Annotation:Twinkle Little Star (1)

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TWINKLE LITTLE STAR [1]. AKA - "Little Star," "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." American, Reel (cut time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part (Beisswenger/McCann): AB (Phillips): AA'BB. A popular tune with older fiddlers throughout the South, apparently derived from a schottische, perhaps from the banjo repertoire. Vivian Williams reports that she found the melody in a dusty manuscript with hand-written banjo arrangements of c. 1890-1905 popular dance tunes, marches, songs, etc.; included is a piece called "Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars Schottische," in the key of A, complete with introduction (the melody in the manuscript does not jump to a higher octave in the second part). There was a popular song called “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or Meet Me at the Bars” composed in 1879 by Fred MacEvoy, printed in Septimus Winner’s New American School for the Banjo (1883, p. 52), that bears strong resemblance to the fiddle tune. John Hartford remembers lyrics that went, "Twinkle twinkle little star or meet me out behind the bars;” bars being a reference to an old rail fence. However, many of the “Twinkle Little Star” versions in traditional fiddle repertoire differ from MacEvoy’s song air (although some are close, see “Twinkle Little Star (3)”). “Twinkle Little Star” was recorded several times during the 78 RPM era, including a “Little Star” by Willie Narmour & S.W. Smith (1928) and Tennessee’s Fiddlin’ Arthur Smith. Other early recordings were by Smith’s Garage Fiddle Band (1928), North Carolina’s Charlie Poole & Roy Harvey (1930), and Texas fiddler Bob Wills (1938). Sometimes these recordings retained the original feel of the schottische, as does the Texas group Smith’s Garage Fiddle Band, other times the tune has been reworked and can seem fairly distanced from the original, as does north Georgia fiddler Earl Johnson’s version, recorded in 1927. Another 78 RPM has the tune under title “Mormon Schottische.”

Additional notes
Source for notated version : - Jim Herd (1919-2002, originally from Eastview, Mo.) [Beisswenger & McCann].

Printed sources : - Beisswenger & McCann (Ozarks Fiddle Music), 2008; p. 59. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, vol. 2), 1995; p. 156.

Recorded sources : - Cassette C-7625, Wilson Douglas - "Back Porch Symphony." Document (DOCD-8038), Smith’s Garage Band – “Texas Fiddle Bands” (reissue). Rounder 0437, Jim Herd – “Traditional Fiddle Music of the Ozarks, vol. 3: Down in the Border Counties” (2000. Various artists). Rounder 11661-0133-2, "Art Galbraith, James River Fiddler: Dixie Blossoms" (2007, extended reissue). Vocalion 5268 (78 RPM), Smith's Garage Fiddle Band (1928). Voyager 309, Benny & Jerry Thomasson - "The Weiser Reunion" (1993).

See also listing at :
Hear Smith's Garage Fiddle Band's 1928 recording at Slippery Hill [1] and youtube.com [2]
Hear Bath County, Ky., fiddler Carlton Rawlings' c. 1960's home recording at Berea Digital Archives [3]

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