Mississippi Sawyer

  What in the world is a Mississippi Sawyer?  There are a few different theories.  Literally, it is a person who saws wood for a living.  Another possbility is that it is a partially uprooted tree that posed a hazard to barges going up and down the Mississippi River.  It's also possible that it is simply a fiddler, or someone who "saws" away at the fiddle. 
    In a book called Southern Mountain Dulcimer, Wayne Erbson cites Ira Ford, in Traditional Music of America (1940), with the story that the name comes from a saw mill operator who was also a fiddle player.  He played the tune at a giant four-day long celebration of the opening of the saw mill.  The original name of the tune was The Downfall of Paris, but ever since that party, the tune was known as "Mississippi Sawyer"  after the owner of the sawmill.  ( http://books.google.com/books?id=oakbS2YVosEC&pg=PA64&lpg=PA64&dq=mississippi+sawyer+ira+ford&source=bl&ots=RwdK8yjFb5&sig=Q_DzL4bRl3E0hkbrA2nYai3ICsA&hl=en#v=onepage&q=mississippi%20sawyer%20ira%20ford&f=false / ).  

     This makes about as much sense as anything else I've seen on this song, so I'm going with that as the best explanation.   

      The Downfall of Paris was published in England in 1816.  In some cases, the song was still known by that name even in the US in the 20th Century, although the title  "Mississippi Sawyer" was also well known in the 19th Century, consistent with the story about the party at the sawmill. 


   There were lyrics in French (Ca Ira) which celebrated the French Revolution, but these apparently have nothing at all to do with Mississippi or sawyers.  Likewise there have been a few attempts to create English language lyrics for the song over the years, but none of them have stuck.  Mississippi Sawyer is an instrumental tune. 

   Here is a version from my friends Rachel Eddy and Kristian Herner from Sweden, with Bill Fahy. This version is kind of laid back, and It's perfect for playing along with.

I also like this version by Annie and Mac, which is played at a nice even tempo, with a perfect view of the left hand technique for banjo and guitar,  This is really helpful for those of us trying to learn the song....but Annie and Mac are playing in the key of C rather D. I think that most of the known world plays this song in D, so if you learn via Annie and Mac, you will want to capo on 2 in order to coexist with the rest of the world.  
   At the Trolley Stop, we are always in D, and we generally kick it up a notch or two. 

 
A PART 

D---   D---   G---   G--- 
D---   D---   A7--- D---
 
B PART

D---   D---  A7--- A7--- 
D---   D---  A7--- D---

Arkansas Traveler

      
    Arkansas Traveler is another of those songs that everyone is supposed to know, and I decided to blog on it so that I would for sure learn to play it!  Although Old Time musicians are pretty good at playing songs that they don't actually know, this particular song has a lot of rapid chord changes, and so you really have to know it in order to play it well. 
      I remember learning this song in music class in about the 5th grade.  It has also been used several times in cartoons from Warner Brothers, so if that doesn't qualify it as an American institution, I don't know what is. 
     Arkansas Traveler was written in the 1800s by  Colonel Sanford C. "Sandy" Faulkner.  

    Rick Good, Sharon Leahy, Ben Cooper (all regulars at the Trolley Stop) play in this version along with Janden Gladstone on the fiddle and Nick Dauphinais on guitar.  (thanks Yaffstone, whoever you are, for uploading  this on youtube).  

     Here is a version by Tommy Jarrell, a superstar fiddler from way back when who was still a tremendous fiddler into his 80s,  with Aly Bain, from a 1980's TV series called Down Home. There are a few high quality youtube videos out there that feature Tommy, so I would encourage any fan of Old Time fiddling to check them out.  It's the closest thing you can get to having a time machine. 

A  PART
D-G-  D---   A---   A--- 

D-G-  D---  D-G-  A-D-

B PART

D-G-  D-A-  D-A-  D-A- 

D-G-  D-A-  D-G-  A-D-

Oh, once upon a time in Arkansas, 
An old man sat in his little cabin door 
And fiddled at a tune that he liked to hear, 
A jolly old tune that he played by ear. 
It was raining hard, but the fiddler didn't care, 
He sawed away at the popular air, 
Tho' his rooftree leaked like a waterfall, 
That didn't seem to bother the man at all. 

A traveler was riding by that day, 
And stopped to hear him a-practicing away; 
The cabin was a-float and his feet were wet, 
But still the old man didn't seem to fret. 
So the stranger said "Now the way it seems to me," 
You'd better mend your roof," said he. 
But the old man said as he played away, 
"I couldn't mend it now, it's a rainy day." 

