Annotation:Coal Mine Blues

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X:1 T:Coal Mine Blues S:The Stripling Brothers, Charlie (1896-1966) and Ira (1898-1967), west Alabama. M:C| L:1/8 Q:"Moderate" R:Country Blues D:Vocalion 02739 (78 RPM), The Stripling Brothers (1934) F:https://www.slippery-hill.com/recording/coal-mine-blues Z:Transcribed by Andrew Kuntz K:G ge|g4 gage|dB3- B2 ge|g6 g2-|gage .dz(_B=B)| G6 ge|g6 +slide+g2-|gage d(_B=B2)-|B2 GA BdBG | AG3- G2(_B=B)-|BdBG +slide+BdBG|+slide+BdBG DEG2|+slide+BdBG +slide+BdBG| +slide+BdBG DEG=F-|[M:3/2]=FG F2 EGE2 C3D-| [M:C|]EGAG ECD(D| E)GAG ECDe|ge2+slide+d- d(_B=B2)|G6||



Alabama coal miners, Bankhead Mines, Walker County, Ala., 1937. Photo by Arthur Rothstein for the Library of Congress.
COAL MINE BLUES. Old-Time, Breakdown. USA, Alabama. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. Composed by Ala. fiddler Charlie Stripling (1896-1966) when he began playing for dances in the mining camps of Walker County, Alabama, and recorded by the Stripling Brothers in Chicago in August, 1929. The tune was very popular among the miners who inspired it, according to Joyce Cauthen [1].


Additional notes

Source for notated version: -

Printed sources : -

Recorded sources: -County 401, The Stripling Brothers - "Old Time Fiddle Tunes 1928-1936" (1971). Document Records DOCD-8007, "The Stripling Brothers vol. 1 1928-1934." Vocalion 5453 (78 RPM), Stripling Brothers (Alabama) {1929}. Vocalion 02739 (78 RPM), The Stripling Brothers (1934).

See also listing at:
Hear the Stripling Brother's 1929 recording at Slippery Hill [1] and at youtube.com [2]



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  1. Joyce Cauthen, With Fiddle and Well-rosined Bow, 2001, p. 113