WITH FIDDLE AND WELL-ROSINED BOW; OLD-TIME FIDDLING IN ALABAMA.

Cauthen, Joyce H.

ISBN 10: 0817304037 / ISBN 13: 9780817304034

Published by Tuscaloosa, AL and London: The University of Alabama Press, 1989., 1989

About this Item

First edition (not stated). xii, 283 pages. Hardcover: H 24.25cm x L 16.25cm. Dust jacket lightly rubbed with some bumping/creasing at edges; two short tears at top of rear panel. Black cloth with vibrant gilt stamped lettering to spine. Interior pages are bright and clean. Binding retains some crispness. A fine copy in a very good+ dust jacket. With Preface, b/w state map illustrations, b/w photographs, Notes, Sources Cited (bibliography), and Index. Features five chapters titled as: "The Fiddle in Alabama History;" "Modest Masters of Fiddle and Bow: The 'Particulars' of Old-Time Fiddling;" "Alabama's Brag Fiddlers;" "Fiddling the Buttons Off Their Sleeves: Celebrations, Square Dances, and Fiddlers' Conventions;" "Fiddling and Associated Sins" plus two appendices "Old Time Tunes Played in Alabama" and "Winners of Fiddlers' Conventions as Reported in Alabama Newspapers." {Music-Shelf#2} ISBN 0817304037.

Seller Inventory # PXZP-19594

Bibliographic Details

• Title: WITH FIDDLE AND WELL-ROSINED BOW; OLD-TIME FIDDLING IN ALABAMA.
• Publisher: Tuscaloosa, AL and London: The University of Alabama Press, 1989.
• Publication Date: 1989
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0817304037
• ISBN 13: 9780817304034
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included
• Seller catalogs:
  • Music

About this title

Synopsis

Relying on extensive archival research and on sixty interviews with
fiddlers and their families and friends, Cauthen tells the rich, full story
of old-time fiddling in Alabama.

Writing of life in the Alabama Territory in the late 1700s,
A. J. Pickett, the state's first historian, noted that the country abounded
in fiddlers, of high and low degree. After the defeat of the Creek Indians
at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1813, the number of fiddlers swelled
as settlers from the southern states surrounding Alabama claimed the land.
The music they played was based on tunes brought from Ireland, Scotland,
and England, but in Alabama they developed their own southern accent as
their songs became the music of celebration and relaxation for the state's
pioneers. Early in the 20th century such music began to be called "old-time
fiddling," to distinguish it from the popular music of the day, and the
term is still used to distinguish that style from more modern bluegrass
and country fiddle styles.

In With Fiddle and Well-Rosined Bow, Cauthen focuses
on old-time fiddling in Alabama from the settlement of the state through
World War II. Cauthen shows the effects of events, inventions, ethnic groups,
and individuals upon fiddlers' styles and what they played. Cauthen gives
due weight to the "modest masters of fiddle and bow" who were stars only
to their families and communities. The fiddlers themselves tell why they
play, how they learned without formal instruction and written music, and
how they acquired their instruments and repertoires. Cauthen also tells
the stories of "brag" fiddlers such as D.Dix Hollis, Y. Z. Hamilton, Charlie
Stripling, "Fiddling" Tom Freeman,"Monkey" Brown, and the Johnson Brothers
whose reputations spread beyond their communities through commercial recordings
and fiddling contests. Described in vivid detail are the old-style square
dances, Fourth of July barbeques and other celebrations, and fiddlers'
conventions that fiddler shave reigned over throughout the state's history.

About the Author

Joyce Cauthen has worked with the Alabama Folklife Association,
the Alabama State Council on the Arts, the Birmingham Cultural and Heritage
Foundation, and other organizations to celebrate and preserve the old-time
musical tradition of the state.