Repertoire
Traditional Tunes and Songs:
from Appalachia, the South, the North, and beyond.
I put this page together as a band/jam workspace and a place to share tunes with folks I make music with. The recordings I've posted here are, for the most part, the sources from which I've learned my repertoire. I have acquired these recordings in different ways; some tracks are from my own or friends' field recordings, some are in the public domain and freely available online, while others are single tracks from artists' or commercial CDs (that I own). If the track is on a CD that is currently for sale I have provided a link (this is a work in progress). Please, if you like the track, do the right thing and buy the CD. No one is working their way into the 1% playing old-time music, even our "stars," so seriously consider supporting the folks who inspire us.
However, that said, what I've discovered in the process of compiling this page is that many recent CDs by artists who are currently performing are out of print (for instance, Rayna Gellert's Ways of the World). Perhaps you can buy single tracks on iTunes or similar services (I didn't investigate this) or perhaps you could write to the artist and buy directly from them (as time permits I will post contact info).
In any case, please listen, enjoy, and learn - and pony up as early and often as you can.
Here's one current version of my ever evolving Old-Time Tune List: PDF.
Here's some links to online sites for original tune sources.
A (and xG) Tunes:
Fiddle tuned AEae (or GDgd)
Abe's Retreat
Harvey Sampson
Jake Krack
Black Eyed Suzanna
John Sharp
Booth Shot Lincoln
Rayna Gellert with Uncle Earl
Breaking Up Christmas
Camp Creek Boys
Brushy Run
Bruce Molsky
Buffalo Gals
Bruce Molsky
Canote Brothers
Bug in the Taters
Hill Billies
Campbell's Farewell to Red Gap / Kitchen Girl
ContraBillies practice
Cluck Old Hen
The Hillbillies, 1927 
Cold Frosty Morning
Reed Island Rounders
Cookhouse Joe
Estill Bingham
Clare Milliner
Crow Creek
Judy Stavely
Devil's Hornpipe
Gene Goforth
Dinah
Canote Brothers
Ducks in the Pond
Henry Reed
Dave Bing
Eagle Et the Drone
Barbara Taylor
Fraley's Little Liza Jane
J.P. Fraley (CD info) (CD of Waltzes with Betty Vornbrock)
Georgia Row
Buddy Thomas
Goodbye Girls, I'm Going to Boston
Art Stamper
Greasy Coat
Rayna Gellert at Fiddle Tunes 2002
Anna Roberts-Gevalt at Augusta 2008
Greenback Dolly-O
Melvin Wine
Grey Eagle
Spencer and Rains
Horney Ewe
Ernie Carpenter
Palmer and Greg Loux
Horse and Buggy
Art Stamper
Hiram Stamper (crooked)
Jenny Get Around
John Morgan Salyer
Bruce Greene
Clare Milliner and Walt Koken
Johnny Get Your Hair Cut
Paul Brown
June Apple (with Fraley's Little Liza Jane first)
Judy Stavely
Kitchen Girl
Henry Reed
Richard Shook at Ashe County, NC Fiddlers Convention, 2010)
Lady of the Lake (in A)
Norm Edmonds
Bruce Molsky
Barry Schultz
Paul Brown, John Herrmann, Steve Arkin
Little Dutch Girl
Judy Stavely (with George Booker)
Temmo Korisheli (banjo)
Liza Jane
Rafe Stefanini
Lonesome John
John Salyer
Old Joe Clark
Belinda Thom
Spencer and Rains
Redhaired Boy with Growling Old Man Cackling Old Woman
Jim Mueller and the Growling Old Geezers
Red Steer
Dyke's "Magic City" Trio
Rockinghams
Rayna Gellert and Jack Devereaux
The Sweet Sunny South
Buddy Thomas
Tippin' Back the Corn
Comp. by Jordan Wankoff
Emily Schaad and Old Buck
Chirps Smith
Twin Sisters in A
Reed Island Rounders
Ways of the World
William H. Stepp
Williams Ride
Ray Leach
Yew Piney Mountain
Harvey Sampson (as Yew Pine Mountains)
Lester McCumbers
Ernie Carpenter
Wilson Douglas
Chance McCoy
C Tunes:
Farewell Trion
James Bryan and Bob Carlin
James Bryan and Carl Jones
Hell Up Coal Holler
Old Sledge
Gandy Dancer
Lonesome Blues
Leake County Revelers
Judy Stavely
Wagoner One-Step
Rayna Gellert
D Tunes:
Fiddle tuned ADae
Angeline the Baker
Kenny Hall and the Sweet's Mill String Band
Bonaparte's Retreat
Dave Bing
Buttermilk
Mark Lewis
Clelia Stefanini
Russ Wilson (AUDIO on website)
BT with ContraBillies
Coleman's March
Ray Leach
Comin' thru the Canebrake to Shoot the Buffalo
Jim Mueller and For Old Time's Sake (with Rocky Mountain first)
Dry and Dusty
Brad Leftwich (with Bonaparte's Retreat)
J.P. Fraley
Kenny Baker
Uncle Dick Hutchison
Esker Hutchins Tune
Barry Schultz . CD: In the Middle of the Night (When the Catfish Bite), Fresno Folklore Records.
