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FIDDLE TUNES Played by: Seth Mize Recorded in Mountain View, AR 4/22/67 Recorded by Jimmy Trammel Click here to listen to the original recording Hell Among the Yearlings Trammel: "This next one he's gonna play is called 'Black Jack Davy.'" Black Jack Davy Trammell: "The next one he's gonna play is called 'Cotton Eye Joe, and he says he has it on . . . his own version of it. He doesn't play it like everybody else does." Cotton Eye Joe Trammell: "Now he's gonna play something he calls 'Sally Goodin.'" Sally Goodin Trammell: "Now this is called 'The Nigger Baby with Black Face and Shiny Eyes.'" Nigger Baby Mize: "This'll be the 'Alabama Girls.'" Alabama Girls Trammell: "Where'd you get that fiddle?" Mize: "Well I got that fiddle from Betty Fowler. She handed it down to me, and I'm to hand it on down to the rest of the folks. Trammell: "She handed it on down to you?" Mize: "Yeah, she give it to me, and I've got to go on down to the rest of my folks with it." Trammell: "Is she a relation of yours?" Mize: "Well, not really that I know of. But this here come on down through all the whole generations . . ." Trammell: "Really. How old do you think it is?" Mize: "Well, the date of it in there is two hundred and fifty-six, about 256." Trammell: "Now what's that?" Mize: "The date of it inside there is 256 years old, I'd say, right now." Trammell: "You think that's 256 years old?" Mize: "It was made in 17 and 21." Trammell: That was made in 1721." Mize: "In 17 and 21." Trammell: Now where'd you say you learned all these songs that you play, and where do you play them?" Mize: "Well, I learned them from my grandfather. They originated on back through their fathers and grandfathers." Trammell: "You didn't learn any of them from books--they're all from grandparents." Mize: "I learned nothing from books. They're all from my grandparents. Away back they come out of Tennessee." Trammell: "Out of Tennessee." Mize: "All my people originated from Tennessee, and I learned 'em from them. You might say these tunes that I play is old Tennessee tunes. They come from Tennessee; that's where I got 'em from." Trammell: "Where'd you learn to play the fiddle?" Mize: "Well, I . . . Of course, I lived in Arkansas when I learned to play it. I was in close to Landis, right close to where I live now, when I learned to play it. And I'm now past sixty-five." Trammell: "Past sixty-five." Mize: "I'm done past sixty-five. I learned to play the fiddle and I quit playing for about, oh, forty years before I ever tried to play any more. In '64 I started trying to play again." Trammell: "You laid off a long time." Mize: I laid off a long time. But then in '64 I commenced this again." Trammell: "Where do you usually play? Do you play for dances . . ." Mize: "Well, I play some for dances, and I play at Little Rock." Trammell: "Did you say you've been on TV in Little Rock?" Mize: "I, yep, played on TV in Little Rock, on Channel 4, and I play here every Friday night at Mountain View." Trammell: "Friday night here at the courthouse." Mize: "Every Friday night here at Mountain View, I play here. Then I play different places. If nothing happens, I'll be at Silver Dollar City the 29th and 30th of this month." Trammell: "Silver Dollar City the 29th and 30th of this month." Mize: "And the sixth and the seventh of next month." Trammell: "Okay." |
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All Songs Recorded by John Quincy Wolf, Jr., unless otherwise noted The John Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection Lyon College, Batesville, Arkansas Back to the Song Index Back to the Wolf Collection Homepage ©Copyright 2002 Lyon College |