Bruce describes this session favorite as a “notey” tune, and it does clip right along. In the key of G, “Brickyard Joe” is usually played as a two-part tune, but some fiddlers invert the high and low parts, and some vary the number of times each part is played. Bruce’s version starts on the high part, and it has a stealth third part gleaned from the great fiddler Doc Roberts, who would throw it in as whimsy dictated. By way of background, Bruce reads a laundry list of great fiddlers who played this tune, and you hear recordings by many of them at the “Brickyard Joe” page of the Slippery Hill website. In this video, Bruce shows you the A part of the tune, and he discusses ways to accent your bowing to bring a different feel to the melody.
