Silver Bells – Fiddle Tune a Day – Day 191

I remember the first time I heard Silver Bells. It was at the Grand Lake American Heritage Music Festival. We were doing the Gambler’s Draw Contest, one of my favorite contests, and someone else drew the tune out of the hat. The first tune that came to my mind was the Silver Bells Christmas carol. Obviously that was not the correct tune.

By the way, for those of you who don’t know about the Gambler’s Draw Contest, it’s a gas. All of the contestants line up, and each of them draws the name of a fiddle tune out of a hat. If the contestant can play the tune to the judges’ satisfaction then they continue through that round. If they fail, the judges give them the “gong” and they are out of the running. This continues until you are down to 2 fiddlers remaining. At this point it becomes double elimination. If I fail to play the tune successfully, the other remaining competitor has to play that tune to win the contests. The winner ends up taking the “pot” (all of the entry fees paid for entry into that division.)

There was one year at Grand Lake where Junior Marriott and I were the last 2 fiddlers standing. We went back and forth for 30 minutes. Either we knew the tune, or neither of us knew it. Finally after a half hour of the 2 of us on stage, Jana Jae decided that she had had enough, and offered for us to split the pot. We both agreed to the stalemate, and called it a draw. Junior is always a worthy opponent in the Gambler’s Draw, and that face-off is still a happy memory for me.

PS. Let me know what you think of my cool new guitar shirt. And there is a dedication for the first person to name the tune I’m playing on my guitar shirt. 🙂

Silver Bells according to Fiddler’s Companion

SILVER BELL(S). American, Song Tune (cut time). D Major (‘A’ part) & G Major (‘B’ part). Standard tuning. ABB’. This tune, originally a 1910 Tin-Pan-Alley song with words by Edward Madden and music by Percy Wenrich (the latter born in Missouri but moved to New York City two years before the song was published, the beginning of an important career on Tin-Pan-Alley). “Silver Bell” was absorbed into old-time repertoire in the 1920’s and its popularity among fiddlers cemented a decade later by Texas bandleader Bob Wills. However, old-time versions were earlier recorded by Clayton McMichen (Ga.), Ernest Stoneman and Jess Young (Tenn.). The earliest recording of the song, however, was by Ada Jones and Billy Murray, for Edison in 1911 (Ed 10492). Stacy Phillips notes that the tune has been recorded in the keys of G, C and B Flat as well, and that sometimes there is no key change in the second part. Source for notated version: Johnny Gimble and Cliff Bruner [Phillips]. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 2, 1995; pg. 127. Columbia 15400-D, Jess Young’s Tennessee Band (1929). OKeh 4055, McMichen’s Home Town Band (1925). OKeh 45060, Ernest Stoneman & Joseph Samuels (1926). OKeh 45379, Scottdale String Band (1929). Vocalion 04934 {78 RPM}, Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys (1939).