Bitter Creek

BITTER CREEK. AKA - "Bitter Creek Breakdown." Old-Time, Texas Style, Bluegrass; Breakdown. USA; Texas, Kentucky. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Brody, Phillips): ABCDD (Devil's Box): AABBCCDD (Christeson). Popularized by fiddler Tommy Jackson. R.P. Christeson says it was apparently a local Texas tune. Texas fiddler Benny Thomasson also had an influential version, played in five parts. He told Gus Garelick that he himself had metaphorically "crossed many a-bitter creek in my life," but maintained there actually was a Bitter Creek in Texas. Joel Shimberg notes the similarity with this tune and French-Canadian fiddler Henri Landry's "Carnival Reel."

Sources for notated versions: Red Williams (Dallas, Texas) [Christeson]; Benny Thomasson (Texas) [Brody]; Howdy Forrester via John Hartford [Devil's Box]; Tommy Jackson [Phillips].

Printed sources: Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; p. 45. R.P. Christeson (Old Time Fiddlers Repertory, vol. 1), 1973; No. 130, p. 92. The Devil's Box, vol. 22, No. 4, Winter 1988, p. 51. Martin (Benny Thomasson Fiddle Transcriptions), 1997; No. 2. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 1, 1994; p. 26.

Recorded sources: County 724, Benny Thomasson - "Country Fiddlin' from the Big State" (1970). County CD 2712, Art Stamper - "The Lost Fiddler" (c. 1982). County 3525, Oscar & Doc Harper (et al) - "Dallas Bound: Old-Time Texas String Bands, vol. 2" (the four-part version of the tune). MCA 162, Tommy Jackson - "Square Dances Without Calls." Rounder 0004, Clark Kessinger - "Old Time Music." Voyager Records, Benny Thomasson - "Say Old Man Can You Play the Fiddle?"

X:1
T:Bitter Creek  
L:1/8
M:2/4
S:Howdy Forrester, transcribed by John Hartford
N:The first four bars is the introduction
K:G
g/a/g/e/ d/g/e/d/|g/d/e/d/ B/G/B/d/|g/a/g/e/ d/g/e/d/|B/G/A/F/ G||
g/b/||b/g/e/g/ e/d/B/c/|d/B/G/B/ A/G/E/G/|D/C/B,/A,/ G,/D/B/c/|
d/B/G/B/ A/d/g/a/|b/g/d/g/ e/d/g/a/|g/e/d/B/ A/G/E/F/|G/E/D/C/ B,/D/G/A/|B/G/A/F/ G||
G,/B,/D/B,/ G,/B,/D/G/|E/G/(E/G/) E/D/C/E/|D/B,/G,/B,/ D/G/B/c/|
d/B/G/B/ A/G/E/G/|D/B,/G,/B,/ D/F/G/F/|E/G/E/G/ E/D/C/E/|D/B,/G,/B,/ D/G/B/c/|
d/B/A/F/ G||:B/d/|g/a/g/e/ d/g/e/d/|g/d/e/B/ dB/d/|g/a/g/e/ d/g/e/d/|B/G/A/F/ G:| |