Annotation:Last of Callahan

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LAST OF CALLAHAN. AKA- "Callahan," "Callahan Reel," "Last of the Callahans." AKA and see "Old Sport (2)." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Arkansas, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky. D Major. AEae or Standard tunings (fiddle). AABB (Thede): AA'BB'CC (Brody, Reiner & Anick). Thede says that fiddlers in Arkansas and Oklahoma attribute the tune (as in the "Annotation:MacPherson's Lament" story) to an outlaw who, just before being hung, requested to play the fiddle one last time ..."In his standing position he played an unnamed fiddle tune and then handed the fiddle down to one of the bystanders. Justice was meted out...and the likeness of the tune became "Last of Callahan" (p. 49). Reiner & Anick (1989) say the first published report on the tune is from 1912, which relates the story of a Kentucky outlaw named Callahan who was executed around the year 1835; only in this account he played his tune while sitting on his awaiting coffin and when finished broke the fiddle over his knee before stepping up to the gallows. The tale is an example of a traditional tune-story that goes far back in musical tradition, in the case of the fiddle at least to the old Scottish tune "MacPherson's Lament," and in America is similar to the legend behind the musically related West Virginia/Virginia tunes "Camp Chase," "Joe Coleman's March" (Pa.) and "George Booker." A Cajun version of the legend is attached to the tunes "Guilbeau's Waltz" and "Valse a Napoleon."



The title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes (as "Last of the Callahans") compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. See also the related family of tunes including "Village Hornpipe," "Sweet Ellen (2)/Sweet Ellum (2)," and "Old Dubuque." See also Annotation:Callahan.

Sources for notated versions: Frank West (Murray County, Oklahoma) [Thede], Highwoods String Band (N.Y.) [Brody, Reiner & Anick].

Printed sources: Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pp. 165-166. Reiner & Anick (Old-Time Fiddling Across America), 1989; p. 113. Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; p. 49.

Recorded sources: Ghe Records Gr 1001, Mike Cross - "Child Prodigy" (1979). Rounder 0023, Highwoods String Band- "Fire on the Mountain." Rounder 0010, "Fuzzy Mountain String Band" (1972. Learned from a West Virginia source via revival fiddler Dave Milefsky). In the epertoire of Kentucky fiddlers Luther Strong and Bill Stepp (who recorded for the Library of Congress).

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]
Hear the 1937 AFS field recording of Kentucky fiddler Luther Strong at Berea Digital Content [2]

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