self-titled album notes
Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves - Self-Titled
LINER NOTES
1. Eighth of January (2:48)
Traditional
Fiddle: DADAE
Banjo: aDADE
African American musicians Nathan Frazier (1878- ?) & Frank Patterson (ca. 1880-1940s) were known as street performers in Nashville well before Fisk University alumnus and professor John Wesley Work III recorded them in 1942. The preceding year, Work invited the duo to perform at the university’s 75th anniversary alongside presenters such as W.E.B. Du Bois. He said of Patterson’s fiddling, “as [Mr. Patterson] plays his fiddle for you, you will not hear any vibrato in his playing although you are due to vibrate.” About Frazier, he said, “Last night Nathan Frazier was complaining that guitar players were so soft that he could not find guitar players who could keep up with him.” We hope that our rendition of Frazier & Patterson’s “Eighth of January” vibrates you.
2. I Don’t Want to Get Married (3:04)
Traditional,with additional lyrics by Edna Poplin
Fiddle: CGDAE
Banjo: gCGCD
The Poplin Family of Sumter, South Carolina featured primarily Edna Poplin (1915-1997) on guitar and vocals, and her brother, China Poplin (1905-1979) on banjo. Edna often wrote her own verses to traditional songs, including the last two verses of this song. Emma Rothman introduced Tatiana to this song and to the Poplin family during their time at Hampshire College.
3. Farewell Whiskey (2:56)
Traditional
Fiddle: DAEAE
Banjo: aAEAC#
John Hatcher (1886-1958): the avant-garde fiddler of 1930s Mississippi. His playing of this tune is absolutely stunning and goes against so many stereotypes of what people typically think of as old time fiddle technique. We love you, John Hatcher!
4. Dry (2:50)
Written by Judy Hyman (Left Ear Music, BMI)
Fiddle: DGDAC
Banjo: fDACD
We knew we wanted to record a tune by Judy Hyman, so we asked her if she had any she hadn’t recorded before. She sent us “Dry,” which Tatiana had coincidentally already learned from a Horse Flies bootleg recording. About this tune, Judy says, “Different tunings help you discover melodies and relationships that you might not find in standard tuning. Why did I call it ‘Dry’? I like a word that’s evocative and also has more than one connotation so everyone can find a personal relationship to it.”
5. Beaufort County Jail (2:46)
Written by Alice Gerrard (Agate Hill Publishing, BMI)
Banjo 1: f#BF#BC
Banjo 2: bF#BEF#
In 1974 in Washington, North Carolina, a 20-year-old Black woman named Joan Little was assaulted by a 62-year-old white male jail guard wielding an ice pick. Little killed the guard in self-defense, only to be charged with first degree murder. After months of trials, she was finally acquitted and became the first woman to be exonerated for self-defense against sexual assault. A recent Department of Justice Statistics report states that in 2015, 58% of sexual assault allegations in the prison system were against prison staff and according to the NAACP, in 2017 women of color were incarcerated at twice the rate of white women. Alice Gerrard wrote and recorded this song in the 1970s, but the story is still relevant as we record it in 2018.
6. Cuckoo’s Nest (2:14)
Traditional
Fiddle: DGDAE
Banjo: aDADE
Today we often feel pressured to play old time music “just like the source,” however, legendary Kentucky fiddler Ed Haley (1883-1951) never played his tunes the same way twice. He consistently embellished melodies with his own innovative variations, some of which baffle us to this day. Surely he would have been flattered to have people learn his tunes note by note, but the true spirit of Ed Haley is so much more than that. Warning: don’t look up “cuckoos nest” on Urban Dictionary.
7. Lonesome Blues (2:06)
Traditional
Fiddle: CGDAE
banjo : gCGCD
Will Gilmer’s (1897-1960) fiddling in the Leake County Revelers of Mississippi is straight and to the point in all of the right ways. Our version may meander a bit more, but it’s too much fun not to.
8. Willie Moore (3:02)
Traditional
Banjo: eGCEG
Tatiana first heard this song on Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music and immediately fell in love with the playing of Dick Burnett (1883-1997) & Leonard Rutherford (1899-1951). Burnett & Rutherford played music together for 35 years, and even lived together for a while after the untimely death of Rutherford’s parents, who passed away when he was a teenager. Burnett picked up these words from a printed ballad and claims to have learned the melody from hearing someone humming it during his travels.
