Flat Picking Fiddle Tunes – “Bill Cheatham” (Traditional)
Here is the old fiddle tune, “Bill Cheatham“. The tune was first recorded by the Library of Congress in 1966 in Virginia. Not much is known about the tunes origin. I like to play fiddle tunes and improvise on the theme. Good exercises!
“John Hardy” (Traditional Folk Song)
Long, long, long time ago, before the twenty-four hour news cycle, before the internet, before television……..major events were spread across the country by word of mouth and news papers. One of the reasons I love traditional folk music is because the songs tell a story and back then musicians had the important role of composing and singing the story across the country. Songs where written about the Titanic Disaster, the assassination of President William McKinley and even Amelia Earhart.
Over the many years, the folk song “John Hardy” that has been recorded by hundred of artists including everybody from the Carter Family to Bill Frisell, and has become a standard in Bluegrass circles. Often the tune is just used as a jamming vehicle with the song’s words carelessly spewed out which is unfortunate because the story told in the song actually happened.
John Hardy was a railroad worker living in McDowell County, West Virginia n 1893. McDowell County had become quite a wild place due to the influx of thousands of workers to help build the “West Virginia” railroad line and the temporary worker camps were full of gambling, liquor and other assorted vices. The worker, John Hardy got drunk and during a craps game, pulled his pistol and shot another worker named Thomas Drews and killed him. During the game a quarrel regarding a woman both men were involved with had erupted. Hardy tried to flee the state but after a few days was apprehended by the local Sherriff. Hardy was thrown in jail where he was visited by his wife. A jury found Hardy guilty of murder in the first degree. On January 19, 1894, they hanged John Hardy and it is documented that over three thousand people attended the hanging. Poor John Hardy, however, made peace with the Lord the morning before his death and he was brought down to the river and baptized a few hours before the hanging.
Here is my rendition of the song, “John Hardy”. If you follow the lyrics you will hear his story accurately told.
“Love in Vain” (Robert Johnson)
Another Robert Johnson song. Willie Mae was one of Johnson’s many “women friends”. Years later Willie Mae cried when she heard Robert call out her name on the recording. He must of really loved her!
Hang Me, Oh Hang Me (traditional folk song)
I first heard the folk song, “Hang Me, Oh Hang Me” on an early Dave Van Ronk record entitled, “Inside Dave Van Ronk”. Later when I was working with Bill Felix’s bluegrass band, “Magnolia Road”, Bill would pull out his old beat up Gibson flat top guitar and sing the tune….he learned it from a Gerry Garcia version but gave it his own twist.
I always loved the song but had forgotten about it. I stumbled upon it again when it was featured in the Coen Brothers film, “Inside Llewyn Davis” and performed by the actor/musician Oscar Isaac. Isaac’s version was a nice rendering largely based on Van Ronk’s recording of the tune.
Nobody is exactly sure how the song originated and like most folk songs there are different versions on the song with a few different titles. The song has been performed as “I’ve Been All Around This World,” “The Gambler,” “My Father Was a Gambler,” “Cape Girardeau,” and “The New Railroad.” The Library of Congress documents the first version to be recorded as“I’ve Been All Around This World” (AFS 1531) by Justis Begley. Alan and Elizabeth Lomax, the great folk song musicologists, recorded Alan Begley singing the song at Hazard, Kentucky in October of 1937.
So who is the condemned man singing the song? Nobody knows for sure but there is high speculation that it may be one of the men hanged in Ft. Smith, Arkansas by the notorious “hanging judge”, Judge Isaac Parker between 1873 and 1876. Some people believe the man in song is John Childers who spoke for sixteen minutes on the scaffold. The U.S. Marshall who had arrested Childers offered clemency to the condemned man if he would reveal the names of his accomplices.
According to witnesses that day, Childers would not “rat out” his friends. He turned to the Marshall and stated, “Didn’t you say you were going to hang me?” The Marshall nodded his head yes and then Childers replied, “Then, why in hell don’t you!”
Here is my version of “Hang Me, Oh Hang Me”. I play it in D major as Dave Von Ronk but Iam tuned to a Drop D tuning. I slowed my version down and added an instrumental solo. I hope you like it.