Annotation:Bitter Creek
X:1 T:Bitter Creek N:From the playing of Oscar & Doc Harper (Texas) N:Fiddle Oscar Harper was born in 1888, probably in Ashdown, Ark., close to the N:Texas border, but grew up in Texas northeast of Dallas and died in that city N:in 1952. Doc Harper played guitar. M:C| L:1/8 R:Reel Q:"Fast" D:OKeh 45485 (78 RPM), Oscar & Doc Harper (1929) D:County CD 3525, Oscar & Doc Harper - "Old Time Texas String Bands, vol. 2" D:https://www.slippery-hill.com/content/bitter-creek-1 Z:Andrew Kuntz K:G ([Bg]||Sb)gdg edBe|dBGB AGEG|DB,DF GABe|dBAG A2g-a| bgdg edBe|dBGB AGEG|DB,DF GABe|dBAF [G2B2][G2B2]|| |:DB,DB, DFGF|ECEC EFGE|DB,DG EFGA|BdAF GFGE| DB,DB, DFGF|ECEC EFGE|DB,DG EFGA|1BGAF [G2B2][G2B2]:|2BGAF [G2B2]DG-|| G2g2 dedc|BGAG [E3A3]G|DB,DF GABe|dBAG A2 G2- G2g2 dedc|BGAG EFGE|DB,DF GABe |dBAF G2g2-| gage dged|gded Bcd2|gage dged|BGAF EG-Gg-| gage dged|gded Bd-dg-|gage dged|BGAF G2gaS||
BITTER CREEK. AKA – "Bitter Creek Breakdown." American, Reel (cut time). USA; Texas, Kentucky. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB (Brody, Phillips): ABB'C (Harper): ABCDD (Devil's Box): AABBCCDD (Christeson). The tune was recorded in Dallas, Texas, for OKeh Records at the end of November, 1929, by Texas fiddler Oscar Harper (1888-1952), accompanied by guitar player Doc Harper. Although (according to collector R.P. Christeson) it was a local Texas tune, it was popularized by fiddler Tommy Jackson and quickly became widely disseminated. Texas fiddler Benny Thomasson, whose heyday was in the mid-20th century, also had an influential version, albeit played in five parts. He told Gus Garelick that he himself had metaphorically "crossed many a-bitter creek in my life," but maintained there actually was a Bitter Creek in Texas.
Joel Shimberg notes the similarity with this tune and French-Canadian fiddler Henri Landry's "Carnival Reel."
