Annotation:Natural Bridge Blues

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NATURAL BRIDGE BLUES. Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Missouri. A Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'B. A breakdown built on a blues progression, composed by fiddler Tommy Magness (1911-1972), who played with Bill Monroe, Roy Acuff, and Fiddlin' Arthur Smith. It is named for Virginia's Natural Bridge, a limestone formation 216 ft. high, and 93 ft. long.

He first recorded the melody as a member of Roy Hall's Blue Ridge Entertainers in 1941. Missouri fiddler Lonnie Robertson and his wife Thelma sometimes sang the following lyric to the tune on their radio broadcasts:

Oh, the Natural Bridge Blues is a killin' me,
I don't know what to do;
Makes no difference where I roam,
I feel so sad and blue.
Every night when I lay down,
In my dreams I see,
That old bridge a-standin' there,
I hear it calling me. .... [printed in Beisswenger & McCann, 2008]

Source for notated version: Lonnie Robertson (1908-1981, Springfield, Missouri) [Beisswenger & McCann].

Printed sources: Beisswenger & McCann (Ozarks Fiddle Music), 2008; p. 122.

Recorded sources: Blue Ridge Institute BRI00010, Texas Troubadours - "Virginia Traditions: Early Roanoke Country Radio" (1988. Reissue recording, various artists). Bluebird B-8863 (78 RPM), Roy Hall and His Blue Ridge Entertainers (1941). County Records, "Roy Hall and His Blue Ridge Entertainers." Rounder 0172, Bob Carlin - "Where Did You Get That Hat?" (1982. Learned from Fred Cockerham). Rounder CD 0375, Lonnie Robertson - "Lonnie's Breakdown" (1996. Originally recorded 1979).

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources []
Hear Tommy Magness's recording on Paul Mitchell's site [www.unc.edu/~pmitchel/mp3/natural_bridge.mp3]
Hear the Texas Troubadour's 1941 recording at the Digital Libaray of Appalachia [1]

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