Annotation:Old Time Grey Eagle
X:1 T:Old Time Grey Eagle N:Transcribed by John Hartford from the version by Dr. Mac Snodderly (Clyce, N.C.). N:Snodderly learned it from his Uncle Silas Snodderly, who in turn learned it from N:Lee Irwin. Manco Snead and J. Deadrick Harris may also have learned it from Irwin, N:although perhaps Irwin himself had it from J.D. Harris. According to Bob Carlin, Bill N:Hensley played the tune and said that it was in the repertoire of Governor Bob Taylor. N:Hartford writes: "We believe the 'Old Time Grey Eagle' in C was originally played with 'Wagner' N:and both were played in AEac# or 'Black Mountain Rag' tuning. This is a gut feeling based on the N:fact that C tunes go good in this tuning, and in the early days this tuning was used a lot N:because it was louder and had more open strings to harmonize with." M:2/4 L:1/8 R:Reel N:"*" = a unison double stop when it appears. N:AEac# tuning - the transcription below is to be fingered as if the fiddle were in standard tuning. B:Stephen F. Davis - Devil's Box, vol. 25, No. 1, Spring 1991 (p. 17) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:C A/B/||c/B/c/B/ A/B/A/E/|D/E/D/B,/ A,/G,/B,/A,/|G,/B,/D/G/ E/F/A/B/|1 c/A/c/a/ g/e/A/B/:|2 c/A/B/c/ A|| A/B/|"*"[ce]g/e/ a/e/g/f/|e/g/g/b/ g/e/A/B/|[ce]g/e/ a/e/g/a/ g/e/B/A/ A| [ce]g/e/ a/e/g/f/|e/g/g/b/ g/e/A/B/|[ce]g/e/ a/g/c'/a/ |g/e/B/A/ A|| |:G,/A,/|B,D/B,/ D/B,/D/C/|B,/D/D/E/ D/B,/,G,/A,/|B,D/B,/ E/D/A/E/|D/B,/A,/G,/ G,:|
OLD TIME GREY EAGLE. American, Reel (2/4 time). C Major. AEac# or Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. There are a great variety of "Grey Eagle" versions throughout the American South and Midwest, with two main branches in the keys of 'A' major and 'C' major (see "Grey Eagle (1)," "Grey Eagle (2)," "Grey Eagle (3)", etc. See also the excellent transcriptions of a number of "Grey Eagle" tunes by Austin Rogers [1]). The "Grey Eagle" version played by western North Carolina fiddler Manco Sneed is particularly favored by modern "revival" fiddlers.
"Old Time Grey Eagle" was transcribed by John Hartford from the version by Dr. Mac Snodderly (Clyde, N.C.), who had learned the tune from his Uncle Silas Snodderly, who in turn learned it from Lee Irwin. Manco Snead and J. Deadrick Harris may also have learned it from Irwin, although perhaps Irwin himself had it from J.D. Harris. According to Bob Carlin, western North Carolina fiddler Bill Hensley (1873-1960) played the tune and said that it was in the repertoire of one of his main influences, the "Fiddling Governor" Bob Taylor[1]. Hartford writes: "We believe the 'Old Time Grey Eagle' in C was originally played with 'Wagner' and both were played in AEac# or 'Black Mountain Rag' tuning. This is a gut feeling based on the fact that C tunes go good in this tuning, and in the early days this tuning was used a lot because it was louder and had more open strings to harmonize with."
- ↑ "Well sir, put Bob in a room, and just one grin on his face, with a fiddle in his hand, would set a crowd wild. It wasn't that Bob was a wonderful fiddler, but the way he looked when he was playing. Bob's whole person fiddled. He could fiddle from the top of of his head to the bottom of his toes--It was at night, when the townsfolk gathered in the hotel to see the candidates that Bob would let out his fiddle and play the sweet mountain tunes that he loved so well" [Augsburg, Bob and Alf Taylor, Their Lives and Lectures, p. 43.].