Fiddler's Companion:
"Old-time, Breakdown. USA, Missouri. A Major (Beisswenger & McCann): G Major (Phillips). Standard tuning. AB (Silberberg): AABB (Beissenger & McCann, Phillips).  According to Drew Beisswenger (2008), both source Earl Collins and Missouri fiddler Bob Holt heard the tune played in Douglas County, Mo., when they were young. This is the second “Little Dutch Girl” tune associated with the Collins family; however, Marion Thede did include this melody in The Fiddle Book (1967, collected from Oklahoma fiddler Joe Wilsie) albeit under the title “Liza Jane No. 3,” perhaps because these lyrics are associated with it:

I’ll go down the new cut road,

And Liza down the lane;

I’ll throw my hat in the corner fence,

And scare poor Liza Jane.

 
 Mike Compton and Joe Newberry with Rafe Stefanini - Little Dutch Girl

Sal's Got Mud Between Her Toes

Sausage Grinder's David Bragger and his fiddle student Susan Platz play this Kentucky favorite. Fiddle is in ADAE and banjo in Double D. Enjoy!!

Sal's Got Mud Between Her Toes - Bruce Greene

Here comes Sally down the road,
She’s got mud between the toes,
Though her face is pretty as a pear, 
She's tied a yellow ribbon in her hair.

Sal, Sal, don't be slow,
You love me, you know it's so,
All I ask, the good Lord knows,
Shake that mud from 'tween your toes.

Here she comes and yon she goes,
She don't wear no fancy clothes,
She don't carry no long stem rose,
She's got mud between her toes.

Asked her would she marry me,
She says, "Not immediately,"
But I noticed her with a hose
Washin' mud from 'tween her toes.

East Tennessee Blues

Great tune, East Tennessee Blues, key of C.

Rockin' the Babies to Sleep

I just love the waltz, "Rocking the Babies to Sleep", key of D.  I learned this at a workshop by Alan Jabbour, his source was Henry Reed's children.  Let's play this at the 6:15 slow jam on April 2nd. 




The tune appears in the Milliner-Koken Collection as "Rock All the Babies to Sleep"
Here's another source from folkmads.org:  Rocking the Babies to Sleep Waltz

Jam/Community Dance on Feb. 23rd

UPDATE: Yes, we're still on for today. Drive carefully!

Greetings to all! We are having a jam/family barn dance at The Sounding Board Coffeehouse, (at The Universalist Church) 433 Fern Street in West Hartford on Saturday, February 23rd.

We will jam from 4 - 6 pm and then from 7 - 9 (or maybe (9:30) we'll play for an old fashioned family barn dance called by Patricia Campbell. It would be great if the musicians stay and play for the dance . . . or just dance!

Here's some common tunes we'll play. Other tune suggestions are welcome, just leave a comment below or send me an e-mail.  We may play these as a set or just use one, depending on the caller's preference.  Check back as I'll be updating this list.

Here's a link to the chords and notation if you must. Traditional tunes can be played many ways, with many variations, and different chords, so keep this in mind. Every tune can be simplified if you're a novice player, there's no reason why everyone can't join in. That's what this music is about; to be shared with friends and have fun playing it! I may not play these tunes exactly as written.  (Please don't send me an e-mail saying "That's not how I learned it", "My teacher plays it differently", "I can't play the F#m chord", "I don't like this tune", etc.  Send me money instead!)

Angeline the Baker (D)  - Over the Waterfall (D)

Arkansas Traveler (D) – Mississippi Sawyer (D)

Cold Frosty Morning (Am) – Pretty Little Dog (A-modal)

Colored Aristocracy (G) - Turkey in the Straw (G)

Devil Ate the Groundhog (G) - Squirrel Heads & Gravy (G)

Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss (D) - Grey Cat on a Tennessee Farm (D)

Goodby Girls I’m Going to Boston (A) - Greasy Coat (A) - Cherokee Shuffle (A)

Grasshopper Sitting on a Sweet Potato Vine (D) - West Fork Gals (D)

Horse & Buggy (A) - June Apple (Amix) - Kitchen Girl (Amix/Adorian)

Little Liza Jane (A) - Sandy Boys (A)                  

Sadie at the Back Door (D) - Rock the Cradle Joe (D)

Sandy (My Little Dog He Won't Bite Me) (D) - Flop Eared Mule (D/A)

Seneca Square Dance (G) - Possum's Tail is Bare (D)

Walkin' in My Sleep (G) - Shove the Pigs Foot (G)

Cowboy Waltz (D),  Midnight on the Water (D)

(caller's requests - Janet & I can play these and any other tunes that Patricia might need)
LaBastringue (D) (mixer dance)
Harvest Home (D) - Boys of Blue Hill (D)
Jenny Lind Polka (D) (heel and toe dance)
Sasha (F/D)

Grasshopper Sitting on a Sweet Potato Vine

Grasshopper Sittin' on a Sweet Potato Vine is our slow jam tune for February. This old time tune in the key of D has an unusual name (don't they all?) and Virginia fiddler Luther Davis (1887-1986) is credited for many versions of the tune.  I first heard GSSPV on Banging and Sawing, one of my favorite old time cd's.  You can find Dan Levinson's fiddle and banjo version here.   If you're looking for mountain dulcimer notation, here's a version from Doofus.