Annotation:Morris Allen's Brickyard Joe

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MORRIS ALLEN'S BRICKYARD JOE. AKA and see "Brickyard Joe (2)." American, Reel. C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. Source Buddy Thomas (1934-1974, who lived in Emerson in northeastern Kentucky) learned several tunes from Morris Allen, a older fiddler from Portsmouth, Ohio. Thomas told Mark Wilson and Guthrie Meade (liner notes to Buddy's album "Kitty Puss" and Old Time Music, 21, Summer 1976):

Morris Allen [1]

A lot of my fiddle tunes I learned from Morris Allen...He's getting near 80 but he's still a pretty good old fiddler. Back in the '30's, he was a bachelor and had a good job in a stell mill and he used to like to get all the fiddlers together. His uncle John Kiebler was a real good fiddler and Clark Kessinger would come stay at Morris' house for a week or two. I first met him when I was out fox hunting. Morris had lost some dogs and he had his fiddle with him. And I then got to hearing him and different good fiddlers around Portsmouth and the fiddle sounded so pretty that I just had to get into it and learn those tunes. (OTM, pp. 10-11. There is a picture of Morris on page 10.)

The tune bears little resemblance to the more common "Brickyard Joe (1)" of Doc Roberts.

Additional notes

Source for notated version: - Buddy Thomas (Ky.)

Printed sources : -

Recorded sources: -Rounder CD0380, Roger Cooper (Lewis County, Ky.) - "Going Back to Old Kentucky" (1996. Learned from Morris Allen).

See also listing at:
Hear fiddler Roger Cooper's version at Slippery Hill [2]



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