Annotation:Flatwoods (1)
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FLATWOODS [1]. Old-Time, Breakdown. USA; Galax, Va., Roundpeak, N.C., Alabama. G Major. GDad (Tommy Jarrell) or Standard (Emmett Lundy) {fiddle}. ABB (Seeger/Frets): AABB (Phillips). This tune, in several versions which seem loosely connected, has been found the repertoires of Galax/Mt. Airy musicians such as Tommy Jarrell (Mt. Airy, N.C.), Emmett Lundy (1864–1953) and Luther Davis (Galax, Va.) and Alabama's Johnson Family Band (c. 1950), as well as Georgia's Skillet Lickers in the 1920's (in fact, the melody is known widely as a north Georgia tune). Mt. Airy, N.C., fiddler Tommy Jarrell learned the tune (and "Devil in the Strawsack") as a young man from southwest Va. musician Zack Payne, a Confederate Civil War veteran who was 82 at the time. Emmett Lundy's version seems to be more related melodically to "Leather Britches" in the 'B' part than is Payne's version. Lundy is said to have had his version of "Flatwoods" from the legendary Blue Ridge fiddler Green Leonard (1810–1892).
Source for notated version: Tommy Jarrell via Liz Slade (Yorktown, New York) [Kuntz]; Emmett Lundy (Va.) [Phillips].
Printed sources:
"Mike Seeger: Traditional Music," Frets Magazine, April 1983; p. 49.
Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 1), 1994; p. 88.
Recorded sources:
Columbia 15472-E (78 RPM), The Skillet Lickers (1929).
County 756, Tommy Jarrell – "Sail Away Ladies" (1986).
Rounder 0020, Jerry Lundy.
Rounder 1005, The Skillet Lickers.
String 802, Emmet Lundy – "Library of Congress Recordings, 1941."
See also listing at:
Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [1]