Esker Hutchins (tune name: Walkin' in My Sleep) on Field Recorders Collective CD: Esker Hutchins.
Gilsaw
Chirps Smith
Going Down to Georgie-O
Melvin Wine
Golden Slippers
Barbara Taylor (guitar)
Johnny, Johnny Don't Get Drunk
Ray Leach
Julianne Johnson
Jim Wimmer and Rattlesnake Creek (with Dubuque) (website)
Katy Bar the Door
Harmony Sisters (with Grasshopper Sittin' on a Sweet Potato Vine)
Lady of the Lake (in D)
Michael Ismerio's Very Short Fiddle Lessons
Fiddlin' Jimmy Marshall
ContraBillies practice
Lafayette
Scott Marckx and Jeanie Murphy CD: Time's Been Sweet
McGee Brothers and Arthur Smith
Moses Hoe Your Corn
Clare Milliner
New Five Cent Piece
Scott Marckx and Jeanie Murphy CD: Time's Been Sweet
Over the Waterfall
Alan Jabbour (from Henry Reed)
Piney Ridge
William Stepp
Clare Milliner
Ragtime Annie
Ragtime Annie (and flatfooting on the porch at Augusta Heritage Center, 2008)
Redlick (or Red Lick)
Lella Todd
Billy Stamper
Judy Stavely
Crankie about Lella Todd by Anna Roberts-Gevalt and Elizabeth LaPrelle; Anna plays Red Lick
Rochester Schottiche
Ray Leach
Rock the Cradle, Joe
Judy Stavely
Old Virginia Fiddlers
Rocky Mountain
Jim Mueller and For Old Time's Sake (with Coming thru the Canebrake)
Sally Ann_D
Pine Tree String Band
Shoo Fly
Orig. Ballards Branch Bogtrotters
Snake Chapman's Tune
(aka Home with the Girls)
Dirk Powell
Sopping the Gravy
Mel Durham
Spotted Pony
Dutch Cove Old Time String Band
Stones in the Stream
comp. and played by Temmo Korishelli
Susannah Gals
Judy Stavely
Sugar Hill
Rayna Gellert at Clifftop, 2007
Sullivans Hollow
Rayna Gellert with Uncle Earl
Trader Boatman
Judy Stavely
Twin Sisters (in D)
Rhys Jones
Whiskey Before Breakfast
Bruce Greene and Don Pedi or
Whiskey Before Breakfast
ContraBillies practice
G Tunes:
Fiddle tuned GDae
Barlow Knife
Jake Krack (CD: Home at Last)
Buffalo Gals (in G)
Bruce Greene
Colored Aristocracy
Barbara Taylor (mandolin)
Dance All Night (with a Bottle in My Hand)
Brad Leftwich and Dan Gellert
Chance McCoy and the Appalachian String Band
Girl I Left Behind Me (Em)
Rayna Gellert (from Dan Gellert)
Going on Downtown
Wilson Douglas
Glory at the Meetinghouse (Em)
Chris Carney
Luther Strong (Glory in the Meetinghouse)
Handsome Julie
Judy Stavely
Jonesboro
Judy Stavely
Josie-O
Art Stamper
Meriweather (with Goodbye Girls I'm going to Boston in G)
Erynn Marshall
Nail That Catfish to a Tree
Steve Rosen
No Corn on Tygart
Cliff Hangers
Rocky Road to Dublin (Gstd)
Wilson Douglas
Roscoe
Ray Leach
Annie Staninec (fiddle) and Luke Abbott (viola)
Sally Ann
Pine Tree String Band
Seneca Square Dance
Jim Mueller and For Old Time's Sake
Shove the Pig's Foot a Little Bit Further into the Fire
Bruce Molsky
Rafe Stefanini and Clelia Stefanini
Sugar In My Coffee-O_G
Mel Durham
Walkin' In My Sleep
Kirk Sutphin (from Tommy Jarrell)
Rayna Gellert and Uncle Earl
Calico Tunes
Fiddle tuned AEac# (or GDgb)
DDAD Tunes:
Fiddle tuned DDad
Bonaparte's March into Russia
Sherman Wimmer
Canote Bothers
Zollies Retreat
Dirk Powell
Sets for Contra Dances:
Old-Time Repertoire (pdf)
Irish/Celtic/Northern Repertoire (pdf)
Klezmer Repertoire (pdf)
Crooked, Scratchy, and Outta Tune*:
Cherry River Line (Lester McCumbers)
Glory in the Meetinghouse_Em (EDAE?) (Luther Strong)
Horse and Buggy-O (crooked, Hiram Stamper)
Pretty Betty Baker (Hiram Stamper)
Yew Piney Mountain (Lester McCumbers)
* Not really. Differently tuned: pre-piano/pre-hegemony-of-equal-temperment scale intonations. Look into Just Intonation.
