Crazy Creek
CRAZY CREEK. Bluegrass, Breakdown. USA. A Mixolydian/Minor ('A' part) & C Major ('B' part). Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB (Brody, Phillips): AA'B (Silberberg). Composed and originally recorded by Tommy Jackson (d. 1979), who was heavily influenced by the playing of his close friend, Texas fiddler Bob Wills. Musicologist Charles Wolfe says Jackson became "the most heard, and the most imitated, fiddler of his generation", largely because of a series of recordings of square dances without calls, given wide distribution among popular commercial square dance circles. Later Jackson became a much-sought-after session man and producer in Nashville, and was connected with the Grand Old Opry. Later, the Dillards with fiddler Byron Berline made an influential recording of the tune.
Sources for notated versions: Delaware Water Gap [Brody]; Byron Berline [Phillips, Silberberg]; Ken Kosek [Phillips].
Printed sources: Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; p. 77. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), 1994; pp. 59 & 60 (two versions). Silberberg (Tunes I Learned at Tractor Tavern), 2002; p. 28.
Recorded sources: Biograph RC6006, Bottle Hill- "A Rumor in Their Own Time." Elektra EKS 7285, The Dillards with Byron Berline- "Pickin' and Fiddlin." Heritage XXXIII, The Backwoods Band - "Visits" (1981). Kicking Mule 205, Delaware Water Gap- "From the Rivers of Babylon to the Land of Jazz" (1979. Learned from Byron Berline and the Dillards' recording). Rounder 0067, Jack Tottle- "Back Road Mandolin." Rounder 0084, Bill Keith- "Something Bluegrass." Rounder 7002, Graham Townsend- "Le Violin/ The Fiddle."
© 1996-2010 Andrew Kuntz. All Rights Reserved.
Engraver Valerio M. Pelliccioni