Topic: Harmonizing Appalachian Pentatonic Tunes

[Johnm]

Hi all,
One tune in this category that I have loved for decades is "Sail Away, Ladies".  Rather than engage in a lot of analysis in advance, I'll just post three versions and let you see how different players heard and harmonized the melody.  I'd sure like to hear how other folks here would play the tune/song.
The first version is by the fiddler, Uncle Bunt Stephens, and I first heard it on Harry Smith's "Anthology of American Folk Music".  It's one of the few recorded performances I've heard that seems perfect to me.  Here it is:



The next version is from Uncle Dave Macon and his Fruit Jar Drinkers.  Nothing wrong with it, either!



Ever I get my new house done (sail away, ladies, sail away)
Give my old one to my son (sail away ladies, sail away)
(fiddles) don't she rock, dai-dee-o
Don't she rock, dai-dee-o, don't she rock, dai-dee-o

Ever I get my new house done (sail away, ladies, sail away)
Give my old one to my son (sail away ladies, sail away)
(fiddles) don't she rock, dai-dee-o
Don't she rock, dai-dee-o, don't she rock, dai-dee-o

Ain't no used to grieve and cry (sail away, ladies, sail away)
You'l be an angel, bye and bye (sail away, ladies, sail away)
(fiddles) don't she rock, dai-dee-o

(SPOKEN:  Kill yourself!)

Come along, boys, and go with me (sail away, ladies, sail away)
We'll go back to Tennessee (sail away, ladies, sail away)
(fiddles) don't she rock, dai-dee-o
Don't she rock, dai-dee-o, don't she rock, dai-dee-o

(fiddles) don't she rock, dai-dee-o
Don't she rock, dai-dee-o, don't she rock, dai-dee-o

The last version is from the wonderful fiddler and guitarist, Kenny Baker.  Here is his version:



You can steal ideas from any of these versions that seem right and sound good to you or just come up with your own way of playing the song.  How do you hear it?

All best,
Johnm

[Stuart]

Thanks, John. I agree about Uncle Bunt Stephen's version. Here are a few more versions:

Parker & Dodd



The Russell Family



Kyle Creed & Bobby Patterson

[frankie]

The first version is by the fiddler, Uncle Bunt Stephens, and I first heard it on Harry Smith's "Anthology of American Folk Music".  It's one of the few recorded performances I've heard that seems perfect to me.

The next version is from Uncle Dave Macon and his Fruit Jar Drinkers.  Nothing wrong with it, either!

Those are two of the most perfect expressions of old-time music...  Damn...  Uncle Bunt's is such a perfect solo piece... almost everything you need to know about solo old-time fiddle you can find in that one performance. I've studied for for the last 18 months and could probably continue to do it for the next 18 years and still not quite get to the real bottom of it. The pulses...  the eeriness of the A string drone under the high G note. Amazing.

Is there a better old-time stringband recording than Uncle Dave's Sail Away Ladies? What energy!

The last version is from the wonderful fiddler and guitarist, Kenny Baker.

Thanks for posting this one, John - I'd never heard it and liked it more than I expected to!

[Lastfirstface]

I agree with all that's been said about the Bunt Stephens version. One more for the list from the frenetic Henry Bandy:

[Johnm]

Hi all,
Here is a version of "Sail Away Ladies" that I've been playing for a little while now--came up with it after thinking about the tune in this thread.  I realized I would have loved to hear Henry Thomas do this tune with quills!
All best,
Johnm

[Stuart]

Well done, John!

"Don't sheetrock the patio" --  Home improvement advice at its finest!

[Johnm]

Hi all,
A particularly beautiful Appalachian pentatonic melody can be heard in "Rose Conley", as played by Grayson & Whitter, with G. B. Grayson fiddling and singing the song and Henry Whitter supplying the guitar backup.  The play the song out of G, and the melody utilizes the G major pentatonic scale, G-A-B-D-E-G, but running from the low V note to the I note over an octave higher, D-E-G-A-B-D-E-G.  The song has been recorded by other artists as "Down In the Willow Garden" or "Willow Garden".  Here is Grayson & Whitter's version:



Here is the song's melody below the lyrics with the first verse's lyrics indicated.  The song is in 3/4, and Henry Whitter's chord choices are indicated above each measure
                G          G       G           G               C              C         G           G
   Down in  the will-low gar---den, where me and my lo-ve did meet        Oh
      D   |G   G  | B    G |  D    | E      B     |G    G     G |G  A  G  |  E     |      D  |

                  G           G       G         G             C                C      G        G
            There, we sit   a-cour--ting,  my love dropped off   to sleep     I   
           |  G       G |B    G| D    | E       B  |G        G      |E G A| G      |   D  |

               G       C                   G               G                  G               G        G        G
            Had a bottle of the burglar's wine, which my true love  did   not know       and
           |E    G|E  D   B   B  | D    D  |   E       B       B |  G     G  | G A   G |  E    |       D   |

                G            G                G             G            C              C             G        G
            There, I poisoned my own true love, down under the banks be-low
           |  G     G| B      A    B  | D      D | E      B  A | G  G    D | E G   A  | G      |       |

A couple of interesting features of Henry Whitter's harmonization of "Rose Conley":
   * He harmonized the opening fiddle solo, which is not shown here, differently than he did the accompaniment behind Grayson's singing of the first verse.  For instance, in the third line of the fiddle solo, he rocks back to the IV chord, C, for the fifth and sixth bars of the third line of the melody.  In addition, he plays a V chord in the fifth and sixth bars of the fourth line of the melody, a chord he never uses in the verse accompaniment.
   * The dramatic high points of the melody, which it really lands on hard and emphasizes are on the VI note, E.  The melody lands there on the downbeat of the fourth measure of all four lines.  The first and third lines land there in the seventh bar, as well, and the second and fourth lines return there in the sixth bar.  The third line, which is the bridge of the song, starts out emphasizing the VI note strongly, in its first two bars.  As we've seen in songs discussed earlier in this thread, the choice that is often made in harmonizing the VI note of the scale involves choosing between a IV chord and a VI minor chord to harmonize it.  Most often, Henry Whitter selects neither of the chords to harmonize the VI note, using instead the I chord, which does not include the VI note.  In making this choice, Henry Whitter mirrors the chord choice that Washington Phillips used to harmonize the opening VI note in the melody of the chorus to "What Are They Doing In Heaven Today?"  In most Bluegrass versions of "Rose Conley" (or "Down In The Willow Garden", as it is more commonly named), the heavily emphasized VI notes in the melody are harmonized with a VI minor chord. 

Henry Whitter's simple treatment of the rhythm of the song and minimalistic approach to harmonizing the melody provide a really fine accompaniment to G. B. Grayson's beautiful fiddling and singing, it seems to me.  And the sort of monochromatic harmonization Whitter provides for the melody seems much less heavy-handed to me than landing on a bunch of VI minor chords would have.  It would be interesting to try some different solutions though.

All best,
Johnm