Lost Indian – Fiddle Tune a Day – Day 324

I learned Lost Indian from a recording of Benny Thomasson playing it. I have a lot of recordings of Benny, and I have to say that I am  as impressed by the breadth of his fiddling repertoire as I am about how well he played the tunes.

He played hornpipes, and cross-key old-time fiddle tunes just as well as he played breakdowns like Sally Goodin’ and Tom and Jerry.

Benny is definitely on of my fiddle Heroes. By the way, I’m in AEAC# Tuning on this one.

Lost Indian according to Fiddler’s Companion

LOST INDIAN [1], THE. See related tune “Cherokee Shuffle.” Old‑Time, Texas Style; Breakdown. USA, Oklahoma, Texas, eastern Kentucky. A Major. AEac# tuning. AABB (Thede), AABBC (Brody). As Guthrie Meade and Mark Wilson (1976) point out, among older tradtional fiddlers “Lost Indian” is a generic title for a number of tunes related not so much by melodic content as by the fact that they are characteristically played in the AEac# tuning. Charles Wolfe, reiterating Wilson and Meade’s thoughts, confirms the opinion that this is a family of fiddle tunes popular from Virginia to Texas, “more associated with tuning AEac# than with melodic contours” (1982, pg. 3‑12). “Black Mountain Rag” is also in this family (Charles Wolfe, The Devil’s Box, Dec.?) Version [1] was reportedly an ancestor to “Black Mountain Rag.” Perhaps inspired by the title, sometimes fiddlers would whoop to represent an Indian lost in the wilderness, and sometimes, as in Ed Hayley’s version, melodic and rhythmic features of the tune are similarly said to represent “an Indian squalling in the wilderness.” A tune under this title was mentioned in a 1931 account of a LaFollette, northeast Tennessee fiddlers’ contest as having been commonly played; the title is a notorious “floater,” though, and exactly which of the many different tunes with this name referenced is unknown. A tune with this title also appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. Sources for notated versions: Max Collins (Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma) [Thede]; Ed Haley (Kentucky) and Ship in the Clouds (Indiana) [Brody]. In the repertoire of fiddler Louis Propps (Texas, 1936). Brody (Fiddler’s Fakebook), 1983; pg. 178. Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; pg. 31. County 202, “Eck Robertson: Famous Cowboy Fiddler.” County 724, Benny Thomasson (Texas) ‑ “Country Fiddling.” Folkways 31062, Ship in the Clouds‑ “Old Time Instrumental Music” (1978. Learned from Ed Hayley). Front Hall FHR‑037, Mark Graham ‑ “Natural Selections” (1987). Green Linnet SIF122, Kevin Burke – “Open House” (1992). Marimac 9008, The Lazy Aces ‑ “Still Lazy After All These Years” (1986). Rounder 0018, Mose Coffman‑ “Shaking Down the Acorns.” Rounder 0157, Art Galbraith (Springfield, Mo.) – “Simple Pleasures.” Rounder 1010, Ed Haley (Ky.) ‑ “Parkersburg Landing” (1976). Voyager 301, Byron Berline‑ “Fiddle Jam Session.”