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Fine Times At Our House
Traditional Old-Time, Breakdown- central W.Va., Virginia, Indiana, southwestern Pa.
CATEGORY: Fiddle and Instrumental Tunes
ARTIST: From Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc). DATE: Early 1900’s
RECORDING INFO: Flying Fish Records FF089, The Red Clay Ramblers - "Chuckin' the Frizz" (1979. Learned from Indiana fiddler John Summers, whose version was in 'A', standard tuning). Greenhays GR 710, John McCutcheon - "Fine Times at Our House" (1982. Learned largely from W.Va. fiddler Burl Hammons). Library of Congress AFS L65-66, Burl Hammons- "The Hammons Family." Bing, Dave. Young Fogies, Vol. II, Rounder 0369, CD (1995), cut# 6. Farr Brothers. Texas Crapshooter, JEMF 107, LP (1978), cut# 2. Gallagher, John. Piney Woods, Diller YP-007, Cas (199?), cut#A.04. George, Franklin/Frank. Traditional Music for Banjo, Fiddle & Bagpipes, County C-2703, Cas (1992), cut#B.01. McCutcheon, John. Fine Times at Our House, Greenhays GR710, LP (1982), cut# 3b. McLain Family Band. Troublesome Creek, Country Life CLR 15, LP (1985), cut#A.06a . Sharp, Arnold. Seems Like Romance to Me. Traditional Fiddle Tunes from Ohio, Gambier GFS 901, LP (1985), cut#A.04. Volo Bogtrotters. Tough Luck, Marimac 9042, Cas (1991), cut# 16. Wine, Melvin. Vintage Wine, Marimac AHS 6, Cas (1993), cut#B.13. Yaugher, Irvin; Jr.. Hill Country Tunes: Instrumental Folk Music of Southwestern Penn, Amer. Folklore Society, fol (1944), 76.
OTHER NAMES: "Kitty's Got a Baby-O." "Fine Fun at Our House"
SOURCES: Burl Hammons (Marlinton, Pochahontas County, W.Va.) [Krassen]: John Summers (Marion, Indiana) [Krassen, Phillips]: Irvin Yaugher Jr. (Mt. Independence, Pennsylvania, 10/19/1943, learned from his great-uncle) [Bayard, 1944]: James Smalley (Westmoreland County, Pa., 1944), Walter Ireland (Greene County, Pa., 1944), Henry Yeager (Centre County, Pa., 1930's) [Bayard, 1981]. Bayard (Hill Country Tunes), 1944; No. 76. Bayard (Dance to the Fiddle), 1981; No. 301A-C, pgs. 254-255. Krassen (Masters of Old Time Fiddling), 1983; pg. 80 and pgs. 137-139. Phillips (Traditional American Fiddle Tunes, Vol. 1), 1994; pg. 84. Wilkinson, Southern Folklore Quarterly, VI, I, March, 1942; pg. 10; Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc;
NOTES: "D Major/Mixolydian (Krassen {Hammons}, Bayard {Yeager & Yaugher}): A Mixolydian (Bayard {Smalley & Ireland}). AEAE, ADAE (Hammons) or standard. ABB (Bayard, 1981): AABB (Krassen). Bayard (1981) points out that the tune "shades" between major and mixolydian in many versions, which is "a genuine, and once common, feature of our fiddling tradition" (pg. 255). He sees some vague resemblance between this tune and the Scottish "Crieff Fair," but was unable to trace the tune further in British Isles collections. Bayard's (1944) source 'Bub' Yaugher (1st verse) Another from Fayette County, Pa., fiddler (2nd Verse) from Bayard, 1981. Gerry Milnes collected 3rd verse in West Virginia. See also "Possum Up a Gum Stump." (Kuntz, Fiddler's Companion, http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc).
LYRICS:
Possum up a gum stump, Coonie in the holler,
Devil's on the other side--Don't you hear him holler?
Fine times at our house, Sally's got a little one:
A great beg yellow devil just like the other one.
Fine times at our house, Kate's got a little one;
Bless its little soul, it's another little pretty one.
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