Annotation:Smoky Mountain Rag
X:1 T:Smoky Mountain Rag C:Tommy Magness Z:V.T. Williams M:C| K:F FD CDFG|"F"A2AAA2AA|A2AA AGFD|"Bb"B,2B,2B,A,B,C|B,2B,6| "F"agfa gfdf|agfd c2ag|fdcA "C7"BAG2|"F"F2:|z2z4|| "C7"EEcE EdEE|cEEd EEcE|"F"FFcF FdFF|cFFd FFcF| "C7"EEcE EdEE|cEEd EEcE|"F"fefg fdcB|AF2GF4| "C7"EEcE EdEE|cEEd EEcE|"F"FFcF FdFF|c2c6| "Bb"agfa gfdf|"F"agfd "D7"c2ag|"G7"fdcA "C7"BAG2|"F"F2|]
SMOKY MOUNTAIN RAG. American, Reel (2/4 or cut time). F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'B. "Smokey Mountain Rag" is credited to fiddler Tommy Magness (1916-1972), born near Ducktown Tennessee, and known at one time as Tennessee's champion hoe-down fiddler. He played with some of the great bluegrass and country bands of the mid-20th century, but began his career as a fiddler with Roy Hall in Virginia. In the late 1930s, Tommy Magness was a member of Roy Hall's Blue Ridge Entertainers, to whom he returned for a short time after joining Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys in the summer of 1940, replacing Art Wooten. He was a member of the band on the very first Blue Grass Boys recording session that October and was featured on the fiddle tune "Katy Hill" and performed on Monroe's original recording of "Mule Skinner Blues". Monroe opined, "He had that fine old-time touch, rich and pure, but he was able to put a touch of blues to it. He was the first man I heard play ‘Orange Blossom Special,’ and he could put a lot more in it than they do today. He taught me the song ‘The Hills of Roane County,’ and I taught him to play ‘Katy Hill’ in the bluegrass way."
Magness also spent several years with Roy Acuff as a member of the Smokey Mountain Boys, recording "Smokey Mountain Rag" with Acuff in November, 1938. In 1947, Tommy formed the Orange Blossom Boys, and, in the late 40's, he formed a group called the Tennessee Buddies which featured Don Reno and Red Smiley.
