Annotation:Lost Train Blues

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LOST TRAIN BLUES. AKA and see "Puncheon Floor (2)," "White Mule." Old-Time, Bluegrass; Breakdown. USA, Tenn. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Brody): ABBCCCBB (Phillips). Some accounts credit this somewhat improvisational composition (e.g. the train sounds) to Arthur Smith (Tenn), however, Charles Wolfe thinks Smith may have learned it from the Crook Brothers (Tenn.) who often featured it on the Opry. While Smith's version was undeniably influential, the piece was recorded earlier by Da Costa Woltz's Southern Broadcasters, and by Henry Whitter; both recordings featured the tune played on harmonica. See also note for "Puncheon Floor (2)."

Fiddlin' Arthur Smith

Source for notated version: Lyman Enloe [Phillips].

Printed sources: Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; p. 179. Phillips (Traditional Music in America), vol. 2, 1995; p. 82.

Recorded sources: Bluebird 5858-A (78 RPM), Fiddlin' Arthur Smith. Bluebird 5858 (78 RPM), Arthur Smith (1935). County 524, "Da Costa Woltz's Southern Broadcasters; 1927 Recordings." County 546, Arthur Smith- "Arthur Smith, Vol. 1." County 745, John Ashby- "Down On Ashby's Farm." County 762, Lyman Enloe- "Fiddle Tunes I Recall." Gennett 6187 (78 RPM), Da Costa Woltz's Southern Broadcasters. Heritage 054, Ralph Blizzard - "Brandywine '83: Music of French America" (1984). OKeh 40029 (78 RPM), Henry Whitter. Rebel 1515, Curly Ray Cline- "My Little Home in West Virginia."

See also listing at:
See/hear Arthur Smith play the tune in a clip from a mid-1940's 'B' western [1]
Hear Fred Perry's June, 1939, version, recorded in the field at the State Penitentiary, Raiford, Florida, by John and Ruth Lomax [2]
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [3]

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