The traveler replied, "That's all quite true, 
But this, I think, is the thing to do; 
Get busy on a day that is fair and bright, 
Then patch the old roof till it's good and tight." 
But the old man kept on a-playing at his reel, 
And tapped the ground with his leathery heel. 
"Get along," said he, "for you give me a pain; 
 cabin never leaks when it doesn't rain." 

Kentucky Girl

     Bluegrass Music Shop in Columbus Ohio hosts a jam which incredibly lasts all day long every Saturday staring at 8:00 AM. I can't believe that anyone gets up that early to play bluegrass, but they do. 

http://www.bluegrassmusicshop.com/

    I attended that jam for the first time last week and met a lot of nice folks and tried to learn some new songs. One such song is Kentucky Girl, which the banjo player introduced thusly:

"This here song has only two chords, G and D. So if you try one and it don't sound right, play the other." 

     Well, with that compelling logic, how can you miss?

     To make a long story short, two chords never sounded so good.  This is a really good song!

     So, I did some research on the net, and found out that it was composed and played in about 1972 by a fellow named Charlie Moore.  Travers Chandler tells the story of Charlie's short but brilliant life here:  http://www.averycountyband.com/fr_charliemoore.cfm , Kentucky Girl has also been recorded by the likes of Thunder Mountain Bluegrass, Big Country Bluegrass, and Larry Sparks. Youtube has some versions from the Crosspickers, the Carolina Bluegrass,  Carolina Rebels, the New Connection Bluegrass Band, and a few others.

     Here's a version from a group called the Rhoda Creek Boys. I was going to not even bother with it, figuring it was just some kids. But kids or not they can really play and the vocal harmonies are excellent.

 

I also like this version by John Cogdill, which is evidently from a parking lot jam (that, by the way, is where the best music is played, definitely not in a recording studio!) ...

....and finally , one more from the Flint Hill Ramblers:

In order to play along with the first and second video, you can capo on 2nd and play in the key of G, or else you can be a little more daring and play in the key of A. 

The third video is in the God-given key of G, which is the same key we played in at the jam.  

CHORUS: 

G(A)                           D(E)
Kentucky girl are you lonesome tonight, 
                                G(A)  
Kentucky girl, do you miss me? 
                                                    D(E) 
Does that old moon shine on the bluegrass as bright
                                                G(A)
As it did on the night you first kissed me?  

INSTRUMENTAL BREAK
  

      G(A)                       D(E)
In a valley, 'neath the mountain so high,
                                  G (A)
the  sweetest place in all the world  
                          D(E)
In a cabin with vines on the door 
                                    G(A)
is where I  met my Kentucky girl


INSTRUMENTAL BREAK

       G (A)                      D (E)
I'm far away from old Kentucky tonight,
                                         G (A)
and the blue-eyed girl that I love so. 

                                          D (E)
But Im heading home in the silvery moon light 
                                G (A)
with open arms she waits i know.  

CHORUS

Hey Hey! Four cent cotton!

       Four cent cotton is a song about moonshine, which can have a cottony whitish appearance.  Lowe Stokes from Georgia cut a version in 1930 with the Skillet Lickers.  The song was also listed in the Fayettte Northwest Alabamian in 1929. 

       Some commentators have suggested that the tune is similar to Sally Gooden.   

       The song has a similar title to 11 Cent Cotton, 90 cent meat, but that song seems to be a farmer's lament about low market prices.  It also doesn't have much if any connection musically to Four Cent Cotton.  It's clear enough from Four Cent Cotton that several verses are about moonshine whiskey or some other alcoholic beverage.  
 
    This is a fantastic song for beginners to learn with because you can play nothing but C and make it work!  On the other hand fiddle players really have to earn their pay as it is a very fast song and there is some major league bowing needed (oh that's right---there ain't no pay for Old Time fiddle players.  Sorry).  

    At the Trolley Stop, we tend to stick in a G bass to use as a turnaround chord.  

      C     C     C   G/C
      C     C     C   G/C

    Fiddler Ben Cooper usually sings lead on this, and more often than not, the audience joins in on the "Hey Heys."  For that reason alone it is a great tune to play in front of an audience.   

 There is a Lowe Stokes version on Youtube: 

I also like this version from a group called the Georgia Crackers.  The video was made circa 2009: 

Fours cent Cotton, by Lowe Stokes (see the Bluegrass Messengers, http://www.bluegrassmessengers.com/four-cent-cotton--lowe-stokes--1930.aspx

Old John Davy is dead and rottin’
He got drunk on four-cent cotton
Hey,  hey four-cent cotton
Hey,  hey four-cent cotton  

(Fiddle)

Sleep all night with a hole in your stockin’
Get no more of the four cent cotton’
Hey,  hey four-cent cotton
Hey,  hey four-cent cotton

(Fiddle)

All year runnin’ in cotton
I went broke on four cent cotton.
Hey,  hey four-cent cotton
Hey,  hey four-cent cotton

(Fiddle)

Billie goat a-runnin’ in the holler
We gonna sell some four cent cotton
Hey,  hey four-cent cotton
Hey,  hey four-cent cotton

(Fiddle)

Four cent cotton sure as you’re born
I’m gonna drink some Georgia corn,
Hey,  hey four-cent cotton
Hey,  hey four-cent cotton

ds

This House is Not For Sale!

