New Tunes: Rye Straw and Sugar in the Gourd (a new version!)
A couple of tunes have been added to the old time machine, both in the key of D.
The first is Rye Straw, also known as "The Joke on the Puppy." Apparently, the canine digestive tract (dogs being carnivorous and all) is ill suited towards digesting rye, hence feeding it to a pup typically results in moans of protest during its, er, elimination. The fiddle slides that begin the B part are meant to evoke those sounds, I believe. Though the oldtimejam.com does not celebrate acts of animal cruelty, or gratuitous meanness, the fact remains that this is a great tune.
And the debate rages on as to whether this should be considered a "D" or an "A" tune. A legitimate argument can be made for either. I say we revel in its ambiguity and allow it to defy categorization. I have grouped it here in the D tune section, however, given that, on both fiddle (ADAE) and banjo (aDADE) it's commonly played in tunings used for D tunes. So in a jam, it's best to call out when you're in the key of D
The second tune, Sugar in the Gourd, is likely not the Sugar in the Gourd you may be thinking of. In fact, that Sugar in the Gourd, which is an A tune, is already part of the site. This lesser known version comes via fiddler Norman Edmonds; I was recently introduced to it by Walt Koken (who, as part of the Highwoods String Band, popularized another great Edmonds tune, "Hawks and Eagles"). It's tons of fun to play, and a great jam tune. Easy to pick up, and hard to stop playing.
For the lifetime members out there, the tabs for these two will be part of the volume 6 download when it's complete.