Annotation:Lost Child (The)
X:1 T:Lost Child S:The Stripling Brothers M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel N:AEac# tuning (fiddle) F:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/lost-child Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:A O[A,3E3]fe2e2|cefc e4|[E2A2]ff ee [cc][cc]|[cc][cc][Bc]-[cc]A4| [A,2E2][cf][cf] [c2e2][cc][cc]|[cc][cc](fc) [c4e4]| [c2c2][cc]f [ce]d+slide+[c2c2]-|[cc][cc] [Bc]-[cc] [A4c4]|| [cc][cc][cc][cc] [c2c2]+slide+[c2c2]-|[cc]([Ac][Bc][cc]) [A4c4]|{B}[c2c2][cc][cc] [cc][Bc2][Ac][Ac]|AA(FA) [E4A4]| [c2c2][cc][cc] [c2c2]+slide+[c2c2]-|[cc]([Ac][Bc][cc]) [A4c4]|{B}[c2c2][cc][cc] [cc][Bc2][Ac][Ac]|AA(FA) [E4A4]|| "+"c2[E2A2]"+"c2[E2A2]|[M:6/4]"+"c2+slide+[c3c3][Bc] AA[F2A2][E2A2]|[M:C|]"+"c2[E2A2]"+"c2[E2A2]|"+"c2+slide+[c3c3][cc] [cc][cc] (B/c/B)[A2c2]| "+"c2[E2A2]"+"c2[E2A2]|[M:6/4]"+"c2+slide+[c3c3][Bc] AA (F/G/F) [E2A2]|[M:C|]"+"c2[E2A2]"+"c2[E2A2]|cBAF (F/G/F) E2| "+"c2[E2A2]"+"c2[E2A2]|cBAF (F/G/F) E2|"+"c2[E2A2]"+"c2[E2A2]|cBAF (F/G/F) E2|| A,A,[A,E]A, A,A,[A,E]A,|cBAF (F/G/F) E2|A,A,[A,E]A, A,A,[A,E]A,|cBAF (F/G/F) E2| A,8-|A,8-|A,4|D8-|D8| C8|B,8|C6B,2|D8|C2B,2B,2B,2O||
LOST CHILD, THE. Old-Time, Breakdown (irregular time). USA, Alabama. A Major. AEac# tuning (fiddle). ABBCD. "Lost Child" features pizzicato, or plucked notes. Charles Wolfe says the tune was well known in central Alabama in the 1930's, and is the precursor to the popular bluegrass tune "Black Mountain Rag" (Charles Wolfe, The Devil's Box, Dec. 1982, p. 3-12). Elsewhere it has been reported as common in western Alabama, in the Tombigbee-Warrior region (Joyce Cauthen, With Fiddle and Well-Rosined Bow, 1989), and it is one of the tunes listed in S.M. Taylor's 1925 master's theses called "A Preliminary Survey of Folk-Lore in Alabama." It was learned by the Stripling Brothers [1] from a fiddling neighbor in Alabama named "Uncle Plez" Pleasant C. Carroll (1850-1930), although fiddler Charlie Stripling added the pizzicato for contest playing, explaining: "I'd take my middle finger and knock the double shuffle on the strings" (Robert Fleder, 1971). It was one of his two favorite contest pieces, and was the very first tune (along with "Annotation:Big_Footed_N....r_(in_the_Sandy_Land)_(1)") recorded by the Stripling brothers, in Birmingham, Alabama in 1928. "The Lost Child" was also in repertory of Alabama fiddler Monkey Brown (1897-1972).
