Annotation:Tennessee Grey Eagle

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TENNESSEE GREY EAGLE. American, Reel (cut time). USA, Missouri. C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA’BB’. The tune, which is different than the several common “Grey Eagle” key-of-‘A’ variants, sounds like Enos Canoy's "Raccoon and the Possum (The)," according to fiddler Kerry Blech. There are other key of ‘C’ variants of “Grey Eagle” in Ozarks regional repertoire, although "Grey Eagle (3)" is close to Herd's "Tennessee Grey Eagle." "Grey Eagle" was reputed to have been the first fiddler-President, Thomas Jefferson’s favorite fiddle tune.

Additional notes

Source for notated version: - Jim Herd (1919-2002, Sunnyside, Washington) [Beisswenger & McCann, Williams]. Herd grew up in the Missouri Ozarks region where he played for local dances. He was proud to own the fiddle carried by his grandfather, a Union soldier, through the Civil War, and traced his style of playing to former generations.

Printed sources : - Beisswenger & McCann (Ozarks Fiddle Music), 2008; p. 58. Stuart Williams (The Evergreen Fiddler vol. I), 2005; p. 6.

Recorded sources: -Rounder 0437, Jim Herd – “Traditional Fiddle Music of the Ozarks, vol. 3: Down in the Border Counties" (1997). Voyager 340, Jim Herd - "Old Time Ozark Fiddling” (1991).

See also listing at:
Hear Jim Herd's 1991 recording at Slippery Hill [1]
See/hear Jim Herd play the tune on youtube.com [2]

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