Annotation:Mother's Reel

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X:1 T:Mother's Reel M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel K:C g>f|e3f cBcA|GAGF EGFE|DGBG dGBG|DGBd gagf| e2ed cBcA|GAGF EGFE|DGBG dGAB|cdcB c2:| ||Bc|d2d^c defg|d2d^c defg|B2Bc BAGA|BcBA B2Bc| d2d^c defg|d2d^c defg|abag fdef|gagf g2|| K:C |:(3GAB|c2ec gc ea|gg ec Bc dB|c2ec gc ea|1 gg ec Bc dB:|2 gg ec Bc||

MOTHER'S REEL. AKA and see "Reel de mon maton (Le),""Reel du régiment." Canadian, New England; Reel. C Major ('A' and 'C' parts) & G Major ('B' part). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABCC (Miller & Perron): ABBCC (Bohrer, Messer): AA'BB'CC (Phillips). The composition has been attributed to Maritime fiddler Don Messer [1] (1909-1973). However, Messer can claim arranger credits only, as it is a version of the reel recorded in 1929 by Montreal fiddler Joseph Allard (1873-1947) who called it "<incipit title="load:maton" width=850 link="https://tunearch.org/wiki/Reel de mon maton (Le)">Reel de mon maton (Le)</incipit>", later re-released as <incipit title="load:regiment" width=850 link="https://tunearch.org/wiki/Reel du régiment">Reel du régiment</incipit>." The tune "Ladies Quadrille" is closely related.

The tune was picked up by influential mid-20th century Texas fiddler Benny Thomasson, and recorded by him in 1999 with the usual Texas-style guitar sock chord accompaniment.

Additional notes

Sources for notated versions: - learned by Vic Kibler (Hamilton County, N.Y.) from a Don Messer (Canada) recording [Bohrer]; Paul Elliot [Phillips].

Printed sources : - Bohrer (Vic Kibler), 1992; No. 20, p. 20. Messer (Way Down East), 1948; No. 27. Messer (Anthology of Favorite Fiddle Tunes), 1980; No. 51, p. 33. Miller & Perron (New England Fiddler's Repertoire), 1983; No. 145. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 158.

Recorded sources: -Apex 26287 (78rpm), Don Messer & His Islanders (1945). MCA Records MCAD 4037, "The Very Best of Don Messer" (1994). Voyager VRCD 345, Benny Thomasson - "Say Old Man can You Play the Fiddle?" (1999). Samantha Robichaud - "Just Being Me" (1999).

See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]
Hear Don Messer's 1945 recording on youtube.com [3]
Hear Nebraska fiddler Bob Walters' version of the tune at missourifiddling.com [4]
Hear Texas fiddler Benny Thomasson's recording at Slippery Hill [5]

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