Bill Burke & Fred Coon

1. Solid Gone - I learned this tune from Aunt Jenny Wilson. Aunt Jenny lived "up the head of the holler" on Peach Creek in Logan County West Virginia. She was a fine "banjer picker" who welcomed me in to her home and taught him many tunes, stories and songs. She was a powerful influence on my music and life. Aunt Jenny died in 1991 at the age of 91. She is sorely missed by all who knew and loved her. You can find my collection on the Field Recorder's Collective (FRC408– Aunt Jenny Wilson). I am still telling stories about Aunt Jenny which are found in Fred's Stories section of this website

2. Black Bear On The Mountain – This tune is sometimes played as “Too Young To Marry” and many other names. It is a staple in old-time jam sessions. I learned it from JP Fraley and in honor of JP, I named our CD the same.

3. Kitchen Girl – Kitchen Girl – Bill learned it from his associations with other Old-Time musicians and does a fine job on presenting this unique tune. I first learned this tune from Alan Jabbour when he fiddled with the Hollow Rock String Band. Alan said the tune was originally one of Henry Reed’s tunes and made its way into the Old-Time scene over the years. It is found in the Library of Congress collection: Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier: The Henry Reed Collection.

4. East Virginia Blues – East Virginia Blues – I have always liked this tune and learned it at an early age. There are two versions which Fred plays and sings. The version presented here comes from south central Virginia and is a softer version than the one I learned growing up. The West Virginia version I initially learned as a young man is played and sung in a mountain modal key with a driving rhythm. I was recorded in the late 60’s on stage doing the modal version on m fretless banjo at the Folk Festival of The Smokies.

5. Bonaparte Crossin’ The Rhine – I truly wishes I could remember exactly when and where he learned this tune. I can’t. However, the two-finger style of playing I use to both begin and end the tune comes straight from my father, M. Fred Coon, who had learned it from his Uncle, Otis Green, in the early 1930’s at the family homestead near Pond Fork, West Virginia. Pond Fork is a stone’s throw from White’s Branch, near the original homestead at Bob White WV. The town of Madison, WV is a few miles down the road. This style is found in a few places throughout Appalachia. The two finger style is mostly prevalent in West Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, Virginia and North Carolina. My long-time friend, David Holt, is a superb banjo player and four-time Grammy winner. David interviewed Wade Mainer about his two finger style. As you can see from the video, Wade moves his first finger in and pulls up on several of the inner strings. My dad’s style uses the thumb-lead style t in which the thumb stays while my first finger plucks all the strings in a syncopated manner. This delivers both melody and rhythm. In the second part of this tune, I switch to a “claw-like” two finger style. Claw-like because at first, it sounds like clawhammer to those who are listening. But in many jam sessions, banjo players sitting near me will invariably stop and look at what I am doing, because my hands are moving in almost the opposite direction of what is expected from a clawhammer style player. What they discover is that I am playing with my first finger, both pulling up and striking down on strings 1-4. My family “claw-style keeps my thumb strikes only the 5th string. Bill Burke does a masterful job of showcasing Fred’s two distinct playing styles demonstrated for you in this tune.

6. Uncle Ned – I collected this from Tab Ward of Sugar Grove, North Carolina. Tab said that he had seen the words to this tune in a newspaper once, decades earlier, but had “always knowed” the tune. I have tried to get this right in my rendition presented here. I was sent to meet Tab by Doc Watson whom I was visiting at the time. I always stayed Willard and Ora Watson on Wildcat Road. Willard was Doc’s first cousin. Doc told me to go see Tab Ward who had some interesting tunes. The time I spent with Tab that afternoon was a folk music collectors dream. He was open and very willing to share. I cherish my collection of Tab’s tunes. Tab’s style was so representative of the songs sung in Western North Carolina for generations. Tab told me the story of Tom Dula. I just sat there listening to him and I swear that story came alive as it had happened yesterday. It has been 160+ years, since it happened. On this website, at some future point, when I get it off tape and onto digital, be sure to listen to the Tab Ward recordings. Now, for the rest of the story. Pat Stein, Bill Burke’s wife, gave me a book she had purchased at a garage sale. It was a collection of Stephen Foster songs. Low and behold, when I turned the pages, there it was. Uncle Ned. The version that I play is as close as I can come to the one played and sung by Tab Ward.

