|
 With
Fiddle and Well-Rosined Bow : A History of Old-Time Fiddling
in Alabama by Joyce H. Cauthen
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. (University of Alabama
Press)
|