Northern Tunes:
Fiddle tuned GDae
Bus Stop Reel (A dor) (dots)
Scollay's Reel (E dor, Trad.) - (dots)
Songs:
Adieu False Heart (Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin)
Angel Band (Dirk Powell, Tim OBrien and John Hermann)
Are You Tired Of Me My Darling (Carter Family)
Are You Tired of Me My Darling (Old Sledge)
The Blackest Crow (Dirk Powell, Tim O'Brien, John Hermann)
Blackest Crow (Rayna Gellert at Fiddle Tunes 2002)
The Broken Hearted Lover (Carter Family)
The Broken Hearted Lover (Ginny Hawker and Kay Justice)
Bury Me Beneath the Willow (Orpheus Supertones)
Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow (Carter Family)
Cluck Old Hen (Al Hopkins and His Buckle Busters)
Cluck Old Hen (Tommy Jarrell and Fred Cockerham)
Daniel Prayed (Doc Watson and Clarence Ashley)
Drifting Too Far From the Shore (Boone Creek)
Glory at the Meetinghouse (Harmony Sisters)
Glory in the Meetinghouse Em (Bruce Molsky)
Glory in the Meetinghouse_Em (EDAE) (Luther Strong)
Glory in the Meetinghouse Em (MacCrae Sisters)
Going Up Home To Live in Green Pastures (Dry Branch Fire Squad)
Handsome Molly (Dirk Powell)
Hello Stranger (Any Old Time String Band)
Hello Stranger (Carter Family)
Hood River Roll On (Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin (Utah Phillips)
I'll Fly Away (Stanley Brothers)
Keep on the Sunny Side (Carter Family)
Keep On the Sunny Side (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band)
Lazy John (Chance McCoy)
Lazy John / The Bucking Mule (Bruce Molsky)
The Lover's Return (Carter Family)
The Lover's Return (Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard)
The Lover's Return (Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin)
March Winds Gonna Blow My Blues All Away (Carter Family)
March Winds Gonna Blow My Blues All Away (Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin)
Meet Me in the Moonlight (Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin)
Motherless Children Have a Hard Time (Blind Willie Johnson)
Motherless Children (Blind Willie MacTell)
Motherless Children (Carter Family)
Motherless Children (Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin)
Nobody's Darlin' (Stairwell Sisters)
Old Paint (Bruce Molsky and Big Hoedown)
Orphan Train (Dry Branch Fire Squad)
Orphan Train (Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin, comp. Utah Phillips)
Peg and Awl (Elizabeth LaPrelle)
Peg and Awl (Bruce Molsky)
Peg And Awl (Doc Watson and Clarence Ashley)
Poor Orphan Child (Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin)
Poor Orphan Child (Stairwell Sisters)
Pretty Saro (Bruce Molsky and Big Hoedown)
Pretty Saro (Elizabeth LaPrelle)
Pretty Saro_G (Harmony fiddle, Kathy Meizel)
Pretty Saro_G (Harmony vocal, Kathy Meizel)
Pull For the Shore (Tom, Brad and Alice)
Reuben's Train (Lonesome Sisters)
Sail Away Ladies (Elizabeth LaPrelle)
Say Darlin', Say (Unknown)
Seventeen Cents (Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin)
Shady Grove (banjo tune) (Ron Mullenex)
Shady Grove (Bruce Molsky and Big Hoedown)
Shady Grove (Unknown)
Sittin' on Top of the World (Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin)
The Storms are on the Ocean (Carter Family)