    Rick Good has really done it this time.  Channelling the likes of  Woody Guthrie, Uncle Dave Macon and Pete Seeger, he has written and performed a song called This House is Not for Sale.

    We played it last week at the Trolley Stop and got a terrific reception from it.  Everyone wanted to know where to get a copy of the lyrics (answer:  check out the website of Rick and his missus Sharon Leahy, http://www.leahygood.com/ , or I've appended the lyrics to this song below). 

     Rick's political sympathies are evident from the lyrics, but as I see it, it really is not a matter of left nor right, but a matter of supporting  the traditional American value of equality, and opposing influence buying.  

   I hope that no matter who we elect, that person will turn out to be someone who will not sell out their values.  Do you suppose that is naive?  

   Well, maybe, but I believe in America, and in my friends and neighbors, and in common sense and that the people are not going to be pushed around as easily as the special interests think.  

    And I also believe in the husband and wife team of Rick Good and Sharon Leahy, and I hope this video goes absolutely viral! 

The video itself is absolutely priceless, what with some really cool drawings from the grandkids (aided and abetted by Sharon),  but there is also a version with a full band, which is available from cdbaby.com.  You may download your own copy here:


 http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/rickgood3

THIS HOUSE IS NOT FOR SALE

On Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C.
There is a house, a monument, as fine as it can be.
If you are the President it’s where you do reside.
If you are a billionaire it’s one thing you can’t buy.

It’s not for sale, not the White House, this house is not for sale;
Though you are spending millions just to make this Union fail.
If you weren’t filthy rich you’d be in jail.

1. You get one vote, that’s all she wrote,
2. So Koch and Rove go stuff you trove,
3. Like Paradise it has no price,
4. You can change the rules but we’re no fools,
5. You get one vote, that’s all she wrote,
This house is not for sale.

You can buy a congressman. You can buy a judge.
You can back a super-pac and give your lies a nudge.
But we the people know the truth and we still have the right
To take a stand and build a land where money is not might.

You live for gold, you sold your soul, you take more than you need.
You push and pull till you’re so full someday you’ll die of greed.
The Bible calls it Avarice, this sickness in your mind,
And the Devil’s waiting for you underneath your bottom line.

Just a dozen years ago democracy went down.
The highest court threw out your vote & gave King George his crown.
Now we’re still cleaning up the mess from W’s devastation,
While plutocrats and old fat cats are out to buy our nation.

Our founding fathers wrote the Constitution for us all,
But even then they did amend to clarify the law.
So, if you doubt what I’m about then tell me if you can,
How does a corporation have the legal rights of man?

© Rick Good, 2012
New Standards Music, BMI

 

My LIttle Georgia Rose

     One thing you can do to create controversy is to start a conversation about whether Old Time musicians ought to play Bluegrass or not. This is a bit like Hatfields fraternizing with McCoys, so watch out or you might get hit!

    On the other hand, many of the casual listeners are not even aware of the difference.  If the band has a banjo, that usually signals "Bluegrass" to many casual fans. 

    So what is the difference?  Well, you get different answers from different people, but to me the main difference is that bluegrass is characterized by a fingerpicked banjo (a style invented by Earl Scruggs, imho, with later styles emerging thereafter).    Bluegrass became stylized around 1945 when Earl and guitar player Lester Flatt joined mandolin player Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys.   Hence Bluegrass often has a guitar lead.  By contrast,  Old Time  has a rhythmic "clawhammer" style banjo, and usually a fiddle lead.  This music existed before bluegrass.  Not everyone agrees, but I believe Old Time is more conducive to jams than other styles, because it is easier to blend several clawhammer banjos, whereas the Scruggs style is so overpowering that it is hard to have more than one banjo player in the group.

So that brings us to the next point.  Is it kosher for Old Time jams to jam to songs from Bill Monroe, the father of Bluegrass? 

At the Trolley stop, we've started to do My Little Georgia Rose, with Ryan playing lead vocals and guitar.  However, we still play it with an Old Time sound, usually with two or three guitars and a couple of clawhammer banjos.  I'm by no means an authority, as probably the weakest musician in our group, but in my humble opinion it works very well and the fan response has been great.

However, I do have a few observations to share about the great Bill Monroe.  One thing about his songs is that often the sentiment doesn't match the song.  For example, Little Georgia Rose tells about a sweet young woman that the singer has a big crush on. It is a very sweet and sentimental lyric.

