Annotation:Lost Indian (1) (The)
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LOST INDIAN [1], THE. Old-Time, Texas Style; Breakdown. USA, Oklahoma, Texas, eastern Kentucky. A Major. AEac# tuning (fiddle). AABB (Thede), AABBC (Brody). Guthrie Meade and Mark Wilson (1976) point out that, among older traditional fiddlers, "Lost Indian" is a generic title for a number of tunes related not so much by melodic content as by the fact that they are characteristically played in scordatura (AEac#) tuning. Charles Wolfe, reiterating Wilson and Meade's line of thinking, confirms that the "Lost Indian" tunes are a family of fiddle tunes popular from Virginia to Texas, "more associated with tuning AEac# than with melodic contours" (1982, p. 3-12). The popular old-time/bluegrass flatpick guitar showpiece "Black Mountain Rag" is also in this family (Charles Wolfe, The Devil's Box, Dec. ?), thought by some to be a derivative of "Lost Indian (1)." Fiddlers, perhaps inspired by the title, would sometimes let fly a vocal 'whoop' when playing the tune, to represent a Native-American lost in the wilderness, and sometimes, as in Kentucky fiddler Ed Hayley's () version, melodic and rhythmic features of the tune are similarly said to represent "an Indian squalling in the wilderness." A tune under this title was mentioned in a 1931 account of a LaFollette, northeast Tennessee fiddlers' contest as having been commonly played; the title is a notorious "floater," though, and exactly which of the many different tunes with this name referenced is unknown. A tune with this title also appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. See related tune "Cherokee Shuffle." In the repertoire of fiddler Louis Propps (Texas, 1936).
Source for notated version: Max Collins (Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma) [Thede]; Ed Haley (Kentucky) and Ship in the Clouds (Indiana) [Brody].
Printed sources: Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; p. 178. Thede (The Fiddle Book), 1967; p. 31.
Recorded sources: County 202, "Eck Robertson: Famous Cowboy Fiddler." County 724, Benny Thomasson (Texas) - "Country Fiddling." Folkways 31062, Ship in the Clouds- "Old Time Instrumental Music" (1978. Learned from Ed Hayley). Front Hall FHR-037, Mark Graham - "Natural Selections" (1987). Green Linnet SIF122, Kevin Burke - "Open House" (1992). Marimac 9008, The Lazy Aces - "Still Lazy After All These Years" (1986). Rounder 0018, Mose Coffman- "Shaking Down the Acorns." Rounder 0157, Art Galbraith (Springfield, Mo.) - "Simple Pleasures." Rounder 1010, Ed Haley (Ky.) - "Parkersburg Landing" (1976). Voyager 301, Byron Berline- "Fiddle Jam Session."
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