Notes about the Tunes on Cliffhangers "On The Edge": All sources are points of departure rather than points of arrival. Tunings are listed for fiddle (low string to high) and banjo (5th string to 1st). Jody’s tenor guitar is generally tuned to match an octave below the fiddle tuning. Last of Sizemore/Dry and Dusty (AEAE, aEAC#E) Sources: (LOS) Luther Strong, Dalesburg, Kentucky; (DAD): Lon Jordan, Farmington, Arkansas via Kerry Blech We open with a tune from the great Luther Strong that has closed many a night of music with Brendan and Mark playing up the sun. We could play this tune in our sleep — in fact, often have! Followed by a great tune introduced to us by Kerry Blech at a master’s workshop at Clifftop, originally collected by Vance Randolph in 1941. Black-Eyed Susie (ADAE, aDADE) Sources: Luther Strong, James William "J.W." Day, Catlettsburg, Kentucky Many of the tunes we play are drawn from the repertoire of great solo fiddlers, such as J.W. Day, who performed as Jilson Setters, the "Singing Fiddler of Lost Hope Hollow." Here we blend two versions of a classic tune, journeying from Strong’s setting to Day’s and back again (catching a brief glimpse of J.W. Twilight along the way). Gilda Roy (GDAE, gCGCD) Sources: John Morgan Salyer, Salyersville, Kentucky Equally marvelous among John Salyer’s reissued home recordings are his rare gems and his quixotic settings of familiar tunes — like this one, exhibiting that distinctive old-time arithmetic: "expected number of times… plus one." Ida Red © Done Gone Publishing (BMI) (GDAE, gDGBD) Sources: James Edward "Ed" Haley, Ashland, Kentucky Brendan calls Ed Haley’s music a prism from which each listener takes only a piece of the truth away. The inaugural Cliffhangers’ hit from our "all Haley all the time" phase, this is our version (affectionately known as "I Dared") of "the tune that launched a thousand slips." Silver Lake (AEAD, aDADE) Sources: William Moses "Mose" Coffman, Greenbrier County, West Virginia A rare tune in "Old Sledge" tuning (besides "Old Sledge" itself, Track 15), from fiddler Mose Coffman whom Brendan and Nancy (Dols) Neithammer visited in August 1980. We had to include this for our friend Amy Hofer who injured her fiddler’s middle finger, happily not required for this tune (showing that it clearly dates from the pre-digital era). Rare Up (AEAE, aEAC#E) Sources: George Mert Reves, Tallequah, Oklahoma and via Kerry Blech and Bruce Greene. Another gem we first heard from Kerry Blech, who believes the name may really be "R’ar (dialect for ‘Rear’) Up." Every version we later unearthed did something slightly different, so we did the same. Throw the Soapsuds in the Corner of the Fence (ADAE, aDADE) Sources: Stephen B. Tucker, Collinsville, Lauderdale County, Mississippi Recorded by Herbert Halpert in Meridian, Mississippi, 1939. The title describes a practice not recommended for condominium dwellers. No Corn on Tygart (GDAE, gDGBD) Sources: J.W. Day This J.W. Day tune echoes to my ear fragments of the Irish "Hen’s Schottische." It has a fine and cheerful rollick, despite the likelihood that the absent "corn" in question was of the distilled variety. Forked Deer (ADAE, aDADE) Sources: Day, Haley, Salyer, etc. When I first heard J.W. Day, I heard a missing link between the older, archaic Kentucky style of Salyer and Hiram Stamper and the intricate inventiveness of Ed Haley’s later style. Here we triangulate between several versions of this tune, with a nod to the spirit, more than the letter, of that great fiddling comet that was Haley. Chinquapin Hunting (FCFC, FBbFBbC) Sources: Hiram Stamper, Hindman, Knott County, Kentucky; and his son Art Stamper I first heard Art play this tune late one foggy night at Clifftop — standing in a muddy clearing amidst a gathered crowd, hat slouched on his head, cross-tuned fiddle sailing the glorious fat low notes out into the dark trees. Though our version here is closer to his dad Hiram’s, we dedicate this tune to Art’s memory. Give the Fiddler a Dram (AEAE, aEAC#E) Sources: Edden Hammons, Webster County, West Virginia Apparently mislabeled "Sugar In The Gourd" in the field recordings, this is a sweet tune by any name, but snarly, too — from one of the great West Virginia fiddlers. Arkansas Hoosier (GDAE, gDADE) Sources: George Mert Reves; and his nephew, Merle Reves, Dennard, Arkansas A tune that gets under your skin, though as ambiguous in key as is its title in provenance. (Although apparently "Hoosier" once had meanings besides "resident of Indiana," such as a rustic or a "big, burly, uncouth individual.") Sweet Susan (GDAE, gDGBD) Sources: J.W. Day Another of Day’s nimble pieces, this swirling vortex of a tune calls to mind those cartoon fights where stars and fireworks leap from dust-clouds. That Susan must have been some gal! Boyne Water/The Hog-Eyed Man (ADAE, aEAC#E) Sources: (BW) William Franklin "Frank" George, Bluefield, West Virginia; (HEM) Luther Strong "Boyne Water" is a tune of Irish origin, also collected in Pennsylvania by Sam Bayard. "The Hog-Eyed Man" a lá Luther Strong has always been a gnarled favorite of ours, with staggered lines that seem to go wrong only to come out right again. Old Sledge (AEAD, aDADE) Sources: Melvin Wine, Copen, West Virginia Melvin Wine was another beloved fiddler who has recently passed on, whose music and gentle spirit touched us all. We dedicate this tune to his memory. Calico (GDGB, gDGBD) Sources: Marcus Martin, Swannanoa, North Carolina Like "Old Sledge" before it, another tune that gave its name to its tuning, though we play it here in a mellower register — tuned down a whole step, so as not to wake the neighbors.
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