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Fortune
Traditional Old-Time, Song and Breakdown- "most popular around Galax, Va." (Krassen, 1973).
ARTIST: The Backwoods Band
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes DATE: Late 1800’s
RECORDING INFO: Biograph 6003, The Bogtrotters (Galax, Va.) - "The Original Bogtrotters" (Wade, Crockett, and Fields Ward). County 705, Otis Burris- "Virginia Breakdown." County 778, Tommy Jarrell- "Picklin' On Tommy's Porch" (1984). Folkways FTS 31038, Roger Sprung- "Bluegrass Blast." Heritage XXIV, Smokey Valley Boys - "Music of North Carolina" (Brandywine, 1978). Marimac 9009, Andy Cahan - "Old Time Friends" (1987). Tennvale 003, Pete Parish- "Clawhammer Banjo." Rounder 0128, The Backwoods Band- "Jes' Fine" (1980. Influenced by the fiddling of Otis Burris and the singing of Scotty East). Tennvale 002, Barry Poss- "Galax '73." Alden, Ray. Old Time Friends, Marimac 9009, Cas (1987), cut# 3. Backwoods Band. Jes' Fine, Rounder 0128, LP (1979), cut# 1. Blue Ridge Mountain Boys. More Goodies from the Hills, Union Grove SS-3, LP (1969), cut# 1. Bogtrotters (Bog Trotters). Original Bogtrotters, Biograph RC 6003, LP (196?), cut# 12. Boiled Buzzards. Fine Dining, Marimac 9043, Cas (1991), cut#A.09. Burris, Otis; & the Mountain Ranblers. Virginia Breakdown, County 705, LP, cut# 1. Camp Creek Boys. Camp Creek Boys, County 709, LP (1967), cut# 1. Cockerham, Fred. High Atmosphere, Rounder 0028, LP (1974), cut# 12. East, Earnest; & the Pine Ridge Boys. Old Time Mountain Music, County 718, LP (1969), cut# 4. Edwards, Kenneth. Old Time Fiddling at Union Grove. The 38th Annual Old-Time Fi..., Prestige 14039, LP (1964), cut#B.04. Harold and Abe. Cornbred, Molasses and Sassafras Tea, Heritage (Galax) 023, LP, cut# 7 (Once I Had a Fortune). Molsky, Bruce. Lost Boy, Rounder 0361, CD (1996), cut# 7. Old Timers. 28th Annual Galax Old Fiddlers Convention. Galax, Virginia 1963, Kanawha 302, LP (1963), cut# 17. Round Peak Band. Round Peak Band, Marimac 9044, Cas (1992), cut#B.04. Smith, Glen. Traditional Music From Grayson and Carroll Counties, Folkways FS 3811, LP (1962), cut# 23. Smokey Valley Boys. Smokey Valley Boys, Rounder 0029, LP (1974), cut# 4. Smokey Valley Boys. Music of North Carolina, Heritage (Galax) 024 (XXIV), LP (1979), cut#A.09. Stoneman's Dixie Mountaineers. Ernest V. Stoneman & his Dixie Mountaineers. 1927-28, Historical HLP-8004, LP (196?), cut# 1 (Once I Had a Fortune). Williams, Vivian. Fiddler, Voyager VLRP 323-S, LP (1978), cu.
OTHER NAMES: "Once I Had a Fortune."
SOURCES: The Bogtrotters (Galax, Va) [Brody]; Charlie Higgins (Galax, Va.) [Krassen]; The Backwoods Band (Kuntz); Tommy Jarrell (Mt. Airy, N.C.) [Kuntz]; Ottis Burris [Phillips]. Brody (Fiddler's Fakebook), 1983; pg. 112. Krassen (Appalachian Fiddle), 1973; pg. 46. Kuntz (Ragged but Right), 1987; pgs. 309-311 (two versions). Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes), Vol. 1, 1994; pg. 91; Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc;
NOTES: From Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc: D Major. Standard or ADAE. AABB. Called a "Blue-Ridge Mountain standard," it is found in western North Carolina and southwest Virginia, but has become particularly identified with Galax, southwestern Virginia, style bands. It was, for example, one of the few tunes recorded by legendary Galax, Va., fiddler Emmett Lundy. Mt. Airy, North Carolina, fiddler Tommy Jarrell (1901-1986) said of the melody: "I can recollect hearing my daddy play it as far back as I can recollect. I don't know where that started from...it was more just an old, well, a flat foot dance tune I'd say.”
Bruce Molsky at the 1991 Fiddle Tunes Festival in Port Townsend, Washington sings the same lyrics as the Backwoods Band.
LYRICS:
Oh once I had a fortune, I put it in my trunk,
I lost it all a-gamblin' one night when I was drunk.
Chorus: Fortune I had it, fortune I lost it,
Fortune I lost it one night when I was drunk.
Once I had a fortune but now I've lost it all,
Drinkin' and a gambling and playin' at the ball.
I'm packin' up my suitcase and now I say goodbye,
I'm gonna live a gamblin' man until the day I die.
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