I don’t remember who I first heard play Shuckin’ the Bush, but I remember thinking it was a super cool tune, and starting to work it out immediately. My coolest memory around this tune was at the Royal Gorge Fiddle Contest, when Herman Johnson judged it and some amazing fiddlers showed up (including Matthew Hartz, […]
Midnight on the Water – Fiddle Tune a Day – Day 349
Midnight on the Water is one of the Coolest Waltzes out there. And that’s not because there aren’t a lot of cool waltzes out there. It’s cross-tuned (DDAD), which is a great start. It has all sorts of open drones that ring beautifully in the cross tuning. It has a haunting melody, and it was […]
Laughing Boy – Fiddle Tune a Day – Day 338
Laughing Boy is a classic old-time fiddle tune. And, it’s cross-tuned, which makes it all the more fun. I have heard Laughing Boy many times, but the recording I used to work it up tonight is a recording of Benny Thomasson playing it. Never let it be said that Benny was not well rounded in […]
Sumner’s Hornpipe – Fiddle Tune a Day – Day 337
Tonight I was looking through Cole’s 1000 Fiddle Tunes, and I came across Sumner’s Hornpipe. When I played it, I instantly recognized the melody. I thought that the name I had heard it under was Queen of the West. I have heard Ed Carnes play it, and he called it Queen of the West, and […]
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 […]
Martin’s Waltz – Fiddle Tune a Day – Day 324
In my mind, Martin’s Waltz may be the prototypical fiddle contest waltz. It’s beautiful. It’s not quite as hard as it sounds, but it is tricky (so it sounds pretty darn tricky.) Daniel Carwile really took this tune to a new level with his recording of it. Martin’s Waltz according to Fiddler’s Companion […]
Canebrake – Fiddle Tune a Day – Day 319
When I think of Cane Break, I think of Weiser. I first heard it at Weiser, and while I’ve never played it in a contest, I have always thought it was a cool tune. I think it’s especially cool how it startes out in D, and then modulates to Bb for the B part, and […]
Tugboat – Fiddle Tune a Day – Day 286
You are going to love today’s fiddle tune. I’m joined by Tyler Andal on guitar, virtually. Tyler sent me this video months ago of him playing rhythm to Tugboat months ago, and I really should have played it sooner. But, I made stupid excuses for putting it off like: I really don’t have anything worked […]
Cripple Creek – Fiddle Tune a Day – Day 184
I have played Cripple Creek forever, but I didn’t play it very cool until I added some licks from a Benny Thomasson transcription. Of course, I added my own stuff in there too. I even included it on my recent album, Long Time Comin‘. Tonight, I was asked by Andy May to join him playing at […]
Hotfoot – Fiddle Tune a Day – Day 167
I don’t have a tone of history with Hotfoot. I have a few memories. I remember hearing some of my friends play it at Weiser when I was a teenager, and I remember Texas Shorty (Jim Chancellor) play a great version of Hotfoot at the Grand Lake National Fiddle Contest one year. I learned Hotfoot […]