9. Buffalo Gals (2:27)
Traditional
Fiddle: AAEAE
Banjo: aEAC#E
We learned “Buffalo Gals” from a 1991 live recording of Matokie Slaughter (1919-1999) and Alice Gerrard at Berea College. In the recording, Alice tells the audience how Matokie uses the unusual banjo technique of fretting the 5th string to catch a melody note. Details like this, combined with her driving up and down picking style, make her one of our favorite players... and what a quirky take on this standard tune! Thank you to Paul Brown for introducing Matokie’s music to Allison at the Swannanoa Gathering.
10. Wabash Blues (2:52)
Traditional
Fiddle: AAEAE
Banjo: eAACD
Hobart Smith (1897-1965) creates so many intricate layers on this tune that it took the two of us to his one banjo to begin to capture it all. Bill Monroe described Smith as “a good guitar bluesman, a great old-time fiddler, and... the best old-time banjo picker I ever heard.” Smith recorded in Chicago a few years before his death, and as Stephen Wade writes about the session, “Hobart was recalling music from the 19th century, pieces that musicians he had known, both black and white, played before the advent of recorded sound.” You can find these recordings, including “Wabash Blues,” on In Sacred Trust: The 1963 Fleming Brown Tapes from Smithsonian Folkways.
11. Who Wouldn’t Be Lonely (2:51)
Written by William Bolick (Venus Music Corp.)
Banjo 1: gCGCD
Banjo 2: gGCEG
William (1917-2008) and Earl Bollick (1919-1998) grew up in Hickory, North Carolina and became known as the Blue Sky Boys in the 1930s as their music disseminated throughout Southern radio stations. When the Bollick brothers sang “Who wouldn’t be lonely, who wouldn’t be blue, when the one you care for, don’t care for you,” they probably weren’t thinking about queer love, but you never know. We may have played with the pronouns a little on this one.
12. Melinda (2:34)
Traditional
Fiddle: CGDAE
Banjo: gCGCD
Lyman Enloe’s (1906-1997) playing exists in that sweet, fluid realm between old time and bluegrass. Even bluegrass fiddle legend Tex Logan kept a copy of Enloe’s Fiddle Tunes I Recall in his record collection. We’re both huge fans of Enloe’s fiddling and it was difficult to decide which tune to include. The dynamic differences between the three parts in “Melinda” makes it really fun to play. Allison enjoyed picking out some of Jim McGreevy's banjo lines from this special album.
13. Green Valley Waltz (1:52)
Traditional
Fiddle: CGDAE
Banjo: gDGBD
Who doesn’t love a nice, dorky waltz? Just kidding… This is a gem of a waltz, played by a gem of a player. Thank you centenarian fiddler Violet Hensley for your beautiful music and for nine decades of fiddle making. Here’s to your continued music making.
As two musicians who have come from outside of the cultural and geographic communities this music originated in, we are so appreciative of those who have welcomed us and shared their musical and cultural knowledge. We would like to thank all of the musicians who came before us, especially those who never received the credit they deserved: the Indigenous, Black, Queer and female musicians who weren’t always visible but kept, and still keep the music moving forward.
We would not be here without the support of our teachers and peers. Thank you to our families, Bruce Molsky, Alice Gerrard, Judy Hyman, Laurie Lewis, Rhoda Kemp, Patrick M’Gonigle, Alex Hargreaves, Sonya Badigian, Nokosee Fields, Jake Blount, Carol Lesser, Daryl Perry, Daniel Koulack, William Seeders, Stash Wyslouch, GG, Pharis & Jason, Matt Smith and Club Passim, Joseph “Joebass” DeJarnette, The Floyd Country Store, Sennheiser, D’Addario, and Free Dirt Records. Lastly, we would like to thank the Iguana Music Fund for awarding us a grant to partially fund this album.
Allison plays Romero and Seeders banjos and Tatiana plays a John Sullivan 5-string fiddle.
______________________________________________________________________
Credits:
Produced by Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves
Tatiana Hargreaves: fiddle, banjo on 5 & 11, vocals on tracks 2, 5, 8, 11
Allison de Groot: banjo on all tracks, vocals on tracks 2 & 11
Recorded and mixed by Joseph “joebass” DeJarnette at Studio808A
Mastered by David Glasser at Airshow
Album design and layout by Pharis Romero
Photo by Louise Bichan
Released by Free Dirt Records