Booth Shot Lincoln

Here's a simple old time tune in cross-tuning. I learned it from one of my students, who learned it off of an Uncle Earl album.

Salt River

Finally! An old-time tune! This one I learned off of one of Bruce Molsky's recordings.

Ways of the World

Crooked and cross-tuned.

Walk Along John to Kansas

I learned this old-time tune off of Tatiana Hargreaves' album. Tatiana is a young but awesome fiddler. This tune is an old tune, and I don't know much about it except the ibiblio says it comes from "the south."

Callahan

Here's a fun old crooked tune I learned off of a Bruce Molsky recording.

Breaking Up Christmas

So I've enjoyed a week or so of a break from learning a new tune everyday.  It's been very nice.  So now, to break up my Christmas Break, a very fitting tune.

Kitchen Girl

Today I learned an old Henry Reed tune. Henry Reed was an old-time Virginia fiddler who was recorded by folklorist Alan Jabbour in the sixties.

Buffalo Girls

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving AND Columbus Day!  The day the Post Office gets to close but no one else does!  Well, USPS, your days are numbered anyway, so I hear.

Le Violon Accordé Comme Une Viole

I was going to sit down and learn a really simple tune today... like a polka or something quick.  But then I stumbled upon this video of Carole Bestvater & Liz Massi with Lucas Thebault playing this rockin' French-Canadian reel and my afternoon was stolen.  It's a cool, crooked Quebecois tune in open-tuning.  It's been recorded by the French-Canadian band Barde (but I can't find the recording anywhere.)  Other than that, I don't know much about it.  It's sure fun to play.

Pols Etter Kristen Hof

I did another Norwegian one today.  And I think after 48 hours of listening to Norwegian fiddler John Ole Morken I'm starting to understand the style a little... but it's still SO foreign and strange sounding to my ears.  ESPECIALLY the kind of tune called pols in Norwegian (polska in Swedish).  So I went ahead and learned one today, hoping that my brain would comprehend it better in forcing myself to figure one out.  The one I learned is on the same John Ole Morken CD as the last Norwegian tune I did.  You can order the CD over at amazon.  (Follow this link.)  It's called Pols Etter Kristen Hof, which either means Pols by Kristen Hof, or Pols for Kristen Hof.  Not sure.

Jimmy Doyle's

Yesterday I learned a pretty technical, notey tune.  Today I needed a bit of a mental break so I learned a tune off of Deadly Buzz, an album I've listened to so much since I downloaded it that I practically have the whole thing memorized.  This album is of course Mick O'Brien and Caoimhìn Ò Raghallaigh, whose first album, Kitty Lie Over, I've already obsessively memorized.  This one is a polka from their new album, which you can order here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/mickobriencaoimhinoragha.

Denis Murphy's Fling

Yesterday I had a gig a couple hours away so I couldn't squeeze in a new tune. But not to worry, I picked out an extra special tune today from my favorite NEW album: Caoimhin O Raghallaigh and Mick O'Brien's Deady Buzz, which you can order here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/mickobriencaoimhinoragha

Half Past Four

I'm in love with Ed Haley tunes.  They're all awesome.  The one I learned today is a popular one both in old-time sessions and competitions.  Ed was blind from the age of 3 when he contracted measles.  He was raised by his grandmother and uncle after losing both parents, one who was murdered by an angry revenge-seeking mob.  His uncle gave Ed his first fiddle, and he later went on to be a professional touring fiddler going around the whole region.  He married a blind piano teacher named Martha, who played accordion and mandolin with Ed.  He died in 1951.  (www.wikipedia.org)

The Boatman

This is a cool Ed Haley tune in mountain tuning (AEAE).