This transcription is based on a performance that Fiddlin’ Doc Roberts recorded for the Gennett Label in Richmond, Indiana, on August 24th, 1928. It was released as Gennett # 6689, as well as on the affiliated label Supertone (# 9355, credited to Fiddlin’ Jim Burke). The tune is a straightforward AABB fiddle tune in G…
Dance with a Gal with a Hole in Her Stocking
This transcription is based on a performance Fiddlin’ Doc Roberts recorded for the Gennett label in Richmond, Indiana, on May 15, 1928. It was released as Gennett # 6495, and on the Gennett-affiliated labels Silvertone (#8176, credited to Jim Burke) and Supertone (# 9169, also credited to Jim Burke). The recorded form is more irregular…
Martha Campbell
This transcription is based on a performance that Fiddlin’ Doc Roberts and Asa Martin recorded for the Gennett company in Richmond, Indiana, on March 15, 1929. It was released as Supertone # 9397, credited to Martin and Roberts. Roberts actually recorded Martha Campbell twice for Gennett, the first recording being an acoustic disc recorded in…
Rocky Mountain Goat
This tune is based on a March 15, 1929 performance in Richmond, Indiana, by Fiddlin’ Doc Roberts and guitarist Asa Martin. It was released as Gennett # 6942, and released on Gennett-affiliated labels Champion and Supertone (credited to the pseudonym Fiddlin’ Jim Burke). The tune bears passing resemblance to several other tunes, including the now ubiquitous…
Washington Quadrille
This transcription is based on a performance by Jimmy Johnson’s String Band, recorded in Richmond, Indiana, on November 12, 1931. It was released as Champion S-16389 and Superior 2821. The term quadrille is used to mean a wide variety of (sometimes contradictory) things in American country dance. R.P Christeson used it in his seminal Old…
Soldier's Joy
Soldier’s Joy has been one of the most commonly performed fiddle tunes for generations. This transcription is based on a performance that Marion Underwood and Sam Harris recorded for the Gennett Company in Richmond, Indiana, on April 26, 1927. Their performance is slightly unusual in that it reverses the usual order of the ‘A’ and…
Gate to Go Through
This transcription is based on a performance Jimmy Johnson’s String Band recorded for the Gennett company on August 22nd, 1932, in Richmond, Indiana. It was released on the Champion label as Champion #16541. It’s a simple tune in G with two four-bar strains. It’s made more interesting by the syncopation at the start of the…
Richmond Cotillion
This transcription is based on a May 1927 performance recorded by Da Costa Woltz’s Southern Broadcasters in Richmond Indiana. The source recording features a square dance call over the tune, making it difficult to hear the melody. Treat this transcription as a reasonable, if inexact, approximation.
Forked Deer
Forked Deer has long been a standard among old-time musicians, but I’ve always been partial to the performance Taylor’s Kentucky Boys recorded in April, 1927 for the Gennett company in Richmond, Indiana. An interesting quirk is a beat that’s borrowed from the end of second repeat of the ‘A’ strain that’s added back to the…
And the Cat Came Back
This transcription of And the Cat Came back is based on an August, 1927 performance that Doc Roberts recorded for the Gennett company in Richmond, Indiana. The tune is comprised of a four-bar ‘A’ strain and eight-bar ‘B’ and ‘C’ strains. On the recording, the form is irregular: AA BB CC AA BB CC BB…