Cape Breton & Prince Edward Island Fiddle Tunes For Clawhamm

Book + Online Audio $29.99
eBook + Online Audio $24.99

The island of Cape Breton & its close neighbor, Prince Edward Island in eastern Canada are home to two of the oldest, strongest, and most vibrant fiddling traditions in North America. Cape Breton gave rise to a professional Celtic-based fiddling scene to rival anything coming out of Scotland & Ireland.

Prince Edward Island’s traditional fiddlers developed lively, idiosyncratic styles every bit as musically compelling as anything you’ll hear on archival recordings of iconic American old-time fiddlers from the Appalachians. This book features 136 tunes from these two distinct but related fiddling traditions, collected by the author directly from master fiddlers, and arranged note-for-note for clawhammer banjo with as much flavor and nuance as possible.

These settings of reels, hornpipes, jigs, marches, strathspeys, airs, and other fiddle tunes are all eminently playable and fully benefit from the author’s half-century of experience playing banjo, arranging for banjo, writing banjo instruction books, and researching fiddle-music traditions.

Here’s what you'll find in this volume.

136 fiddle tunes arranged for clawhammer banjo in clear tablature
Over 40 musical examples & exercises
Instruction on basic and advanced techniques
Fingering diagrams & detailed fingering suggestions
A systematic approach to playing up-the-neck
A thorough treatment of playing triplets, grace notes, and other ornaments
Guides on how to approach playing various kinds of fiddle tunes
A framework for understanding the modes encountered in fiddle music
Historical notes on the tunes and musical traditions
Biographical information on source fiddlers
169 audio illustrations available online

Note: Most audio illustrations for the tunes in this book are drawn directly from the author’s CDs, Devil in the Kitchen, Frails & Frolics, Island Boy, and Northern Banjo.

Contents

About the Author
Foreword
Preface
Angus Campbell
Arkansas Traveler
Aura Lee
The Battle Cry of Freedom
Beaumont Rag
Billy in the Lowground
Blackberry Blossom
Bonaparte’s Retreat
Carthage Waltz
Cherokee Shuffle
Cluck Old Hen
Cotton Eyed Joe
Cotton Patch Rag
Cripple Creek
Devil’s Dream
Down Yonder
Eighth of January
Forked Deer
Gardenia Waltz
Grandfather’s Clock
Green Willis
Indian’s Farewell Waltz
Irish Washerwoman
La Bastringue
Leather Britches
Liberty
Martin’s Waltz
Mason’s Apron
Mississippi Hornpipe
Mississippi Sawyer
Old Dan Tucker
Old Joe Clark
President Garfield’s Hornpipe
Pretty Peg
Red-haired Boy
Red Wing
Sailor’s Hornpipe
College Hornpipe*
Saint Anne’s Reel
Sally Ann
Sally Goodin’
Sally Johnson
Salt Creek
Soldier’s Joy
Swallowtail Jig
Temperance Reel
Tom and Jerry
Turkey in the Straw
Uncle Joe
Under the Double Eagle
Whiskey Before Breakfast