7. The Loaded Lion I learned this tune from Winfred Moore, a very poor coal miner who lived with his family on Dry Branch Road, Lincoln County, West Virginia. His only fuel against the cold and often bitter West Virginia winters was the coal that was pouring out of those West Virginia mountains.. Winfred and his son Ira used to pick up coal from the train tracks running near their home. The tracks were rough and sometimes the coal would “slosh” out of the cars as they moved along. I am inclined to believe, and based upon stories I heard from other folks on Dry Branch, that it was a kind engineer who would stop the train for a minute or two and “discover ” a Mason jar full of moonshine lying beside the tracks, in trade for his kindness, Winfred also “worked his coal bank,” up the holler from his house. A coal Bank is explained in the Fred’s Stories section of this website. I was collecting central West Virginia tunes when I first met Winfred in the late fall of 1964. It was a Friday night jam session at Burl Farley’s house with neighbors from all over Lincoln County. Winfred played a two-finger style on a homemade banjo, as did my dad and his Uncle Otis Green, who lived in Boone County, West Virginia. Every time Winfred played this tune a slight smile would appear on this face. One day I asked him why he always smiled when he played this tune. When Winfred’s wife left the room to fix supper, he leaned over and whispered to Fred, “imagine a big drunk lion amblin’ down the middle of the street trying to ‘work off a bad drunk’ – now don’t that want to make you smile too?” I smile while playing this tune, ever since that day. In case you are wondering why Winfred waited until his wife left the room, she was Church of God Holiness member and she forbade drinking or mentioning moonshine in her home. Burl Farley was a community leader in the Dry Branch area and introduced me to many people who told stories or played music. Burl also knew all the moonshiners, both commercial and independents, who made distributed and transported “liker” throughout Lincoln County, and beyond. Be sure to read my story about “Who Ere Ye“ found in the Fred’s Stories section of this website.

8. Smoke Town Strut –  Bill Burke finger picks this great tune. The man who first introduced the guitar on record, and recorded this tune as well, was Sylvester Weaver. He produced a significant body of work at the dawn of the blues recording era but remains little remembered today. The tune comes from In Louisville, Kentucky, where he lived all his life. In Louisville, for generations leading up to the 1920’s, African Americans lived in separate districts: Uptown, Downtown and Smoketown. Most of the area’s blues artists came from Smoketown which acquired its name from the dirty smoke from the many small industrial plants burning soft coal for power and heat. Thanks to Sunday Blues for this piece of history. The fantastic sounding guitar you are listening to on this cut was made by Bill in his Flagstaff workshop. One day, Bill found a unique looking piece of mesquite wood. However, he knew that mesquite easily split when it was bent. However, Bill being Bill, accepted the challenge and produced one of the prettiest and best sounding guitars around. We all call it, “The Boomer.” The volume and clarity of this instrument as well as the range of tone are characteristic of same balance and tone Bill achieves from all of his instruments. This accounts for the fact that Bill’s instruments are highly sought after by musicians wishing to have a great tone and outstanding stage playability. See Bill’s videos on this website talking about how to make a great sounding guitar.

9. Pretty Maid (Milking Her Cow) – . This is a tune of Irish origin. Bill plays this on his favorite mandolin, the one he made and was too good to sell. The Celtic name is Cailín Deas Crúite Na mBó. Here are two verses from the tune as copied from MetroLyrics.com: It was on a fine summer’s morning,The birds sweetly tune on each bough, And as I walked out for my pleasure, I saw a maid milking a cow. Her voice was so enchanting, melodious, Left me quite unable to go, My heart, it was loaded with sorrow For the pretty maid milking her cow. It is better played without words, in my opinion.

10. Boatman – I learned this tune from from John “Johnnie” Fitzgerald Hilt who lived near Tannersville, Virginia. I first heard Johnny play this tune during a visit to John’s home. Johnny was a wonderful fiddler and a “peach of a feller.” That expression was one he used for people he liked. and you can read more about John on the Fred’s Stories section of this website. A few of the tunes from my field recording sessions, done in John’s home on the South side of Clinch Mountain, VA, are preserved in the Field Recorder’s Collective (FRC407– Franklin George with John Hilt). Johnny and I formed a bond, like Grandfather and Grandson, before Johnny died in 1972. Even though our friendship spanned a short period of time, he is the one that I miss most today. You’ll understand when you read some of the stories in the Fred’s Story section of this website.

11. On Top Of Old Smokey – An Aunt Jenny Wilson tune. Some say this is a variant of Pretty Polly or Wagoner’s Lad, but this is the way Aunt Jenny sang it. It is certainly not the popular Gene Autry song with which most people are familiar. The poetry and verse construction are moving and rival the tune Oh Death, for descriptive phrasing about two of the emotional extremes of life – love and death.

12. Sally In The Garden – An Eastern Kentucky tune that is also found in West Virginia. Bill does a nice job of this one on Fred’s 1927, 11 13/16″ Vega White Ladye banjo. The tune was orginally collected from fiddler J.D. Cornett who played a very up-tempo version which can be heard at, Sally In The Garden, on Smithsonian Folkways. The up-tempo version by Cornett on the Smithsonian recording is more akin to Sally Ann, in that it is played much faster than Bill plays it here. The original verses and tune are Irish in origin.

