This month’s tune is a subscriber request. One of Evie’s Peghead students sent her a recording of Ithaca, New York, stringband Bubba George playing a tune dubbed “Fiddler’s Dram,” and Evie is honoring that request here. This jaunty tune in the key of A is short, crooked, and easy to play. The first part is just six bars long and the second part is eight bars, and neither is repeated. The title is a case study in how confusing old-time tune nomenclature can be. The same tune we’re calling “Fiddler’s Dram” appears as “Fiddler a Dram” on Jack Devereux’s Red Steer recording, and the late Jon Bekoff called it “Give the Fiddler a Dram.” We’ve heard it called “Jawbone” on a few occasions, too. And there’s another “Fiddler’s Dram” in the key of D that’s popular with flatpicking guitarists, not to mention the numerous versions of an A Mixolydian tune called “Give the Fiddler a Dram.” Whatever you call it, this tune is a lot of fun. Like some of the previous tunes in this course, there are some funny floating lyrics that can be sung along with the melody, too. In this video, Evie teaches the complete 14-bar tune.