Storms Are on the Ocean (Elizabeth LaPrelle)
Sugar Babe (Uncle Earl)
Sugar Hill (Rockinghams)
Train on the Island and Golden Chain Tree (Bruce Molsky, Rafe Stefanini and Beverly Smith)
Twilight is Stealing (Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin)
Wait Till I Put On My Robe (Double Decker String Band)
We Shall Meet Someday (Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin)
West Virginia My Home (Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard)
When I Loved You (Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard)
Wild Hog In The Woods (Reed Island Rounders)
Will You Miss Me (Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin)
The Winding Stream (Carter Family)
The Winding Stream (Rockinghams)
Waltzes:
Alexander Waltz (Alfred Bailey)
The Blackest Crow (Clare Milliner and Walt Koken)
Boda Waltz (trad. Finnish waltz)
Cowboy Waltz (Amy and Karen)
Hewlett (O'Carolan)
Kiss Me Waltz (Art Galbraith, fiddle)
Metsakukkia Waltz (trad. Finnish waltz)
Midnight on the Water_D-(bt-mando)
Midnight on the Water (ContraBillies practice)
Midnight on the Water (J.P. Fraley and Betty Vornbrock)
Si Bheag Si Mhor (Turloch O'Carolan, comp.)
Si Bheag Si Mhor (Turloch O'Carolan)
Si Bheag Si Mhor (BT, guitar, comp. Turloch O'Carolan)
Southwind (trad.)
Swanannoa Waltz (Rayna Gellert, fiddle, at Fiddle Tunes 2002)
Tombigbee Waltz (James Bryan, fiddle)
Grrrls' Tunes
Map of Fiddle and Banjo Tunings
Short List:
(A, xG) Old Corn Liquor (from Joe and Odell Thompson, A)
(Joe Thompson, Family Tradition)
(G std) Sugar Baby (from Melvin Wine)
(G std) Barlow Knife (Jake Krack)
(G std) Gettin' Upstairs (Spencer and Rains, The Old Man and the Old Woman)
(G std) Coal Harbor Bend (Scott Marckx and Jeanie Murphy)
(Bigfoot)
More Tunes we've played:
(A, xG) Fraley's Little Liza Jane and June Apple (Judy Stavely)
(A, xG) Hickory Jack (from Luther Strong)
(A, xG) Long's March Home (Annie Lou)
(A, xG) Railroad Runs through Georgia (Tom Sauber)
(Erynn Marshall)
(D) Freda (Pam Johnston and Jim Ketterman)
(G std) Big Scioti (Lisa Ornstein, Andy Cahan, Laura Fishleder)
(from Burl Hammons)
(G std) Come On Boys, Let's Go To Anaky (Canote Brothers, from Kelly Gilbert)
(G std) Hawk Got a Chicken (Pam Johnston and Jim Ketterman)
(G std) Sally Ann (Pine Tree String Band, aka Foghorn)
(G std) Stumptown Stomp (Spencer and Rains)
Catherine's Tunes:
(xG) Cherry River Line (Lester McCumbers)
(xG) Glory in the Meetinghouse_Em (EDAE?) (Luther Strong)
(xG) Horse and Buggy-O (crooked, Hiram Stamper)
(xG) Betty Baker (Hiram Stamper)
(xG) Yew Piney Mountain (Lester McCumbers)
Klezmer
Chosen-Kalle Mazel Tov
Jubilee Klezmer Ensemble (Chosen-Kalle Mazel Tov / Siman Tov U Mazel Tov) (CD: Mazel Tov!)
Cornell University Klezmer Ensemble
Atonement Klezmer (clarinet and guitar duo)
(dots) in Dm
Flatbush Waltz
comp. by Andy Statman
Itzhak Perlman and Andy Statman Klezmer Orchestra
(dots) in Gm
der Gasn Nigun
Margot Leverett and The Klezmer Mountain Boys (website)
Ilana Cravitz
Tziganesh'ti
Odessa Mama Orquesta Klezmer
(dots) in Dm
Odessa Bulgarish
Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band
Amsterdam Klezmer Band
(dots) in Dm
Papirossen
Freilachmakers Klezmer String Band (with Ragtime Annie)
Boris Savchuk, violin