The One Horse Open Sleigh (J. Pierpont)

So, I received my eBay copy of the William B. Bradbury tunebook, The Victory (1872 edition), and there on page 74 is James Pierpont's The One Horse Open Sleigh, a.k.a. Jingle Bells. Only with its original melody, which is different in spots from the one we know.

So I put together a recording, with me at the Casio WK-3800 (Patch 071). This is tricky to play, because the tenor part is up top on its own line (and notated an octave up in the treble clef), which makes putting all four voices together a royal pain, since the tenor has to be added to the bass, alto, and soprano, and played an octave lower than written. Therefore, I recorded this four bars at a time and joined the results together. Which is actually less of a hassle than renotating the thing for easier reading.

Except for a couple rushed measures, this came out nicely, I think. Consider it a late Christmas post:

The One Horse Open Sleigh (James Pierpont)


Now you say you've heard Jingle Bells in its original form. Unless you've heard it before, in which case you can say you've heard it again.


Lee

1914 mandolin club 78 is over-the-top amazing

I managed to get two decent label shots out of several--I chose this because it's closer to the label's actual color. It's aqua, but it refuses to come out that way. But this is not important. (Note: Improved hue courtesy of Bob, who tweaked things much closer to the actual color.)

What is important is the incredible performance we're about to hear--a two-selection medley by the Williams College Mandolin Club, 1914. The second strain, taken from Sousa's Corcoran Cadets March, breaks loose into plantation-orchestra territory, with a busy drum backing and (I swear) at least one banjo in the mix. I eagerly await listener feedback, since it's often hard to tell exactly what instrumental line-up you're hearing on an acoustical recording, especially one as casually recorded as this.

"Purely African-American," I decided on my first listen. Sure enough, though the Williams College Mandolin Club was very likely without a black participant, what we're hearing here seems to be imitation-African-American, as black mandolin clubs are described in Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff's Out of Sight: The Rise of African American Popular Music, 1889-1895.

An initial check suggests that discs like this are rare as hen's teeth. Mandolins show up a lot on 78, but not mandolin clubs. This specific type of string band, from the looks of it, was way under-documented.

This 78 was included for free with an eBay purchase--the dealer figured I'd like it. I like it.

Oh, and dig the talking at the close of the disc--the last three words almost sound like "...carry the backbeat," though I doubt I'm hearing it correctly. Needless to say, the chatter was unintentional.

To the amazing music: The Royal Purple--Come Fill Your Glasses--Williams College Mandolin Club, 1914.


Lee

Betty's home town newspaper pens tribute to her career

Read all about it: Local woman a part of rockabilly history

Jennifer Blue's article is very nicely written AND it gives a plug to some place called Music You (Possibly) Won't Hear Anyplace Else. Please note that I swiped the above photo (by Dave Polcyn) from the Mansfield News Journal piece.

Coming up: a report on my church-musician experience to date (all two Sundays' worth).


Lee

Betty Nickell visits MY(P)WAHE!

Rockabilly Hall of Fame inductee Betty Nickell visited MY(P)WHAE headquarters today, which is (are?) conveniently located at the address Bev and I reside at. Betty's a really sweet lady, and quite sharp, to boot. And she's not without plenty of interesting and fun true-life stories to share from her career, including the time she nabbed first prize on a radio show after one whole day's practice. Not so fun, to be sure, is the memory of making "nothing" from the record that earned her a place in the Rockabilly Hall of Fame (the terrific rocker Hot Dog), though it amazes and delights her to discover that the record is quite fondly remembered after 51 years (to the tune of $380 in a recent eBay auction!). Sometimes, you don't know how famous you are until you Google your name. Or not famous, whichever the case may be.

Update: A yellow-wax copy of Hot Dog went for $500 in an Oct., 2008 eBay auction. Whoa.

Betty gave me a photocopy of a Country Music Digest article about her and her group, The Mystics. Here they are in all their circa-1975 glory:


























More to come!


Lee

400,000 hits on my site counter!

400,000 visits! Far out.

The cats are all very thrilled for me. Here's Elvis:














And Reddy:














Tucker:













And Pete:













As you can see, these guys couldn't be more excited.

Nice to have a four followed by five zeros, but the zero in "0 Comments" has me wondering if I suddenly lost any following. It makes for a puzzling contrast, the five zeros versus one. So, I'm a bit down, frankly. Which is a sign I need to take a vacation. I'll be back. Many thanks to those who have commented, but I need to figure out if these high numbers ultimately mean very much....

Later,

Lee