Right Smart of a Fiddle Player
While at Lisa's this weekend I stumbled upon the booklet that accompanied the album Now That's a Good Tune: Masters of Missouri Fiddling, published by the University of Missouri in 1989 (and reissued by Voyager Recordings in 2008). The booklet had a two-page profile of Uncle Bill as a fiddle player; it's the source of the photo of the meditative fiddler here. I posted copies of the scanned pages here.The booklet notes that Mr. Eddy's ancestors "came from England on the Mayflower" (close, but no cigar) and that his family was musical: "Eddy remembers that his grandfather was given formal musical instruction. His mother sang, and though his father did not play, his sisters played piano, organ, mandolin, and banjo, while he and his brother [Paul?] learned to play the fiddle." It also notes that Bill would second other fiddle players on guitar and banjo. (Who knew?) It also notes that Bill's mentor was a German farmer named Henry Berger, Aunt Dolly's stepfather, who would accompany him on radio broadcasts from KMMO in Marshall in the 1960's. (Who knew?) The profile also credits Bill with inventing a technique of hanging a penknife from the fiddle's bridge to dampen it's sound for indoor practicing. Bill says his two favorite pastimes are "playing the fiddle and tuning on it."
There are quotes from Bill throughout the profile, a few of which capture some of the wonderful flavor of his speech:
I can remember back there when they played "Bill Cheatum." It was a pretty common tune back there 60 years ago. But they've dressed it up now so she's one of your better tunes. And "Grey Eagle," there was just two parts to it way back then, what I heard. But now, land of living, it's a good tune!
Pure Uncle Bill. A unique voice. Right smart of a talker as well as a fiddler. (Mom recalls the eloquence of his prayers at family gathering--a duty he assumed after Paul's death.)
I was playing a tune called "Granny Will Your Dog Bite." And you pick the strings. Oh, I could play that tune, dag burn I could lay it on that tune!
Here is a remembrance of Bill from his fiddling peers in the online newsletter of the Missouri Traditional Fiddle and Dance Network, where he was considered "an elder statesman of traditional Missouri fiddling."
posted by Webmaster at 7:42 PM
3 Comments:
Great stuff! I didn't know the record came with a booklet.
Does anybody else remember being held in an Uncle Bill 'eye lock'? He would pick a person to lock eyes with and lean towards when he played a tune. There is a picture of Paul getting that treatment at a family reunion in one of the picture albums at Myrtle.
Dad used to say that DL would often acommpany Bill on guitar so I wonder if he was the brother mentioned that played fiddle as well. DL ran workshops in califirnia on how to second behind fiddle players on guitar.
I take exception with the assertion that Grampa Eddy didn't play, he was a great harmonica player when I heard him in his 90's. There was a cassette tape of one of our visits to the Missouri Eddys that had some of his playing on it.
This is all fantastic stuff. And though I am embarrassed to admit it, getting it all down in writing is helping me firm up my nebulous understanding of family history.
Yes, thanks for posting this, Mike. Great stuff.
Post a Comment
<< Home