13. June Apple – I am very proud to say that I actually played multiple times with Uncle Wade Ward at the Galax Virginia Old Time Fiddlers Convention. and other festivals. In those days, and still today, the jam session is everything. Of course, his friends Tommy Jarrell and Fred Cockerham were too. They played a very different style of old-time music than I did. Their style was named the “Round Peak” style of fiddle and banjo. That name came from the round granite structure standing high above Mr. Airy, NC. They made their mark on me as I was growing up and developing my own banjo playing style. Today, they are the ICONS of that style of playing for so many young people. Oh yes, June Apple was Uncle Wade’s signature tune.

14. Single Girl – Aunt Jenny Wilson liked this tune and often talked about how hard it was for a woman in the mountains of West Virginia to find a good man. She married Frank Wilson, a “good man,” early in the 20th century. “He was kilt in a coal mine accident…I never married again and it don’t bother me none cause most men today are either drunkards, lazy, on the dole, and few can even plow a straight furrow.”

15. Rocky Mountain Goat – This tune is found in the Library of Congress collection, The Hammons Family: The Traditions Of A West Virginia Family And Their Friends. It is a really catchy tune that was performed by Lee Hammons (no relations to the Hammons family) in that original collection.

16. I‘ve Always Been A Rambler – The mountain ballads have always attracted me This tune, like most old-time tunes, migrated throughout the mountains and gained popularity. It was first recorded in 1928 by G.B Grayson and Henry Whittier (reissues on Old Hat CD-1001, Music From the Lost Provinces: Old-Time Stringbands from Ashe County NC and Vicinity.. Most ballads seem to revolve around murder, unrequited love or a combination thereof. The high lonesome sound achieved by Roscoe Holcomb, who hailed from Eastern Kentucky, and performed by many a mountain singer at home, inspired me to attempt this tune unaccompanied, as was the the tradition passed down in my family for generations.

17. Angeline The Baker – I heard this tune first from Frank George . As I began getting around regionally, I heard the fabulous banjo player, Tommy Thomson, play his version. The two were different in that Frank George played it with a B-minor chord as did Henry The Fiddler  whom Fred met at the Galax, VA festival many years ago. The version you hear in this collection adds a major, not minor, chord which was introduced to me by my Arizona friend and great banjo player, Gord Acri, maker of Acri banjo picks. Something clicked when I heard Gord’a version so I adjusted his version and that is what Bill and I play here. As for Tommy Thompson, he went on to form the band The The Red Clay Ramblers. They eventually wound up on Broadway in the play Diamond Studs.

18. Cold Frosty Mornin’– Bill plays this tune on one of the excellent mandolins he makes. It is a simple tune and has variations in other Appalachian tunes such as the great reels, Salt Creek and Frosty Mornin’. I first heard this version of the tune played at the Galax fiddler’s convention. I had already learned a tune totled Frosty Mornin’ from Frank George, a West Virginia native who is a musical historian and virtuoso on the banjo, fiddle, bagpipes, and hammered dulcimer. The tune hails from Scotland and was played to remember the battle of Culloden Moor which took place on the morning of April 16, 1746, when an English Army of 8,000 massacred a Scottish army of 7,000. This battle ended the Jacobite Rebellion in Scotland. These Scotch-Irish tunes were brought to Appalachia by the settlers making their way into these rugged but bountiful mountains.

19. Elk River Blues – This is a tune written by Ernie Carpenter, a wonderful fiddler and musician whose family settled on the Elk River in West Virginia in the 1700’s. Ernie’s family lived on the same farm until 1961, when it was condemned and taken by the government under the Laws of Eminent Domain. It was designated to become Sutton Lake Recreation Area and was to be used for boating and fishing. To create this pleasure park, they had to dam up the Elk River. Ernie kept on fighting the battle and kept finding ways and paths back to the homestead. He told me one day that, “one day when I came home, I knew I’d had lost the battle when I saw water on the porch.” As a parenthetical note, I lost our farm to eminent domain. This was great loss to Ernie. Loss of family farm, traditions, and all that he held sacred. The first evening Ernie spent on the porch of his new home, he played this tune. He said it was the saddest day of his life. You can sense that as you listen to the tune. Fortunately for following generations of musicians, his sadness was transformed into one of the most beautiful and haunting tunes Fred ever heard. It resonated in his heart as you can hear from the beautifully constructed melody. It is the saddest tune I play. Memories of in the heart and of home never die, no matter where you land.