But the melody is completely different.  It's a very powerful melody, almost like a hymn.  Let's just say that you could play it for the Heavyweight Champion of the World as easily as some little sweetheart in George!   In particular, the chorus is sung by a lot of power, both by Bill Monroe back in the day, and by the Trolley Stoppers today.  We really boom "She's MY LITTLE GEORGIA ROSE!"   This is actually not that unusual in Bill Monroe's songs. Check out his version of Shady Grove (Ray Hicks has two great version on his new album http://www.reverbnation.com/play_now/song_2039956 Shady Grove 2 is the more traditional version, while Shady Grove 1 is based on the Monroe version).  The line "I'm going back to Harlan!" makes it sound llike something dramatic is about to happen.  

      Once you get your mind around that little quirk, the rest of it starts to hang together.  The fact is, Monroe may be considered the Father of Bluegrass to many (though in my humble opinion Earl Scruggs was the single most influential individual, albeit in Monroe's band), but his songs are certainly amenable to the Old Time style. 

     At the Trolley Stop, we play this in the key of C. The Bill Monroe video, which comes to us courtesy of the Grand Ole Opry circa 1957, is in the key of B-flat, meaning the guitar needs to be capo'ed at the fourth fret to play along. 
  
     So for what it's worth, my take is, heck yeah we can do Bill Monroe songs in an Old Time jam.  It works great with a fiddle lead and a couple of clawhammer banjos playing along side. Just don't use no Moog synthesizers or nothin', y'hear?

 

My Little Georgia Rose
Written and recorded by Bill Monroe

                     G(C)      C(F)            G(C)

Now come and listen to my story

   G(C)                         D(G)

A  story that I know is true

                 G(C)         C(F)          G(C)  

About a Rose that blooms in Georgia

        G(C)        D(G)                      G(C)

With a hair of gold and a heart so true

        C(F)                                          G(C)

Way down past the Blue Ridge Mountains 

 G(C)                                  D(G)

Way down where tall pines grow

G(C)                                       C(F)

Lives my sweetheart of the mountains

G(C)             D(G)                  G(C)

She's my little Georgia Rose 

Her mother left her with another
A care free life she had planned
The baby now is a lady
The one her mother could not stand

Chorus

We'd often sing those songs together
I watch her do her little part
She'd smile at me when I would tell her
That she was my own sweetheart 

Little Liza Jane

I've been interested in this song for several reasons, not the least of which is that is the name of a group in Sweden which features Rachel Eddy Herner, formerly of Morgantown.  It turns out that there are several songs that refer to someone named Liza Jane and the whole thing got me very confused.

I remember being confused as a kid by the song Jimmy Brown the Newsboy, because I couldn't figure out why a famous running back for the Cleveland Browns would be selling newspapers.  But back to Liza Jane.  

Anyway one of the songs is called Liza Jane or Little Liza Jane, which the Liza Janes of Sweden performed live in the following video:

Some lyrics from Huey Piano Smith are kind of similar:

Little Liza Jane  

Hey, little girl would you tell me your name?
(Little Liza Jane)

If you be my girl you can wear my ring
(Little Liza Jane)  

(Oh, Eliza, little Liza Jane)
(Oh, Eliza, little Liza Jane)

Take ya downtown, buy you ev'rything
(Little Liza Jane)
If I love you baby, would you feel the same?
(Little Liza Jane)

(Oh, Eliza, little Liza Jane)
(Oh, Eliza, little Liza Jane)

Hey pretty baby can we go strollin'?
(Little Liza Jane)
Yes, you got me rockin' 
When I ought to be rollin'
(Little Liza Jane)

(Oh, Eliza, little Liza Jane)
(Oh, Eliza, little Liza Jane)

Take ya downtown, buy you ev'rything
(Little Liza Jane)
If you be my girl you can wear my ring
(Little Liza Jane) 

(Oh, Eliza, little Liza Jane)
(Oh, Eliza, little Liza Jane)

Look at that girl, can we go strollin'
(Little Liza Jane)
You got me rockin' 
When I ought to be rollin'
(Little Liza Jane)

(Oh, Eliza, little Liza Jane)
(Oh, Eliza, little Liza Jane).

 2:08  Trk 2
Huey Piano Smith
Ace Records Single # 521, 1956.
Lead vocal, Huey 'Piano' Smith w/
Backing vocals by Junior Gordon,
Dave Dixon and Roland Cook. 
Musicians: Lee Allen - tenor sax
Earl Palmer - drums. Cosimo Matassa Studios, LA.
Album: 'This is Huey Piano Smith' 
Music Club Records #50058 (1998)

~