Annotation:Give the Fiddler a Dram (2)
Tune properties and standard notation
GIVE THE FIDDLER A DRAM [2]. AKA - "Fiddler a Dram," "Fiddler's Dram." Unrelated to "Dance All Night." Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia. G Mixolydian (Brody, Phillips/Carlton, Silberberg): A Mixolydian (Chase, W.E. Claunch, Phillips/Honig). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Silberberg): AABB (Brody, Phillips/Carlton): AA'BB (Chase): AA'BBCC (Phillips/Honig). One version of this tune was played at a 1931 LaFollette, north-east Tennessee fiddlers' contest, according to a local newspaper of the time. The title appears in a list of traditional Ozark Mountain fiddle tunes compiled by musicologist/folklorist Vance Randolph, published in 1954. It was also listed by the Fayette Northwest Alabamian of August 19th, 1929, as one of the tunes likely to be played at an upcoming fiddlers' convention (Cauthen, 1990), and was recorded in 1939 for the Library of Congress by Herbert Halpert from the playing of Mississippi fiddler W.E. Claunch. Gerry Milnes, in the notes for his album "Hell Up Coal Creek," writes that this tune was one of old Tom Dillon's (of Webster County, W.Va.) showpiece tune. Dillon was a character who busked around sandlot baseball games for drinks and tips, often dancing while he played. Another trick of his was to play with two bows strapped together. "Girl with the Blue Dress On" is a related tune.
Source for notated version: banjoist C.B. Wohlford (Marion, Virginia) [Chase]; Gaither Carlton (N.C.) [Phillips]; Peter Honig [Phillips]; Peter Boveng [Silberberg].
Printed sources: Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; p. 121. Chase (American Folk Tales and Songs), 1956; p. 207. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), vol. 1, 1994; p. 98 (two versions). Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; p. 51.
Recorded sources: County Records, Carter Brothers and Son- "Echoes of the Ozarks, vol. 1." Flying Fish FF-246, Red Clay Ramblers - "Hard Times" (1981). Flying Fish 70572, Frank Ferrel - "Yankee Dreams: 'Wicked Good Fiddling from New England'" (1990). Front Hall FHR-037, Mark Graham - "Natural Selections" (1987). Marimac 9038, Dan Gellert & Brad Leftwich - "A Moment in Time." Rounder 0006, Country Cooking- "Fourteen Bluegrass Instrumentals." Rounder CD0364, Brad Leftwich - "The Marimac Anthology: Deep in Old-Time Music." Shanachie Records 6040, Gerry Milnes & Lorraine Lee Hammond - "Hell Up Coal Holler" (1999). Voyager 340, Jim Herd - "Old Time Ozark Fiddling."