Annotation:Searcy County Rag

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X:1 T:Searcy County Rag S:Ashley's Melody Men (Arkansas) M:C| L:1/8 D:Victor 40158 (78 RPM), Ashley's Melody Men (1929) F:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/searcy-county-rag Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:C [de]-|[ee]cGE GGAE|GGAE G3[de]|-[ee]cGE GGAE|GA[Gc]A [G3c3]:| g3a g2e2|egae g4|g^fga g=fed|cBcd c4| g3a g2e2|egae g2c'2-|c'e ae gfed|cBcd c4:|]



SEARCY COUNTY RAG. Old-Time, Country Rag. USA, Arkansas. C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA’BB’. The original recording of Ashley’s Melody Men playing the tune dates to October, 1929, when the group travelled to Memphis, Tenn., to record. "Searcy County Rag" is credited to Anson Fuller and Hubert M. Ashley on the record label. The group hailed from around Marshall, Searcy County, north-central Arkansas, and on the 1929 recording included fiddlers Anson Fuller (1907-1936) and Vern Baker (1905-1973), guitarist Arlie Baker, steel guitarist Hobart Ashley (1895-1969), and banjo player Homer Treat (b. 1910). Hobart's sons, Hugh and Gerald Ashley, were also sometime members of the somewhat fluid lineup. Hugh also was also a singer and songwriter who performed regularly on local radio (he wrote Brenda Lee's first hit, "One Step at a Time" and "The Old Fiddler" for Bill Monroe), and ran a music shop in Harrison, Arkansas. Drew Beisswenger (2008) points to similarities in the first strain with “Chicken Reel (1),” and in the second strain with Clark Kessinger’s version of “Jake Gillie.”

Additional notes

Source for notated version: - Vern Baker (Zack, Searcy County, Arkansas), with Ashley’s Melody Men [Beisswenger & McCann].

Printed sources : - Beisswenger & McCann (Ozarks Fiddle Music), 2008; p. 167.

Recorded sources: -County 518/CD-3506, Vern Baker with Ashley’s Melody Men – “Echoes of the Ozarks” (1970. Various artists). Space Mountain Records, Burr Daisy Stringband - "Trouble in Mind" (2018). Victor 40158 (78 RPM), Ashley's Melody Men (1929).

See also listing at:
Hear the 1929 recording of Ashley's Melody Men at Slippery Hill [1] and youtube.com [2][3]



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