This transcription is based on a performance that Fiddlin’ Doc Roberts recorded on August 24th, 1928, in Richmond, Indiana. It was released as Gennett # 6635, and also on the Champion and Supertone labels (credited to Fiddlin’ Jim Burke). My recording of this tune actually sounds in A flat. I’m assuming that Roberts is playing…
Shippin’ Sport
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…
Old Blind Dog
This transcription is based on a performance that Jimmy Johnson’s String Band recorded for the Gennett company in Richmond, Indiana, on August 22, 1932. It was released as Champion # 16541. The tune is a bit of an oddity structurally. The ‘A’ strain repeats four times, the ‘B’ strain not at all. Additionally, there’s some…
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…
Saint Jobe's Waltz
This transcription is based on an October 1929 performance a group called The Red Headed Fiddlers, recorded in Dallas, Texas for the Brunswick company. It was released as Brunswick 460. According to Tony Russell’s discography, theirs is the only recording of St. Jobe’s Waltz made by a country string band prior to WWII. Like many good fiddlers,…
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…