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 composition 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. Whatever its origins, it was Smith's 1935 recording that was widely popular and much imitated, despite earlier recordings of the tune (e.g. Da Costa Woltz's Southern Broadcasters). See also note for "Puncheon Floor (2)."
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." Heritage 054, Ralph Blizzard - "Brandywine '83: Music of French America" (1984). 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]
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